About Nintendo Force
The NF Story
Nintendo Power is no more. The announcement went out in August 2012, and the magazine’s final issue launched the following December. The original publication made to be the source of news, previews and reviews of the Nintendo video game scene was unplugged – but its legacy didn’t die. A new team of writers, artists and designers took up the torch! Calling ourselves “The Nintendo Force,” we sought to usher in a new era of Nintendo coverage in magazine form, paying homage to Power’s past while moving forward to embrace the future.
The debut issue of Nintendo Force Magazine launched on January 11, 2013 as a print-on-demand publication and quickly soared to become the most popular single magazine issue ever sold through MagCloud.com. Thousands of readers stepped up to join the Force, and the call went out that they wanted full subscriptions. We obliged, and those thousands are now still enjoying what was thought to be lost – the excitement of new, Nintendo-focused magazines arriving in the mailbox! (And by email and mobile devices!)
We’ve now been continuously publishing new issues for over a decade! After two successful Kickstarter campaigns in 2014 and 2015, we made the leap to Patreon in 2016 and have kept subscriptions organized there ever since. Thanks to our fans’ support, we covered the entire Wii U generation and are now nearing the end of the Switch era! And we're still just at the beginning of what we plan to be a long, lasting journey through more decades to come! Thanks to all of you who’ve shown your support so far – we’re Forcefully advancing into the future!
Nintendo Power may be no more, but the Nintendo Force is here to stay.
What's Inside an NF Issue?
Each new issue of Nintendo Force Magazine offers 84 pages of content – and never any ads breaking up the flow of your page-flipping! Here are the sections you'll find inside each issue.
Inbox
Kicking off each NF issue is the Inbox, which includes a Letter from the Editor that introduces the issue's theme and discusses some of the content you'll find inside. There's also Carter's Corner, a space where Editor-in-Chief Lucas' oldest son Carter gets to share his kid's-eye-view of current Nintendo games, and the Player's Poll, where we ask questions for readers to answer. The bulk of the Inbox is printing those answers, though, to prior Polls! We ink our readers' opinions into permanent printed pages, and if your Poll submissions are selected to appear in print, you get entered into a drawing to win a brand-new Nintendo game!
Download
The eShop is a special place, where indie games thrive, new series are born and major retail releases receive huge expansions via optional downloadable content. We cover all things digital in the Download section, which splits its spotlight between previews of upcoming eShop exclusives, reviews of the latest download-only releases and feature articles that cover everything from our opinions of Nintendo's DLC strategies to our wishlists of classic games we hope will one day see a rerelease through digital services like Nintendo Switch Online. NF will always keep you up to speed on the latest downloads!
Features
Every issue has its own name, and a unique theme that inspires the content inside. The Features section ties into and reinforces this theme with something unique and different every time! For example, for Issue #53 we had The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD on the front cover. Since Skyward Sword is an infamously divisive game about both soaring in the sky and descending to the ground below, we made our theme "Highest Highs & Lowest Lows" and crafted a central feature that compared and contrasted the best parts of the original Wii version with the worst parts. But that's just one example! What lies in the Features section is always a surprise!
Previews
What's coming next? The Nintendo fandom is fueled by a constant supply of hype, continuously looking forward with great anticipation to future video game releases. The Previews section gazes over the horizon to give early glimpses of games that are in development and planned to releases in the months (and years!) ahead, keeping our readers informed and excited about what they'll soon be able to play themselves in their own homes. It's the Coming Attractions section! A permanent, prominent part of all great video game magazines.
Retro
While we're always looking to the future, we must also always appreciate the past! The Retro section turns back the clock in every issue of Nintendo Force, bringing back memories of great games from days gone by. Recurring columns in the Retro section include Character Profile, which spotlights the careers thus far of great video game characters; Lost in Untranslation, which looks at retro games that never made it out of Japan; XX Years Later, where we reflect on the legacies of major games hitting big anniversary milestones; and Warp Zone, where we chronicle what Nintendo Power was writing about 25 years ago!
Interview
Have you ever wanted to make a video game yourself? How about learning what goes into the making of some of your favorite games? The Interview section highlights a different game developer in every NF issue, as we sit down for a chat and seek their wisdom on everything development entails. Learn the history of some of your favorite creators, meet some new faces you hadn't heard of before and even get some secret behind-the-scenes stories that will surely make you the most learned and well-informed of all your friends!
Reviews
Another stalwart and expected section that video game magazines are legally required to contain, Reviews is where we pass judgment on the biggest, latest retail releases. Our team members play through all the latest games, both from Nintendo and third-party publishers, and write about our experiences exploring those game worlds! What parts of the game were great? What parts weren't? Were we blown away by incredible graphics, a phenomenal soundtrack or truly engaging gameplay, or were we frustrated by game-breaking glitches or poor performance? Read all our thoughts to be able to make informed decisions about which games you should buy yourself!
Community
Finally, just as Nintendo Power did in its final era, we close every Nintendo Force issue with a section that celebrates new and interesting creations made by video game fans. Community chronicles all kinds of content, from ROM hacks to incredible cosplay costumes, from new game-celebrating books and zines to spectacular fan artwork made in every medium imaginable. If it's something great that's Nintendo-related but not directly made by Nintendo's designers themselves, chances are you'll find it featured in Community!
Comics
One last thing! Spread all throughout every issue of Nintendo Force Magazine are our special Comic Breaks! These one-page pauses in the normal flow of one section to the next give your eyes a chance to stop reading lots of words for a while and instead fix their gaze on some great (and funny!) art! We have a dedicated team of comic artists coming up with these funny pages for every issue, which one again honor the legacy of Nintendo Power. Specifically its earliest era, when comics like Howard & Nester were printed in every one of their issues! (Why did they ever stop doing comics? They should have kept them going forever!)
