Video Game History Foundation

E3's 2012 Show Daily newspaper (Day 1!), as scanned by VGHF as part of our E3 collection -https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/13826289-a6d6-4001-ac21-2071a855f49e - includes this dual-Persona ad for Atlus' booth! (Free T-shirt, tho supplies are limited...)

Commanche FX was a planned port of the DOS game Comanche: Maximum Overkill to the SNES using the Super FX chip. Here it is running at Winter CES 1995. One of several 3D SNES games shown at the event that would never release. https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/c9adc7ca-554b-44ea-bac5-c0998c3e1888

Here's the Game Boy Advance line-up from Electronics Boutique's Oct. 2003 catalog - what catches your eye? (Full catalog in our Digital Library here: https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/6bedff02-8620-49e7-ab95-33258145130a .)

Next Gen magazine covered Las Vegas' Classic Gaming Expo all the way back in 2000 - here's just a few of the photos they printed at the time from the full issue: https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/a0872e36-c404-4806-96b4-fa597923b981

Continuing to fill out the digital archive with more magazines. This week, I scanned two issues of the elusive Computer Player, which ran through the 90s and has been totally eclipsed by PC Gamer archive.gamehistory.org/item/1cbe49a...

Stylishly low-polygon or just 'all that was possible at the time'? Let's call it both, for Quest 64's first boss Solvaring, from this press CD provided to GamePro in 1998: https://archive.gamehistory.org/folder/09643a3a-8ad4-479f-8b33-3fa40b9ed7e0

Something that we didn't even cover: Colin Williamson also took a press trip to Dallas in 1997, where he visited id Software and Ion Storm! Some great vintage photos of their offices archive.gamehistory.org/item/377dca6...

Thanks to Frank, Robin, and Phil for making this happen! Dig in there and see what weird stuff you can find!

This U.S. print ad for Jet Grind Radio (aka Jet Set Radio) for Dreamcast hits Next Gen magazine in 2000 in all its double-page glory - 'Stopping is a bad idea'.

The logo guidelines for PlayStation's E3 1998 press CD (https://archive.gamehistory.org/folder/268e354a-d25e-4b3e-a4a4-011da15b8292 - as sent to GamePro and archived by VGHF) is very specific about these Metal Gear Solid logos - no gray logo on black background, you heathens!

41 years ago today* the Nintendo Entertainment System was introduced, in a wild, risky, and completely unlikely way. If you haven't seen our documentary yet, put aside 45 minutes and see the NES as you never have before. *We can't substantiate this date, It's Complicated but probably correct(ish)

Chris Stamper chats about the development of Goldeneye 007 in this quick clip from Nintendo's 1997 E3 presentation. You can also see some behind the scenes footage of their tools! https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/dd16d027-f60b-41ab-812d-f72ccb7edae3 #Goldeneye007 #Nintendo64 #N64 #Nintendo

Not much discussed nowadays, Deathrow was Southend Interactive's futuristic sports game, an Xbox exclusive published by Ubisoft all the way back in 2002. (Played it? Liked it?)

From VGHF's William Volk collection, here's a design doc for Dinosaurs, an unrealized 1990 idea planned as a point 'n click CD-ROM game with a 'Han Solo-like' dino sidekick: https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/89fdaa09-4c1c-4362-921b-915ed327674e

The retro game mag from @gamehistoryorg.bsky.social is extremely on brand for a certain release next month.

One of a series of edgy Doom ads? This trade-only ad in the E3 1995 Show Daily. (Back when 'addict' was reasonable to put in a video game advertisement...)

This months random retro magazine of the month from @gamehistoryorg.bsky.social is right up my alley with one of my all time favorites on the cover! Do we think it’s too late to win the Killer Instinct machine? 🤔

Razorwing was a cancelled battle game for the PlayStation developed by N-Space, but it was on display at E3 1995! https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/92b1039b-bed4-4454-a312-d25bc6b88958 #PSOne #PlayStation #PS1 #Razorwing

Mail call from @gamehistoryorg.bsky.social is a callback to almost precisely 35 years ago. November issues often dropped in mid-October or so, hence this November 1991 issue likely hit in October of that year. Fun time with the NES, Game Boy, and the (then-) new Super NES all there to cover.

Ah, that mysterious online player. This early (2002) Xbox live U.S. ad campaign plays off it, asking darkly: 'Who is Voden05?'

Via the E3 1995 Show Daily (https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/ac3901f6-d3c6-47f5-8a0e-290c46fc0a86), here's a news story about the XBand 'video modem', which allowed Genesis & SNES multiplayer over phone lines. (Yes, it rolled out: no, it wasn't very popular.)

