The power of play
One of the lesser discussed Nintendo Switch 2 features took us back to our heady PS2 days, as the camera-based gameplay in the expanded version of Super Mario Jamboree sure reminded us of EyeToy.
For those of you too young to remember the PS2 peripheral, it pre-dated both the Nintendo Wii and Xbox Kinect, and ushered in an early era of casual gaming. It was particularly popular in Europe, although it was available worldwide.
Many of the EyeToy’s games required you to flap your arms about in order to complete rudimentary objectives, like cleaning windows or bouncing footballs.
There were actually several minigame compilations released for the camera from Sony, and several others from third-party publishers, including SEGA.
To be fair to Nintendo, the new Switch 2 camera looks a lot more capable, as it seems to be able to cut your body out from your background – Microsoft Teams-style.
But the minigames are definitely reminiscent of that early EyeToy era, whether it’s punching power blocks or balancing Goombas on your head.
The key distinction between this kind of gameplay and the Xbox Kinect is that it superimposes a real-time camera feed of you into the game, as opposed to mapping your motions to a 3D character.
We got a little nostalgic watching the latest Nintendo Direct, as we do have a soft spot for those early EyeToy games. But ultimately, there’s a reason Sony left this technology in the past.
As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.
