We Played Pokemon Pokopia! - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Summary

Kinda Funny Gamescast: We Played Pokémon Pocopia!

Episode Date: February 11, 2026
Hosts: Andy Cortez, Blessing Adeoye Jr., Greg Miller (not present), Tim Gettys (not present)
Guest: Logan Plant (IGN)

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into hands-on impressions from Pokémon Pocopia, a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive that blends life sim, building, and Pokémon elements. Blessing and Logan Plant share detailed firsthand experiences from a recent Nintendo preview event in New York, where they also got to try the new Virtual Boy replica and Mario Wonder DLC content. The crew discusses gameplay mechanics, multiplayer features, and their predictions for Pocopia's impact, plus quick takes on Nintendo’s latest hardware and software oddities.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Pokémon Pocopia Hands-On Impressions

Segment begins: [06:06]

What is Pokémon Pocopia?

• Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive from Koei Tecmo’s Omega Force
• Life sim/spin-off: “You are a Ditto who no longer has a trainer and you decide to make yourself look like your trainer ... Minecraft/Animal Crossing/resource management.” — Andy Cortez [06:06]
• Influences: Animal Crossing, Minecraft, Dragon Quest Builders, Viva Piñata

Character Creation & World Premise

• As Ditto, you meet Professor Tangrowth and morph into a human form trainer (character creator).
• “You’re creating this ditto-fied version of your trainer ... ditto kind of missing its trainer.” — Blessing [08:59]
• World feels “post-apocalyptic ... everything’s kind of dead ... tasked with kind of helping repair things, give life back.” — Blessing [09:47]

Core Gameplay Loop and Mechanics

• Habitat creation: Placing objects in the world to attract specific Pokémon (e.g., grass + rock = Charmander).
• Pokémon interactions: Some teach Ditto new moves (e.g., Bulbasaur gives "Leafage"), others follow and use their abilities directly (e.g., Squirtle can Water Gun).
• Ditto transforms to use abilities or even turns into Pokémon for traversal – e.g., “double jump to fly as a Dragonite.” — Blessing [17:05].
• Single-player: Guided tutorial with main quest objectives; Multiplayer: Shared space, collaborative building, Pokémon attracting.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “This is going to be one of the best Switch 2 games that comes out this year. I’m really, really high on it.” — Logan Plant [12:00]
• “There’s both form and function—you want to build a pretty town ... but you also want to make sure you’re building the right habitats.” — Logan Plant [18:01]
• “It’s as freaky as it sounds, too.” — Blessing on Ditto transformations [12:15]
• “I was charmed. This game really is charming. ... I was kind of sad that I had to put the controller down because I was having a good time just vibing out in this world.” — Blessing [19:04]

Building System & Creativity

• Block-based, highly flexible. Players can dig, build tall structures, or craft elaborate towns. “I built a giant tower ... didn’t find the height limit ... you can build giant skyscrapers.” — Logan Plant [21:10]
• Main campaign estimated at 20-40 hours, with much more potential for creative expansion post-NPC.

Progression & Task Structure

• Guided objectives, not directionless: “It felt like they move at a quick clip unless you get distracted.” — Blessing [22:34]
• “There are always tasks to do ... plenty to keep coming back for.” — Logan [32:42]

Replay Value, Criticisms, and Performance

• “It feels like it's feeding an audience that I’m surprised hasn’t been fed yet ... Pokemon fans and cozy game fans.” — Blessing [23:37]
• “I think Lifetime ... Pocopia will sell 10 million copies ... going to be a huge hit.” — Logan [26:04]
• Minor negatives: “Super chatty, lots of talking ... handholding ... hope it lets up in the freeform area.” — Logan [26:04]
• Performance: Runs smoothly, “felt more like 60fps” — Blessing [27:32]

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2. Virtual Boy Replica Impressions

Segment begins: [37:11]

Experience and Hardware Design

• Test/play on Nintendo Switch 2 using a $100 replica headset and $25 cardboard version (both shown at event).
• “Nintendo is insane for making this stupid thing 30 years ago and they’re insane for bringing it back now.” — Logan [37:17]
• Played Wario Land, Tetris, Golf: Wario Land a highlight, others “kind of sucked.”

Comfort and Usability

• Like “taking an eye exam,” not very comfortable.
• “I don’t ever want to do that purposely, maybe I’ll play through Wario Land ... but the $100 price point is definitely like, man ... you’ve got to be in it for the history.” — Blessing [39:40]
• “If you’re just out there, there’s so many better things you can spend $100 on than this.” — Logan [40:50]
• Noted that replica’s eyeshade is comfortable for glasses, less light leakage than old VR.

Who's it for?

• “Would I even recommend it to people that aren’t people like me? No, absolutely not.” — Logan [40:50]
• “It’s the type of thing you check out at the Kyoto Nintendo Museum ... neat for game preservation.” — Andy [45:05]

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3. Mario Wonder: Bella Bell Park DLC and Switch 2 Edition

Segment begins: [46:12]

Content and Gameplay

• Bella Bell Park adds a suite of new minigame-style “party” challenges—both co-op and competitive.
• “One or two people are drawing platforms ... others are navigating as Mario, Peach, etc.” (Donut platform drawing minigame) — Blessing [49:14]
• Hot potato–style handoff game and races with platforming elements.
• Expanded multiplayer focus rather than classic single player/platforming.

Critical Assessment

• “I just can’t get over that this isn’t really what I ... wanted from Mario Wonder DLC … that game could have used more single player content, more traditional levels.” — Logan [50:14]
• “There's nothing in this DLC that’s like, wow, this is a Switch 2 exclusive ... it’s a scummy business move to me that they’re paywalling this behind a new console ... paywalling a 60fps/4K update behind this minigame content you might not even want.” — Logan [51:54]
• “The content itself is fine. ... It's fun for a couple of hours if you have the right group. But it didn’t really wow me.” — Logan [51:54]

Party Value vs. Single-Player Longevity

• “This is going to make for some really good party mode content ... but also, how many people have friends with Switch 2s in the same room?” — Blessing & Andy [55:32]
• Lots of minigames included, but lack of substantive new platforming is a letdown for classic Mario fans.

Extras

• Talking Flower physical accessory discussed—“they’re trying to make it a mascot, almost like an Amazon Echo for kids ... I think maybe they invented a thing that talks.” — Blessing [47:08]
• New character: Rosalina joins as a regular, Luma is an assist character controlled with mouse controls.

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Notable Quotes

• “This is the way of the Ditto … kind of like missing its trainer.” — Blessing [08:59]
• “It felt really inspired—just a perfect match for Pokémon … I was just walked away thinking it was super impressive and an inspiring concept from Pokémon.” — Logan [17:55]
• “It’s as freaky as it sounds, too.” — Blessing [12:15], on the Ditto’s transformations
• “There’s both form and function … a pretty town expressive of yourself ... but also all the right habitats.” — Logan [read at 18:01]
• “Would I even recommend it to people that aren’t people like me? No, no, absolutely not … you’re not going to get that much out of this, because the games aren’t that great.” — Logan on Virtual Boy replica [40:50]
• “I think Lifetime ... Pocopia will sell 10 million copies ... going to be a huge hit.” — Logan [26:04]
• "I was kind of sad that I had to put the controller down—just vibing out in this world." — Blessing [19:04]
• “There’s so much of [party multiplayer] on Switch and Switch 2 already ... I want more 2D platformer stuff.” — Logan on Mario DLC [51:54]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [06:06] — Start of Pokémon Pocopia deep-dive and impressions
• [17:05] — Abilities, Ditto transformations, and multiplayer experiences
• [21:10] — Discussion of building systems, creative freedom, and campaign estimates
• [32:42] — Task system and daily engagement potential
• [37:11] — Virtual Boy hands-on impressions & nostalgia
• [46:12] — Mario Wonder: Bella Bell Park DLC (Switch 2 Edition)
• [49:14] — Showcase of minigames, multiplayer focus discussed
• [51:54] — Critique of DLC business model & lack of single-player content
• [56:51] — Final reflections on Mario Wonder's DLC and local multiplayer practicality
• [57:04] — Guest plug: Nintendo Voice Chat w/ Logan Plant

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Flow, Tone, and Takeaways

The tone throughout is enthusiastic yet honest—balancing excitement over Pokémon Pocopia’s potential (“really inspired ... perfect fit” [17:55]) with a critical lens toward Nintendo’s product decisions around the new Virtual Boy and Mario Wonder DLC (“it’s insane for bringing it back now” [37:17]; “scummy business move ... paywalling” [51:54]). Panelists share personal anecdotes, compare with past Nintendo releases, and offer practical consumer advice for fans on the fence.

