Nintendo Power Struggle

When you're this radical, you don't get your Nintendo news from the Internet.

In the early 90's I used to love it when my mom took me to the library. She'd be off doing Goomba-only-knows while I'd head over to the magazine section. You see, I was not fortunate enough to have a subscription to any of the "Premium" game magazines like Nintendo Power. Actually...I couldn't even get access to the cornball ones either *ahem* Gamepro *ahem*. But luckily for me, our local book depot gave free access to them (albeit tethered to wooden racks like we were in prison).

My favorite part was flipping to the middle and reading the Legend of Zelda comics. At that time, it was telling the story of A Link to the Past. I didn't care much about reading it out of order, because at that time I only had a NES. Still, it was a really exciting time for me.

If you were a radical Octorok like me, well, I have some troubling news for you today:

Nintendo Power Is Officially Cancelled

According to Cnet, the magazine's parent company, Future Publishing, allegedly lost it's contract with Nintendo to continue. If you're like me and had no idea that the official Nintendo magazine wasn't even run by Nintendo, you probably just took a Birdo egg to the face. In 2007, Nintendo threw in the towel for publishing the magazine, mainly due to the omnipresence of the Internet, and said "I choose you" to Future Publishing. Now, 5 years later, they've decided to just let the magazine quietly phase out.

What Does It Mean?

Nothing that we already didn't know. When was the last time you called the Nintendo Power Hotline for all the latest "Hot Tips and Tricks?" Decades! When was the went looking for a game related comic in a magazine? The 90's! When was the last time you trimmed your mullet? Don't answer that...

The dirge of the magazine is a surprise, but what's even more of a surprise is that it didn't happen years ago. Nintendo Power had nothing to offer than the Internet didn't except for the prestige of being in that in-crowd.

I'm a bit sad that they decided to end the 24 year legacy of NP, but feel they're completely justified in letting the old dog go to sleep. Nintendo is a company that sets their designs on staying on the edge of the frontier of the industry and, as such, it's natural that they'll focus their efforts in more lucrative mediums like Youtube. Still....it's a shame to see it go.

Oh, and I'm sorry if I made fun of your mullet. You're radical, don't ever change.