As everybody travels to sunny southern California, Defunct Games wants to take you on a completely different journey. Let us guide you on a trip back to the very first Electronic Entertainment Expo, held in Los Angeles in 1995. Experience the grandeur of E3 through the eyes of old school magazines, including GamePro, Electronic Gaming Monthly, Die Hard Game Fan, Next Generation and Nintendo Power. It's a week of generational differences as Defunct Games takes you back to the very first E3.

All week long we've been looking at magazines like Electronic Gaming Monthly, GamePro, Next Generation and Die Hard Game Fan. Not only were these magazines known for their opinionated reviews, but also the fact that they covered the entire industry. Nintendo Power, on the other hand, wasn't concerned about the Saturn's surprise launch or Sega's plans to take over the industry; they just wanted to show up their newest games for the Super NES.

In some ways this was probably liberating, as covering three impending next generation consoles would have been a nightmare. But with no real news about the Ultra 64 (outside of it being delayed until the following year), you can't blame me for worrying that Nintendo Power's coverage would be about as thorough as a doctor working at Philip Morris. As it turns out, I was wrong. While the six page report was undeniably one-sided, it proved to be the most in-depth look at the first Electronic Entertainment Expo.

Even though we were half way through 1995, Nintendo Power managed to convince me that there was still plenty of life left in the Super NES. With headlines like "The Super NES Reigns Supreme" and "The Place to Be," Nintendo opted against the modest approach. They filled their pages with previews of the biggest 16-bit games of the year, including Killer Instinct, Donkey Kong Country 2, Mortal Kombat 3, Doom, Earthworm Jim 2, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Evermore, Castlevania: Dracula X, Ninja Gaiden trilogy and dozens more.

While Nintendo Power largely focused on Nintendo products, they did manage to broach the subject of Sega and Sony with a weird interview with Dave Perry. The Shiny Entertainment head sat down with the magazine to discuss his thoughts on a whole host of subjects, including the Sega Saturn, Worms, time, space and the future. Like I said, the interview was weird.

And just when it looked like Dave Perry had hijacked Nintendo Power's E3 coverage and wouldn't give it back, the magazine regained control. Unfortunately, they chose to end an otherwise in-depth look at the first Electronic Entertainment Expo with a top 5 list that even a bad David Letterman impersonator would reject.

In a comedy bit titled Top 5 Predictions From E3, Nintendo Power tried out some new material with zingers like "Everyone at Atari will have to take mandatory math lessons." Get it? Because the Jaguar is 64-bit and their ad campaign is "Do the Math." Or better yet, "Sega will introduce a 64-bit system by bundling eight Master Systems together and calling the whole thing Titan." Zing!

To be fair, the long-running magazine did direct some of their jokes at the parent company. "Virtual Girl will debut next year with a color option. The case will be available in yellow, green or teal." Perhaps Nintendo Power should leave comedy to the professionals.

THE FIRST E3 RERUNS: Did you know that we've been running new episodes of The First E3 all week long? It's true; there are five episodes total. If you somehow missed the past episodes, then I recommend you stop everything you're doing and strap yourself in for fun. You can discover that GamePro took credit for the first annual E3. Learn which celebrities Die Hard Game Fan met while in Los Angeles. Go in-depth as Next Generation grills hardware developers for answers. Oh, and don't forget to see how Electronic Gaming Monthly decided to start off their E3 article. You won't believe it.