ISSUE LINK: Nintendo Power 88, September 1996Gamemaster Classified book KS page"Fun" & Games Podcast homeThe episode so many of you have been waiting for: Our first look at Nintendo Power!And boy, is it ever a big one--the debut of Super Mario 64, the game that would define the Nintendo 64, and the company itself, for the entire console generation (and, arguably, beyond). Packed with tons of incredible original art and exclusive assets, it's also got a very...interesting...review of the game itself.What's our review of their review? And, does reviewing what amounts to in-house advertorial content even matter?? Listen to find out!-----Sources include the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections.The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!
Mollie Patterson's Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mollipen.bsky.socialMollie Patterson's homepage: https://mollielpatterson.com/The EGM Compendium Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/egmbook/egmcompendiumUNLOCKED AND FREE FOR ALL LISTENERS: A FunFactor ULTRA Review Crew bonus episode!! We talk with the great Mollie L. Patterson of EGM and GameFan fame about her (very) early years as a 'zine writer, joining the rough-and-tumble world of GameFan, and graduating to layouts and editing at EGM.Of course, we also talk about the state of games media, the EGM Compendium project, and how some of the retro stuff we loved has stayed relevant today. We thank all of you, so much, for supporting the show. If you dig it, please tell people! We'd love nothing more than to get more cool people in the ULTRA Lounge of our Discord server--and have the support we need to keep doing this show we love.-----Sources include the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections.The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!
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Intelligent Gamer 2 - Jumping Flash! 2 [S1E7]
ISSUE LINK: Intelligent Gamer No. 2, July 1996A true trailblazer of a magazine, which Ty mistook at the time for a craven NEXT Generation ripoff. Instead, Ziff-Davis bought what might have been the world's first fully digital online games magazine and soon put its precocious editor at the head of a real, monthly, big-boy print equivalent. Besides giving Aidan and Ty an excuse to riff on the benefits and drawbacks of physical magazines in the modern era, this issue's super deep previews and reviews give them plenty to chew on.-----Sources include the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections.The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!
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ULTRA Review Crew bonus TEASER - Demo Discs with Sean Seanson & EposVox [S1B3]
Please enjoy this sample of a FunFactor ULTRA Review Crew bonus episode bursting with international flavor! With EposVox and Sean Seanson joining Aidan and Ty, we bridged three countries and seven time zones to go deep on our love of demo discs--the best (and sometimes only) way to taste the breadth of some old consoles' libraries and indie scenes. It's our first two-guest episode, and an absolute banger. Sean's most recent deep-dive video is all about the set of 7 PlayStation EU/PAL-region demo discs, while EposVox has been creating genius-tier content on retro tech and gaming hardware for years and years.As always, we thank all of you so much for supporting the show. If you dig it, please join FunFactor ULTRA at the Review Crew tier to unlock these episodes--and then tell people about us! We'd love nothing more than to get more cool people in the ULTRA Lounge of our Discord server, and have the support we need to keep doing this show we love.-----Sources include the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections.The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!
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GameFan Volume 4, Issue 5 - Lufia II [S1E6]
TODAY'S ISSUE: GameFan Volume 4, Issue 5 - May 1996This one's special -- we recorded it right before the Mollie Patterson bonus episode (which you should join the FunFactor ULTRA Review Crew to hear!), wherein she gave the amazing backstory behind some of the unique production and culture wrinkles that were evident in the final product of this unique mag.We talk about our connections to the seedy underbelly of order-by-phone import stores--one of which GameFan actually started its life as a catalog for (!).For the review, we go back to our JRPG roots with an underrated-at-the-time classic of the late 16-bit era, Lufia II! -----Sources include the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections.The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!
Ty Schalter (VICE, FiveThirtyEight) and Aidan Moher (WIRED, Vulture) review what rocked and what sucked about the classic video game magazines that inspired them to become professional journalists, authors, and critics—and what they can tell us about today's digital media and games.New episodes drop every other Tuesday!