Nintendo Force

The premiere cover.

No, it's not a new superhero squad made of Nintendo mascots.

It's a brand new magazine meant to fill the vacuum left by the closure of Nintendo Power. And it's on sale as of today.

Nintendo Force is the brainchild of IGN editor Lucas Thomas, who assembled, a la The Avengers, a "dream team" of industry veterans to produce a spiritual follow-up to Nintendo Power, which ended its 24-year run in December. The Nintendo Force staff includes individuals from Destructoid, GoNintendo, 1UP, Nintendojo, and several other sites and publications.

On the Nintendo Force Facebook page, founder Lucas Thomas said this:

"This [first issue] represents the culmination of several months of work for all of us who came together to create this debut issue of the all-new Nintendo Force Magazine, and it’s been especially gratifying to see all the positive comments and pledges of support from all of you in the past three weeks since we went public with our existence"

Now, where to purchase Nintendo Force #1?. It will be available at HP MagCloud. There, consumers can buy either a physical or digital copy of the magazine -- the physical copy is more expensive, but comes with a free digital copy.You can buy a digital copy of the magazine. You can buy a physical copy of the magazine – and get a free digital version thrown in too. The one glaring negative of this partnership between MagCloud and Nintendo Force is that MagCloud does not offer subscriptions.

However, Thomas has promised fans that Nintendo Force will provide a subscription plan before issue #2 debuts. If you are at all interested in subscribing, send an email to subscriptions@nintendoforcemagazine.com with the subject line “I want to subscribe!”.

A digital copy of Nintendo Force is priced at $4.99, and a print copy is priced at $17.99. The price is extreme considering other magazine prices, but all proceeds go to charity. "We’re honoring NP’s legacy here and doing this as a labor of love," wrote Thomas, "so when you buy Nintendo Force, you’re supporting kids that could use a helping hand."

Issue #1 will include a 26-page "Year in Preview" that highlights the biggest games of 2013, including Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney, Pikmin 3 and Rayman Legends.

Inside Nintendo Force.

Nintendo Force can be purchased here in print and digital forms.