Hello, Peach! and Hello, Luigi! are here, and toddlers are about to pull some faces

My nephew is long past the peekaboo stage and would be mortified if I suggested otherwise. But I remember the toddler years, and I remember exactly how long a small person will happily poke a screen if the face on it reacts. So this one made me smile before I'd even finished reading the headline.

Nintendo has released two new apps in its My Mario line, the little-kid-friendly range it built for parents and very young children: Hello, Peach! and Hello, Luigi! They join Hello, Mario! and Hello, Yoshi!, and they do the same gentle thing. You and your little one get a big, friendly character face to play with - peekaboo, silly expressions, grabbing a cheek on the touch screen and stretching it as far as it'll go. If that sounds familiar, yes, it's basically the Super Mario 64 title screen grown into its own little toy. Some of us spent an embarrassing amount of our childhood pulling Mario's nose. Now there's a whole generation getting that as their very first Nintendo memory, and honestly, I think that's lovely.

Both apps are free on the Nintendo eShop for Switch and Switch 2. One thing to know before you go hunting on your phone: Hello, Mario! and Hello, Yoshi! are on iOS and Android, but from what I can tell the Peach and Luigi versions are Switch-only for now. I'd love to see that change, because a phone is what most parents actually have in their bag in a doctor's waiting room.

There's a physical side too. Nintendo has reportedly shown off a toy called the Melody Car, which plays a tune for each character when you pop in one of the line's wooden block amiibo. I haven't seen a price or a release window I trust, so I won't guess.

Now, the honest bit. Is this Nintendo getting kids attached to its characters early? Of course it is. I'm not naive about it. But there's a kind way and a grubby way to do that, and a free app built for a parent and a child to use together is about as gentle as it gets. Whether screens belong in a toddler's day at all is every family's own call, and nobody needs a lecture from me.

Mostly, I'm just quietly thrilled Luigi got one. He's been the nervous little brother for decades. He deserves someone to play peekaboo with.

Image: The Conmunity - Pop Culture Geek from Los Angeles, CA, USA / CC BY 2.0, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anime_Expo_2011_-_Nintendo_characters_(5917369349).jpg