RetroDefense

When a problem comes along You must Before the cream sets out too long You must When something's going wrong You must

I can think of a few. My Mario vans. My daughter custom painted 'em for me years ago. I wore 'em 'till they wore out. My wife's Super Mario Bros. 3 cross-stitch project. She spent weeks working on it, in a mad rush to make an impending deadline for our favorite charity event, the Mario Marathon. We only had minutes to appreciate the final product before it was rushed off in the mail as a prize donation. Not to be selfish but I hope she'll make me one someday. My collection of SMS cheat sheets. Back in the day (pre-web, mind you) I was big into information-gathering for the Sega Master System. Operated a SMS Mailing List, wrote a SMS FAQ, etc. I met many fine SMS fans online and one fellow was kind enough to donate a huge set of SMS cheat sheets he had received from Sega support. I began the process of transcribing these for the 'net (my only real option as scanners were expensive and OCR flaky) and shortly into the project was contacted by a Sega employee/game enthusiast who kindly sent me a disk filled with nearly everything already digital. I still have those cheat sheets today and they're a highlight of my ephemera collection. Not necessarily for the content but for the memories of gaming folk working together to share and preserve info. Probably one reason why I appreciate RetroMags so much, actually. In a similar vein, my PC. It lets me surf the Internets.

Next Generation, you sneaky bastards. I compared my non-CD editions of issues 24 and 25 against the CD-edition scans here at RetroMags. With each, the text on page three varies between editions. Not via a sticker or insert or whatever but the text printed on the actual bound page. The CD editions would hype the bundled disc and the non-CD editions acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary. I'm betting issue 23 sports Page Three differences as well. The CD-edition clearly hypes the disc. I've misplaced my non-CD edition copy (grumble) but I'm 99% sure the text is different. With issue 26, NG began including a "Next Generation Disc Contents" page in both editions. Page three matches between editions and probably continues to do so through issue 41. Or not, as RetroMags' #26 scan isn't a disc edition. #doh So there ya go. Two (probably three) NG content variants hidden in plain sight. Nothing incredibly substantial or anything - like, say, EGM's subscription-only bonuses - but interesting. If anyone is interested I can scan the variant pages eventually. Perhaps not to archival standards - I don't want to debind my NG collection - but for comparison's sake. "Useless Video Game Magazine Trivia for $100, Alex!"

Wait - NG began including CDs with issue 23!? Everything I knew about the world is wrong. I always thought they began including their own discs with issue 26. Huh. Issue 25 included the Sega Saturn compatible Christmas Nights Into Dreams Sampler disc. It wouldn't surprise me if this superseded their usual CD.

Was able to clarify the contents of Atari Age #3 (Sep/Oct 82) with some recent Ebay browsing. This and the Digital Press scan confirms the Christmas Catalog supplement currently missing from RetroMags' scan. I've updated my original post with the new info. E-Day, if you could do the same with the OP?

Yep, it's a loose supplement.

good!

A couple more odds and ends. Recent edits in red. EGM #4 The "address label" is actually a price label. The publisher mistakenly didn't print pricing info on the actual cover so it looks like they attached address label-ish price stickers before the issues headed off to the news stand. I remember this specifically when I purchased the issue back in the day. The issue I grabbed had the label - which I thought was odd - so I looked through the remainder on the shelf. Sure enough, every copy sported a price sticker. I've seen scans of this cover without the label but never with the price info printed directly on the cover. I suspect the scanner had simply removed the label themselves at some point or they received a subscription issue (which may not have been slapped with the price) and removed their address label instead. (Assuming EGM was offering subscriptions around issue 4 - I don't recall.) Given it's the "official" news stand version, I wouldn't think it inappropriate for the labeled cover to be included in RetroMags' preserved archive. Or perhaps throw two scans into the cbr - one with label and one without? EGM #100 It includes 1/3 of the 100-covers poster. I checked RetroMags' scan of #99 and its TOC mentions part 2 of the poster. Issue #98 likely included part 1 but I didn't see a TOC mention (albeit a cursory look). Neither of RetroMags' scans include the posters, unfortunately. I don't own #98 or #99 so someone else will have to confirm the completed poster details. Issue 100 came with a few loose goodies and removables, actually: Doublesided loose poster - Electronic Gaming Monthly 100 Issues (part 3)/Colony Wars Doublesided loose poster - Nuclear Strike/Nuclear Strike Campaign 4 map Doublesided tear-out poster - Tomb Raider II/Core games Tear-out postcards - two pages, 4 cards per page

I think we can flag this one as done. Publications database: https://www.retromags.com/publications/category/united-states/atari-connection-the-r319 Magazine database: https://www.retromags.com/magazines/category/usa/the-atari-connection/ Gallery: https://community.retromags.com/gallery/category/351-atari-connection/

This 'zine seems to have been partially added to the system? We have a publications dbase entry & magazine dbase entry but the magazine database has no issues listed and no gallery exists as of yet.

I meant well loved in terms of condition. Scuffs, some creasing, etc. I picked these up via the newsstand back in the day and read 'em front to back multiple times.

