Did anyone here read GamePro back in the 90's?

[DanielMack]

I was just thinking back to the 90’s. I used to always read this magazine. I used to also watch the TV show. Gaming back then was so much fun. It seemed that every month there were new barriers being broken.

[ravenrules]

Yeah, I loved GamePro. Especially between 1992-1995 when fighting games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter 2 were all the rage.

[Sean697]

Yup. The first few years. Then I kind of outgrew it.

[E-Day]

I read it from the January 1992 issue up until some time in late 1995, early 1996. It wasn't that I didn't like the magazine anymore, but I wasn't really interested in the 32/64-bit consoles, so most of the content didn't interest me anymore.

[EightiesNES37]

Yes, but not religiously. I was strictly NES and SNES. Reading about Genesis, TurboGraffix, and NEO GEO was interesting, but I didn't have any of those systems so the sections about them were fun to read, but nothing that could help me with my gaming. I usually just glossed over the sections for the handhelds because I never got into handhelds at all. Got a Gameboy for christmas one year (that I never asked for) and traded it in shortly after for some NES games. GamePro was something different and it was cool to read reviews of NES and SNES that came from a fresh perspective. It was a fun read, but Nintendo Power was where it was at for me.

[RexRogers]

I started reading GamePro back in the NES era when I was a wee lad. I still have many of the early issues of the magazine. Recently I was feeling nostalgic and flipped through them. Some of those reviews were absurd in just how sycophantic they are. What I didn't realize was at the time the Atari 7800 was still having games published for it. I completely ignored those reviews.

Edited August 29, 2015 by RexRogers

[E-Day]

I started reading GamePro back in the NES era when I was a wee lad. I still have many of the early issues of the magazine. Recently I was feeling nostalgic and flipped through them. Some of those reviews were absurd in just how sycophantic they are. What I didn't realize was at the time the Atari 7800 was still having games published for it. I completely ignored those reviews.

During the time I read it, I would read every single thing in there. All the reviews for games I didn't have a means to play, the fighting game strategies, the ads...everything. By the time I started reading it, the writing had gotten quite a bit better. But in those early issues from the first year, some of the writing is atrocious.

[Leathco]

I didn't read it as much as EGM, and it dropped off of my radar during the Next Generation years. I thought their review system that had the guy with the faces was really cool and innovative, but even back then I felt maybe publishers were affecting game scores for certain titles.

[DibsNoJoust]

I bought GamePro every couple of months when it covered games I had or wanted. Fighting games were all the rage and they had all kinds of tips and tricks so I could beat my friends. Eventually didn't upgrade my consoles so the content became useless to me.

[parallaxscroll]

First time I saw and read GamePro magazine was at the newstand in a JEWEL-OSCO near Chicago in late 1989.

This one:

I read GamePro through '92 and then was done with it. I always read the Sendai Publications magazines (EGM and all the related stuff like Mega Play). After Ziff Davis bought EGM in the mid 90s I still read sometimes but not as often, having switched over to Next Generation & EDGE.

[E-Day]

If I had the means growing up (i.e. money), I would have read everything I could find or subscribe to. But GamePro was one of the few game magazines that could be bought in my small town; I think VG&CE was the other one that I saw. I had to get EGM when I was in the city, usually a couple of the summer months and a couple months leading up to Christmas.

[vnerob]

It was the first gaming mag I ever bought. I think it was the June 1992 issue. Taz was on the cover.

I'm not sure I even knew gaming magazines existed before I saw that issue on the rack. Maybe?

Anyway, I loved it. Since I discovered this awesome site and you awesome people who scan/upload this stuff, I've looked at a few issues again, and it's really interesting seeing it as an adult. Kids sure are an easily exploitable consumer base! And I phrase it that way because it's pretty clear that's how GamePro management saw them/us. Reading the database entry on how it all got started, and some other articles, really shed light on this too.

I know it's "just business" (though I kinda hate that phrase), and the capitalist in me does kinda like the entrepreneurial aspect of it all. It was no doubt exciting for those, just handful of people, to turn nothing into something. That "something" being a multi-million(?) dollar enterprise.

Anyway, 10 year old me loved GamePro. I paid a fair price, and I certainly got my money's worth. I'd pore over those issues I bought. Hours and hours of entertainment.

Would I have rather known the realities of business/marketing/influence and how the related specifically to journalism; about blurring lines, and all that, ahead of time? Well I wouldn't have understood anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter?

[miketheratguy]

While Nintendo Power was my magazine of choice between '88 and '92, and while Electronic Gaming Monthly was my favorite mag from basically 93 onward, I definitely had time for some Gamepro. I didn't like Francis Mao's omnipresent art and was always somewhat embarrassed by Gamepro's more kid-friendly tone (Puns. Puns EVERYWHERE), but Gamepro had more in-depth reviews than EGM and I liked their supplemental features like Lab Rat (which reviewed peripherals such as game controllers) and Watch Dog (which was a section where the staff looked into gaming questions and complaints such as faulty equipment or poor customer service, etc).

The most memorable time I had reading Gamepro was around 92-94 when Street Fighter was all the rage and the magazine was filled with special move booklets and enthusiastic commentary from Slasher Quan.

[vnerob]

The most memorable time I had reading Gamepro was around 92-94 when Street Fighter was all the rage and the magazine was filled with special move booklets and enthusiastic commentary from Slasher Quan.

I forgot about those! They were 'pull-out' style, and printed on different paper, right.

[miketheratguy]

I forgot about those! They were 'pull-out' style, and printed on different paper, right.