Summary Verdicts

• Pokémon Pocopia: Strongly positive first impressions; poised to scratch a major itch for life sim, Pokémon, and cozy game fans. Big creative and replay potential, with some minor pacing/handholding concerns.
• Virtual Boy Replica: Historical curiosity for collectors/historians only. Not comfortable or content-rich enough for mainstream appeal.
• Mario Wonder DLC: Slick, party-focused DLC with fun multiplayer minigames; disappointing for those seeking single-player or traditional platformer additions. Business decisions behind Switch 2 exclusivity criticized.

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Guest Plug

[57:04]
Logan Plant: “Just want to shout out Nintendo Voice Chat over on IGN, on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts ... goes up every Friday at 6am Pacific ... NVC turns 20 years old this year.”

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End of episode summary.

Transcript

[Logan Plant]

Are you dreaming of the perfect prom? But there's just one thing holding you back.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Speak English, Mom.

[Andy Cortez]

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[Logan Plant]

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[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

How are you feeling?

[Andy Cortez]

It's good to be white. Hey, new girl.

[Logan Plant]

Hey. Look at what you've done to yourself.

[Andy Cortez]

For a new plant to grow, the

[Logan Plant]

seed has to die.

[Andy Cortez]

Slanted Rated R Only in theaters March 13th. Side effects may occur.

[Logan Plant]

Close your eyes. Exhale. Feel your body relax. And let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh my gosh. They're so fast.

[Andy Cortez]

And breathe. Oh, sorry.

[Logan Plant]

I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, sorry. Namaste.

[Logan Plant]

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[Andy Cortez]

1-800-contact contacts.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

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[Logan Plant]

If you want to get our shows

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

ad free and our exclusive shows, go to patreon.com kindafunny Foreign.

[Andy Cortez]

Welcome to the Kind of Funny Games cast for Wednesday, February 11, 2026. My name is Andy Cortez and I'm joined by Tots. Todts. Tots. And I am joined by Blessing. Adio. Yay, junior.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Good day, Andy.

[Andy Cortez]

Hello Blessing. We are also joined by IGN's Logan Plant.

[Logan Plant]

What's up guys? Good to see you.

[Andy Cortez]

Applause break for everybody. Great to see you, Logan Plant. Haven't seen you since the other day when you were with my ass at Mario Tennis Fever. We were picking. We're picking random players, random courts and I'll just non stop, just, just getting it, just getting, getting the racket, you know.

[Logan Plant]

Can I tell you, I play tennis in real life. I've played tennis my whole life so I know exactly where to put the ball.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I'd never been so jealous of a review period. As like as now. Watching you and Greg be able to have Mario Tennis Fever and hearing you talk about playing with Logan. Because of course, to spoil the topic of the show, me and Logan both went to New York to visit a preview event and play a bunch of Nintendo games. We talked a little bit about some of these games last week, but one of the games that we couldn't talk about that we're able to talk about today is Pokemon Pocopia. Woo. But while at that event, yeah, I was talking to Logan about Mario tennis fever. Cause I went the day before Logan. They had it separated out by day so they can rotate people in.

[Andy Cortez]

Gotcha.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And so I had just came out of the event. Logan was going to go in the next day, and Logan was asking me questions about Mario tennis fever. And finally he mentioned that, like, yeah, no, I played tennis. Mario Tennis is, like, near and dear to my heart. Like, I have high expectations for tennis. And I'm like, oh, this dude's about to be a force. Like, if we do, like, you know, if we get into an online lobby with Logan plant, we might need to watch ourselves.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Logan Plant]

I only ever got to play now that it's coming out.

[Andy Cortez]

Only ever got lucky when I was given kind of like the random character. That was good. But ending with Pauline, who's just like the slowest character on the planet. It was just a. It was just not a great time of, like, Logan's just going to put the ball wherever he wants, and Pauline's going to take, you know, five seconds to get to the other side of the court. So, Logan, do you.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Have you. Have you played anybody in Mario tennis Fever yet that, like, has been able to match your level or exceed it?

[Logan Plant]

No, not yet. I haven't lost an online match in ranked yet. I'm number two in the world right now, but there's only like 10 people, so that doesn't really mean anything. But I'm holding on to it until everybody gets the game and that'll drop.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I feel like Goku, when he learns of an adversary, he gets excited. I am so excited. I really can't wait for this game to come out.

[Andy Cortez]

Wow, you're actually really strong. Yeah. Very cool. Thank you, Logan, once again for joining us. Of course, if you're watching live, be a part of the show, please, by super chatting on YouTube.com kind of funny games. Remember, we couldn't do this without our amazing producers on patreon.com kind of funny. So thank you to Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster, and Delaney the Psalm Twining. Appreciate all y' all support. Remember to leave a comment for the algorithm. And if you're watching this after the fact on mobile, there's this little. There's this little function called the hype button. It's weird. You're watching it on mobile, there's. You can't do it while it's live. It has to be after the fact. You can go to like where the comment section is where you would normally tap in to see everything and there's maybe like live chat replay. Then if you scroll more to the one more time to the right, it says like hype this video. You're like, what the hell is this? And when you hit a hype, you could like just give a free hype currency that apparently you've accrued over time of watching and it boosts the video in YouTube's algorithm.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Okay.

[Andy Cortez]

Which is like a weird kind of function. Yeah, kind of a like I want to say pay to win, but you're not paying anything. It's just like you get this free currency that is called hype.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Andy went to YouTube University. That's kind of.

[Andy Cortez]

It's a weird little function that sometimes shows up. It isn't available in all countries. It's a weird ass thing. But do me a favor and hit that hype button if you're watching this not live, if you're watching it after the fact on mobile. Very specific situation. You also have to be in Kentucky to do that for now. So let's begin with what is the topic of the show? This is going to be a real cool one because we're going to split this up in, in two halves. The first half we will be talking about Pocopia and we'll get to that right now. And then once we do our little ad break after the fact, we'll be talking about the other stuff that these two fine gentlemen were able to experience at the Nintendo. What are they calling this little event?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I think it's just a preview event.

[Andy Cortez]

Little preview event.

[Logan Plant]

Showcase. Yeah, yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay. Very, very cool. So first let's talk about Pocopia. Of course, we had seen this several months ago on a Nintendo Direct Pokemon. Pocopia is an upcoming life simulation game developed by Koei Tecmo's Omega Force and published by Nintendo and the Pokemon company for the Nintendo Switch 2. It's a spin off of the main Pokemon series. You are a ditto who no longer has a trainer and you decide to make yourself look like your trainer based on however you do, your character creation or whatever.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

We can explain all that here.

[Andy Cortez]

And it is, it's apparently Minecraft Slash, you know, Animal Crossing, Resource Management.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

So to jump into it, there are four games I hear thrown around in relation to this one. It is Animal Crossing, Minecraft and today I've heard a lot of people mention Dragon Quest Builders and Viva Pinata as well, which makes me interesting. Yeah. Which makes me the perfect person to talk about this because I've never played any of those. I won't say never. I picked up Minecraft, I picked up Animal Crossing, but I'm not deep into any of those games. I know Logan has played some more of that than I have. And so I'm really excited to hear Logan talk about.

