Computer Entertainer: Special 5th Birthday Edition (Spring 1987)
The popular Computer Entertainer newsletter is celebrating its fifth anniversary. This special issue is a free bonus to all subscribers and goes over the ups and downs of the video game industry over the past five years. Did you know the newsletter was originally called The Video Game Update, but because of the massive gaming crash and the rise of computer games, Computer Entertainer became its new moniker? Of course, the pendulum is once again shifting back to video games, so one has to wonder if they’ll switch the name back?
This small issue is a great way to recap the last five years of gaming. There isn’t too much NES information to share from this issue, partly because it’s not that old yet and thus doesn’t have a lot of history to read about. A couple of things caught our eyes though!
First up, about 40% of its readers replied to a survey asking which systems they owned and used on a regular basis. Surprisingly (or maybe not) the NES almost took the lead at 31%. Only the Commodore 64 (another favorite of ours) managed to beat it out at 32% and the Atari XE/XL came in third place with 29%. Sega got 17% of the share and Atari 7800 a measly 12% (the 2600 actually beat it out). The NES ranking is very impressive and seems to mimic what we’ve been hearing from retailers across the country. Everyone wants a Nintendo!
Super Mario Bros. ended up being the most popular game among voters in the poll. This beat out all other software on computers and dedicated gaming machines. Gradius for the NES came in sixth place, and is also highly recommended from the editors of Computer Entertainer.
We always enjoy receiving our copies of Computer Entertainer in the mailbox. Here’s to another five years!
Read the full issue right here!
Craig has been covering the video game industry since 1995. His work has been published across a wide spectrum of media sites. He’s currently the Editor-In-Chief of Nintendo Times and contributes to Gaming Age.
