It has been a little over eight years since we got our first official look at the Switch. Eight years since we first saw Karen on the rooftop. Eight years since we embraced the thought of playing Skyrim on a plane. Eight years since we wondered why the heck you would take a console on a dog walk.
To mark this anniversary, former Nintendo employees Kit and Krysta have opened up about what went into the making of the now-iconic trailer in the latest episode of their podcast (timestamped above). And yes, it will come as no surprise that there was a certain amount of juicy drama behind the scenes.
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Until 2016, Nintendo had followed the same hardware reveal formula as everyone else: a spec-focused E3 presentation all about the facts. However, with Switch, the team wanted to take a different approach, one that showcased the system for its "occasions" above all else.
According to Krysta, "people were not on board" with this new style. Some Nintendo of America employees apparently believed that it was too risky to move away from the spec-first presentation and worried that people would be confused by this initial marketing. "There was a lot of drama," she explains, "there was a lot of headbutting".
This was paired with internal fears about an increased chance of leaks from shooting a live-action trailer. All the Switches used in the commercial lacked the "guts" inside to make them playable, but some still worried that easily overlooked areas (like, let's say, an urban rooftop) posed a risk should anybody nearby have a pair of binoculars to hand.
Obviously, in the end, the fresh style came out on top (as Kit puts it in the latest podcast, "These are the moments where you realise, 'we are a subsidiary of this big company, we're actually not in charge at all'"), but that didn't stop Nintendo from prepping several 'Plan B' options should it be poorly received. One involved Reggie joining Kit and Krysta for a 12-minute video covering some potential console FAQs — a project that was shot and edited together, but never saw the light of day.
While the trailer would, of course, go on to become an iconic (and much memed) part of Nintendo history, the pair still have some gripes with the chirpiness of it all. "I never liked Karen," Krysta confesses, "I would never play on a rooftop". Yeah, fair play, Krysta.
The original trailer has since been removed from the official Nintendo of America YouTube channel, but you can still hang out with the cool hipsters via our archived version. Come on, let's bring on the nostalgia together.
What are your memories of the original Switch reveal? Head down to the cool rooftop party below (the comments) and let us know.
[source youtu.be]
Comments 45
man, we are so dry and starved and just all here waiting for Switch 2 that we have to drag out some 'drama' from a behind the scenes making of an advert for Switch 1.
Nintendo put us out of our misery and drop the Direct for Switch 2 already...
@smithyo lol, just what I was thinking.
That Switch reveal became one of the most discussed and well remembered reveals in the history of gaming. Sometimes being different is the right way to go.
this is how systems should be revealed! The way of sharing specs is boring and means nothing to the average consumer.
These two quit Nintendo just to talk about Nintendo?
Eight years and I still haven't taken my Switch to a rooftop party.
Show, don't tell (at least at first because you eventually have to explicitly mention the specs, features etc.) - fingers crossed they'll do the same for Switch's successor and that it will positively impact the sales!
Me during the Switch revealed in year 2016:
OMG...!!! 🤯
I want Nintendo Switch so bad...!!! 😃
Me after 7 years later in year 2024:
Eh.... 😕
Switch sales is great but also followed with bad treatment for the 3rd party games recently.
I felt disappointed. 😑
If the rumours are true and the Switch 2 is mainly just a spec upgrade, how are Nintendo going to generate the same buzz that this trailer created?
The beginning of Reggie's 'Disrupting the Game' book discusses something similar. He and Iwata went back-and-forth on how to promote the Wii in America, with the latter expressing deep concern over Reggie's 'Wii Would Like to Play' campaign.
Ultimately, Reggie requested that Iwata trust his vision, and the campaign was a huge success. There are definitely some parallels between this and the eventual Switch trailer. Showing the console being played in various scenarios without boring the viewer with tech specs is clearly a strong approach.
doing a 180 on marketing definitely sounds risky but then you remember the 180 was in contrast to the wii u
What was supposed to be confusing about it? Big handheld device that you could take places and also put in a thing to connect it to a TV. Seemed straightforward enough to me?
@smithyo That's exactly what they want. If everyone wasn't so dried out, people would be more critical of the new console.
It's obvious that with the new bundles and the new advertising for the 'old' Switch, they want to get everything they can out of it this Christmas season. How many people out there do you think don't know that a new Switch is coming out next year? How many kids want a Switch as a present right now? These are the ones being targeted. The fanbase is already hooked anyway. Nintendo has only promised to present the new console by April. No more and no less. But if I'm just wishfully thinking that the new console will come out this year, it's my own fault that I'm so 'dried out'.
It was all top-notch marketing. Alarmo is like a kiss on your cheek from a girl who knows very well you're in love with her, but just wants to string you along to keep the door open, while she attaches strings to even more innocent guys. Nintendo gives you just enough so that you don't give up or become furious. That can lead to psychological dependency. But that actually suits a company of this size quite well. What happens when you always give people everything they supposedly want can be seen with the new PS and XBOX. Suddenly they're ungrateful, critical, things no longer suit them. Nintendo has perfectly coordinated supply AND demand. They have played with people's expectations and wishes and that will pay off.
Is NintendoLife's main goal now to prop up Kit and Krysta's whole channel? This is barely anything note-worthy that hasn't already been said (in fact, it's basically the exact same thing as the last K&K article about Mario hiding the Switch reveal, or basically any production of anything ever - "we didn't know going in if it would work" isn't a revelation).
@chardir do rooftop parties even happen in real life?
@eltomo
Yeah, but they're talking about Nintendo on their own terms, instead of the forced positivity of Nintendo Minute. I imagine that must be pretty cathartic to get to finally speak your mind and for out your grievances about your former employer.
