Nintendo Fan Beats Impossible 1-2 Switch Mini-Game After 7 Years—Even Devs Never Did It
Seven years after its debut, Nintendo Switch’s quirky party game 1-2 Switch finally got a proper send-off—and it’s thanks to one dedicated player who managed to beat a mini-game that, apparently, not even the developers ever completed. Here’s how a forgotten game got its moment to shine at the end of the Switch’s lifecycle.
- 1-2 Switch’s Plate Spin mini-game finally beaten after 7 years
- One fan set a record no one—including devs—had ever reached
- Community and even official testers admit the feat was unprecedented
- Find out what actually happens when you win Plate Spin
The party game nobody finished—until now
Everyone knows Nintendo’s hits, but every console gets its oddballs. For the Switch, that was 1-2 Switch—a 2017 launch title packed with silly mini-games like fake cow-milking and balloon-inflating face-offs. It sold a few million copies, but let’s be honest: most people forgot it even existed. Except for a couple of determined players, who decided to chase an achievement the devs themselves never managed.
One of those players, known online as Elfilin, bought the game as a teen and found it was a perfect icebreaker—easy for anyone to pick up and play, no matter their gaming background. “I’m a big fan of Nintendo’s deeper, technical games, like Super Smash Bros., but with 1-2-Switch, I can pluck someone off the street and they might beat me in a Quick Draw,” Elfilin told Polygon. Even better, it became a college staple and a running joke in their friend group, especially the mini-games that had players keeping eye contact while doing something silly like, yes, thrusting their butts at each other.
The impossible Plate Spin
But the real story starts with Plate Spin. In this intense mini-game, players balance spinning plates using Joy-Con controllers—while trying to distract each other in real life. There’s a timer set for 2 minutes, but most matches end in seconds. For reference, check out this old IGN video where the round barely lasts 20 seconds, or
where it’s over in about 10 seconds. The timer seemed like a joke—until a friend of Elfilin’s noticed it in 2024 and asked if anyone had ever actually survived the full two minutes.
Six hours, sore arms, and a world first
“Nope,” Elfilin admitted, and after some digging, couldn’t find a single post or video online of anyone beating Plate Spin, or even mentioning the possibility. Thus began their mission. Over three sessions, they pushed themselves to the limit—arms aching, hands cramping, and strategy evolving with every failed attempt. They found that Plate Spin had some sneaky mechanics: go too slow, the plates wobble; too fast, the sticks fly off-center. Only by learning these quirks and constantly adapting could they push through.
After six hours of failed runs, they finally did it. The timer hit zero. And what happens next? Here’s the moment they captured:
The game’s crowd erupts in cheers, and then—plot twist—it just calls it a draw. It sounds silly, but it’s something no one else had ever done, and there’s no evidence online of anyone else ever seeing Plate Spin’s ending. Even a tester for 1-2 Switch chimed in on Reddit to confirm it: “As one of the testers on that game, congrats! I dont think any of us beat it in-house. Tbh I’m surprised we even bothered making it.” (Reddit thread)
Elfilin’s achievement isn’t your typical gaming flex, but with the Switch 2 on the way, it’s a fun way to say goodbye to a weird piece of Nintendo history. As they put it: “There was clearly a lot of effort put into programming the mechanics of the minigame, which I appreciate. It’s a big flex to be able to say that I’m the only person to complete a first-party Nintendo game, especially one that has sold 4 million copies.”
