Everybody 1-2-Switch is easily Nintendo’s weirdest game of the year.
Unceremoniously announced via a Tweet earlier this month, the sequel to the 2017 launch title sees up to 100 players (!) participating in a series of party games, hosted by a man wearing a horse head.
We recently had the chance to try out the game at aNintendoevent in London.you may listen to our full impressions via the video above, but the gist is that it was surprisingly good fun – when it wasn’t trying to be a motion control game like the original.
Everybody 1-2-Switchadds support for up to 100 players with smart devices, or up to eight players with Joy-Con controllers.
Introducing the games of#Everybody12Switch! Check out the video to see what Horace has in store for you…pic.twitter.com/zVtVo0uhvM
We played the game with a group of journalists in Team Contest mode, which splits the group into two teams to compete in a random selection of games across either 20-minute, 40-minute, or 60-minute sessions.
The most enjoyable games in our session were undoubtedly those that utilised smartphones. Setup was easy; players need to scan a QR code displayed on the television to connect and setup their user profile.
From this point, your device acts as a second screen – at points, reminiscent of aWii Ugame. A Quiz game displayed ‘A’ and ‘B’ buttons on your device, with players having to quickfire answer questions displayed on the television. In the Ninja mini-game, some players are tasked with throwing ninja stars from their device by flicking them using the touch screen.
Aside from the quiz, the highlight of our session was a Colour Search game, which names a specific colour on the television (such as royal blue), and then players have a short time limit to use their phone cameras to take a picture of this colour, sending them scouring the room for matching items.
Games which relied more on motion, such as the Ninja title in which one player has to ‘swipe a sword’ to deflect other players’ ninja stars, felt far less compelling. The sword player is supposed to listen out for the sound of star players’ attacks and respond with a ‘swipe’ of their phone, but our session descended into random flailing in the air until somebody won.
So from our brief play session, Everybody 1-2-Switch does appear like it will have more appeal for large family gatherings, compared to just a small group of friends.
Of course, all of this should come with the caveat that co-operative titles are always more enjoyable in controlled environments such as press events or trade shows. There’s a reason Evolve won game of the show at E3 2014, before its disappointing launch reception: because the co-op partners you get online are far less agreeable than those in person.
Everybody 1-2-Switch will release on June 30 priced at $29.99 / £24.99.
