Been thinking about that intangible "Nintendo magic" that makes me love their games so much, and I think a big part of it comes down to the way they emulate literal child's play.

As children we learn by interacting and experimenting with our environment. We find wondrous joy in the simple things; our very backyards become fantastical kingdoms of adventure.
Nintendo's best games feel like they encapsulate this wonder, be it the gravity antics and toybox worlds of Mario Galaxy, the endless experimental of Breath of the Wild, or the sheer joy of making a mess in Splatoon.

In addition, they put a strong focus on making their games feel satisfying to control, in the same tactile way as clicking together Lego bricks or playing with playdough.
Children also learn and grow through playing with others, and Nintendo's approach to gaming echoes that with their focus on local multplayer and bringing people together.

Of course, they qualities are not exclusive to Nintendo, but I feel that they lie at the very core of their design philosophy.

Those who label Nintendo as "childish" are not necessarily incorrect, they just completely miss the point; amidst the stresses of adult life, staying in touch with our inner child is in fact very healthy and beneficial.

To quote C S Lewis: "Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”

I feel like I missed a plot point in Xeno 3.

Looks like Splatoon 3 will be using Nintendo's new NPLN network infrastructure! Finally!!! There's only been 2 games that use Nintendo's new online system, Monster Hunter Rise and Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

Idk about Arceus, but I never heard about online issues when it came to MHR. So this a good thing for sure! Now if Nintendo can only transition all their other multiplayer games from the old system to the new......

Kirby's Dream Buffet is a cute little minigame, that has no business costing 15 dollars.

2022 is seriously looking like a contender for the Switch's best year for me.

So far I've played and enjoyed Kirby and the Forgotten Land, 13 Sentinels, Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak, Zombie Army 4, Bright Memory Infinite, and the first 20 hours of Xenoblade 3, and I'm still planning to get Splatoon 3, Bayonetta 3, Nier Automata, FIST Forged In Shadow Torch, and maybe more depending on what's revealed between now and the end of the year. (Hoping Prodeus and Turbo Overkill make it in time)

It's being ported by Virtuos, the team who ported Dying Light, Starlink, Dark Souls, LA Noire, and the Bioshock Collection to Switch.

3 years late to the party, but Ring Fit Adventure is really awesome!

I borrowed it from my girlfriend to help with my weight loss plan, and I was really pleasantly surprised by how much of a workout it really is, I'm genuinely working up and sweat and getting my heart pumping when I play for a while. My legs are actually pretty sore today from yesterday's session.

It succeeds brilliantly at making exercise feel fun and rewarding, (it's much easier to summon the motivation to play through a few levels of it than to go and jog around my local football oval in winter) and it has that classic EPD polish and sparkle that brings back warm memories of games like Wii Sports Resort.

I'm thoroughly enjoying it and it retroactively elevates Switch's 2019, a year I already thought was a great year for the platform.

These kind of quirky and off-beat games are one of the things I really love about Nintendo, I can't see any other major publisher creating something quite like this, at least with this level of quality and commitment to the concept.

I can see now why the game has been so wildly successful, and it's a great example of what makes Nintendo special.