The Paper Trail, Part 4: Fan Magazines and Sticker Albums

Every great machine leaves a paper trail. The Game Boy arrived in 1989 as a small grey box with a green screen, and almost immediately the presses started rolling around it. Not just Nintendo's own manuals, but a whole ecosystem of independent magazines, supplements and collectibles, made by people who simply could not stop talking about the thing. This is a walk down that paper trail, from a British newsstand to a Tokyo bookshop, with a sticker album waiting at the end.

The official starting point

Our trail begins with something semi-official. The Handy Game Machine Gamebook was an official Japanese guide, sold only in Japan under its Handy Game Machine title. Across 82 pages it introduced games and hardware and offered complete walkthroughs with detailed hints for selected titles. Produced by Nintendo, it set the template so many later books would follow: a printed companion you kept beside the console.

Before wikis, there were staples and glossy paper.

It is one of several official Japanese guide books in the collection, and a reminder that even before the fan press turned up, the Game Boy already came wrapped in paper. From here, though, the interesting part is what the fans and independent publishers did next.

A voice from the UK newsstand

Cross to Britain and the tone changes completely. GB Action was an independent UK Game Boy magazine from Europress Interactive, first published in June 1992. It ran a remarkable 41 issues until August 1995, packed with tips, tricks, reviews and product news. For a magazine devoted to a single handheld, that is a long and healthy life.

The very first issue, catalogued here, arrived with a 16-page Buyers Guide supplement carrying 50 extra game reviews, the sort of generosity that made a newsstand reader feel they had struck a bargain. It stands as one of the European magazines in the collection, and as proof that the Game Boy could carry an entire publishing operation on its little grey shoulders.

Tips, tricks and product news, printed while the ink of the launch was still wet.

Japan's fan press finds its feet

Back in Japan, the independent press was busy from the very start. Game Boy Magazine (08/89) dates from the 1989 launch year, published soon after the console's release. It covers early titles such as Tetris, Makai Toushi SaGa and Dracula Densetsu, capturing the first software lineup that defined the Game Boy's market entry. Published by Tokumashoten Intermedia, it reads like a snapshot of a system still finding its audience.

The same publisher's September 1990 issue shows how quickly the format matured, carrying tips, tricks, reviews and product introductions a full year deeper into the Game Boy's life. Placed side by side, the two issues make a neat before-and-after of a magazine, and a machine, growing up together.

Then there is Game Boy Fan No. 1, whose first issue appeared in January 1990. Independent, enthusiastic and full of tips, tricks, reviews and product introductions, it is an early example of the Japanese print culture that grew up around the handheld. Holding issue one of anything carries a small thrill, and this is issue one of a magazine that existed for no other reason than that people loved a green-screened machine.

The Game Boy Scouts report for duty

The most charming corner of this trail is a set of four coloured booklets. The Game Boy Scouts supplements were distributed with the Japanese magazine Famicom Tsushin over a few short weeks in early 1990, and the collection holds the full four-volume run. Volume 1 led off in early February 1990, covering early post-launch titles such as Nemesis, Selection, Asmik-kun World and Baseball Kids with short previews and platform news.

Volume 2 followed in mid-February with Batman, SD Lupin III, Othello, Trump Boy and Popeye, working as a curated software guide with editorial content. Volume 3 arrived in early March, highlighting Batman, Funny Field, Flappy Special, Flipull and Makai Toushi SaGa, before Volume 4 closed the series in mid-March with Quarth, Pitman, Dead Heat Scramble, Soccer Boy and World Bowling.

Game Boy Scouts No. 1

Game Boy Scouts No. 2

Game Boy Scouts No. 3

Game Boy Scouts No. 4

Produced by ASCII Corporation, the Scouts were one of the earliest structured efforts to catalogue and promote the growing Game Boy library. It is a short-lived series, but a tidy one, and its rapid month-by-month cadence tells you exactly how fast the software was arriving in those first frantic months. Four booklets in six weeks is not a magazine, it is a running commentary.

Peel, stick, collect

The trail ends not with words but with pictures. Merlin's Nintendo sticker album from 1992 was a big hit with collectors, holding 274 stickers with motifs from popular Nintendo NES and Game Boy games. Among them were Super Mario Land and Mario Tennis on the Game Boy, and The Legend of Zelda on the NES.

274 stickers and only two sweaty thumbs to place them.

Anyone who filled one of these knows the ritual: the swaps in the schoolyard, the pile of doubles, the one sticker that never once turned up. Today the album is a coveted collector's item and one of the more colourful publications in the collection, a licensed slice of playground history to round off a very papery story.

From an official Japanese gamebook to a German sticker album, the Game Boy's paper trail crosses continents and formats, and all of it was set in motion by one small handheld. You can browse these publications and hundreds of other catalogued pieces at the Game Boy Museum. Bring a magnifying glass for the small print, and perhaps a spare sticker or two.