ONM Remembered – #275
“Needless to say this prize is extremely collectible and much sought after.”
from Official Nintendo Magazine issue 117 (June 2002)
Come ONM’s revamp in early 2002 every issue now boasted a double-page spread of prizes to be won; the sheer quantity of prizes to be won every year was mighty nifty, though the goodies rarely stoked my excitement. Win a GameCube with some outlandish pack-in game. Win some dodgy peripheral they tried to assure you was really good a few pages prior. Win a trip to Alton Towers – because boxes of Kelloggs Corn Flakes weren’t offering enough opportunities to go for free, apparently?
Then I was pointed towards this particular contest page, wherein you could win a copy of Super Mario Advance signed by SHIGERU MIYAMOTO!! If that doesn’t impress the socks off of everyone in a three-mile radius, then it might be because one of them has a signed copy of Super Mario Advance 2. And there’s only one way to top that…!
(no, it’s not the Sonic model made of fiber-optics. i’m pretty sure you could make that yourself in any school shop class)
I’m actually surprised such a prize wasn’t given more attention; any appearance of Shigsy, be it an interview, an announcement or just him wearing a dapper shirt would almost always get mentioned in the contents page… but this? Zip! It’s playing second fiddle to a selection of bland Joystick Junkies t-shirts that are most certainly not one-of-a-kind collectibles. Wise up, Ninty!
I could simply end this by asking “who knows where this prize is now?”… but that’d be awful greedy of me, because I wouldn’t even have known of this giveaway had the winner not come forward and emailed me about it! Kelan Headley of Northern Ireland had the honour of winning this prize, and was kind enough to share some close-up photographs of it:
Kelan actually came to me looking to know what issue the contest took place in, and with a little process of elimination (and buying every single 2002 issue of ONM), we eventually found the source. It was a fun little adventure that also helped supply me with a month’s worth of content to poke fun at, so that’s a happy side effect. I’ve said it enough already, but thanks a bunch for mailing in, Kelan!
(i probably shouldn’t have made fun of that fiber-optic sonic, maybe its winner will write in sometime)
