1-2-Switch is a party game for the Nintendo Switch, developed and published by Nintendo. Consisting of 28 different minigames, the gimmick is that the television or tablet screen isn't used for gameplay. Instead, the screen is used primarily for explaining the rules of any given game and keeping score, while the players place their attention on each other, relying on audio cues and feedback from the system's Joy-Con controllers to play the various games.
It was released on March 3rd, 2017, as one of three Nintendo-published launch titles for the console, the others being The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Snipperclips. Its reveal trailer can be found here
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A sequel, Everybody 1-2-Switch, was announced on June 1st, 2023 and released June 30th, 2023, only a month after its reveal. Co-developed by NDcube, Everybody takes inspiration from The Jackbox Party Pack series to allow up to 100 participants at once to play its suite of 17 minigames by enabling the use of smartphones as controllers.
1-2-Switch provides examples of:
- Auto-Tune: The counting in "Runway" uses this effect.
- Bare-Handed Blade Block: The premise of "Samurai Training".
- Beam-O-War: "Wizard" is composed entirely of this.
- Minigame Game: 28 minigames in total.
- Party Game: Team Battle mode is two teams taking turns playing mini-game on a board, a-la Mario Party.
- Quick Draw: "Quick Draw" (and "Fake Draw", by extension) involves the players pulling out their Joy-Cons after the announcer says "fire". The one who pulls it out faster wins.
- Safecracking: "Safe Crack". Obviously.
- Super Title 64 Advance: The word Switch in the title represents features in the game, but it's obviously also referring to the console it comes out on.
- Tech-Demo Game: It exemplifies a number of the Switch's features ("HD rumble", motion control, IR camera, etc.) and its usage for multiplayer.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: The female gorilla, whose affections you have to win in the "Gorilla" minigame, wears a bow.
