When Did You First Subscribe to Nintendo Power?

[Phillyman]

I think my first issue was the Megaman 2 cover, I stopped subscribing around the Nintendo 64 era and picked it back up when the Wii came out

[kitsunebi]

First subscription issue (#8)   Last issue I actually read (#34)    Last issue I received (#59)

Upon receiving my first issue (#8, 1989), I immediately went about ordering the previous 7 back issues.  For a time, NP was magical, and every issue that arrived in the mailbox was memorable and I devoured them cover to cover.

As time passed, I became less and less interested.  The early days of the SNES resparked my enthusiasm, but the difference between the 11 year old that got his first issue and the 14 year old that stopped reading NP was pretty huge.  Plus, by 1992 (the year of issue #34 - the last issue I remember actually reading), PCs had entered the SVGA and soundcard era, so not only were the games themselves more complex and interesting to an older gamer like myself, but the technology had finally caught up to the point where home consoles no longer had the advantage.  My game mag reading switched to Game Player's PC titles, and later when it premiered, PC Gamer.

Yet for some reason I continued to subscribe to NP for some time afterwards, with the most recent cover I remember being the #59 from early 1994.  Dunno why I subscribed for nearly 2 years without even reading the mag.  Habit?  Or maybe I was enticed by some sort of subscription/renewal giveaway (in addition to Dragon Warrior, I seem to recall getting some free strategy guides for renewing my subscription)?