The Nintendo Switch is an amazing piece of video game hardware, but for 9-year-old Kenly Getz, there's something in the world that has even more appeal: pizza. Or, to be more specific, pizza made in Buffalo, New York (and not Ohio, as was previously stated – oops!).
You see, although Kenly lives in Ohio with his family, his mother Heather originally hails from Buffalo, and took her kids to the (apparently) famous Franco’s Pizza recently. They loved it so much, they wanted to try more – which makes you wonder exactly what it is they put in those darn pizzas.
They liked it so much, Heather decided to offer Kenly – who turns 10 next month – a life-changing choice. He could have his dream console, the Nintendo Switch, or he and his family could return to Buffalo and stuff their faces with as much pizza as possible. "I told him I couldn’t do both,” she says, which seems a very sensible bit of parenting if you ask us.
Amazingly, Kenly picked greasy Italian food over the world's current best-selling games console:
As these things have a habit of doing, Heather's tweet has 'blown up' to the point where Franco’s Pizza – the aforementioned establishment in Buffalo – has ensured that Henly's doesn't have to make the choice between food and Switch – he's getting both. Awwwww!
Did your parents ever force you to choose between sustenance and interactive entertainment? Be sure to let us know in the comments.
[source wkbw.com]
Comments (146)
Awwww, that's lovely!
whydontwehaveboth.gif
Well the next time he is on the toilet he will be like "Damn! I can't play on the pizza here!". He will be pushing this pizza out and he will be sad!
Kid has his priorities straight. He will go far in life.
This is legit super cute, haha!
Right on, kid. I understand where he's coming from this last Sunday I was stuffing my face with legit Chicago style deep dish pizza Nothing beats pizza & beer to hit that sweet spot.
On a side note I hope this kid is active in sports or something. Endless pizza along with a lot of Nintendo Switch? What could that possibly do to a child?
Who wouldn't choose pizza. You cant eat a Switch, but you can lick a cartridge but that tastes bad.
The dearth of Nintendo game news honestly feels worse than the Wii U days.
@Sourcecode I disagree. If I had a choice between pizza or switch for the rest of my life, i would choose switch. I can always eat strombolis.
Damn me and this diet. Now I really want pizza.... I made some really poor decisions in life but a diet where I can’t eat pizza is the worst of them all!
For those of you familiar with Maslow's hierarchy of psychological needs, our physiological needs like food, water, warmth, and rest come far before our needs for fulfilling creative activities.
So yes he needed pizza before he needed a Nintendo Switch. The boy must be starved, famished for a good pepperoni.
I mean...
Pizza is good!
@Rob3008 Back in the Wii U days we had Directs monthly with sometimes even multiple Directs per month. Nowadays we're lucky if we have 3 Directs per year.
I love pizza but looking (way...) back to 10 year old me in 1993 there is no way I would choose pizza over a switch.... 10 year old me is flabbergasted at this kid maybe the kid has other tech like iPads etc. I don’t know?
To think a pizza costs 4-5€ in my city...
My grandpa promised me a prostitute when I turned 16. He died when I was 13. I chose to mourn him twice.
@matdub Like to keep, or just a dalliance?
Yeah that was a smart idea. NOT! A pizza eventually ends up in the toilet. A switch you can keep forever. That kid is going to regret that decision unless his dad is cool enough to still get him the switch later anyway.
@Zeldafan79 did you read the article?
He obviously didn't...or skimmed through it at most 🙂
@Sourcecode "Kid has his priorities straight. He will go far in life."
I dunno, he chose between an experience that would last him no more then two hours at most and a console which could provide hundreds or thousands of hours of enjoyment. Kid chose instant gratification over something that has much more longevity and value.
I feel like once this kid was old enough, he'd go to a casino, spend all his money and end up worse then he went in. Heck, maybe he'd even spend all his money on lottery tickets and hope for the best until he had nothing left. He's clearly got that "payoff now, please!" mindset, honestly. And that doesn't always turn out well.
To everyone saying the kid made a bad choice, how many poops have joy con drift... I rest my case.
Now there's a good feel story if I ever saw one!
That's so wholesome. It's almost as if this whole thing wasn't a simple PR stunt from the start...
