Happy Halloween, Nintendo Force fans! It’s our first-ever October issue!
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!
As always, print copies of this issue ship with a double-sided wall poster! On one side, the key art from Luigi’s Mansion 3, complete with an upside-down Gooigi to adorn your wall. And on the reverse, the equally Halloween-appropriate Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night!
