Everybody 1-2-Switch! (Nintendo Switch) Review

It's no secret that Everybody 1-2 Switch! had somewhat or a turbulent development history. The Interweb is ripe with reports of poor user testing as well as a general feeling of 'why does this even exist?'. With rumours of this title being cancelled altogether, Nintendo in their infinite wisdom have put this out in the wild at a budget price point. This marketing strategy certainly feels like the winning strategy due to its limited appeal outside of a late night raver (or as much of a raver as a 37 year old serial gamer can accomplish).

Weirdly, Everybody 1-2 Switch! seems like a bit of a step back technically, The original shot quickly out of the gates alongside the release of the original Switch to showcase exactly what the joy-cons could do. This time around there seems to be a loss of a lot of the rumble and IR sensor minigames, however, with the simplification of mainly waggling the joy-con repeatedly, that accessibility that mini-games crave is certainly enhanced. Nothing new to learn here, just pick up and play. It does however feel that Nintendo could have had the best of both worlds, Wario-Ware has always shown that pick up and play titles can be easily understood with minimal hand holding. Perhaps the worry here was extended minigames needed instruction over quick and punchy instinctive playing.

The best bit of advice that can be given, play with as many people as possible. People who enjoy fun in the conventional sense that all feel comfortable looking silly and are also fully equipped with am unconventional sense of humour. The most laughs are guaranteed to coming from giggling at the pure absurdity of what is on offer here. Without spoiling what the majority of the minigames are, every single one of them becomes a hundred times more fun if you have 'that friend' who is really willing to commit to the bit and cut loose while playing. That type of encouragement is needed to cover the stark reality that even with over 40 minigames, a lot of these focus on the one concept being repeated in a variety of ways. On our playthrough, a particular highlight was kitchen timer. Beautiful in its simplicity. Steak must be seared and vegetables drained within a time time limit not shown on screen, wait too long and burn the place down, go too early and get shut down over health code violations. Easy to understand, but one of the more difficult when under the pressure of competition and if of a right age, liquid courage.

Presentation wise its prequel is still very much the prototype. Short videos with actors enjoying themselves far more than your friendship circle is likely to have ever had give a quick tutorial alongside your practice attempt. It would have been nice to have the option to skip these after one attempt as all games seem to drag along with tutorials and motivational speeches. Again, another way another moustached menace does this genre better. Once completed its off to the races, quite literally in some cases. 20, 40 and 60 minute sessions are available all presented by a man in a horse head? A horse in a man suit? It doesn't matter, whatever it is, it's nightmare fuel. The option of the losing team choosing the next game is a sensible one, with the roulette wheel moving slowly enough that players can play to their skillset and claw back some points if falling behind. This review was written with a small group however, Everybody 1-2 Switch! can accommodate up to 100 players on certain events through mobile phone connection. If one of those progressive schools where learning is meant to be fun and the budget allows for a Switch, this could be a great addition to get those kids up and moving on their enrichment activities.