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Official Nintendo Magazine, or ONM is the UK's official Nintendo magazine, and is published by Future Publishing. It currently goes on sale monthly and retails at £3.99, with a title of Nintendo: The Official Magazine. Issue 1 was released on 16 February 2006, after much speculation due to a recent change over from previous publisher EMAP. The magazine is the oldest running games magazine in the UK, and when launched was called Nintendo Magazine System, reflecting the NES, which was hugely popular back in the early '90s. This name would later be dropped to reflect Nintendo's move away from the NES and SNES naming system toward the N64 console.
Nintendo Official Magazine was published by EMAP for 12 years before the loss of their 'official' license in November 2005 *, and was last printed before the change of contract under Nintendo Official Magazine, or NOM. Readers are now promised a "fresh, more premium look" that will "appeal to all gamers." It appears the magazine will inherit a look similar to that of Edge, also published by Future.
Every issue of the magazine includes a "free gift", or premium. The long running service can include objects which range anywhere from Nintendo themed playing cards (Issue 141 of NOM), DVDs featuring videos of numerous games (an example being the "E3 2006" DVD included with Issue 5 of ONM), or even a packet of M&Ms (Issue 10 of ONM - this is also notable because subscribers did not receive it, most likely due to problems that would occur during posting).
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New Ways to Read...
The new Official Nintendo Magazine heralded a big change for the magazine, designed with a fresh contemporary look and feel to it. Apparently offering premium production values, the all-new Official Nintendo Magazine promises to appeal to a broader range of Nintendo gamers. The magazine will attempt to provide something for everyone, from long-term hardcore fans, through to those who have recently picked up a Nintendo console for the very first time.
Driving Future's vision for Official Nintendo Magazine is company veteran, Group Senior Editor Steve Jarratt, who was launch editor for respected games title, Edge. The magazine will be edited by Lee Nutter, formerly of PSW. Also on the magazine's team will be Associate Editor, Chandra Nair (formerly of CUBE magazine), Magaret Robertson and old-school NGC staff Jes Bickham, Mark Green and Tim Weaver.
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Contents
This section contains a list of the current features which appear in ONM every issue. Please note that because of the youth of the magazine, despite some various patterns showing up in terms of monthly content, things can still be subjective to change.
"Welcome" - This page welcomes the reader and is also home to all the contact information for ONM. The page is also home to an A-Z of the games reviewed or previewed in the particular issue, and has a brief summary of the four ONM editors.
"Contents Page" - This page is home to displaying what is in the magazine.
"Global" - This section is home to "breaking news from the world of Nintendo". The section houses the following sub-sections, as well as a main feature possibly about the latest console or a piece of breaking news. However, this section of the magazine does not seem to run the same features every issue, and not in the same order, so here is a breakdown of what may be included within "Global".
Hot or Not - a small section displaying 'what's hot and what's not' from recent news and game releases. Designed as a vertical section on the side of a page, a disappointing game (ie Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble - Issue 1), for example, would be near the bottom 'Not' bit of the section, whilst some exciting new hardware (ie the Nintendo DS Lite - Issue 1) would feature near the top 'Hot' bit of it.
Cover Gift - a small space devoted to showing off the issue's free cover gifts.
Tokyo Fever - Similar to the old NOM's section, "Big in Japan", Tokyo Fever focuses on the latest crazes sweeping the land of the rising sun.
Developer News - The latest news of developments inside game developers. In Issue 1, for example, this was a piece on the Namco and Bandai merge which created Namco Bandai Holdings.
Born in the USA - A look at how Nintendo is getting on in the US.
Update - Various updates in terms of game and hardware development, and even perhaps a spotlight on a new TV show (as seen in Issue 2, where a 'TV Update' detailed the showing of Monster Warriors on the British channel Jetix). This is split throughout the 'Global' section.
Quote of the Month - A fairly humorous box displaying a funny quote from a specific person within the gaming industry.
Japanese Mouthful of the Month - Focuses primarily on the longest Japanese game titles. A recent example is "Touhoku Daigaku Mirai Kagakugijutsu Center: Kahashima Ryuuta Kyouju no Nou wo Kitaeru Otana no DS Training", which is known in the UK as the popular DS game, Brain Training.
Rules of the Game - The clichés the ONM team love to hate. An insider look at the rules of a certain genre.
What Do You Mean You've Never Played... - A retro look back at some of the Nintendo gems of the past.
If You Play One Game Today, Then Play... - ONM's very own Chandra Nair tells readers of brand new games that you simply have to try. Issue 1 featured Battalion Wars, while Issue 2 featured Mario Kart DS.
Official Release Dates - A list of game release dates.
The Official Nintendo Magazine website - Present below the release dates, this strip highlights the ONM website.
