Breaking Up is So Hard To Do

As the UK videogames market grew and grew, it became obvious that there were only two companies in it: Sega and Nintendo. Coming to the not-unreasonable conclusion that the general public either owned a Sega console or a Nintendo console, Rignall and the MM team made the bold move of splitting the magazine in two to create Mean Machines Sega and Nintendo Magazine System.

Opinion was as divided as the magazine. Readers who owned both a Sega and Nintendo console (like myself) found themselves having to buy two magazines instead of one. On the positive side, each magazine could devote more space to the respective platforms and Rignall still managed to write for both magazines, but generally the move was viewed as a negative one by 'hardcore' Mean Machines fans. After the split, the magic that made the publication such an enjoyable read seemed to vanish. Maybe it was the introduction of new staff members, or maybe it was the need to 'mature' a little in the fact of a growing videogames market. Whatever the reason, the true spirit of Mean Machines died when the magazine was split.

However, for EMAP the gamble paid off and sales figures for both MM Sega and NMS eclipsed those of the original MM.