Club Nintendo (German magazine)
Club Nintendo was Nintendo's official, bimonthly published magazine in Germany, later also in Austria and Switzerland. It can be seen as the German equivalent to the American Nintendo Power. The first issue was published in 1990. Its precursor called Play Nintendo was already published in February 1989. This one had only eight pages and was more a form of a newsletter. Until 2001, the number of pages was muchly increased throughout the years. In 2000, one issue of Club Nintendo had over 80 pages.
In 2001, because of redeployment at Nintendo of Europe, the old staff of the magazine discontinued and a German publishing company called Computec Media carried on it with a new staff. Now the magazine had much less pages and soon it was finally aborted with issue 4/2002.
Club Nintendo is also the name of official Nintendo magazines from various other countries, mostly also aborted. One which does still exist is Club Nintendo México.
Comics
A very special feature of the magazine were the Nintendo comics, most of them exclusively released in the magazine. The comics in the issues from 1991 to 1998 were drawn by Japanese manga artists (Mangaka), while the stories and texts were written by the German editors of the magazine themselves. In 1999 and 2000, they were replaced by a comic series called N-Gang, which are completely German productions. N-Gang features teenage human characters as protagonists, but still a lot of appearances of the Nintendo characters.
While some of the comics are closely related to the games, there are also stories which are rather obscure and take place on Earth instead of the usual environments of the various Nintendo characters. Also 3rd party characters do appear both in the N-Gang and the prior comics.
After 2000, when the magazine was published by Computec Media, no more comics were released in Club Nintendo.
List of comics in regular issues
Comics with no characters from Marioverse as main characters are excluded. The N-Gang is described in a seperate article.
Issue | Title | Translation | Pages |
---|---|---|---|
4/1991 | Mario will hoch hinaus | Mario is Aiming High | 2 |
5/1991 | Wart steht unter Strom | Wart is Tensed Up | 2 |
6/1991 | Süße Weihnachten | Sweet Christmas | 2 |
1/1992 | Marios Rückkehr (direct sequel of Mario will hoch hinaus) | Mario's Comeback | 2 |
2/1992 | Ostern im Schwammerlland | Easter in the Mushroom Kingdom | 2 |
3/1992 | Super Mario: Die unheimliche Begegnung der Yoshi-Art (direct sequel of Ostern im Schwammerlland) |
Super Mario: The Close Encounters of the Yoshi Kind | 2 |
4/1992 | Super Mario: Im Rausch der Geschwindigkeit | Super Mario: In the Flush of Speed | 2 |
5/1992 | Super Mario Klemp-Won-Do: Muskeln sind nicht alles! | Super Mario Plumb-Won-Do: Muscles are not Everything! | 4 |
6/1992 | Super Mario: Die Bescherung | Super Mario: The Giving out of the Christmas Presents | 2 |
1/1993 | Super Mario: Die Verwandlung | Super Mario: The Transformation | 4 |
2/1993 | Super Mario: Coole Klänge | Super Mario: Cool Sounds | 4 |
3/1993 | Super Mario: Mario im Wunderland | Super Mario: Mario in Wonderland | 4 |
4/1993 | Super Mario: Erholung? Nein, danke! | Super Mario: Recreation? No, Thanks! | 4 |
5/1993 | Super Mario: Verloren in der Zeit (part 1) | Super Mario: Lost In Time | 4 |
6/1993 | Super Mario: Verloren in der Zeit (part 2) | Super Mario: Lost In Time | 4 |
1/1994 | Super Mario: Verloren in der Zeit (part 3) | Super Mario: Lost In Time | 4 |
2/1994 | Super Mario: Verloren in der Zeit (part 4) | Super Mario: Lost In Time | 4 |
1/1995 | Donkey Kong Country (part 1) | - | 4 |
2/1995 | Donkey Kong Country (part 2) | - | 4 |
3/1995 | Donkey Kong Country (part 3) | - | 4 |
4/1995 | Mario's Picross (part 1) | - | 4 |
5/1995 | Mario's Picross (part 2) | - | 4 |
6/1995 | Warios Weihnachtsmärchen | Wario's Christmas Tale | 8 |
1/1996 | Super Mario: Die Verwandlung (reprint) | Super Mario: The Transformation | 4 |
2/1996 | Mario in Mariozilla (part 1) | - | 4 |
3/1996 | Mario in Mariozilla (part 2) | - | 4 |
5/1996 | Super Mario in Die Nacht des Grauens (part 1) | Super Mario in The Night of Horror | 6 |
6/1996 | Donkey Kong in: Banana Day 24 | - | 6 |
1/1997 | Super Mario: Die Blume meines Herzens (reprint of Super Mario: Coole Klänge with changed texts) |
Super Mario: The Flower of my Heart | 4 |
2/1997 | Die Jagd nach dem Nintendo 64: Krawall im All | The Race for the Nintendo 64: Row in Outer Space | 6 |
4/1997 | Blast Corps in Yoshis Knallkekse | Blast Corps in Yoshi's Bang Cookies | 6 |
5/1997 | Die Nacht des Grauens (part 2) | The Night of Horror | 6 |
6/1997 | Super Mario: Mario im Wunderland (reprint with changed texts) | Super Mario: Mario in Wonderland | 4 |
1/1998 | Sag niemals Holerö (part 1) | Never Say Holerö | 6 |
2/1998 | Sag niemals Holerö (part 2) | Never Say Holerö | 6 |
3/1998 | Rummelplatzquatsch | Fairground Nonsense | 6 |
4/1998 | Super Mario in Aloha Hawaii | - | 6 |
List of comics in special issues
Beneath the regular issues, also special issues were published, mainly to promote new Nintendo games and other products.
Issue | Title | Translation | Pages |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island | - | 32 |
2 | Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest | - | 32 |
7 | Auf der Suche nach dem Glück | In search for happiness | 9 |
7 | Die Nacht der leuchtenden Yoshis! | The night of the shining Yoshis! | 9 |
7 | Das Lied der Yoshis | The song of the Yoshis | 1 |
GB Camera | Das Vermächtnis des Dr. Lichtblitz | The legacy of Dr. Flashlight | 6 |
Gallery
A choice of different issues showing the development of the cover design.