Nintendo switch help!

[YingMei]

Total computer game novice here. I have 2 children who will be 7 and 10 at Xmas and I am toying with the Nintendo Switch.
Do I have to buy the console thing twice for them both to have one? As id like them to have a handset each for journeys but don't suppose I need two of the console things?

If you want them both to be able to play on journeys then yes you will need 2 consoles. If you just want them to be able to play 2 player in the tv then you need one console and you can get extra controllers.

You can get a switch lite which cannot be played together on, as an individual hand held set.

The main switch is really a one a house hood thing that you can buy multiple controllers so the whole family can join in.

Ah okay, so if I bought 1 they could both play at home? It just plugs into the telly? And I could buy extra controllers for me and DH (if we wanted!)
So it would be a suitable joint present?

Yes. It’s something for everyone whereas the switch lite can only be played by one person at a time

Thank you! How do the games work? Do you need wifi for them or are they old school plug in?!

They are inserted in. The cases come with a cartridge that you put in the console. No Wi-Fi needed

I only have one DC. But tbh if you travel and do trips and you want your kids entertained I would consider one each unless one is happy the switch and the other an Ipad/tablet. Your kids can share at home.... but if the eldest wanted to take it out as a handheld I imagine they would argue about who is having it

If you can afford two consoles, buy two consoles. I speak from experience (we have 4 on our house!). It saves arguments.

You can buy physical copies of games. You can also buy them online over WiFi.

Some games can be played online over WiFi with others. If you want to do that you need to subscribe to the Nintendo online service as well.

Thank you I'm glad I asked! I can't comfortably afford 2 consoles but I think this could work as a good joint present and they can stick with their kindle fires in the car or similar

You could get one switch and a switch lite so on journeys they can have one each and that would work out cheaper - you don't need two full consoles. You can download games from the Nintendo store or buy the game from a shop and you get the cartridge. Or just get the switch and they can take turns on journeys.

Some great 4 player games are mario party, rayman legends, super smash bros, and mario kart.

If you go somewhere away from a tv the dc can play using the hand held part of the switch as the screen (you do need to put it on a surface really so couldn't do it in the car) and play 2 player games. The coloured bits at the side detach and you can use them as controllers for playing on the go.

Great thank you this is all so helpful

You can get a mount to put the screen up on the head rest of the front seat in the car. We do that on long journeys so ours can play two player games against each other.

My youngest two share a switch and have done for some time now. They sometimes argue a bit about playing the downloaded games on each other's accounts but overall it's fine.
This year the youngest has requested a switch lite for Christmas, only because he wants to take it to his friends houses which I don't allow with the shared switch.

Nintendo Switch (to connect to TV) from Argos - £259.99 each.

Nintendo Switch Lite (portable handheld versions) - £145 to £150 each from CEX with a 2 Year Warranty. So two would be about £300.00. Which works out to be £40.00 more but let's them play their own games by themselves, or if it's a multiplayer game, together.

Obviously with two handheld ones, you would need to buy two lots of the game. But you could just shop savvy and just get the games that are on sale from the Nintendo Store which simply download straight to the console without the need for the kids then misplacing the game cartridges.

If you have any other old game console, DVD's, video games, mobile phones etc laying around the house, you can also trade those in, to pay towards them.

Sorry, how do they play against each other on the lite ones?

We got one switch that plugs into TV, so my 2 either use on tv for 1 player or multiplayer, or use by itself handheld - so have a rota! Think it the neon. The lite doesn't hook up to tv. We tend to make sure we get games with the cartridge as prefer to have the physical item - when buying games just need to check if has cartridge or is downloadable only. Some good offers come up on black Friday- usually bundles with games. Think we got ours with Mario kart and minecraft. However, that may be too close to xmas for you. We tend to look at smyths, the entertainer, argos, currys, tescos and amazon for the console and games offers.

And extra controllers /joycons can be expensive. We got the "compatible" nob branded ones and have been fine. My ds are 8 and 10 and play minecraft, mario kart, Mario 3d worlds, Mario and sonic Olympics, and a few of the lego games (invincibles, Harry Potter, star wars). However, those based on films do usually follow the story, so might have spoilers if not read books, seen films. I know the HP one did!

They don’t

Non branded.....bit of a typo!

The switch lite doesn't have as many features as the switch so I would definitely buy the switch.

I would also buy the physical games as they keep their value really well if you want to resell them while you obviously can't sell digital downloads.

😅 I thought nob branded sounded a little inappropriate...

You can play against/with each other on two switch lites if the game supports that.

The switch has a local play option where it connects directly to the other switch so they can play together and fairly certain this works even when there's no wifi so in cars should be fine (but you might want to check that to be certain!)

One thing to consider is a game is saved to the device, not an online user account. so if they were playing on one main full switch at home they couldn't continue this game on a different switch lite. so if you're thinking in car journeys etc two switch lites may be the better option but then you wont be able to play on the big tv at home!

it's a tough call!

You can however get away with one copy of games, well so long as they don't want to play the same game at the same time! as you can just use the game cartridge in all machines you've got (just not at the same time), it's not locked to a single console

I think you will be fine with the the normal switch. My children are 12, 10 and 7 and got the switch as a joint Christmas present last year - we haven't had any arguments over it yet! We did buy 2 extra sets of controllers so could do mario kart in 4 player. It was well worth the money. We also bought trivial pursuit and monopoly for it which are really fun to play as a family. The only game which has worked out a pain is animal crossing, you can only have 1 island per console, so my ds has set up an island but my dd can't have her own one, she can only play on her brothers! We also paid to have the family online membership and expansion packs.