You've probably seen on YouTube or other internet video sites the "Let's Play" idea, where one person sits down with a game, a microphone, and a screen capture utility and proceeds to play through an entire game while offering running commentary, pointing out secrets, and in general just showing off what the game has to offer. Well, I'm not cool enough to have a video capture device or a microphone or the desire to sit and blabber my way through hours of games. What I am cool enough to have though, thanks to Retromags, is access to untold gigabytes worth of classic magazine goodness, and an inability to keep my mouth shut about such things. So I decided on a slight modification to the idea of Let's Play, and instead I plan to read through a particular game magazine (or series of magazines if this idea takes off and gets enough support) and offer commentary on everything from the layout of the magazine, the artwork, the letters printed inside, the games that are reviewed or previewed, the editorials, and everything else from cover to cover in a given issue. If nothing else, it will keep me out of trouble for a little while.

Of course, having the idea is all well and good, but then I began to wonder where on Earth I should begin. After all, the site archives over six hundred items for download. It didn't take long to realize that, really, there was only one choice for me, and that was the first magazine devoted to console gaming that I ever read: issue #1 of Nintendo Power. What follows are my thoughts and observations as I page through this little piece of Nintendo history. Let me know what you think.

Nintendo Power, July/August 1988 - 110 Pages - $3.50

Ah, nostalgia. You really cannot beat that feeling, and I was only one of thousands of kids who opened up his or her mailbox in the summer of '88 to find this little gem in there, courtesy of Nintendo themselves. And back in 1988, there was no bigger news than the arrival of Super Mario Bros. 2 - cue the claymation cover art featuring Mario, Wart and some assorted vegetables. It may not look like much now, but wow was this awesome at the time.

Interestingly enough, right inside the cover is an ad for the Nintendo Help Line, showing a group of kids reading a copy of Nintendo Power #1. Take a look at the cover of that NP#1, though, and you'll see that it's an artist's mock-up of the cover and not the real thing. No wonder they're calling Nintendo...someone gave them a prop instead of the actual magazine.

The Welcome editorial gives an overview of what the magazine is and who it is for. Right now Nintendo is offering it bi-monthly, but in the future this will change. Presumably they're still getting their feet wet with magazine publishing and aren't sure how well it will take off. The table of contents also does a staff roll for both US and Japan, and gives the subscription rate at $21 for a year, which is the exact same as the cover price for all six issues...not much of a savings there yet. (Edit: I made a mistake here; the subscription card in the back shows a rate of $15 for six issues, which is a savings of $6 off the cover price. My bad!)

Super Mario Bros. 2 - This was easily the meat of the issue, being a full-fledged overview of one of the most-anticipated NES games of the time. Details the playable characters, the enemies, the game mechanics, and provides complete maps, hints and secrets locations for World 1-1 through World 2-3 as well as a cute two-page spread illustration of the various characters engaged in a track and field day. One thing to notice is that Nintendo Power is very liberal with their exclamation marks! They want to make sure you are suitably excited about everything that is Super Mario 2! As a kid, this isn't so annoying! As an adult, it gives me a migraine!

Zelda: The Second Quest Begins - By this time, the fact that the Legend of Zelda contained a second quest after beating Gannon the first time was pretty common knowledge. NP gives us the code to start directly on the second quest right at the start of this nine-page section (enter your name as "ZELDA"), explains what is different about it from the first playthrough, gives complete maps for the first six dungeons, and a fold-out poster that shows the entirely new overworld. At the end, they can't resist throwing in an ad for the soon-to-be-released Zelda II. The back of the poster contains a nice "Illustlation" (gotta love the Engrish there) by Kaz Aizawa advertising Bases Loaded, R.B.I. Baseball, and Official License Major Leage Baseball, all for your NES.

The poster is a nice lead into Baseball Roundup, which is nine pages of information about the three afore-mentioned baseball games. Ho-hum for me as I'm not a sports fan, but anybody trying to decide which of the three to buy at the time would have loved this side-by-side-by side.

Counselors' Corner - The place to have your questions answered by people who had the coolest job in the 1980s: Nintendo Video Game Counselors. One call solves 'em all, but in case your parents won't let you dial a 900 number (for those of you who don't live in the US, numbers with a 900-area code charge the caller per-minute, making it possible to rack up an obscene phone bill if you don't get off quickly) the Counselors are nice enough to answer some of your letters in this column. In this case, it's some questions about the presence of a stage select in "Ghosts 'N Goblins" and strategy for beating the Red Devil, what the 'P' that occasionally flies into the ring in "Ring King" is for, a fairly comprehensive map of "Metroid" showing the locations of most of the power-ups in the game, the reveal of the infinite 1-Ups trick and what the fireworks mean in "Super Mario Bros.", how to beat the boss Hewdaw in "Kid Icarus", what to do with the Pegasus Flute in "Rygar", tips for beating the five boss characters in "Castlevania" (presumably the giant bat doesn't merit 'boss' status?), the continue and stage select codes for "Ikari Warriors", and some general strategy for beating Mike Tyson in "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!" (note that at no time do the counselors advocate standing in front of your TV with middle fingers raised screaming expletives; this concerns me because an awful lot of my game-playing friends seem to swear by this method). All in all, pretty good general info to know, especially if you don't have to pay the per-minute rate for a call.

The comic Howard & NESTER premiers in this issue, though it's not terribly funny even to a younger kid with Nester (personal aside: it took me years to realize why Nester was named NESter...yes, I really was that dense...) trying to come to terms with the fact that Howard Phillips, the President of Nintendo of America, knows everything about the Legend of Zelda. Well, they can only go uphill from here, right?