You, too could be getting 'hot mags' like this with our 'blind box' retro magazine subscriptions, folks: the-video-game-history-foundation.myshopify.com/collections/...

Myst released on plenty of platforms - but a SEGA CD version was also planned! Here it is being shown at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show back in 1995. https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/c9adc7ca-554b-44ea-bac5-c0998c3e1888 #SEGACD #SEGA #Myst

Innovative controllers? Sure! This video game 'glove' for PlayStation 1, released in the late '90s? Generally considered to be a gimmicky novelty, sadly... (Unless you disagree?)

Grand Theft Auto VI, sure, but (via the VGHF LIbrary!), back in 1998, here's how BMG and DMA Design advertised the original top-down GTA for the PlayStation. (Those JNCO jeans aren't messing around...)

What's the latest from the Video Game History Foundation in Q3 of 2026? Our latest Video Game History Hour podcast gets into '5,000 magazines in the digital library', community research around EULAs, and lots more: https://gamehistory.org/episode-165-vghf-q3-update/

Hi folks-- We're starting on our next indexing project, and we're building our volunteer team! If you have some degree of Japanese fluency and want to help index periodicals for VGHF, hit me up here

Electronics Boutique's August 1992 catalog - https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/0b364f69-bb09-4f5f-939a-0282bbd46ff3 - devoted one single page to 'Turbo Technologies' (that's TurboGrafx-16 and Turbo Express, aka the PC Engine!) Like what you see?

The Sacred Pools was a FMV game developed by SegaSoft. Posed as an erotic thriller, it apparently had a huge reveal party at E3 1996, though response to the game itself was poor. Here's a quick clip of the booth. archive.gamehistory.org/item/189ba87...

We're continuing to fill out our collection of Videogame Advisor, a trade magazine that covered the game business in the mid-90s. Currently up to 16 issues! archive.gamehistory.org/folder/be63c...

If you dig this, you're going to love what we're cooking up at the National Virtual Forum for Digital Games in Libraries! the event is online and free to attend; register now and join us October 29-30: soe.uncg.edu/rdi/dgil/for...

The VGHF's Mark Flitman collection has rare gems like this: Acclaim internal-only newsletters from 1994, ft. the reactions employees get when people find out they work for the Mortal Kombat maniacs: https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/ba6adda2-ba65-4da9-8950-d5ef3ca9bad4

For our Patreon members, we have a preview for the upcoming Colin Williamson photography collection in our digital archive, covering the Japanese game industry from 1999–2001! We've censored this mascot's face to protect their identity www.patreon.com/gamehistoryo...

In 1994, PC CD-ROM games were a big deal - hence the Electronics Boutique 'multimedia' catalog at the time - https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/79a705e7-62b3-4cac-8a95-74a3a7cddc00 - devoting an entire issue to titles like Wing Commander III!

Was it "Diddy's Kong Quest" or "Diddy Kong's Quest"? In the final game it's the former, but as we can tell from this 1995 E3 video, it once was the latter! https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/a6df7cf0-ed94-456f-915d-de41e9d67479 #Nintendo #SuperNintendo #SNES #DonkeyKongCountry2

holy shit. I used a clipping of that image from an old EGM as a phone case insert 15+ years ago and kept a scan of it to print new inserts for new phones over the years. I've been using the most deep-fried ancient scan all this time and have NEVER seen this pic in such clear definition.

Official Sega Dreamcast product shots from 1999? We've got those in VGHF's GamePro asset CD collection: https://archive.gamehistory.org/folder/6150e1d0-363d-478d-8d48-c90d1fcb02d6

We’re not flexin’ over here at the VGHF, but…

The Nokia N-Gage was a 'memorable' '00s phone/handheld. And its high-concept magazine ads? Also a tad unforgettable...

This 1994 U.S. print ad for first-person CD-ROM adventure Spaceship Warlock (originally released in 1991 on Mac!) is dense with screenshots and 'rave reviews'. "Available where fine CD-ROM titles are sold!"

All they had to do was capture 15 seconds of good Bug! footage on the SEGA Saturn for E3 '95, but in the first second they deBug! themselves out of a pit. https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/92b1039b-bed4-4454-a312-d25bc6b88958 #SEGA #Saturn #SEGASaturn #Bug

From the VGHF's Gabe Swarr art collection - https://archive.gamehistory.org/folder/a22611ce-4c3b-46ba-b515-4bdef09a7ae4 - here's character concept art from the 2003 Atlus skateboarding game (!) Go!Go!Hypergrind. (Yes, these are the 'Johnson Bros'.)

'The one place it's okay to poke a monkey with a stick' is... a credibly funny magazine ad tag-line for Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll on Nintendo DS, right?