Fairly certain I've seen that Hudson ad a few times over so it can probably be tracked down elsewhere. I can scan the missing content page but really have no plans to debind my EGM collection. If this is acceptable it shouldn't be much of a problem - the actual page content doesn't ride into the spine and the star pattern backdrop bleed repeats throughout the International Outlook section. So some careful copy/paste work should do the trick during editing.

I can but my early EGMs are well loved. You should be able to put together a passable back cover - without the EB sticker - between the two though.

I'm still surrounded by boxes but decided to pull some early EGM to compare missing content against current scans. Having spent some time trying to figure out those Atari Age issues, I know how annoying the question of missing vs. not-missing can be. EGM #16 Pages 64 and 65 are missing. Both are advertisements. I snapped a quick cell phone pic - hopefully these ads can be easily retrieved from other scans. (I believe I spotted the FCI ad in EGM #28.) If not, I should be able to scan them as I won't have to debind my issue. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx3AyJz4gXR7VFVMMFRqY3l6Ync EGM #24 Pages 112 and 113 are missing. 112 is a content page featuring "Fact Files" for both Woody Pop (Game Gear) and World Class Leaderboard (Game Gear). 113 is a Verdict Telereviews, Inc. advertisement. I should be able to scan these as well. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx3AyJz4gXR7VGZveVlfYkZMc0k The Super Play page number hiccup is indeed a mistake on the magazine's part. EGM #28 I can confirm pages 48-63 are missing, six of which are content pages. I can provide specifics if you'd like. The other set of missing 16 pages (18?) following the Atari segment is a bit more complicated. It looks like EGM included a "loose" Montgomery Ward Electric Avenue advert supplement in the page count. This supplement was inserted into the 'zine immediately following the Atari segment. It isn't actually bound in the spine - instead, the supplement's back cover has a strip of glue affixing it to the next actual EGM page. I'm not sure if this was originally intended to be removable or if the glue in my issue has simply degraded over time but I'm almost certain there's no removing it now without damage. Here's a pic of the supplement cover following the Atari coverage. As you can probably tell, it isn't actually bound by the magazine spine. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx3AyJz4gXR7dVpvVU1oYlEzcUk The supplement runs 16 pages (including front and back covers) and includes its own page numbering. The back cover is actually a Miracle Piano ad and is clearly labeled page 16. The back cover also indicates Sendai was responsible for the ad so I'm betting the entire supplement was produced in-house. Perhaps it was bundled with other Sendai publications (perhaps even actually loose) making for an easier opportunity to scan and archive. I'll have to check my loose supplements some day. Here's a pic of the supplement's back cover and the actual, next page of EGM (a Tecmo Bowl ad), of which it's affixed approximately 1/2 inch inward of the spine (grumble): https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx3AyJz4gXR7dk5tTG0yMHFRcnM And turning the page, a Super Gaming ad with glue strip stain (grumble again): https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx3AyJz4gXR7alMxWndNNmdrems I hope both of these ads are available via other sources as I imagine it'll be tough finding quality copies of these pages from this particular issue. EGM #35 This was a page numbering mistake on the magazine's part - no pages are missing. EGM #44 Pages 68 and 69 are missing. Page 68 is a the opening page for this issue's International Outlook section. Page 69 is a Koei Aerobiz ad. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx3AyJz4gXR7S2wydGFBZTVOZFE I hope this helps.

Nice! That is a serious amount of audit work there. E-Day, you may want to add Sean697's audit thread link to this discussion's OP. So I assume you added the note about the missing pages to the EGM #16 description? I've thought about doing the same with the Atari Age scans and really think it should be done for any incomplete archived scan, actually. These forum discussion threads are great for active editors but I expect content notices - up-front in the database and download sections - are a better way to notify visitors/downloaders and may generate more assistance in terms of donated issues for rescanning, missing content scans, etc. At the very least, a downloader will be informed as to the content hiccups they'll encounter. It would just be a matter of remembering to remove content notices once a revised archive is online.

I've seen these categorized as newsletters elsewhere - I'm assuming they're fairly thin and mostly promotional? The North Star issue is #3.

Actually finished this game back in the day. No warps, no cheats. Completing Battletoads - along with Castlevania and Ninja Gaiden - is essentially my Al Bundy "four touchdowns in a single game" story. Personally satisfying but ultimately no one else gives a fig.

A PS3. Figured it was about time. I suspect I may have to replace my model 1 Genesis and/or Sega 32X soon. Dang it.

I noticed someone flagged RetroMags' EGM #16 scan as missing pages 64 and 65. I'm wondering if this is a page numbering mistake on the magazine's part or an actual archival error. I have a physical copy of this issue - once I manage to dig out my 'zines (still unpacking after a recent move) I'll give it a look and - if need be - scan the missing pages.

I remember E-Day discussing a similar subject a good while ago - cbr file size vs. px. I believe he decided to begin saving his original raw scans so higher rez versions could be released in the future as tech and Internet speeds improved. With ISP data caps making headway in the states and slow Internet connections still a thing (the horror stories I could tell), I'm willing to compromise.

bump Made some edits to the OP. Looks like the magazine ended with issue #56 (December 2015).