Issue #44: Tokyo Takeover – January/February 2020

All eyes are turning to Tokyo.

With 2019 giving way to 2020, it's time once again for international attention to be paid to that biggest spectacle of sports: the Olympic Games. And this time around, the Summer Olympics will be held in Tokyo, Japan -- a city video game fans are already familiar with, since it also happens to serve as an international nexus of video game culture!

The connections have been directly made ever since the last Summer Games came to an end in 2016. As part of the closing ceremonies back then, Japan presented a "hype reel" of national pride to get people already looking four years ahead -- and Mario was a major part of that! Japan has been preparing for the influx of attention and tourism ever since.

. . . And part of that preparation has been the construction of Nintendo's first-ever theme park, Super Nintendo World! For decades, Nintendo fans have longed for a physical location on the level of Disneyland to visit and celebrate their love of Mario, Zelda and all the rest of the Big N's brands, and Tokyo being selected to host the 2020 Summer Olympics was finally the thing that pushed Nintendo's plans for such a park into high gear.

What's more, Nintendo's first release of 2020 is also focused on Tokyo! It's right there in the name of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore, a game in which the city and its culture (particularly its people's love of pop idols, TV stars and all other kinds of performers) take center stage. 

Combine with all of that the fact that our NF team just so happens to have a writer who lived in Japan for three years recently (the good Mr. Tony Ponce), and we just had to craft a Tokyo-focused NF edition for you all! In the pages of this issue, you'll get an introduction to the city through the eyes (and camera lens) of Mr. Ponce, supporting Tokyo-related features in the Download, Retro and Community sections, a final preview of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore to prepare you for its January 17 debut and our full review of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020 leading off the Reviews section, just to bring everything full circle.

I hope you enjoy this first NF of 2020, and my apologies to your wallet if you feel forced to book a flight to Japan after you've finished reading!

Digital subscribers, keep an eye on your email inbox this Wednesday, December 18, for the download link to grab your copy. Also, the service we use to send those download links, DropSend, seems to be holding firm to a two-week timetable before those links expire, so download your copy of the issue as soon as you see that email come through!

Print subscribers, your physical copies are in production right now. They'll be mailed out this week and should arrive in most mailboxes (in the United States, at least) near the end of December or beginning of January. Please have a little extra patience with the speed of delivery for this issue in particular, because dropping thousands of magazines into the mail right at the peak of the holiday package shipping season will almost surely mean a delay of a day or two somewhere between our printing company and your front door.

Finally, we've got extra copies of our 2019 issues that we're selling in bundles for a limited time over at NFMagazine.com. (Right here:  https://www.nintendoforcemagazine.com/product/the-2019-full-year-bundle/ ) You've got three more days to nab one of those for the sale price, and I'll personally package every order and get it shipped in time to arrive before Christmas. Consider giving the gift of NF to a friend or family member!

Thanks as always for your continued patronage, Force fans! We published more issues within this calendar year than ever before, and I'm looking forward to what we'll do next in 2020. We'll be turning our attention to Animal Crossing for NF #45, so please look forward to that!

~ Lucas M. Thomas