Nintendo has created some interesting experiences with its Labo series of cardboard toys, but they"ve clearly been geared more directly towards young children. With the Labo VR Kit announced a few weeks ago, the company will be offering a basic virtual reality experience that comes with some games out of the box, but it will also be supporting two of its major titles on the Nintendo Switch.
The Japanese company announced that Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will both support the Labo VR Kit, though in different ways. Support in Super Mario Odyssey will be limited to a few exclusive areas of the Cap, Seaside, and Luncheon Kingdoms, with each of them getting a new mini-mission design for virtual reality.
For Breath of the Wild, though, Nintendo says you can play through the entire game, cutscenes aside, in VR mode, and you can toggle between VR and normal modes at any point during the adventure. If you enjoyed the game two years ago, this should provide an interesting new way to experience it, though it"s important to keep in mind that this isn"t the same level of VR that we see in dedicated headsets like the Oculus Quest.
This isn"t the first time that Nintendo leverages Labo in one of its games. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe gained support for the Toy-Con motorbike soon after the corresponding Labo Kit was launched.
Both Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will receive a software update on April 26 adding support for the VR experiences. The Nintendo Labo VR Kit itself launches next week, on April 12, and you can save some money by buying just the Starter Kit if all you want to do is play these two games with it.
Update: As pointed out by some users in the comments, it doesn"t seem like the VR goggles can be strapped to your head. As reported by The Verge, the goggles allow you to still attach the Joy-Con to the sides, and you have to hold the console to your face to play.