NGC Magazine
Encyclopedia
NGC Magazine was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

 specialising in Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....

 created consoles; which was first printed in 1997 and ran until 2006. N64 Magazine was the successor to Super Play
Super Play
Super Play was a UK based Super Nintendo Entertainment System magazine which ran from November 1992 to September 1996.Super Play was notable for a number of reasons. Firstly, it covered in great detail the console role-playing game genre...

magazine after it ended in 1996 as it retained many of the staff and the style of that publication. In 2006 the magazine finally closed and has been succeeded once again- this time by NGamer
NGamer
NGamer is a British magazine which mainly covers Nintendo video game consoles and software, and also to a much lesser extent, Sony and Microsoft consoles. The first issue was released on 13 July 2006...

 Magazine.

It was, at the time of its closure, one of the longest-running gaming magazines in the UK. It was on many occasions first for news (including the 'denied by official source' rumors such as the existence of Resident Evil Deadly Silence and the implication of the Wii controller and the delay to Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
is an action-adventure game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development, and published by Nintendo for the GameCube and Wii video game consoles. It is the thirteenth installment in The Legend of Zelda series...

- both later being proved true in parts), due in part to having no official connection to Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....

 and therefore no restrictions on what it could report (save legal ones). The magazine gained a reputation for honest and mainly accurate reviews (again often due to having no games company links) and a reputation for good humour. It had a very large fan base in the UK and Europe.

The Staff

The staff of NGC Magazine over the years varied. Memorable staff members included Jonathan Davies, James Ashton, Jes 'Slutsy Bicksy' Bickham, Dan 'Camp Hitler' Geary, Tim Weaver, Wil Overton, Mark 'Greener' Green, Martin 'Kittsy' Kitts, Andrea Ball, Dr Mark Cousens, Zy Nicholson, Geraint 'Gimroo' Evans, Justin 'Ducky-boo' Webb, Miriam 'Mim' McDonald, Steve 'Extreme' Jalim and Paul 'Shedwards' Edwards.

The magazine took usual light-hearted digs at each of its own staff; Jes was regularly lampooned due to his bald head; Mark Green had an evil alter-ego named Dark Mark; Andrea Ball was apparently permanently covered in grease and fake tan, and also had a reputation for carrying a constantly trademarked "Big Stick™"; Dr Mark Cousens was mocked for his apparent lack of a Nintendo NES console; Tim Weaver was famed for his patented Emotionless Stare; and James Ashton was ridiculed mercilessly in the magazine's pages for continually failing to pass his driving test. To this very day, he drives his Ferraris on a provisional license. Geraint was often also the subject of jokes, due to his Welsh origins, with regular pokes at him and his culture and lifestyle.

Thematic humour

The many popular, satirical, running gags revolved around:
  • Nintendo executive and design staff - Shigeru Miyamoto
    Shigeru Miyamoto
    is a Japanese video game designer and producer. Miyamoto was born and raised in Kyoto Prefecture; the natural surroundings of Kyoto inspired much of Miyamoto's later work....

     (most commonly referred by NGC as 'Shigsy'), Hiroshi Yamauchi
    Hiroshi Yamauchi
    is a Japanese businessman. He was the third president of Nintendo, joining the company in 1949 until stepping down on May 31, 2002, to be succeeded by Satoru Iwata. Yamauchi is credited with transforming Nintendo from a small hanafuda card-making company in Japan to today's multi-billion dollar...

     (NCL
    NCL
    NCL may refer to:* Norwegian Cruise Line, a cruise ship company* National Conference League, a rugby league competition played in the UK* National Consumers League, formed in the 1890s for women's suffrage, protection of female and child laborers, eliminations of health hazards* New Caledonia, a...

    's former President, who the magazine regularly called absolutely terrifying), Satoru Iwata
    Satoru Iwata
    is the fourth president of Nintendo, succeeding the long-standing previous president of the company, Hiroshi Yamauchi in 2002. He was responsible in great part for defining Nintendo's strategy both before and during the release of its Nintendo GameCube video game console in 2001, a vision which...

    , David Gosen (former CEO of Nintendo of Europe - the magazine claimed he was a homicidal robot named "Go-Sen" who would always say "This year is a good year to buy a [insert Nintendo product or calendar]"), and Reggie Fils-Aime (referred to as a frightening man ogre who could crush you with his bare hands - in one issue a cut-out cat mask adorned with Reggie's face was included in the magazine to frighten other cats).

  • Having the readers send in weird things to win stuff: Luigi papier-mache statues, photos of people dressed up as game characters, and pieces of alternative wisdom known as 'Sense Talks'. One famous competition asked readers to send in "tat
    Wiktionary
    Wiktionary is a multilingual, web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in 158 languages...