Official Sales Charts - A page devoted to displaying the top ten games for each of Nintendo's current platforms within the UK, and may also feature a small strip near the bottom of the page which details the top five games on such platforms within Japan.
You What? - A look at some of the more unknown games on the issue's release list.
The Next Best Game In The World Is... - A look into the future on what ONM predicts will be the new craze. A '10 Second Guide' summarizes what makes the game so great.
7 Things You Didn't Know About... - Taking over from "Rules of the Game", this feature highlights some facts about a certain character. Issue 8, its debut issue, featured Sonic the Hedgehog.
X Days Until - A highlight of an event that will take place 'X' days after the issue's publication. For example, in Issue 7, there were "50 Days Until" the Tokyo Game Show.
"Tonight Mario I'm Going to be... - This feature, much like the "Lookalikes" feature of Private Eye, a British satrical magazine-newspaper, compares a fictional game-character and a real-life celebrity who happen to look alike. The feature also points out an ironic connection the two individuals share, and, also in Private Eye fashion, swaps the captions relating to the two around. The name of the feature is a reference to "Stars in their Eyes", a British talent show which coined the phrase "Tonight, Matthew, I am going to be..." when Matthew Kelly presented the show.
60 Second Quiz - A quiz consisting of six questions which is to supposedly take readers a minute to complete. The answers to the question are shown below, but are vertically inverted (and thus a mirror is needed to read them).
"Next Month" - A look at next month's issue of ONM.
"Behind the Scenes" - The team talk to important game developers, and find out some hidden secrets that developers have been slightly silent about.
"Previews" - Previews are split up into two sections:
"Incoming" - This section features quite far-off games. Although small magazine space may be given, it features all the important information needed, such as the publisher, developer, possible release date and format, and in the case of Tetris DS, displays the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection symbol, telling you it contains such a feature. A pixelated symbol shows you what genre the game is.
"Coming Soon" - This section contains games which are closer to being released than those in 'Incoming', and thus receive more magazine space. A 'Game Info' box contains information on the format, publisher, developer, and whether or not the game contains a multiplayer option. At the beginning of the preview, a rough release date (ETA) is given, and the highlighted image from a row of monochrome pixel images gives you the games genre. A game may be selected from the games in this section for a 'Coming Soon Feature' article, in which it receives more magazine space.
A 'How's It Shaping Up?' box summarizes the editor's views on the previewed game.
"Feature" - Perhaps the main core of the magazine, the feature may or may not be the cover story and may take up a substantial amount of magazine space, possibly up to 12 pages long. There may be multiple 'Features' within one issue.
"Reviews" - The latest games are reviewed here. A box at the beginning of each reviews heralds such information as the game's publisher, format, developer, release date, price and whether or not it has multiplayer or is Wi-Fi enabled. At the end of the review a series of bullet points summarise the good and bad parts of the game (using + and - symbols respectively instead of Mario and Wario heads as in NOM), and the game receives a percentage. Games that reach over 90% receive an ONM gold award, which can be used to advertise games if the developers wish to.
Once again pixelated images are used to highlight the game's genre. Subscription information is usually found right before the "Reviews" portion of the magaazine.
"Game Guide" - This section is host to a number of game guides, featuring hints and tips for the featured games. Issue 1 featured the first parts of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Mario Kart DS, Mario Smash Football and Battalion Wars guides.
"Directory" - Essentially ending the magazine, this section features:
Letters to the Editor (company information is featured here also). The best letter received by the ONM tea is highlighted as the "Letter of the Month", and the writer receives a DS Lite and a specific DS game.
A section devoted to the 'Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection' service, which features news on such a service as well as how to get on to it, and which games feature it.
A 'Website' section, which details what has been brewing on ONM's website. It displays replies to the month's "Hot Topics", threads created by the ONM team for discussion on recent news, shows results of various polls (some of which may have nothing to do with gaming, such as the 'Is it one Weetabix, or one Weetabic?' poll in issue two), and stats about the forum such as the most popular thread at the time of printing. The section also highligts the "Member of the Month", the "Sig of the Month, and plays host to the very popular "Cover Versions", where the best user-created covers, submitted via the forum, are displayed. Starting in Issue 10, the best of these is now displayed as "Cover of the Month" also. Starting in Issue 9, the section also prints the month's password for the Video Vault, and highlights the newest videos released.
A 'Retro' section which takes a 'look at the past that made Nintendo great today'.
'Swag' - a competitions page, featuring word-searches and other simple games as well as a reverse-auction (where the lowest unique bid wins) via texts.
A 'Challenges' section featuring leaderboards.
'Rated ______' - This sections features an alphabetically listed list of the top 50 games on the current Nintendo systems, as well as a 'Settling Scores' section where readers can voice their views on the scores given.
