SNES Omnibus Writer Spotlight #44 - Chris Cavanaugh

Chris Cavanaugh is an important figure in the retrogaming community, publishing Classic Gamer Magazine (nine issues between 1999 and 2010), the first magazine to focus exclusively on vintage video games. There were retro gaming fanzines before Classic Gamer Magazine, but not thick, full-blown professional looking magazines like CGM. In Old School Gamer Magazine #7, historian Leonard Herman wrote, “The magazine’s articles were interesting and well-written, and its format was similar to the beloved Electronic Games…despite its self-published status, the magazine could be found for sale in Tower Records stores…those of us who still view Classic Gamer Magazine as one of the best independent magazines ever available on the subject, are still hopeful that a new one will again suddenly appear.”

Chris was also an editor for the late, lamented All Game Guide, an ambitious website whose goal was nothing less than to describe and review every video game and computer game ever published. I wrote a few articles for Classic Gamer Magazine, and the All Game Guide is where I got my start in 1997 writing professionally aboutvideo games. In fact, I wrote and edited so much content for the All Game Guide that I was able to quit my day job at Waldenbooks and focus exclusively on the All Game Guide (and other freelance writing gigs) for several years. This was a perfect fit for me because the flexible hours let me stay home with my two young kids.

Currently, Chris Cavanaugh is the Senior Editor with TiVo Games. I’ve corresponded with Chris many times online, and we hung at the 2007 and 2010 Classic Gaming Expos in Las Vegas. I hope to see Chris at a gaming convention again one of these days and catch up with him and his family. I’m proud of the writing I did for Chris, and I’m happy to say that he’s a been a supporter of The SNES Omnibus project. He even contributed a story or two.  Thanks, Chris!