wow, i remember this

this was the first GameFan magazine i bought.

http://img244.imageshack.us/i/scdgamefanreview1qr1.jpg/

http://img169.imageshack.us/i/scdgamefanreview2re9.jpg/

this is one of the reasons why i kept reading GameFan. they did the review of Snatcher justice. despite hating on Sega back then, this game and the Lunar series made me want to own a Sega CD, but when you're a kid you can only afford to stick with one brand. they also wrote a monthly retro column featuring one game. i think it was called,"Retro Graveyard" or something. i particularly remember the one on Phantasy Star 1. it was an informative write-up, and tribute. they somehow were able to make an outdated 8bit game look visually appealing with their quality screenies. i probably wouldn't have bought a Sega Saturn if it weren't for those eye-popping pics of Panzer Dragoon(the main reason i bought the system) plus my addiction to Virtua Fighter and Daytona in the arcades also helped aid my decision. their coverage of import JRPGs were also superb. i can thank GameFan magazine for all this. for broadening my tastes. that is its legacy.

Comments 2

honestgamer Staff Jan 11, 2010

One thing that made me excited to become part of the Hardcore Gamer Magazine project was the involvement of several of the people responsible for all of those old issues of GameFAN, which I'd read in supermarkets as a youth. It was exciting to work alongside a few of those folks, and to be involved in the revival of some of the things that made that other magazine great. I got to write the first Graveyard piece for the new magazine, and I wrote several after that point, as well. There hasn't been a physical copy of Hardcore Gamer Magazine for more than a year and I rather doubt that there ever will be again, but it was an exciting project and I am thankful that I was able to be involved from the very first issue. :-D

As for GameFAN, I think that the only issue I ever actually BOUGHT was the Castlevania: Symphony of the Night one.

dementedhut Jan 11, 2010

Oh man, GameFan was fun to pick up every month back then. Loved the quality images and import coverage. However, I thought the last editor-in-chief, ECM, was crazy. Differing opinions are fine, but he came off like a hardcore fanboy at times, sucking out some of the fun in reading the magazine in its final months.