Old Magazine Chat

Here's the premiere issue of Official PlayStation 2 Magazine, cover-dated December 2000 and costing £4.99 (£60,000 in 2018 money):



This is the first console launch that I remember well. My brother and I were really fortunate that our Mum randomly pre-ordered a PS2 for us a good nine months before it's November 2000 launch, so we were able to saunter into Electronics Boutique on launch day and pick one up, whereas absolutely nobody else I knew could. Of course, with the console, you buy the magazine at the same time. "Welcome to the future":



As with Official PlayStation Magazine before it, you basically bought this because of the demo disk. To kick off, they gave you a shot of ISS and Wild Wild Racing. Hmm. Not a great showcase for the new machine, it has to be said:



All your usual previews, features and insight is here, with lots of focus on the brand-new hardware. It was an exciting time to be a PlayStation gamer, and while I wasn't wild for the launch games, the magazine did a brilliant job of highlighting how much quality stuff - future classics at that - were oncoming in the next year/year-and-a-bit.







Of notable interest is this interview with Hideo Kojima, who was busy directing, writing and producing Zone of the Enders, Metal Gear Solid 2, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters:







Onto the reviews. They give out a couple of 9/10s for SSX and Timesplitters, a handful of 8/10s for Tekken Tag Tournament, Silent Scope and ISS, and loads of 6s and 7s, left, right and centre, for stuff such as Smuggler's Run, Ridge Racer V, Aqua Aqua and Fantavision. These reviews surprised me, to be honest - they're truthful, fair-minded and right-thinking, and not really influenced by being shiny new games on shiny new hardware. I really should have read these reviews, rather than just bin the magazine after getting the demo - from this impression, they seem like a pretty good writing team!









Just the one baw-bootin' this issue, a totally unjust 2/10 for a Gradius collection. Acht! I just complemented the magazine for being fair and just - they're just ripping the pish with this review.



The PSone even got two page round-up devoted to it, which was fair enough, as it was still going strong in the UK and it was only a small amount of coverage in a reeeeeeeeally big magazine. Really, this is an amazingly meaty publication.



More meatiness, with reviews of DVDs, films out at the cinema, and some very 2000 albums. Quite an interesting array of films here.



To round it off, there's a behind the scenes feature about the making of the magazine. Even as a twelve year old, I thought making a games magazine looked like a piece of piss. Just me?



That's that!

That's a nice looking magazine and definitely seems, as you put it Cappa, a "meaty" read. I think the punting they gave to that Gradius collection is a bit harsh, but I think that's a relic of the times in that anything not shiny and new for the console gets a bit of a booting. A modern review would probably put a fairer take on it, I'd say.

I had a few issues of OPS2, but much like yourself Cappa, I bought it solely for the demo disc!

'words everywhere'

Looks jam-packed indeed. Not sure all of that content is good, mind: look at that slavering over the new machine on page two. At least N64 et al. made their slavering entertaining! Also, 3/10 for Pokémon the First Movie? 'Choking to death on Haribo Fun Mix'? That's my childhood you're being wrong about there, son!

These are from the first volume of NGamer's look at all Nintendo console games (up until April 2008):

The Mario Parties are the best ones, natch. Good work sir!

Every Nintendo console game though!?

Those Mario Party snippets are classic NGamer. Brilliant.

Launching all the way back on 26th September 2002 was Issue 11 of Cube Magazine, the “100% Unofficial Nintendo GameCube *something*” - let’s have a swatch.





£3.50 a month bought you “the only GameCube magazine that you’ll ever need”. Aye, naw. Cube always felt a little bit redundant to me, as it was definitely not as good as NGC in any way, shape or form, nor did it have that official affiliation with Nintendo as ONM did. Did the UK need a third magazine need a magazine dedicated to a console that was getting it's arse handed it to by it's competition? I don’t think I knew anybody who regularly bought Cube Magazine - it was just something you picked up between issues of other magazines, or at least that’s what I did. Still, it’s all right, and it would probably be very decent in 2018.

Here's the news. The bad news. “Mixed Blessings” is a generous way of describing the GameCube’s plight in late 2002.



Fair enough if you’re putting on a brave face, but in reality, “Utter Baws” should have been the headline. I recall that sales were very disappointing, and shops like PC World and Curry’s were already clearing out their stock at reduced to clear prices just five-six months after the GameCube launched in the UK. I don’t remember the Christmas schedule being that busy either. What did you get for Christmas 2002?

Metroid Prime is the lead preview, with a cringeworthy tagline wheeled straight out of 1996.





The other previews, to be fair, don’t hold back. If a game was looking shite, Cube told you it was looking shite. So that’s good. But, “the Spice Girls ain’t got nothing on Samus” - boak.