"The A-Z of Nintendo" - A section on the last page featuring game-related names beginning with a letter in the alphabet, beginning at A and ending with Z. The page also features a small box in the bottom right-hand corner summarising the next issue's contents.
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The Old Contents of NOM
Here is a list of the contents which last filled the pages of ONM's predecessor. Note that these features are technically out of date, and may not return in the same form.
"Welcome Page" - this page welcomed the reader and is also home to all the contact information for NOM.
"DK's Big Bananas" - This page often showed a collection of things from the Nintendo world or the latest wacky and interesting things. For example, in Issue 150, DK's Big Bananas showed every single issue cover of NOM from 1992 to 2005, and in Issue 153, Pepsi bottle caps from a Japanese competition were shown. DK's Big Bananas was introduced in Issue 153 with a map of the Poke-Park and finished on Issue 162, with an "end of an era" feature.
"Contents Page" - This page was home to displaying what's in the magazine. It also home to '10 things we didn't know last month' which acted as a quick display case for the rest of the magazine.
"Special Preview/Review" - this can be seen as the main story of the issue. It is often referred to as the cover story on the contents page and is usually a 5-10 page review/preview about the best game this month.
i) The game was given scores out of 10 for graphics, sound, game-play and innovation.
ii) The game then received a set of 'Marios and Warios', which summarize the good and bad parts of the game. This is meant to coincide with Mario being Nintendo's hero and mascot and Wario as an occasional villain.
iii) The reviewer then offered the final verdict in a styled box. A Metroid Prime visor screen was used if the game was for Nintendo GameCube, a pictochat box if it was for Nintendo DS or a pixel-like screen in the style of if it was for a Game Boy system. This style of reviewing was introduced in Issue 151.
"The World of Nintendo" - these pages were full of current Nintendo news including:
Announcements about games, consoles and accessories
Too Much Info - a small section displaying brief news reports from Nintendo.
Cosplay Comedy Corner - Introduced in Issue 158, this small section iwa host to a small number of pictures of people cosplaying as gaming related characters. NOM then gave them an 'embarrassment' rating.
"Pokémon Center" - The Pokémon centre was a section host to the latest news from the Pokémon world. This was introduced after NOM's sister mag Pokémon Official Magazine (or POM) stopped publishing.
"We Can't Wait For" section, split into separate black and silver boxes across the magazine, this section used to be contained in a page or two.
"Club Seal", a humorous column devoted to crude satirical humour about NOM and Nintendo. He was removed from the magazine temporarily until his demise came in Issue 162.
"Big in Japan" - This section comprises Japanese game releases, posters, events, Japanese give-aways and the Japanese Nintendo top-ten chart. There were also short reviews of seemingly Japan-only games, example: The Tower SP.
"Previews" - Previews gave the reader a look at upcoming games and includes an information box containing the developer of the game, previous games, multiplayer options, publisher, release date and review date. There was also a predicted score and a small summary of the writer's views. Finally, there is a "Phial of Completion" which gave the reader an idea of how far away from completion the game was.
Features - These appear throughout the magazine in different place and are mostly articles on the history of Nintendo. Other features can be articles such as career advice for the games industry or interviews.
"Reviews" - At the beginning of the reviews section there was an explanation of NOM's scoring system and who the reviewers are. Also at the beginning of the reviews there was an information box named "Game Info", showing when the game was out, the price, publisher and multiplayer options. After the write-up the game was given a percentage score based upon the game's graphics, sound, game-play and value.
The better or more interesting games were given more magazine space, while the rest of the reviews were found in a "Mini-Reviews" section.
"Mario's World" - Introduced in Issue 135 It included:
"Toad's Tips" - a tips/walk-through section
"Wario's Cheats" - NOM's and reader's cheats.
Subscription page - missing throughout 160-162 mainly due to the publication change.
"Princess Peach and Bowser's Royal Mail" - pages of reader's letters and art as well as "Game or Lame", a feature where readers send in their own game ideas.
"Luigi's Prize Pit" - the main competition area.
"Chain Chomp's Challenge" - a section holding reader's high scores.
"Boo's Brainer" - a puzzle feature with crosswords, word searches and quizzes.
"Next Month" - An overview of what the next issue would contain, as well as details on the free gift and a release date.
Classic game page - The last page of the magazine was a nostalgic look back at a classic Nintendo game. In Issue 162 (the final issue under EMAP) it was a screen shot of the Mario vs. Donkey Kong Game Boy Advance 'game over' screen with restart and quit visual buttons.
