115 magazines · 5,535 issues · 0 downloads
Vintage game magazines,
readable in the browser.
Nintendo Power, EGM, GamePro and a hundred other out-of-print titles, scanned page by page. Flip through covers like a streaming library, open any issue instantly, and never download a PDF again.
- issues
- 5,535
- magazines
- 115
- pages
- 571k+
- downloads needed
- 0
#1.1
Nov-Dec 1981
#2.1
Jan-Feb 1982
#3.4
Jul-Aug 1983
#5.5
Nov-Dec 1985
#25
Jan-Feb 1986
#39
Aug-Sep 1987
#48
Jun 1988
#62
Aug 1989
#75
Oct 1990
#100
Nov 1992
#112
Nov 1993
#128
Mar 1995
#1.1
Nov-Dec 1981
#2.1
Jan-Feb 1982
#3.4
Jul-Aug 1983
#5.5
Nov-Dec 1985
#25
Jan-Feb 1986
#39
Aug-Sep 1987
#48
Jun 1988
#62
Aug 1989
#75
Oct 1990
#100
Nov 1992
#112
Nov 1993
#128
Mar 1995
#141
Apr 1996
#150
Jan 1997
#162
Jan 1998
#175
Feb 1999
#186
Jan 2000
#198
Jan 2001
#210
Jan 2002
#223
Feb 2003
#235
Feb 2004
#247
Jan 2005
#258
Jan 2006
#268
Nov 2006
#141
Apr 1996
#150
Jan 1997
#162
Jan 1998
#175
Feb 1999
#186
Jan 2000
#198
Jan 2001
#210
Jan 2002
#223
Feb 2003
#235
Feb 2004
#247
Jan 2005
#258
Jan 2006
#268
Nov 2006
Start with a title
Nintendo Power, EGM, GamePro
and the rest of the rack.
Why this exists
Thousands of pages of gaming history were locked in giant PDFs.
The scans are wonderful. The experience wasn't: download 60 MB, wait, open a viewer, squint. We rebuilt the whole archive as a site you can actually wander through.
01 — Browse
A library, not a file list.
Covers laid out by year in rows you can scrub through. Hover any issue for the date, page count and headline stories — the way you'd pick a film, not a PDF.
02 — Read
Opens in a second. Reads like paper.
Pages stream in as you turn them, so a 90 MB issue opens instantly. Two-page spreads on desktop, single pages on your phone, pinch-zoom on every screenshot.
03 — Search
Find the review, not the issue.
Every page is OCR'd. Type a game, a studio or a designer and jump straight to the page it appears on — across every magazine in the library.
Now reading
Issue #100 · Nov 1992
page 41 of 196
The reader
Built for the couch,
the train and the 4K monitor.
Pages are pre-rendered at multiple sizes and served from the edge, so turning a page feels like turning a page. Your place is saved per issue. Keyboard, swipe and scroll all work.
Instant open
No 60 MB wait — the first spread streams in under a second.
Spread view
Two facing pages on wide screens, exactly as printed.
Deep zoom
Read the fine print on every ad and screenshot.
Remembers you
Pick up where you left off, on any device.
Four eras
From 40 pages in 1981
to the end of print in 2006.
Pick an era and you get its whole run — every cover in a row, every issue one tap away.
- 01
1981 – 1985
The hobbyist years
Forty-page issues numbered by volume, black-and-white interiors, and long, thoughtful reviews of Apple II and Atari wargames. Chris Crawford writes about the future.
Browse this era - 02
1986 – 1992
Color, growth and #100
Issue 25 drops the volume numbers. The magazine survives the crash, goes glossy, and celebrates its 100th issue with a mock-royal cover in November 1992.
Browse this era - 03
1993 – 1999
The Ziff Davis era
Doom, Warcraft, Quake, StarCraft, Half-Life. Monthly issues swell past 300 pages and CGW becomes the paper of record for the golden age of PC gaming.
Browse this era - 04
2000 – 2006
The last print decade
Broadband, MMOs and the console wars. The magazine slims down, sharpens up, and signs off with issue 268 in November 2006 before becoming Games for Windows.
Browse this era
Start here
Eight issues worth
an evening each.
- Read now
#1.1
Nov-Dec 1981 · 40p
Where it all began — 40 pages, Nov 1981.
- Read now
#39
Aug-Sep 1987 · 58p
The game-design issue. Infocom profiled.
- Read now
#100
Nov 1992 · 196p
The collector's edition with the emperor cover.
- Read now
#128
Mar 1995 · 204p
Peak 1995: Descent, Dark Forces, Full Throttle.
- Read now
#162
Jan 1998 · 380p
Jan 1998 — StarCraft and Quake II land.
- Read now
#186
Jan 2000 · 222p
New millennium, new design.
- Read now
#223
Feb 2003 · 134p
Splinter Cell hands-on, Feb 2003.
- Read now
#268
Nov 2006 · 136p
The final issue. 25 years of CGW.