[Andy Cortez]

You're not the Fields of Mystery. A guy. You're not, you know, Stardew Valley type of gamer.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But I love Pokemon.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I went to this Nintendo event more so for the Nintendo side. I was here for the breadth of games and Pocopia just happened to be one of the ones there that said coming out of it. Pickopia is one of the more exciting games to come out from Nintendo this year after getting hands on it. So we played two sections of this game. The first hour, we played the beginning of the game in single player, sort of the tutorial and like the beginning moments of it. And then the Nintendo staff ushered us out of the room. Reset the play the. I was going to say PlayStations, but they reset the stations, the game stations, and had us come back in and play about 30 minutes or so of multiplayer. Yeah. So we got to play together in a multiplayer lobby. And it's as you described.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

This game is a life simulation, you know, Pokemon. You're playing as a ditto. The first thing that happens when you, when you start the game is that you, as this ditto, come out of your Pokeball, you meet up with a tan growth, which is somebody who's like early gen Pokemon. I'm like, what the. What is a tan?

[Andy Cortez]

It looks like a Tangela.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

It does look like a Tangela. So I imagine it's related. Maybe Logan, you might know. Yeah, there we go. Grandfather of evolution of Tangela. Is that what we're talking about?

[Logan Plant]

I think so. I don't know. I'm a little behind. There's like a thousand of these things now.

[Andy Cortez]

It's got a CD ROM on top of its head.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. So it's a tan growth. And this is Professor Tangrowth. The CD ROMs are always TMS or HMS. But anyway, you meet the Tangrowth and you are put into a character creator as well. Which is where you are creating the trainer that you're playing as, which is just your ditto turning into the trainer because you don't know where your trainer went. Like you're trying. I think this is the way of the ditto. Kind of like missing its trainer.

[Andy Cortez]

So, dad, want to go get cigarettes?

[Logan Plant]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And so I'm gonna say dark. Honestly, it is kind of dark and kind of weird. But yeah, you're creating this ditto fied version of your trainer. One of my first notes I, I wrote down here is I was actually pleasantly surprised by the. Some of the hair options. They have locks in there, which is nice for a Pokemon game. Still not that many hair options, obviously. Right. Not that many creation options, but just enough to where I was like, all right, cool. I made a character that's an approximation of what I want them to look like. Cool. So you do that. You get into the game, you meet with Tangrow, who's actually a professor. It's Professor Tangrow. And you are sent off into this journey to essentially like add some liveliness to a dilapidated world.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like thing. It feels almost post apocalyptic where everything's kind of dead, the world has dried up, there's a broken down Pokemon center and you're tasked with kind of helping repair things, give life back to things.

[Andy Cortez]

Nearby AI data centers are just taking all the power.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. And so you start to get into that process, but that's just how the game begins. Logan, I want to hear from you. How did you feel about this first hour of gameplay that we got?

[Andy Cortez]

And also, what's your history, Logan, with anything like Stardew Valley or these Life Sim, Animal Crossing, Fields of Mystery as one I bring up recently because I was very, very hot last year.

[Logan Plant]

Yeah, it's not like my favorite genre, but it is one I'm very familiar with. I really like Dragon Quest Builders 2 and I love Animal Crossing and I played new horizons for 150 hours or so. So. Yeah. And I've played Minecraft a bunch when it was like in beta in 2010 or 2011, like before Minecraft completely blew up when I was in middle school and that was getting really, really big. And so I really like this genre and Pokemon is like a perfect fit for it. I've had my eye on this one, thinking this is going to be a huge hit. And after playing like 90 minutes of it, like, yeah, I think this is going to be one of the best Switch 2 games that comes out this year. I'm really, really high on it. I just think that the, the idea of it being. I think it's Kanto. Like it really resembles Kanto and it being this post apocalyptic version where all the trainers disappeared and you don't know why. And that's Part of the story that they're kind of seeding to you. In this opening part, all the Pokemon have disappeared too, and you don't know why. And the professor, you run into the Ditto and it's like, oh, my gosh, you're like the first Pokemon I've seen in ages. And it leads to this really cozy loop of you are building these habitats where it's like you place three pieces of grass next to a rock and that will summon a Charmander. And then you go off and gather resources, do other things. And then a couple minutes later, if you return to that little habitat you built, the grass will be rustling and the Charmander will pop out. And then that Charmander can burn things down. And you can tell him to follow you and you'll walk around and you can burn down this. This branch that was blocking your path to get to this next zone. And then there you build another habitat next to a puddle of water. And then a Squirtle pops out. And then you use the Squirtles move. And sometimes the Pokemon follows you and uses the move itself. Sometimes it teaches the Ditto the move, which is why Ditto is the main character. Because like, yeah, Ditto's arms can transform into Bulbasaur branches to rip up grass from the ground.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

It's as freaky as it sounds, too.

[Logan Plant]

It is. It's a little unnerving. Like, the whole game has this kind of weird edge to it. But I think the loop is really smart. It folds Pokemon in in a genius way. And I think it's going to just really scratch the itch for Pokemon fans, for Animal Crossing fans, who maybe weren't super enthused with the update we got for that game last month. Like, I was super, super thrilled with what I saw.

[Andy Cortez]

When I think of having a little pocket monster next to you, as well as crafting I think of what Palworld did and why that game, I think was so immediately compelling. Because, wow, I didn't really know I wanted this loop. I didn't know that I wanted to be collecting Pokemon, but also to have the fire Pokemon burning the thing and then the water Pokemon providing whatever, you know, like how their powers can sort of intermingle with these resource. With the resource management. Now you mentioned that whenever you put up a patch of grass that a Charmander just summoned, is there like an in world, logical reason for that? Because you mentioned, you know, Pokemon have disappeared. Is it like, oh, we're seeing life grow back or whatever?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I don't. From what we've played. I don't think they had. They gave any, like, deep explanation, but I think the gameplay explanation is that.

[Logan Plant]

What?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, you're recreating their habitats. Which was probably my favorite mechanic coming out of this thing. It was tough to kind of gather in the first hour because you're still getting used to it. But when we hopped into the multiplayer thing, you're kind of in this open area that you can free roam and just do whatever. And you will run into, like, these sparkles that'll come up. It'll.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

You.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You interact with it. It'll tell you, hey, if you recreate this habitat, this Pokemon will show up this way. And so I go over to the beach and I see, like, a fishing pole sitting next to, like, a fishing pole just sitting there. And I'm like, oh, if I make a beach chair, a Magikarp will show up. Because that's in the. According to this game, Magikarps just love hanging out with near fishing poles or whatever. So I rebuild that habitat and then. And then that Magikarp shows up. One of the things they show off in the tutorial, one of the first things you learn is that you get the leafage ability from Bulbasaur. Leafage. Like Logan mentions, you are able to summon patches of grass from out of the ground. And if you create four patches of grass next to each other, I believe Charmander will show up. I think. Charmander squirrel. Was it Charmander?

[Logan Plant]

I think so. Or Charmander's with a rock or something like that. But yeah, close to that, it was

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

like basic habitats that you're recreating of. Like, these are the habitats that these Pokemon naturally hang out in. And so I think the idea is that you're attracting them to this community that you're building. You know, you're trying to create this home, this kind of, like, welcoming area that these Pokemon can come through and live in. Because in this multiplayer section as well, which takes place later into the game on like a pre. You know, pre existing save that they had for this event, we, like, jumped over an island. And there are, like, buildings and stuff like that. Where it feels like whoever saved this is they had built out this area to actually be a livable area where you might find Pokemon hanging out and having a good time. And like, you know, you can call them over to come come help you out with a different thing because you're trying to rebuild this area over here. And so it's almost like more of a community thing than what you typically get with, like, a Pokemon or I Imagine a power world where you're capt. Capturing these things and then using them at your will. It's more so. All right, like, I've attracted these Pokemon here, and now I want to rebuild this Pokemon center, but I need a builder Pokemon. And so I'm going to find this builder Pokemon over here. So say, hey, follow me, and then we're going to rebuild this thing.

