The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
‘Variety Kit’ from Nintendo a toy box of discovery
The release lets players build their own toys and insert them into a video game
Nintendo famously exited the hardware race a long time ago and opted to embark on what it calls the “blue ocean” strategy. The company wanted to explore new areas of play. That path forward has been a successful one as it pushed unconventional ideas that somehow upended the industry.
That’s what it achieved with the Wii’s motion controls and it followed suit by turning what’s essentially a scale into hot exercise fad with the Wii Balance Board. In the age of virtual reality headsets and augmented reality on phones, Nintendo is again venturing off the beaten path, turning to an unusual but familiar material for better immersion: Cardboard.
Seeing how do-it-yourself culture has taken off, the company has come up with a concept focused on players creating their own paper contraptions and incorporating them into video games using the Nintendo Switch and JoyCons. Dubbed “Nintendo Labo,” it’s a series that leverages players’ creativity as much as their gameplay skills.
The initial release of the games comes in two flavors. The “Nintendo Labo Variety Kit” lets players build an radio-controlled car, toy house and other cardboard items. Meanwhile, the “Nintendo Labo Robot Kit” directs players on the creation of a fullon suit that tracks players’ movements and translates it into a game starring a robot.
For this review, I’m focusing on the “Variety Kit” because it offers a better value and diversity of play. The title comes with a cartridge that plugs into the Switch like a normal game, but what happens afterward is different from what players are used to.
They are tasked with building the peripherals that go with the “Variety Kit.” They have to pop out the cardboard and follow the instructions on the Switch screen. It’s high-tech origami as players fold and piece together what Nintendo calls ToyCons. Thankfully, Nintendo renders each step in 3-D and players can manipulate images on the touch screen. They can zoom in and out, turn the object upside down, so they know how one section interlocks with the other.
It’s similar to building Ikea furniture but miles better and less frustrating. So why force players to build the toys at all? There’s a magic and satisfaction in the creation process. Also, by assembling the projects, players gain an understanding of how they work. They discover that a lot of the magic comes from the accelerometers and the IR motion camera in the right Joy-Con.
All together, “Variety Kit” offers five major projects: An RC car, fishing rod, toy house, motorcycle and piano. The game eases players into the building process starting with the easily foldable RC car and they progressively grow more difficult culminating in the piano.
When it comes to play, the Toy-Cons seem like a mixed bag at the beginning. The games appear to be simple one-shots. The
RC car moves by vibration and has the nifty trick of being able to “see” with the IR camera. The fishing rod is the most entertaining and gives players the impression that they’re really pulling breams and mackerel out of the water. The motorcycle offers a convincing feeling of riding on two wheels while the piano has more bells and whistles than expected.
The only disappointment is the house, which is more like a toy box that houses a critter that users can play with. All they have to do is plug in different blocks to introduce new effects for the creature. It’s fun for an hour but quickly loses its novelty.
Fortunately, Nintendo has layered in Easter eggs and other elements of play in the other Toy-Cons. For example, the piano can be used to scan paper cutouts and create customizable fish that players can catch with the fishing rod. Meanwhile, in the motorcycle game, players can make their own tracks or scan objects to create hills and valleys on the course, using additional knickknacks. There’s a good amount of content to uncover as players explore what the ToyCons can do.
But a lot of the fun with the “Variety Kit” comes from players’ imagination. It’s up to them to figure out how they want to use the Toy-Cons. Nintendo offers up such ideas as create a sumo wrestling match with the RC Cars, or perform a familiar ditty with the piano and record it for friends.
The deepest parts of play involves the Toy-Con Garage. This is where players can learn a simple programming language similar to scratch blocks to let their Toy-Cons interact with one another or program them to move on their own. Although it sounds complicated, Nintendo made it fast and easy to experiment and figure out ways to make the contraptions work together.
In five minutes, I made a simple interaction where I could steer the RC car using the motorcycle handlebars. Using different tools, players can use the fishing rod with the piano or they can make new instruments with the touch screen. The possibilities are limited only by the players’ creativity.
“Nintendo Labo” falls in line with toys such as Anki’s Cozmo that encourage both young and old to dig deeper into the technology. Unlike those competitors though, the cardboard contraptions have that accessibility and polish that make the game feel like magic.