The Nintendo Switch version of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker now has VR support, thanks to a free update today. The Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker VR experience uses Nintendo Labo’s VR Kit to give players a close-up look at Captain Toad‘s map screen and four courses, including a first-person mine cart level.
Nintendo announced the free Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker VR update with a new trailer, showcasing some of the experience. In the trailer, we get a look at the 360-degree view of Captain Toad‘s course selection screen and of all four available courses. The first two seem fairly simple, but the second two — a level involving underwater sections and a first-person mine cart ride — appear to be a bit more interesting. In the mine cart level, players ride along a roller coaster-like track, firing turnips at objects on either side of the track to collect gems.
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Captain Toad seems particularly suited for VR playability, given its unique diorama-like levels. The game is already playable in 3D via the Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker 3DS port, but the Labo VR update appears to add a new layer of immersion. It’s a shame that only four levels are playable in VR, but it’s on par with the Labo VR experiences added to other first-party Nintendo games. Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild both received VR updates back in April 2019. Odyssey‘s update added VR-playable sections of three of the game’s kingdoms, which, while entertaining, was fairly limited. Breath of the Wild‘s VR update, meanwhile, made the entire game playable in VR, but many players experienced nausea due to the mode’s odd motion-controlled camera and poor resolution, which can probably be attributed to the console’s limitations.
Perhaps a sequel to Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker could more fully embrace VR. It’s perhaps the Nintendo property most suited to the VR perspective, given its easy-going pace and fixed camera. Either way, the Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker VR update is still a thoughtful addition to the game, and it’s nice to see Nintendo continuing to support Labo VR.
