#switchexperience

[boigahs]

Nintendo Switch Experience Experience: Take Aways and Tidbits

First, some final thoughts on the Nintendo Switch. They have not given proper details for a lot of aspects of it, especially in the game lineup. We are not sure how much content will be in ARMS, or 1-2-Switch, or even Splatoon 2 or Mario Odyssey, how much new stuff will be in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Many games only got teaser trailers at best. We still don't have any solid details on their paid online service, which has created a lot of doubt and uncertainty. I can see why many people are on the fence, but I am all in. It has hit a lot of notes for me personally, between Breath of the Wild, a new sandbox Mario, Shin Megami Tensei V, a new Xenoblade that's a proper sequel to the original, and a new game written and directed by Suda51 as a few examples. And honestly I'm just so excited to be able to take my Switch over and make my friends or my parents play Mario Kart with me and stuff. All in all, I was very impressed with the Switch hardware wise, and I recommend everyone give it a solid try.

As for the event, it was really was fun, to put it briefly. As I mentioned, I missed out on a ton of stage events, and I didn't even get to play Splatoon 2 since it was so immensely popular. Everyone who went received a really cool pamphlet full of cool into and pictures (all of which are probably on the official website in some way or another, but still). The influence this whole thing has had on me is really crazy. So many things have happened that are very truly dream-come-true moments for me, even if several are just announcements for video games.

The entire message Nintendo is trying to send is so good, and I really think the Switch has the potential to deliver on it. They're trying to get back to what makes games fun, and they're making a machine that can entertain a far wider range of people than any game console has before. Nintendo is actively fighting the direction the video game industry has been headed for the past several years, and I honestly believe it's a good thing. They're making a system where you can play games however you want, and where you can share your hobby with your friends, family, or even strangers, if you have the balls. For me, this is incredibly important.

I think there are many nay-sayers and people who don't properly understand why this is so important or want to stay in the current status-quo. I don't want to take shots against other people or companies, but I think they are going to miss out. I can't say for sure that the Switch will be popular or succesful, but what I experienced at the Nintendo Switch Experience was very real to me. There were hardcore gamers, groups of friends, students, couples, children, people from different countries, and even whole families who all gathered together to have fun playing video games and experience new things together and it just blows my mind. This is going to start getting redundant, but being able to share all of this with other people was incredible. I even got to share my thoughts with one of my favorite directors, and he actually listened and thanked me. That moment alone made learning Japanese completely worth it. I walked in thinking of it as a chance to brag about playing the new Zelda early, but I walked out with that being the last thing on my mind.

I hope these stupidly long articles help people know what this event was like. I was so fortunate to be able to be there, I would be incredibly humbled if I could successfully share what I felt and experienced during these two days with anyone who couldn't go.

As a small Post Scriptum, I think I am going to attempt translating the recordings of at least some of the stage events. There was some really cool info in the Mario Odyssey one that I don't think has been properly conveyed to the rest of the world. I really wish I could scan and translate the pamphlet, but by the time I have the resources to do it properly, the Switch will already be out, so I think it's a pointless endeavor.

[boigahs]

Nintendo Switch Experience Experience: Day 2, Part 2

The Nintendo Switch tour was my final booth. It featured two games, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Snipper Clips (real title: Issho ni Chokitto Snippers), and demonstrated each of the Switch's modes and their value.

The first station was for TV mode. You're seated with three other players in a faux living room and get to race head to head in a round of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe using the Joycon Wheel. The Joycon Wheel is very small, much like the Joycons, but very comfy. It has a nice ridge on the back to rest your fingers, and also to access the shoulder buttons. I was not very fond of the Wii's steering wheel accessory, but I can actually envision myself using this one at least occasionally. For some reason, they had a new steering assist enabled for this demo, which made it very hard to judge how responsive the motion controls were. I decided to try out one of the new characters for Deluxe, Dry Bones. I honestly can say I have never been Mario Kart'd harder than that day, and taking two blue shells, two lightning bolts, and three red shells in a single race yet still coming in first will remain as one of my strongest memories from this event. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe runs at a buttery smooth 60 frames-per-second even with four players, unlike the original Wii U version. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe also served as another nice demo for the HD Rumble. Before the race starts, you can feel each putt as the engine idles, and revving up as the count down begins feels much nicer than normal rumble does. Even small uses of HD Rumble in games can go a long way.

The second part of the demonstration was situated around a life-sized Kart (in anti-gravity mode!) and showed off not only multiplayer in handheld mode, but the brand new 8 player battle mode in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Once again, I was thoroughly impressed with the Switch in handheld mode. Furthermore, I need to take this time to apologize for all of the times I knocked Battle Mode. 8 player battle mode was a total blast, and the new arena we got to play in was very large and intricate. For this session, I switched to my mainstay, Baby Rosetta. I don't even remember what place I got, which probably means I didn't do too great. The Karts control very differently from the normal grand prix mode, and I had a lot of fun just doing 180° turns and swerving around.

The final part was playing Snippers in Table Mode. Snippers was a surprisingly entertaining and charming game. The basic concept is that you both cut away at each other to shape yourselves to fit into shapes and solve puzzles.  I was teamed up with a stranger, and had an actually very good time slowly learning the game and breaking down the social barrier between us. The charm of Snippers is in the cutesey animations and art style which are full of personality, and the entertainment comes from the structure of the levels. Half of each puzzle is trying to figure out what the puzzle actually is, then figuring out how to clear the task with few resources but the characters' bodies. We actually had a very cool moment where the goal was to put a basket ball in a hoop, and one of us acted as a spring board by crouching and standing up just as the other landed on their head to dunk the ball. It happened in complete silence. Somehow we became a single being for a single moment, clearing the level with perfect elegance. Then we moved on to a level where you had to sharpen a pencil and completely beefed it and ran out of time. We shook hands, grinning, and went off on our separate ways.

Finally, the day ended with an incredible Big Band performance. I missed the first bit, which still hurts because I'm one of the biggest Kirby fans on the planet (still got to hear their incredible rendition of Battleship Halberd). Maybe one day I'll write about how I still cry at the end of every Kirby game. The recording of the Big Band can be found below

Once again, the truly impressive thing about this event was the sheer energy eminating from it. Every demonstration and stage event was made with heart and effort, and there were so many fans engaged and enjoying playing with each other. I remember, after eating lunch, overhearing some kids talking about the event. "I dunno I think I'll mostly play on TV mode for Splatoon 2, y'know?" "Hey, did you see that Yoshi cosplayer earlier? What was up with that?" There was a guy carrying around 3D printed copies of the new weapons from Splatoon 2. One guy carried around a Captain Falcon amiibo in a trophy case. There were a large handful of Mario cosplayers all running about. The whole magic of being able to share and play with others is exactly what inspired me to write these articles. This event was just too much fun to be restricted to hundreds of people in Japan. Just by talking about my own experiences, I've only scratched the very surface. I'll wrap up this report here and finish out with some of my remaining pictures. Click here for my wrap up and extra thoughts.