New Release: Famitsu Issue 0001 (June 20 1986)

[kitsunebi]

Retromags Presents!

Famitsu Issue 1

June 20 1986

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Thanks to kitsunebi77!

[kitsunebi]

OK, here it is, the first issue of Famitsu – a landmark issue if ever there was one. Please be aware however, that this IS NOT a scan of the original magazine (which is super-rare and costs hundreds of dollars) but rather is a scan of a reproduction. The gray borders around each page are new to the reproduction, allowing them to occasionally print some commentary on the contents of the page. Otherwise, the content of the magazine, including the ads, is identical to the original.

However, the reproduction is printed at about half the physical dimensions of the original. As such, the quality of small detail suffers somewhat – a fault of the magazine’s printing, not of the scan. The copy I had also suffered from some water damage, which is visible in a few places. Even so, unless someone is willing to scan a copy of the original #1 (I won’t hold my breath), this is probably the best we’ll get, and I feel it’s an important look at the origins of the most influential video game magazine ever published.

Finally…the cover. This is where most of the damage was evident. Warped by water damage and extremely faded, the cover was in such bad shape that I opted to repaint it (something I would normally never do with a scan). It wasn’t possible to repaint all of the tiny spaces between the Japanese characters, so the text is a little muddy, but on a whole I feel the cover is much more presentable than the unadulterated scan. For anyone who finds such digital manipulation an abomination (moreso than spot clone-stamping here and there, that is), I have included the original scan of the cover as the final page before the Retromags splash page.

Anyway, this issue is a special exception. I hope you can look past its faults to appreciate the history!

Expect all future Famitsu issues from me to be more in line with the previous two I released.

[miketheratguy]

Wow, I won't be able to read a word of this but it's definitely an huge piece of gaming history. Looking forward to paging through it.

[kitsunebi]

It's actually not nearly as interesting as the later issues. The mag was just starting, and they didn't really have a lot of past magazines to emulate, so from a design standpoint, it's a bit primitive. But everything has to start somewhere.

[kitsunebi]

Actually, I just noticed while looking at the USA top 10 list that all the games supposedly retailed for $24.95-29.95. The NES wasn't on my radar in mid-1986, so I have no idea if games were that cheap when it first launched. Can anyone confirm?

Also, lol at how spoileriffic the Legend of Zelda review is...pics of Gannon, Zelda, and the ending screen. No need to play it now, kids!

Edited March 5, 2016 by kitsunebi77

[miketheratguy]

Actually, I just noticed while looking at the USA top 10 list that all the games supposedly retailed for $24.95-29.95. The NES wasn't on my radar in mid-1986. so I have no idea if games were that cheap when it first launched. Can anyone confirm?

I don't remember them being that cheap but to be fair I was only 8 so I could easily be mistaken.

Idunno though, $25 bucks sounds about as low as Atari games were. I'm remembering NES games as typically costing $40 - $50 dollars apiece.

[aloram]

Thanks for sharing!

[Sean697]

The beggining of the 8-bit generation was definetly a 30 dollar price point. Then newer were games started coming in at 40.00.

Edited March 5, 2016 by Sean697

[marktrade]

Wow, good work on that cover!

[pablumatic]

Pretty amazing how good that magazine looked in 1986 compared to what I was reading in 1989 with EGM.

The stage maps pictures they took back then looked perfect. I remember a lot of American magazines have a lot of difficulty achieving that seamless look.

The layout in general looks far beyond what I was seeing early on. Its at least 5 years ahead of its western counterparts and its the first issue.

[sqwirral]

Oh wow, thank you kitsunebi77, amazing upload.