[Andy Cortez]

Logan, I was just going to mention you had mentioned for a brief period that the Bulbasaur had taught one of its abilities to another Pokemon. Can you elaborate on that a bit more? And were there any more instances of that during your demo period?

[Logan Plant]

It teaches it to you to the ditto. To the trainer ditto. That's walking around. And so it. It enters this. This ability wheel on the bottom right of your screen that you can tab through with the D pad. And the Bulbasaur is one where, yep, you can turn into your vines. And then Squirtle teaches you. I think it's. It's water gun or something like that, where if you are pulling up grass in kind of an area where all the grass is dead, then you need to water the grass to turn it green and bring it back to life. Because some Pokemon like dead grass, some Pokemon like alive grass. And so you're using all these environmental tools that are in your toolbox, and there's limits to it. Like, there's move limits that you restore, I think, by eating food or some other resource that you find. But I think there's going to be a ton of that you're going to learn. Like, later in the multiplayer session, we saw even more. Like, you could transform and fly around and get around the world faster, like a Lapras in the water. There's a bunch of different ones that you're going to be able to do. And like I mentioned, some of them they don't teach to you. It's just the Pokemon you, like, press down or up on the D pad to whistle at the Pokemon, and then they follow you, and you guide them to where they need to go, and they do the thing for you to progress.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, so the first one, like I mentioned, you meet is Bulbasaur teaches you leafage. Then you meet Squirtle, like Logan mentions, teaches you water guns so you can water areas around you to grant life to them. And then Charmander doesn't teach you an ability. You call him over and he'll light a campfire for you or he'll light other things. And then, yeah, over in the multiplayer area, you know, Logan just mentioned the Lapras. One of the things that people were excited to discover in real time was that you would hit the double jump button to fly around. You turn into a Dragonite and then you're just like flying around as a Dragonite, which is why Ditto is the main character. Like, for this game, for this to work, Ditto needs to be the main character. That way you can use all these different abilities and turn into all these different Pokemon at will. And that kind of lends to the gameplay progression of you learning new things and what goes on there.

[Andy Cortez]

Logan, before I interrupted you, you're going to talk about something. Sorry.

[Logan Plant]

Yeah, I think that it all just felt really inspired. Like this is just a perfect match. And everything just felt so smart and well thought out. And it is. It is very. Dragon Quest Builders, I think, is the closest comparison. Nintendo is working with the same team that makes the Dragon Quest Builders games on Pocopia. So obviously there's a lot of DNA there, but just that loop of, I am going to build the habitat, and while I'm waiting for that Pokemon, I'm going to walk out and find the glowing spot that Blessing mentioned to get a clue for another habitat. And then I'm going to use that Pokemon's ability in the habitat I just found to work on building the next habitat. And it's going to lead to this thing where you want to build. There's both form and function to it. You want to build a pretty town that is expressive of yourself and your own personality, but you also want to make sure you're building all the right habitats and the right things. So it's not totally freeform like Minecraft, where you build whatever world you want and it can serve whatever purpose you want. It is this guided story where, hey, it's build this. Build this kind of fighting arena with. With kind of a punching bag to summon a fighting type Pokemon that can look however you want it to, as long as it fits the requirements of the habitat. I just think it's. It's just really smart. And I was just walked away thinking it was super impressive and an inspiring concept from Pokemon.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, I was really charmed. As you know, I didn't mention this at the top of this, but I loved my experience playing this. I'm not imagine you sitting there.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm charmed.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I feel like I've been using the word charmed a lot because I said the same thing about Romeo's a dead man. But, like, this game really is charming. I think it looks great, which is a nice A nice plus for a Pokemon game, right. To play something that is really easy on the eyes. I think the art style is good. I think the ideas feel real cool. Real cute, right. Real inventive. I was kind of sad that I had to put the controller down because I was having a good time just vibing out in this world and trying to figure out how to rebuild the Pokemon center. Which if I had one complaint in this, it's that in multiplayer the Pokemon, in order to get the Pokemon to like do what, like to follow you or like in order to issue a command, I think it has to be the host of the party that needs to have that Pokemon do that thing. And like our host was sitting like a couple chairs down. So like I couldn't.

[Andy Cortez]

In a loud room. Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

So I couldn't really be like, hey

[Andy Cortez]

man, help me out here.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like, let's rebuild this thing. And we didn't have game chat on. Of course. If you're playing Pocopia, I imagine you're playing with friends. So that's probably not going to be a problem for the average person, I imagine. But that's like the smallest thing for me. I think everything else was really. It was really cool. Like I wanted. I liked how guided it was as well. I think for me a tough thing with some life Sims is when it

[Andy Cortez]

is like, all right, so open ended, right?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

So open ended, just do whatever. And I kind of, I like direction. Right. And this game feel from the, from the amount that we played so far is giving me the directions kind of like Dragon Quest builders that Logan was talking about. And so, yeah, I'm actually looking forward to this game, which is something I wasn't expecting going in as somebody who's not the lifesimperson.

[Andy Cortez]

When we talk about the building of this video game, did you notice any limitations in it or can you. Was there any elaborate things you could do in the building process or did you kind of immediately see, all right, this is where they're kind of. This is where I'm going to be limited here as far as resources go or as far as shapes or weird things you could do with the actual buildings you're making.

[Logan Plant]

I think it was really, really free form and flexible. Like we only got to play for an hour, so we didn't get to totally push it. But the, the town we've been talking about, super in depth and detailed. It is that blocky like it is this 3D grid block mechanic like a Minecraft. So everything's going to have that sort of shape to it, but I like dug into the ground. I'm just a troll in these games. It's just I'm not the most creative person who builds the most beautiful things. So I just dug a hole all the way into the ground, like a two by two hole and got like 150 blocks and then I climbed out of it. And then I tried to find the height limit by just building a tower, just jumping and placing a block below me. I didn't find the height limit. I ran out of stuff before I hit the height limit of this game. So you can build just giant skyscrapers. And then it was funny, I jumped down off this giant tower I built and my ditto turned back from its human form into its ditto form and splattered on the ground and then like stood up and reformed back into a human, which I thought was really cute. But no, it seems like I think this is a game. Some people, the most hardcore are going to get hundreds of hours out of people like me and maybe bless who just aren't that great at having that much freedom and just want to play the story and get the credits. I'm seeing articles saying 20 to 40 hours, which sounds great for the main campaign, but then I think people are just going to go nuts building their islands and making these amazing things to share online.

[Andy Cortez]

Were you noticing a kind of quick clip of the way that these missions are progressing or did you feel like you would kind of lose the plot every now and then and go, oh shit, I'm still supposed to be on this mission early on.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

It feels like they move at a quick clip unless you get distracted. Like I saw the potential to get pulled away because I'm like, oh wait, no, there's this thing over here. Let me see what this is about. Like those one or two times where I saw something and I was like, oh, let me go check out what this thing is. And like I mess around. I'm like, all right, cool, let me get back to what the main thing is. But again, that's. I think that's just me is somebody who wants to continually make the progress on whatever the structured thing is. I was listening. I played next to Steve Bolling from Good Vibes Gaming the Homie. And he. Every time, every time I looked at his screen, it seemed like he was doing something else. It seemed like he was doing some other thing where I'm like, bro, what's going on over there?

[Andy Cortez]

Like, you know, in terms of building. In terms of.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

No, I guess it's just in terms of Getting lost and doing other things. But yeah, for me, I. I found that the missions were kind of like. It was just easy stuff. But again, a lot of it was tutorial in that first hour.

