When I was ten years old, I begged my parents to buy me to Nintendo Power after becoming addicted to the Nintendo Fun Club magazines. I would check the mailbox daily, cover my walls with every issue poster, and write them all kinds of ridiculous letters all the time -- most of which they would kindly respond to.
Inspired by the pluckiness of Howard Phillips, I launched my first video game club. It had a catchy name: "The Totally Top Secret Nintendo Power Nintendo Force". It was just my best friend and I
religiously reading each issue cover to cover, keeping a journal of our best secrets, drawing screenshots (no, really), and trying to beat the high scores published in each issue.
The horrifying proof
My annual subscription came with a giant strategy guide and a "Team Power" membership pin, all of which I still have to this day. Eventually the Internet would be invented and I would launch my second
club, now known as Destructoid. I don't know that I would be doing what I do today if it wasn't for that magazine.