'Snipperclips' Is My Most Anticipated Nintendo Switch Game
Cut your friends into shapes to solve puzzles.
There’s a lot to love about what Nintendo’s presented of the upcoming Nintendo Switch — the company’s latest console. It plays on a TV, it plays on the go, and there’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild to look forward to at launch. That’s just to name a few of the tidbits we already know ahead of the March 3 release. And yet somehow, Snipperclips, a little game about cutting your friends into puzzle shapes, is my most anticipated Nintendo Switch game.
The premise of Snipperclips, at least from what we’ve seen so far, is to cut characters into specific shapes in order to then solve puzzles with those shapes. When played with other players, that means each player can cut the other. Gameplay is a chaotic whirlwind of discussing how to best cut off pieces of each other while the characters — simple shapes with adorable faces — mill about and make noises. It’s relatively straightforward, but complex in execution.
What's not to love here?
This is based purely on seeing the game played on the Nintendo Treehouse live stream on January 13, some still images on Nintendo’s website, and available online details about Friendshapes — Snipperclips clear predecessor. So, admittedly, there’s no first-hand knowledge of the game on which I am basing this opinion. But I’d be lying if I said anything else were as exciting.
In a way, it’s reminiscent of all the best parts of Portal 2’s co-op campaign with the aesthetic and goal of Scribblenauts. There’s the quibbling together about how to solve any particular problem, but the end result is overwhelmingly charming no matter what. An easy descriptor, though perhaps legally questionable, might be Scribblenauts: Scrapbooking Edition. And it’s set for a March 2017 release.
It's all about teamwork. And clipping bits out of each other.
If you’re looking for negatives to the Switch, there’s the Joy-Con controllers being a bit odd, or the Switch’s battery life, or the Joy-Con’s battery life, or honestly any number of things. The $299 MSRP is another easy target. Nintendo’s not exactly printing money with its reveal, but I’d say I’m cautiously optimistic because of investments in the likes of Snipperclips.
Which is to say: I’m ecstatic that Nintendo’s going to continue to bring goofy joy to the masses. Snipperclips looks like an absolute riot, and up to four players can play along. The last time I actually wanted to gather four people to play a game might have been Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles for the GameCube, so instantly causing me to start thinking about logistics is no easy task.
There’s no telling what Snipperclips is actually like right now. Maybe it just feels wrong in my hands when I try to navigate about with the Joy-Con. Maybe movement is more frustrating than it looks, with more precision than I have in me being necessary. But maybe it’s everything it appears to be: A simple joy that slowly becomes more complex without ever losing what makes it fun. That’d be more than enough.
