Nintendo

Recently, Nintendo announced their new console: the 'Switch 2' (creative name!), releasing 2025. 

With release title 'Mario World' in which you can play as characters such as Mario, Luigi, and 'Cow', the bundle will run you about $750 NZD. Pretty dear for a console near identical to the original. 

But today, reading the updates and seeing the Nintendo Direct trailers never fails to make me as giddy as a cheerleader on prom night.

It takes me back in time. My brothers and I used to stay up till ridiculous hours of the night, peeling our eyes apart to catch a glimpse of the newest feature for the upcoming console. That was 2017, before the Switch was released. 

I was nine then, and was barely interested in video games. But I was interested in late nights, and junk food, and spending time with my brothers. 

So when I heard the FPS were rising - I'd jump for joy as though I knew what the hell that meant. And on release day, as my brothers lined up at the local video game store at midnight (I wasn't allowed to go, seeing as I wasn't even in the double digits), my not-even-tweenager self tried to defiantly stay up until their return.

I think I failed. Bed is warm, and 1am is a reallllyyyy longggg time away.

Thinking back, I'd never really played any video game at that time. But I felt like part of the tribe, and knew this moment was important to the people I loved.

Passion is infectious, anyway. I'll never get bored of hearing people excitedly yammer about whatever niche interest they have, even if it's something I'd never pick up of my own volition. 

And now, after years and years of hearing nerdy rants about joystick sensitivities and DLC release dates, I've become the nerd myself.

One of my brothers is off to University now (and also a bit evil), and the other's busy working his ass off for a FinTech, so I didn't get to watch the recent Nintendo Direct with either one. 

But it's nice remembering how my dorky roots stem from a family who put the effort in to make me feel like a part of the team.

I think it's a bit odd when people hide things they're interested in from others. 

Everyone has to learn from someone. I wouldn't know anything about Nintendo if it weren't for my family putting up with the jumpy kid who wanted to be included. 

And even people who aren't in my life anymore stay with me through the things I say, and watch, and listen to. There's no reason I shouldn't be grateful for that, and continue to share that with people I think might appreciate it. 

When we act like a collection of individuals instead of a collective individual, we all suffer. There's no way people can make it by themselves, and luckily there's no need for us to do that. We all have to rely on each other sometimes just to survive - and extending this collaboration into our personalities is never a mistake.  

Maybe this is just an excuse to force you all to listen to my analysis of each Switch 2 titles with price comparisons and pointed out lore inaccuracies. 

Either way - I'm excited to play as 'Cow' for the new release. Long live Shuntaro Furukawa.