Gaming History 101

Archives – Links to the archives of magazines listed in the presentation

• Atari Age
• Electronic Fun with Computers & Games
• Computer Gaming World
• Electronic Games
• GamePro (only a handful)
• DieHard GameFan (professionally archived by the owner and costs $2 per issue)
• Excellent GameFan historical piece on Hardcore Gaming 101

Additionally there is a web site, EmuParadise, that’s mostly dedicated to emulation that has an archive of gaming magazines including the ones here.  While I don’t find any malicious software, malware, or other such nefarious means, it should be noted this site has been flagged for illegal downloads many times.  It appears to be under no danger of shutting down, however, and has always provided quality, safe downloads for me.  Use at your own risk.

You can also find many magazines on BitTorrent, although that legality is so questionable I avoid it completely.  Retromags.com is an excellent resource, but it uses the newsgroup (NBZ) format that basically references the web and utilizes a paid server to read the magazines, so it’s hardly convenient for magazine-like reading on the go.  These are probably your most complete collections but they are also risky or cost money.

GamePro Scoring Photos

Here’s how the 1-5 star system converted to pictures

Typical score card example