If you need a quick and heavy dose of gaming nostalgia, there is no better solution than flipping through an old video game magazine. Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) has been around for nearly 20 years and now you can easily browse through their very first issue in PDF format. Phillyman from Retromags.com was finally able to track down this premier issue in good condition and scan it for us all to enjoy.

Download the EGM #1

• PDF Torrent (please use this)
• PDF Direct Download
• Get CBZ File from Retromags

Buy The Real Thing on eBay

If you would like to own the real thing, Phillyman is now putting this very issue up on eBay in order to raise funds for the site and pass the joy onto someone new. (I will probably join in on the bidding myself)

• View EGM Issue #1 eBay Auction

Get Involved With Retromags

If you willing to contribute to this great archiving project another way or would just like to learn more about it, please check out this post from a while back.

Just to let you know, I will be working with RetroMags by sending in some of my early EGMs to be scanned so it will bring Phillyman very near to completing his collection of the first two years of Electronic Gaming Monthly (1988 and 1989). He will still be missing a few issues, so please contact him if you are able to help out.

Every now and then I like to promote sites and projects that I think are beneficial to classic gamers and that enhance our experiences and old-school gamers. One of my favorite projects has been going on for a while, but I decided I need to have a special feature on here to gather more attention to it and possibly get more people involved in helping out.

What Is Retromags And Why Is It Important?

The primary goal of RetroMags is to scan classic gaming magazines into a digital form and distribute them as CBR or PDF files. So far, most of the scans have been of Nintendo Power magazines, but there are a number of other titles that have been scanned and are in the process of being scanned.

While copying and distributed previously published works may be technically a form of copyright violation, RetroMags has a firm policy of not distributing any publication that has been published within the last seven years. I’m sure if they ever recieved formal complaints from the publisher or the publisher started republishing the material, they would gladly take it down. Like other less-specialized scanning projects like the book initives at Amazon.com and Google, RetroMags is a valuable project to help spread information that was previously unavailible in digital form.

The Internet is a wonderful resource for finding all sorts of information and articles about countless video games. However, most coverage of the gaming hobby and industry on the Internet is limited to games and stories that occured prior to the late 1990’s. This was one of my primary reasons for covering the content I do here at Racketboy, but there is a wealth on information in print form that has never been made availible online.

How You Can Help

On the surface, RetroMags may just look like a place to download a bunch of magazines scans, but unfortunately most people just mooch some files and never return. However, in order for the project to truely flourish, additional help can always be used.

There are actually a number of ways you can help out this project. The most obvious solution may be to scan magazines you might have in your closet, but we realize you might not have any magazines or the time to scan them. Because of this, Phillyman has put together a system that has some flexibility in order to work with what different contributers have to offer.

Your time is the most valuable thing to this website. We are always looking for people to help us out. If you cannot afford to donate your time then we ask that you help out in any way possible. Below is a list of ways to help us out!

• Donate your old magazines (if they are in good condition)
• Help scan magazines
• Help edit the scans (crop, resize, straighten)
• Help distribute the scans
• Help seed the releases (even seeding a torrent helps)
• Help keep the forum alive and interesting (by posting topics)
• Help promote Retromags (on your blog, myspace, facebook, emulation sites)
• Help on the Retromags Wiki (uploading missing covers, listing contents)

Are You Interested or Have Questions?

If you are remotely interested in helping out with the project, I’ll do the best I can to assist you with any questions you might have and I’m sure RetroMags founder, Phillyman will be glad to join in as well. Just post your questions in the comments section below our check out the RetroMags forums for discussions there.

Here’s another interesting magazine scan that phillyman and the folks at RetroMags has shared with us.

Here in the USA, we never really had a dedicated Sega Saturn magazine. Sega Visions died out right before the Saturn launch, but at least the UK has our backs. The Official Sega Saturn magazine is a top-notch 32-bit Sega mag and there is lots of great reading inside.

With this PDF, I’ve also started testing some ORC software to recognize all the text throughout the magazine. This way, you can theoretically search for words in the PDF. In this magazine, some of the text is pretty rough, but it should serve most of it’s purpose. In future releases, I hope to experiment to get more accurate recognition.

Table of Contents

Main Stuff

• News – Panzer Dragoon Saga Revealed and more (6)
• Quake Cover Story (14)

Coming Soon

• MechWarrior 2 (18)
• Pandemonium (22)

Showcases

• Saturn Bomberman (40)
• Swagman (44)

Big In Japan

• King of Fighters ‘96 (50)

Previews

• Atlantis (26)
• Bedlam (28)
• Zap! Snowboarding Trix (30)
• Shining The Holy Ark (32)
• The Crow: City Of Angels (34)

Reviews

• Saturn Bomberman (52)
• Crypt Killer (54)
• FIFA ‘97 (56)
• NBA Live ‘97 (58)
• Dragonheart (60)
• Swagman (62)
• Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (64)
• Space Jam (66)
• Return Fire (68)
• Black Dawn (70)
• Torico (72)

Tips Specials

• Fighters Megamix Part I (78)
• Die Hard Trilogy Part II (80)
• Soviet Strike (84)

Download the PDF

• Direct Download
• Link has been updated to more reliable server

Here’s another interesting magazine scan that phillyman and the folks at RetroMags has shared with us.

This issue of Nintendo Power gives us a peak into many of our childhoods during 1989. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles all but took over the world as the 80s came to an end and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the first Turtles video game. Unfortunately, Konami’s first try at bringing the Heroes on a Half Shell to the NES was an ultra-challenging game for the average NES owner and didn’t quite have the fun and flair that we were used to in the cartoons. If you do, however, want to give the game another try, or just relive some memories, this issue has a great guide to the game.

