Nintendo Announces VR Support for Mario Odyssey and Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Nintendo, in their ever-unpredictable ways, has announced virtual reality support for two of their biggest Nintendo Switch titles: Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

According to a post by the Nintendo of America Twitter account, an update is coming to the two major titles that will implement virtual reality support through the Nintendo Labo VR kit, specifically with the kit's standard Labo Goggles.

For Super Mario Odyssey, there will be three new "bit sized bonus experiences," such as collecting music notes and coins. The feature will be available in the Cap Kingdom, the Seaside Kingdom, and the Luncheon Kingdom. Each mini mission will place the camera in a single, stationary location as the player views Mario from a distance.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has a bit more, but technically a bit less. Instead of new missions and VR focused gameplay, it appears that the near entirety of the game will now support VR mode. Players can use their existing save files, or create a new save. The feature is enabled in the options menu, right below the Amiibo setting. They did note, however, that the pre-rendered cutscenes will not be in VR.

It took us all by surprise when Nintendo announced a Nintendo Labo VR kit. Virtual reality is a growing trend and Nintendo tends to follow their own path. We certainly didn't expect them to enable VR support on major titles like this. Maybe our dreams of a Pokemon Snap VR game are as close as ever.

The VR updates to both games will release on April 25, 2019 for free. Perfect timing, since the Nintendo Labo VR kit will be available for purchase on April 12. It's worth mentioning that the full Nintendo Labo VR kit is not needed to play these updates, only the Starter Kit, which contains the VR Goggles and the VR Blaster. Might be a better idea, since the Starter Kit is $40 while the full kit is $80.