@ThatNyteDaez the fact that he would rather feed himself as well as his family and share that with them...the fact that he thought of them rather than just himself is what I’m alluding to. But hey, if you’ve ever had a fantastic pizza then there really is no comparison. 🤪
NLife advertising Coke now I see...
Well, I'm Italian and, when I see those type of pizza, it's a shock. 90% of pizzas in the world, aren't pizzas🤭
@gcunit Yeah.. My thoughts exactly. These cases are fabricated exactly for kudo's / like / news-articles, etc. All just for a little bit of free publicity.
@BananaMetallurgica indeed it needs more pineapple
Dear NintendoLife, please only post stories about Themes, Folders, and Metroid Prime.
If I want to read a funny feel good story about the Switch, I should have to find it through trawling the internet, or the off chance that someone who knows I might find it funny, prints out the tweet and posts it to me.
Yours, Lt. Col Samusfan (retired)
@BananaMetallurgica You should see what you guys did to Chinese Noodles (I'm 1/4 italian, it's allowed...)
@sanderev ahahahha. noooooo please
To those saying this article is pointless I disagree, I think despite the simple and silly topic it opens up a lot of room for debate.
I personally think he DID make the right choice, just because if he chose essentially a takeout (which i'm guessing most moderately wealthy families have at least once a month or so as a treat anyway) over a console then he obviously didn't want it that much to begin with and the parents would have wasted their money.
Even at that age I was more than prepared to skrimp on meals (have toast and spaghetti hoops) if it meant I got the newest Pokemon game on release day, and I have and always will love my food, so kids are very much capable of rational thought. Even into adulthood, i'm fine being a bit short at the end of the month if it means I was able to buy some games, think of me what you will. Adulting is overated.
Considering my current opinion about the Switch, I'd probably go for the pizza as well.
Nobody gonna mention the fact that Buffalo is in NY not Ohio?
@TryToBeHopeful i'm a asian culture lover and i see all the differences on youtube by asian people who try asian cousine in italy. there are a lot of differences like a simple spring rolls: they don't fry them. i want to try original of everything. then instant noodles...well....i don't think that it's a chinese meal. it's like a pizza hut's pizza (or franco's pizza) for me
I mean, that IS a tough choice. Between my favorite food ever, and a Switch. 🤔 If it were a choice of getting to share with other people though...I'd probably choose pizza too. XD
@ThatNyteDaez If you feel that family trips stay with a person for no longer than two hours, then I feel sorry for your childhood.
@BananaMetallurgica Well, I don't think that's a Franco's pizza, I think it's a stock image. But the silly point I was making is that food evolves. Spaghetti is just an evolution of Asian noodles. We used to live above an amazing authentic pizzeria in London, Italian families used to come for take away. Used to have deep-fried Calzone.... mmmmmmmm
Boy the kid is in for a surprise thanks to the pizza place.
Great, now, I want pizza after reading this.
Me: "Is ok mommy, give me that Switch, I'll eat tomorrow"
@TryToBeHopeful yes, food evolves...but not in garbage. i was talking about that pizza in picture and all type of pizzas that i see in american commercials. fried calzone is a napolitan type of pizza...but i can't eat fried things 😩. i'm too old for fried
@BananaMetallurgica Mmmm.... garbage....
I definitely would have taken the switch any day of the week if I was that age. It's good that he still gets a switch in the end though.
I think I’d have chosen the pizza too. Not because it’s pizza but because it’s a family trip. Halfway across the States would be equivalent in the UK to going to the mainland like France or Italy. I honestly think memories like that are more important than a Switch as a kid.
@TryToBeHopeful sounds delicious
"Did your parents ever force you to choose between sustenance and interactive entertainment? Be sure to let us know in the comments."
Had a good chuckle with this one, thanks.
Buffalo, Ohio??
Wow, that other Buffalo gets snubbed in every way imaginable...
Glad he got both
@aznable I guess I'll never know ☹️
Wow. Reading these comments is depressing. So much sad, cynical, soulless, pointless whining and complaining.
This really is a cute, sweet story and something really nice to read first thing in the morning. I should have known better than to read the comments.
People complaining about slow news days or Nintendolife writing a story about a child deciding to road trip for pizza with his family instead of just getting a thing.
