Game Player's / Game Players / Game Buyer
Scope and Contents
This collection includes nearly every known issue of Game Players in its various forms.
Game Players was originally published as the Game Player's Guide, which alternated between covering Nintendo games and MS-DOS PC games. After four issues, it was relaunched as three separate magazines, covering Nintendo, PC, and general gaming, respectively. Several spinoff magazines followed, covering other platforms.
All three editions of Game Player's magazines restarted at Volume 1, Number 1. This has led to confusion about the correct publishing order for these early issues and the running issue count for Game Players as a whole.
Based on our knowledge, this record is our best attempt at the correct publishing order for each iteration of Game Players. The issue titles and numbers have been reproduced as they were originally printed.
This collection also includes two issues of the Game Player's Consumer Electronics Expo show guide, distributed at the event. Six issues are believed to exist, one for each CES held from 1989–1991 when Game Player's was published. The library has digital scans of all six issues.
Dates
- Publication: Winter 1988 – October 1998
Creator
- Signal Research (Publisher, Organization)
Historical Note
The main forms of the magazine's title are:
- Game Player's (June 1988 – November 1991)
- Game Players (December 1991 – September 1996)
- Ultra Game Players (October 1996 – July 1997)
- Ultra Gameplayers (August 1996 – June 1998)
- Game Buyer (July 1998 – October 1998)
Published by:
- Signal Research (June 1988 – June 1993)
- GP Publications, Inc. (July 1993 – May 1995)
- Imagine Publishing (June 1995 – October 1998)
Extent
232 Magazines
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Game Players (first published under the name Game Player's, later as Ultra Game Players) was a series of video game magazines that ran from the late 1980s through the 1990s. The magazine originated as a buyer's guide for Nintendo Entertainment System games but quickly expanded into a number of spinoff publications that covered additional platforms. Each version of Game Players was published under a variety of names during its lifetime, sometimes changing in multiple back-to-back issues.
Eventually, most versions of Game Players were merged into a single magazine, Game Players, by GP Publications in 1993. The PC edition of Game Players continued separately for several months until 1994, when GP Publications was acquired by British magazine conglomerate Future, who relaunched as the US edition of Future's UK magazine PC Gamer.
After its final issue in June 1998, Game Players was briefly reworked by Imagine Publishing as a new, short-lived magazine titled Game Buyer.
Arrangement
This collection is organized by the subject area for each series. e.g., the Sega magazine published by Signal Publishing is listed as Game Player's, Sega, even though the magazine's name was changed midway through its run.
Holdings
Held:
- Game Player's:
- Game Player's Guide: Volume 1, Numbers 1–4
- Game Player's, Nintendo: Volume 1, Number 1 – Volume 6, Number 5
- Game Player's, PC:
- Volume 1, Number 1 – Volume 6, Number 1
- Volume 6, Numbers 1, 3–7
- Volume 7, Numbers 1–2
- The First Decade of Computer Games supplement
- Game Player's:
- Volume 1, Number 1 – Volume 3, Number 10
- Game Player's, Game Boy: Volume 1, Number 1 – Volume 2, Number 4
- Game Player's, Sega: Volume 1, Number 1 – Volume 4, Number 2
- Game Player's Sports for Kids:
- Volume 1, Numbers 1–6
- Volume 2, Numbers 1–5
- Game Player's CES Videogame and Computer Game Guide:
- Winter CES 1989
- Summer CES 1991
- Game Players: Issues 48–88
- Ultra Game Players: Issues 89–111
- Game Buyer: Issues 1–4
- Game Player's Encyclopedia:
- Nintendo, Volumes 1–8
- Game Boy, Volumes 1–3
- PC, Volumes 1–4
- Sega, Volumes 1–5
Known Missing:
- Game Player's, PC:
- Volume 6, Number 2 (March/April 1993)
- Game Player's CES Videogame and Computer Game Guide (physical only):
- Summer CES 1989
- Winter CES 1990
- Summer CES 1990
- Winter CES 1991
Creator
- Signal Research (Publisher, Organization)
- GP Publications, Inc (Publisher, Organization)
- Imagine Media (Publisher, Organization)
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Video Game History Foundation Library Repository