NintendoForce

Issue #30: The Man of Many Hats – November/December 2017

Added 2017-10-24 02:06:08 +0000 UTC

Are you familiar with someone "who wears many hats"? Asking about the phrase itself here. If you're not, I should explain in order to make this issue's name and theme make sense – it's a title traditionally given to someone who has a lot of different jobs, but somehow manages to do them all well. Like a busy, overworked parent who's able to balance raising their kids with the demands of their work outside the home, or maybe someone in an office setting who runs around the building serving in several roles while most everyone else sits in one spot, doing just one thing.

We're taking the liberty of applying the title of "The Man of Many Hats" to Mario now, and we do so because, well, of what I just described: Mario is the most versatile character in the history of the video game industry, starring in a huge variety of different games, taking on more roles than anyone else ever has. A platforming hero. A go-kart driver. A prescription-hurling physician, a party animal . . . an Olympic athlete, for goodness sakes! There's nothing he can't do.

That's just covering the figurative meaning of the phrase, though. If you take it literally, it still holds true! Mario has worn tons of different actual hats beyond his signature red cap over the years, both through costume changes and from the power-ups he's grabbed that have shifted his shape and style. We look back on his changeable nature here in this issue, as Super Mario Odyssey is now giving him more wardrobe options and body shapes than ever before, all packed into one epic adventure around the globe! I hope you enjoy this all-new NF issue, and I hope it renews your appreciation for Mario – truly the Man of Many Hats!

Digital subscribers, keep an eye on your email inbox in the middle of this week: We're targeting the morning of Wednesday, October 25 for this issue to arrive in downloadable PDF form there.

The Magzter edition will follow a few days later, as usual.

And the print edition is in production now and should make its way to most print subscribers' mailboxes by early-to-mid November. I apologize that this issue featuring Super Mario Odyssey on the cover won't actually make it into your hands before the game itself hits store shelves this Friday! Some wild behind-the-scenes chaos threw the normal schedule of press outlets receiving review copies early out of whack, and we had to adjust our plan of having a full Odyssey review in this issue.

But! To make it up to you all, I decided to do something for this issue we've only ever done once before: double wall posters! So you'll be getting a double-sided Super Mario Odyssey poster as planned, with official art on one side and a new original work from Thor on the reverse (a super cool scene with Mario crashing Bowser and Peach's wedding). But then! On the second poster, you'll have your pick of displaying artwork from Nintendo's biggest upcoming releases for November and December: Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon are on one side, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is on the reverse. Because as we learned earlier this year, two is better than one!

I'd promised you guys an extra inserted item in an upcoming issue as a prize for hitting one of the past stretch goals, you know, so here you go! Though we've got some other promises to still fulfill in upcoming issues too, like having a supersized issue with 16 extra pages sometime in the future . . . maybe the not-too-distant future!

As always, thank you all for your continued support! We've held on to our status as the #1 magazine on Patreon (though Knitty tried to reclaim the throne a few weeks ago with their own subscriber surge), and we've just surpassed the $17K mark as of earlier today! That's going to open up our archives and provide you all with free NF legacy content beginning with our next issue release.

. . . and our next issue release will mark our 5-Year Anniversary, too!

My goodness, that's a lot going on! I hope you all are having an incredible Fall season and that anyone and everyone here who's planning on picking up Odyssey in just a few days has a fantastic time getting to play around with all of the dozens of crazy new forms Mario takes on in his brand-new epic adventure!

Until next time!

~ Lucas M. Thomas