Regardless of the Pizza joint or television station getting publicity from this, the kid is getting one hell of a birthday; is going to spend time with his family; get a Switch; be on the news (which will probably be fun for him too); and have some (presumably) kick ass pizza.
He chose to make memories with his family. At some point children pull away as the whole growing up thing works its stupid hormonal crap. This is lovely.
But some of you have to make it about how sad Nintendo is making you; how much you don't like human interest stories; the pandemic; your opinion on the state of the Switch; or how the kid is making a mistake. Some of these comments show some didn't even read the whole story.
Why can't you all just smile, enjoy a happy moment or just move on if sweet little news stories cause you so much pain?
Thank you Nintendolife for mixing it up a bit and reminding us of the importance of the second half of your name and how important it is to occasionally look up from your console, shake off the mantle of adulting and enjoy life. Sometimes through the eyes of a child. I think I'm going to have pizza for lunch...
@nessisonett amen. Well said.
@BananaMetallurgica good news, that photo is definitely not theirs! Their pizza is square! Or heart-shaped! https://francospizza.com/
@Sourcecode It's really sweet. Good kid w a good heart.
@COVIDberry Have you been to Buffalo? It's... fine...
@NikHogan agreed! I needed this today!
@dugan i do love a good Stromboli, but when I was a kid pizza was life. Hell, Ninja Turtles loved it, so why wouldn't I?
@FragRed lol. Now THAT is adulting. I don't know if I could do that!
WHAT KINDA NEWS IS THIS CRAP?
@Richnj exactly! I didn't even have that great of a childhood, but I still remember those trips where things were good. Even at my age.
@TryToBeHopeful OMG...i saw the site. it's better the pizza here in the picture
@BananaMetallurgica Haha. I don't want to tell you about Chicago.
@TryToBeHopeful Yes, I've visited Buffalo on a few occasions. The people are decent. It's not a bad place. I've seen worse...
In my opinion, the lack of news is not NL's fault, just saying.
@TryToBeHopeful um. You do know that there can be more than one city that goes by the same name, right? For instance, there's a Brooklyn Wisconsin, a Paris Texas, a New York in England and so, SO many others... probably thousands. Possibly hundreds in the states alone.
@Tsusasi Yep, and this Buffalo is in NY.
@BananaMetallurgica it's from a horror movie
@Yosher and right now, the world needs a few of these. Kind of like ginger to cleanse our palate in between adulting and the other news of the day.
@COVIDberry Good Cheesecake factory. Very tall doors.
@Zuljaras Ew
@BananaMetallurgica My Bloody Valentine?
@ArtiomNLS Random news.. see the tag!
@Taffy actually mine do... I've been to the doctor about it and yeh, not looking hopeful
This reminds me of the time I had to choose between either getting a Super NES for my birthday or go to Six Flags Magic Mountains in LA. I end up going to Six Flags for my birthday but my family surprise me with the Super NES on Christmas along with a copy of Street Fighter II Turbo since the Super NES already came with Super Mario World and Super Mario Kart. Ah the good times.
THAT is just bad parenting!!! 😜😁
BRANDS ARE SO FUNNY HAHAHA, amirite?
Lol, these haters make it seem like a Switch is the better idea. Spending time with the fam is WAY more worthwhile (especially if it's pizza). I mean, I'd choose the pizza myself too if I was given the choice.
Either way, props to the kid, he had his priorities straight (can't play on an empty stomach!!)
And what if the parents didn't have enough money anyways? That could be an situation. Y'all seriously need to think before you speak.
Well, ashita ga arusa (there is always tomorrow).
He can always get Nintendo Switch someday.
@matdub F
"Did your parents ever force you to choose between sustenance and interactive entertainment? Be sure to let us know in the comments."
Francos is Buffalo, NY
WKBW is Buffalo, NY
The website they linked was for Francos in Buffalo, NY. The area code for the restaurant's phone number, 716, is Buffalo, NY.
@Panopticon Good news, I've found a pizzeria that delivers to Buffalo, OH (population 401)
Bad news for @BananaMetallurgica you are really not going to like the pictures.
