Skip to main content

Nintendo Labo: VR Kit has a ton of games you can play with starting April 12

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Nintendo has revealed more details about the Labo: VR Kit ahead of its April 12 launch for the Nintendo Switch. Specifically, we now know what to expect after building each of the six Toy-Cons. Nintendo said that the software used with the builds has been designed to be “shareable, fun and social.”

Camera

Nintendo Labo: VR Kit
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Camera has two different modes, Ocean and House. The ocean camera takes you on an underwater journey where you’ll be tasked with taking pictures of sea life. The house mode sees you interacting with a “strange creature” inside a home by taking pictures.

Elephant

Nintendo Labo: VR Kit
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Toy-Con Elephant has two games as well. Marble Run is a physics puzzle where you guide marbles through rings using the trunk of the elephant. It includes a level creator, too. Doodle lets you create 3D art with the elephant’s trunk. You can view and show off your creations by docking the Switch. There’s also a multiplayer format where you can guess about other players’ drawings.

Bird

The Toy-Con Bird has two apps, including one that sounds just adorable. Simply called Bird, the object is fly around on the back of a bird searching for items while helping little birdies hatch. The Bird Toy-Con also interacts with the Wind Pedal Toy-Con, which can be used to puff air for additional speed. The second game, Bird Dash, is a timed racing challenge through the sky.

Blaster

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The eponymous app asks you to fend off an alien invasion by blasting away in an on-rails shooter. Kablasta, meanwhile, switches things up dramatically with the same Toy-Con. Here, you and another player compete to see who can feed hippos the most food.

Wind Pedal

Nintendo Labo: VR Kit
Image used with permission by copyright holder

In addition to working in tandem with the Bird Toy-Con, the Wind Pedal has a game called Hop Dodge. You play as a frog trying to jump high on a constantly growing stack of balls. You also have to avoid obstacles and smack soccer balls with your head at the same time. The air emitted by the Wind Pedal Toy-Con is designed to simulate a breeze.

Goggles

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The VR Goggles, the most basic build of the bunch, will work with many of the 64 mini games included in the VR Plaza. Other games in the plaza will use the five more elaborate VR Toy-Con builds.

The Nintendo Labo: VR Kit will also support the Toy-Con Garage and the new Garage VR, which lets you code and create VR applications. One neat learning feature is that you can import the mini games from the VR Plaza to break them down and see how they tick.

Nintendo Labo: VR Kit launches on Nintendo Switch on April 12 for $80. A starter kit is also available for $40 and includes the Blaster and Goggles. If you go the starter kit route, you can buy the remaining four builds in packs of two for $20 each.

Editors' Recommendations

Steven Petite
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven is a writer from Northeast Ohio currently based in Louisiana. He writes about video games and books, and consumes…
You can’t play Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox, but you can play these 6 Game Pass RPGs
A player conversation in Baldur's Gate 3.

Baldur's Gate 3 just launched on PC on August 3 and comes to PlayStation 5 shortly on September 6. Unfortunately, an Xbox Series X/S version of the RPG does not have any concrete release date. Developer Larian Studios explained in a community post that this is because it doesn't "want to compromise on quality and feel it would be a shame to downscale to 30 [frames per second, aka fps] or make other compromises to hit an arbitrary date." Still, it's disappointing that Xbox players can't get in on the fun anytime soon. Thankfully, there isn't a shortage of alternatives on Microsoft's gaming platforms.
Xbox Game Pass is home to dozens of RPGs, many of which share the same computer-RPG roots as Baldur's Gate 3. While Xbox players might not be able to enjoy Larian Studios' shockingly thorough and immensely enjoyable Dungeons & Dragons CRPG just yet, they can't go wrong playing these six titles right now. 
Fallout: New Vegas

Where Baldur's Gate 3 may be the pinnacle of fantasy RPG games inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, Fallout: New Vegas is that for postapocalyptic RPGs. This game from Obsidian Entertainment and Bethesda Softworks -- both of which are now owned by Microsoft -- first released in 2010. Despite some in-game glitches that still persist, the Xbox 360 version of Fallout: New Vegas on Xbox Game Pass is just as enthralling of a role-playing experience as it was nearly 13 years ago. The Xbox 360 version can even be played at 60 fps on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, thanks to the FPS Boost feature.
Like Baldur's Gate 3, it's a faithful follow-up to some classic CRPGs that give players a massive amount of choice as they complete their adventure however they see fit. You can have endless fun exploring the world and creating experiences that feel personal to you while dealing with its eclectic cast of factions and characters. While it's a bit rough around the edges in certain aspects, New Vegas is still one of the best RPGs ever made. As such, it's worth replaying or trying first the first time if you want to play an RPG, but can't experience Baldur's Gate 3 right now.  
Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire

Read more
This hidden Switch feature will change the way you play Nintendo games
Two players play Nintendo Switch.

Any time I discuss the latest Switch game with my friends, I usually hear the same critique: “I wish I could remap the controls.” Major Switch exclusives like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Metroid Dread are seriously lacking in control customization, which can be frustrating if your brain has a specific idea of what a gamepad layout is.

There’s a fairly good excuse as to why those games don’t include controller customization options, though. It's because of a system-level controller remap option tucked deep away in the Nintendo Switch’s settings menu. If you didn’t know that existed (as few of my friends seem to), get ready for a solution to all your control issues that’s been hiding in plain sight all this time.

Read more
5 underrated Xbox Game Pass games you should play while you still can
Mimi paddles down a river in a kayak in Dordogne.

Whenever new titles get added to Xbox Game Pass, only a handful of games make a splash. Day one releases like Starfield are always guaranteed to get subscribers logging in, but smaller titles tend to fly under the radar. That's especially the case when it comes to indies that aren't considered "game of the year" material, but probably should be. There's a wealth of inventive, groundbreaking titles at your fingertips -- though sometimes they can disappear from the service before you even realize they were there at all.

If you need help finding something new to dig into, I've got some recommendations. The service is loaded with indie standouts that you may have skimmed over while scrolling through your library. Next time you need something new to play, consider checking one of these games out.
Dordogne

Read more