Whether it feels like yesterday or a lifetime ago, the Nintendo Labo VR kit is now officially one year old. In this time, it has received a standalone Labo kit and Nintendo has released multiple free updates for its existing Switch game line-up that add VR support.
It started out with a free update for Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild alongside the release of the Toy-Con VR Goggles, and this was followed by a special VR update for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.
Even a handful of third-party games have included Labo VR features. The most recent one was Neonwall at the start of this year, and another previous third-party release to support it was Spice And Wolf VR. Nintendo has also shared a number of free mini-game updates for its cardboard tech.
The question is, are you still using your cardboard goggles a year later? Vote in our poll and leave a comment below.
Comments 49
I still haven't bought LABO VR yet. 😅
Still focusing on collecting Sony games on this year.
No. PSVR has been my only experience with VR and I am not a fan.
I used it for about an hour with Breath of the Wild on day one and haven't got around to it again (most of that time was spent shield surfing, which was pretty cool really!) That kinda sounds like I don't think much of it, but I actually quite like it. Cool idea, and was the only VR experience i've had, due to it being affordable. I think Animal Crossing would really work well with it. Anyone else agree?
I have never bought that sorry excuse of a VR "headset" and nor do I intend to.
Another Virtual Boy with Vive/Index-level tech, on the other hand... that I would be interested in.
It just didn’t look like it was worth more than a tenner to me, there weren’t enough actual games. Nintendo could easily make good VR games, especially if you look at Astro Bot but since they haven’t invested, they aren’t exactly going to put games on any other platform. I’m glad I have an uncle with an Index though, I’ve been playing Half Life Alyx at his and it’s unbelievably good. It absolutely shows the potential of VR.
Hard to be using Labo VR when Nintendo stopped supporting it with software.
Either they have abandoned VR or they are wairing for the Switch 2 to take VR seriously.
Playing both this and the vehicle kit quite a bit with my eldest daughter in lockdown. She loves the fish game and the submarine especially. We’re working through both games and it’s been quality time together. Zelda VR is horrible though - stay clear
its a fun novelty at best, they were like having mini arcade machines in your room but its a hassle to set up as often as id want. labo probably couldve gotten a bigger community if they'd actually let us share our creations. i never saw much content from labo beyond piano stuff
I love it but just don't have time...
@nessisonett Every time I play Astro Bot I find myself thinking "Nintendo could do some wonderful things with tech like this".
I think if games like that saber rhythm game came to the Labo VR, that would be awesome.
I made a head strap for mine so I wouldn't have to hold it up, and it was enjoyable. I'm not the every creative type, nor my nephew's, so we just played the games it had there. Would love more blaster games, online? Multiplayer?
Also have seen some crazy projects but can't share or download others..... Which is a shame because I would love to try other people's games.
@C-Chakra
Have some KK Slider shows! Would be so cool to see constellations with Celeste's telescope. Museum tour with VR!?
@Ttimer5 Yeah to me Labo always seemed like little more than an arts and crafts project due to how poorly it was implimented in games of any real substance. The Labo games ammounted to little more than tech demos. I would have loved to have seen a Pokemon Snap sequel made for the Labo camera, or a music game made for the piano for example, but that never happened. Nintendo never seemed to make anything substancial for the concept.
One of the biggest mysteries out there is how more people don't talk more about Kablasta. It is one of Nintendo's best multiplayer party games since Wii Sports. I think I've played it multiplayer almost as much as Wii Bowling.
For the record, if anyone hasn't realised how good it is and they want to try it, there are settings you should change to maximise competition: have the maximum number of rounds (I think it's ten) and change the setting at the beginning that means both players share the same fruit.
Everyone who plays it loves it. Big recommend. There are some hidden mechanics too, and a few surprising little details that make it delightful.
They could make an amazing, full release based on Kablasta. In fact, Nintendo Life, you should do an article about it! To my mind it is the Switch's truest hidden gem. I've played all the VRs, payed for VR sessions and played with my friend's Valve Index with the finger sensors, and Kablasta is still the most fun thing I've done.
Played with it for like 3 days maybe. It was quite a waste. Building it took forever.
@JayJ
I get that Labo is supposed to be used for creativity and education mostly, but so many missed opportunity. I loved the implementation of the wheel for MK8D (haven't used it but is a cool small update). The BOTW and Mario Odyssey were fun, smash was funny..... But that's it.
I remember how people where so confused at Nintendo, but many more were excited to see what could become of it...... And then it just disappeared and everyone forgot it was a thing. I also forgot about it till today when I read this post.
@Alpha-2002 Dude the starter kit is like 80 bucks, no one would reasonably expect that kind of hardware.
Considering that, it actually offers some great experiences.
Ring Fit Adventure continues to sell out whenever it's made available while Labo units still sit on store shelves to this day.
Guess which one Nintendo will prioritize and support in the future?
It was fun to build but man does it look horrible when you use it.
@westman98
Labo right? That’s wacky Nintendo for you, Labo fits exactly into their 3D obsession, this is the same Nintendo that in response to the massive success of NSMBWii made two very low budget sequels while 3D Mario’s on 3DS and Wii U had all the elements people were begging to see in a new 2D Mario (higher quality art and music with no bah bahs, tanuki suit, SMB2 style character traits, giant world and very ironically the use of old school 2D lineart that 3D World uses instead of 2D Mario). I wouldn’t be surprised if Labos long game was always to introduce the concept to lead into their take on google cardboard with hopes of leading to something else down to the line.
