Throughout its decades in the video game industry -- including many years where the company was the name synonymous with gaming -- it's kind of surprising that Nintendo has never aired a Super Bowl commercial.
(The Pokemon Company aired a Super Bowl ad last year for the series' 20th anniversary, but despite popular misconceptions, that company is not 100 percent owned by Nintendo.)
Maybe they never felt like they needed to. Maybe the idea was that their audience, which often skews younger, wasn't the same audience that watches the big football game. In any case, they're changing that now with a big push for their upcoming home console (which doubles as a portable gaming device), the Nintendo Switch.
The ad will air for 30-seconds during the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, but Nintendo has uploaded a 90-second version of the ad that you can watch right now.
The ad goes out of its way to show off the various use cases of the system, allowing players to enjoy games at home on their couch, in bed after waking up, at a party, in an empty classroom (which I guess is a cool place to hang out?), at the laundromat (again, real cool place to chill) and more. It shows footage from a variety of games including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Just Dance 2017, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and 1-2 Switch.
The song playing behind it, if you're curious, is Imagine Dragons' "Believer," a new song that just premiered the day before this ad dropped online.
"The most anticipated video game system and video game of the year will be seen on the biggest stage of the year," Nicolas Chavez, Nintendo of America's vice president of marketing said in a press release. "Nintendo Switch will change how, when and where people play games. It's only fitting that we're changing how, when and where we advertise those games."
The Nintendo Switch launches on March 3 for $299.99. Here's everything you need to know about it.