Table of Contents

Features

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Bayou Billy
• Cobra Triangle
• Life Force
• Ninja Gaiden

Previews

• Mega Man II
• Faxanadu
• Fester’s Quest
• Clash at Demonhead
• Dragon Warrior

Video Shorts

• Super Dodge Ball
• Bug’s Bunny’s Crazy Castle
• Fist of the North Star
• Kung Fu Heroes
• Street Cop
• Athletic World
• Amagon
• Monster Party
• Adventures of Lolo
• Hydlide

Counselors’ Corner

• Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
• Milon’s Secret Castle
• Ikari Warriors
• Legend of Zelda
• Cobra Command

Classified Information

• Blaster Master
• Golgo 13
• 1943
• Metal Gear
• Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
• Ninja Gaiden
• Mickey Mousecapade
• Seicross
• Ultima
• Bubble Bobble
• Hudson’s Adventure Island
• Super Mario Bros. 2

Download the PDF

• Direct Download

Here’s another interesting magazine scan that I happened to find on Underground Gamer. If you can remember back that far, you will recall that 1993 was a crazy time in the gaming industry. The Super Nintendo was finally starting to gain steam while Nintendo was still supporting the NES. Sega had the Sega CD coming out and there was a grand future that was unknown at the time.

This issue of Game Players magazine gives us a peak into 1993 and reminds us of a number of interesting, and in some cases, forgotten games of the era. Here is the table of contents of this issue (titles and descriptions quoted from magazine)…

Departments

• Editor’s Notes (pg 4) “New games get all the hype, but golden oldies are still the favorites of many players”
• Hot Shots (6) “Nintendo takes to the road”
• Ahead of the Game (70) “Previews of Bubsy, The Little Mermaid, Street Combat, and more!”

Features

• Special Preview: SNES Battletoads (10) “The SNES Battletoads in BattleManiacs has even better action and animation than its NES counterpart — can you believe it?”
• Superheroes Clash! (14) “Bart dons his superhero cape in The Simpsons: Batman Meets Radioactive Man, his third NES adventure”
• Kirby Saves the Day (28) “In Kirby’s Dream Land for Game Boy, our rotund hero’s appetite won’t be sated until King Dedede coughs up every one of those sparkling starts.
• Solstice Sequel Arrives for SNES (36) “Strength meets strategy in Equinox, a complex room-maze mission.”
• Megaforce, Mega-Game (42) “Fasten your safety belt — Space Megaforce is one wild SNES ride.”
• Dinosaurs! (50) “In Dinocity for Super Nintendo, your time machine is broken, and you must fix it or stay in the Stone Age forever”
• Uncharted Waters (56) “A different kind of role-playing game! You’re a bold adventurer, exploring the world’s unknown – and dangerous – seas.”

Reviews

• Dragon’s Lair [SNES] (22)
• Bee-52 [NES] (60)
• The Blues Brothers [NES] (61)
• Cyber Spin [SNES] (62)
• Faceball 2000 [SNES] (63)
• The Incredible Crash Dummies [GB] (64)
• Pit-Fighter [GB] (65)
• Shanghai II: Dragon’s Eye [SNES] (66)
• Spider-Man & X-Men in Arcade’s Revenge [SNES] (67)
• Spindizzy Worlds [SNES] (68)
• Ultimate Football [SNES] (69)

Download the PDF

• Torrent File (may be available later)
• Direct Download

Video game magazines are such an interesting way to look back in time at this revolutionary industry. This issue of Official Sega Saturn Magazine (UK) lets us look back at the transition period between the Saturn and the Dreamcast. For Sega fans, this was a time of both frustration and excitement. The Saturn was being put to rest quickly just as games were starting to tap the Saturn’s potential, but the Dreamcast held many wonderful promises for the future.

This issue has a number of interesting pieces such as an interview with Yuji Naka as he transitions from working on NiGHTS into Dreams and Burning Rangers to previewing Sonic Adventure. There is also a feature on a Dreamcast game by the name of “Drones”. I don’t believe this was ever released (I’ve never even heard of it), but this Tron-like game looks phenomenal in the early screenshots they share. (I’ll be putting together a separate post for this game in the near future)

Here is the table of contents of this issue (titles and descriptions quoted from magazine)…

News

• Sonic’s Back
• Dreamcast Demos Exposed!
• PC Sega Rally 2 Revealed
• Digital Delights
• Neo Geo Pocket Unveiled

Features

• Yuji Naka Reveals All! (pg. 20) “Creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, NiGHTS, and Burning Rangers, Yuji Naka spills the beans on the 128-bit extravaganza you’ve all been waiting for”
• Star Wars Trilogy (22) “Feel the Force with AM8’s awesome new coin-op! Sega Saturn Magazine has the first shots!
• Capcom Speaks (40) “Kings of the 2D beat ‘em up and creators of some of the greatest videogames ever, Capcom talks exclusively to Warren Harrod about the future of the Saturn, Dreamcast development, and Biohazard!
• Drones Special Report (52) “Remember Disney’s Tron? Prepare to be taken to the next level of futuristic sports sims as French delveoper Nigma finally reveals details on it’s first Dreamcast title!
• Astra Superstars (60) “It’s 4MB action all the way with Sunsoft’s latest 2D fighting game. We tell you why this crazy beat ‘em up is so hot… and review the bugger as well!

Previews

• Sonic Adventure (14)
• Guardian Force (26)
• Konami MSX Pack (28)
• Disney Sega Ages (30)
• Arcade Gears (32)
• Pen Pen Triicelon (46)

Reviews

• Astra Superstars (64)
• Deep Fear (66)

Playing Tips

• Castlevania X, part 2 (70)
• Tips Megathon, part 1 (74)

Download the PDF

• Torrent File (please use)
• Direct Download