Club Nintendo (French magazine)
Club Nintendo was Nintendo's official, bimonthly published magazine in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and French-speaking Switzerland, which started publication in 1989. It can be seen as the French equivalent to the American Nintendo Power. The publication of the magazine took place from 1989 to 1993 and was sent to players who had filled and returned an inscription card present in the console boxes, first in the Nintendo Entertainment System boxes and later Game Boy and Super Nintendo Entertainment System boxes but also in the games and accessories. In addition, there was a questionnaire form to allow Nintendo of France to make statistics about players and other things.
The series of magazine was divided into five volumes, one for each year. The first (1989) was composed of four issues along with a special one for Christmas, all of which featured 20 pages. The next three (1990, 1991 and 1992) were composed of six issues, and the number of pages increased from 20 to 32. The last volume (1993) had only one issue, which contained 32 pages and wasn't published in French-speaking Switzerland. There was also a bonus issue called Club Nintendo Classic which was released in 1990 for subscribers to Club Nintendo throughout Europe.
Readers could also send a letter about anything related to the Club Nintendo and the magazine responded directly to readers' letters. The letters' contents occasionally included jokes about Luigi and some were signed under Mario's name.
In 1991, Club Nintendo had over 300,000 subscribers.[1] In 1993, the number reached 800,000.[2]
Although the French magazine was discontinued in 1993, Switzerland continued to publish Club Nintendo in French for their French-speaking readers until 1998, with the same layout as in France with six issues per year.[3]
Club Nintendo is also the name of official Nintendo magazines from various other countries, most of which have been discontinued. Club Nintendo México, the official Nintendo magazine in Latin America, was the longest lasting of all the Club Nintendo magazines, which continued to be published until 2019.
Contents[edit]
The issues included overviews of recently released and upcoming games (called Coup d'œil furtif), reviews (Revues), tips on games (called Trucs et astuces), records and score performance, readers' letters, players profiles, game guides and drawing contest. Readers and players could suggest some tips, records, profiles, and drawings by sending a letter to Club Nintendo for them to appear in the magazine.
There was also some objects and gifts that were given to readers, likes pins, posters, and timetables. The pins were given occasionally at different events, but also in the letters sent back by Nintendo to readers.
Sometimes, there were promotions for different Nintendo-related events such as the Nintendo Super Tour '92.
List of Super Mario game reviews[edit]
Issue | Game | Pages |
---|---|---|
1/1989 | Super Mario Bros. | 8 |
2/1989 | Super Mario Bros. 2 | 6 |
5/1990 | Tetris | 14 |
5/1990 | Super Mario Land | 16 |
6/1990 | Golf | 18 |
3/1991 | Dr. Mario (Game Boy) | 12 |
3/1991 | Dr. Mario (NES) | 19 |
6/1991 | Super Mario Bros. 3 | 15 |
2/1992 | Dr. Mario (NES) | 5 |
4/1992 | NES Open Tournament Golf | 10 |
4/1992 | Super Mario World | 20 |
6/1992 | Yoshi | 7 |
6/1992 | Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins | 26 |
6/1992 | Mario & Yoshi | 29 |
1/1993 | Mario Paint | 20 |
1/1993 | Super Mario World | 22 |
Gallery[edit]
Magazine covers[edit]
Artwork[edit]
The following artworks are not exclusives to the French Club Nintendo. Most of it are found in other Club Nintendo magazines such as the German one.
Characters[edit]
Mario, issue 1/1989
Enemies[edit]
Green Koopa Troopa, issue 1/1989
Green Shell, issue 1/1989
Pink Beezo, issue 1/1989
Albatoss, issue 1/1989
Donkey Kong, issue 1/1990
Wart, issue 3/1990
Mario and a Chicken, issue 5/1990
Tokotoko, issue 5/1990
Gao, issue 5/1990
Honen, issue 5/1990
Pompon Flower, issue 5/1990
Kumo, issue 5/1990
Miscellaneous[edit]
Accessories and objects[edit]
Miscellaneous[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Letter from Club Nintendo to a reader
- ^ Nintendo. TV News section dedicated to Nintendo's emergence in France. INA.
- ^ French-speaking Switzerland cover scanned by konila.