Skip to main content

Thanks to Nintendo Labo, my daughter can be Optimus Prime

Steven Petite/Digital Trends

When my daughter first glanced at the Nintendo Labo Robot Kit, she thought we were building a Transformer. I explained that it wasn’t exactly a Transformer. Roughly four hours later, I helped her put the cardboard backpack straps over her shoulders, slid her feet into the straps, adjusted the yarn length of the arms for optimal punching motion, and attached her robot visor. Then she began to joyfully stomp and punch through buildings and flying saucers. It didn’t take long for her to figure out that if she bent her knees, the robot transforms into a car.

In my daughter’s mind, putting on the cardboard turns her into a Transformer.

“I told you it was a Transformer,” she said.

You don’t literally play as Optimus Prime, but that’s not the point. The Labo robot does what it sets out to do, at least for young, imaginative minds with restless bodies. In my daughter’s mind, putting on the cardboard turns her into a Transformer. Isn’t that what matters?

Building a transform…er, robot suit

Before you or your kids can don the suit and get to smashing, the Toy-Con robot must be built. Construction is integral to the Labo experience. As the most elaborate of the current Labo Toy-Cons, the robot takes a solid afternoon of work to build. Nintendo estimates between three and four hours. Working alongside my wife and daughter, we found that spot on. It took us about three and a half hours from opening the box to completing the final step.

Steven Petite/Digital Trends

Though it takes a while to finish, Nintendo did an excellent job making the instructions intuitive and easy to follow. The manual is an interactive on-screen guide that provides an exhaustive, but incredibly useful, perspective. Every required fold is dutifully demonstrated on screen. The Joy-Con acts as the remote, which you can use to fast forward and rewind, zoom in and out, and pan around the screen to see different angles of each step. The thoroughness of the guide makes it hard for something to go awry throughout the eight multi-part steps.

Spending a Saturday sprawled across the living room floor with my wife and daughter was a joy.

Still, it’d be a taxing process to build the robot solo. You’ll want someone holding the controller while another person (or two) works on the task at hand. At one point, my daughter and wife took a break while I worked on the backpack straps. Once solo, I found scrolling back and forth between the myriad of folds, and fast forwarding to see what comes next, to be cumbersome.

There’s also the question of whether the robot can be built without the help of an adult. Obviously, that depends on the age, aptitude, and demeanor of your kid, but the clear answer for me was a no. My seven-year-old daughter is a big fan of Lego, but the length of the build and the complexity of its steps made it an arduous task.

She had no problem folding along the creases, but turning the flat pieces into refined structures took some guidance, trial and error, and often an extra pair of hands.

Four instructions proved particularly tough: fastening the grommets, placing reflective stickers, tying the string, and threading the leg and backpack straps. Each of these steps required a combination of finesse, patience, and persistence that small children rarely possess.

That’s not necessarily a problem. Spending a Saturday sprawled across the living room floor with my wife and daughter was a joy. Despite my wife and I completing the brunt of the build, my daughter contributed each step of the way. And when we had the robot fully assembled, she was proud of the work we did together.

Putting our build to the test

Though the robot Toy-Con felt surprisingly sturdy for a hunk of cardboard, I was worried it would fall apart when put to the “child-flailing-her-arms-and-legs-as-fast-as-humanly-possible” test.

Steven Petite/Digital Trends

I’ve been surprised. Despite the consistent thud of the power pistons hitting the top of the backpack each time she stomped and punched, there are no signs of structural weakening. It’s cardboard, so we imagine that it’ll give out eventually, but there’s no sign of problems so far.

Sure, [the game’s] visuals are underwhelming, to put it kindly. She didn’t seem to notice or care.

While I grew tired of the kit’s bundled game after a couple rounds, I feel bad even saying that — because it wasn’t made for me. It didn’t matter to my daughter that the game is nothing more than a “destroy everything in sight” simulator. She didn’t care that the visuals are underwhelming, or the objectives simple. I imagine other kids will feel similarly.

