Happy Monday, folks, and welcome to the Weekly Video Games Thread!

Like some of you, I’ve been enjoying the just-released Nintendo Switch 2, and off a recommendation from Lily-Bones, I decided to get Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour. That’s the one that should be a pack-in but isn’t. Welcome Tour is actually legit fascinating, as it shows Nintendo being aggressively transparent about their hardware. You literally go inside a Switch 2 as they teach you about how computer mice and the magnetized Joy-Con 2’s work. I had no idea how video game rumble functionality worked until now.

However, what might have captured my attention the most are the mini-games. See, Welcome Tour is a museum and teaching tool, but since it’s Nintendo doing the teaching, it also features many interactive segments. Each one imparts or illuminates some aspect of the screen, Joy-Con 2, HD Rumble 2, or some such. And holy hell are they wonderfully goofy. One of the first is simple, a bit where you use the Joy-Cons as maracas to show the depth of the functions. Some use the mouse controls to dodge bombs or move through electrified walls. Some are really hard.

And then there’s “Super Mario Bros. 4K.” This is Nintendo’s first 4K device, and a decent portion in its audience of Nintendo-only players, casuals, and families might not be fully familiar with the nature of 4K. Hell, I’m a recent purchaser of 4K and am still figuring out its specifics. So, hey, let’s play Super Mario Bros.‘ World 1-1 in 4K! Imagine the size of those pixels! The clarity! The breadth! What could Nintendo, a company of unbelievably weird technical wizardry, do with such a prospect?

Well, unfortunately the image I got from my playthrough is only 1080p, but I think the header says it all: you play the 256 x 240 pixel Super Mario Bros. on a 3,840 × 2,160 pixel screen. Either you go right up to the screen or rely on the colors of Mario’s sprite. I opted for the latter. As you play, the architecture of 1-1 stretches out. It is fucking hilarious, easily funnier than anything in Avowed and probably my favorite gaming joke of 2025.

And so, today’s prompt: what are some of your favorite absolutely ridiculous mini-games? This can go from tech demo silliness like in Welcome Tour (other fun bits include “Guess the Frame Rate” and a Twister-esque bit where you have to keep eight fingers on the screen) to the more conventional. Like a Dragon is a masterclass in this kind of design, as Kazama Kiryu and Ichiban Kasuga can enjoy karaoke, cart racing, business management, or actual SEGA arcade games. Mario Party and its various clones have more overt examples, but those can be pretty damn weird, too. And what about Pokéthlon or scanning for Mass Effect planets or Bombchu bowling or the RE4 firing range?

While you’re chewing on this, what did you play this weekend?