Rummaging through your basement to look back over old goodies can be a wonderful experience - you should see some of the relics we have knocking about at Nintendo Life HQ - and can sometimes reunite you with things long forgotten. One such basement search has uncovered this Nintendo calendar from 1991, and some of the designs seem a little strange.
The calendar has been shared online by Reddit user u/Otakulad, who notes that it has been buried in their parents' basement for the last 28 years. The front cover (seen up above) depicts some of Nintendo's best-known characters in intriguingly different styles - we're not really sure what's going on with Samus, for example - but the back cover reveals that this was officially licenced by Nintendo of America.
The owner has actually shared images of every single month of the calendar, revealing some pretty creative designs that are nicely themed throughout. We've included a couple of our favourite pages below, but you can check out the entire gallery here if you're interested.
Just by coincidence, the days of each week from 1991 happen to line up perfectly with 2019, meaning that the calendar could actually be used this year without any issues. If you happen to have one of these lying around in your attic, or perhaps if you fancy having a search through eBay, you too can treat yourself to a retro Nintendo year.
What do you think? Are you a fan of the designs? Let us know in the comments.
[source reddit.com, via nintendosoup.com]
Comments 47
Oh man, I had one of these back in the day. They made these for a few years. I had the one that had Super Mario World on the cover, which I think had Mario riding on Yoshi's back approaching a Blargg.
The strangest thing is it has 13 months!?
All the Cheep Cheep in the April page look like they're on some heavy drugs
@Natzore What about the lone blooper on the top left? lol!
This is the coolest thing I've seen in a long time. I love finding old relics like this, before company standards become set in their ways. Looks like these artists were under the influence of something cause what the heck is going on with August and November, lol.
@Ogbert
It's actually common to have a calendar with an extra month (at least in America, I can't speak for elsewhere), though, it usually starts last December, then works through the year. This one stops at January '92, which I can't say I've ever seen before.
It’s not coincidence, it is how it is. 1992 calendar can be used in 2020, and 1993 in 2021. It's a loop. So if you don’t mind the movable feast like Easter being wrong, it’s perfectly useable. So this 1991 calendar can still be used again in 2038, that is, if we still used those thing by then.
Then again My Nintendo did publish ‘electronically’ a February with 31 days, didn’t they?
Had this as a kid! And a few other years, too. Wish I'd kept them.
@Ogbert 'Lousy Smarch weather.'
Not coincidence, the calendar regularly repeats every 18 years.
I seen this on the front page of Reddit about 3 days ago. Pretty neat.
@MoonKnight7 @jswhitfield8 I'm in the UK and have never had a calendar that didn't start in January and end in December. You'd end up with double calendars and the start or end of the year!
@GyorgCostanza i was hoping someone would make that reference!
I still have this calendar somewhere! I should dig it out and hang it up for the year!
I had this exact calendar as a collectible for most of my life! Finally sold it on Ebay about 6 years ago, but I too took pictures of each page for the sake of nostalgia, which I have saved on my laptop. (One of my favorites, and most memorable to me, was the June one - Link fighting the dragon Barba in Zelda II.) Very cool that it works for this year, too.
@GyorgCostanza
Lol, nice Homer quote.
I'm not surprised by the wacky art style. For as rigid as Nintendo is now, it seem to be a regular thing that back in the day, they didn't really seem to mind licensed merchandise interpreting characters in wacky ways from their game looks.
Back when Samus wore a deep sea diver pressure suit. Back when Megaman was a man with a hand gun. Back when Snake was a cartooning of Reese from Terminator. Back when Nintendo Power envisioned Mario in claymation. Let me take you back to the old days of videogame art. We have such sights to show you.
@techdude Only until you hit a year like 2100 that is divisible by 4 but not a leap year.
@nintendosage @techdude not quite that simple-but the point is correct: calendars repeat.
Now we are porting calendars too!?!
