Reminder: The Labo VR Update For Super Mario Odyssey And Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Is Now Live

I'm torn... I want to buy the VR Labo, but I know I'll only play about 15 minutes of BotW with them and never touch em again...

Edit: put on my Samsung Gear VR headset with no phone inserted, and held the switch up against the open end. Adjust the focus till it's mostly un-blurry, look around a bit... and I've had my fill. It's neat-o.

@daveh30 In the same boat. My friend MacGyver'ed an old phone VR headset and tested it on his neighbours copy of Labo VR with great success ready for Mario/Zelda update. I'm tempted to try it myself if I can pick up a cheap enough one.

@Beermonkey lol, I just tried the same thing with my Gear VR headset. It's neat-o, and I've had my fill.

@daveh30 I regret buying it, the blaster game is fun but it really makes me sick. And Zelda is not really comfortable.

@NickOfTime90 Think that's VR full stop for me. I played some psvr over Christmas period while stopping at my mates house. Most made me feel ill. Was only batman that I found comfortable to play. Sure the more expensive headsets and set ups are better but am not as lucky to have or try them.

I'm looking forward to this!

In my MK 11 hype I forgot this was today. Thanks for the reminder!

It's cool as a feature. Actually quiet enjoyable. Stop nagging, folks. It's fun to use.

So I just tried it out, and as per my original suspicion, Breath of the Wild is not head tracking VR in the way that the Labo VR mini games are. It's simply stereoscopic 3D filling your entire field of vision, and when you move your head, it rotates the camera AROUND Link as if you were using the right joystick. It's not terrible, but is actually a little disorienting, and I very quickly just used the right joy con to control the camera instead. The 3D effect is cool, but yes, it would benefit greatly from a 1080p screen. I think when Nintendo says this is not the way you should play Zelda, they're right.

You CAN get a little taste of VR if you switch to your camera in the game. The first-person-view will then match your head's movement, but all of the Shiekah UI business fills up your field of view, making it less than ideal. I would love to see an update that lets you enter a first person mode similar to the camera, but with a clear interface. That shouldn't be too difficult, so we'll see.

But yes, a 1080p screen would go a long way for Breath of the Wild. Here's hoping that "modest" update to the Switch hardware we've been hearing about is a high-res screen, although personally I'd prefer more processing power. Either way, I'm still excited about Labo VR's potential, even in the realm of simple 3D. Bring on the 3D update to Sega Ages!

@BoilerBroJoe wait, moving your head gets the camera to rotate around Link? I couldn't get that to work for me at all. In fact, the UI was impossible to see in its entirety. I was seriously dissappointed.

I've toyed around in the SMO content (I was more excited for this since the content is new, despite brief), and as a PSVR owner I came away pretty impressed (just as I was the blaster game). The Switch's low resolution screen is definitely noticeable, but the game's art style helps negate that (plus, you can only play around in a small segment of the level, and you can zoom in on further away objects by pressing "R" to get a better look at them, so when Mario is on the outskirts of the play area you can be zoomed in to still see him clearly).

The content is brief (in 10 minutes I completed 2 of the 3 new levels, and watched both "Theater Mode" cut scenes, which are just the opening & closing ones in stereoscopic 3D), but if they occasionally add similar content to other games (even if just a couple times a year), this could definitely be $40 well spent.

Heck, if Google officially adds support for 3D/VR videos on YouTube, LABO VR would undoubtedly be a much better option for budget VR than the mobile setups (VR video is really the only thing those are good for, as there's no games for them worth mentioning).

After playing both of these for a few minutes, here’s my thoughts.

Neither is perfect, at all. But they’re a novel bonus for VR Kit owners.

Zelda’s offerings is literally just the entire game but in VR. It’s fun, but your arms get really tired after a few minutes. It’s not incredibly groundbreaking and doesn’t have much replay value, but I’m glad I tried it.

Mario Odyssey’s, however, has me wanting to come back and finish all the mini-missions. The camera stays grounded in one place (just like the VR Kit games), so if depth perception isn’t your strong suit, beware, haha! It was fun finding instruments and taking screenshots of Odyssey’s Cap Kingdom (the only one I played through), and I want to go back and do the others too!

This isn’t something you should go out and buy a VR Kit for. However, if you have one, don’t pass this up. At least try it once!

Odyssey wasn't that impressive. Fixed camera angles suck in an open playbox environment. Still cool, but meh. Really pixelated from a distance, have to use the VR zoom feature to see details when far away.

