NintendoForce

Issue #45: A Walk with the Animals – March/April 2020

"If we could walk with the animals, talk with the animals, grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals, and they could squeak and squawk and speak and talk to us . . . what a neat achievement that would be!"

Ah, friends! It's finally here. At long, looooong last, the Animal Crossing series -- the mainline, proper Animal Crossing series, not a spin-off -- is finally coming back to our tel...

Issue #44: Tokyo Takeover – January/February 2020

All eyes are turning to Tokyo.

With 2019 giving way to 2020, it's time once again for international attention to be paid to that biggest spectacle of sports: the Olympic Games. And this time around, the Summer Olympics will be held in Tokyo, Japan -- a city video game fans are already familiar with, since it also happens to serve as an international nexus of video game culture!

The ...

Issue #43: Division in the Ranks – November/December 2019

We try our best to keep things positive in the pages of good old NF, but to claim that everything's all hunky-dory heading into the release of the new Pokémon Sword & Shield would be disingenuous. Controversy has overrun the hype cycle for this particular pair of series sequels. Fans are angry! And their anger is valid, too – were it a misplaced rage, we might breeze right past it. But n...

Issue #42: Family-Friendly Frights – October 2019

Happy Countdown to Halloween, Nintendo Force fans! With the arrival of the first day of Fall today, we're getting into the spirit of celebration already with our first-ever October issue!

Thanks to your support here on Patreon, we're bringing you this second NF issue in the same two-month time frame as the Dragon Quest-led September edition that preceded it. (Normally we have a combined S...

Issue #41: The Quest for Success in the West – September 2019

If it's ever going to happen, the time is now.

The Dragon Quest series truly taking off outside Japan, that is. It's been the most consistent, most beloved franchise across the entire video game industry there in that nation where so many of the games we love are born, but it's been hit or miss in the rest of the world for decades. (A handful of hits, really, surrounded by a whole lot of ...

Should We Do an Extra Issue This Year?

Hey there, Force fans! Question for you.

Currently we're working on NF Issue #41, which is set to be labeled as "September/October 2019" in keeping with the bi-monthly publishing schedule we've held to ever since the magazine started six and a half years ago. But we're considering breaking from tradition and doing two separate issues to cover that same span of time instead, which would ma...

Issue #40: Getting Schooled – July/August 2019

The 40th issue of Nintendo Force is complete! It's the latest major milestone for our magazine as we roll on through our seventh calendar year of keeping the legacy of Nintendo game coverage alive in print form. And it's all thanks to you, our readers! Without your support and your patronage, we never could have come so far. Thank you!

The timing of hitting this mark lines up so well with...

Issue #39: Brick by Brick – May/June 2019

Dust off your favorite hard hat, pull on your overalls and make sure your tool belt is hitched up around your waist: the return of Super Mario Maker is imminent.

The Wii U might have come and gone without making much of an impact on the video game industry overall, but the first Super Mario Maker was a shining star in the midst of a disappointing era for Nintendo. And it was such a simple...

A Snazzy New Bundle, Player's Poll & Don't Anger the Ox! #39

Happy Bowser Day, Nintendo Force fans! Beginning today, it's an all-new era for NOA: Reggie has official retired and the new President is Doug Bowser. (Truly, we are all doomed. I expect a fighting force of Troopas at my door within the hour.) But let's hope this Bowser will be a benevolent ruler!

The next NF issue is just about a week away, but before we get to it, some tidbits for you.<...

Issue #38: Rivals Unraveled – March/April 2019

Have you ever just stopped to consider the similarities of Yoshi and Kirby? 

These are two of Nintendo's biggest stars. Two of the eight original Smash Bros. fighters. Both headliners of their own separate, ongoing franchises that have been regularly getting new games since the '90s. Both of them have eating enemies as their main gameplay gimmick in the core installments of their ser...

Issue #37: Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years? – January/February 2019

Yacht Club Games really dug themselves into a hole.

