Gamest Magazine (Japan) [Shinseisha]

[TrepieGroupie#1]

• Frequency 1986: Bi-monthly
• 1987-1992: Monthly
• 1993-1999: Bi-weekly
• Format Paper magazine
• Publisher Shinseisha, Ltd.
• First issue Issue #001: May 5, 1986
• Final issue Issue #274: September 30, 1999
• Country Japan
• Language Japanese

A backup of issues 1-169 + other newer issues can be found on the Archive:
https://archive.org/search?query=creator:"Shinseisha"+gamest&sort=title

Gamest was a gaming magazine published by Shinseisha from 1986 to 1999. It specialized in arcade games, and due to its high level of expertise, it reached a peak circulation of 300,000 copies, gaining significant popularity. However, it ceased publication when Shinseisha went bankrupt.

Overview
The magazine was launched in April 1986 (May issue) as a bimonthly publication after Shinseisha approached VG2 (Very Good Video Gamers), a major video game circle at the time, asking them to "recreate VG2's newsletter as a commercial magazine." The first editor-in-chief was Tomokita Uemura, the head of VG2.

The tagline on the cover of the inaugural issue was "A High Score Magazine for Game Fans," reflecting its initial focus on arcade shooting games. However, in its early stages, the magazine did not exclusively cover arcade games and also featured TV games and PC games like The Legend of Zelda and Mighty Bomb Jack. Starting with the sixth issue, the magazine became a monthly publication, and it gained further traction during the boom of competitive fighting games. From issue 116 in 1994, it began publishing twice a month, becoming a leading arcade game magazine.

In 1999, due to the sudden bankruptcy of Shinseisha, the magazine was discontinued without being able to release its final issue. The de facto final issue was number 274 (September 30th issue), published on August 30, 1999.

Afterward, many of the staff members moved to ASCII (now Enterbrain) and launched Monthly Arcadia, another arcade game magazine.

On May 25, 2022, a former editorial staff member created an official Twitter account, and on June 1, an official YouTube channel was opened.