I was literally shocked when my sister’s new husband sent me a message over Facebook telling me that she had bought a Nintendo Switch. When I got a message that she then bought Super Mario Odyssey about a week later with the caption, “your sister is obsessed”, I couldn’t help but smile. To go along with her initial purchase she bought Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. While she tries to deny it was her idea, she was the one at the register, card in hand. They later went to Target and once again, it was my sister browsing the Nintendo Switch area. My sister was never a huge gamer. The last time I remember playing with her was Diddy Kong Racing for the Nintendo 64. Surprisingly, she was really into that. She would never touch Zelda though.
Growing Up With The Super Nintendo
When I was five years old, our family got a Super Nintendo Entertainment System. This was thanks to my beloved grandmother who got it because I literally begged for the console. My family would get up every Saturday and Sunday morning until I was about nine-years-old and and play the SNES together. These are my fondest childhood memories. We played Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, Mario Kart, and my dad and I would play A Link to the Past with me, which ultimately inspired my gaming passion. It was so special. We have not played games together, other than my brother and I, in 21 years, roughly. That’s a long time.
My Sister Bought a Nintendo Switch
The Nintendo Switch brings people together. My sister actually lives 1,000 miles away from me, but we both own Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. She wanted to play with me. This is the first time in 20 years we’ve played video games together. She may deny it all she wants, but the Switch was all her idea. And she has even told me she loves the system. She and her husband have a blast with it. Her husband thoroughly enjoys Zelda and has even asked me for some advice on when to buy the DLC for the game.
Back to Mario Kart though. It’s actually quite emotional to be playing video games with my sister again for the first time in so long, and the fact that she actually wants to play with me. For the first time she’s actually interested in my interests. Previously she wouldn’t talk to me about them. This is truly special. Building closer relatonships with siblings is always special, but the fact that Nintendo is facilitating this? It makes it even moreso for me, as again, gaming is my passion.
Another point: so many people complain about the lack of the Nintendo Switch’s voice chat, but we came up with such a simple and easy solution: we do a FaceTime audio call, with it on speaker on her end so both my sister and her husband can hear me. I wear my headphones on my iPhone. It works, fairly well.
Nostalgia, Memories, and Fun
Days after buying Mario Odyssey, My Sister is Back Browsing the Nintendo Switch Section!
Playing Switch with my sister after so many years, especially since our New Jersey babysitter stole our copy of the original Mario Kart (yes this happened, yes I am still so mad about it; may she rot for that), not only brought up nostalgia, but it also brought up some of the happiest memories in my life. There is nothing more memorable in life than quality time with family and friends. Gaming is my love; I have a Zelda tatto for crying out loud! I love it writing about games and reviewing them, as tedious and difficult as it can be. The time I spent as a child with my family playing Super Nintendo were some of the absolute best moments of my entire life, and most memorable. Essentially re-living these moments with my sister, who is only 14-months younger than me? Beyond special.
The opportunity to experience this with my sister all these years later and tell how much fun she was having? That was priceless. The fact that she wanted to play with me again after all these years? Even more special. Nintendo is about one thing: fun. This is their primary goal, time and time again. Mario Kart embodies this perfectly and is the perfect game to play, especially online, with friends and family. Not only that, it plays without any online problems. Of course, I won almost every time (my sister’s husband did win a cup though and this is his first Mario Kart ever; credit where credit is due!). The fact that this is my sister’s husband’s first Mario Kart game shows even further that Nintendo is attracting both old and new gamers alike; the Switch could be the top console of this generation depending on next year’s releases.
The Switch Brings People Together: A New Family Tradition
My sister and I have created a new family tradition, at least between us: at least once a week, we play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe online together. This is beyond special. The Nintendo Switch is a social device and brings people together. What’s even better is that it’s brought members of my family together. Who knows if my parents or two other siblings get one, but the chance to play games with my sister again after 20 years? Nintendo is once again helping us create new memories. They are once again helping us grow closer together. In my mind, this hasn’t truly been done since the SNES era. This will be the most successful Nintendo console of all time.
Most importantly, they are once again allowing us to simply have fun with one another. Other consoles are enjoyable, but the Switch is allowing us to establish a longstanding family tradition — 20 years later. At least, my family, and I’m sure mine isn’t the only one.
It’s fun, it’s dear to my heart, and it’s allowing me to grow even closer to my sister and her new husband. If this is what Nintendo is doing with my family, I can’t imagine the positive impact they are having on others.