I love that the ‘tip’ to defeat Mother Brain is essentially to buy a turbo controller lol lemme guess, the creators of the calendar probably also made turbo controllers
I think my favorite thing about this is it shows just how huge Punchout was back in the day in the west. Like seriously, these were the four big 1st party franchises back in the days I had the NES/SNES.
@techdude
Let me explain about Calendar patterns. 🤓
Ahem...
Basically calendar pattern will be repeated after certain years.
To determine on which year it will be repeated, just divide the last number of the year with number 4 to determine the remainders.
Here are the patterns :
1. If the remainder = 1 (2001, 2005, 2009, etc), the calendar pattern will be repeated again after 6 years. So, Calendar 2001 = 2007 for example.
2. If the remainder = 2 (2002, 2006, 2010, etc), the calendar pattern will be repeated again after 11 years. So, Calendar 2002 = 2013 for example.
3. If the remainder = 3 (2003, 2007, 2011, etc), the calendar pattern will be repeated again after 11 years too. So, Calendar 2003 = 2014 for example.
4. If there is No remainder (2004, 2008, 2012, etc), the calendar pattern will be repeated again after 28 years (2000, 2028, 2056, etc). But, the January and February on the leap year was SAME with 6 years ago while March until December on leap year was SAME with 5 years ago. Let's say Calendar 2016. January - February 2016 = January - February 2010, but March - December 2016 = March - December 2011. Interesting fact, if you sum the 6 from January and February with 5 from March until December, you will get number 11.
Btw, here is the pattern for Calendar 2019:
1991, 2002, 2013, 2019, 2030, 2041, 2047, etc.
Use the formula i mentioned above.
Every 28 years..... So I guess IT will attack this year again. Watch out
Hah! I totally had this. Oh, the memories...
Samus looks terrifying.
1991!? That's the year I was born....wait if you can use 1991 calanders in 2019 does that mean it's really 1991 again!? Am I being reborn? An I a pheonix!?😱🤣
Nice I remember a friend had one of these, thought it was cool at the time.
That trippy art is both awesome and weird. XD Great find!
I remember looking through this in a store. Vibrant art, fun layout, unforgivable Samus imagery. So, I put it back on the shelf. Fun to see it again, though!
Supah wierd lol
Wow dose of nostalgia. I actually owned that calendar.
My word, that Samus Design. It's so hilariously bad and good at the same time!
Looks like some random fan did the art rather than an official artist, but I like it.
Never seen this before. Pretty cool to see old designs like this.
I love the unofficial artwork of games that was prevalent in those days. Always good for a laugh.
Man that calendar is beautiful 👌 They put a lot of effort into it.
I would've loved to have it back in the day. Some of the art is wacky (like Mario's face), but obviously they did that to give the original sprites some expression.
They were even nice enough to include Jan 1992 just so you could enjoy the calendar a little bit longer. There's even a Gameboy reference on the back: Mario flies in that spaceship at the end of Super Mario Land.
@hatch SMB2 is so gloriously weird and different. It gets ignored a lot and is dismissed as reskin of another game (which history shows is a gross oversimplification)... but for my money, it's one of the high points of the 8 bit era's willingness to boldly experiment.
Seriously.
A 1985 calendar is valid this year.
Once again, The Simpsons shows us the way.
Also — 1985 is the year the seminal time-travelling classic "Back to the Future" was released.
Coincidence?
yes
@the_shpydar You took my reply!
I know I'm an old guy but wasn't 1991 a couple years back. (Digs out Happy Mondays and Charlatans vinyl lp's and CD singles...)
That looks like a cool calendar. I want one.
I had that calendar.
Good stuff.
@MoonKnight7 all calendars I've seen here have the follow years January.
King Hippo gets a spot on the front! Love to see those Punch Out characters again in some games. Do you think the reason why Nintendo hasn’t included them for example in Smash or other IPs because of fear of backlash? All your opponents are essentially different negative characatures and stereotypes of nations. Perhaps it’s wise not to stir the pot, but I found the characters to be highly unique and entertaining.
@the_shpydar
That's pretty cool.
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