At this point five years ago, we put Shovel Knight on the cover of NF Magazine's Issue #7. At that time, it was entering the home stretch of development – just a few months away from its launch, scheduled for March 31, 2014. It ended up slipping a bit past that date, but the delay wasn't too severe – Shovel Knight debuted on 3DS, Wii U and ...

Limited-Time Offer, Player's Poll, Magzter Update & More

Happy December, Nintendo Force fans! Got a grab-bag update for you today, so let's tackle one topic at a time.

LIMITED-TIME OFFER: $18 FOR ALL 2018 ISSUES IN PRINT

http://www.nintendoforcemagazine.com/product/the-18-2018-bundle/ 

W...

Issue #36: Everyone is Here! – November/December 2018

Maybe it's because I'm getting older. Maybe because it takes a lot of my time and attention to keep up with our new baby boy around the house. Or maybe I've always been this way, and I'm just coming to realize it more fully as time goes on: I love playing Nintendo's video games, but I love the anticipation of playing them even more. The months – sometimes years – leading up to their release. T...

Issue #35: Waluigi Time! – September/October 2018

WAAAAAAHHH!! 

Is it an exclamation of victory? A shout of shock and surprise? A prolonged, extended, far-too-lengthy  lamentation decrying the cruelty of his existence? Perhaps, for Waluigi, the "WAAAAAAAHHH" is all of these things at once.

Behold the man in purple. Look upon his sharp mustache. See his angled nose, his knowing sneer and his eyes – his terrible, sad eyes who ha...

Call for Responses! Waluigi's Player's Poll

Greetings, Nintendo Force fans! 

As many of you have already seen, we decided to change directions for the upcoming Issue #35. While we originally planned on having a Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu & Eevee theme, we shifted gears to focus the issue's content on Waluigi instead.

The problem? Our Player's Poll questions printed in Issue #34 were all about Pokémon! It wouldn't make muc...

Issue #34: Rebuilding the Blue Bomber – July/August 2018

Absence really does make the heart grow fonder.

There was a time, years ago, when Mega Man fans were feeling mega-fatigued. Capcom was publishing so many sequels in so many spin-off series so close together to each other that it was impossible to keep up! Looking back on it now, we should have foreseen the brand's crash long before it finally happened. Perhaps some did.

But now that Mega M...

Issue #33: Some Assembly Required – May/June 2018

Greetings once again, Nintendo Force fans! Our 33rd issue release is upon us.

In this edition of NF Magazine, we're celebrating the launch of Nintendo's latest, wildest product line. Nintendo Labo is the most off-the-wall idea the Big N has brought to market since the Switch itself! (Yes, I know it's only been a little over a year since then, but still!) The same pure creativity and fun that led...

Submit Questions for The Ox!

Greetings, Nintendo Force fans! Lucas here with a quick check-in as we're getting down to the wire of our next NF Magazine release. Before we can finish up Issue #33, though, we need a bit more material from you!

Please jump into the Comments on this post and submit your questions for Don't Anger The Ox! He'll then browse through and pick one or two to respond to in print in our next issue.

Issue #32: The Port Report – March/April 2018

One of the factors fueling the incredible success of Nintendo's Switch is that the system has become a magnet for ports from past platforms. There's just something about the combo console & handheld hardware that makes everyone want to play every game ever made on it, and developers are only too happy to keep pulling great games out of the shadows of yesteryear and re-releasing them in Switch ...

Happy Five-Year Anniversary . . . to Us!

Happy Five-Year Anniversary, Nintendo Force fans!

Yes indeed, it was exactly five years ago today when the very first issue of NF Magazine was published on January 11, 2013. Our goal in making this all-new magazine was to keep the legacy of Nintendo coverage alive in physical magazine form following the cancellation of Nintendo Power, and thanks to your support we've kept that mission rolling fo...

