Favorite "system neutral" magazine

[Sadler]

What's your favorite old school "system neutral" magazine? "system neutral" here means no TurboPlay/Force/DuoWorld/Nintendo Power/MegaPlay/etc.

My vote goes for Diehard Gamefan, with Video Games and Computer Entertainment running a close second.

[PCEngineHell]

Though Diehard did have bias issues, I do have to say for the most part that that was my fav mag back in the day. Game previews and the such had great gameplay pics and usually went pretty in depth, and I liked the fact they covered imports and Pce stuff a lot of the time.

[Tatsujin]

Power Play (Happy Computer), ASM, Video Games

[SuperPlay]

Probably 'C+VG' back in the 90s

Today it is 'retro Gamer'

[Todd Gill]

Though Diehard did have bias issues, I do have to say for the most part that that was my fav mag back in the day. Game previews and the such had great gameplay pics and usually went pretty in depth, and I liked the fact they covered imports and Pce stuff a lot of the time.

+1

[jlued686]

I was always a pretty loyal EGM guy. At least before the Ziff Davis takeover.

[TurboCro]

I was always a pretty loyal EGM guy. At least before the Ziff Davis takeover.

Same here, EGM was the shizzle back in the day. Sheng Long April Fools was classic. 

[esteban]

I enjoyed reading EGM in the store .

Later, magazines started getting bagged. But, back in the day, lots of free reading.

I also enjoyed reading CRACKED and MAD in the store.

[SignOfZeta]

I'd have to say Die Hard. I love how crappy and amateur and hardcore they were. I love how they'd devote three pages to a game that was already long out of print and unobtainable by the time the magazine was printed. Good old E Storm loved Sega and shitty anime way way too much, but it gave the magazine a personality.

Honestly I prefer system specific mags. The way EGM handled the Gamecube during 2002, the "mature gamer" era when they were riding Halo's dick and shitting on anything that wasn't M and swearing and stuff...pathetic sophomoric crap. When only one OEM is covered the bias is clear, they don't even mention the existence of other machines so they can focus purely on what's there. The best "everything" mag was probably GMR, during that brief period when it actually existed.

I believe without question that, all things considered, Nintendo Power was the best English game mag. Sure the ratings were super inflated numerically speaking, but they gave Nintendo fans what they wanted. They reviewed a lot of games a multi-platform magazine wouldn't have space for. The screen shots were always good (those SMB and Metroid maps back in the day blew my mind, I think they actually originated from a Japanese mag) and they had cool contests and stuff. They were pretty much always good too, where as EGM has gone through entire year long periods of being almost unreadably bad.

Then there was the weird era when Dengeki PC Engine did Neo Geo reviews in the back...

[OldRover]

EGM until the mid-90s... lost interest after that.

[TR0N]

EGM 90's and of course Gamefan 

[kazekirifx]

Diehard Gamefan all the way. They helped spur my early interest in imports.

[geise]

There was a small stint where DHGF was biased against anything non-sony.  A good example was the reviews of  Street Fighter Alpha 1 and 2.  I believe BT has those articles on his web page.

[JoshTurboTrollX]

DHGF was great but I loved reading Video Games and Computer Entertainment.  (VG&CE)  They always had the best coverage of turbo up until it went out with a bang!

Full pages dedicated to Theron's Quest and Dungeon Explorer II in 1993!! Man, I wish I had more than I currently do. 

[roflmao]

DHGF was great but I loved reading Video Games and Computer Entertainment.  (VG&CE)  They always had the best coverage of turbo up until it went out with a bang!

Full pages dedicated to Theron's Quest and Dungeon Explorer II in 1993!! Man, I wish I had more than I currently do. 

Yeah, this was one of my favorite magazines back in the day.  I was huge into computers at the same time as the TG so this mag was a god-sent.

[rag-time4]

I was a Gamepro guy back in the day. They actually had coverage of the competitive Street Fighter II scene that I got a kick out of, and seemed to do a good job of providing coverage for all the US systems.

[runinruder]

VG&CE.  The guys who worked on it were real champs.