Nintendo Gamer - Recurring Themes and In-jokes

Recurring Themes and In-jokes

The magazine continues the tradition of including in-jokes and themes that may recur for several issues of more. Here are some notable examples:

• The word "natch" (a shortened slang term for the word 'naturally') appeared on a frequent basis in the magazine and had been attributed to former editor Mark Green's fondness of the word.

• The phrase "that is all" was frequently used.

• The NGamer crew had a hatred of Diddy Kong and Tingle.

• Games editor Matthew Castle was famed (and ridiculed) for his total ineptitude at playing the more difficult games, particularly 2D retro titles.

• There was much uproar from readers after Matthew's import review of Super Smash Bros Brawl awarded the game 93%. Although a high score, it was one of the lowest scores awarded to the game. Readers said that this score was much too low and suggested it should be much higher. In issue 22, NGamer responded via a small article in NGExpress saying "Matthew stands by everything he said," and "Unlike the people sending him internet death threats, he's actually played the game." He called the Internet Death Threats "Fanboy Bile". He also said that if he were to make a WiiWare title, he would call it, "Death To Fanboy Bile". In issue 29, a sheet of stickers were given out free with the magazine. One of the stickers was the number, '95', which the magazine informed readers that they could "simply slap on the sticker over his verdict and you can make it look like he actually knew what he was talking about."

• A powerful and destructive character named Ninja Cat, based on an item from the game Tenchu 4, had appeared in several issues.

• The phrase "Worth Seven Pounds" had appeared many times in the magazine, since a free Wii Wheel-style accessory was given away with an issue of the magazine, and described as such.
• On several occasions, the Welcome! page of the magazine had a section named Thanks To, which was followed by a No Thanks To section.

• In a more recent issue, a beach ball that mimicked Chain Chomp from Super Mario 64 has been dubbed Wrong Chomp and the crew include it in contests, and was frequently mentioned when reviewing extremely poor or awkward non-Game Nintendo merchandise. It later took pride of place in the magazine's Twitter logo, with the remains of the bird from the Twitter logo in its teeth.

• Recent issues have been haunted by the ghost of Charlton Heston, emerging to review light gun peripherals and assorted tat, normally exaggerating his personality.

• The team (Matthew in particular) appeared to have a fondness for cakes, and often encouraged readers to send them in.

• The BBC Four television programme Only Connect had frequently appeared in The Very Last Gasp section. On 22 August 2011, editor Charlotte appeared as part of team "Edwards Family" in the second episode of Series 5.