My kids’ first meeting with Nintendo

Plus: Searching for more Switch 2 info, 1 day later

Jan 17, 2025

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD. Screenshot: Nintendo

For decades, I’ve trekked to office buildings and hotel suites to meet with game developers and public relations people in order to play upcoming video games ahead of their release.

Until last week, I’d never brought my kids.

But, when Nintendo invited me to do so for a meeting last week, it seemed like a fun idea.

It mostly was.

The game was Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, a Switch remaster that was not yet released last Friday when my twins, freshly turned 8, hopped on the train with me to head into Manhattan for our appointment.

The original DKCR on Wii was a fairly hard game. I’d forgotten. I shouldn’t have.

But what is parenting, if not a succession of twists that you–an adult who thought you’d prepared for everything–should have seen coming?

My kids have been gaming since age 5 ½, exclusively on Nintendo systems for the first two years, so I was focused on the excitement that they could meet real Nintendo people.

No, I explained to them a few days prior to our meeting, the man who created Donkey Kong wouldn’t be there. But I’d interviewed him a bunch of times! (Cool points for dad?). And people who work with him would be there.

Better: We’d get to play a game before it came out! This concept delighted them last September, when we played early review code of Astro Bot—their first PlayStation game. At the time, my son surmised that a bonus area that was labeled in the game with a row of question marks hadn’t been named yet, because we had Astro Bot early and the game wasn’t done.

Of course, this Donkey Kong game was a remaster, but my kids hadn’t even been alive for the original. It’d be new to them.

Things started well.

The Nintendo people were welcoming. A rep greeted us in the lobby, escorted us up an elevator, and we were soon greeted by Nintendo officials. We went into a room that my daughter would later marvel “had a lot of TVs” and sat at a table where the game was paused. A few other families took their spots, too.

Before we could play, a Nintendo rep began an obligatory presentation, explaining the game via a set of slides marked “confidential” that explained the controls for Donkey Kong and his pal Diddy. The rep promoted Nintendo Switch Online as a means to play other Donkey Kong games.

Then we encountered reality.

Co-op gaming experiences are a risk with my kids. The twins, eternally seeking balance, can easily get frustrated with each other when they have different ideas about what to do in the game they’re mutually controlling. DKCRHD triggered that tension within seconds.

When my daughter, playing as Diddy, wanted to race ahead, my son, as Donkey Kong, wanted to hang back and explore. Naturally, as soon as he wanted to proceed, she wanted to hang back. The game isn’t the hardest thing ever, but they usually take turns playing Nintendo games and have rarely played anything in co-op that’s tougher than Kirby. Some of the jumps were tough. He cared about collecting things; she did not.

My kids started getting testy with each other, and I started getting mortified.

A Nintendo rep kindly floated the idea of switching to single-player mode. Yes, please!

That went better. As my son played, I tried to get my daughter to chat with the Nintendo folks. Maybe they could learn something from each other, I hoped.

She played Mario Kart, she told them. And Smash Bros. One of the reps asked who her favorite Smash characters were. She likes Zero Suit Samus, she said. And the lady who shoots things from her feet.

Meanwhile, my son was learning how to make Donkey Kong hang from moss-covered ceilings. He was also trying to find the level’s hidden KONG letters. It had become really important to him.

Soon, he took a break and my daughter resumed playing. With time running short, she finally landed a tricky jump, exclaimed “I did it!” And we called it there.

Success! They were happy. I exhaled.

My kids at the demo station with their new water bottles. Photo: Game File.

What’d my son think of his first ever Donkey Kong Country game?

“I like it, but it’s really hard,” he said. “I liked the first level and how you have to go on the vines and stuff, and when you find the hidden areas.”

And my daughter?

“Hard but good,” she said.

Both liked the game. But what they really liked were the Donkey Kong-themed water bottles that had been placed at each family’s gaming station. The kids hoped they could keep them. The Nintendo people said they could. Who am I to enforce no-swag ethics on my children?

My daughter, giddy, marveled at the “DK” initials on her bottle.

“There’s this restaurant,” she excitedly told me. “And the commercials are like…” [she started singing that Burger King jingle… ] “DK, have it your way!”

“Oh, that’s BK.” I said.

“No,” she said confidently. “It’s DK.”

And that was about it. We headed to the Lego store afterward, didn’t buy anything, then dropped into the Nintendo Store (he picked out a plush Fireball Mario and a Bullet Bill; she grabbed Kirby and Toadette).

My kids said they had a good time meeting with Nintendo. They liked the game, loved the bottles. The brief squabble didn’t even register. They’d love to do it again.

