We’re not actually saying “goodbye” to the OG Switch. We just wanted to mark that this was the final event before the Switch 2 launch, as everyone is really hyped for that!
We wanted a fairly chill day, but we also needed to fit in a much anticipated league session.
As people drifted in from 11am, it was nice to see a now grown up familiar face who we hadn’t seen in a long time, due to them studying in London for a few years. We also had a new guy who started off nervous, but after I’d invited him to sit with the others he seemed to settle in nicely.
Firstly we started with the showcase of the first of our two Indie Games. Em took the helm and completed the short “Please, Touch the Artwork 2” (by Studio Waterzooi) – It was a very relaxing game for both the player and the onlookers, and I personally loved it because it heavily featured piano music. It was nice to hear Eric Satie’s famous Gymnopedie to begin with, and a couple of well known Debussy pieces amongst some less familiar classical music.
simply put, “Please, Touch the Artwork 2” is a quick but smart Hidden Objects game, filled to the brim with artwork and fine music. A bit of humour thrown in too!
Due to requests to squeeze in the league between 1-3pm, we had a bit more space at the start of the event, so once the above game was completed, we put on our other showcase game: “Preserve” (By Bitmap Galaxy)
This game is described as a “nature building puzzle” game. There’s a lot of creative element to it, and Em enjoyed exploring the original mode, building a sizeable biome, before running out of time due to the league needing to start. It was also a relaxing type of game. A slow paced card based strategy game. With relaxing music. These two showcase games set the vibes for the rest of the event!
When the league session opened, we had 18 signups, so 3 groups of 4, and 2 groups of 3. (We had a last minute sign up too, so we were able to add on to one of the threes)
First up of course, was Mario Party Jamboree.
The chosen game was “Jr’s Jauntlet” – A series of 10 mini games where your objective was to not get hit!
There was a whole lot of chaos and laughter for this round, but it was also done pretty quickly, so we could have a gap for people to nip out for food in between rounds.
Round 2, of course, was the “mystery” game. Dylan wanted people to assume Bomberman, but the NPUK featured post gave away that we were including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in a more official context.
Mario Kart Vs. 4 races. Only items being “bomb”, “crazy 8 bombs” and a “Bullet William” (Thanks Drn! 😛 )
There were 19 entries this time, as we had one latecomer who threw his hat in!
These races were chaotic… apart from those lucky people who managed to break away from the massive onslaught of almost consistent bombs and bullets! (and the telling off of “Bullet William” by Drn!)
There was a very dramatic group containing Derwen and Glyn, where Glyn (Rosalina) was catching up to Derwen (King Boo) who bounced off a wall but unfortunately wasn’t quite enough, as King Boo managed to steam past Rosalina close to the finish line, depriving Glyn of his 5 points for that round! (Love a wildcard!)
We had a 3 way tie for the custom dice though, so back we went to Mario Party.
“Thwomp the Difference” was a quick round, and Em came out top, winning themselves the orange custom dice.
We had a spare 20 minutes at the end, so it was nice to see the earlier musical interludes had inspired Em to put on some of the Zelda symphonies on the big screen.
We finished the event with the usual raffle draw and group photo. Finishing 10 minutes ahead of schedule!
