Nintendo Power | Code Like It's 198x

Nintendo Power was a games magazine published by the company that made the games machine. Nintendo of America launched it in the summer of 1988, and it said so in every issue: “Nintendo Power is published by Nintendo of America Inc.” The name at the top of the masthead was the company’s president, Minoru Arakawa. It covered only Nintendo’s machines, and its readers got maps, tips, posters and advance news that no independent magazine could match. What they did not get was an outside view of Nintendo. The magazine ran for 24 years and 285 issues.

Fast facts

Publisher: Nintendo of America, 1988–2007; Future US, 2007–2012.
First issue: July/August 1988, bi-monthly, $3.50 an issue.
Monthly from: January 1991.
Last issue: December 2012.
First editor in chief: Gail Tilden.
Coverage: Nintendo’s consoles and handhelds only, from the NES onwards.

From Fun Club to magazine

Before the magazine there was the Nintendo Fun Club, which sent its members a free newsletter, Fun Club News. The first issue of Nintendo Power announced that “We’ve discontinued the Fun Club News” to put everything into the new magazine. It promised “more than 110 pages packed with in-depth tips, tricks and game reviews” six times a year, for $3.50 an issue or $21 a year, with an introductory subscription at $15. According to Wikipedia, 3.6 million copies of the first issue were printed, and every Fun Club member was sent one free; its subscription card opened “Now that you’ve experienced Nintendo Power magazine…”.

The masthead of that first issue shows how the magazine was made. Under the publisher, M. Arakawa, the editor in chief was Gail Tilden, with Pam Sather and Howard Phillips as senior editors. Phillips also appeared inside as a cartoon: the magazine’s comic strip, “Howard & Nester”, starred him as “Howard Phillips, President of the Nintendo Fun Club” alongside a young player called Nester. The masthead also listed a separate Japan staff, and the statement of publication said the magazine was produced “in conjunction with Tokuma Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd.”, a Japanese publisher; the editor wrote of flying to Japan “for a week to work with our Nintendo Power staff over there”. The magazine also printed the number of Nintendo’s telephone game counsellors (206-885-PLAY), who took calls six days a week.

Maps, tips and previews

The magazine’s strength was detail. Each issue took a few games apart with full-colour maps, step-by-step strategy and “Classified Information”, its section of secret tricks. “Pak Watch” told readers “when to look for the latest, greatest hits”. The first issue reported the queues for Dragon Quest III and noted how odd it was to find “American born, sword and magic games making one great hit after another” there. Every issue had a pull-out poster, and the prizes in its competitions included trips abroad and meetings with film and sports stars.

The magazine was never neutral about its own publisher’s industry, and it said as much about its choices. When it went monthly it told readers: “We’re committed to reviewing only the best games each month, so every issue will contain complete, specialized info on a few that we recommend highly.” It did still score what it listed. In the same issue a table of new releases gave Nintendo’s own Dr. Mario scores between 3.3 and 4.1, and Mindscape’s Conan scores between 2.0 and 2.2.

Looking back in its 100th issue, the editors recalled that the cover of the second issue, with “severed heads and an actual cow heart”, had drawn more complaints than any other. Nester’s comic ran until December 1993.

Strategy Guides and Dragon Warrior

In 1990 Nintendo Power alternated its regular issues with Strategy Guides, each given over to a single game; one covered Square’s Final Fantasy. From January 1991 subscribers received twelve regular issues a year instead, and the Strategy Guides stopped. “We’re going monthly!” the editors announced.

The magazine also promoted Dragon Warrior, the American version of Dragon Quest, to a public that had never seen a Japanese role-playing game. A preview in May 1989 said its release marked “the beginning of a new and different direction for NES games”, and the November/December 1989 issue carried a free 36-page Dragon Warrior strategy guide. In late 1990 Nintendo sent a free copy of the game to subscribers. Wikipedia, citing Chris Kohler’s history Power-Up, reports that the giveaway was a way of clearing unsold cartridges and that it brought in nearly 500,000 new subscribers.

The editors

Howard Phillips moved on in 1991. In August that year the magazine “caught Howard Phillips at his new post” at the LucasArts and JVC stand at a trade show, and in May 1992 it described its “one-time Power editor and game guru” as the director of creative projects at the publisher THQ. Gail Tilden stayed as editor in chief until early 1998; from the April 1998 issue the masthead named Yoshio Tsuboike in her place. She stayed at Nintendo of America and spoke for the company at the American launch of Pokémon: in September 1998 the magazine quoted “Gail Tilden, Supreme Commander of Pokémon forces in North America” on the games’ arrival that autumn.

Future US and the end

In 2007 Nintendo handed the magazine to the publisher Future US, which produced it from the October 2007 issue. Nintendo announced its closure in August 2012, and the final issue, number 285, came out in December 2012. Writing in Edge that month, Steven Poole listed it among the “much-loved magazines” that were closing as readers came to expect to read about games for free online. A Nintendo Power podcast, hosted by the magazine’s former editor Chris Slate, ran from December 2017 until 2023.

Sources

Nintendo Power issue 1, July/August 1988: the editorial (“our premier issue”, more than 110 pages, bi-monthly); masthead (M. Arakawa, Gail Tilden, Pam Sather, Howard Phillips, Japan staff); statement of publication with Tokuma Shoten; price and subscription offer; “Howard & Nester”; the counsellors’ telephone number; pp. 92–93, “NES Journal”, on Dragon Quest III; p. 105, “From the Editor”, discontinuing the Fun Club News.
Nintendo Power issue 6, May/June 1989, p. 54: the Dragon Warrior preview.
Nintendo Power issue 9, November/December 1989, contents page: the 36-page Dragon Warrior strategy guide.
Nintendo Power issue 16, September/October 1990: subscription offer including Strategy Guides “dedicated to a single game”.
Nintendo Power issue 18, November/December 1990, p. 97, editorial: “We’re going monthly!”, twelve issues replacing the Strategy Guides, “reviewing only the best games”; the table of new releases with scores for Dr. Mario and Conan.
Nintendo Power issue 27, August 1991: Howard Phillips at the LucasArts/JVC booth. Issue 36, May 1992, “Pak Watch”: Phillips at THQ.
Nintendo Power mastheads, issues 106 (March 1998) and 107 (April 1998): Gail Tilden and then Yoshio Tsuboike as editor in chief.
Nintendo Power issue 100, September 1997, “Thanks for the memories”: the competition prizes, the complaints about the second issue’s cover, Nester’s comic to December 1993.
Nintendo Power issue 112, September 1998: Gail Tilden on the North American launch of Pokémon.
Edge issue 247, December 2012, p. 36, Steven Poole, “Trigger Happy”: Nintendo Power closing.
Wikipedia, “Nintendo Power” (accessed September 2026) (web, secondary): Fun Club News as its predecessor; the 3.6 million copies of the first issue; Future US from issue 222, October 2007; the closure announced on 21 August 2012 and the final issue, 285, on 11 December 2012; the podcast hosted by Chris Slate, 2017–2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Power
Wikipedia, “Dragon Quest (video game)” (accessed September 2026) (web, secondary): the late-1990 giveaway to subscribers, its reported purpose and nearly 500,000 new subscribers, citing Chris Kohler, Power-Up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Quest_(video_game)