Everybody 1-2-Switch!

Genre: Party Game

Players: 2-8 Team Competitive (Local)

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Review:

When the Nintendo Switch launched, I think it’s fair to say that most players were thrilled with its offerings, particularly the offerings with the word “Zelda” in the title. However, joking aside, the Nintendo Switch launch had some superb indie titles like Fast RMX, Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, and The Binding of Isaac. And within the following few months it would get heavy-hitters like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Splatoon 2. Of course, there was also Nintendo’s other launch title…

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Switching Players Off

1-2 Switch was a game that I think many Nintendo Switch owners got because it was right at the release of a new Nintendo console, and this was one of the few launch titles from Nintendo. However, I don’t think I was alone in saying that the game seemed like a huge rip-off, and an insult to its loyal fans that Nintendo needed more than ever after the failure of the Wii U.

It’s not that 1-2 Switch was bad. Rather, this was a game that absolutely screamed “tech demo”, an anemic experience that showed off the bells and whistles of the Nintendo Switch’s hardware without joining them together in a cohesive game. It was a Party game where you might get a group of friends to enjoy it for a sitting, but one that they were highly unlikely to want to play after that first experience of “oh, this is neat… so what else you got?”

However, the real insult was that this was a game that many (myself included) would argue should have just been included with the system, much in the way that Wii Sports was included with the Wii. At the very least, a game this slight should have at most been released as a budget title. Instead, Nintendo actually slapped a $50 price tag on this absolute nothing of a game. I was outraged that Nintendo would take advantage of their fans like this, at a time they should have been humbled by the Wii U. And I said as much in my review of the game, giving the game an F.

Years after the release of 1-2 Switch, the game never received a price drop. Nintendo is sticking by their guns. They actually believe this is a game worth $50… or at least, that enough players are gullible enough to fork over $50 for this. But I suppose it was easy enough to overlook. After all, within the first year of the Nintendo Switch’s life we got The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, and Super Mario Odyssey. Complaining about the one bad game Nintendo released seemed petty when they were releasing some of their greatest games of all-time.

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One to Switch Things Up?

Years later, when the stench of 1-2 Switch was but a faint memory, a rumor began to circulate that Nintendo had created a sequel to the game, one supposedly so bad that its focus groups hated it, deriding the game as “boring” and “tedious”. It seemed certain that Nintendo was shelving the project, especially in a busy year like 2023 that included megahit games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Pikmin 4.

However, whether Nintendo decided to rework the game, or just shrug their shoulders and release it despite the poor internal responses they had gotten, Everybody 1-2-Switch! did indeed release in 2023 on the Nintendo Switch, pushed out without much fanfare. To its credit, Nintendo had sorta’ learned some lessons from the first game – this would be a meatier experience, and it would be priced at a somewhat more-acceptable $30. However, the question remained, would this be enough?

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Everybody, Hold On to Your Butts…

Much like its predecessor, Everybody 1-2-Switch! is a family-friendly Party Game that makes creative use of the Nintendo Switch’s unique features. However, this time it is actually set up like a Party Game rather than a selection of separate minigames, with players treated to a semi-random assortment of these minigames within a framing device stringing them together.

Right from the start, this sets up a problem – what if you like one of these minigames, and just want to keep playing it? Maybe I missed the option somewhere, but I did not see it. What’s more, the way the game plays, often you only play one round each of the minigames that get selected, making it particularly frustrating for those who want each minigame to give them multiple shots at defeating other players rather than a one-and-done. Also, it bears mention that this game’s tiny list of only 17 minigames is even smaller than the selection offered in this game’s predecessor, making it a step backward in yet another way.

Starting the game, you select whether you want to play using Joy-Cons or internet-connected smartphones (connected using a QR code that sets you up in the private room for the game), select the number of players (2-8 on two competing teams), and select game length (20, 40, or 60 minutes), and that’s it. There’s sadly not much in the way of options here for those who want to customize things.

The minigames themselves range drastically in quality. You have some real stinkers, like one where you have to repeatedly make the same tedious motion in time with the beat to attract an alien, or one where you’re counting the number of ice cream orders kids are making. On the other hand, there are some genuinely fun ones, like one where you need to hide a Joy-Con somewhere in the room, and the other player must find it by listening for its vibrations. And there’s another great game that uses your smartphone’s camera to try and hunt down a photo you can take that best matches the color you’re given to look for.

Of the minigames included in the game, some are specific to the Joy-Cons, some are specific to smartphones, some can be played with either, and some use a combination of both. It seems a bit odd that this game would split up its already pathetic number of minigames even further depending on what you’re using to play it, yet here we are. Also, if anyone playing has disabled camera or microphone support for third-party apps, or has an overlay that disagrees with the smartphone side of the game’s application, be prepared to have to wait for them to disable it or to have the game simply say they can’t play the minigame.

This fits another trend that prevalent through Everybody 1-2-Switch! – everything about this game seems slow-paced and tedious. Every minigame comes with a loooong explanation, and between rounds you get a lot of chatter from the game’s creepy host (more on that later). This is a game where it absolutely feels like you spend far more time waiting to play the game than actually playing the game, and that’s always a bad sign.

As for the presentation, there are some good elements here, a mix of 3D visuals, as well as 2D visuals with some photos of real-life people, along with videos of people playing the game. However, all of this seems packed with a surreal tone, like the game is constantly talking down to the players like they’re children. And perhaps this game has a target audience of children, but that doesn’t mean the game should be all but talking to them in baby-speak. What’s more, the video of people playing the game has them all making faces like they’re doing the most exciting thing imaginable, and… come on, you’re not fooling anyone with this, guys.

And topping it all off is this game’s “host”, MC Horace, live-action video of a guy wearing one of those rubber horse heads, with the head creepily computer-animated to make different expressions. So much for aiming this game at kids, guys – you just gave them all nightmares. As for older players, the rubber horse head thing was a meme that some people found amusing… a decade ago. Hey Nintendo, if this is the route you’re going, why not also toss in doge and the Harlem Shake?

Despite all its problems, its poor design choices, it’s terrible pacing, its lack of options, its slim content, its questionable presentation… despite all of this, I still think Everybody 1-2-Switch! is a better game than 1-2 Switch, for two main reasons. First, $30 is more palatable than $50. And second, because this is at least an actual game and not a tech demo disguised as a game. It’s a pretty terrible game, to be sure, but it’s a game, nonetheless. Should you get it? Heck no! But if you do, I think you’ll feel less taken advantage of than if you had bought 1-2 Switch. So… I guess that’s an improvement?

tl;dr – Everybody 1-2-Switch! is the follow-up to 1-2 Switch that nobody asked for, and about the same number of people are likely to enjoy. To its credit, this family-friendly Party Game is actually a game this time and not a tech demo, and the $30 price tag is easier to swallow, but this game is sorely lacking in content and features, has some atrociously bad pacing, some very poor design choices, and a presentation seemingly designed to appeal to nobody. This is a step up from the first game, but it’s still a terrible game that you should not buy.

Grade: D+

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2023 Game Awards:

Winner:

The “Who asked for this!?” Award – 1-2-Switch was the worst game at launch for the Nintendo Switch, and it remains Nintendo’s worst game for the console. It was a glorified tech demo sold at a premium price, and virtually everyone who played it was done with it after a few hours at most, with zero desire to play it again… so why the heck did Nintendo make another one!? What’s more, it was strongly rumored before the game was even announced that internal testing had absolutely miserable results and Nintendo was strongly considering shelving it… but instead, they decided to quietly release it. To the game’s credit, it is better than 1-2-Switch, but not good enough to justify its existence.

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