Nintendo’s Two New Free Switch Apps Are for Toddlers, and a Wooden Block Calls Up the Character

Nintendo put out two new Switch releases this week that cost nothing, run with the Wi-Fi off, and are built for someone who cannot read the title screen. Hello, Peach! and Hello, Luigi! are on the eShop now, free on Switch and Switch 2, and here is the complete list of things to do in them: poke a cartoon face, stretch it, spin it, and play peekaboo.

There is no score, no levels and nothing to unlock, and both run single player in handheld mode only. Nintendo's store pages file them under the genres "Action" and "Simulation," which is funny until you picture a toddler dragging Luigi's nose across the screen and decide the tag is doing its best.

What you get

Tap the ? Block in the top-left corner and a short menu drops things into the scene: a Super Mushroom, a Super Star, pipes, a few enemies. The leftmost icon starts peekaboo, and Nintendo says Boo turns up sometimes. After a stretch of play the character gets tired and falls asleep, and no amount of poking wakes them, which Nintendo pitches openly as a screen-time brake for parents. You can switch that off with the gear icon when the app starts, but it ships on by default, which is Nintendo siding with whoever is paying for the console.

The housekeeping: both are $0, rated E, no subscription required, nothing to buy inside. Each takes about 200MB on Switch and 215MB on Switch 2, supports 16 languages, and needs the internet exactly once, to download it. Nintendo's listings date both apps October 5, and they landed on the eShop late that night.

The wooden blocks do something

Nintendo's My Mario line includes beech hardwood block sets (Peach, Luigi and Yoshi sets, plus a 30-piece Mario & Friends set), and the character blocks double as amiibo. Nintendo's note on both new store pages says to tap one to your Switch or Switch 2 while the app is open and that character will appear. The same line sits on the older Hello, Mario! page, so the whole series reads the blocks now.

A toddler cannot navigate a home menu. A toddler can absolutely press a wooden Luigi against a screen. That is a smart piece of design, and it is also Nintendo selling physical toys that make a free app better.

What is missing

Hello, Mario! and Hello, Yoshi! are on iPhone and Android as well as Switch. Peach and Luigi are not, at least not yet. Neither Nintendo store page carries an App Store or Google Play link, and nothing under those names turns up from Nintendo on the App Store. VideoGamesChronicle reports that phone versions are coming. Nintendo has not said so itself.

Who this is for

Not you, unless there is someone in your house between walking and reading. The My Mario line has been piling up quietly for most of a year: board books, wooden blocks, stop-motion shorts, and now four free apps. Nintendo is working a few years below the audience it usually sells to, and these two apps are a small, cheap piece of that. If you have the kid, they cost nothing and need one internet connection.