How long do each of the Toycon builds take?
Nintendo's estimates: VR Goggles: 30-60 mins, Camera: 30-60 mins, Elephant: 60-120 mins, Bird: 90-150 mins, Wind Pedal: 90-150 mins, Blaster: 120-180 mins
What are the technical specs of the Switch? I heard it's not suited for VR.
The Switch screen is 720p with a 60Hz refresh rate. The resolution is just below that of PSVR as well as most mobile VR, while being most comparable to the latter. While that is considered low, and below what many consider the minimum requirements for suitable VR, Nintendo has been able to mitigate most of the biggest fears related to low-performance VR, such as motion sickness. For most, this means that the screen will appear a bit blurry with a noticeable "screen door effect", meaning the separation between individual pixels is pronounced enough to be noticeable, appearing like a mesh screen door over the image. Most have reported that the refresh rate does not cause sickness or discomfort, but moving your head at a fast rate does create a "motion blur" effect, so rather than creating a delayed image that may create a disconnect between what you see and where you feel you should be looking, you will get an image that looks a little smeared. While the effect may not be desirable, when compared to the alternative of potentially provoking discomfort and motion sickness, the end result is that the game is still playable without the unfortunate physical side effects.
Will I get sick?
Motion sickness in VR is a very individual experience that varies from person to person and from game to game. If you know you have any propensity for motion sickness, you may want to take as much caution with this as any other VR experience. Nintendo recommends taking breaks and only playing for a few minutes at a time. Most of the Labo VR experiences are very gentle and don't have much movement that you aren't in control of. The sweet spot for the lenses are pretty big without very strong magnification so even the act of just looking through the lenses to stare at a screen is less likely to cause strain and discomfort. Even the act of holding up the goggles to your face creates an amount of disconnect from the immersion that makes you aware you aren't in the virtual world, which may also help to mitigate potential motion sickness. There has been at least one person reporting a immediate feeling of discomfort,
which they have said was helped by removing their screen protector, although it is unclear if this was the cause of their discomfort since others have also mentioned no noticeable change or distortion of their experience caused by their own screen protectors. Ultimately, people have different eyes and different physiology that will create scenarios where some are more susceptible to motion sickness than others, and even then some experiences can allow the discomfort to subside as you get used to it, but it's up to you to decide if a VR experience is right for you.
For those living in the United States and wish to try it out Labo VR for themselves, Best Buy is having a Labo VR demo in-store on April 14th from 11am-2pm local time (
check stores for details).
Is Labo VR "real VR"?
Labo VR does not offer the same positional tracking of your body that other VR like PSVR, HTC Vive, or Oculus Rift does. It does have rotational tracking for your head like mobile VR such as Google Cardboard and GearVR offers allowing for a more limited VR experience, but with a similar 3D stereoscopic view of a virtual world.
Does Labo VR have 6 Degrees of Freedom?
6 degrees of freedom in VR refers to tracking along 3 positional axes and 3 rotational axes. Other high-end VR often offers 6 DoF tracking, but Labo only offers 3 DoF. Although the Elephant Toycon expansion does allow for 6 DoF controller tracking in relation to your 3 DoF head tracking, which means you are able to draw in 3D space, but with only 3 DoF head tracking, you aren't able to lean and look around your drawing.
Is there any way to put on a strap?
It does not come with a strap nor are there any signs of a way to attach a strap in the future nor is there an official strap attachment announced. The holes on the side of the goggles are grommets and washers used to attach the lenses to the carboard and not actually holes. Although in true DIY fashion, some have already built their own straps to use their goggles like a headset, but it will need to be something to make yourself.
Can you use the Labo VR goggles with headphones?
Yes, there are cut outs for the headphone jack and the volume controls when the Switch is in the goggles. The sound is also audible when in the goggles without headphones as well since there are small cut outs about where the speakers are in the front of the Switch.
Does it work with glasses?
Yes, there is enough space for glasses.
Do you need to have the Joycons attached to the console to have gyro tracking?
No, there are gyroscopes and accelerometers built into the Switch console itself.
How many Labo VR games are compatible with each Toycon?
The camera, the elephant, and the blaster Toycon each have 2 bigger game experiences a piece. The Bird and Wind Pedal are the exception since they have one game each, as well the game Bird Dash which uses both the Bird and Wind Pedal Toycon together.
Are all the VR Plaza mini games compatible with the Starter Kit?
No, there 48 VR Plaza games compatible with just the Starter Kit. 4 for the Blaster, 4 for the Pinwheel, and 38 that use some the goggles alone, usually with a detached Joycon. Finally, 8 of the games are made to show what types of non-VR games you can make with the new VR Garage.
How many VR Plaza games are compatible with each expansion?
The Elephant has 4 VR Plaza games and the Camera has 4 as well. The Bird and Wind Pedal also are compatible with 4 each.
Is there any other VR content included?
There are 33 short videos to give you a taste of stereoscopic 180 degree video shot for VR.
Is there any way to share games made in VR Garage?
No, there is no online sharing or any other functionality currently in the game that allows any type of sharing of the games you create yourself.
I can't find any of the Expansion Kits in-store? Where else can I buy them?
Nintendo sells the Expansion Kits through their own store:
Elephant/Camera expansion:
https://store.nintendo.com/ng3/us/p...se&productId=prod1000953&categoryId=cat960195
Bird/Wind Pedal expansion:
https://store.nintendo.com/ng3/us/p...se&productId=prod1000954&categoryId=cat960195
Is there any way to replace torn or broken cardboard parts?
Nintendo suggests repairing minor damage with some tape for Labo, but there are pdf files of the cardboard sheets up on line if you wish to produce replacements yourself
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/labo/parts/
As with Nintendo's other Labo kits, they may offer the chance to buy individual parts as replacements on their own store website in the future (currently unavailable):
https://store.nintendo.com/ng3/browse/subcategory.jsp?categoryId=cat970106&locale=&categoryPage=true
