Readers of a certain age will remember a time when the latest Nintendo news was brought to you alongside the glorious smell of ink, a shiny cover featuring your favourite gaming heroes, and - if you were lucky - the odd freebie like a double-sided poster or a pin badge. We're talking, of course, about print magazines.
We'd like to think that Nintendo Life is a welcoming online alternative, giving you a similar experience in digital form, but even we can appreciate the nostalgia for the likes of Official Nintendo Magazine, Mean Machines, NGamer and the like - and that's where Ninty Fresh comes in.
Ninty Fresh is a brand new and independently ran magazine aiming to cover all things Nintendo "from NES to Switch". The idea has been dreamt up by the team behind the lovely Switch Player Magazine, a UK-based project which has been successfully delivering print magazines to people's doors for more than three years.
A Kickstarter for the magazine has gone live today, aiming for just £2,000 to get things properly up and running. You can pledge your support, grab a copy of issue one, and read all about it right here. It'll feature editorials, interviews, reviews and more, with plenty of content already in place:
"Imagine, if you will, a cross between EMAP's Nintendo Official Magazine, Future's Official Nintendo Magazine and a dash of Retro Gamer and NGamer and that's what we hope to be bringing, all with that Nintendo flavour and familiarity that older magazines brought you. But in 2020. And obviously, with no affiliation to those amazing magazines.
Making your own magazine without advertising support or huge corporate backing is challenging, so this first Issue of Ninty Fresh is going to be an A4 (210mmx297mm) 80-page page-turner and will contain a smorgasbord of Nintendo content crammed into those pages. And no adverts."
Do you miss Nintendo magazines? Think you might support this new project to see what it's all about? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
Comments 43
I'll be honest, I mostly just go online for games news, but there are some special edition magazines that I pick up such as Retro Gamer's 'Book of Mario'. I'll definitely keep an eye on this though, it has potential!
Aren't there still some such Nintendo focused digital and print magazines running, such as Nintendo Force?
Is Pure Nintendo Magazine not enough?
I will check this out, because I prefer to read things physically, and it's easier and nicer to flip back through previous issues too. Of course, I would imagine Nintendo could make a few dollars if they were to publish a Nintendo Power collected book. I would certainly buy one!
Not that I’m complaining as I do miss the days of magazines, but I want to ask how saturated this market is becoming and how long do these magazines, especially Switch focused ones, feasibly see themselves being able to run for?
My kid's username is MintyFresh
Last time I looked at the video game magazines in the supermarket, they were eight quid. And very thin with lots of adverts.
You can download a pretty good eshop game for that.
I get the nostalgia, I used to read this kind of thing too.
But print magazine and newspapers aren't going to make a come back. They might have small niche followings but that's the best you're gonna get.
Times change. Like it or not.
@FragRed Switch focused ones? You'd imagine they'd remain relevant long as the Switch does....
By the looks of it though, this project isn't Switch specific and is more focused on Nintendo in general.
@The_Mysteron not the same dude, this is Nintyfresh🙄
Wiggety wiggety what's up, dude bros? I'm Ninty Fresh. I like skateboarding, supporting my sister, and punctuating every sentence with a high five!
They need 2400 money. So far they have 2100. Hurry!
I've backed it - I like that it's not just Switch but Nintendo in general. Should be some great retrospective features as well as the expected current coverage. Used to love NOM/ONM back in the day and the Switch Player guys do great work - looking forward to it!
I already subscribe to Nintendo Force magazine. It's a perfect continuation of Nintendo Power. Unfortunately, it's quarterly instead of every month. Other than that, I'm not missing much.
I do miss magazines, I subscribe to retro gamer so I at least have that and I pick up old magazines on ebay from time to time. I'll back it and see of they can make a success of it
@Rodan2000 Yes. I can read.
@MrGawain I don’t know where you live, but there hasn’t been a Nintendo magazine in a UK supermarket since 2014.
In order to stand out, a magazine shouldn't waste as much reporting news we could immediately on the internet, it should spend its pages on unique, well written features. That's no guarantee of success however, I still cry daily over the corpse of the official Nintendo magazine
@olrodlegacy
As I said, I was looking at video game magazines, not Nintendo ones in particular.
Much as I miss the sweet smell of that newly delivered Nintendo magazine, I think I'll pass on this. I just don't see it lasting in this day and age. It would need to be a really good magazine to stay afloat. And even then it could go away again within just a year.
Good luck to them though.
I find the key art and screenshot of the WiiU version in a GCN review pretty distracting, but I wish them well.
N64 magazine was the best.
