A first-time actor describes what it was like being in the Nintendo Switch trailer
Last week, Nintendo finally introduced the world to the Switch, a brand new video game system that combines the technological power of a home console with the portability of a handheld. Thanks to detachable controller bits called Joy-Cons, you can go straight from playing games on your couch with a traditional-ish controller to breaking the controller in half, connecting it to a tablet-like screen, and then playing the exact same game on your toilet or whatever. It’s all rather exciting, thanks in part to the refreshingly well-made announcement video that Nintendo released featuring one immensely satisfying sound-effect and a bunch of cool, young people.
But what was it like being one of those cool, young people? As it turns out, at least one of them is a video game fan whose appearance in the trailer was his first acting gig ever, and he recently made a video on his Twitch channel about the experience. His name is Nicky (or Dickhiskhan on Twitch), and though his video seems to be gone now, Kotaku managed to see it in time and shared some of the highlights from his story.
Nicky played the professional Splatoon player with red hair who is seen drawing strategies on a little chalkboard before heading into an arena and enthusiastically high-fiving people. He says he got the part after answering a casting call for a “commercial for gamers,” though he had no idea it would be for Nintendo (let alone the then-unannounced Switch, which was still known by its codename “NX” at the time). In fact, he didn’t put it together until he got on set and noticed jerseys that said “Gen 7” on them, referencing Nintendo’s seventh game console.
While filming, he was able to touch the console and use the controllers, though he says nobody actually got to play any real games on the Switch. Also, his phone was taken away for 12 hours to prevent leaks during the shoot, and “some Nintendo higher-ups” were there supervising everything in person. He also claims that he “started drawing dicks” on the chalkboard after a few takes, so there might be a shot in the actual trailer “where there’s dicks on the chalkboard and you can’t see them.” On a related note, we probably won’t be seeing Nicky in any high-profile video game announcement trailers ever again. (For the record, Kotaku claims it “could not locate the alleged dicks.”)
[Note: Kotaku, like The A.V. Club, is owned by Univision Communications.]