
Bowser and Bowser Jr Outline the Switch's Parental Controls in a Warm Family Drama
You find the "Nintendo Difference" in the oddest places, but we're not complaining.
However you feel about last night's Switch presentation, there's one takeaway we can all agree on: Nintendo is always going to do things with its own flavor and flourish. That can either be a bad thing or a good thing, depending on the situation.
Nintendo's personal touch is noticeably welcome in one area: A video it put together about an app that controls the Switch's parental controls. Rather than cobbling together a dry "How To" video, Nintendo animated a small war of wills between the game-loving Bowser Jr and his concerned father. It's kind of adorable, especially when Bowser jumps in to "block" a fleet of marauding Internet creepers (represented by a pack of Boos) from his naive boy.
The family drama does more than remind parents that video games can be a major source of friction between kids and their guardians, though. It includes scenes of Bowser and Bowser Jr bonding over games (especially the ones that make Mario suffer to some degree), and it actively encourages parents to love games right alongside their charges.
If things do get out of hand, the Switch's parental controls app includes a feature that puts the Switch into sleep mode mid-game if need be. The video's narrator suggests this is a "last resort" with gentle humor, as Nintendo likely understands having a game cut out from under you can be kind of devastating. Not every game has an auto-save feature, so suddenly losing control of what you're playing can erase hours of work. Those of us who grew up with console games in the '80s and '90s still have flashbacks of impatient parents hitting the power switch and disregarding our pleas to "just let me saaaave!"
The Switch's meager launch lineup (which admittedly only looks meager at the time of this writing, and still has time to beef up with some good reveals) may be cause for concern, but Nintendo's clearly prepared to go the distance with parental controls. It's as committed as ever to its family image, but it's not afraid to have a little fun with it.
Related articles
PlayStation 5 Update Lets You Know If You're About to Play the PS4 Version of Game
Check yourself before you last-gen yourself.
Stardew Valley Just Got Beaches, Fish Tanks, Swimming Ducks, and a Whole Lot More
Nearly five years on, Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone just pushed what he says is Stardew's "biggest update yet."
Alien: Isolation Is Free on Epic and Just As Good as It Was in 2014
Get the motion tracker and don't go in the vents.
Shigeru Miyamoto Expresses Confidence in the Younger Generation of Nintendo
The legendary creator says the spirit will stay alive.
You may also like
USgamer Staff Past and Present Say Goodbye
End of an era.
Press Start to Continue
A look back on what we tried to accomplish at USgamer, and the work still to be done.
Mat's Farewell | The Truth Has Not Vanished Into Darkness
This isn't the real ending, is it? Can't be.
Eric's Farewell | Off to Find a New Challenger
It's time for us to move on, but we'll carry USG with us wherever we go.