The Switch turned eight this week and Nintendo Life contributor and friend of the site Gonçalo ‘Shiryu’ Lopes posted this touching tribute to the console and its effect on his life on Patreon. With kind permission, we’re publishing an adapted version of his personal Switch story…
The Wii U sadly fizzled so I had picked up a secondhand PlayStation 3 and went on playing ‘catch up’ with every game I had missed out on. And then, eight years ago, I got home with that bundle you see in the image below. Nothing was ever the same.
Video games have been a huge part of my life, as anyone who knows me can attest. My life has been, however — despite my best efforts to keep it away from public knowledge so as not to worry anyone — hard and challenging. While video games are no substitutes for family and friends, the truth is I am still here today because video games saved my live on several occasions.
My childhood has pretty much been saved by the Game Boy and the Super Nintendo. The first PlayStation and Nintendo 64 saw me through every other day bullying in high school. The PlayStation 2 and GameCube probably made my university course tolerable, and the Wii pretty much ensured that there was not a single boring day in my early professional career. But the Switch was yet to come…
There was great expectation in the industry to see what Nintendo would come up with to counter the Wii U’s sad misfire. So a humble-powered hybrid console that would unify the company’s home and portable offerings was the do-or-die decision that carried the name of Nintendo into eternity. Eight years and 150 million (!) sold units later, it is safe to say it was the correct choice.
Coming home day one with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was a true luxury. I often feel humbled by video game experiences and I am so happy to have been able to experience this one. Yet this was only the first of many life-changing experiences.
I was playing Super Mario Odyssey when the call came from my mom: My dad was having a stroke that nearly killed him. Fortunately, he made a full recovery; it was not his time.
The COVID-19 pandemic came and the world as we knew it stopped. Animal Crossing: New Horizons became my little anchor of sanity as people around me and, well… the entire planet went slightly out of control.
When everyone began breathing normally again, Russia decided to begin its ongoing war on Ukraine (and by extension, the entirety of Western civilisation). Yet a bigger war was already underway inside of my body: My cancer diagnostic came in early February 2022 and my entire life came to a halt.
Playing Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was an absolutely different experience when you never know if you will be around to finish it. I also have vivid memories of playing Kirby and the Forgotten Land mid-chemo sessions. It was an extremely hard road to this date, but I made it. Yet not all of us did.
More than celebrating the Nintendo Switch and its many gaming experiences, today I want to celebrate two of my friends that, unlike me, did not make it. They won’t be able to experience the incoming Nintendo Switch 2 but their memory and passion for video games lives on. Wherever David Oliveira and Telmo Couto are, probably drifting among the stars in the universe, I wish them safe travels and assure them that they are missed.
To all of you reading this and enjoying video games: Well played! Life is extremely short and everyone has the right to use their time on this Earth as they see fit. All my life, I have been criticised for my choices, but all those people who spoke up against my love for video games faded out of importance. Today, I still play video games with the same passion as when I began back on the ZX Spectrum. Plus, by some sort of fluke, my passion hobby became an actual source of income and I love the work I do within the video games industry.
I am very lucky to be alive today. I am extremely fortunate to have amassed a gigantic Switch game library that will keep me busy for decades to come. I thank Nintendo for making my life way more awesome than it had any right to be. Since this is the final season of the Switch before its inevitable successor is released, I wanted to make sure that this eighth birthday is one to be remembered.
Thank you for your continued support. Time to go play some video games!
Hear hear! You can find more words (and music) from Shiryu on Patreon.
