Yet Another Gaming Blog

Having given the diary treatment to both EGX and New Game Plus over the past few months, I wanted to make sure that the Nintendo Switch 2 Experience has the same treatment. This is not a complete collection of thoughts, I’ll have some more concrete thoughts and feelings in the coming days. For now, I wanted to get something out so those attending over the next few days have a bit of an idea of what they can expect.

No need for an early alarm this time. Nintendo had been gracious to give us a time slot starting at 2pm, so I could even afford to sleep in a little bit, which was nice. I’ve been looking forward to this for ages. The moment Nintendo announced they’d be doing hands on events a fee months back, I’ve been counting the days. This is exciting. I’m excited. 

Up, showered, tea made, out the door and on the train at just gone 10. I allowed myself an extra hour beforehand to get some food, and decided to call Instagrams bluff by getting a jacket potato from “Spud Bros Express”. People, this hype is legitimate. That spud was unreal.

Back on the Elizabeth Line, and we’re at the ExCel at about 1pm. 22°. Roasting. After about 45 minutes of wandering about to kill time, I joined the queue. The people handing our wristbands explained that 4 groups of 96 would be taken into the play area in 20 minute intervals, and we’d each get 4 hours within the window allocated to each wristband colour. Purple wristband fam what’s good? 2pm-6pm should be plenty of time, I thought. 

Lets a-go

Greeting us through the black curtains were rows of consoles, all playing Mario Kart World. Let’s go. I got to do 3 races, two in docked and one on handheld. My first experience with the new screen. Much of the talk over the past week and a half has been about Nintendo’s decision to pack the Switch 2 with LCD screens rather than OLEDs. First thing; if you want OLED, be prepared to see that price ramp by £100. Secondly; this thing is really nice. Clear, bright, vibrant. Obviously I’m in optimal conditions, but it was super impressive. 

I’m not going to go into a great deal of detail on the console itself here. Will save that for a separate post about the hardware and its accessories in the week. But what an opening.

Off we then went, into the main area, and the place opened up. I’ve been to the ExCel a few times. It was strange to be here while a few other events were ongoing (like to think at least one person there for the foreign property investment showcase accidentally stumbled into the Switch 2 experience). Nintendo had a fraction of one of the halls, but plenty of room to house everything.

First things first party

First call, for me, was with Donkey Kong Bananza. With it being a single player experience, and with each demo last 20 minutes, I thought it best to get that done while the queue was short.

This has been a strange one to watch from afar. Every hands on opinion I’ve seen thus far has been tinged with disappointment, though caveated with “you need more than twenty minutes to understand platformers”. And I agree somewhat, though, again, I’m planning something a little more in depth for some of the games I got to play. For now, I’ll say that I enjoyed it, and I’m no less on board than I was when it was announced.

Another go on Mario Kart World, this with its new “knockout”. I went back to this on three separate occasions. It is mint. More in the coming days, but I genuinely could have spent an unbroken hour playing this. 

Back to the good stuff

Hades was one of my favourite games of 2020, and I’m absolutely made up the sequel is coming to Switch and Switch 2 later this year. It’s been a while since I’ve played the original, mind, and I thought I’d be a bit rusty getting into Hades II. Delighted to report that I’ve not lost it. I skipped through each room with aplomb, making my way through to the first boss, where cries of “come on, broski!” could be heard from the rep overseeing the game. I gave it a good go, for my first run, and died with said boss on half a health bar. It was already a day one purchase, but now the claws have hooked themselves in. Get a date confirmed, Supergiant.

Next for me was a quick excursion back into Breath of the Wild, just to see how things are in its new 4K suit. It looks really nice. No frame drops, everything is lovely. Yes, I will absolutely be playing this again. Tears of the Kingdom too. Didn’t get on that, but caught plenty of it. Some games, man.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, and my first chance to try out the new mouse controls. This is going to take some getting used to, I think. It looks so nice. Super slick, but I just couldn’t get on with the controls. What I’d have liked is something similar to the pointer controls found in the Wii versions of the trilogy. There is a gyro aiming element, but only when you’re locked onto an enemy. I can fully see the appeal, and I’ll absolutely give it a go. I’m just not sure I’ll move off an actual controller for this.

Impressive Tech (demo)

The Switch 2 Welcome Tour has been another talking point post-Direct. It has the trappings of a pack-in title. Like, conceptually, it’s explaining what the console is. It’s an interactive manual, with mini-games. But, you know what, it’s quite a compelling little thing. It’s a shame it’s become something of a battleground for standards because, with a different title, in a different package, this might be something people are excited for. As it is, it’s a niche title that will appeal to a handful of people within the first 2 weeks of the consoles launch, and that’s probably that.

I was pleased to see the Gamecube represented here, and chose to spend 10 minutes back on Outset Island in Wind Waker. It felt so nice to hold that controller again. The Gamecube was the first console I bought with my own money, and it’s been so long since I’ve played a Gamecube game the way it was intended to be played. The controller’s amazing, man. And, importantly, the game looks really nice. It’s kind of funny that literally every game has widescreen support apart from Wind Waker. But, yeah, this is great.

My last stop of the day was with Drag X Drive, the 3 on 3 wheelchair basketball game. A strange control set up that I struggled with a bit. A mix of motion and mouse-ish controls, the Joycons are flipped on their side and used to simulate moving a wheelchair. After about 5 minutes of getting to know how it works, it was into an actual game and I just wasn’t very good at it. Did score a 3 pointer, though, which feels impressive. I dunno, this was one that I feel needs time to get used to. 

Closing time

As the clock struck six, it was time to head out. A lovely goodie bag on Switch 2 branded stuff was handed to us on the way out. I’m going to have more thoughts and feelings about the event and the console in the coming days, but the whole afternoon was incredibly slick. If Nintendo want to put on more events like this in the future, I’ll be there with bells on. What a day.

Featured Image Credit: yetanothergamingblog