Last Saturday I went down to Chicago to preview Nintendo's new video game console, the Switch, which comes out on March 3rd. It was an invitation-only event letting people try out a bunch of games on the console. I got the invitation via email back in January (just a week after we went to Chicago for a Bulls game). Nintendo claimed they invited me because I was "a loyal user".
Well, flattery will get you everywhere, so I graciously accepted the invite. Wendy planned to come with me, since I had 2 tickets, but she had to go to Kansas at the last minute, which meant I was by myself for the event.
When last Saturday arrived, I took the train to Chicago. To pass the time, I brought my Nintendo 3DS and played Dragon Quest VII. It's an RPG game that can take over 100 hours to complete -- by far the longest video game I've ever attempted! With an hour and a half train ride each way, it easily kept me occupied.
When I got to Chicago, I had a quick lunch at the train station (a vegetarian banh mi sandwich from Saigon Sisters) and got an Uber ride to the event. I was scheduled for the 2:30-5:30 event, but I got there around 2, after reading it was best to arrive early. The line was already well established by then:
At 2:30 they shuffled us all inside, checked our tickets, and had a countdown to the start of the event. And then it began! There were booths set up for a bunch of Switch games, and you could just walk up and play a game. Some booths were more elaborate than others. I played a round of Mario Kart at this fancy booth, but I did poorly, coming in 8th place:
There were lots of games to try. I didn't even try to play them all.
If you were so inclined, you could go up onto the main stage and play games in front of the crowd. Here are two people playing "1-2 Switch", which has a bunch of mini-games:
The main reason I was there, though, was to play the new Zelda game, Breath of the Wild:
Everybody was there to play Zelda, though, so they had a process in place: get a ticket for specific time slot, and once your time arrived, you got to play a 20-minute demo. I had about an hour to kill before my time slot, so I played a handful of games, like the aforementioned Mario Kart, Disgaea (which was new to me), Super Bomberman R (also new to me), and Street Fighter 2 (I got my butt kicked by some random dude).
Eventually I got my 20 minutes of Zelda. There was a Nintendo rep who guided me through the demo and told me about things I could do. It was fun, but playing a new game, with a new controller, with someone watching over my shoulder and giving me tips, in a loud and crazy room was total sensory overload! The 20 minutes went by in a flash.
I played a couple other games afterward, but then decided I was done. I was getting hungry at this point, so I got an Uber ride to Native Foods (the vegan restaurant we went to after the Bulls game) and had dinner. Then I walked back to the train station, hopped on a train, and continued playing Dragon Quest VII.
The event was fun, and I'm glad I went. I will buy a Switch so I can play the new Zelda, but I'm not planning on running out and buying it on day one. I think I'll finish Dragon Quest first!