On Wednesday, while Austin, Cado, Rob, and Ren played board games in front of cameras, I was a few blocks down the street playing Switch 2 games all day. It was, as many of you figured out, the reason why we decided to host an in-person stream during the week (not ideal!). But the appeal of getting together during such a momentous event in the games industry, which just happened to also be taking place in New York, seemed like too much of an opportunity to ultimately pass on.
You’ll hear many in-depth thoughts on Remap Radio, which we’re recording live as this is article/email/who can say is going live, but I’m left to my own thoughts in my hotel, so I thought I’d share a few.
Please excuse any typos!
First, I have to set the scene. When you walked in, everyone cheered for you. Like, full-on applause. Clapping. The event took place at the same location where in a few days time, Nintendo fans will walk through the same place and play the same games. It felt like a dress rehearsal for the folks hired to run the event, but it was tremendously funny and weird to be cheered after a few minor events, like:
- Going to the bathroom
- Eating lunch
- Checking to see if I could line up an interview
Nonetheless, I enjoyed the applause. I deserved it.
The lineup was a mixture of existing games coming to a Nintendo platform for the first time (ports, ports, ports), updates to Switch 1 games that will cost an unknown amount, and brand-new games from Nintendo. Because these demos are also going to be played by the public in the coming weeks, this wasn’t a situation where I was given an opportunity to poke at these games for an hour. Instead, it was between 10 and 20 (often exhilarating, sometimes puzzling) minutes.
And yet, I love Nintendo games. I’ll take 10 to 20 strange minutes, you know? So, a few brief thoughts on everything I played on a Switch 2.
Donkey Kong Bananza
Really fun, loud, and weird. A surprising mashup of Bowser’s Fury and Breath of the Wild, with the player getting dumped into large-ish areas with both main and side “quests” to explore, the ability to climb up anything and everything, and Donkey Kong pulling a Red Faction and being able to smash through nearly every object in front or below him. It has a very chaotic feeling, and was the only game whose demo I went back to multiple times, because it was always clear when the screen went to black and cut me off that I’d hardly seen everything there was to do.
This comes out in July, but really, this is my Switch 2 launch game.
Mario Kart World
Do I need another Mario Kart in my life? No. Yes? Apparently. It’s hardly a graphical tour de force and my first moments with the game felt disquietingly familiar…but folks, Knockmode Tour, a race mode where players are booted if they don’t place at checkpoints, is thrilling. I was hooting and hollering within minutes, especially as I heard people groaning in defeat. The races feel long and sweaty. You never know when to use an item. It’s chaos at checkpoints, as 20+ players dump every power-up into the world in a desperate attempt to stay relevant.
I cannot fathom what it must feel like to lose in the opening act, because I simply did not. At least, until I did.
Alas.
The new Mario Kart game seems to whip ass. The open world is TBD, however.
Super Mario Party Jamboree
I hate how much I liked this, because it only reinforces how much of a mark I am for hardware gimmicks. It’s unclear how long Nintendo will fully and faithfully incorporate video support into their games, or if it ends up going the way of HD Rumble, but Super Mario Party Jamboree makes good and goofy use of players jumping in front of a microphone. Plus, it’s one of the better demonstrations of the “mouse” support—much more so than Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, oddly?
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Gorgeous. Nintendo talking about “performance modes”? My love language. They were not showing the game in 4K/60 but instead, 1080/120. It looked incredible, a showcase in how good art immediately looks great when dropped into higher resolutions and frame rates. This will prove a trend with Switch 2, I think.
Nintendo was pushing the game’s “mouse” support, though I was not required to use it. Swapping control methods was as simple as placing the Joy-con face down or picking it up and holding it normally. Seamless. But in the spirit of experimentation, I stuck with playing using the Switch 2's version of a mouse through the demo, which concluded in deeply familiar Metroid Prime fashion, as you circled a boss while locked on. (This is, to be very clear, a compliment.)
This is the most “cinematic” Metroid Prime yet, which could go either way?
It feels like Metroid Prime. It looks like Metroid Prime. But I was not able to really explore, nor use any of the psychic powers. The mouse controls absolutely worked but felt odd in a game where, by design, you’re locking on to objects in the environment to scan and attack. You cannot dash in Metroid Prime without first locking on; it’s not possible in free aim. Yet whatever, I can’t wait to play more.
Cyberpunk 2077
A fine version of Cyberpunk 2077 at a frame rate that, to my Not Digital Foundry Eyes, seemed like 30 frames per second. Very playable. No real notes, other than to wonder whether porting older games will have the same draw on the Switch 2.
Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom (Switch 2 Edition)
Truth be told, I did not play these—I watched other people. It felt like I could glean everything noteworthy by watching someone else pick up the controller and gawking at the visuals. It makes me feel better about my decision to put Tears of the Kingdom down in the midst of a boss battle, convincing myself it was because Nintendo, inevitably, would release an upgraded version. Maybe, maybe not? Who can say? But this looks awesome, and I am so glad Nintendo finally added the ability to share creations within the game. It should've been there on day one.
DragxDrive
Exhausting, but in a good way?
It was the first time—but not the last—Nintendo emphasized you don’t need a table to use the mouse controls. Instead, you can place the Joy-cons on your pants and go to town. It works shockingly well, but then I became distracted wondering how much time, energy, and pairs of pants Nintendo had torn through before they could so confidently talk about this. Again, the pants thing came up multiple times.
Ahead of playing games, I watched the Nintendo Direct at the same time you did on a large video screen with a couple hundred people in the audience. Everyone was dead silent when this game was revealed, but I can tell you that actually playing it, despite how complicated navigating the controls can be, is pretty fun!
I think this one will find an audience once people actually play it.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch 2 Edition)
What a good looking game.
This is what I mean by Nintendo’s art immediately looking spectacular on better hardware. This is a game that I have at home, and yet I spent 20 minutes of my time playing Nintendo’s next-generation hardware because it looked that good. I’m not sure there’s a higher compliment you can really pay than that, and that’s without knowing what Nintendo’s even gonna charge me for upgrading this one.
Switch 2 Welcome Tour
This is not Wii Sports or Nintendoland, and yet, I’m still trying to figure out why Nintendo is charging for this. It's possible the fee is nominal, but knowing that Nintendo is charging $80 for Mario Kart, can you say that with any guarantee?
And yet, this was profoundly charming. I cackled at having to try and guess a ball bouncing across the screen at different frame rates. It was fun to play a version of the original Super Mario Bros. that stretched far, far, far, far across the screen to demonstrate how 4K works. I played a variation of FantaVision that helped me better understand the implementation of HDR. (I still think HDR is overstated.)
This feels meatier than a tech demo, and yet…it should probably just be a bundle. There is so much love here, why not go the extra mile in sparking the imagination of a kid inspired to play this, wanting to know what’s inside their favorite device?
I was, truth be told, left wanting more. Okay, yes, I want to see the next Mario. I’m selfish. It’s unclear to me if the current Switch 2 lineup demands showing up on day one, even if all the games I played that will only be on Switch 2 are very likely to make credible arguments for being in a list of my favorite games of the year.
Great games? Almost certainly.
Revolutionary games? We’ll have to see.
An unfair burden, but one Nintendo's earned, and I intend to hold them to it.