Nintendo has come out with a brand new collection of custom icons for the Nintendo Switch Online members now, taking as a reference the famous gaming title of the GameCube era, Kirby Air Ride and thereby, going back in time and making it a great retro gaming experience once again. Players of the much-loved racing game can now take their MyNintendo Platinum Points until December 25th at 5 pm PT, and will then get a fantastic series of profile icons of game characters and elements. The icon elements will be changed every week which will provide gamers with that extra reason to return again and again.
What actually is the excitement to the surrounding Kirby Air Ride? Those gamers who neither own the GameCube console nor any of its games might get unaware of the game’s long initial lurking period followed by the later massive success. The game was certainly not an old-fashioned racing game at all. It included very basic control which was. Using only one button, the player could move, but on the other hand, the main objective was to take control of your air ride machine and perform stunts. Truly, Nintendo’s venturing this deep the past for the icons content has left the old-school fans thrilled.
The response on social media has been nothing but amazing in a positive sense. One player tweeted “I SAW IT AND GOT THEM ALL,” which in fact is the same for me. The hype sure exists when we talk about Nintendo and it over taking a game. One more user on Twitter was going as far as saying “TARANZA ICON COMINGGGGG” thus proving how well some people know the Kirby lore. I mean, Taranza is a new name for me in Kirby but he must be important as he is the only one mentioned, what do you think?
Conversely, instantly, after the news broke, the public started complaining with their familiar complaints and demanding more icons, leading to chaos. One of the most frequent complaints was “Where’s Rick” that occurred most often through messaging. Many people were demanding Rick who I believe is yet another character in the Kirby universe? A user even expressed his feelings by saying, “ok but where’s rick” with a crying emoji. I bet that it is a real hardship to have your favorite not featured in the icons rotation at all.
And once again, the whole Metroid Prime 4 was brought up. One user actually pointed to Nintendo’s strategy and said, “Did them for Kirby but not Hyrule Warriors, I see how it is🤣 Better do icons for Metroid Prime 4…” and it is hard to disagree at all. Another person just softly mentioned “Psst… Metroid is coming out soon too,” as if revealing a secret. The rivalries among different game fans will never be boring to observe as they unfold in real-time.
Some of the replies came in a classic Twitter style, being crazy. One user wanted to know if he could possibly swap his platinum points for V-bucks, which is just… why? Another tagged the Nintendo social media manager and asked for a free game code “because it’d be very funny”. The confidence is remarkable, I have to say.
The “no marx” saga had to be brought up again and again, and it was heart-wrenching to see how many people expressed their sorrow over the character that had supposedly not made it to the list. One user even wrote “no marx 💔” along with a sad face graphic. That certain characters in the Kirby extend their loyalty a very long way constantly surprises me – I had no idea that people got attached so easily and deeply to what are in fact just profile pictures.
In a way, it’s quite smart of Nintendo to use such iconic packs as an interaction tool with the users of their MyNintendo rewards program. Users earn points through various activities like playing mobile games or checking the news channel, then they can redeem them for digital goodies such as these icons. The company seems to be really trying to keep gamers engaged even through less attractive games by offering them something to collect each week.
Not only the point but also the timing has been very smart – the icons were to be released in December and at Christmas, thus giving people a reason to keep visiting the eShop during the festive season. Moreover, the mention of “Nintendo Switch 2” in the original tweet (wait, did they just casually confirm that it works on the Switch 2? that’s kind of a big deal) indicates that backward compatibility with their next system is something that they are thinking of.
Some responses were pretty much meta about the whole social media experience. A user was telling another to “go back to reddit” right in the middle of an argument about… something? The context got lost but the energy remained. The other response consisted just of “Cool story bro” with a random image attached. Twitter being Twitter, never change.
Thinking about it, the customization option of these icons is actually pretty cool.
