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. The speculation. The hopes. The dreams. The hype cycle!

And no series has hype cycles quite like Smash. Masahiro Sakurai has absolutely mastered the art of fanning fandom into flame – every reveal, every bit of new information that’s released about an upcoming Smash sequel brings the entire Nintendo community to an immediate halt. Everyone stops, cheers, spends days or weeks analyzing every tidbit and each little detail, then gets hungry for more and the cycle within the greater cycle turns and turns again.

The hype leading up to the launch of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has been especially potent given the shortened timetable between the game’s official reveal and its upcoming on-sale date. It was just given its unveiling at E3 this past June, and it’s going to be in our homes on December 7! Not even half a year to cram character reveals, music announcements, gameplay details and more into, and it feels like the time has been flying by.

I’m thrilled to be able to contribute to the excitement for all of you who are anticipating this sure-to-be massive hit. This issue of NF Magazine is going all-out for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate! It’s our biggest issue ever, as we’ve added 16 more pages beyond our normal page count in order to be able to fit in a huge full-roster feature article that gives individual attention to every single playable fighter in the game. Then we’ve got some Smash-related comics sprinkled throughout, our Interview section welcomes the all-time greatest competitive Smash player ZeRo, our print editions are shipping out with massive double-sided wall posters featuring the whole cast . . . it’s big. I truly hope it gets you even more hyped for Smash, as just working on it has sent my mind over the edge of excitement!

Print copies of this NF issue come with a super-sized, double-sided wall poster! On one side is the same Super Smash Bros. Ultimate art you see on the game’s box art (and the issue’s front cover), while the reverse has every playable fighter in the game (up to Isabelle – a future “extension” poster included with a future NF issue will add the rest). Make sure you’ve got enough space on your wall for this one!