![Street Fighter II VHS](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.timeextension.com/a1979db797691/street-fighter-ii-vhs.900x.jpg)
Picture the scene. It's the early 1990s, the internet hasn't taken over the world yet, and you've just wandered into your local newsagents to purchase a video game magazine. Assembled on the shelf in front of you is a plethora of competing options – multiple magazines covering the same consoles and games, but each one vying for your attention and coinage. Then, out of the corner of your eye, you spot something extraordinary: a magazine with a VHS tape on the front. Your decision made, you proceed to the counter, holding in your hands what is perhaps the first ever example of a 'let's play' video – a format which, in the present day, is all over YouTube – but, back in the '90s, was practically unheard of, at least in the United Kingdom (examples existed in Japan and North America).
I remember doing a comparative study of our competitors and realized that Mean Machines Sega / Nintendo Magazine System had over 50 rival magazines competing against them. It was insane, really
This is the exact scenario which played out in December 1992, and the publication in question was the third issue of Nintendo Magazine System. Established just two months earlier, NMS was published by EMAP, and was an off-shoot of the phenomenally successful Mean Machines magazine, which had arrived in 1990 and revolutionised British games journalism. By securing the official Nintendo license, EMAP had created a behemoth, a publication that combined the best journalistic talent of the era with the benefits of a close relationship with the platform holder, laying down the template that would turn subsequent efforts – such as Future's Official PlayStation Magazine – into commercial monsters. However, even by 1992, the market was in danger of becoming oversubscribed – hence the desire of editor Julian Rignall to try something a little different.
"It was basically an escalation of the 'magazine cover-mounted gift wars' of the period," he tells us. "In 1992, the video game magazine sector was massively over-saturated. Indeed, I remember doing a comparative study of our competitors and realized that Mean Machines Sega / Nintendo Magazine System had over 50 rival magazines competing against them. It was insane, really. So to stand out, we’d create cover-mounted gifts to persuade kids to part with their money."
![Street Fighter II VHS](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.timeextension.com/8449d8841d3c4/street-fighter-ii-vhs.900x.jpg)
The first issue of NMS launched with a free Game Boy-style keyring containing a digital clock, while issue four would feature a CD containing the arcade soundtrack to Street Fighter II. Capcom's game had exploded onto the scene in the previous year, and its conversion to the SNES made it the hottest title of the period by some margin. It was, as Rignall says, the logical choice to spearhead EMAP's covermount offensive – and the aforementioned VHS tape was the culmination of this effort. "That Street Fighter II VHS was basically the nuclear option: I don’t think we could have put anything bigger, better, and more original on the cover of the magazine."
![Street Fighter II VHS](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.timeextension.com/38e7688ea700f/street-fighter-ii-vhs.300x.jpg)
The format was simple; Rignall sat down with the magazine's art editor (and fellow Street Fighter II expert) Gary Harrod, and the pair would play through all eight characters, imparting knowledge and advice as they went. Special moves were detailed, as were unique tactics for each fighter – and the duo even discussed strategies for dealing with the four boss characters. What made this footage stand out was the fact that Rignall and Harrod knew the game inside-out; indeed, Rignall had been one of the first people to report on the arcade version of Street Fighter II in the UK, via his tenure on EMAP's massive popular Computer & Video Game magazine. "I’d been playing the game solidly ever since I first saw it at the very beginning of the previous year," he explains. "First of all in my local Southend arcades, but later in the office when we acquired a Street Fighter II coin-op. Free play and stupid amounts of time invested playing the game – plus the fact that we were all exceptionally talented gamers and fed off one another’s tactics and strategies – made us extremely good at it."
The process of recording the footage was relatively straightforward, even though it was something neither Rignall nor Harrod had any experience with previously. "Basically, we looked up professional recording studios and found one relatively near to our offices," recalls Rignall. "Once we’d talked them through what we wanted to do, we took over all our gear – SNES, joysticks, etc – plugged it into their video capture system, made sure everything worked, and once all looked good, we started recording. Even though we’d never done a 'let’s play' video before – nor had anyone else, as far as I knew at the time – we knew what we were talking about, so we were able to ramble on and get everything done in one very long single take. The recording studio edited out the few mistakes and stumbles we made to tighten it all up."