[Andy Cortez]

I have a super chat here from Verum Dex, who super chats. I counter picked Pocopia in the fantasy critic league. I'm assuming. How screwed am I?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That's tough.

[Logan Plant]

I think you're. I think you might be screwed. I think it's gonna score pretty well.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, I think it's gonna do good. Like just from the. Just from the 90 minutes I'm like this. I don't. There's nothing that's like glaringly this is an issue here. Everything feels very well thought out. And also it feels like it's feeding an audience that I'm surprised hasn't been fed yet. As far as that, the Venn diagram between Pokemon fans and people who would be into cozy games, I think that's a match made in heaven. And this feels like it's satisfying that while also bringing in the Minecraft of it all. Right. Of being able to build and break down, break down things and like experiment and stuff. Like, I think this game is going to be pretty sticky to its audience.

[Logan Plant]

I think this is going to be a system seller for a certain part of the Pokemon audience. I think people that played ZA on Switch 1, which had hugely outsold the Switch 2 version last year, are going to see this game who love Pokemon and they're going to pick up a switch 2 for this. I think it's just going to be an enormous deal.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I think the floor of this game is that it comes out and it does solid. I think the ceiling of this game is that we're talking about the next Animal Crossing, new horizons kind of thing.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, right. When we talk about Animal Crossing and how that was such a massive crossover success, not only because of everybody being at home and everybody just wanting to spend time with their loved ones over the Internet, you know, having fun interacting in a video game. And that's an IP that nobody really knows about, like. Like outside of gamers. Right. You know, and that game brought in so many people that are on the periphery of the gaming industry and maybe, you know, that sold a lot of switches for Nintendo as well. When we talk about the possibilities for, you know, the success here with Pocopia, do we want to get like, really, really, like we want to shoot these expectations way high in the sky or do we feel like, well, it's a different era now with it not being Covid time and will that sort of change the way people are feeling?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I. I mean I think the environment that you're. That you release into definitely determines a lot of how well something's going to do. So I think it's impossible to truly predict how far this is going to go. But this is a good idea. Like this game overall is very well thought out as far as hey, how do we get this into the hands of people? Like how do we cater an audience to an audience of people that are going to fall in love with a. I was gonna say a cozy Pokemon game, but like a life sim Pokemon game. And yeah, like I don't want to get hyperbolic about it, but I'd be very surprised if this game doesn't do extremely well.

[Logan Plant]

Yeah, no, I'll say. I think Lifetime it's hard because the other big difference is the install base of the Switch 2. This is a Switch 2 exclusive versus where the Switch 1 was already when Animal Crossing came out. But I think Lifetime Procopia will sell 10 million copies, which I think it's going to do about as well as a Legends game does. Not as well as a Scarlet Violet Sword and Shield. I think this is going to be a huge hit that I don't think people are fully ready for. How much people are going to fall in love with it. I think if I had one negative thing to say about it and this is a. This is a big me thing. It's a problem I have in a lot of games and Dragon Quest Builders is like this also super chatty. Lots of talking to you in the beginning. Lots of just kind of hand holding and guiding yourself through it was the beginning of the game. So that's to be expected. I just hope that when we get to that more freeform area it drops off a little bit and how much it's really railroading you and telling you exactly what to do with lots of simple dialogue to mash through. But it was. Some of it was charming and funny so I didn't super mind. But I just remember Builders 2 is like a 45 hour game and at some points you're just like please just let me finish building this house for you. And they just do not stop talking.

[Andy Cortez]

Pokemon fans are quite used to that. I would say with a lot of the. More. Yeah, that's the thing where the first three hours is so much it being Pokemon.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, the dialogue didn't. It didn't throw me off at all. But yeah, it is a lot when I think about it. But also I think from the Multiplayer portion. I think it'll let off, let up on it. Also there was somebody in chat that was asking whether it was 60fps or 30fps. Again I'm not good at eyeing these things but it felt more like 60fps. It was very smooth to play.

[Logan Plant]

I think it was 60. Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

I have a super chat here from Kebabs. Who asks are the levels procedural or pre built?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, that's a good question. I assume pre, at least from the area we start off. Yeah, pre built.

[Logan Plant]

If it's good, if it's going to be like builders and I think what we saw was it is going to be pre built to start but then it is like your clay to do whatever you want with. It's not procedural. There's like the main island. It is, it is like there's level design to it. There's you have to solve the puzzles in this area to move on to the next area and you have to fully build on that area before you move on. So I think it is all curated but by the end of the game it'll all look completely different.

[Andy Cortez]

Bob Shiggity with a super chat. $5 super chat. Thank you for your support. Remember you help keep the lights and the mics on. So thank you for your support. Ask a question that I don't even know if it can be answered necessarily. I don't know, maybe because of embargo purpose or maybe you just didn't really see the full scope of it. But the question is how big was the map that you played? The trailer made it look like about the same size as Animal Crossing.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, I couldn't tell you how big the single player portion was because I didn't get to fully explore it because the hour wasn't long. I was like kind of like hanging out in one kind of like big square vicinity just learning how to do the mechanics right. So I didn't explore that fully. The most player area, pretty big. I, I, that's all I'll say. I don't want to get into specifics about it because I don't want to, you know, over speak on what I can talk about. But I'll just say it was fairly big.

[Logan Plant]

Okay, yeah, it's big and I think there's going to be multiple areas to go to as well.

[Andy Cortez]

Do you get excited at the thought of how the inclusion of other Pokemon throughout the gameplay session could kind of help diversify what the gameplay is? The gameplay loop with different elements and different abilities and different power ups?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh for sure. Because like when you think about how many Pokemon exist, even if we, like, even if we just keep it to one region, right? Like if we say the 150 Pokemon that are in Kanto, if every Pokemon that you find in the game, and I don't know how many Pokemon are in this game, but if every Pokemon that you find has something unique that they're bringing as far as ability or ways that they can help manipulate the world or help you build a thing or do whatever, right? Like, that's so much potential as far as abilities. Like, even in just the most player section, where I'm talking about the double jump to turn into Dragon Knight and be able to fly somewhere, or being able to turn into Lapras on the water so you can go quicker, or, you know, the leafage ability from Bulbasaur, or like having Charmander light a fire, like, you know, I think there's so much potential, and it makes me wonder, all right, if X Pokemon is in this game, what are they doing? I think the one thing with that, though, is that, you know, how many repeats are there? Is every fire Pokemon just going to light a campfire?

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You know, I think there's a little bit of that, but I've yet to see how that stuff's going to permeate yet.

[Logan Plant]

Yeah. And it isn't just one region also, like, that was a good example, but, like, we know it could be anyone. It could be anyone from across all of Pokemon, which I think is really fun. And something we haven't mentioned yet is when you build a habitat, that habitat suits up to, like, six different types of Pokemon. So there's ones that are common, but there's ones that are rare, too. So that habitat stays in place. So when a Charmander pops out, like, it fills out this little thing in your Pokedex that it's like his little sprite icon stamps in. It's like, well, you have Charmander from this habitat now, but there's five more RNG drops to get. So it's going to be special to go back to these places and, like, hope that maybe a Charizard pops out instead of a Charmander. And I think that's really cool, too.

[Andy Cortez]

Was there any inclination you all got that the more powerful the Pokemon, the better their abilities? Would a Charizard provide more firepower for something? Would a Blastoise be able to water more plants?