Yep, they were printed on less glossy paper that was designed to be removed from the magazine (presumably to take to the arcade). It was really big when Street Fighter II was released, though they did the same thing for Mortal Kombat II as well. Somewhere I still have the pull-out insert for that one, it was a really cool piece that ranked the characters against each other in a tournament setting to determine which ones were the most versatile (Jax and Mileena, for anyone who's curious) and which one provided the biggest risk of losing your quarter (Reptile).

[vnerob]

Yep, they were printed on less glossy paper that was designed to be removed from the magazine (presumably to take to the arcade). It was really big when Street Fighter II was released, though they did the same thing for Mortal Kombat II as well. Somewhere I still have the pull-out insert for that one, it was a really cool piece that ranked the characters against each other in a tournament setting to determine which ones were the most versatile (Jax and Mileena, for anyone who's curious) and which one provided the biggest risk of losing your quarter (Reptile).

I remember first seeing a SF one, and it finally clicking to me what combos were. I'd heard all this talk, previously, but didn't get it till then.

[RobertDuncan]

I've read a couple of them I use to love their layouts,readers response columns and the staffs humor the only thing I didn't like to much where their game ratings I thought they were kinda meh.

[pablumatic]

GamePro, Electronic Gaming Monthly, and Video Games & Computer Entertainment were the three gaming mags I read religiously in the early 90s. GamePro was my second favorite next to EGM, but I did like Gamepro's cover art a lot better than the slapdash designs EGM put out to scoop everyone else.

[acer]

For me it was the Nintendo fun club as my first mag. Now granted I was living in a rural area and did not know about other mags. My parent and I went to our grocery store, there it was. I was shocked to find out about other systems other than Atari, SMS, and Nes. Game Pro showed me Legendary Axe. Our sears wish book (I miss those too!) came in the mail the same month and saw the Turbo Grafx. In the end I ended up with a Genesis which is a story in itself.

The Your World will never be the same ad helped hook me and Hot at the Arcades Golden Axe looked good. My first issue to a bigger gaming world.

GamePro Issue 004 (November 1989)

Well the cover is gone due to lots of use, as in everyday and every where I went.

[Areala]

For me it was the Nintendo fun club as my first mag. Now granted I was living in a rural area and did not know about other mags. My parent and I went to our grocery store, there it was. I was shocked to find out about other systems other than Atari, SMS, and Nes. Game Pro showed me Legendary Axe. Our sears wish book (I miss those too!) came in the mail the same month and saw the Turbo Grafx. In the end I ended up with a Genesis which is a story in itself.

The Your World will never be the same ad helped hook me and Hot at the Arcades Golden Axe looked good. My first issue to a bigger gaming world.

GamePro Issue 004 (November 1989)

Well the cover is gone due to lots of use, as in everyday and every where I went.

Oh my gosh, those Sears Wish Books were THE BEST! My brother and I would argue over who got to hold it while we were looking through them.

*huggles*

Areala

[baphoon]

I read it all the time. It honestly was my favorite gaming magazine. I used to send in envelope art on a monthly basis just hoping it would show up in a new issue. I started buying them at the local grocery store I did that for about a year then finally realized how much I could save by just subscribing. I did that for about 4 years. I kick myself now however because I had all of those magazines boxed up and ended up throwing them all out in a move because I needed the space. At the time of the move I also gave away my Sega Saturn, Atari Jaguar, and Nintendo VirtuaBoy which I also kick myself for now because my nephews literally destroyed all of those consoles.

[miketheratguy]

I've read a couple of them I use to love their layouts,readers response columns and the staffs humor the only thing I didn't like to much where their game ratings I thought they were kinda meh.

You mean the rating system itself or the content of the reviews? I actually found Gamepro's reviews to be relatively in-depth, especially compared to the little blurbs that comprised EGM's reviews (though I did like the fact that EGM reviews were done by several people, not just one).

GamePro, Electronic Gaming Monthly, and Video Games & Computer Entertainment were the three gaming mags I read religiously in the early 90s. GamePro was my second favorite next to EGM, but I did like Gamepro's cover art a lot better than the slapdash designs EGM put out to scoop everyone else.

I liked the early Gamepro cover art as well (EGM had horrible covers in the beginning - they were basically just straight-up screenshots that were blown up to fill the cover. Very ugly). I didn't like the early to mid 90s Gamepro covers when Francis Mao's artwork was all over the magazine, however. I never found him to be anything more than a "competent" artist, someone who accurately represented the characters that he was illustrating but who apparently couldn't make them look anything other than soft and cartoonish.

Oh my gosh, those Sears Wish Books were THE BEST! My brother and I would argue over who got to hold it while we were looking through them.

*huggles*

Areala

Somewhere in some plastic storage bin I've still got my 1992 Sears Wish Book. I don't know why. The last time I remember looking at it was when I went camping with a buddy and we passed an evening drawing all kinds of obscene jokes in it.

You guys should archive the Wish Books. They're "retro mags", right? That would be awesome.

[E-Day]

I was never crazy about Mao's artwork either, but I appreciated that they had original art on their covers instead of stuff that was provided to them by the PR arm of a game publisher.

[miketheratguy]

I definitely give them the points for effort since one could describe a very large swath of EGM covers as screenshots, promo material or just the game's own box art. With Gamepro I just felt kind of embarrassed carrying around a magazine that had such doofy cartoon characters on the cover.

I mean it's this...

...Versus this.

[PhoenixVanguard]

GamePro was probably my third most bought magazine, behind EGM and Hyper (Australian multi-platform magazine). I always found it strange how they had aliases, like Air Hendrix. Weird..