Issue #31: Carnage vs. Cuteness – January/February 2018

Here's a situation I never thought I'd find myself in as lifelong Nintendo fan: Having the option to play, with regular frequency, M-rated games on a Nintendo home console. Oh, sure, there have been a few here and there before, on the Wii U and in the generations preceding it – but seeing a game intended for ages 17 and up was such a rare event that no "adult" audience could ever be established....

SNES Classic Winner + Patreon Stuff

Hey there, Force fans! First up, sorry for taking so long to make this post. I'd intended to choose and announce the winner of our SNES Classic Giveaway in November, and then November ended up being a real whirlwind of un-fun things going on with my family, and it skipped my mind for a while. My apologies.

So now, officially, the winner of the SNES Classic that's been sitting here by my desk is ...

Issue #30: The Man of Many Hats – November/December 2017

Are you familiar with someone "who wears many hats"? Asking about the phrase itself here. If you're not, I should explain in order to make this issue's name and theme make sense – it's a title traditionally given to someone who has a lot of different jobs, but somehow manages to do them all well. Like a busy, overworked parent who's able to balance raising their kids with the demands of their wo...

Issue #29: Revenge of the Hunter – September/October 2017

So, do you know Samus?

Almost immediately after E3 2017's back-to-back announcements of Metroid Prime 4 and Metroid: Samus Returns, the thought occurred to me that you may not. Specifically that since some of our readers are young gamers, there's a real possibility that those back-to-back announcements of two new Metroid titles were met with more of a "Huh?" than a "Hooray!" – after all, it's ...

Issue #28: The Element of Surprise! – July/August 2017

Greetings once again, Nintendo Force fans! How about that E3, huh? Were you as shocked and surprised as we were? It was incredible to see the power that simply putting the number "4" on the screen can have!

We didn't know exactly which surprises would be revealed in Los Angeles last week, but we knew that E3 could be counted on to bring at least a few out-of-nowhere unveilings. So we planned ahe...

Winner Announced + Next Giveaway Revealed!

Hey there, Nintendo Force fans! We've got some business to attend to!

First up, we need to reveal the winner of our Second Switch Giveaway! This contest was open to everyone who was a patron here at Patreon.com/NintendoForce before the cut-off time for our most recent issue on April 16. The winner gets their choice of a new Nintendo Switch system or $300 worth of upcoming Switch games! And that ...

Issue #27: When Two is Better Than One – May/June 2017

The Switch has arrived! And in looking for a common thread running through the releases coming just over the horizon for the new two-in-one hybrid machine, the number 2 just kept popping up. Splatoon 2! Xenoblade Chronicles 2! SteamWorld Dig 2! Even the 3DS jumped in to support the trend, as its next major release is Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, a full remake of the second-ever Fire Em...

Switch #1 Winner Announced! + Video Update

March 1 has arrived! (And actually, March 1 is almost over as I write this. Sorry for waiting until nearly midnight to pull the name out of the hat, but I wanted to make sure as many people as possible were still patrons in good standing after today's card charges.)

But enough of that! The winner of our first Nintendo Switch Giveaway is . . .

Jon Scott Maready!

Congr...

The Nintendo Force Video Expansion Begins!

Greetings, Force fans! With Issue #26 complete, I've got a bit of time to breathe before diving into production of #27. So I kicked off our YouTube revival this morning! 

Have a look at the first-ever Let's Play video from the Nintendo Force! In this inaugural bit of recorded gameplay, I take on the first stage of the newest Shovel Knight expansion, Specter of Torment. Watch as I try (and o...

Issue #26: The Nintendo Switch Launch Guide – March/April 2017

An all-new era begins!

The 26th issue of NF Magazine is now complete, and with it we celebrate the opening of the next chapter of Nintendo's on-going story: the launch of the new Nintendo Switch! 

We've dedicated this issue to that upcoming event, now mere weeks away. With our Nintendo Switch Launch Guide, we're leaving no stone unturned as we highlight all of the biggest games confir...