[Logan Plant]

I saw enough to know.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, I don't think. I don't think I saw enough either, but I could see how that would happen, like, if. Yeah, if we're doing a campfire for a Charmander and a Charizard to just like light a bigger fire. I don't see why.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, if your garden's massive, can this, you know, Gyarados do a lot more watering of all of the plants.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I mean like I got a little taste of like trying to find a specific category of Pokemon because one of the main tasks we had in the multiplayer section was to rebuild this Pokemon center which I wasn't able to get the host to help me out to do. But you know, for that we needed a builder Pokemon. And like I think we, I forget what Pokemon are. Even if we, if we were able to even find the Pokemon I think we had to create the habitat. But we knew how to get it. But we didn't know even what Pokemon it was. It was a whole thing. I say that to say that like I wouldn't be surprised if, if size is a determining factor of okay, this is a destroyer Pokemon or like I'm making things up here.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But you know, I think there's, it seems like there's enough there that you can pull from as far as abilities, size, shape elements that you'd be able to have different Pokemon satisfy like multiple different things.

[Andy Cortez]

And so one final question before we hit the ad break. This comes from the homie Melissa with a Y who asks are there daily to do's in this game like animal crossing new horizons to keep long, long term interest tasks, things to collect, etc.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Logan, do you recall there is like a.

[Logan Plant]

There's a PC outside of the Pokemon center that has tasks that assigns tasks to do and I feel like I saw a tab that was some sort of rotating things but I can't say for sure. I don't exactly remember. But there's, there's a lot to do though. Like there was okay, go pick up 10 branches and that's just a very simple thing you remember. Oh, if I walk past it I'll pick it up. So I think there's going to be plenty to keep coming back for.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, I don't remember their timed daily but there are always tasks to do.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, a bunch of. A bunch of stuff to kind of just mark down on that list.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yes. Oh yeah. If you're a checklist person.

[Andy Cortez]

Hell yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You're going to enjoy this.

[Andy Cortez]

Hell yeah.

[Logan Plant]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Well those have been the guys thoughts about Pocopia so far. A quick little preview that they experienced in New York. We'll get to the rest of their New York experience and the other games that they were able to check out there after a word from our sponsors.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

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[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

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[Logan Plant]

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[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

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[Andy Cortez]

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[Logan Plant]

And there's a whole new way to

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

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[Logan Plant]

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[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

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[Andy Cortez]

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[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

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[Andy Cortez]

Sell their pint sized pieces on Depop

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

and list them in minutes with no selling fees.

[Logan Plant]

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[Andy Cortez]

full price for the clothes his kids will outgrow tomorrow.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And he's ready to buy your son's entire wardrobe right now.

[Logan Plant]

Consider your future growth bird budget secured.

[Andy Cortez]

Start selling on Depop, where taste recognizes taste.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

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[Andy Cortez]

And we're back, everyone. And I want to hear about a cool boy out there.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

The coolest boy.

[Andy Cortez]

The coolest boy. The Virtual Boy. Tell me all about it, Logan.

[Logan Plant]

Oh, man. I, I mean, I obviously love Nintendo. I am a Nintendo historian. I play everything they've ever put out. And the big missing, like red and black hole has always been the Virtual Boy. And now it's not. Because it's coming to Switch and Switch two and they had the, the cardboard version and behind glass we couldn't actually look at that one that was coming out for 24.99. And then they had the $100 replica headset, which they had four of them set up on these tables and we got to try them out. They had switch 2s inside of them. And I thought it was so cool. Like, it, it's insane. Like Nintendo is insane for making this stupid thing 30 years ago. And they're insane for bringing it back now. I don't know which is crazier, but playing it. I played Wario Land, which I've never gotten to play before, and I've actually heard it's a great game. And it is like, it's a really just fun Wario platformer where you do the same, like shoulder charge to break blocks. And it's 3D. Like, it's stereoscopic 3D. Like the 3DS was like the original Virtual Boy was. And Wario Land plays with that in really fun ways where there's like swinging balls on chains that are like coming at you at the screen and you're measuring the depth. Or Wario like jumps into the foreground in the background and the 3D really helps with that effect. And like that was a really fun game. The other games I tried out all kind of sucked but like, it's just like a ridiculous thing that I'm thrilled is coming out. I don't think it's going to be that popular, but I'm personally super glad that they're doing it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, you echoed pretty much all my thoughts on it as well. I took quite a few notes on it saying that like, I played Tetris, it was bizarre playing golf, it was weird. And I played Wario Land and it was really, really cool. Like Wario Land ahead of its time. This felt like I was playing an indie, like retro inspired 2D platformer. But they have the power of modern technology to do all these cool things. Like the jumping from the foreground to the background, super cool. Reminded me of playing Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze. Right. Kind of has that feeling to it. But it's Wario Land and you're looking through it or you're looking at it through these literal, like, you know, black and red lens that kind of gives it kind of a cool style. Something about the whole thing felt like, damn, this is what the Virtual Boy was made for. Even though Nintendo's really weird for making this thing that said like this also felt like taking an eyes. Eye exam. Like, you know, when you go to the eye doctor and they're like, all right, put your forehead on this thing and now like, you know, count the amount of like dots you see or whatever. That's how I felt when I put my head into the Virtual Boy. I was like, this is not. I don't like this.

[Andy Cortez]

Did you need a time of recovery

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

afterwards or like, not really, but also a little bit, you know what I mean? Like, I came out of it. I was like, I. I don't ever want to do that purposely. Like, maybe I'll play through Wario Land, you know what I mean? But I. The $100 price point is definitely like, man, you. I think you have to be in it for the history of it and for just the. If you're a Super Nintendo fan that wants to own every single thing, this is a cool way to go about it. I think this is actually a cool resource for that. But yeah, like, I don't really have much of an actual opinion on this aside from, man, what an experience to do this eye exam and play Wario Land. That was a pretty cool game.

[Andy Cortez]

And what a weird, yeah, it's thing to throw budget at as well. Yeah. You know, Logan, do you see anybody? Do you see this moving the needle for anybody that isn't People like you, like Tim Geddes who go, I just want to be a part of. I want to just kind of own this history and I want to obviously, in a, in a neat way kind of support old games that had no other ways of existing. Or is this just going to be another sort of. I'm blanking on the name of the other cardboard thing. Labo. Labo.

[Logan Plant]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

It's just gonna be another one of those gimmicks that kind of comes and goes.

[Logan Plant]

Yeah, I think it's like, would I even recommend it to people that aren't people like me? No, no, absolutely not. Like, you don't need to get this. It's stupid. 25 for the cardboard, 100 for the headset. Plus you need to be a subscriber to switch online plus expansion pack, which is the higher tier that costs 50 bucks a year. So there's already that barrier to entry. And then you need to purchase the additional add on to play these games. But it's like, I don't know, I like it because I'm going to play them. I'm going to display it behind me in my podcast background. I'm going to talk about the games on my show and I'll have this knowledge kind of filed away in my internal Nintendo library. But like, if you're just out there, there's so many better things you can spend $100 on than this. There's so many indie games you could buy. You could buy like a full price game and a couple indie games. It's like you're just, you're not going to get that much out of this because the games aren't that great. They're novel, they're cool, but it is not that fun to look at for too long. I didn't get a headache or anything. I think that the technology is a lot better than the original one was. So like searing headaches and eye strain. I didn't get in like the 30ish minutes that I played this. But it's still not like if I'm sitting down after work, I'm going to play something. I'll play Virtual Boy for the first month or so, but after that it's just gonna kind of gather dust. So no, I don't really recommend it. I love it. It's for me. I don't think it's for a lot of people out there.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And like when I say eye exam, I think there's the portion of it that just is not that comfortable to use. I think it'd be one thing if it was like the X reels where it's just, oh, you're putting on glasses. Or if it was like Oculus, right where it is, it wraps around your head. It's a thing that you stand on a table and you put your head into, which is a position that you can only hold for so long before you're like, I don't want to do this.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Like, you. You expect to also get your blood pressure. Yeah, it feels medical. Yeah.

