Den Magazine Issue 9 - December 1994

It's been a while since I scanned of these, but just in time for the holidays, I present the Christmas 1994 Den Magazine for your viewing delight. In this issue: All the hot scoops about Nightmare Before Christmas, and Nintendo's replacement for Super Mario Kart (???); searing festive insights from Ant & Dec; the gripping conclusion of The Work's A-Z of the Human Body; an even less cool environmentally-themed super hero than Captain Planet; a crossword that I'm pretty sure is unfinishable, despite this issue carrying the lamest apology for last months's one also being unfinishable; and, for those looking to chill out at Christmas, boy, does this magazine have the Bon Jovi and East 17 VHS tapes for you!

Like last time, I've bundled this issue into a CBZ file for downloading and comic viewer apps, and for the less committed Den Magazine fans out there (boo! hiss! unthinkable!), I've also made an imgur gallery this time. Please enjoy.

Download (CBZ, 63 MB) | Imgur Gallery

And now, a bunch of recycled stuff from this issue that I already posted on Tumblr. :D

So, who wants to win a fantastic CD-I system?….. Anyone?

Squadala!

Searching for that perfect look for the holiday season? While also being trapped in 1994, and a child? Boy, have I got you covered!

I love how defiantly one of the kids must have protested the outfit he had chosen for him for it to get mentioned twice. Rory Murphy: truly the hero The Den Magazine needed.

Also, what’s with the quotation marks around The Prodigy but nothing else? *air quotes* Dance music? Whatever, kid. Now Boyzone: there’s real talent for you.

Dad jokes! You know, for kids!

You know, it’s only by scanning in these old magazines that I’ve been reminded of the travesty that Bird’s Double Thick Milkshake Mix is no longer a product. I never had the chocolate one much, but hot damn, the strawberry was freakin’ delicious, genuinely thick, AND you got to use a plastic shaker to mix it up like a cocktail. This was highly exciting stuff for an eleven-year-old fat kid. :D

Tragically, I don’t think this was actually available for very long though, maybe just a year or so, but it certainly left an impression - so much so that I’ve been desperately craving some ever since I laid eyes on this.

I wonder if thin Angel Delight would would do the trick. I’m guessing that’s pretty much what this was anyway…… Don’t judge me!

Another Bloody Reblog: Pick-ups 11/11/13

(Originally posted on Tumblr)



Windjammers, Twinkle Star Sprites, Parasol Stars / Wii Virtual Console

So like many a duder, after watching a bunch of Giant Bomb’s Extra Life marathon, I really wanted to get my hands on Windjammers. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a Neo Geo or a spare hundred bucks lying around. What I did have was a disused UK Wii, and a Japanese VC release of Windjammers with my name on it. There were certainly a few tense, confusing moments, but over the course of a couple of hours I managed to change the region of the console, set up a new Wii Shop account and grab a copy of the game for an extremely reasonable 900 yen. Haven’t had a chance to play it with anyone yet, but I’ve had a lot of fun with the single player so far. Took me a little while to get the hang of though (and man, that time limit can be freaking brutal).

Having opened the gateway to the promised land of the Japanese VC, I also grabbed the other rare Neo Geo game on there that I was desperate to have: Twinkle Star Sprites - a really fun cute ‘em up / competitive puzzle game mash-up. Again for a paltry 900 yen. After that, I went down the dark hole of researching what else would be worth getting on there and more importantly, what would be playable without needing translation. Not a simple undertaking when you can’t understand a single Japanese character, but with a combination of Nintendo.co.jp, Google and guesswork, I’m making pretty good progress. Already discovered that Parasol Stars was up there - the super-rare follow-up to Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands. For only 600 yen! Japanese Virtual Console, I think I love you.



