Issue #42: Family-Friendly Frights – October 2019 (Patreon)

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 September/October edition, but this year each month got its own!) We'll be transitioning straight back into the normal bi-monthly rhythm following this pilot test, but it's something we may revisit in the future – pending patron approval, that is!

I suppose we could have given any of our past issues a theme focusing on "Family-Friendly Frights" before this, but I'm happy we kept a pin in this idea until now – the timing of Luigi's Mansion 3 being released exactly on Halloween day, October 31, is just too perfect as a centerpiece for this discussion. Specifically, we're thinking about how Nintendo has dabbled in horror for decades – but only just a bit. By and large the company's games have always earned their E ratings and most all of the content in most all of their games is never at all scary in the slightest. But the Big N tends to step into the shadows to spook their players here and there! Never too consistently – just often enough that each time it happens, it's still surprising and unexpected. But after so many years, we're able to look back and trace a line through several examples, which is what we've done in the central feature in this edition.

And following that? Total frivolity! Halloween isn't all about being scared, you know. It's also the grandest day of dress-up in each calendar year! So our secondary feature, Costume Party, looks back at some of the best examples of Nintendo's most notable characters suiting up in outfits that are not their standard, normal looks.

Beyond that? We hope you'll appreciate our attempt to make the Previews section as Halloween-ish as possible, our prominent reviews of spooktacular titles like Deadeus, Obakeidoro! and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, our seasonal comics (two of which were illustrated by new contributing artists) and our featured Interview with two of the team members behind Friday the 13th: The Game! (Which is not family-friendly in the slightest. Please note the M rating on that one!)

We hope this issue helps you get into the Halloween mood too!

Print copies are in production now and should arrive in most print subscribers' mailboxes by early-to-mid October. 

I'll be putting the finishing touches on the digital edition and send it along to your email inboxes on Wednesday this week. Keep an eye out for it then!

Finally! A production note: A problem at our printing company's packaging facility caused a small batch of our previous issue, #41, to ship to subscribers without the wall poster inserted as it should have been. I contacted them and they were profusely apologetic – they've disassembled and removed the offending piece of machinery responsible for the error and replaced it with a new model. They've promised no hiccups like that again in the future.

If you ever do have any problems, though, please use the Direct Messaging function here on Patreon to send a message straight to this account, The Nintendo Force. That's the best way to get my attention and I'll work with you one-on-one to fix any errors you've encountered to the best of my ability! Just have patience if you have a problem, please! I am, after all, still just one guy here personally responding to 4,500+ people, so if it takes me a while to get back to you, it's probably because I'm changing a diaper somewhere. :p (All four young Thomas brothers say hello!)

Thanks again for your continuing support, everyone! As mentioned above, we'll be back on our normal bi-monthly publishing schedule following this, so the next issue heading your way will be Issue #43 for November/December 2019. Please look forward to it!

~ Lucas M. Thomas