[Logan Plant]

One thing that was really good about it is that I wear glasses. I wear glasses when I play VR. And like on original PlayStation VR, there was always like some leaking light in the sides. But the. The Virtual Boy kind of rubber eyeshade is really long on the sides that I. I was in it. I was like, in 1996, there was nothing from the outside world bleeding in. Like, it was just. It was pure black edges, which looked really nice. I. I don't know if this because I was wearing glasses or not. I found like, the corners of the screen really hard to see and read. And like, when I pulled up the Virtual Boy menu, like the Create suspend point, load suspend point thing that's on all NSO apps, I was like, I can barely read that. Like, if I didn't know what that said from the other apps, I don't know if I'd be able to read that. Did you have that experience?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Bless, I'll read my notes. I didn't even hear.

[Andy Cortez]

We just said talk about the menus being really hard to read.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I didn't have that as much. No.

[Logan Plant]

Okay.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Logan Plant]

It was just like a little fuzzy on the corners. I don't know if that's because of how I was sitting or looking in, but, yeah, it's not the most comfortable thing to do. I have like a sit stand desk, so I could like, raise it up a foot and then kind of be looking in at eye level. But if you're just like, yeah, kind of hunching over, leaning in and craning your neck, it's not going to be

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

super comfortable, which is the way that I kind of was doing it. But I'm sure of like, yeah, if I had this thing at home, I'd probably be able to adjust it to my own comfort. But even still, it's like one of those things where even if I own this thing, I don't. I just wouldn't see myself using it for that long.

[Andy Cortez]

It's a neat piece of plastic, like Logan mentioned, to put behind you if you're a podcaster or streamer. Otherwise, it's one of those things where you Go, maybe I just buy a 3D printed replica from Etsy or something.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, it's one of those things where it's like, man, it'd be cool to have a friend that had a virtual boy just for the idea of. I had never. Yeah, the virtual boy has always been this legend to me.

[Andy Cortez]

Tim had to be on parental leave. Like, I know.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, like I'm somebody who I, as somebody who grew up, you know, loving Nintendo shit and being on the Internet, you hear about the Virtual Boy, you read about the Virtual Boy. Usually I feel like you read disastrous things like, oh yeah, you gave people headaches or whatever. But you know, I've heard the legend and to be able to use it the one time, that was neat. I don't need to use it again though. I don't really need to return to it. But like, if you're somebody who's like, man, I really want to experience that, I guess the cardboard is out there. The cardboard really is that option. I think the $25 to get to have that experience a few times. Not the worst. Like if you're somebody who's really, really.

[Andy Cortez]

Not the worst if you're somebody blowing endorsement.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

If you're somebody who's really, really interested in seeing like what that is. I think the cardboard is an excellent, excellent option. I'm happy they're giving it. But yeah, the hundred dollar actual headset, that's for, that's for super fans right there.

[Andy Cortez]

It's the type of thing you check out when you go to the, like the Kyoto Nintendo Museum just to like, oh, I got to finally use a virtual boy. That's fascinating. Yeah, it's just an, it's one of those weird Nintendo decisions. One of them wnds where you, you think about all the other stuff that you really want out of Nintendo. And I've never loved the criticism of man, they spent so much time on the graphics, they could have made the writing better. It's like, that's not how game budget works. That's not how budgets work within corporations. But we've, we know of a lot of other things that it's like, hey man, whatever it costs to, to kind of put the R and D into bringing this back, but it is great for game preservation. I think that's like, like a really cool, solid thing that even though you're not necessarily getting to own these games necessarily because they are tied to your subscription, it's still a really neat thing to bring back as a historical piece. I think I 100 agree with that. The other Thing that you all checked out at the Nintendo New York game showcase event. Showcase. Shown it all.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That's exactly what they called it. Wow.

[Andy Cortez]

Was Mario Wonders DLC?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yes. This is the new version, the Switch 2 version of Mario Wonder which is Plus Bella Bell Park. It is a brand new section that they're adding to the game. They took us through a bunch of multiplayer challenges that we got to play with each other. Before they showed us this though, they showed us a trailer of the talking flower. If you remember, they're putting out a talking flower physical thing that you can have at your house that you press button button and it talks to you.

[Andy Cortez]

And it's motion censored, right?

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Logan Plant]

It has like some level of motion on its own.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It just like it's 2am why is

[Andy Cortez]

the bed shaking so much? You know like that.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Go to sleep, you make much noise. You're knowing the neighbors. So they showed us the trailer. I ain't got. I ain't got much to say about it. It's just man, what a weird thing that. Yeah, it almost feels like they're trying

[Andy Cortez]

to make really trying to make it a thing.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

They're trying to make like Amazon Echo for kids. You know, like here's the thing that you can just have that just talks to you that's in your home.

[Andy Cortez]

I mean the fact that this dude plays such a prominent role in Mario Tennis Fever is like man, they really want him to like they're setting up that spin off movie. You know what I mean?

[Logan Plant]

Yeah. And it's in a jamboree TV the Mario Party Switch 2 Edition also. It's huge in that. And yeah it's. I don't really like the talking flower that much. I thought it was cute. And wonder I didn't need it to be like a new mascot which is kind of becoming.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I feel like they're really trying to push the talking flower, which I think it might be. I have a theory that with the Mario movie being such a big thing and them anticipating the Mario movie being such a huge deal for them because there's so much talking in the Mario movie, I think maybe they're trying to account for people being used to people talking or things talking in the Mario IP so they invented a thing that talks. That's just my headcanon reasoning for why the talking flower is becoming more and more prevalent in the modern world.

[Andy Cortez]

It's getting a lot of screen time, a lot of play, whole lot of screen time. Yeah. They just re sign into a seven year contract and you're like, oh, man. Yeah, I don't love this, but tell me all about Bella Bell Park.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

So, yeah, we did a bunch of different challenges, multiplayer challenges, both co op and competitive challenges. And my immediate takeaway from this is, man, this is going to make for some really good party mode content. Like, it takes some of what I love about us playing Pico park and then also combines it with, like, you know, Mario party style. Like, we're going against each other things. And so one of the challenges we did that really stood out to me. I thought I wrote the name down. I can't find the name here, but it was essentially a challenge where one or two people are drawing platforms. You know, the donuts in Mario, they're the platforms that fall if you stand on them for a second. So you have some people on your co op team drawing the donuts on the screen, essentially using the Joy Con in mouse mode as the players that are playing as Mario or Peach or whoever. Rosalina have to get to the end of the stage by using those donuts.

[Andy Cortez]

That's awesome.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And so you'll have enemies that are throwing barrels or whatever, and like, you know, those will be tumbling down the donuts and you gotta, like, you know, figure out how to help your players maneuver their way to the opposite side of the screen or whatever. Or you might want to help them get the secret coin that's hidden. That was really, really fun. You had another one. A more. I think this, this is still a co op one that was more like Hot Potato, where there is a, like a thing you're holding that's going to blow up. And then every few seconds it says a name of a character. So like the thing says Mario and then you have to throw the thing to whoever's playing Mario. And then two seconds later it'll be like Peach. And then you throw it to Peach. And if Peach doesn't get fast enough, it blows up and you lose the level.

[Andy Cortez]

What a great art style. God, this game is so pretty.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

This game is so pretty. And I love that they're doing these challenges within this game and within this art style because I think the gameplay super well, like New Super Mario Bros. Is such a fun game to play and the challenges here feel so creative in like the Mario party sort of way that I. I really dig. But Logan, I'm curious on what you thought about this.

