Video Game Magazines - Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN)

Overview

The Nerd looks back at the video game magazines that once delivered gaming news, walkthroughs, cheat codes, and reviews by mail—before the internet made everything instantly searchable.

He starts with the short-lived, Atari-official Atari Age. Its interview with Pac-Man is packed with painfully cheesy “Pac” puns, while its do-it-yourself joystick repair articles earn more respect than its promotional fluff.

Magazine Highlights and Lowlights

The Nerd flips through titles such as Game Player’s, GamePro, and Electronic Gaming Monthly, roasting everything from blurry game screenshots to bizarre cover art. One supposed Super Mario 3 cover is so incomprehensible that, he says, the words are the only clue it has anything to do with Mario.

The biggest target is the advertising. Issue after issue seems to push questionable joysticks, fingerless “gaming gloves,” and the Thumb Master—a padded thumb protector he compares to a tiny condom. He also gawks at tasteless ads, a repeated 1-900 number that could leave parents with a huge phone bill, and a Game Boy Light ad in which a kid in the back of a car appears to be riding without a seat belt.

A running joke is that many of the add-on controllers were the “shitty friend controllers” you’d be stuck using at someone else’s house.

What the Magazines Got Right—and Wrong

The magazines have their charms, including hand-drawn walkthroughs, amusing fan letters, and goofy parody features like GamePro’s “LamePro.” But their reviews sometimes make baffling calls: Contra III gets modest scores, while the awful NES Terminator 2 is praised. Double Dragon III even receives a perfect fun-factor score.

The Nerd also mocks the Amiga CD32 magazine for continuing long after the system’s heyday—and for giving Gloom a glowing rating.

Artwork and ’90s Moments

After admiring nostalgic glimpses of old gaming technology, the Nerd turns to the magazines’ artwork: strange drawings of Link, dubious fan art, and memorable scenes that seem to belong to another dimension.

He closes with his “Top 5 Most ’90s Moments in Gaming Magazines,” featuring:

1. A cocaine-filled Crime Wave scene
2. An unlikely gang assembled for a Pictionary game
3. Bill Clinton and Socks the Cat in a game ad
4. A kid posed with a Tiger Electronics Narc
5. A glorious parade of mullets

Final Verdict

Despite all the mockery, the Nerd’s verdict is affectionate: leafing through these magazines feels like opening a time capsule.

Personalities Featured

• The Angry Video Game Nerd
• Pac-Man, as the subject of an Atari Age interview