    " of their own in exchange for over £1000's worth of tat from the N64 offices. Among the N64 tat was a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Turok
    Turok
    Turok is a fictional American comic book character initially in comics from Western Publishing published through licensee Dell Comics. He first appeared in Four Color Comics #596 , then graduated to his own title, Turok, Son of Stone...

    , star of several N64 games, along with two wigs that apparently belonged to Jes Bickham: the caption read "Make no mistake: when you see Jes striding down the street in his size threes wearing these hairpieces, you know he means business". This competition was repeated when NGC later reached its final issue.

  • Random nonsense on popular love/hate-relationship characters: Toad, Luigi
    Luigi
    is a fictional character, featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by prominent game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the slightly younger fraternal twin brother of Nintendo's mascot Mario, and appears in many games throughout the Mario series,...

    , Sonic
    Sonic the Hedgehog (character)
    , trademarked Sonic The Hedgehog, is a video game character and the main protagonist of the Sonic video game series released by Sega, as well as in numerous spin-off comics, cartoons, and a feature film. The first game was released on June 23, 1991, to provide Sega with a mascot to rival Nintendo's...

    , Tingle
    Tingle
    is the video game character of the eponymous Tingle series. He was originally part of the The Legend of Zelda series, first appearing in Majora's Mask, released in the year 2000. Since his first appearance, he has appeared in each installment of the series up through Spirit Tracks, except for...

    , Diddy Kong
    Diddy Kong
    , originally known as Donkey Diddy, is a fictional character in the Donkey Kong series of video games, first appearing in the 1994 game Donkey Kong Country. He lives on Donkey Kong Island in the Kongo Jungle, and is identified by his red hat, which has a Nintendo logo on it, and shirt...

    , Krystal, Lex Luthor
    Lex Luthor
    Lex Luthor is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and the archenemy of Superman, although given his high status as a supervillain, he has also come into conflict with Batman and other superheroes in the DC Universe. Created by Jerry Siegel and...

    , Yoshi
    Yoshi
    , is a fictional dragon-like character who appears in video games published by Nintendo. His debut was in Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as Mario and Luigi's sidekick , and he later established his own series with several platform and puzzle games, including Super...

    , Kirby
    Kirby (Nintendo)
    is the main protagonist of Nintendo's Kirby video game series created by Masahiro Sakurai and developed by HAL Laboratory. The Kirby series is one of Nintendo's many well-known game franchises, spanning nearly twenty games since 1992...

    , Jango Fett
    Jango Fett
    Jango Fett is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. He first appeared as one of the main antagonists in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, and later served as the protagonist of the LucasArts video game Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, played by Temuera Morrison.Jango Fett serves as...

    , and Jar Jar Binks
    Jar Jar Binks
    Jar Jar Binks is a fictional character from the Star Wars Saga , and the television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. His primary role was to provide comic relief, but many reacted negatively to his character...

    .

  • 'Bonus Letters' (nonsensical sentences picked out of letters which are not entirely printed). This could also include the titles at the top of fully printed letters, which took certain amusing words from the body of the letter and printed them in large, bold text to draw the reader's attention. This tradition, and the one above, have been continued in NGC's successor NGamer
    NGamer
    NGamer is a British magazine which mainly covers Nintendo video game consoles and software, and also to a much lesser extent, Sony and Microsoft consoles. The first issue was released on 13 July 2006...

    .

  • Made-up and ridiculous words such as "blork", "grackler", "interweb", and "wah!". "Grackler" is particularly infamous; in response to a competition in issue 16 ("send us something you think will scare us witless"), a ghost story was received, part of which read "one nit when i was sleppin a grackler cam" (sic). The entire sentence (and later, the word "grackler" alone) became part of N64 tradition, and it was eventually decided that the term should be used as a noun
    Noun
    In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...

     when referring to an exceptionally ugly person. For example, when the football game FIFA '99 was reviewed, a picture reference was made to the extremely horrible texture-mapping on the players' faces, with the caption "Grackle Vision, Gr-Grackle Vision, Grackle-Grackle Vision," in reference to the popular UK children's TV show "ChuckleVision
    ChuckleVision
    ChuckleVision is a popular British television series shown mainly on CBBC. New episodes are always first aired on BBC One, and occasionally episodes are shown on BBC Two. The first episode was shown on 26 September 1987. It follows the adventures of the Chuckle Brothers & the Patton Brothers, who...

    ". "Wah!" is based on Wario
    Wario
    is a fictional character in Nintendo's Mario series. The character was designed as another antagonist to Mario , and first appeared in the 1992 Game Boy title Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins as the main antagonist and final boss...