[Logan Plant]

Yeah, I think I'm. I'm kind of low on this one. I just. Just because I can't get over the fact that this isn't really what I think I or a lot of people wanted from Mario under dlc. Like that game could have used more single player content, more traditional levels as dlc and they're still going to be that. We didn't get to see any of that in our preview. There's like new Koopaling boss fights with Wonder effects we didn't get to see. Or a Toad Brigade which takes place in the pre existing levels. But it's like get all the coins in 30 seconds. It's still more kind of bite sized, challenge based kind of stuff. I thought the minigames were cool. The one you highlighted I thought was the best one because we're using the mouse controls to place these platforms. And it felt like something you would have done on the Wii U gamepad in like Mario Brothers U to like trace a path and help like guide a spiky ball along to break down a wall for the players to proceed. That stuff's cool, but I just am playing it. I'm like, there's so much of this already on Switch and Switch 2. Like there is Mario Kart, there is Mario Party, there is Mario Tennis, there is Kirby Air Riders. Like that multiplayer Nintendo First Party party game stuff. There's so many choices. It's like I want more of the 2D platformer stuff from Mario Wonder. And then the fact that this is an issue I've had with these additions since they were announced a year ago. Besides the mouse controls, there's Nothing in this DLC that's like this is a Switch 2 exclusive. Why aren't you selling this to Switch 1 owners? It's just. It's a scummy business move to me that they're paywalling this behind a new console. They're paywalling a 60fps performance 4K update behind this minigame content you might not necessarily want. I just hate the Switch 2 editions. I think the content itself is fine. I think it'll be fun for a couple hours if you have the right group of people. But it didn't really wow me.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. Have they said anything about. I know you mentioned like Koopalings and stuff, but did they mention anything about additive single player content? Because they definitely didn't show that when we were in New York. Is that something you're expecting out of this?

[Logan Plant]

Just the. I mean the coupling levels just look like boss fights. Like we saw one in the trailer that's in that piranha plants on Parade level, but Wendy is like turned into some monster and is flying around it. It doesn't look like very much new. I think it looks more of like a remix pack of what we already got. And all the new stuff is in Bella Bell Park. With the focus on co op and competitive.

[Andy Cortez]

I had a, you know, with all the rumors of this Witcher 3 DLC that like the possibility of like, whoa, what a, what a cool novel concept of like it's going to take a lot of time to make a new video game. What if we made DLC for an old ass game and just like gave you more of that stuff? And I just started thinking about the possibilities in a lot of other games and how much I would just love added worlds in Super Mario 3D World. Oh, here's just new content for this old game. Similarly to how they added a bunch of content to Mario Kart 8.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I mean they kind of did that with Bowser's.

[Andy Cortez]

Well, we had Bars of Fear, but like just more, more Mario 3D world. Because Bowser's Fury was essentially like a 3D platformer where yeah, I would say this is more of like, like, you know, fixed camera perspectives, orthographic, you know, or what's the camera view that.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Isometric.

[Logan Plant]

Isometric, yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

But Mike. Yeah. Oh, my kid, Mike thought asymmetric was isometric. Oh, that's what I was thinking of. That's what I was thinking. I just started thinking about like what a cool thing that, that, that, that could be to add more content to older titles that. Yeah, it does take longer because game development is taking longer nowadays and it's costing a lot more money. But what if there's stuff that kind of tides you over until then? And I just got really, really stoked with that idea. And then I'm like, how much would you pay for. But we got Virtual Boy.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

We got the Virtual Boy. How much would you pay for 16 new 3D Mario world levels?

[Andy Cortez]

16 new 3D Mario? Like let's say 30, 39.99. Damn, I'd go that high, like level.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

So I'm saying like that's probably like two to three worlds.

[Logan Plant]

Three worlds. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Okay, Nintendo. You hear that?

[Andy Cortez]

I go 40.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That sounds like it's worth it.

[Andy Cortez]

Hey, Mario Tennis Fever. $70 with one of the worst campaigns I've ever experienced. And like unreal price for that. Just insane. And it was really, really shocking when Logan kind of remind. I hadn't the price wasn't even in my mind. And he was like, kind of crazy that this is 70. I was like, holy, you're right. It is $70. Anything else? We all want to mention about Mario Bellabelle Park Mario Wonder.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, it's one that, yeah, Rosalina's in this game, which is pretty cool. I forget what do you know what her. If she has any unique attributes to her.

[Logan Plant]

She's just like a normal character on the roster like everyone else. But like, the new kind of mix up one is that Luma is there as an assist mode character that you can control with mouse controls and kind of like fly around the screen like you can in Mario Galaxy. Rosalina is the same.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Hell yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

I remember in Mario 3D world, always you would. You would tickle the items with the motion controls to like or you would tickle bad guys to make them stop moving. So like, you know, there'd be like the, I don't know, the little fuzzy dudes that like kind of go in circles or whatever and you would, you would wiggle them and jiggle them and then they would stop moving so that your homies could like jump and not be hurt by it. So I just think, I just want mouse controls. Using that would be fun. I want more Mario 3D world, man, what a game.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I think, I think this crew will have fun with the Bella Bell park stuff. But I also agree with Logan as far as like, I. When I think about that, I think about specifically party mode in the.

[Andy Cortez]

For content sake.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like maybe one or two times of us playing the games together locally. I know, I know not many people have that of like, I'm playing. How many people are playing Mario Wonder so they can play with their friends and.

[Andy Cortez]

And how many people have friends that have switch twos that can also do that? Yeah, yeah, that's the other kind of.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But I'm also thinking locally, right? Like, it's hard for me to call somebody, be like, yo, I got the Mario Wonder DLC come through play dude.

[Andy Cortez]

Like, hey, pick up a pizza. We're partying.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

We're partying on Bellville Park. But I do think if you're somebody who, who is in the market for that. I did really enjoy the mini games and it seems like there's a lot of them. You know, they hopped us through different portions of them. But even for the donut minigame I talked about, that was just like one option in what looked like a menu that's full of them. Same with the Bob omb, like hot potato thing. That was like one of them in a. In a row of all of them. Row of a bunch of them. And I even talk about like the competitive stuff because there's one that Was like a race to the end where you're on like a big. I don't forget the creature. You're on a big bouncy creature essentially trying to bounce to the end of a level. There's another one where you're holding a baby, I want to say a baby Yoshi. And you're trying to eat as many of the fruits as possible before other people are right. Like just a fun, different gimmicky things that are going to be fun for a moment that I think works for what it wants to be. However, I do agree with Logan that like more single player content would be where it's at. I think that would be fucking awesome.

[Andy Cortez]

But yeah, well that's going to do it for our gamescast, everybody. Thank you to Logan Plan from ign. Is there anything you'd like to plug here on this gamescast, Logan?

[Logan Plant]

Yeah, I just want to shout out Nintendo voice chat over on IGN games on YouTube or Spotify, Apple, podcasts, wherever you're listening to your shows. We have video on Spotify just like I think you guys do too. So you can watch us on Spotify. And that show goes up every Friday morning at 6am Pacific and it's a ton of fun. NVC turns 20 years old this year. Wow. 20 year old podcast. And yeah, we're still going strong.

[Andy Cortez]

Wowee. Well, thank you everybody for watching this episode of the Kind of Funny Games cast. Remember, you can support us on Patreon. You could, you know, click that like button on YouTube. You can also hit that hype button if you're watching this after the fact. Get this video into the algorithm in hopes that Nintendo or that YouTube like pushes us out to people that don't even know that we exist. If you love what we do, please support us with the Kind of funny membership on YouTube, Apple or Spotify to get all of our shows ad free and get a daily exclusive show. Up next we have a really cool, exciting stream I think, right?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I'm pretty sure.

[Logan Plant]

Okay, I prepared for it.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay, cool. Then the stream coming up next is high on Life two. Yeah. And with the devs, with Mike, with bless with Nick. Let's get into it. Gamers.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Mike is tentative.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, Mike. Oh really?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Last I checked because he had a different thing he was doing. But he also might just be Mike.

[Andy Cortez]

Who knows?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, you host.

[Andy Cortez]

Who knows. Yeah, you talk. You don't need me. Until next time. It's been our pleasure to serve you.