Switch or something else? Can talk to me about what i need to buy please?

[coodawoodashooda]

It's for Christmas. We haven't got any kind of gaming equipment so far. 3 siblings aged between 6 and 10. I've been saving all year so i should (i hope) be able to affect all of what i need in order for them to enjoy it. What do i have tp buy? Where is the best place to buy it from? Are the games on the device or is that an extra expense? Do they need cases or protective covers? Im a single parent with absolutely no clue. Please help.

Totally missing the point but I would think she 6 is too young for fame consoles to be honest.

Age 6

The thing about games consoles is that it's not about the consoles so much, it's about the games they want to play, so I'd start there.

What games are your kids interested in? Or what games are you considering buying?

Mine love Animal Crossing at the moment, but they play it on their own Switches. We do family gaming for things like Mario Party, but mostly they play alone. My daughter wants Minecraft for Christmas as she wants to play with her friends.

My kids learn about new games on Youtube.

Have your kids mentioned any Switch games that they are interested in?

@coodawoodashooda

I think the lite one sounds more for us? Or is that not as 'cool'?

The fun is playing it together through the big telly.

Another vote for NOT getting the Lite. Get the full one with extra conttrollers and some games.
Playing Mario Kart as a family on the TV is really good, wholesome fun. And Minecraft looks great on the TV.

Ours gets used a lot. And, unlike the PS4, its not time spent alone in their bedroom.

This thread makes really good sense until i need to buy the extra controllers. Surely they would all come inclusive? You get 2 controllers attached to the Switch. If there's more of you (you plus another child) that wants to, say, race in Mario, you need extras. So with 1 x Switch and extra Joy Cons you can all play together.

A solo game, Like animal crossing, I'm pretty sure each child can have their own account on the switch so can play each game separately (someone correct me if I'm wrong on that though).

Animal Crossing is a weird one. Each player on the same console shares the same island, with one person as the "main" player who's the only one who can do certain things like name the island.

But for all OTHER games, the Switch lets you have multiple profiles and each one gets their own game saves.

Switch saves are on the console itself, even with cartridge games. Unlike the old Nintendo handhelds that saved to the cartridge.

@whosfarted

You know your children OP. If you were to buy ONE of the main switch consoles, and an extra pair of controllers so all your children could play a game at the same time, would they enjoy this? Do they get on well? Also if this is from Santa as you said above I'd purchase: -One Switch Console (not the lite) -One extra set of controllers for the 3rd child

• A multiplayer game such as Mario Kart or others upthread
• A solo game, Like animal crossing, I'm pretty sure each child can have their own account on the switch so can play each game separately (someone correct me if I'm wrong on that though).
• And some forms of protection (A case, tempered glass screen protector)

Then I would wrap it all up nicely, put it in a posh gift bag/box and have it as one big present from Santa/yourself! They'd be chuffed.
However, if they can't use a tv at your grandparents/your house they would have to take it in turns to play whilst the other two watched/waited, do you think this would cause problems or would they sit patiently and wait for their turn?
If you don't think they'd enjoy waiting, then a small tv too so they can just play multiplayer.
Hope this hasn't confused you more.

^^ this is my advice too.

In the 10 year kid's case, his classmates will be starting to move to the more grownup Xbox and PlayStation. The Switch is good wholesome fun for everyone but some games only come out on specific consoles eg Mario games only come out on Nintendo consoles.

You'll also need to consider that your 10 year old's friends will be playing each other online and chatting when they play and if they are on PS/Xbox then he'll be unable to play most games with them. This is likely going to be something that he pressures you about so be warned.

Im not saying that the Switch is babyish- Nintendo make some of the best games but assuming he's in y6, brace yourself for what comes next.

Just popping back to say my nearly 10 yo does play online with his friends - on Minecraft, Fortnite and Splatoon 2.

Minecraft and Fortnite both allow cross platform gaming - don't ask me how to set it up though as DH did it, but I think it's easy enough.

Yes my 2 play against each other on the Switch and PS4 and their mate on his Xbox.

Minecraft now but it was Fortnite before they self-banned from it.

My 2 cents worth as a huge gamer.