There’s also a versus mode where the second player can fight with a pair of Joy-Cons, and a training mode that teaches you new moves through a series of challenges. She tried them out, but my daughter quickly gravitated back to the main game mode, where she could topple skylines and chase down bizarre flying saucers.

As a parent, I initially saw the Robot Kit as an opportunity for some fun bonding time with my daughter. It has proven to be that and more. When my daughter arrives home from school today, I fully expect her to ask if she can be a Transformer again. So, is $80 a fair price for some cardboard and a simple smash-em-up game?

Absolutely.

Steven Petite
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven is a writer from Northeast Ohio currently based in Louisiana. He writes about video games and books, and consumes…
Hades 2 shows the Steam Deck’s biggest advantage over the Nintendo Switch
A Steam Deck sits next to a Switch OLED.

It's always an exciting week when the sequel to one of the greatest games of all time surprise releases on a Monday. That's what happened on May 6 when Hades 2 surprise launched into early access. Players are already diving into the surprisingly robust roguelike, testing their might in its new biomes. I've been enjoying it myself from the comfort of my couch -- and not on my Nintendo Switch, where I played the first Hades. Instead, I'm curled up with my Steam Deck.

The PC-only launch means that Hades 2 is a Steam Deck "exclusive" for the time being (or at least exclusive to portable PCs like it and the Asus ROG Ally). It'll likely come to Nintendo's system -- or its predecessor -- once it hits 1.0, but developer Supergiant doesn't expect its game to leave early access until at least the end of 2024. Until then, you'll need a device like the Steam Deck to play it on the go. That's a reminder that Valve has beaten the Switch at its own game, and Nintendo will have to get creative again with its next system to regain its throne.
Early access on the go
Based on my time with it so far, Hades 2 is a phenomenal match for the Steam Deck. It's already Verified for the platform, and for good reason. It looks fantastic (especially on an OLED screen) and runs smoothly. I've already taken it on the go and found that it's not a huge drain on the Steam Deck's battery. At this point, I don't imagine I'll need to play it any other way.

Read more
3 retro classics to play on Nintendo Switch Online this weekend (May 3-5)
Kirby and his friends post in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror art.

With rumors of a new Nintendo console heating up, it's once again time to accept that the Switch's long lifespan is coming to its end. 2024 will likely be the system's last full year before a successor steals its thunder. That's apparent in Nintendo's recent first-party offerings, as the system is getting a lot of remasters and niche curveballs this year. As exclusives like Endless Ocean: Luminous underwhelm, you may have found yourself looking for reasons to fire up your Switch.

Thankfully, you have a lot of great excuses to do so if you're subscribed to Nintendo Switch Online. The service is home to plenty of classic games from the NES up to the Nintendo 64. Even if you're a game historian, there's a good chance you haven't played everything Switch Online has to offer. This weekend, I have three recommendations for anyone looking to fire up some great, old games. These aren't random picks; I've chosen three games that feel spiritually linked to some of this spring's biggest games.
Kirby and the Amazing Mirror

Read more
The Nintendo Switch just got 2 surprise games — and they’re both worth grabbing
A teddy beat sits on an embroidery hoop in Stitch.

If you were unable to catch this week's Nintendo IndieWorld showcase, then you missed a surprisingly loaded show. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes got a May release date, WayForward showed off its Yars' Revenge revival, and Steamworld Heist 2 got an exciting reveal. In the midst of all those headlines, two smaller games were surprise released on the platform: Stitch and Sticky Business. Don't sleep on either of them, as they're both worth a purchase.

Both games are ports of previously released games, but both went a bit under the radar upon their original launch. Sticky Business modestly launched last summer on PC, whereas Stitch has actually been around since 2022 as an Apple Arcade exclusive. The latter even has an Apple Vision Pro version now that can be played in mixed reality. I can't blame anyone for missing either, but their Switch releases offer a good opportunity to catch up with some quiet hidden gems.

Read more