Understandably, the idea of slapping a bulky VHS tape onto the front of a magazine with a circulation in the hundreds of thousands wasn't the easiest thing to get past some of the penny-pinchers at EMAP. "Graham Taylor, the publisher, loved it, but EMAP’s distribution folks initially baulked at the idea of putting a VHS on the front of the magazine," Rignall remembers. "For a start, it significantly increased the magazine's weight, it made copies far bulkier, and there were some concerns newsagents might push back on the fact that it took up more shelf space than usual. However, we raised the price of the magazine to cover manufacturing and distribution costs, and since the magazine completely sold out, newsagents were more than happy with the results as they made more money than usual."
The fact that we were putting Street Fighter II gameplay into the hands of readers decades before these kinds of videos became popular on YouTube is pretty incredible
Indeed, the sales performance of this particular issue of NMS made it clear that the experiment was a massive success. "I can’t remember specifically, but it sold over 200,000 copies," says Rignall. To give you an idea of the sheer scale of the market back in the pre-internet '90s, in 2023, there are UK video game magazines that struggle to sell even a tenth of that amount each month. "Those early issues of NMS were some of the biggest all-time European single-issue video game magazine sales," Rignall continues. In terms of a console / single format magazine, NMS was the biggest-selling. I think only early issues of GamesMaster beat it in terms of single-issue sales – which is understandable considering its TV credentials and the fact that it was a multiformat magazine."
It was, in Rignall's opinion, the absolute apex of the cover-mounted freebie – at least when it came to video game magazines. However, it's remarkable for another reason; it pre-dates the now-omnipresent 'let's play' format by decades. The aforementioned GamesMaster – which was a TV show as well as a magazine, and began its broadcast run at the start of 1992, 11 months before issue 3 of NMS – could arguably be credited with cooking up a variation on the format (ironically, Rignall was also involved in that, stepping in during challenges to offer commentary and tips), the cover-mounted VHS was the first to devote a significant amount of time to a single title. "The fact that we were putting Street Fighter II gameplay into the hands of readers decades before these kinds of videos became popular on YouTube is pretty incredible," admits Rignall.
![Street Fighter II VHS](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.timeextension.com/0393d1d5c97aa/street-fighter-ii-vhs.900x.jpg)
"It blazed a trail, for sure. Nobody in the UK had done anything like that before – nor put it on the front of a magazine. The idea of being able to watch a video of 'pro' gamers play a game was unheard of, and to be honest, we took a risk producing it. Nobody really knew for sure whether people would be interested or not in watching a gameplay video. However, people used to watch me for hours when I was notching up ridiculous record scores in arcades – plus, we all had a hunch our readers would love it, so we just went with it, and it paid off handsomely."
What's equally remarkable is how much the video still gets mentioned today. A few years back, it was lovingly preserved online by games journalist and Hookshot contributor Chris Scullion and was recently mentioned in Oliver Harper's Street Fighter II documentary Here Comes A New Challenger. Did Rignall anticipate at the time of its creation that it would still be being spoken about over 30 years later?
"It’s very cool for sure, but not exactly surprising since so many people seem to have absolutely loved it. Whenever I post about it, I always get many responses from people telling me they watched it repeatedly and how important it was to them as kids since it gave them a chance to actually see the game being played – plus hear hints and tips from 'experts'. It made a big impression, so it’s nice that people remember it."
Comments 22
Hadn't heard of this magazine before since I'm from Italy, it was quite interesting learning about part of its and the UK video game magazine market's history other than it being a precursor to Let's Plays with that issue!
I lived through that.
The 90s and magazine freebies were amazing.
Some of my fave CDs came free with music magazines from back then.
Video game mags had the best freebies
Is this the video with the wonderful exchange that ends with “…and you are one such sad person?”
EDIT - Just clicked the link to the video. Bizarrely I skipped straight to the exact point at 4:20. For some reason this brief exchange has stuck in my head for decades.
