The Internet Archive site never ceases to amaze me. From the excellent Wayback Machine service to view archived pages of websites, over movie and video offerings, to ebooks, images, and plenty of games for Amiga, DOS, and all sorts of other devices.
Part of the site’s vast collection of texts and ebooks are archived copies of classic computer and game magazines that you can read online, or download to your computer.
I read some of those magazines as a kid, and enjoyed them very much back. Since this was before the days the Internet took off, magazines were one of the main sources for information on new computer hardware, games, and tips and tricks.
Computer Magazine Archive
One of the main entry points is the Computer Magazines Archive on the site. It contains more than 18600 copies of classic computer magazines. Most are in English, but you will find German and other languages as well if you search long enough.
You find magazines for the Commodore Amiga there, C-64, PC, Sinclair, and many others. A click on one of the supported magazines opens the list of releases that are available. Each is listed with its name, sometimes volume and number.
Filters are available to display results by year, type, topic, or to search the collection of magazines instead.
A click on a magazine opens its first page in a reader area on the screen. You can read the magazine online right away there, and even use search the content of the magazine, or use the download options to download it in one of the available formats. This includes usually PDF, EPUB, and plain text.
The Computer Magazines Archive lists mostly computer magazines. Some game related magazines are listed there as well, but the bulk of magazines is about computers, hardware and technology.
Selection of magazines
- 64’er Magazine
- Amiga Format Magazine
- Amstrad Action Magazine
- Byte Magazine
- Compute! Magazine
- Creative Computing Magazine
- ZZap!64 Magazine
The Game and Gamer Magazines Archive
The Game and Gamer Magazines archive on the other hand features game related magazines only. You find magazines for home computers, PC, but also classic consoles in all kinds of languages.
The archive uses the same design and layout as the computer magazines archive. You can filter magazines by language and other parameters, use search, and read any of the magazines online, or download them to your local device instead for offline viewing.
Selection of magazines:
- Computer and Video Games Magazine CVG
- Electronic Games Magazine
- Electronic Gaming Monthly
- GamePro Magazine
- Official Sega Saturn Magazine
- Official XBOX Magazine
Closing Words
While many may read them to relive the fascination they provided in their past, others may find them useful even today. If you play classic computer games for instance, you may find useful information listed in those magazines as many came out during that time.
The same applies if you like to tinker with classic computer systems. If you still have an Amiga or C-64 around, or any other classic home computer, then you may find some of the magazines quite useful as they offer tips, tricks and information.
You find other magazines, e.g. newspapers, glamour magazines and the like on the Archive website as well. The main starting point for them all is the Magazine Rack on the site.
Now You: What was your favorite magazine back in the good old days?