Nintendo’s first VR product in 24 years is coming to Nintendo Switch

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  Nintendo's cardboard-fueled Labo line is back, and this time, it's draped over your Switch as a headset to simulate a VR effect. Buy either the starter set or the full VR Kit bundle. [credit: Nintendo ]

Rumors of a VR-fueled Nintendo Switch app or add-on have swirled for nearly two years, with fans wondering whether such an immersive update would require more hardware or a brand-new Switch model. Turns out, the answer is something a lot simpler: a bunch of foldable cardboard.

Yes, Nintendo's build-it-yourself Labo controller series will return on April 12 with arguably its most ambitious version yet: the Nintendo Labo VR Kit. This cardboard rig will include a plastic, face-fitting mask, complete with plastic lenses, that attaches to a Nintendo Switch in "portable" mode. This mix of face-fitting mask and lenses will translate the Switch's 720p screen into two eye-fitting images that simulate VR in much the same way as Google Cardboard.

How that performance will compare to smartphones, however, remains to be seen, as the Switch's LCD panel does not include the same kinds of persistence-dampening tweaks found in VR-headset panels like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. We imagine this will all still look and feel more comfortable than Nintendo's last stab at a vision-filling headset: 1995's Virtual Boy, which was legendary designer Gunpei Yokoi's final creation for Nintendo before he left the company one year later.

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