It’s been almost a year since the first Nintendo Labo kit landed on the market. The unique new Nintendo project grabbed everybody’s attention and now, we’re already three kits later! Nintendo Labo introduced its crowd to the wonderful world of creativity, where you could play and experiment with your own cardboard Toy-Con. Needless to say, the software won a couple of industry awards and it’s even used in schools to learn kids about certain mechanisms. Fast forward to today, where the fourth and most impressive Labo kit is just lurking behind the corner. We tested the immersive VR Kit and tell you why this is, without a doubt, the most creative Nintendo Labo experience to date.
Let’s make it happen!
Nintendo is making the jump to Virtual Reality, one of the many headlines you could see when the company first revealed this fourth Nintendo Labo Kit. Although it’s true that this Labo Kit focusses on Virtual Reality, there are a couple of things you’ll need to know before you get your hopes up. No, this doesn’t come close to the VR competition. The VR Kit isn’t aiming at the same audience and due to hardware limitations, the VR Goggles aren’t on the same level as let’s say the PSVR. And yet, you’ll have a lot of fun with this new Labo Kit! Instead of offering vast and complex VR games, the Kit focusses on an amazing introduction to the world of Virtual Really. This is without a doubt the most impressive Nintendo Labo experience if you take a look at the playable games. With over sixty playable games, you’ll have a lot of fun in the Virtual Reality for sure. But, before you can jump into the action, you’ll need to make your new Toy-Con from scratch.
Just like in any other Nintendo Labo Kit, the actual building of your new toys will take a lot of your time. You start off by building your very own VR Goggles. Of course, you’re not alone in this. Throughout the entire progress, the interactive manual will show you exactly what you need to do. I said it before but this manual truly is amazing, it explains everything from start to finish and with the options to rewind or fast-forward, you’ll be able to create your Toy-Con at your own pace. Besides this, the manual also enables you to zoom in on the more difficult to achieve parts and to top it off, it constantly explains to you what to do in some rather funny text instructions.
While creating my first Joy-Con, I noticed the level of difficulty went up for this Nintendo Labo Kit. Where the previous Kit started off rather easy, this one really throws in everything at once. You’ll have to keep your head into the game while creating your Joy-Con, but once it’s finished, you’ll be amazed by the results.
Jump in the action
Where to other Nintendo Labo products enabled you to interact with the virtual world by building tools you could use to, for example, maneuver your vehicle, this one goes a bit further. Instead of letting you interact with the world, it places you right at the center of it. At first, I was a bit sceptic while building my VR Goggles. Although I loved the concept and the actual creation of the Goggles, I was worried the hardware of the Nintendo Switch was simply too limited to create decent virtual reality. Boy, was I wrong!
After creating the Goggles, you can immediately discover a couple of short games, demonstrating the capabilities of your new Toy-Con. Those short games really do the trick. Sure, the Nintendo Switch isn’t powerful enough to deliver the same quality of Virtual Reality you’re used to, but thanks to some clever game design, you’ll certainly have fun with it. Its biggest issue is the fact that things tend to get blurry once they move away too far in the background. Luckily, the team knows the limitations of the VR Goggles and made sure every game used it in the best way possible. Of course, the VR Goggles are just the start of your adventure!
Besides the Goggles, you can create a lot of different and interesting new Toy-Con. The second Toy-Con I made was the Camera, taking me deep into the sea or the house of a cute small animal. Because the Toy-Con is so amazingly designed, I could even zoom in and out like I would do with a real camera. The camera isn’t the only new Toy-Con, you get a Blaster where you defend the city from aliens, an Elephant to clear puzzles or draw nice pictures, a Bird to fly over a mysterious island and a Wind Pedal to clear some clever puzzles with the help of your foot. All new Toy-Con are accompanied with a nice amount of games, making this the most versatile Nintendo Labo Kit to date. Remember that, on top of this all, you’ll get truly immersed into the virtual worlds thanks to the VR Goggles. After spending some time with each Toy-Con separately, I could only conclude that I simply couldn’t get enough. It’s not the best VR experience out there, judging on the hardware, but it’s without a doubt the most accessible VR experience I’ve witnessed to date.
Create your own VR game
Moving over to the third pillar of each Nintendo Labo Kit, time to discover the secrets of Virtual Reality! Just like in any other Labo Kit, you can discover the mechanics behind every game in the Toy-Con Garage, and you can create your own games. That’s right, this Labo Kit also enables you to create your very own VR games! Now, since this isn’t that easy, you can also pick to use some of the pre-made games you could already play and alter them with your own goals and settings. If you want to go all out, you can, of course, go all out. The only limitation of the Discover mode is your own imagination. If you’re creative, you’ll have a blast with these options for sure. Of course, not everybody will equally enjoy this mode since it gives you a lot of freedom to create your own game, but I’m sure some of you will absolutely adore it! It’s also worth pointing out that the entire game can be played without VR turned on, so you can test your games in Virtual Reality or in ‘normal’ mode.
Conclusion:
The Nintendo Labo VR Kit is without a doubt the most impressive of all four. Not only does it enable you to play in Virtual Reality on your Nintendo Switch, it’s also the most versatile Nintendo Labo Kit currently on the market. With an impressive amount of games and the ability to create your own games, you’ll never get tired of this one. Of course, before you can enjoy all of this, you’ll need to spend a lot of hours creating your new Toy-Con but that’s nothing to worry about. Creating is as fun as playing, especially for this VR Kit!
