Nintendo Labo VR Kit Review

Nintendo Labo VR Kit: Quick  Overview

While the latest wave of VR excitement has been marked by big players joining the bandwagon to create various VR headsets, large collections of videos and games, VR isn’t much more than a modern form of stereoscopic postcard. Since the 1800s, laying images next to one another to create a sense of 3D has been around.

Modern VR adds the ability to interact, motion to that trick of the mind, stereo sound and some other bits and pieces. Nintendo formed the basis of VR gaming in the mid-90s with its first creation, Virtual Boy. But unlike Sony, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, HTC, and other renowned VR developers, Nintendo has been conspicuously silent.

The Nintendo Labo VR kit is the company first serious VR product. This device comes in a couple of varieties and you can get a starter kit for $40. Expansion sets go for $20 each, meaning the entire collection will cost you $80.

Instead of the chunky black headsets that have become common with VR, the focus of the Labo VR kit is on cardboard construction and customization. This kit is a way to give users a low-cost taste of immersive technology. The VR kit is created by simple cardboard and a variety of simple add-ons. However, it surprisingly offers various deep features associated with the leading VRs, offering you an impeccable experience.

Part of the mission statement for Labo is to be fun and educational. The included minigames are fun and interactive. Remarkably, the Nintendo kit can take hours to assemble. It becomes a motivating factor for parents to get their kids engaged in such interactive activities rather than watching cartoons. Nintendo has created a craft for digital and creative gaming of which will require you to input imaginations and physical effort to unlock the best out of its VR kits.

If you’ve used and enjoyed the previous Labo kits or want to try the experience for the first time, go for it.

Features: 4/5

Controls: 4.5/5

Resolution: 4.5/5

Price: 5/5

What we like

Educative to kids and adults

Easy to assemble

Colorful visuals and decent VR experience

Affordable

Customizable toy-cons

Comfortable to use

What we don’t like

Lacks replaceable parts of which can be home modified

Lacks a strap on the headset

Storage problem in case users have limited spaces in their homes

Made for both kids and adults, Labo VR is simple to adopt. Users can engagingly generate the given switch to different objects. You can change your tablet into a piano or controlling a robot from a screen. The ultimate goal of Nintendo is for users to make, play, and learn how the VR works and generally learn how to create their games. The kit comes with various objects to build including a bird, an elephant, a foot pedal, a camera and the goggles.

Who is this product for?

Labo VR kit intends to be educative while maintaining the gaming and discovery relevance. It combines digital and physical gaming through the use of goggles and cardboards to build the switches. For adults, it’s the best option for gaming when on a budget.

What’s included? 

The full Labo VR kit contains 6 main components or “Toy-Con” projects; a blaster, camera, an elephant, a wind pedal, a bird and the VR goggles. There are additional stickers, rubber bands and pieces of sponges to build the kits. However, you can separately purchase the headset and the blaster as a starter pack and add the rest as add-ons.

The included software gives each project an estimated completion time that ranges from 30 minutes to 3 hours. Building every project can take 6 to 11 hours.

Overview of Features

Nintendo Labo VR Kit has a basic set of features geared to providing fun to its users. The device revolves around a basic plastic and cardboard headset. A pair of glass lenses translate images. The experience is similar to Google Cardboard.

Its physical appearance may be unappealing to you, but price-wise and fun aspect, it will be a sure trade-of. Considering the Labo kit lets you make, play and discover, it is the best you can have for a thoughtful session. Craft and use your creativity to learn more about Toy-Con controllers and the cardboard peripherals.

Unlike other VR headsets, Nintendo Labo VR kit has doesn’t feature a head strap of any kind. This forces you to hold the goggles against your face during play.

The games are unique and uncomplicated since the VR has limited in-game motions, thereby sticking to one position. You can paint sculptures and smash toys without much movements.

Unique Toy-Cons offer different inputs and VR games. The selections range from taking snapshots of marine life, creating a paintbrush from elephant’s trunk, or the wind pedal offering broad exposure to those who create the whole set. Although it may seem absurd for an elephant trunk to be used as a controller in a marble gaming, it offers a fantastic experience for a wide array of games it can support.

The essential requirement is the VR goggles, which contains a variety of games. It forms the basis for other accessories to be used. It is possible to design standalone goggles, but what makes Nintendo sell is the crafting process, fun and discovery of new aspects in the process of creation and use.

The guide included comes along to help you build and enjoy Labo VR kit with little difficulty. You can improve your camera practical aspect. It comes with Labo Garage Mode, where you can craft your own VR levels. This aspect is the stepping stone for kids that will be working on building their games. The garage tool allows you many hours to have the Labo experience in crafting, just like in previous Labo kits.

Alternatives

Nintendo in its form is way better than Google Cardboard, which costs only $15.

If the Nintendo’s cardboard VR kit doesn’t meet your VR needs, there’s a variety of fully inbuilt gameplay headsets. The recent release is the standalone headset, Oculus Quest cost around $399. The VR headset does not have trailing cables that may deter the epic experience.

Alternatively, the HTC Vive offers more VR experience and PC support for a fantastic gaming experience. HTC Vive comes in at $499.

Tutorial

Here is a tutorial video to check out on the features, modeling, and using the Nintendo Labo VR kit (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdEn_JzrQ1M).

Conclusion

Labo Kit may not be the ultimate solution to experience epic VR gaming in case you want a full built headset. The framerate, display resolution and associated games may fall below the average dedicated VR headset, but the kit is surprisingly solid.

Nintendo went in a completely different direction with the Labo VR kit. It’s meant for users that need to be creative and enjoy gaming at the same time.  It’s tiring to hold the kit up to your face, but it still includes plenty of wacky and wonderful Nintendo magic.