Nintendo Labo

[Underseer]

Review by Andre because everything Andre does is inherently adorable.


Official website: https://labo.nintendo.com/

I have to admit: if I had kids of a certain age, I would probably be interested in this.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I joined a forum for the Switch and my goodness, the general reaction there was very very very negative. I think it looks unique and that kids will like it. The question is how enduring is the game play with the designs.

 

[Underseer]

I joined a forum for the Switch and my goodness, the general reaction there was very very very negative. I think it looks unique and that kids will like it. The question is how enduring is the game play with the designs.

I have the feeling this is one of those Nintendo things meant to appeal to the kind of person who doesn't spend a lot of time on message boards that discuss nothing but Nintendo (or specific Nintendo platforms like Switch). It looks like they're trying to capture the same sort of casual family player who fell lin love with some of those Wii games.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I joined a forum for the Switch and my goodness, the general reaction there was very very very negative. I think it looks unique and that kids will like it. The question is how enduring is the game play with the designs.

I have the feeling this is one of those Nintendo things meant to appeal to the kind of person who doesn't spend a lot of time on message boards that discuss nothing but Nintendo (or specific Nintendo platforms like Switch). It looks like they're trying to capture the same sort of casual family player who fell lin love with some of those Wii games.

Yeah. Hardcore gamers hate it when Nintendo does this. Granted, it could be asked why is a hardcore gamer doing with a Nintendo gaming system. Nintendo has developed a STEM set up that'd push a parent to think a Switch would be a good idea.

 

[Mumbles]

I joined a forum for the Switch and my goodness, the general reaction there was very very very negative. I think it looks unique and that kids will like it. The question is how enduring is the game play with the designs.

I had a pair of thoughts the very first time I saw this:

First, this seems like a great platform to teach kids the basics of computer programming and the like, particularly if they can repurpose the various Labo kits into new ideas. Apparently Nintendo thought of this as well, thus the Garage feature which does exactly this.

Second - how durable is this, could a person with reasonable tools be able to reinforce objects or make new ones to use? I think this is somewhat outside of the scope, but I certainly see no reason why it would be somehow impossible.

I can understand the negative reactions, but I strongly disagree. Despite the complaints, it's not "$70 just for cardboard.", and it's really not even attempting to aim for everyone - which is an impossible goal in any case. Online hounds still have games like Arms and Splatoon 2, explorers still have games like SM Odyssey and Breath of the Wild, There's still Bayonetta and the like. I've noticed over the years that gaming forums can be painfully negative towards anything that doesn't cater to them, or that hints in the slightest towards their pet peeves (see: "waggle controls" and similar complaints). If anything, the Switch's first year has been one of the best I've seen for a console.

And yeah, Andre is one of my favorite youtubers.

 

[Underseer]

[...]

And yeah, Andre is one of my favorite youtubers.

If someone made a loop of Andre yelling "Wakanda!" over and over, I would watch it.

- - - Updated - - -

As for the $70 comment, lots of parents spend more than that on Legos in the hopes it will inspire a little creativity in their children. If you factor in that Garage thing, this is way more bang for the buck than Legos provide.

 

[Malintent]

[...]

And yeah, Andre is one of my favorite youtubers.

If someone made a loop of Andre yelling "Wakanda!" over and over, I would watch it.

- - - Updated - - -

As for the $70 comment, lots of parents spend more than that on Legos in the hopes it will inspire a little creativity in their children. If you factor in that Garage thing, this is way more bang for the buck than Legos provide.

LEGO STEM. $180

LEGO Education WeDo 2.0 makes science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and coding come to life. The unique combination of the LEGO brick, classroom-friendly software, and engaging, standards-based projects results in a resource that builds students’ confidence to ask questions, define problems and design their own solutions by putting STEM learning directly in their hands.

 

[Underseer]

Thanks for illustrating my point.

Those Legos are a lot more durable than cardboard and can be configured in more ways, but it's also two and a half times more expensive.

 

[Malintent]

Ya. Lego is super expensive. There is a brick trading website that I don't feel like looking up for the name right now where you can buy any Lego piece in any color for WAY less than they cost in boxed sets.
The average price for a single Lego block on that site when I was looking for something some time ago was like $0.05
As opposed to Lego's average price of like $0.25.

So, if a set is 2.5 times more expensive than some other thing, and you buy the pieces that make up the set on the trading site, you will actually be spending HALF of what the other thing costs... if that makes any sense.

Also, that $180 gets you something that looks like a tablet... the blue-framed thing in the picture... not sure what that is.

 

[Mumbles]

[...]

And yeah, Andre is one of my favorite youtubers.

If someone made a loop of Andre yelling "Wakanda!" over and over, I would watch it.

It's largely his pure enthusiasm that's so infectious - the only guy that I know of that even comes within a mile as far as amateurish reviews and the like is RGT 85 (WHo actually had real problems with the robot kit)

As for the $70 comment, lots of parents spend more than that on Legos in the hopes it will inspire a little creativity in their children. If you factor in that Garage thing, this is way more bang for the buck than Legos provide.

There will always be tradeoffs between convenience, ease, price, flexibility, and the like. That's my big problem with complaints about the price tag- there's a full software suite that comes with it, and that's not free at all. it's closer to Lego than, say, Arduino, in this regard.

And of course, you also need a Switch, but that's a high-selling item at this point, so there's some advantage over Lego there...