Music in mind for the final issue of Nintendo Power: Arcade Finale (from the movie Wreck-It Ralph, by Henry Jackman) [link]

Well, here it is, folks. It's the final issue of one of Nintendo's longest running magazines ever: Nintendo Power. And how ironic it is that the final cover of their magazine is of the same way it all started: With a clay model of Mario, promoting one of his new games, that being New Super Mario Bros. U.

And to think it all started in that same way when Nintendo made a clay model of Mario, with a clay model of Wart about to get Mario for their first issue when Super Mario Bros. 2 was released in 1988... and that now, for the ending of it, the exact same thing is happening, but now with a clay model of Bowser is heading to get our plumbing hero, not to mention the mentioning at the bottom of the cover that says "THE SOURCE FOR NINTENDO PLAYERS STRAIGHT FROM THE PROS". Because early covers had that mention when Nintendo first brought their Nintendo Power magazines to gamers that subscribed to it. Man, i strongly remember those days when i subscribed to Nintendo Power back in 1989... and that my first issue was that of Mega Man 2 on the cover, with clay models of the blue bomber Mega Man himself and his diabolical nemesis, Dr. Wily, on some kind of assembled spaceship-like model in it.

And who could also forget the Counselor's Corner, the Classified Information, the strategies that were being given to us, as well as the codes and even the interviews with celebrities... AND the place where shows based on games were being mentioned and more. Sure, back then, the artworks that were being shown in the early issues of Nintendo Power, as well as the screenshots weren't state of the art back then. But that's what made Nintendo Power the awesome magazine that it was at that point in time.

And if you were to ask me my favorite moments in the magazine, i'd say that the Strategy Guides that had Super Mario Bros. 3, Ninja Gaiden II, Final Fantasy and the Four Player NES Games on those were those that i enjoyed the most. And also the first four free Player's Guides that we received as a free gift for our subscription in 1991, those being the NES Game Atlas, the Game Boy, the Mario Mania and the Super NES, are those that i enjoyed getting, though getting more player's guides would now cost money to get them, which is alright by me.

And what about the comics that were based on Super Mario World, Star Fox, The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past and even the short comics of Mario vs. Wario? Those were also enjoyable to read too. There were also Pokémon comics in it, but i wasn't very interested at reading those.

I gotta say that over the years, the design of the magazine's logo had changed, but the fun of reading it remained the same... well, until i personally decided to stop renewing my subscription after i had reached 20 years of being a subscriber of that magazine. But i regardless continued buying the magazines on newsstands at that point in time.

Anyway, there was another thing that Nintendo Power had featured, other than the games: Their character Nester and he was being featured in comics alongside then-Nintendo representaive himself, Howard Phillips, though when he went elsewhere, Nester would be on his own afterwards. Anyway, during the early days of the magazine, Nester would be seen doing action in a game that was previously being covered by Nintendo Power. But then after a long while, they stopped bringing that character in. But for the final issue, Nester made one final appearance along with his son Maxwell (or Max, as he would prefer calling himself) and he was sad that the magazine had reached the end of its long and amazing run. But as the old gaming saying goes: When a game is completed, it is sad to see it end and yet, you feel proud of having beaten it. And when that happens and that you get everything... then it's 100% completion. Me technically, i've missed a few issues, but... i'm glad to see it all end... and yet, i feel sad that newsstands everywhere will no longer see the Nintendo Power magazine in their stands, starting in 2013 and onward.

But anyway, if it wasn't for Nintendo Power, then we would've never known about newer consoles and handhelds like the Game Boy, the Super NES, the Virtual Boy (shivers), the Nintendo 64, the Game Boy Pocket, the Game Boy Color, the Game Boy Advance, the Nintendo Gamecube, the Nintendo DS and its DSi counterpart, the Wii, the Nintendo 3DS and finally, the recently launched Wii U. Speaking of the last console, this one won't see much coverage of their games, now that it is all over. But regardless, the power of Nintendo will keep on living forever.

Thank you for all the memories, Nintendo Power. May we keep playing with power for many more years to come... even if you won't be around anymore to show us what's in store for the 3DS and the Wii U.

Copyrights of the aforementioned belongs to the following:

Nintendo Power: (C) Nintendo
The Arcade Finale music: (C) Henry Jackman and Walt Disney Records