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Impressions: all the Switch Stuff
We have successfully returned from vacation near a beach. One element of which included the introduction of the Switch (and games) to my kiddo. Impressions:
Nintendo Switch itself
I think there was technically a way to hook up a Switch to a TV and not need the dock, but I decided to bring the dock as well. I was extremely wary of the dock snapping in half somewhere – given its U shape – but it’s either stronger than it looks or I’m luckier than I look. Packing it in my carry-on instead of a checked bag probably helped. Everything else was in a travel case that held up beautifully.
And not to belabor the point much, but the Switch was very portable; I doubt anyone is packing a PS5 into a carry-on or whatever for a one-week trip. The last time I felt comfortable traveling with a “regular” game console somewhere was in the GameCube era, when I’d bring that to-and-fro over college breaks. If there was an appropriate use case, this was it.
For all the games we played, we exclusively used the… half controller (?) configuration. Pretty awkward controller for me, but it was OK for the types of games we were playing.
Mario Kart 8
Started out with Mario Kart to try and leave a good impression with a game that had a lot of replay value. Kid was ready to give it up after a couple circuits.
Near as I can tell, there are two degrees of Assist Mode when it comes to Mario Kart 8. The first appears to be a generalized “automatically stay on the track.” You can still fly off if struck by something while airborne, but I believe the game otherwise keeps you from getting turned around or going out of bounds. The second level of assist is acceleration. For sure, I had this turned off for myself, even though I’m not certain how. My son, meanwhile, was otherwise able to leisurely putter around with only minor course (mis)corrections when the mood struck him. I had heard from a friend that Assist Mode is sometimes able to win races all by itself, but I did not at all see that in the 50cc difficulty.
My own impressions of the game “for real” will have to wait for a later opportunity.
Super Mario Bros Wonder
This was the first real hit with the child.
The way two-player works is its own sort of Assist Mode. One player has the “crown” and the camera follows them, pushing the other(s) along if they go off-screen. If someone falls down a pit or hits an enemy, they return as a floating ghost with a 5-second timer. Connect with an alive player in time and they will respawn with no loss of lives. Additionally, if someone is controlling Yoshi or a rabbit-looking dude, they become immune to dying by enemies… but cannot transform with power-ups.
Overall, what I have come to realize is that platformers are, you know, kinda hard for kids. Somehow we all made it through back in the day, sure, but god damn. Hate to even think about what our parents had to go through listening to us die in the original Mario Bros. Maybe that’s why they beat us with belts and/or shut us outside until after dark?
Super Mario Bros Odyssey
Odyssey is what we played after Wonder, and is the clear favorite currently.
The Assist Mode for Odyssey is that there are blue arrows showing where the player should go next, and I think that the penalty for falling into a pit is more relaxed (just 1 less heart vs… something else). Additionally, the second player gets to control the hat, which can be pretty cool.
Unfortunately, the platforming is not especially designed for a 6-year old here either, so there are some sequences when he wanted me to take over. Even being the hat was tricky, as you have to contend with having your perspective change if Mario moves around. Plus, sometimes you have to use the hat right now to prevent damage or make the boss vulnerable, or whatever. It’s a big responsibility.
We’re getting pretty close to “Bowser Wowser” as he’s been christened though, and my guy is having more fun watching than playing sometimes. We’ll see how things shake out in a couple weeks/months.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate
Didn’t actually get around to this one, despite my asking him several times if he wanted to try a different game. My guess is that he could still have fun on a team with daddy against whatever the equivalent of a bunch of Level 1 CPU Jigglypuffs there are in this one. Probably still Jigglypuffs.
In An Age 
Switch On
Jul 29
Posted by Azuriel
I have been waffling on whether to get the Switch 2 or a regular Switch or nothing at all for quite some time. To a certain extent, the question itself was silly – if you weren’t going to get a console after seven years of its life, you clearly weren’t all that interested, yeah? Just let it go. And I was doing just that.
Then, my son was meeting some new friends and they asked if he played Minecraft.
*cue MGS guard exclamation mark sound*
To be clear, my son hasn’t actually played Minecraft… or any formal videogames at all. There’s been some “educational” apps and the Nex Playground sort of things, but nothing what I would consider serious. Indeed, I had actually been waiting since his conception for a time when he would be ready to ascend to the P2 position (or technically P3). So, sensing some weakness in my somewhat-crunchy wife’s protective shell, I decided to turn up the heat.*
The funny thing is, I didn’t know how my son would play Minecraft. I bought it ages ago on PC but there’s no way he’s going to play it there. Of course, Minecraft has been ported to literally everything, so we’re technically spoiled for choice. But how could we play it together? Sure, there are probably some workarounds like cross-play from a tablet to the PC or phone to tablet. Or, you know, a game console.
So, yeah, this past Prime Day I bought an OLED Switch.
As pictured, it was a new OLED Switch with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for $275 from Woot. I legitimately thought about trying to do some legwork and find a Switch 2 bundle someplace despite it costing double – you know, for future-proofing – but on the whole this “experiment” seemed safer anyway with a 6-year old. Besides, I had sorta regretted not getting a retro handheld with an analog stick and, well, here one is. Playing N64 games would require a subscription, but ehhhh it’s probably fine.
The funny/sad thing is that, at the same time as all the other frantic research being done before the end of the Woot sale, I actually got around to figuring out and executing on Switch emulation on my PC. So… maybe I didn’t need to be buying anything, really. Still, overall I feel like a legit Switch would be a good family-room style option to have. If it doesn’t work out in a couple of years, hey, Nintendo gear does appear to retain a lot of its value based on my eBay searching.
[Fake Edit] I’m going a little bit overboard, I think. Purchased the following:
That’s… a lot. Aside from the two Zelda games though, everything else are physical cartridges. I technically would have preferred digital games – who really cares for possibly losing cartridges around the house? – but the thought process is that physical games would retain some amount of resell value into the future. I’m positive that any of those Mario games would sell instantly on eBay for $30, for example. Will they continue to do so 5 years into the future or whatever? We shall see.
Something something, treat yo self.
…oh, and I’ll probably need Minecraft at some point too.
* I talked everything over with my wife beforehand, of course. Give me some credit.
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Tags: console, Mario Kart 8, Minecraft, Switch, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?, Woot