The Firemen / Super Famicom / £22.71

But before any of that went down, I already had my first physical retro import ever on the way: The Firemen for the Super Famicom - an arcadey fire-fighting game that did actually see a release in Europe, but now retails for obscene sums on eBay. Perhaps not the wisest purchasing decision - it’s pretty much a blind buy and I don’t even have a way to play it at the moment - but seeing the auction ticking down with no bids and with such a low price, I just couldn’t resist. I’ve got a Retron5 pre-ordered anyway. It’ll be fine. :D



Super Play Issues 3, 6, 8, 11 / £25.98

And finally, continuing with the SNES retro love, I picked up a few more issues of Super Play on eBay last week, the unofficial SNES magazine that begat N64, NGC and NGamer. Always enjoy reading through old gaming magazines, and this was a pretty good one, though it doesn’t quite have the same goofy sense of humour that you get in N64 and it’s successors.



Gotta love that Wil Overton cover art though!

Den Magazine Issue 16

In late 1994 RTÉ put out a magazine based on its popular children's programming block The Den. Aptly titled "The Den", it was a mix of pop culture news and interviews, cartoon strips and educational content, leveraging characters from, and contributors to the show throughout.

Aside from its (kind-of-terrible) video game coverage, I don't remember ever particularly enjoying it, but as a fan of The Den itself, I still picked it up whenever I saw a new issue. Being a bit of a hoarder, I still have all of them, and I thought it'd be a neat idea to scan a few of them in and post them here. Classic literature they ain't, but I'm sure someone out there will enjoy them.

Kicking things off is Issue 16 from November 1995, which features, among other things no one cares about, interviews with D:Ream and OTT, guides to ghosts and endangered animals, reviews of the Batman Forever and Demolition Man games, and all the hot news on First Kiss' second single.

Download (53.3 MB)

Note: The magazine is in CBR format, so you'll need CDisplay or something similar to view it.

Retromags Release (Sort of): NOM Issue 79

Retromags may be having some problems at the moment, but that hasn't stopped me scanning some more old magazines (at a sub-glacial pace). Freshly uploaded is the April 1999 issue of Nintendo Official Magazine- as the name would suggest, the official UK Nintendo magazine at the time. This one features reviews of Beetle Adventure Racing, Monaco Grand Prix and Castlevania 64, as well as previews of Hey You, Pikachu!, Pokémon Pinball and Quake II.

It's also pretty terrible, with the writing coming off as desperate attempt to appeal to the young teen audience it seems to be aimed at. Something that could apparently be accomplished by replacing every instance of "your" with "yer", "loads of" with "loadsa", and sticking an apostrophe anywhere it'd possibly fit.

If that sounds like a good time to you, I've put the full 100-page scan up here on MediaFire.

Oh, and if you're wondering what I ordered, it was Pilotwings and Super Street Fighter II for the SNES from Excitement Direct and Doom 64 from Gameplay. Unfortunately, Pilotwings  was the only game Excitement Direct had in stock and Gameplay wouldn't take the cheque I sent them. Ah! The joys of mail order. 

Also, I wonder if Excitement Direct could have come up with a more porn company sounding name if they tried. Always made getting a sterling draft down at the post office a dodgy prospect. :D

Retromags Release: When I'm Sixty-Four Issue 1

Having been a registered member of the Retromags forum for almost four years without either downloading or uploading a single magazine or indeed, posting on said forum, I thought it was about time I changed that a few days ago and started unleashing a few of the old magazines I have in my small collection for the benefit of all. :D

I'm starting off with a pretty obscure one: the first issue of When I'm Sixty-Four, an Irish N64 fanzine made by a chap called Gearoid Reidy from Co. Offaly. I sent away for a copy of it in the Summer of 1998 after hearing about it on RTÉ's teletext service. I wasn't too thrilled by the bundle of photocopied A4 sheets I got in the post at the time, but looking at it now, I'm really impressed by the amount of work that must have gone into writing, laying out and illustrating this thing. This issue issue alone features lengthy reviews of Banjo-Kazooie, Quake, Snowboard Kids and Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon; retro reviews of Secret of Mana and Donkey Kong Country and even finishes up with first part of an original Legend of Zelda comic drawn by the author.

Sadly I don't know what became of the fanzine after this; maybe this was the only issue. Who knows? After thirteen years, this may well be the only copy of the fanzine in existence. :D Whatever the case may be, you can check out the first issue now over at Retromags. EDIT 23/07/17: Nope, apparently not any more. :D But never fear, I just put a fresh, new copy up on MediaFire:

Download (CBR, 73 MB)