Super Play Issue 1

Introduction

The first issue of Super Play was launched in October 1992 with the aim of capturing the SNES market under Future’s newly launched gaming umbrella. Although they already had Total!, Super Play was actually was the UK’s first SNES specific magazine (although there were NES and even Game Boy magazines released before it). 

The first issue of Super Play kicked off with big news, as Mario Bros the Movie had just been announced as well as the Future Entertainment show coming soon. This was a big deal for all of Futures magazines of the time, as it was a Games convention that also was attended by many games publishers and also was open to the public. As would become the norm, they showcased the world of Anime and an interview with the founders of UK publishers Software Creations.

The first issue’s main feature was a buyer's guide for the Super Nintendo, looking at all aspects of the console, but specifically focusing on the benefits of importing. The Japanese Super Famicom had been released nearly 2 years prior to the UK version, and there were plenty more games on offer, as well as being full screen and running slightly faster (50hz compared to 60hz). The focus on importing was a hook to try and sell the magazine compared with more traditional magazines focussing only on the UK market.

Reviews this issue kicked off with Super Mario Kart which had recently been given a Japanese release, and both Matt and Jonathan had their say on the game - coming to the same conclusion of 93%. Other big games this month were Bart’s Nightmare (USA) and  Street Fighter II (UK).  There were also mini reviews of several games that were already released in the UK, such as Pilotwings, F-Zero and  Super Castlevania IV (UK)., Curiously, Super Mario World didn’t any real attention or a review this issue, despite it being one of the launch games for the SNES - perhaps everyone knew it was good already! 

Walkthrough guides were interspersed within the reviews, with a fully mapped guide for Prince of Persia, various tips for Street Fighter II and also various tips for Super Tennis.

There were quite a few competitions in the first issue, including one where you could win £10,000 as part of the Video Games Championships, as well as the chance to win one of twelve different prizes to celebrate the first issue. There was also a What Cart feature which briefly looked at every game in every region (split up by genre) and gave it a score out of 10. This was extremely useful for those who had picked up the magazine but didn’t know what games they wanted.

It was a solid start for a first issue, however the magazine had certainly set its stall out as a magazine for importers (a big market at the time because of the UK limitations). The number pages assigned to UK reviews was a stark contrast to what was available for Import reviews