Firstly nobody has really mentioned the new switch version that was released week or so ago. So you have the switch lite, switch original and switch oled. The main/proper switch that everyone has been talking about is the original. The switch oled that was recently released and is about £60 more, basically just has a better screen so please discount this. Your kids wouldn't be able to tell the difference at their age, I'd put money on it.

As others have said, the red and blue (or grey depending on if you buy the blue and red 'Neon' version or grey version) bits at the edge of the screen are called joy cons and are removable. You can either:

1. Keep these on the screen and use them both for the one player using the screen.
2. Detach them and use both for one person and have great fun pretending you are throwing something when you flick a joy con in the air.
3. Detach them and let 2 people have one each as their controller. This is why if you buy an extra pair of joy cons 4 people in total can play. You can do this on the unit itself, or the TV I believe.

Personally I think if you can afford to get the original switch not the switch lite each, I would do. My reasoning for this are....

1. If each child has a friend round they could all play 2 player with their own console.
2. A lot of the best games on the switch are one player games, or best as one player.
3. I've never known any 2 siblings to agree on anything, let alone 3 so less fights about which game to play.
4. It is so much fun swinging the joy cons around like you are throwing a hat. You wouldn't get that with a lite as you can't Detach the controllers.
5. If any of them don't like them or maybe the older one out grows it, it would be easier to sell it on and get decent money for it compared to the lite (I watch prices and sales and lites take a lot longer to sell on ebay than originals).

Right onto game recommendations...
Mario kart for the whole family
Mario party for the whole family to look silly and have a laugh
Mario odyssey great one player game
Mario bros u deluxe/super mario 3d great classic platform one player (no I'm not on commission by the way!)
Donkey Kong another one player platformer.
Minecraft/dragon quest builders one player mining/creating game.
Starlink battle for atlas which is a kind of explorer game that you use physical toys with. You get a starter pack with a rocket, a pilot and 2 weapons and then you can buy different pilots, weapons etc as add ons for pocket money prices.
Warioware family game with lots of silly mini games.
Colours live is expensive but great for kids, it comes with a special pen that you use on the screen and you can draw and colour. My nephews love it.

Any games you don't like you can take into cex or game and in both places either get cash for them or store credit towards new games.

Finally as to where you buy your consoles from...
I've had 4 faulty switch consoles so have had to do a lot of returns with varying degrees of ease. From my experiences I would definitely recommend buying from Sainsbury, Tesco or Argos. They all accept your word that the item is faulty without having to take it away for testing. The bonus is you get nectar or club card points with the purchases and no hard sell on extended warranties.

Obviously I hope you won't get a faulty console, but if you do I don't want you coming into an argument just to get a working item. Game will do nothing if they cannot see the fault themselves, smyths want a day or 2 with the item to check it out etc etc so with 3 kids I'm sure you don't want the hassle.

Hopefully this all helps.

@rebeccachoc

My 2 cents worth as a huge gamer.

Firstly nobody has really mentioned the new switch version that was released week or so ago. So you have the switch lite, switch original and switch oled. The main/proper switch that everyone has been talking about is the original. The switch oled that was recently released and is about £60 more, basically just has a better screen so please discount this. Your kids wouldn't be able to tell the difference at their age, I'd put money on it.

As others have said, the red and blue (or grey depending on if you buy the blue and red 'Neon' version or grey version) bits at the edge of the screen are called joy cons and are removable. You can either:

1. Keep these on the screen and use them both for the one player using the screen.
2. Detach them and use both for one person and have great fun pretending you are throwing something when you flick a joy con in the air.
3. Detach them and let 2 people have one each as their controller. This is why if you buy an extra pair of joy cons 4 people in total can play. You can do this on the unit itself, or the TV I believe.

Personally I think if you can afford to get the original switch not the switch lite each, I would do. My reasoning for this are....

1. If each child has a friend round they could all play 2 player with their own console.
2. A lot of the best games on the switch are one player games, or best as one player.
3. I've never known any 2 siblings to agree on anything, let alone 3 so less fights about which game to play.
4. It is so much fun swinging the joy cons around like you are throwing a hat. You wouldn't get that with a lite as you can't Detach the controllers.
5. If any of them don't like them or maybe the older one out grows it, it would be easier to sell it on and get decent money for it compared to the lite (I watch prices and sales and lites take a lot longer to sell on ebay than originals).

