WWE star John Cena makes a living bodyslamming tough guys twice his size, so it may come as a surprise that the 16-time WWE champ has a soft spot for the Nintendo Switch.
Cena recently tag teamed with Nintendo to promote the Nintendo Switch. He spent a day in a California desert inside a mobile house playing The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild and shared his thoughts on the new console in an interview .
A Proud Child Of Nintendo
Cena shared that his affinity with Nintendo comes naturally, as he spent his childhood playing Nintendo video games, vividly recalling playing Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros., Gyromite, Urban Champion, and Ice Climber.
"I am a certainly a child of the original Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES, as the gamer Hall of Famers attribute it," Cena said proudly. "That eight-bit graphical interface has truly stood the test of time, and now you see so many vintage designs and content available in eight-bit."
Cena said that he grew up with three brothers and two controllers. As a born competitor, he loved the challenge of fighting for the controllers with his brothers. That competitiveness extended to his love for sports video games, of course played on a Nintendo system. He admitted that Super Tecmo Bowl was his favorite game. An action and fighting game freak, he also played classics like the shooter Contra, stealth game pioneer Metal Gear and boxing game Punch Out.
He said that he could get "geeky" spending hours reading game instructions and playing games. These long hours spent having fun is what he finds to have been "recreated with the Switch."
Nintendo Switch And John Cena Tag-Team Tour
As part of the Switch promotion Cena went to Santa Clarita, California to meet up with YouTube influencers and invited fans.
He even shared the experience via Twitter, where he posted a picture of him holding the Switch with the caption: "Starting my day with @NintendoAmerica and the new #NintendoSwitch. Who's ready for some #Zelda: Breath of the Wild? #ad"
"I'm floored by the technology of the Switch, and the versatility of the console is second to none," he said, praising the flexibility feature of Switch, which is the console's main selling point.
The Nintendo Switch is a hybrid home console and portable gaming system in one. A design feature called Joy-Con controllers can be attached or removed from the portable screen, which also serves as the main console when docked and used as normal home console.
Nintendo Switch is due for worldwide release on March 3. A number of games are already slated for same-day launch.