As for me, the evening was the latest reminder of another truth of parenting: I’m just along for the ride. Better hold on tight.

Item 2: Some Switch 2 notes, a day after the big announcement

Switch 2. Screenshot: Nintendo’s reveal trailer.

Prepping for a mainstream TV news spot yesterday—that was then cancelled (busy news day!)—I thought up some ways to put the Switch 2 in general terms:

Switch 2 is Nintendo’s 8th console since the early 1980s. They don’t make these very often.
Thanks to the original Switch’s unusually successful eight-plus year run, the Switch 2 should exhibit an unusually big technological advance. In iPhone terms, it’ll be like going from the iPhone 7 (the model available when the Switch launched in early 2017) to at least iPhone 16 (the current model). That’s not to say the specs on either end if this technology analogy (techn-alogy?) are comparable, rather it just shows how old that original Switch tech is.

Nintendo may be making games on Switch 2, but it’s currently unknown who else is. I tried to find out.

The safe bet is that every big game company—and plenty of indies—will do their best to release new games on the device, given the massive success of the first Switch.

But… no one is rushing to announce that support. Or maybe they’re not allowed to yet?

Over the past 24 hours, I reached out to reps from Microsoft, EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Take Two, Capcom, Square and Sega to see if they had anything to share about whether or how they’re supporting the system. Some didn’t reply, and some said they have nothing to share. Again, there’s no reason to think these companies and others won’t be there for the Switch 2, but it appears the announcements for such plans are being saved for splashy reveals, earnings reports, etc.—not for email replies to Game File, alas. (Technically, Ubisoft did say on social media that “We’re in love” with the Switch 2.)

I asked Nintendo if they were talking about third-party developer support yet and a rep sent me a statement that doesn’t exactly focus on the topic, but might give you more insight into their backwards compatibility approach:

Nintendo Switch is played by many consumers, and we decided that the best direction to take would be for consumers to be able to play their already purchased Nintendo Switch software on the successor to Nintendo Switch. As a result of that thinking, Nintendo Switch 2 plays Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive games, as well as both physical and digital Nintendo Switch games. Certain Nintendo Switch games may not be supported on or fully compatible with Nintendo Switch 2. Details will be shared on the Nintendo website at a later date.
We have nothing more to announce on this topic. For more details on Nintendo Switch 2, please tune in for the Nintendo Direct: Nintendo Switch 2 – 4.2.2025, which will air on April 2, 2025.

Item 3: In brief…

👀 The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld a law that calls for TikTok to be banned or sold.

A ban would, among many other things, eliminate easy access in the U.S. to one of the most popular digital spaces for people to showcase and discover video games.

👍 Riot Games will launch in-game fundraisers in Valorant and League of Legends next week, with proceeds supporting relief efforts related to the ongoing fires in Los Angeles, Polygon reports.

🇺🇸 Genshin Impact maker MiHoYo has agreed to pay $20 million as part of a settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over lootboxes in the popular free-to-play game.

Per the settlement announced this afternoon, the company is also barred from selling lootboxes to kids under 16 without parental consent.
Read the FTC’s complaint against MiHoYo, which led to the settlement: “Defendants have misrepresented players’ odds of obtaining rare loot box prizes, and Defendants have misled players about the substantial expenditure likely required to obtain these prizes.”

🤔 Sony has canceled two live-service PlayStation games in development at its Bend and Bluepoint studios, Bloomberg reports, noting the latter was a project tied to God of War.

A Sony rep told Bloomberg the company is “working closely with each studio to determine what are the next projects.”

🕹️ Elon Musk is publicly feuding with a streamer who was among many to cast doubt on the billionaire’s gaming prowess, Kotaku explains.

🎮 Corinne Busche, game director of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, is leaving EA after an 18 year run (first reported by Jeff Grubb) to pursue “an opportunity I couldn’t turn down” (per her statement to Eurogamer).

◼️ RIP to David Lynch, the auteur of the offbeat who was best known for Twin Peaks and films such as Mulholland Drive. He died this week at 78.

Among the many mourning Lynch was Remedy’s Sam Lake, who said Lynch’s “influence goes far and wide and will live on.”
The Washington Post’s Gene Park recalled how Lynch’s work inspired numerous games, including an early Zelda.
Amid the celebrations of Lynch’s life and work, some have shared the PlayStation 2 commercial that he directed. Watch the ad; or the making of.

Item 4: The week ahead

Tuesday, January 21

The NY Game Awards are held (I’m hosting a pre-show Game of the Year discussion and presenting an award! Tickets available here. Watch on YouTube starting at 7:25pm ET.)