I think NLife confused the location because the boy lives in Ohio, but his Mom is driving him to Franco's in Buffalo, NY. Here's a NY local news article about it:
https://www.wkbw.com/news/local-news/ohio-boy-chooses-buffalo-pizza-over-nintendo-switch-for-10th-birthday-present
My first comment about Buffalo being in NY looks especially chippy as it was copying the style of a deleted comment.
I'm honestly ok with the slight error in this article.
@nessisonett
Buffalo NY is not that far from anywhere in Ohio. Still, I'd pick anything over a trip to Buffalo.
@Tsusasi Thanks for the kind comments! We tend to ignore the negative comments on these stories because we've always picked out random and fun news pieces that are more about "Nintendo popular culture" than "Nintendo news". We'll keep doing them, too, because they're as much fun to write as they (hopefully) are to read!
@SlayerG Oops, I've updated the piece! Thanks!
Pff, I betcha if it were a PS5 that kid's answer would be a whole lot different!😆
@Zeldafan79
Sometimes food is more important than electronic device (video game machine).
Thought it was Buffalo, NY... not Ohio. Meh. Forget it.
@Tsusasi I know it's not exactly the same, but when I was about to graduate high school, my mother told me that I could either have a big party with twenty friends, presents and pizza or I could have dinner with my whole immediate family and one or two close friends at a nice restaurant we all wanted to try. I picked the restaurant because I figured it would be a lot cheaper for my mother and the time with my family would be more special and memorable than just another hangout with friends and acquaintances.
I'm in my 30s now and that night turned out to be one of the best of my life for a few specific reasons. The food was amazing, we all had a fantastic time and ended up staying for five hours at this restaurant. The restaurant had a sitting area with a fireplace and after we ate, we sat there and talked for hours, just sharing and enjoying the evening. Turns out that the owners were there and they introduced us to this gentleman who was a local artist who had been commissioned to paint the restaurant. Well, he ended up adding us into the crowd in the painting because he had a nice time with us. I was able to go back months later and see it and it was great!
Also, one of the two friends I asked to join us went in for a routine exploratory surgery and after unexpected complications, he passed away. That was two years ago. After the initial sadness passed, the thing I remember most is that evening together and it's a memory I cherish infinitely more than a pile of presents that no doubt I'd probably have forgotten about completely by now.
So.. yeah. People thinking only about which has more financial value are throwing away the entire possibility that a time with family and a good meal can be far more rewarding.
Also, no one has mentioned the possibility that this kid could may have been aware his parents didn't have a lot of money for a Switch right then and this was perhaps a better option for their family, too.
Anyway, not everything has to be about the next Metroid Prime to be worth reading and for those in the comments who think this is such a waste of time, why did you click in the first place and then bother to comment?
Who cares, more attention seeking social media idiots.
@TryToBeHopeful Looks disgusting 🤭
Can I just say that if I was him I would've chosen the switch? You get more time spent enjoying the presents compared to eating them all up in a week. But I suppose I was a strange kid regarding birthday presents.
@Ganner The same thing it does to everyone in quarantine.
@ThatNyteDaez At least he wouldn’t waste hundreds and hundreds of hours playing video games....
The #1 selling console of the moment. Possibly on its way to be the #1 selling console of all time. Still in the middle of the peak of its life cycle.
And our news article for the day is about a random kid in Cleveland who likes pizza more than games.
HOW IS IT POSSIBLE FOR NINTENDO PR TO FAIL THIS HARD?!
@Damo They are definitely fun to read! Thank you and the rest of the NL staff for bringing joy to hundreds of people’s lives every day!
Good lad! When you really get down to it... I mean really take a good look at yourself in the mirror and grapple with what's really important in life you inevitably come to that realise that pizza is what it's all been about. At the end of the day there's nothing more important.
@Ganner Obligatory Chicago Pizza isn't Pizza comment
Good choice kid
Don't forget that pizza can output graphics, too.
@dugan Stromboli is amazing. Especially homemade stromboli.
This was lovely and an amazing gesture coming from Franco's. Wouldn't the world be so much more beautiful if this was the norm, and not the exception?
@Tsusasi ahahah you're absolutely right. Scrolling down to the comments, after such heart warming history, you're suddenly reminded why aren't there many histories like this anymore, as the cinism is getting higher by the day. These people could make a horrible comment about the most amazing act of altruism and still they go to bed, feeling quite well with themselves, because they just added a bit more of sadness into this world. Makes you wonder what will the future bring and what kind of people are being born today.