The last time I bought a magazine was Edge. For its features, graphic design and for at least putting in effort to form an opinion and not just sucking corporate cok.
Nintendo Power suckered me in with comics back in the day.
@Dancampulung PNM is terrible. It’s reviews are so out of date and the digital issues are poor. Switch Player is great. More up to date and a good read for everyone.
They'll need an awful lot of good fortune and merchandising to get this to work.
But I wish them the best of luck!
Not worth it for international subscribers. As a devoted sub to Switch Player, this group has a difficult time fulfilling international orders. Half of all my issues were lost or destroyed in the mail, with only two ever being replaced. At $10+ per issue it's not worth it. Nintendo Force is the Nintendo magazine you should be buying.
The fact that this is UK based is fantastic. I've been subscribing to Nintendo Force for a few years now and with the fact that it is American based tends to mean the shipping can be a little pricey and I tend to recieve it quite late. Not really looked into Switch Player and not heard much about it in terms of quality. I'll definitely be looking into this for sure!
I love the idea of print magazines. I was subscribed to Switch Player and Nintendo Force. I've kept my subscription with Nintendo Force but had to drop the Switch Player because it was super expensive for the shipping from the UK.
The only thing though, is that I remember recently Nintendo Life showing news for another Nintendo themed magazine. I do think that the market is starting to get flooded. But I wish this company the best. It looks good.
I subscribe to switch player - the people behind this and like switch player - I’ve ordered this as it’s a nice idea.
Retro mag specials are very very good though and anything scullion does...
Ah! For people who like getting their news a month late. :3
Slow living for hipsters. How timely.
Even at the end of my game mag buying days, they still had a lot of stuff the Internet didn’t. That’s not the case anymore. I’d need a little more essentiality beyond just sustaining the medium.
I think Nintendo Force and GameInformer have the print-magazine area covered.
I was subscribed to Nintendo Power for years. It was always special to receive the latest issue. When I was a kid, I thought that Nintendo was talking to me directly as the magazine had my name on it and not my parents in the mail box. Nintendo Power and Electronic Gaming Monthly (first run) will always have a special place in my heart.
BUT...as much as this is a great idea, it will not work. Paper publications have been struggling for years and even more so now. Locally, there used to be 4-5 gaming magazines on the stands every month. Now it's 1-2 only...if they are there at all.
I don't know, man, I'd rather just a high-quality well-produced single-volume coffee table book. Or a series of them, each one on a different era or generation. This seems unnecessary.
Like to remind there are those with disparities that don't have internet and a book or magazine can provide a wealth of information. Digital can get corrupted or compromised and or one view point but print is a hard copy. Why else are Libraries still around. eBooks have plateau and books/magazine are holding their own - so people need to stop the stereotyping print is gone. Example LP once thought dead is still around.
Looking at the pages of this magazine definitely makes me nostalgic for ONM. I used to love getting that magazine every month.
Good luck to these people with their magazine.
I'm amazed that many in the same subculture who espouse the virtues of collecting physical cartridges and disks dont value physical print media. The reason you buy physical print magazines is partially for the exclusive articles and content, but more importantly the experience of the magazine medium. The combination of curated pictures, typographic decisions and editorial design to culminate in a reading experience you dont just consume but you enjoy.
Yes internet news will always be more conveinant, but legacy media like magazines arent competing on convenience, they are offering something altogether different.
That's why I happily have backed this project.
@ryancraddock Is it a British magazine?
Their Kickstarter page is too wordy. I know that's weird given they're trying to raise money for a magazine, but we need more images and snipet articles to buy in.
Tips & Tricks was my go-to mag back in the day. I have old issues of Nintendo Power which I subscribed to because of the free Dragon Warrior game. The game sucked but the magazine was great. GamePro was ok but their reviews were ass.
A Nintendo only mag could work but it would have to try do things that aren't in the mainstream. They would have to show us cool stuff we could do with our Nintendo consoles like how to homebrew on the Wii or how to play Japanese games on a US system. They could review different SNES emulators and maybe cover local game competitions like the YouTube series "Video Game All-Stars". They could offer free eShop goodies or Mario merchandise. It has potential.
First project I'm backing ! 5 euro for print seems fine to me !
Online and Nintendo Directs aren't a patch on the off the wall humour and sense of being part of a club you got from many of the old British games mags.
is there an digital unofficial review Nintendo magazine you can subscribe to online.
I mean, I like print media and I like Nintendo, plus $30AUD (inc. shipping) for the premium package isn't a bad deal. I'll probably back this.
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