Gaming

Generations Of Gamers Are Conflicted And Making Jokes About The Switch’s ‘Nintendo Labo’ Experiment


Nintendo

In its debut year, the Nintendo Switch out-sold the immensely popular Nintendo Wii in its first 12 months of existence, which is truly incredible to comprehend. The Wii was a cultural milestone, bringing motion-controlled bowling into every living room, and taking TV screens with it. Now the Switch is Nintendo’s most popular home console to date, with an unprecedented two Game of the Year contenders in Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey. With that success, Nintendo is going full-Nintendo and introducing something completely out of left field — Nintendo Labo.

Nintendo has described Nintendo Labo, a collection of cardboard DIY add-ons to the switch, as something that “combines the magic of Nintendo Switch with the fun of DIY creations.” It’s a reminder that even though they’re in the gaming business, Nintendo has always been trying to get people to get up, move and use their imaginations with their hardware.

Labo will come with multiple sets of the cardboard add-ons that will allow you to do a variety of interesting things with the Switch tablet using motion controls, vibration, and a healthy sense of wonder. Here’s Nintendo’s description of the $70 variety kit, which is shown in the trailer, via Kotaku.

It seems like a dream come true for kids. This is what

  • Toy-Con RC Car: Insert the Left and Right Joy-Con into your newly built RC Car and control its movement using touch screen controls on the Nintendo Switch console. The HD Rumble feature in the Joy-Con controllers will cause vibrations that move the car in the direction you choose. Materials to construct two RC Cars are included.
  • Toy-Con Fishing Rod: Construct the Fishing Rod with an active, rotating reel that is attached by string to a cradle holding the Nintendo Switch console. Catch one of many exotic fish shown swimming on the Nintendo Switch screen by casting your Fishing Rod and unwinding the reel to lower the hook. Once you feel a vibration from the Joy-Con inserted in the reel, you must tug the Fishing Rod upward and crank the reel quickly to try and complete the catch!
  • Toy-Con House: By inserting various assembled blocks into openings in the sides and bottom of the House, you can interact with, play games with and feed a cute creature on the front-facing Nintendo Switch screen. Each differently shaped block is detected by the IR Motion Camera on the Right Joy-Con inserted on top of the House.
  • Toy-Con Motorbike: Insert each Joy-Con into an assembled set of handlebars to drive a motorbike on the Nintendo Switch screen. Pressing the ignition button starts the engine, while twisting the right handle activates the throttle. Leaning your body or turning the handlebars left and right controls the motorbike.
  • Toy-Con Piano: After assembling a beautifully crafted 13-key piano and inserting the Nintendo Switch console and Joy-Con, you can experiment with your own musical creations by pressing different keys. You can even insert different assembled knobs to create new sound effects and tones!

But, it’s the gaming world, and nothing can ever just be for kids, so people are conflicted. Some more passionately than others. Most people are just making jokes, because everyone knows cardboard is the ultimate tool for fostering imagination. Just ask Calvin and his transmogrifier.

https://twitter.com/MeitoShirogane/status/953756880240893952
https://twitter.com/linkedkai/status/953762687506374658

https://twitter.com/blakinola/status/953758311320555525

https://twitter.com/Monsef_MA/status/953764968469540864


https://twitter.com/We_LikeIke/status/953752992938946560

https://twitter.com/J_S_R_U_/status/953779880860110848
https://twitter.com/Dashie007/status/953780490556923904

Of course, there are some real, valuable questions about the Toy-Cons. If they’re for kids, will they wear out quickly? Is this stuff made from recyclable materials?