    's exclamation upon being hit by a shell in Mario Kart 64
    Mario Kart 64
    is a racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the second installment in the Mario Kart series. It was released in 1996 in Japan and in 1997 in North America and Europe. In January 2007, Mario Kart 64 was released on Nintendo's Virtual Console service for the Wii...

    .

Wil "FuSoYa™" Overton

Wil Overton
Wil Overton
Wil Overton is a British artist, specialising in manga styles. He has worked for a number of notable British video games magazines, including Super Play and N64 Magazine. He currently works at Rare and is an illustrator for NGamer magazine...

 was the magazine's chief artist (until issue 42) and was held in a somewhat reverential light by the magazine's readers; this could possibly have been brought about because some of the magazine's readers had followed Wil from Super Play
Super Play
Super Play was a UK based Super Nintendo Entertainment System magazine which ran from November 1992 to September 1996.Super Play was notable for a number of reasons. Firstly, it covered in great detail the console role-playing game genre...

 Magazine and felt a sense of loyalty to him, but the N64 staff themselves would more than likely say it was because Wil ensnared them all in the tangled mass of electrical wiring masquerading as hair that he keeps atop his head. Wil came in for much more than his fair share of insults and jokes, but he was a vital part of the reason that N64 Magazine stood out so much on the shelves: his Manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

-styled cover art was different from anything on other magazines, and his years of experience, love for RPGs and generally somewhat eccentric nature were comforting for many hardcore gamers.

As a measure of this eccentricity, he was also known by the pseudonym "FuSoYa™". FuSoYa was a wizard character from the game Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy IV
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square in 1991 as a part of the Final Fantasy series. The game was originally released for the Super Famicom in Japan and has since then been rereleased for many other platforms with varying modifications. An enhanced remake with 3D graphics...

, and Wil, devotee of Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy
is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...

 that he is, added a ™ symbol to the character's name, and a legend was born: FuSoYa™, Wil's "beardy, RPG-loving alter-ego", as N64 Magazine described him. FuSoYa™ appeared sporadically, sometimes to promote a competition, other times in response to queries in the magazine's letters section; his monstrous visage (actually Wil in a cheap wizard outfit and very unconvincing fake beard) was a comforting sight to many.

Wil Overton eventually moved to Rare, where he works as an artist. He later returned to do artwork for NGamer
NGamer
NGamer is a British magazine which mainly covers Nintendo video game consoles and software, and also to a much lesser extent, Sony and Microsoft consoles. The first issue was released on 13 July 2006...

.

Regular features

Listed below is a set of NGC's recurring features:
  • End64/GC: A random page signifying the end of the magazine. Typically featured abstract Nintendo-related subjects. Examples included a fake magazine article of Lara Croft
    Lara Croft
    Lara Croft is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Square Enix video game series Tomb Raider. She is presented as a beautiful, intelligent, and athletic British archaeologist-adventurer who ventures into ancient, hazardous tombs and ruins around the world...

     Vs Joanna Dark, a Nintendo Internet forum
    Internet forum
    An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...

     with fanboyish morons, and a newspaper obituary
    Obituary
    An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...

     for the Nintendo 64
    Nintendo 64
    The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...

    .
  • I'm The Best: A league for readers competing against each other in N64 challenges.
  • Grintendo: A small joke section whereupon a reader's (Usually abysmal) joke
    Joke
    A joke is a phrase or a paragraph with a humorous twist. It can be in many different forms, such as a question or short story. To achieve this end, jokes may employ irony, sarcasm, word play and other devices...

     is put to test against the Team, photoshopped movie stars and Pikmin
    Pikmin
    is a strategy video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube video game console in 2001. Pikmin is the first game in the Pikmin series of video games, and the third game for the Gamecube overall. It was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto. Pikmin was released on October 26, 2001...

    .

Top scored games

These are the top games that the magazine rated where the 100-point system was used. Ratings reflected are the last printed in N64/NGC Magazine before it finished (GameCube and DS games were re-rated for the first issue of NGamer
NGamer
NGamer is a British magazine which mainly covers Nintendo video game consoles and software, and also to a much lesser extent, Sony and Microsoft consoles. The first issue was released on 13 July 2006...

, NGC's successor).
Score: Games:
98% The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
is an action-adventure video game developed by Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development division for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It was released in Japan on November 21, 1998; in North America on November 23, 1998; and in Europe on December 11, 1998...

 (N64) - Issue 24
97% Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 4, known in Japan as , is a survival horror third-person shooter video game developed by Capcom Production Studio 4 and published by multiple publishers, including Capcom, Ubisoft, Nintendo Australia, Red Ant Enterprises and THQ Asia Pacific...

