If I own Nintendo Power magazines that are "missing" can I add them to the collection here?

[HomerunChippah]

Hi all, I just found a box of my old Nintendo Power magazines, and it turns out that I have all of the issues that are "missing" in your collection ranging from 2000 through September 2002. My question is, if I make my own PDFs of the missing magazines, is there a way that I can add it to here so it becomes available?

Here's my proof:

http://imgur.com/a/Jjojo

Here are the issues that are "missing" here that I own and are planning on digitizing:

• Issue 128 (Jan 2000)
• Issue 129 (Feb 2000)
• Issue 130 (Mar 2000)
• Issue 136 (Sep 2000)
• Issue 137 (Oct 2000)
• Issue 138 (Nov 2000)
• Issue 139 (Dec 2000)
• Issue 140 (Jan 2001)
• Issue 142 (Mar 2001)
• Issue 143 (Apr 2001)
• Issue 144 (May 2001)
• Issue 145 (Jun 2001)
• Issue 146 (Jul 2001)
• Issue 147 (Aug 2001)
• Issue 148 (Sep 2001)
• Issue 151 (Dec 2001)
• Issue 152 (Jan 2002)
• Issue 153 (Feb 2002)
• Issue 154 (Mar 2002)
• Issue 155 (Apr 2002)
• Issue 156 (May 2002)
• Issue 157 (Jun 2002)
• Issue 158 (Jul 2002)
• Issue 159 (Aug 2002)
• Issue 160 (Sep 2002)

Thanks again!

Edited May 21, 2015 by HomerunChippah

[Phillyman]

Welcome HomerunChippah,

Absolutely! I can set you up with an FTP account to upload files directly to Retromags. Any issues that you can fill in would be much appreciated, I have many of those issues as well and can lend a hand

-Phillyman

[HomerunChippah]

Awesome!

Question: do they have to be actual scans, or can I use a camera (I have a decent 16mp point and shoot) to make up the issues (I don't own a scanner and I don't want to damage my magazines)? Also, can they be PDFs, or do they have to be in the .cbz format?

I'll do my best to digitize my magazines as soon as I can. I'll just bump this thread or I'll send you a PM once I get everything situated with all of those issues.

[HomerunChippah]

Ok so I digitized 1 issue (121 June 1999). This one was a trial run for me to see if I could actually successfully do it. I think it turned out pretty well. Only 1 or 2 somewhat blurry photos in the bunch. It took a bit of tooling to get the lighting correct.

What do I need to do to upload it to the site directly?

EDIT: Ok, I just realized that June 1999 was already on the site. My apologies. I still want to know how to get set up to upload to the site for the issues that you all are missing.

Edited May 29, 2015 by HomerunChippah

[Phillyman]

Hey HomerunChippah,

We have tried camera images of magazines in the past and it just never really turns out as a quality scan. Sometimes you can find a scanner for dirt cheap on Craigslist, as for the file format....we generally lean towards .CBR/CBZ files, but if you want to upload in PDF form, that is a choice you have.

[HomerunChippah]

Ok, cool. Maybe I can muster up a scanner somewhere. I also figured out how to make .cbr and .cbz files easily so that won't be an issue.

Oh so it turns out that I have all 12 issues from 2000.

And a few from 2001.

Will these work?

Edited May 29, 2015 by HomerunChippah

[lalalei2001]

Awesome! My favorite NP ish ever is 140. It intoduced me to Robopon and Metal Walker!

Emuparadise has some scans that you guys might not have, too.

http://www.emuparadise.me/magazine-comic-guide-scans/magazines

Edited June 29, 2015 by lalalei2001

[HomerunChippah]

Ok so I finally got a scanner. I have Jul 2001 digitized (I used a camera a few months ago, and it looks fairly decent), and I actually scanned Aug 2001.

Here are some examples of what the scan looks like:

Am I good to upload Aug 2001 to these servers? I have no idea how to do that.

Edited September 15, 2015 by HomerunChippah

[HomerunChippah]

Edit: I figured out how to upload it. Here you go!

http://community.retromags.com/files/file/3520-nintendo-power-issue-147-august-2001/

[E-Day]

There are several problems with this scan. The first is that the pages are not cropped. You can see the scanner lid and the other pages. The pages are also crooked and have not been straightened. In addition to that the images are too small. The cover image is 792 pixels wide by 1024 pixels high, including the unwrapped part of the scan. That is less than half the size of the scans that we do. I was going to direct you to our guides on scanning and editing, but I just saw that they haven't been put up yet. I'll see what I can do about that.

[HomerunChippah]

Ah, I gotcha. I can always resize them. I still have the original sized uncompressed images, I guess I just compressed them too much. I don't have much experience with image editing, but I can see what I can do.

[E-Day]

Well, the guides do still exist on the site, they are just a bit hard to find. For the moment you can find them at http://www.retromags.com/guides. I am currently updating them as I type this, so you will notice some changes if you view them over a few days. I will also make them easier to find.

[Sean697]

Ooh I've been using them this week actually. It's all been very useful stuff. You can find the current version by searching the site with scanning, editing , pre-scan, the last is is packing or compiling I forget. I get them all open on my browser for the last few days.

[RetroDefense]

Yep - those guides are very handy. I pretty much followed them verbatim when I began scanning for the site. I'm glad they're getting updated and will be made public again. Thanks, E-Day!

[E-Day]

I've updated the first three with the revisions I made in June. I am waiting to hear back from Phillyman to update the Editing and Releasing guides since I need to upload new images for those.

On top of that, the list of guides is now accessible from the navigation menu at the top under "Help".