Classified Information - Be honest: this was why you wanted a subscription to Nintendo Power. Sure the reviews were nice and all, but Classified Information was where it was at, with secret codes printed that would allow you to break your games wide open, including the now-infamous "Konami Code" which debuts in this issue as the 30-life code for "Contra". All other secret codes bow in majesty and awe of this mighty weapon of the gamer's arsenal. Compared to that, a code to remove the goalies from "Ice Hockey" or a stage select for "Rad Racer" just can't match up.

Double Dragon - An 8-page sort of mini-guide to the game, including stage maps for the first four stages, a breakdown of the enemies and your special moves, and some little previews of stage 4. Very useful for what it provides.

Now Playing - This feature takes a look at newly-released games and provides a very general overview and introduction. "Gauntlet", "Contra", "Wheel of Fortune", and "Jeopardy" get write-ups. This is wasted on the game show games, as everybody who had a TV in the 80s knew what they were all about, and an extra page each to the other games would have been a much better use of space in my opinion.

Video Shorts - Just like "Now Playing" only shorter. Mini-previews of about 2-3 paragraphs and a couple of screenshots for upcoming titles. This time, "Legendary Wings", "Iron Tank", "Gun.Smoke", "Rambo", "Dragon Power", "Metal Gear", "Bionic Commando", "City Connection", "Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road", "Star Force" and "Freedom Force" get write-ups. There's not really enough to do more than whet your appetite, as the writing and screenshots is about what you'd get on the back of the package, so it's unlikely to add any fuel your desire to buy the game.

Pak Watch - Because "Video Shorts" wasn't short enough. Little one-paragraph ad copy for eighteen more games that you need to know about. "Golgo 13" and "1943" get a single screenshot apiece; the other sixteen aren't so lucky. At least all of these games are eventually released in the US; later on we'll see titles mentioned here that subsequently drop off the face of the earth.

Player's Poll - A little poll/contest all rolled into one that Nintendo can use to gather a crap-ton of demographic data on their readers.

NES Journal - "Dragon Quest III" releases in Japan, and society as they know it comes to a grinding halt because of it. Keep in mind that at this point in time, the first "Dragon Quest" (or "Dragon Warrior" as it became known over here) had yet to release in the US, so this was pretty big news. A mini-review of the Vindicators arcade game, an ad for the Official Nintendo Players' Guide and Zelda Tips & Tactics booklet, and the finalists and winner of the "Top Gun Video Game Shoot-Out Contest" are announced ($5,000 just for playing a video game...you could show this to a parent who tried to use the argument that video games never got you anything...). Also write-ups on the movies "Vibes" (Cyndi Lauper starred in it...that's all you really need to know, trust me), "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" (this has been out for 3 years already...why is this news now?) and "Eight Men Out", and gaming profiles for teenage actors Kirk and Candace Cameron, stars of the TV shows "Growing Pains" and "Full House" respectively. The "as-of-yet-untitled movie co-starring Roy Scheider and Jamie Gertz" referred to in the article is 1989's college debate-themed "Listen to Me" in case anyone cares.

Then we come to the Mail Bag...we get some letters that read like they were written by ad execs themselves touting "Legend of Kage", "Rygar", "Metroid" and "Double Dribble", a revelation that Howard Phillips has over 300 Nintendo games of which only around 100 are available to the public at this time, a letter from a woman who had to get an NES after her grandson introduced her to it, and a request for information on how to get one's own Official Nintendo Player's Guide ($11.95, from Nintendo). Oh, this was painful, but we'll get through it eventually, won't we...?

NES Achievers - Think you're bad enough to make it into the annals of NES gaming history? Check out the scores from other players around the USA and start crying. There's something of historical significance to note here, though: future game designer Cliff "CliffyB" Blezinski set a top score of 99,999,950 points in Super Mario Bros. This man's path of destiny was clearly set early in life. Also, check out the top score in Kung Fu, because that's a girl that just kicked all your asses. Suck it down, Scott, Erik and Brian...suck it down! Heidi rules, boys drools (or something).

Video Spotlight - Face it, when you were a kid, this was where you wanted to show up in Nintendo Power. Today, of course, this is comedy gold for the likes of SomethingAwful and Seanbaby, but back in the day, if you got your picture in Nintendo Power, you were the baddest of the bad in your city. One wonders where the likes of "Ace Ebb" (who has "no pets, instead he plays Nintendo all day") are now in the world.

Top 30 - A ranking of the hottest NES games as determined by answers to a poll from the last issue of the "Nintendo Fun Club" newsletter. Not surprisingly, "Legend of Zelda" sits on top, where it pretty much has been since it was released. "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!" will come around and dethrone Zelda eventually, but for now it's number 2. "Metroid", "Super Mario Bros.", and "Kid Icarus" round out the rest of the top 5. My only real question is, "Why does the illustration under the Pros' Picks column look like a redneck lumberjack instead of a (presumably) video game reviewer, the likes of whom are being asked to tally their favorites?"

And then it all ends with a preview of Next Issue and a little note from Howard Phillips about what subscribers can look forward to in issue #2, as well as the revelation that he's working "real hard" on Zelda II (doing what, Howard? You're the President of NOA, not Shigeru Miyamoto here...). Our mock-up of the magazine joins us one last time in a back-cover ad for a subscription in which it appears a television set is ruthlessly devouring three callow and innocent youths, and...we fade to blue.

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So, what did you think? Enjoyable? Sucked? Want to see more, or should I not bother? And if I do continue, should I keep going with Nintendo Power? I've had fun with it, but did you? Your comments will drive my blogging, so don't be shy - let me know!