Zelda, on the other hand, has exceeded my expectations, and Zelda was the game I thought would be the worse of the two. Not so, and I think it's because your view follows Link, unlike Mario, and you can turn the camera by turning your head (first REAL taste of VR disorientation with Switch, I love it!). It’s not 1:1 head tracking, it turns the camera, but it’s still really cool. Way better than I was expecting, and it looks way better too.

I wasn't sure about the visor strap, but now I'm sure. I WANT to play Zelda like this. Got the Google Carboard headstrap... let’s go

Well, I guess it's good that most people are enjoying the Zelda stuff. Personally, I want the camera to move with my head and not around Link (a la Super Lucky's Tale), although admittedly that would require quite a hefty update. Plus, Super Lucky's Tale made me nauseous, so there's that.

@ballistic90 Yes, when I turned my head left, the camera would swoop around to Link's right, and vice-versa. Looking up swoops the camera down beneath Link and looking down swoops it above him, all while keeping him in frame. It sounds counter-intuitive, but it sorta works, since the camera is essentially looking in the direction of your eyes. It's just that that movement is coupled with a change in "your" position in space. Like I said above, barring a major update, I just want to see a proper first person view where you can plop Link down and then see things from his perspective.

The VR support in BotW is amazing! I am already looking at 3D printed VR kits f Switch to dive in to the game again! However, I wish Mario Kart and ARMS would have received the same treatment. I am expecting Nintendo to share more VR stuff during E3 otherwise it’s pointless to support Labo VR with just one (Mario Odyssey stuff is dreadful) big game.

@Prolix also, the VR support in the YouTube app would be awesome.

I don’t think I will ever not feel nauseous again after the 5 minutes I spent with Zelda.

I tried it and that's it. In the Labo games, you really had a sense of scale and felt like you were standing in front of a giant red, mechanical crab. Or you were battling a big robot worm, high up in the sky. But in Mario Odyssey and BOTW I didn't have this feeling.😕

I am glad I didn't waste my money on the full set and only bought the basic set.

As expected. VR in Zelda and Mario is hot "blurry" garbage!
You can only stomach it for a minute, before putting it down due to strained eyes and a headache.

At least now you know the reason why Nintendo didn't provide a head strap for this thing, as they know people can and should only use it for very short burst a time.

The screen resolution is just not there to provide a comfortable VR experience. It's terrible for your eyes if you expose it to such blurry mess for too long. You will strain your eyes in no time.

Aiming the bow and arrow by moving my head felt great. The enormityear and verticality of the world in BOTW is so much more evident in VR. Besides the blurry resolution it ran great and was genuinely engrossing. Need to play Odyssey a bit more. Not a fan of the static camera.

@Beermonkey yeah, it really sucks. Luckily all of the software so far is playable without the goggles.

I'll probably do the extra Mario quests and try Zelda for 5 minutes before putting it down. Still super cool they added support for major games.

I am gonna ask something very dumb: Can you play the Mario odyssey stuff without the vr labo-kit?

Time to get Virtual Boy syndrome. throws up

@Henmii 'Can you play the Mario odyssey stuff without the vr labo-kit?' That's not a dumb question at all - I'd also like to know. Anyone?

@BoilerBroJoe 'Bring on the 3D update to Sega Ages!' Is that a thing they have announced?

@Henmii
Yes, you can.👍

@brunojenso No, I just want it.

Seems like this update is very marmite

My own thoughts : https://socoder.net/?GotoPost=71276
Basically, lovely addition, but could do with a higher resolution, and a true First Person Camera view..
Will be spending time in the game, later, simply looking around!
Mmmm...

I really need to get this kit soon. It's on my wishlist right now!

@Jeronan absolutely agreed - the simpler look of the in-box games look OK, but the more complex nature of BOTW & MO make the games look pretty rough in VR. I’m glad I bought the set, just to support Nintendo but it’s like looking at graphics roughly equivalent to the N64.

They're ok. Don't expect them to be great experience and add a lot to the game. It's just a new option they added to the games and you don't have to use it if you don't want. I played the Mario Odyseey one and it was ok. I can rewatch the concerts whenever and just leave it alone. It's just like they added a new short mini game to the main game and you can play it with or without the goggles. Watching the concerts in 360 degrees is a little better but you don't need to they're not that long. The VR is just an added option and nothing great. It's also just a test to see what Switch games can look like using VR.

Hi, since update 1.6.0 BOTW in the Great Plateau is having frame rate issues (like ages ago, the ones that were fixed). So, basically, we're back at some stuff that had been fixes. Anyone else having this issue? It was running super smooth before the update.

• I mean normally, non-VR. Also textures seemed to have taken a hit, too. Both Handheld and Docked.

@MrBlacky,

Thanks for the answer. I have downloaded it now and will try it later.