Issue #18: Beyond the Earth – November/December 2015

With Star Wars: The Force Awakens opening in theaters just a few weeks after the publication date for this issue, we knew exploring alien worlds, taking part in starfighter dogfights in orbit and all of those other wonderfully outer space-y things would be building up in everyone’s minds – so we decided to give NF Magazine’s all-new Issue #18 an outer space-y theme. This one is called “Beyond the Earth,” and it casts its gaze to the heavens to look back at the past several decades of alien planets that pop culture has introduced us to, as well as putting a focus on the new extraterrestrial game experiences Nintendo’s bringing to store shelves soon.

Conveniently enough, the upcoming release of Xenoblade Chronicles X was perfectly timed for this purpose. If you aren’t already aware, it’s all about what happens to humanity when Earth is destroyed, exploding in a massive flash of light – and the few survivors of the blast are forced to flee into space to search for an all-new homeworld for humankind. They find it in the vast, wildly alien world of Mira, and a grand exploration of this new frontier begins.

Xenoblade Chronicles X takes the honor of being our cover game this time around, and also claims one of the two side of the included wall poster for print edition subscribers. On the flipside of the poster, meanwhile, is Nintendo’s other upcoming outer space-y game: Star Fox Zero! Its impending launch inspired us to look back on the history of Star Fox in our Retro section this time around, including a piece that puts the spotlight on the long-lost, never-released sequel, Star Fox 2.

We even partnered with popular YouTuber Beta64 to produce a video on the subject! (Well, he did all the work. We just asked him to do it and interviewed him for this issue.) Visit YouTube and search “Beta64” to see it!