BODY: Ever wanted to grab Luigi by the cheeks and pull? Nintendo has now made that an officially sanctioned activity — for free.
On October 6, Nintendo released かおルイージ (Face Luigi) and かおピーチ (Face Peach) as free downloads on the Nintendo eShop. Both are "face play" apps: you poke, pull, stretch and spin the characters' faces to coax out an absurd range of expressions. There's no score, no levels, and no fail state — just a face that reacts.
The two titles extend a quietly growing series. かおマリオ (Face Mario) arrived on August 26, 2025, followed by かおヨッシー (Face Yoshi) that November. All four belong to MY MARIO (マイマリオ), Nintendo's brand aimed squarely at very young children, which also spans apparel, picture-book-style goods and wooden toys. The apps are rated CERO A, run offline once downloaded, and are free on Switch, Switch 2, iOS and Android — though the smartphone and tablet versions of Luigi and Peach are slated to follow later.
Beyond the squishing, there's a little more to do than the premise suggests. Classic Mario furniture turns up — Super Mushrooms, Super Stars, warp pipes and the occasional enemy — and the characters can be coaxed into peekaboo (いないいないばあ), the universal toddler icebreaker. Play long enough and Luigi or Peach simply nods off, which Nintendo frames openly as a cue to take a break.
The insider take
That sleep timer is the most Japanese design decision in the whole package. Screen-time anxiety among parents here is intense and institutional — nursery schools send home guidance about it, and pediatric associations publish recommendations — so an app that ends itself without a parent playing villain is a genuinely thoughtful piece of engineering. The broader play is more interesting still: MY MARIO is Nintendo planting a flag in the preschool territory long dominated by Anpanman and Sanrio, the age bracket where Japanese brand loyalty is actually formed. Give a two-year-old Luigi's face to squeeze for free, and you have a Mario customer for the next forty years. That is a remarkably cheap acquisition cost.
Originally reported by GAME Watch (Japanese).