 (GameCube) - Issue 104
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, released as in Japan, is an action-adventure game and the tenth installment in The Legend of Zelda series. It was released for the Nintendo GameCube in Japan on December 13, 2002, in North America on March 24, 2003, in Europe on May 2, 2003, and in Australia on...

 (GameCube) - Issue 81
Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime is a video game developed by Retro Studios and Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube, released in North America on November 17, 2002...

 (GameCube) - Issue 79
96% Super Mario 64
Super Mario 64
is a platform game, published by Nintendo and developed by its EAD division, for the Nintendo 64. Along with Pilotwings 64, it was one of the launch titles for the console. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, and later in North America, Europe, and Australia. Super Mario 64 has sold over...

 (N64) - Issue 1
Perfect Dark
Perfect Dark
Perfect Dark is a first-person shooter video game developed by Rare for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It is considered the spiritual successor to Rare's earlier first-person shooter GoldenEye 007, with which it shares many gameplay features...

 (N64) - Issue 42
Super Mario Sunshine
Super Mario Sunshine
is a platforming video game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube. It was released in Japan in July 2002, in North America in August 2002, and in Europe and Australia in October 2002...

 (GameCube) - Issue 71
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
is an action-adventure video game developed by Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development division for the Nintendo 64. It was released in Japan on April 27, 2000, North America on October 26, 2000, and Europe on November 17, 2000. The game sold approximately 314,000 copies during its first...

 (N64) - Issue 49 (previous score: 95% in Issue 48)
95% Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil is a first-person shooter video game originally released for the Nintendo 64 in late 1998. A port was released for Windows OS shortly afterwards, in 1999. It is the sequel to the successful Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and was followed by the 2000 entry in the series, Turok 3:...

 (N64) - Issue 21
Advance Wars
Advance Wars
Advance Wars, known in Japan as is a turn-based tactics video game developed for the Game Boy Advance by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. It was released in North America on September 10, 2001, but put on hold in Japan and Europe due to the following day's terrorist attacks in the USA...

 (GBA) - Issue 61 (previous scores: 5/5, 96%)
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Advance Wars: Dual Strike, known in Japan as , is a turn-based tactics video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console...

 (DS) - Issue 110
94% GoldenEye 007 (N64) - Issue 9
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, known as in Japan, is a first-person, action-adventure video game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the GameCube video game console. It is the seventh game in the Metroid series, a direct sequel to Metroid Prime, and the first game in the series with...

 (GameCube) - Issue 101
Golden Sun
Golden Sun
Golden Sun, released in Japan as , is the first installment in a series of fantasy role-playing video games developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo. It was released in November 2001 for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance and was followed by a sequel, Golden Sun: The Lost Age, in...

 (GBA) (previous score: 4/5 in Issue 64)
Mario Kart DS
Mario Kart DS
is a racing game developed and published by Nintendo. It was released for the Nintendo DS handheld game console in North America, Australia, and Europe on November 14, 2005, and in Japan on December 8, 2005. The game is the fifth installment in the Mario Kart series of video games, and the first to...

 (DS) - Issue 114 (previous score: 5/5)
Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 (GBA) - Issue 64 (previous scores: 5/5, 95%)
93% Mario Kart Double Dash!! (GameCube) - Issue 88
Donkey Kong 64
Donkey Kong 64
Donkey Kong 64 is a platform game, developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was released in North America on November 24, 1999 and in Europe on December 6, 1999. The game is a follow up to the Donkey Kong Country trilogy on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System...

 (N64) - Issue 36
F-1 World Grand Prix
F-1 World Grand Prix
F-1 World Grand Prix is a Formula One racing game/sim first released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64 game console and to later platforms including Dreamcast, Game Boy Color, PC and PlayStation...

 (N64) - Issue 20
Jet Force Gemini
Jet Force Gemini
Jet Force Gemini is a third-person shooter video game developed and published by Rare. It was exclusively released for the Nintendo 64 in late 1999 in North America, Europe and Japan...

 (N64) - Issue 34
Shadow Man (N64) - Issue 32
Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA) - Issue 59 (previous scores: 5/5, 95%)


For two stints, first from 1999 to 2002 and then all issues dated 2005, the Magazine ran a 5 out of 5 scoring system for portable games. This list is all games which scored the perfect five, and thus do not fit in well with the above list.

{| cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 border=1 style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; font-size:90%; background-color: #f7f8ff;"
|Score:
|Games:
|----
| 5/5
|Sonic Rush
Sonic Rush
is a 2005 platform handheld video game developed by Sonic Team and Dimps exclusively for the Nintendo DS as part of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series. It was released on November 15, 2005 in North America, November 18 in the PAL region, and November 23 in Japan. It is a 2D platform game, but Sonic's...

(DS) - Issue 114
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