Flipped through the September 1996 issue of GameFan—very charming! The cover story was on the just-released Super Mario 64, and it took me on a trip down memory lane. I absolutely adore SM64, having beaten it multiple times and devoured countless videos and articles chronicling its development and the quirks within, and even though I didn’t own it as a kid I think it was the first 3D video game I ever played. But even having such a long history with it, and even knowing how legendary it is, it’s easy to forget just how groundbreaking it was. Hearing the writer wax poetic about it really brought me back to that experience as a kid…I may not have had the same context as an adult, but it was still such a magical experience.
Vidya aside, it was fun to read the anime reviews in the back as well. For one thing, I didn’t realize that Oh! My Goddess received a five-part OVA before the TV adaptation. And goddamn, I do not miss those anime home video prices (the equivalent of like $40-60 for a single OVA episode!). They gushed about Evangelion and Hexbear-favorite Gunsmith Cats, the latter of which I still need to check out. There was also a nice little import section which tipped me off to this extremely 90s OST from a tactical RPG called Langrisser II.
edit: Went down an interesting little rabbit hole. In the fan letter corner, there was one particular letter that said
Thankfully, female gamers are staring to get noticed! Yes, we may be few and far between, but thanks to people like Jen Seng, we won’t all be seen as feminists.
…comment about feminists aside, I was wondering who Jen Seng was. Apparently she used to send in a lot of Guile fanart to the magazine, and later she was ghost artist for the Boondocks comic strip from 2004-2005!
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Thanks for sharing, very cozy video! Think I’ll go flip through some of my strategy guides—I don’t collect them or anything, but I still have a few from when I was a kid. I do kinda wanna get my hands on a few Japanese strategy guides but it’s hard for me to justify the cost for something that’ll mostly just sit on the shelf.
And I’d never heard of GamerFan, but it sounds pretty neat! Will have to check out some scans for myself.
I found a YouTube link in your post. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
