PSM was a video game magazine that ran from 1997 to 2012 that focused exclusively on Playstation games, published by Imagine Media. It was produced in the U.S. but overseas translations existed. It can be seen as a Spiritual Successor to Game Players Magazine, since it featured many of the same staff members (such as Chris Slate, Bill Donahue, and Francesca Reyes) and trademark humor found in the former.
Two things set it apart from other magazines at the time: Unlike most game magazines, which used stock images for their cover art, PSM sought out comic book artists to draw a unique portrait for each cover, such as J. Scott Campbell, Adam Hughes, Arthur Adams, Joe Madureira, etc., so they stood out. The other thing was a mascot named Banzai Chibi-chan (illustrated by Robert DeJesus) who was drawn in manga style and was featured in, appropriately enough, a recurring section on Japanese import games and culture. This character was eventually dropped as the magazine underwent a visual revamp in late 2000.
Tropes pertaining to PSM:
- Animesque: The aforementioned Banzai Chibi-Chan.
- April Fools' Day: One of the most famous ones was a parody of Lara Croft called Valkyrie Wilde, who was nude (black bars covering the naughty bits, obviously). Doctored images from Tomb Raider (1996) were used, only with Wilde in Croft's place.
- Crossover: One Smart Bomb had the ludicrous Street Fighter vs. Gran Turismo.
- Fanservice Cover: No stranger to these, with special mention to the issues with the "game characters in swimsuits" sections.
- Gratuitous Japanese: Banzai Chibi-Chan' shtick.
- Mythology Gag: The December 2000 issue had a picture of Bill putting Chris in The Box, a Running Gag from Game Players.
- Palette Swap: One Smart Bomb had a parody of Mortal Kombat where a ton of fighters with the same sprites as Scorpion and Sub-Zero kept popping up one after another.
- Remix Comic: One of the more popular recurring bits in the letters section was Smart Bomb, a three panel comic strip with (sometimes) doctored images from a video game, superimposed with comedic word bubbles and putting the characters in amusing situations (and often with crossover elements).
- Spin-Off: The one-issue PS Max, which was aimed at younger readers.