@Low_ink the ideia was for him to enjoy time with the family as well, hence why Francos is going to offer him a Switch also, or having the family not paying for their meal. In most of the cases here, you would get only the Switch, because hey, priorities. But because this kid made an amazing choice, he doesn't have to be deprived of neither of them. Sometimes the road less taken is the one you should walk, otherwise, you're just passing by.
In 1989 I had to choose between NES and Game Boy for my birthday
Switch is temporary. Pizza is... Gone already.
Smartest kid alive. There's no question he would have got the Switch eventually, but parents don't offer special events like that very often. Money is a lot easier to lay hands on than time. In his place I would have chosen the game console like a sucker.
Switches taste horrible anyway. Especially if you get it with game carts.
@Malaclypse Haha how dare you!
I'm totally cool with your comment as long as you're NOT one of those individuals that have a "Pizza Night" when its actually a flat bread cauliflower "pizza" abomination. To add insult to injury these people wash it down with the latest trending Truly or White Claw Hard Seltzer
I'd say that kid made the right choice, when I think of all the pizza I could have gotten instead of the switch and the games I bought for it over the last 3 years I could have made several cross country trips with stops at Pizza joints along the way. I think I may have just hit the point in life where I'd rather enjoy a good meal over playing a game which is kind of funny.
@CarlosM87 I entirely agree, just saying that if I were his age I would've chosen video games! I bet his birthday will be wonderful with both!
@sanderev Someone had to mention pineapple. It might as well be you.
@nessisonett I'd disagree. We didn't go many places as a kid. We did take a few longer trips. Honestly I remember so little about them they may as well not have happened at all. But I could recall every last detail of random trips to local stores down to the grain of the metal on the shelf and remember it as pure magic even if it was otherwise mundane at the time. Even memorable days going nowhere at all. IMO the little familiar things can be a lot more memorable and important, decades later, than the big trips of strange sights and sounds the mind kind of processes out over time.
@Nintendo_Pone Adulting; [Eng. (slang)] v.: The act of guilty awareness of impulsive or selfish behavior; Giving the illusion of responsibility; Pretending to GAF. See also: pouting, method acting, self-deception.
@BananaMetallurgica Not all American's have a terrible understanding of pizza. Just.....most.... NY pizza is "real" pizza (unless you're in Naples where anything but margherita or marinara is a criminal offense ) But historically NY pizza was created by Neapolitans making use of the flour (strong "manitoba" wheat) and ovens (big anthracite coal hearths instead of small wood ovens) that were available to them here. So it's a natural evolution of the original based on regional conditions, much like every region in Italy has its own version of every food...same natural development. It's "different" but still "authentic." And California style pizza is basically just NY pizza but with a wider range of unusual toppings, and usually more of them.
Buffalo, however, is in NY state, but it might as well be Canada. That picture is not a NY pizza. Or a pizza at all. And from there we go downward through "New England style, Chicago style, "American pie" (gag), and the worst of all: The chain pizza, which I'm pretty sure the closest connection to Italian food that has is it's made of the same oil Fiat uses to fill the cars off the factory line.
And if you ARE in Naples, remember, there is not a single water buffalo anywhere at all in sight here despite the name "Buffalo, NY", and Vesuvian ash isn't very practical to grow tomatoes in where there are no active volcanoes. You make do with what you've got!
@Grumblevolcano 3? THREE?!?!?! We had one in the span of over a year. A year in WiiU years is like an entire generation in Switch years.
@NEStalgia i'm not from naples, i'm from sardinia. i was talking about pizzas on american tv commercials like pizza hut, dominos. i only know those americans pizzas
@Gwynbleidd it's true
@Rob3008 Not like there's been news from Sony or Microsoft and they both just released new consoles.
@Low_ink i bet so as well. I would have chosen the pizza, also, to be honest, since, while growing up, my mom was never the tender kind and would have never had done nothing like this. My father neither, since I've never met him. But pizza or time with family would have been wonderful if the opportunity presented itself.
Thank you for being respectful in your comment, and have an awesome day.
