Nintendo is looking towards the future by celebrating the past, with its brand new trailer for the Nintendo Switch 2 featuring actor Paul Rudd in an adorable homage to the 90s commercial he did for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES).
The original 1991 commercial, which has since been uploaded to Nintendo’s YouTube page, features the then 22-year-old actor long before he stepped into the superhero boots of Ant-Man, flaunting curly long hair and an oversized black jacket as he hooks his SNES console up with a drive-in movie theatre screen. He then plays several Nintendo classics, such as F-Zero and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, all while cheered on by eager onlookers and hyped up by a narrator, who ends the commercial with the now-famous slogan: “Now you’re playing with power, super power.”
Nintendo’s latest trailer, released on 20 April, features the return of Rudd, who looks like he barely aged, despite being 34 years older, sporting the same hairstyle and jacket as he recreates the original commercial, this time in a living room and with a Nintendo Switch 2. Hooking up the console to a TV and playing with comedians Joe Lo Truglio and Jordan Carlos, as well as a kid named Lisa, he quips about his very 90s look as they game together using the system’s GameChat feature and camera accessory. The trailer concludes with Rudd voicing: “It’s nice playing with power, but this is better because now we’re playing together, super together,” backed by a fog machine and fan in a hilarious homage to the intensity of the 90s ad. The whole thing is as cheesy as it gets, but it serves as an effective, albeit tongue in cheek throwback that acknowledges the cringiness of the original SNES commercial.
Announced via the Nintendo Direct showcase in early April, the Nintendo Switch 2 is set to launch on 5 June 2025, with a separate release window of July to September for Southeast Asia. Despite the backlash regarding its base price of US$449.99 (and that its games might cost up to US$80), the company recently announced that its price will remain unchanged, and that pre-orders for the console will begin on 24 April in the United States, with a further statement that its “accessories will experience price adjustments from those announced on April 2 due to changes in market conditions”, seemingly because of the tariffs in the US. For more, check out our guide on ten things to know about the Nintendo Switch 2.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
HSALS
