It’s been a while since we got a truly wacky, interactive Nintendo game, but that’s where Everybody 1-2 Switch comes in to save the day. Round up your friends, family, or coworkers and set up a classic Nintendo-style party game that everyone can enjoy. Last week I got the chance to play at an official Nintendo-led preview, and here are my thoughts after an afternoon of play.
You can play the games with up to a whopping 100 people if you like, and can get the game to randomize teams for you so there’s no squabbles as to who’s on which side. You then choose how long you want to play, with game lengths ranging from 20 minutes to an hour.
Once you’re all set up, a spinner wheel picks the game you’re going to play which starts with a few options, but you unlock more as you go. Then, you’re in a practice round to hone your skills before the real showdown. This could be deflecting hits as a ninja, bouncing your opponent out of the ring with your hips, or a quiz round that you can customize with your own questions – there are 17 different games to play and they’re all suitably silly.
If those don’t tickle your fancy, then how about blowing up balloons as a team, hailing some aliens from outer space, or a rousing game of musical chairs? Fun fact – I was the first one knocked out of our group of nearly 30 people for this. Go me!
Everybody 1-2 Switch doesn’t just rely on Joy-Cons – thankfully, because who has that many knocking around – a lot of the games have mobile compatibility. For instance, the ninja game has all players wielding their phones, not Joy-Cons.
The game requires one team to swipe stars toward an appointed Ninja of the other team, who must block them from hitting. The opposing team swipes stars using their phones, which makes a noise, allowing the Ninja to pinpoint the direction to block the stars from. By the way, you do get chastised by the game if you just swing randomly to hit the stars coming toward you. I know this because, during the preview, a lot of us got told off. Steel your sword and aim with caution.
While checking out the game, I noted that the menus and interface are nice and clean, and user-friendly for returning and new players. The motion controls are intuitive and work well which means less messing around and flapping remotes trying to register movements.
Now, it’s also worth letting you know that obviously this isn’t a game for everyone as it’s made to be a large multiplayer party game, and needs some space to play a lot of the games, especially if you have a lot of players involved.
Everybody 1-2 Switch is a lot of fun, and I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. It’s a really good and inventive party game, but unfortunately probably isn’t for me, because trying to wrangle any friends together in this day and age is a task in itself.
If you’re in the mood for a new multiplayer game or a party game right now, we’ve got you covered with some fab suggestions.