Moving on, the “Let’s Take It Outside!” feature that’s advertised on the cover looks at the past, present and future of beat-’em-ups on Nintendo’s home consoles. The idea behind this seems a bit unusual to me, seeing as Nintendo and beat-’em-ups never really associated themselves with one another. Still, an interesting enough read if you can be arsed:











Skipping straight to the reviews, here’s the Cube’s Timesplitters 2 review in full. They liked it a lot (and as they should - it’s universally agreed to be absolutely brilliant, and in desperate need of a version on current gen).







The other reviews weren’t nearly as flattering. There’s loads of them in this issue, but everything seemed to disappoint, with the majority of games (like UFC Takedown, Turok Evolution, Tetris Worlds and Taz Wanted) each landing a mediocre score of between 5 and 6.



These two Game Boy Advance games faired a bit better though.



Here’s the full GameCube reviews directory if you’re interested. I’m not sure I can trust “the only reviews you can trust” when they list Aggressive Inline as being the fifth best game on the GameCube, but it’s all one.



The letters page, an interview with a game dev and a bit of nostalgia for Super Mario Bros. 3 round it off for another issue of Cube:







Not "The UK's Best GameCube Magazine" as they claim, but I quite enjoyed going back to it for this post. Does anybody have any fond memories of Cube Magazine that they’d like to share? Please tell, as I don’t think I’ll be able to revisit this magazine - sadly, I dumped a lot of them a few months back!

I remember having a few issues of Cube, but a what time when you think about it as the Cube wasn't a huge success but we had 3 magazines and was there any for GBA?

Now we've got a handheld with over 70m install base and you've got the Switch doing excellent numbers and we've got nothing.

Internet, innit.

I think I might have had a couple of Cube magazines from back in the day, when I was desperate.  The main thing I took away from that is that they're using a beta Mario Sunshine screenshot after its release. Professionalism!

Also: SFA, 'Rare's greatest gaming moment'?  Not how I remember NGC putting it...

I don't disagree the internet has played a big part in it but we still have mags for the others along with random ones such as one for Fortnite. I know you could argue all those are more popular things but I think I remember Zero comparing Nintendo to Vinyl and we get magazines on that.

Before I jumped across to NGamer for the Wii days, I bought CUBE as my Gamecube magazine of choice. I may even still have a few squirrelled away in a cupboard somewhere. I'm pretty sure they were doing DVDs of trailers with a few of the magazines which is what attracted my pre-teen eyes to their offerings.

Props to them giving Timesplitters 2 a glowing write-up - that game is a belter.

Bless it, I ended up with a couple of Cubes - they did feel a bit dry compared with The Greatest One.

I had a bit of a squint reading the fighters section (you'll probably tell me I missed the obvious way to zoom in) - I forgot there was a mini-resurgence at the start of the millennium...

Went through some of my old mags and I do have some ONM, OXM and OPM but all fairly new covering likes of Mass Effect 3 and Rayman Legends but did find this one


We had some chat on that one Jas and I awhile ago as I'm some that loved VEGAS as the single player was great and it was one of the first big games on games Xbox Live, it really did it all that to see patriots was cancelled for siege is a tad disappointing even if it is one of the best games around in the genre now, just seems now you don't get both a decent single player and multiplayer, you have one or the other.

But something more interesting is my old Dreamcast mags, I only have three which I've picked up places or in lots and all are from Paragon Publishing like that Cube one from Cappa. I believe most will know Chandra who went onto ONM (I think) who is a contributor in this issue but I believe is editor in two or three issues time for this Dreamcast mag.

Cover of Issue 26


News which there is a fair bit especially seeing where the Dreamcast was at the time


Previews which covers what would a big exclusive for a while, one of the last games on the system and a PS2 game


Next up we've got reviews which unlike the news which makes out the Dreamcast is alive and kicking we get a PS1 game reviewed because of Bleem and imports, I think Cappa posted an early Cube mag which was a bit like this where due to the lack of things imports were a big deal just this is at the other end of a systems life

A few other bits, I did also take pictures of the DVD, Web sections etc but I seemed to have like 35 pages and looking back most put up are about 16 that I've stuck to news, reviews, previews and you might like the reader mail


That's everything and I do have two more which one is a look back at the best games of 2001 for the Dreamcast

These are class - thanks for uploading them! That Spec Ops 2 review that's planted with an 18% rating is disappointingly balanced though. And starting off your letters page with "I think your magazi£ne is the dog's b*****ks!"is poor form! I bet NGamer didn't need to be told that they were the dog's bollocks in the early days, they must have known that.

Those mobile phones - ah, thinking about gaming on those is mind-boggling now, but I do remember doing it.

I've had a look in my cupboards for old magazines, but I think they're up in the attic now. I'll have a look at some point.

Top stuff Mas! It looks like it might have been a properly decent magazine too, what with a section devoted to some bloke in the pub. On the other hand, certain bits haven't aged well. Ooh, a female contributor, wonder what they have to say about... oh. Oh dear.

Thanks, guys I'll do the others over the next 2 months.

I guess why the guy told the mag they were the dog's bollocks was that the mag was near its end, some must of done the same for NGamer.

