If you grew up during the 16-bit era, you probably remember the weight of a fresh magazine in your hands. It wasn't just paper. It was a portal. Long before every frame of a trailer was dissected on social media, we had Electronic Gaming Monthly. Specifically, the Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium stands as a weird, bulky, and incredibly nostalgic testament to a time when print was the undisputed king of the hill. It’s basically a time capsule. It captures the frantic energy of the 1990s gaming boom, back when Steve Harris, Ed Semrad, and the rest of the crew were essentially the gatekeepers of what was "cool" in the industry.
Honestly, the way we consume gaming news today is so fractured. You get a tweet here, a 4K video there, and maybe a leaked Reddit thread. But the Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium—released primarily as the 1994 Video Game Buyer’s Guide and subsequent annual retrospectives—provided something we lack now: a curated, physical record of an industry finding its feet. It wasn’t just a list of games. It was a snapshot of the transition from the Super Nintendo and Genesis dominance to the looming, terrifying shadow of the 32-bit era.
What the Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium actually represents
For those who didn't live through it, EGM was the "hardcore" alternative to the more sanitized, corporate-feeling Nintendo Power. It had attitude. It had the "Review Crew," four guys with varying tastes who would score a game on a scale of 1 to 10. When you look back at a Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium, you're seeing those scores in a centralized format. It’s fascinating to see how wrong—or right—they were. They might give a future classic a 6 because the graphics felt "dated," or hype up a "FMV" (Full Motion Video) game that we now know is basically unplayable garbage. That’s the charm. It’s raw.
These compendiums were usually thick, glossy, and packed with more information than a human brain could reasonably process in one sitting. You had maps. You had "cheats"—remember the Konami code? Everyone knew that one, but EGM found the obscure stuff. They’d have button combinations for Mortal Kombat fatalities that you’d have to write down on a napkin because your parents wouldn't let you bring the magazine to the dinner table. It was a different world.
✨ Don't miss: The Roblox Grow a Garden Anti Bee Egg Situation is Honestly Kind of Wild
The legendary Review Crew and the 10-point scale
The heart of any Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium was undoubtedly the Review Crew. You had guys like Sushi-X, the mysterious masked reviewer who supposedly specialized in fighting games. Whether he was a real person or just a rotating staff identity is still a point of debate among old-school forum posters, though most insiders point to it being a clever marketing gimmick that actually worked. The scores were brutal. Getting a "10" from EGM was like winning an Oscar. It didn't happen often. If a game got a 9 or a 10 from all four reviewers, you knew you had to beg your parents for it.
The compendium gathered these reviews into a single reference point. It allowed gamers to compare the library of the Neo Geo—a console that cost like $600 at the time—against the more affordable Sega Genesis. It was consumer advocacy before that was a buzzword. You didn't want to waste $70 on a bad cartridge. Games were expensive. Adjusting for inflation, a $70 SNES game in 1994 is well over $140 today. The stakes were high.
Why the 1994 Year in Review is the "Holy Grail" for some
If you’re hunting for a Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium on eBay or at a retro game swap meet, you’re likely looking for the 1994 edition. Why? Because 1994 was arguably the most pivotal year in the history of the medium. You had the release of Final Fantasy VI (then known as Final Fantasy III in the States), Super Metroid, and Donkey Kong Country. At the same time, the industry was looking toward the "Project Reality" (which became the Nintendo 64) and the "Sega Saturn."
The 1994 compendium acts as a bridge. It’s the peak of 2D sprite art. The magazine staff was gushing over the pre-rendered 3D graphics of Donkey Kong Country, thinking it was the future. And in a way, they were right, but they also couldn't have predicted how quickly those early 3D visuals would age compared to the timeless hand-drawn pixels of Chrono Trigger. Reading these old takes is a trip. It's like watching a weather report from the day before a hurricane. They knew something big was coming, but they didn't know exactly how much it would change the landscape.
More than just reviews: The ads were wild
You can't talk about a Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium without mentioning the advertising. It was the "X-treme" era. Every ad featured some kid with spiked hair, a backwards cap, and a look of pure, unadulterated shock on his face while playing a Game Boy. The copy was aggressive. "Sega does what Nintendon't." It was the height of the console wars. These compendiums preserved that corporate warfare in high-gloss ink. You see the desperate attempts by Atari to save the Jaguar or 3DO trying to convince people that a $700 console was a good investment. It's hilarious and tragic all at once.
The hunt for physical copies in a digital world
Finding a Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium in good condition today is a nightmare. Most of them were read until the staples gave out. Kids would cut out pictures to paste on their school notebooks. They'd spill Capri Sun on the pages. If you find one without dog-eared corners or missing posters, you’ve found a treasure.
👉 See also: Squares Daily Word Game: Why This Grid-Based Puzzler Is Quietly Taking Over Your Morning Routine
Collectors value these because they are more reliable than the internet. Websites disappear. Servers go down. But a physical Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium sits on your shelf forever. It’s a primary source. If you want to know what the gaming community actually thought about the release of the Sony PlayStation before it became a behemoth, you have to go back to the source. The skepticism in those early EGM pages regarding Sony—a "Walkman company"—entering the console space is pure gold.
Digital archives vs. Physical tactile feel
Sure, you can go to Retromags or the Internet Archive and find scans. People have done incredible work preserving these pages. But it’s not the same. There’s a specific smell to 30-year-old magazine paper. There’s a tactile response when you flip to the "Quartermann" rumors section to see which of his "leaks" actually came true. Quartermann was the "insider" before every YouTuber had a "source." Half of what he said was nonsense, but when he got it right, it felt like magic.
The compendium format also meant less filler. You got the "best of" the year. It was the concentrated essence of EGM's editorial voice. That voice was often snarky, occasionally elitist, but always deeply passionate. They cared about frame rates and flicker before those were common terms in the average gamer's vocabulary.
🔗 Read more: Aliens Dark Descent Tips: Why Your Squad Keeps Dying and How to Stop It
Actionable steps for the modern retro enthusiast
If you're looking to dive into the world of the Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium, don't just go out and buy the first overpriced listing you see. Here is how you actually approach this as a hobbyist or historian.
- Check the "Year in Review" issues first. These are the true compendiums. They usually dropped in January or as a special "13th issue" at the end of the year. They contain the cumulative scores and the "Game of the Year" awards which are essential for understanding the historical context of a specific era.
- Validate the condition. Look specifically for the spine. EGM magazines were thick, and the glue often dries out, causing pages to fall out. If the seller doesn't show the spine or the centerfold, ask for more photos.
- Use them as a buying guide for your own retro collection. Tired of modern reviews? Use the EGM Review Crew scores from 1992 to decide which Genesis shmup is actually worth your money today. Their perspective on "gameplay over graphics" was surprisingly ahead of its time.
- Look for the "Special Editions." Beyond the standard monthly issues, EGM put out standalone guides for things like the 16-bit transition or the launch of the N64. These are often labeled as compendiums or "Buyer's Guides" and offer deeper dives into hardware specs that were revolutionary at the time.
The Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium isn't just a book of old scores. It's a reminder of when gaming felt like a secret club. You had to wait 30 days for the next info drop. You had to trust the editors. You had to read every word because there was no YouTube to show you the gameplay. It was a time of imagination. Looking through a compendium today isn't just about nostalgia; it's about respecting the foundation of everything we play now. If you can find one, keep it. It’s a piece of history that won't ever be replicated by a wiki page or a digital database.