I can't play Smash Bros. on a pizza, but I can still play my Switch if I'm starving.
A child should not be forced to make such a complex decision, neither choice is wrong though.
Pizza is banned from my life but I still remember the sweet satisfaction.
I mean this is cute i guess but random twitter comments ain’t what i come to this site for, bit of a pointless article. Also i find that most of these parents that comment about their kids on twitter like to stretch the truth a bit.
@BananaMetallurgica Haha, yeah, that's a low, low bar. We do have much much better available, at least in certain regions (NY area, LA area etc.) Ohio? Not so much. But somehow even in the regions with "real" pizza those synthetic-pizza chains still sell like crazy!
The chains have managed to get even worse through the decades. They may have never been "real" pizza, but I remember when Pizza Hut was respectable as a "semi-chicago-style" type food. Now it looks, smells, and tastes boxed frozen factory food drizzled with motor oil.
@NEStalgia mmm....i love pizza with motor oil 😆
@BananaMetallurgica It's the
Americanglobal corporate way! Fossil fuels count as "organic", right?@NEStalgia yes, they are 😄
Whod'ha thunk a story about a boy choosing to spend time with his family doing a thing he loves would make the family-friendly Nintendo gamers spew so much hate and bile.
@Ganner Genetics and metabolism, man. I was a pretty inactive kid, ate nothing but garbage and was glued to my video games. I was a little underweight as a kid, and I look great at age 29. Beefcaaaaaaake
@NEStalgia Guilty as charged.
@Facelord
teach me send pie o
Personally took this story as a light hearted article serving no other purpose than to give a smile. Unfortunately judging by the comments I seem to have massively misunderstood the situation and I am now also extremely angry. Bloody nice news stories ruining an otherwise mediocre day.
kid gonna study the many different kinds of pizza so that he can find the perfect one to eat while playing his favorite Switch games pretty smart lad
Just goes to show you that the younger brain isn't yet capable of making choices that are better in the long run, going for instant gratification instead...
@CarlosM87 Lol. 1000% I even got some whiney hate thrown my way... presumably because I hit the nail on the head and laid bare truths some would rather not have addressed. Oh well. At the end of the day, this story cheered me up and it was appreciated.
@Damo 'News' and reviews can be found on many sites. Good writing and variety of content are what keep people coming back. Even if it's just to use said writing as a speed bag to work over as a means to sweat out their bitterness. Keep up the good work!
@MisterM360p That's not a cheap trip to make. Especially w gas prices and an overnight stay. I mean, I guess I'm assuming they're driving. A flight wouldn't be cheap either. The boy chose well and how refreshing to hear a child not demanding both and throwing a fit. Sounds like a sweet kid with a good head on him.
I the kid made a good choice. It's a fun life experience for both him and his family. The Switch is worth waiting a little longer for. Besides he'd be furious if right after he chose the Switch the Switch Pro FINALLY got announced.
I'm actually from Buffalo. I used to love a pizza place there called Mister Pizza. They don't make them at all like that here in Joplin Missouri. Anybody live there or close by? Would love to meet some of you.
@Tsusasi I read what some people here wrote to you. Honestly, don't bother to answer them. As i said, they get happy by being as idiotic as they can. 4 brain cells died when they were born, so it's probably not their fault.
It is an amazing story and i hope NL keeps posting more of these. Have a great day.
Removed - unconstructive
During my broke student days my family went on holiday while I stayed at home.
I remember using like 80% of the cash they left me for food on Smash bros brawl and having like 2 weeks of pasta and beans
@sanderev @BananaMetallurgica
Keep your pineapple off of Gods own nectar of life. One of my favorite pies is Neapolitan.
That is what you call an empathetic kid, choosing a trip for his entire family to New York over just a Switch for himself. I love the Switch as much as the next guy, but he's got the right idea already in life.
@LavaTwilight I mean, that makes sense, but like, a random boy choosing pizza over a video game console is no news. I could've also chosen pizza over video games and no soul in the world would give a damn.
@Zidentia I've never ate pizza with pineapple and I'll never do it
Good for this kid, either he really loves pizza or is developing a culinary interest at a young age. either way, he's doing the right thing.
Kid pulled a Homer
@Tsusasi Thanks for the kind words!
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