Super Play

back in the day (and by day i mean the early to mid 90s) we didn't have access to the internet that at its time was in its infancy.movies like sneakers and hackers with angelina jolie painted hacking as something that was cool and in no way resembled the reality of sitting in your room crouched over a pc looking through endless lines of code in order to find an exploit to a programme that rarely worked.

issue 1

For us fanboys (and nintendo fanboys at that) there were limited ways of getting the latest news and reviews of the latest games that cost an arm and a leg. you could watch the only 2 shows on terrestrial TV at the time Bad Influence and Gamesmaster. or you could buy a monthly magazine from your local newsagent (preferably one that also would sell you ten B&H so you could look cool at school filling your lungs with carcinogenic's and using them as currency to pay the local bully to beat up that kid who looked at you funny.

what magazine you chose was down to personal preference. if you wanted to get beat up a lot you could tell everyone you liked nintendo power. if you weren't a complete dickhead however you had a choice of either NMS (nintendo magazine system) or super play.

for me Superplay was always my first choice. unlike the former magazine that only had reviews and previews of games that would be released in the uk.

Niko

issue 36

issue 2

Superplay focusses more on those obscure never gonna be released outside of japan games that could only be purchased from one of the rare importers that required a journey or tolkienesque proportions overcoming many obstacles making friends and enemies in equal measure and grabbing a rare much sought after precious that you could show off to the shire  or shitty council estate where you lived. (failing that a postal order and stamped addressed envelope would also work)

Superplay was one of the few magazines that actively encouraged not only the purchase of import games but also the purchase and use of the dreaded dark witchcraftery of the console destroying adapter with which to play your new imported game. the magazine was also one of the first to advocate manga and anime and ran a monthly section on upcoming anime releases. it was pretty instrumental at the time for making anime mainstream in the uk and even gave away a video (remember those) of the feature film Akira with every 12 month subscription. the team or writers was pilfered from other magazines by the same publishing company such as gamesmaster (yup the mag of the tv show) and the other multi format magazine total. the magazine itself was pretty colourful with manga influenced illustrations thanks to illustrator Will Overton who later became a writer for the mag as well. Superplay was always niche as well as focusing on the more obscure games and anime it had for a few issues its own man in japan who would report on the latest never gonna get in the uk tech rom the land of the rising sun. the overall feel of the magazine was bright and friendly as well as daft. unlike some magazines it never seemed (well to me at the time at least) to talk down to its readers. along with its letters page it also had a tech page answering the same questions every week such as will this "fucking adapter destroy my snes" or "NMS says this adapter will invalidate my warranty is it ok to use" not to mention the 50-60htz debate which usually translated to "why cant my pal snes play at ntsc speeds"

Superplay ran for 47 issues as well as a one off collection Superplay gold edition. it was loved and missed by  all its readers its spiritual successor being that of N64 Magazine