I used to have a full set of those Dreamcast mags but got rid of them a few years back. Their content wasn't that great compared to DC-UK and the Official magazine, but I admire some of their scores (giving Shenmue 85% when every publication was raving about it, re-scoring Sonic Adventure from 90% to 75%). The magazine at the time seemed to have a lot of music, DVD and comic reviews, trying to tap in to that FHM culture at the time. The magazine is an interesting piece of history as it ran until April 2002, when the Dreamcast was officially dead from Jan/Feb 2001. I think this was to push Dreamcast fans over to the Gamecube and Xbox as CUBE and XBM did start running ads in the last issues.

Most of these magazines are available online in scan-form.

Even if this issues they point they're the last Dreamcast mag they know of worldwide. I was more of a ODM because of the demos.

In amongst OPS2M, Cube, ONM, Dreamcast Magazine and all that bollocks, one legend stood alone. Here’s Issue 59 of N64 Magazine, which was the very last issue of that publication in this guise, before it’s rebirth as NGC Magazine.



Galleon is on the cover. I've not taken any photos of it's lengthy preview for two reasons: one, I have no idea if it ever came out; and two, I thought it looked like shite. That SSX Tricky preview as well, it just slanders the game for being an iffy port. I thought it was all right in the end, and Tricky itself was one of the best games of the year in one of the best year's for gaming.

“Up next: it’s the future!”





‘Up now: not a whole lot’, as you can see from the contents. It’s quiet times if you’re a UK Nintendo gamer, with the N64 disappearing from shops, the GBC surviving on licensed stuff, and the GBA arguably not yet living up to its hype. Of particular note is the fact that there’s no new N64 reviews!



As always, Newsdesk kicks it off. This was from a time where I still got all my gaming news from magazines such as this, so it was usually the first thing I read:



My cock and balls just about exploded when I first saw Super Smash Bros. Melee, which I’m sure was right here, in this very magazine that you’re looking at right now. It looked beautiful in print, as did Wave Race: Blue Storm and Turok Evolution. Animal Crossing looked like shite, but it didn’t start a fight. Super Monkey Ball didn’t look like much either, and that preview didn’t leave me all that convinced. I skipped it on launch day, like an absolute fud.







All those games were miles away if you were in Europe - without importing them, you’d be waiting at least nine months between August 2001 and May 2002 for the launch of the GameCube, Wave Race, Super Monkey Ball and more. So, it was all about the Game Boy Advance in late 2001.



Mario Kart: Super Circuit was undoubtedly the biggest GBA game to date, and it got the coverage to back that up. I waited ages for this, and bought it on launch day. I returned it to Electronics Boutique the next day, partly because I didn’t immediately like it, and partly because gaming seemed very unimportant after 9/11, which happened earlier that week.







More reviews. Denki Blocks was great!



Here’s Game Boy Gallery! This feels ancient in a magazine that’s featuring Melee as coming soon.


We’re thin on the ground for features, sadly. It sounded like it was all happening at Retro Studios in 2001.



Here’s some other stuff that you’ll recognise if you were a long-time reader:











End 64 wraps up the issue, and marks the end of N64 Magazine too.



For me, it’s still the best gaming magazine ever, and many of us here would likely cite it a major reason why they’re posting here today.  

Thanks for sharing Cappa. N64 was a wee bit before I properly got into gaming magazines so it's interesting seeing how things looked in the N64's dying days. I'd have been all over any morsel of SSBM back in the day. I also love their mild optimism for that Universal Studios game.

N64 Magazine is indeed the GOAT of video game magazines.

I recall Galleon moving to the OG Xbox and being released YEARS later. Very odd. A bit like Kameo which I'm sure was an early GameCube game that ended up on Xbox 360.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit was a game I had at the time and adored. Mario Kart 64 was still a fantastic multi-player game and Super Circuit felt much more substantial for the solo player.

Super Circuit was my first exposure to Mario Kart. I remember finding it brutally tough as a younger sprog and failing over and over again trying to do the shortcut in Ghost Valley 1.

Now this is what I'm talking about! You can shove yer other magazines: this is where it was it.

I didn't actually care for Mario Kart SC's single-player. It was reliant on collecting coins to unlock things, but you could lose them to stuff outside your control - lightning, blue shells, Boos. I loved its music, though, back in the day. Loved it!

Shame the pics of the Directory are too blurry to read - I remember there being some classic stuff in there, especially for the game they made up to demonstrate how it works.

Even in this era, Game Boy Gallery was still great. Not a top month for it, but it was amazing what people could get up to on the old GB Camera.

Nintyspong.com: horribly accurate. Clickbait, tit pics, and 'stuff we wouldn't be able to put in a proper publication 'cause we'd be sued.' It predicted the future, pretty much.

Spaceworld.

All in all, another great scan of one of the moments that made magazines for me, and, as you say, brought me here. Top work!

*sobs*
You're doing the Lord's Work, Cappa.
N64 magazine was just fun.
Also, I did get Denki Blocks but for some reason was too stupid to be any good at it. I really struggled.