I remember owning this - ah, fond memories. If I recall correctly, the first issue came with a Game Boy keyring that had an LCD clock for a screen.
@Vacuumator Yep, you remembered correctly, it says so also in this part of the article:
I purchased the magazine, but all the VHS had been ripped off the front. My town was a little rough back then
@JohnnyMind
I’ve been caught out skim-reading. I had the CD too.
I still have some books that were given away back then that were actual players guys, not just little pull out things but full on books. even during the late 90s I think it was 64 magazine would still do book guides and they were much easier to store on a shelf. I can't imagine the production costs of some of these free things given away. Although I also have fond memories of the C64 magazines of the time having one or two tapes on the cover containing both demos and full games. I think it was expected from certain magazines to have something free given away for a long time.
@Vacuumator I still have that Game Boy keychain clock which I always thought was pretty nicely done for what it was. I didn't get it from this, though, as I didn't have access to the magazine.
I enjoyed reading this and I had this video. I would watch it in the way i would watch any other and with about the same amount of regularity.
Does anyone remember Click?
https://youtu.be/1e1gVA6YjII
It reminds me of this because it was a video sold as a magazine back in the day. It only lasted 2 issues and it was the first time anyone had ever see EastEnders Jake Wood!
Would be great to see it get a similar write up.
Randomly, I finished Nier Replicant a few weeks ago, and in their strange alphabetical credits roll (which I saw numerous times), whose name should I see crop up under "Creative Marketing Director"? None other than kitty-stroking crayon-wielding sad case Gary Harrod! Guy's done pretty alright for himself
OMG! THIS TAPE!
I remember getting this when Nintendo Magazine System issue 3 came out. Though my original tape got chewed up in the VCR, my Mother took it back to the newsagent that she got the magazine from, and they were awesome enough to replace the tape for me! It's in my parent's attic, waiting for me for when I get my own place and get my childhood TV/VCR combo back.
I actually had this VHS as a kid! Gave it out on loan to a bunch of people in secondary school and I have no idea where it ended up. Great that you have a YouTube link to it. A piece of game mag history.
Never saw this but I did watch Street Fighter II: Mastering Great Combinations and Strategies quite a bit back in the day.
I think I still have this tape - was a great time of magazines. Other memorable ones included the Tekken 3 ps1 demo disk, cd32 magazines, couple of amiga ones and of course all the pc ones too with demos of megarace etc
Getting a VHS was so cool. I still have my Mega CD VHS which came, I think, with Mean Machines Sega. How times change.
Oh, man...core memory unlocked. I didn't have this tape but I had one (here in the US) that was this short video with some moves for Guile, Chun-li, and maybe Ryu. A guy in an arcade walked you through how to do them. The coolest part to me was that it also included two live action commercials for SF2, one with Guile and one with Chun-li. Thinking back on it, I don't even know where that VHS came from. I wonder what ever happened to it...
Just one of the little things that we miss when we refer to "the good old days".
Magazines have long lost their lustre, but nowadays, if there were to be such a pack-in with such a publication, it would merely be distributed as a download code and/or weblink.
And while I never owned a Sony/Microsoft console, I thought it was so, so cool that their respective magazines would come with discs that can be used with their consoles, complete with demos, trailers and the like. It added a lot of value to the package, and I really appreciated the fact that they had gone the extra mile, even though I was never able to appreciate them firsthand. I imagine that they also would have been an inexpensive way for those who couldn't afford to buy the full versions to, in a small way, expand their library of games (which I can relate to as most of my PC games back in the day were demos/shareware on floppies).
Dammit I had all of these but threw them out years ago when I had a clearout. Definitely regretting that now 😐
I remember a magazine with a Donkey Kong Country VHS Tape slapped onto the cover. That must be somewhere in the attic as well...
Reminds me when I received the random Donkey Kong promo vhs (it might have been for the N64 version). I wonder where that tape is? Need to digitize it.
I still have this tape. Must have watched it over and over again. I can still hear Gary saying “jumping back because he was a baboon I would imagine”. No idea why that one line has been stuck in my head for 30 odd years. Haha.
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