[crillin]

I am currently trying to track down the "missing" Nintendo Power mags as well. Once I can acquire a few I will scan them and hopefully submit them. It sucks that NP is no longer around but we have to keep what was printed alive any way we can. i'm going to be checking every "retro game store" i can find in my area to locate anything that will help. I also have some feelers out to some friends in Hawaii that might have some decent luck in finding them too. when i was there a few years back i remember quite a few retro stores having a lot of mags, just not sure if they would have what we need.

[crillin]

question...if i am able to find digital copies of "missing" issues via other websites and/or people, even if i did not scan them myself, would they be acceptable to upload? i will preview and crop/cleanup as needed of course. (i'm kinda picky on how my scans turn out too )

[E-Day]

question...if i am able to find digital copies of "missing" issues via other websites and/or people, even if i did not scan them myself, would they be acceptable to upload? i will preview and crop/cleanup as needed of course. (i'm kinda picky on how my scans turn out too )

That is probably the biggest thing we don't allow unless the original scanner gives us direct permission. Just like we do not want our stuff showing up elsewhere without credit to our site, we don't want to do the same thing to someone else. If you didn't scan it, you shouldn't upload it unless you are working with someone else who scanned it for you and they don't mind where it shows up.

I have a box full of Nintendo Power magazines. I have not gone through them yet and marked the ones in the database that I have, but I will do so in the next couple of nights so that fewer issues will be missing.

[crillin]

ok, thanks. i just wanted to confirm before trying to submit anything. i figured it wouldn't be without at least giving credit to where i got them from but wanted to double check.

[seam]

On 9/14/2015 at 8:51 PM, HomerunChippah said:

Edit: I figured out how to upload it. Here you go!

http://community.retromags.com/files/file/3520-nintendo-power-issue-147-august-2001/

whatever happend with this? was 147 ever uploaded?

[HomerunChippah]

Hey all, I just remembered my password on this account. Just wanted to gauge to see if there is still interest in getting these missing issues scanned and uploaded that I listed in the first post. I finally have a decent scanner now and I think I can knock out getting these missing issues scanned and cropped decently enough to upload on here. Thanks!

[VGScrapbook]

2 hours ago, HomerunChippah said:

Hey all, I just remembered my password on this account. Just wanted to gauge to see if there is still interest in getting these missing issues scanned and uploaded that I listed in the first post. I finally have a decent scanner now and I think I can knock out getting these missing issues scanned and cropped decently enough to upload on here. Thanks!

Yes please! :)

[kitsunebi]

3 hours ago, HomerunChippah said:

Hey all, I just remembered my password on this account. Just wanted to gauge to see if there is still interest in getting these missing issues scanned and uploaded that I listed in the first post. I finally have a decent scanner now and I think I can knock out getting these missing issues scanned and cropped decently enough to upload on here. Thanks!

I don't really remember this thread from when it made the rounds 5 years ago...but looking at it now, I see a potential problem.  You may have changed your mind in the 5 years since you said it, but back then you said: "I don't want to damage my magazines," and the scan examples you provided were of a magazine that had not been de-bound.

I would never approve a scan of a full-length magazine that had not been de-bound, especially not of a square-bound magazine like later issues of Nintendo Power.  Not only is scanning the gutter side of the page not possible, but there is visible distortion and shadowing from the curve of the page near the spine visible on every single page.  This is OK for making a reading copy like you might find at the Internet Archive, but is unacceptable for the purposes the kind of quality preservation we strive to do at Retromags.  So unless you're willing to take your magazines apart, I can't see your scans turning out well enough to pass our quality standards.

Lots of people have sworn up and down that they can make a quality scan of a still-bound magazine, but I have yet to actually see anyone come close.  It simply isn't possible unless you have a magical scanner that can bend the laws of physics (some people have sworn up and down that those exist, too).  Hell, even with the pages debound, it can be hard to eliminate all curvature on the page when using a flatbed scanner, particularly on pages that were originally stapled.  That's one more reason all of the best scans are made by ADF scanners, since the rollers flatten the page as it gets scanned.

Anyway, before you decide to take the plunge and de-bind your mags for a quality scan, I'd contact E-Day and make sure that he hasn't already scanned whatever mags you're thinking of scanning.  A lot of Nintendo Powers have been scanned since this thread started in 2015, and E-Day has lots more magazines scanned and edited that simply haven't been uploaded yet.  So I'm not sure how many of the issues you listed are still unscanned at this time.  Best to confirm with E-Day before taking apart your magazines and doing any unnecessary work.

[HomerunChippah]

Yeah I definitely don't want to damage or de-bound my magazines. Here are some examples of one magazine I scanned and cropped just in case the quality is anywhere near what you might be ok with? I know the image size isn't too large but I can get a higher quality scan. i totally understand needing to maintain a certain standard of quality when preserving old magazines, and if any mod or admin would be willing to accept unbound scans of the issues that I still have that are still missing 5 years later, let me know and I'd be happy to submit them.

 

 

[kitsunebi]

As I said, I would not approve those.  There is visible distortion, blurring, and shadow on the gutter side of the page.  We debind almost all magazines that we scan here, not because we want to destroy our magazines, but because it's the only way to get a quality scan.  I'm not sure if most people truly appreciate the sacrifices that go into every scan they download from our site (from the relatively small number of thanks we receive, I suppose not.)

Don't worry, though, if you do ever scan your mags, they can always be added to the Internet Archive.  They don't care about quality (nor about stealing other peoples' scans - so you can upload them right next to their Nintendo Power collection, almost all of which they stole from us.  It'll be almost just like uploading your mags to the real Retromags!)

Please don't think I'm trying to discourage you from scanning your mags, btw.  Your scans might not be a fit for Retromags, but they WILL be appreciated no matter where they end up.