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The Official Nintendo Magazine Team (Future)
The ONM team consists of:
Associate Editor: Chandra Nair
Online Editor: Thomas East
Production Editor: Charlotte Martyn
Staff Writer: Chris Scullion
Previous 'Nintendo Official Magazine' Staff (EMAP):
Editor: Tim Street (Now employed by EMAP as Website Editor for MATCH)
Deputy Editor: Dean Scott (Now employed by Codemasters UK)
Reviews Editor: Mike Jackson (Now employed by Future as Reviews Editor of 'Official XBOX Magazine'. Worked on Issue 10 of ONM)
Staff Writer: Rob Burman (Now employed by Uncooked Media as News Editor of 360 GAMER and reviews editor of NEO)
Art Editor(s): Hakan Simsek & Dan Payne
Editorial Assistant: Giulia Trianni
People who have worked with the magazine over the years:
Jim Blackstock (Acting Prod. Editor)
Kingsley Singleton (Former Prod. Editor)
Frank Cifaldi (Now Features Editor of Gamasutra)
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ONM Subscription Offers
Although NOM did run a subcription service which included one of the recent free gifts as a "bonus", the ONM subcription service runs an offer where a year-month subscription comes with a free game or peripheral, in place of the aforementioned free gifts. This section comprises of a list of different items available in the offer, and how many issues they lasted until supplies ran out.
Wavebird wireless GameCube controller (Issue 6 - 9)
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Important Dates in the History of ONM
The roots of ONM lie deep within UK's game publishing history:
Mean Machines, a long standing and well respected UK games magazine, announced it would split into two distinct magazines, focusing on the two major games console giants of the day; Sega and Nintendo. The Sega based magazine retained the original titlem simply calling itself Mean Machines Sega, whilst the Nintendo version of Mean Machines gained the title of Nintendo Magazine System.
Note: This list is based on a list published in Nintendo Official Magazine, Issue 150.
Issue 1 - NOM starts under the name of Nintendo Magazine System on October 1 1992
Issue 40 - First ever pictures of the Nintendo 64, named NU64 at that time.
Issue 54 - Name changed to Official Nintendo Magazine
Issue 70 - Name changed to Nintendo Official Magazine
Issue 105 - NOM review the Game Boy Advance
Issue 116 - NOM gets a new look and the Nintendo GameCube reaches the UK
Issue 150 - NOM's 150th Issue - NOM is the oldest running games magazine in the UK
Issue 151 - Nintendo DS UK launch issue, the magazine gets a small makeover and loses the UK on the end of its title.
Issue 160 - Mario Kart DS is reviewed after a delay of such a review. Mario Kart receives an astounding 95% and becomes Nintendo's first game to use the Nintendo Wi-Fi system.
Issue 162 - The last issue printed under EMAP. Subscribers lose their subscriptions to NOM.
Issue 1 (New format) - Future's first issue with Official Nintendo Magazine. The name changes to said title, although the magazine goes on sale with a cover name of "Nintendo: The Official Magazine". This issue restarts the numbering system and is also the last issue of the magazine to be available in Ireland.
Special DS Lite release issue - released in between Issues 5 and 6, this issue collected 50+ DS game reviews from previous issues. Fan-reaction was rather split, with some complaining of its unusual £4.99 price-tag, a £1 mark-up from the usual £3.99 price (of which the ONM team take pride on, it being at least £1 cheaper than all other "Official" magzines) whilst others praised it for the useful nature of having such reviews contained in one magazine, rather than being spread across numerous issues. Issue 6 retained the normal pricing.
DS Guides Special Edition issue - another DS centered special issue, released between Issues 7 and 8, this second special edition was a collection of recent guides of DS games and included a 12 page guide for Animal Crossing: Wild World, a New Super Mario Bros. expert guide and a Nintendogs training guide. It had a £4.99 price tag like the last special edition issue, but Issue 8 once again resumed the normal pricing.
Pokemon Special Edition issue - an issue dedicated to Pokémon, celebrating its 10th anniversary. Released in between Issues 9 and 10, and priced at £4.99 like previous special issues, it covers everything Pokémon related, from the games to the TV shows, theme parks and the popular Trading Card Game. *
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ONM Website
Although there was an NOM website, the change to ONM brought with it a much bigger, and much more updated, website. Currently, located here, it not only highlights the latest issue, but also posts current news and reviews of games, as well as boasting a rather successful forum. This marks much of an improvement over the previous offering, which was rather "skin and bones", only offering a run-down of the latest issue and a link to a subscription form.
Set up around the time of Issue 8, the website also includes a feature called the Video Vault, featuring videos of upcoming games specifically for readers of the magazine. Originally hosted on a MySpace account it is now hosted as part of the website so that readers without a MySpace account can view the videos. The Video Vault operates on a password basis: in order to access the the videos, users need to enter a password printed in a specific section of the magazine. Such a password changes each month.
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See also
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