Labo VR was great. For less than the price of a full price game I got a fun building experience with my daughter, a decent set of minigames, a neat sandbox, and some cool bonuses for Mario and Zelda.
Am I still playing it now? No, but there are very few games that I'd still be playing after a year.
I don't even like the "good, high end" VR headsets. So no, I never bought it.
What we call VR is just a screen on our face with motion controls. Call me when sci-fi becomes science reality and we have something like actual virtual reality.
I wanted to buy one, but the only ones sold here were imported from another region, and I wanted the american version.
@SalvorHardin
Labo shows that Nintendo at one point was interested in VR even though their current hardware platform can't really handle it in a competent manner. Whether they continue to invest in VR on future hardware platforms remains to be seen. As of right now, Ring Fit Adventure is Nintendo's current "hardware accessory-based" game and it's in huge demand.
Also, NSMB2 and NSMU are not low budget sequels - their budgets are no smaller than that of NSMBWii. In fact, NSMBU likely had a bigger budget given that it was Nintendo's first HD game ever.
Had fun with the gun for a couple of months, I never understood why games made for vr like thumper wasn’t patched to be used with the vr goggles, so it finished it’s life in my closet.
I'm folding my Blaster today! :3
I got the variety kit and it was fun building it during quarantine. The building process and the end result are great but the novelty wears off quickly due to the lacking software.
I tried to find the VR set but it became difficult to find one and if I did, it will have a very high price tag.
I think now is the right time for nintendo to produce and promote the labo kits as it is great during quarantine. Many people are back to lego because of quarantine and labo have a similar appeal.
@C-Chakra Same! After about an hour of shield surfing in vr, that was the first time I'd felt sick from it. It was really cool though, and animal crossing would be a great game for it. I could see them adding a feature where you are able to look around from inside houses from your villagers perspective
Just ordered it over the weekend and it should arrive on Wednesday! I am so excited to try it out:)
VR is so retro now.
I'm still building my vehichle kit, may finish up the submarine today w/ the bad weather, and I've never seen it on sale. I've had the $40 Labo VR starter kit in my online cart on Amazon, Best Buy and Target for awhile now and I've never seen it on sale, it's always $39.99. I wont' knock the price, the vehicle kit is insane complicated for the $80 or whatever it was - I got it on clearance at Target for $28 - but I'd never pay $80 for it, I just don't pay full price for anything. Well AC:NH but I just past the 100 hour mark on that. I'm guessing Labo VR is good for a dozen hours maybe.
Nintendo really sucks at sales. Switch games that are 3 years old, or close to it, are still $60, so is MK8 and that's a 5 year old port.
So my poll answer is - still waiting for it to go on sale.
Spent $30.00 on the starter kit. My kids love playing with the blaster.
@westman98 the Labo Kit is definitely not on any shelf. I just had a hell of a time tracking one down.
I finally found the full set from a private seller. Excited for it to arrive so I can finally start playing it!
It was a fun novelty for a week or two, but the fact of the matter is that it was too low end for any long term support, with the Switch's low resolution (for VR) and lack of more advanced features like head tracking (which gyro alone can't match). That said, I still pull it out every great once in awhile to watch a few rounds of VR Smash.
Although I still play many more regular games, I generally do enjoy VR though, and still pull out my PSVR once or twice a week (currently working on Wolfenstein Cyberpilot, and Tetris Effect is a pure addiction).
I loved them but something's wrong with my Switch and it's wireless controller connectivity, so I can't use the joycons for my Labo sets or for Ring Fit.
It needed some Virtual Boy games included, and something a bit more serious. I enjoyed it though.
I bought the VR kit and threw it away (left it on the street) a few months later, without ever even opening it. The longer I owned it the more it seemed like too much work to even bother with. If Nintendo wants me to assemble their products, they need to pay me an hourly wage. I'm not a slave.
I really wanted to like it...I tried it during a mild sinus infection, and instantly got naseous...so badly, in fact, I've been too afraid to try it again since. I should try it again, when my perpetual sinus problems remit a bit.
Try porting Universal Studios Theme Parks Adventure or Pokemon Snap with VrR support.
I haven't used it much since the first month I bought it, which was nearly a year ago (May 2019). I will say, though, that I did enjoy it for what it was. Hopefully it gets more use from other devs in other games, as well as seeing more Labo planned in the pipeline.
I have a starter kit and mess with it and the other labo kits from time to time. Once Nintendo starts shipping physical orders again I plan on getting the two expansions for the VR kit.
Sadly, I don't have one, but if I did I would think I would still be using it.
How long do you think cardboard would last especially if you are living in a very humid region?
@Sky1Eagle1
Here in the US, Best Buy is running a sale where all Labo kits are retailing at $20.
They definitely had plenty of leftover supply to be running this kind of sale 2+ years after launch.
@JayJ me too I think it's pretty bad, I had an initial wow when I used it then ever since it's been gathering dust because every time I use it I have tracking issues and then when I finally get it working I just think holy crap it looks awful, then after 10 minutes I feel horrendously sick! I've actually just packed it all up to sell the whole kit to go towards my PS5 fund.
@jcvandan Yeah VR usually gives me motion sickness. That's why I really have my doubts as to how popular it is going to be, it seems doomed to be a niche product for a specific kind of person.
I was surprised to see Ring Fit Adventure in Walmart but on closer inspection it was Labo 😒
@JayJ – Wait, but you said in the kit’s review comments that you had experience with PC VR rigs?
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