Yesterday, we had heard that Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime would be attending the Late Night Show with Jimmy Fallon to showcase Nintendo’s upcoming mobile game Super Mario Run. This was reasonably expected- Nintendo often attend the show when a major new product launch is coming, and Super Mario Run looks to be their most important launch in a year full of them.
And yes, the Super Mario Run segment looked fun and everything- but honestly, nothing could have prepared us for when Reggie brought a real life, working Nintendo Switch to the show, and they played it right there, on screen, on camera. The system just works, everything exactly as shown in Nintendo’s trailer- the TV to handheld transition is seamless, and the Switch was running Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which runs perfectly on the Nintendo Switch version (the Wii U version that we have frequently been shown until now has had major slowdown).
Fallon was absolutely excited, almost tripping over himself at the chance to play the system and the game- and given just how much reach he has, and also just how cool the Switch looks, Nintendo may have managed to market this system to a major audience with this stunt.
You can check out the footage showing off the Switch here– once again, this thing actually works. It’s really thin and sexy looking- it’s actually a feat of engineering. I can’t wait to learn more about it.