Superplay early anime article

A

afoia

Adventurer
found some early issues of Superplay, dated back to '92, I do remember the earlier days but didn't know superplay magazine (snes mag) were such a big supporter of the industry..

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There other odd old magazine coverage, like Hip Hop Connection. Also any real coverage will do US imports, not just UK releases.

Accepting there isn't really lawful UK distribution of anime outside streaming, by people like Neo (or anything else that still covers anime) would help a lot.
 
Yeah, Superplay is probably the main reason I'm here now. Helen McCarthy's Anime World column was quite broad and often did cover titles that have never had an official release outside of Japan. Aside from that, they ran reviews of domestic releases, frequently printed anime fan-art in the letters section and featured a hand-drawn illustration on the cover every month.

Some of the covers look a little amateurish at times, but Wil Overton really developed as an artist during the magazine's life and was putting out some very nice stuff by the end.
 
Ah this is great! Super Play is definitely responsible for my all things Japanese obsession. I bought it religiously from the first issue to the last. It was the first games magazine to actually have a decent layout and always gave tough review marks. If a game got over 90% in Super Play, you knew it was really good. They were also the original mag to champion Squaresoft's ouptut. Final Fantasy VI was never released in the UK but this mag ran a complete guide spanning several issues including a detailed explanation on how to import and run the game with several adaptors.

You have to understand that in a time before the internet, this mag was a gateway to a completely differnet world for some of us, and you only got a new fix once a month. From Super Play I went to Anime UK and Manga Mania, but then grew out of anime completely, although I never lost my love for all things Japanese.

Professor Irony said:
Yeah, Superplay is probably the main reason I'm here now. Helen McCarthy's Anime World column was quite broad and often did cover titles that have never had an official release outside of Japan. Aside from that, they ran reviews of domestic releases, frequently printed anime fan-art in the letters section and featured a hand-drawn illustration on the cover every month.

Some of the covers look a little amateurish at times, but Wil Overton really developed as an artist during the magazine's life and was putting out some very nice stuff by the end.
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Professor Irony, you may already know this but google the name Laura Watton. Her artwork was in the envelope art section every month and she's still going!! She even has a few indie comics out I think (via Sweatdrop?).
 
Holy **** at the side article about the PAL Booster!!! Remember when SNES games ran 17% slower and had ugly borders that squished the picture? The import converters with about 3 carts hanging out the back just to play FFIII? :D

Today's gamers don't know they're born...:(
 
Seeing that Manga Video ad takes me back to when this was all new and edgy and exciting.

A friend of mine (the same friend who got me into anime) read Super Play. I used to read through the anime section of all his back issues. I never really cared about the rest of the magazine because I didn't have a SNES (Megadrive ftw).

I feel sorry for the five people who won those copies of Odin. I hope it wasn't their first exposure to the medium, or else it probably would've been their last /o\

Kaede said:
Holy **** at the side article about the PAL Booster!!! Remember when SNES games ran 17% slower and had ugly borders that squished the picture? The import converters with about 3 carts hanging out the back just to play FFIII? :D
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That **** was still happening with some PS2 games - Final Fantasy X for example. And the spectre of bad PAL conversions still haunts us through PSN and Virtual Console: buy from the European stores, get the slow, squashed versions of old console games.

But yeah, it is thankfully a thing of the past with current gen consoles.
 
A fantastic glimpse back into the past! I didn't have a SNES myself until much later, so I didn't read Super Play and just leeched the magazines my brother bought, but it looks as though I'd really have enjoyed it.

Makes me want to dig out my old anime magazines again next time I visit my folks. I still remember some of the stranger reader letters and reviews to this day.

R
 
I learned the word "anime" (or "Japanime") from an Amiga magazine. They used to review Public Domain discs with anime art and also talked about Akira at least once when it was on TV (I was not allowed to watch it at the time).
 
It's always nice to read about an older perspective of anime and very informative too - as what I'd expect from Helen McCarthy. I didn't have a SNES myself back then, I was on the other side with the Mega Drive!
 
Shiroi Hane said:
I learned the word "anime" (or "Japanime") from an Amiga magazine.
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Same here. These peasants and their consoles, bah. There were adverts in the back of one Amiga mag (I forget which) for a company which sold anime videos as well as games. I think seeing titles like Akira and Guyver in those adverts with little synopses was probably my first realisation that anime was a thing - and a very interesting looking thing too. I wanted those videos then, but the fact that we didn't posses a VCR and my parents wouldn't have bought me something with an 18 rating stopped me from getting into it until much later.
 
Kaede said:
Professor Irony, you may already know this but google the name Laura Watton. Her artwork was in the envelope art section every month and she's still going!! She even has a few indie comics out I think (via Sweatdrop?).
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Hah, yeah - I remember Laura Watton alright. Now that you mention it, I think I may have heard her name in connection with Sweatdrop too - I'll need to look that up.

Kaede said:
Holy **** at the side article about the PAL Booster!!! Remember when SNES games ran 17% slower and had ugly borders that squished the picture? The import converters with about 3 carts hanging out the back just to play FFIII? :D

Today's gamers don't know they're born...:(
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What always sticks in my mind was that business of fitting a 50/60hz switch to a PAL SNES. I think SP even ran an article on how to do it yourself one time. Not for the faint hearted.

Nor was shelling out £80 for said FFIII cart, for that matter...
 
afoia, will you be scanning more of these?

ayase, I sold my beloved SNES with Secret of Mana, Zelda, Sunset Riders and a whole load of other classics to get an Amiga 1200. Worst decision ever!!! :(

Professor Irony, I do remember that! It was a brave man that took apart his £120 SNES and started soldering bits on....

As an aside, I just got Venus Wars, Project A-ko, Lensman and 3x3 eyes on VHS! I didn't realise at the time how bad 3x3 eyes actually was, but it was quite a nostalgia trip. Watching a few more manga vids on ebay now, they're so cheap it's well worth a look if you have a VHS player. :)

Maybe it's time I got a Super Famicom....
 
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