Kit and Krysta are just like us in that they genuinely love Nintendo's IP and want to talk about them. But they've described how stressful of a work environment in could be to work for NoA. Now they're independent, and they can make the content they want without an overbearing boss breathing down their neck and scrutinizing everything they do.
It's also worth noting they probably never would have left Nintendo if their local office hadn't shut down; they basically had an ultimatum of either relocating or quitting, and they chose the latter.
@eltomo IIRC the office they were at was closed. They still had their jobs but would have had to relocate, so they instead left and started a new show. Fair play to them, and to be honest I’m glad they did. It’s nice to get some regular insight into how Nintendo operates even if it’s mainly just the marketing side of things.
"One involved Reggie joining Kit and Krysta for a 12-minute video covering some potential console FAQs — a project that was shot and edited together, but never saw the light of day."
Damn, sure makes you wish Nintendo had some sort of dedicated place or maybe even a literal building to showcase such things in...
@smithyo and this, kids, is what abstinence syndrome looks like.🙄 (unless this is sarcasm wooshing over my head, of course)
@eltomo perhaps they talk plenty of different things, but which of those do you expect a website called "Nintendo Life" to report on?
These two again?
There's a reason why people are not actively looking for them...
Former Nintendo of America employees. They had 0 knowledge about things at NCL though.
Good thing that Nintendo of America has almost zero input at decisions. NCL would never let its USofA subsidiary to dictate things.
In the end, as Kit said:
Western media usually overrate the importance of NoA.
@eltomo It does seem that way doesn't it 😅. For some reason they were randomly presenting the first big Disney Dreamlight Valley showcase last year but they weren't on the latest one last week. Other than that yeah they might as well have not left lol there must've been some bad blood stuff I guess
@eltomo I mean, they talk about other stuff than Nintendo. But this being a Nintendo site, I doubt you would see anything else from them on here. Of course, you could check them out for yourself.
@Fiskern I'm on other sites, but never seen anything else from them. I did check out their YouTube, it's 97% Nintendo and when you think it's not Nintendo, it will be.
I don't know why, but these two trigger me 😅
@eltomo Same for me. Never liked them. I always describe them as Nintendo's morning talk show hosts. And like all morning talk show hosts, smile too much and are creepy in their cheerfulness.
@eltomo Hey is our last Nintendo Minute, Create new channel continue Nintendo
Huh. They had doubts and drama? They thought the switch would be leaked? Fitting, considering all the leaking that's happened since.
I'm a little bored of these 2...they seem to be still trying to cash in on Nintendo stories despite not having worked for them for several years...
I know people seemed to like their channel years ago, but I'm not too interested in their views anymore.
@Dark_Isatari I actually did go to a rooftop BBQ once, before Switch existed I think
"a broken alarmo is right twice a day"
Golden.
I have totally played my switch on a rooftop many many many times. Especially during Covid when the city was on "lockdown". I would go to my building's roofdeck and just play animal crossing for hours on end. Krysta doesn't know what she is missing.
@Rozetta Wii Sports being a pack in title outside of Japan was an NoA decision that Reggie fought for (something Miyamoto didn’t want to happen at all) and was arguably the biggest reason the console was as successful as it was in the end. He also said that the launch/reveal marketing for Switch was driven by them and game development is influenced by NoA even though they’re primarily made in Japan, for a few examples of NoA’s impact on the company as a whole.
Yes, the final say comes down to NCL at the end of day but let’s not pretend their division that oversees the company’s biggest market doesn’t have any influence on their overall direction.
@larryisaman Reggie himself said that he asked for a price for 3DS in USofA and Iwata dismissed it.
Today's NoA is weak. They are a glorified PR and distribution branch. The last time that NoA was somewhat independent was when Minoru Arakawa was on the helm.
I think that reveal trailer was the shot in the arm Nintendo needed at the time. I'm so glad they didn't go with the 12-minute FAQ version.
These two and their clinging for relevance.
Yeah, sounds like a marketing project and hardly 'drama' unless you're a kid or someone with no real-world experience. Big shocker that when tons of money is being budgeted to build the launch of a major product there are many viewpoints shared, and they won't all agree. Smart leaders hire people who aren't afraid to butt heads. Reggie only iterated that like a thousand times in his book but I'm guessing everyone just read the snippets about video games on the web.
I love hearing Kit and Krysta's insights on the industry and Nintendo. Sooo interesting!
Half of every comment section on aggregated Kit & Krysta bits is yelling at the clouds about them being relevant. I don’t follow them but clearly they saw a spot in the media market for views from former Nintendo employees, and people listen to them.
If you object to this so much just stop clicking on their headlines on NintendoLife.
I always liked Nintendo Karen and her fictional thought process. To be fair, that rooftop party was probably pretty boring before she got there. I also thought the casting was well done and that whoever played Karen did a good job in her role. She had good expressions, but also seemed natural.
Sounds like any decision at any company.
I was smart after the WiiU to just do everything differently though.
@Rozetta They asked for a price? Like actually knowing the price of the console? Or what?
Well, thank god they went with the reveal trailer they did use. I think it was a no-brainer to showcase the Switch this way since it was such a different console than anything else before it, except perhaps Sega's Nomad and Nintendo's own Micro VS Systems. Great reveal vid, it made me want a Switch from the start after not owning a console since the PS1.
@eltomo the branch of NOA that they worked at was shut down.
they are so f annoying
@chardir me either, but I'm going to make it happen before Switch 2 drops!
@Olmectron
Reggie said in his book that he tried to push the 3DS into US$ 200 for its launch in USofA. Iwata asked about US$ 219 or US$ 229, but Reggie was adamant on US$ 200.
In the end, NCL choose US$ 250.
I actual felt bad for the actress of "Karen". For sure she didn't expect to be meme'd to oblivion. 😅
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