Right onto game recommendations...
Mario kart for the whole family
Mario party for the whole family to look silly and have a laugh
Mario odyssey great one player game
Mario bros u deluxe/super mario 3d great classic platform one player (no I'm not on commission by the way!)
Donkey Kong another one player platformer.
Minecraft/dragon quest builders one player mining/creating game.
Starlink battle for atlas which is a kind of explorer game that you use physical toys with. You get a starter pack with a rocket, a pilot and 2 weapons and then you can buy different pilots, weapons etc as add ons for pocket money prices.
Warioware family game with lots of silly mini games.
Colours live is expensive but great for kids, it comes with a special pen that you use on the screen and you can draw and colour. My nephews love it.

Any games you don't like you can take into cex or game and in both places either get cash for them or store credit towards new games.

Finally as to where you buy your consoles from...
I've had 4 faulty switch consoles so have had to do a lot of returns with varying degrees of ease. From my experiences I would definitely recommend buying from Sainsbury, Tesco or Argos. They all accept your word that the item is faulty without having to take it away for testing. The bonus is you get nectar or club card points with the purchases and no hard sell on extended warranties.

Obviously I hope you won't get a faulty console, but if you do I don't want you coming into an argument just to get a working item. Game will do nothing if they cannot see the fault themselves, smyths want a day or 2 with the item to check it out etc etc so with 3 kids I'm sure you don't want the hassle.

Hopefully this all helps.

If i could id kiss you. I will do exactly what you have suggested. Thank you so very much.

@rebeccachoc

My 2 cents worth as a huge gamer.

Firstly nobody has really mentioned the new switch version that was released week or so ago. So you have the switch lite, switch original and switch oled. The main/proper switch that everyone has been talking about is the original. The switch oled that was recently released and is about £60 more, basically just has a better screen so please discount this. Your kids wouldn't be able to tell the difference at their age, I'd put money on it.

As others have said, the red and blue (or grey depending on if you buy the blue and red 'Neon' version or grey version) bits at the edge of the screen are called joy cons and are removable. You can either:

1. Keep these on the screen and use them both for the one player using the screen.
2. Detach them and use both for one person and have great fun pretending you are throwing something when you flick a joy con in the air.
3. Detach them and let 2 people have one each as their controller. This is why if you buy an extra pair of joy cons 4 people in total can play. You can do this on the unit itself, or the TV I believe.

Personally I think if you can afford to get the original switch not the switch lite each, I would do. My reasoning for this are....

1. If each child has a friend round they could all play 2 player with their own console.
2. A lot of the best games on the switch are one player games, or best as one player.
3. I've never known any 2 siblings to agree on anything, let alone 3 so less fights about which game to play.
4. It is so much fun swinging the joy cons around like you are throwing a hat. You wouldn't get that with a lite as you can't Detach the controllers.
5. If any of them don't like them or maybe the older one out grows it, it would be easier to sell it on and get decent money for it compared to the lite (I watch prices and sales and lites take a lot longer to sell on ebay than originals).

Right onto game recommendations...
Mario kart for the whole family
Mario party for the whole family to look silly and have a laugh
Mario odyssey great one player game
Mario bros u deluxe/super mario 3d great classic platform one player (no I'm not on commission by the way!)
Donkey Kong another one player platformer.
Minecraft/dragon quest builders one player mining/creating game.
Starlink battle for atlas which is a kind of explorer game that you use physical toys with. You get a starter pack with a rocket, a pilot and 2 weapons and then you can buy different pilots, weapons etc as add ons for pocket money prices.
Warioware family game with lots of silly mini games.
Colours live is expensive but great for kids, it comes with a special pen that you use on the screen and you can draw and colour. My nephews love it.

Any games you don't like you can take into cex or game and in both places either get cash for them or store credit towards new games.

Finally as to where you buy your consoles from...
I've had 4 faulty switch consoles so have had to do a lot of returns with varying degrees of ease. From my experiences I would definitely recommend buying from Sainsbury, Tesco or Argos. They all accept your word that the item is faulty without having to take it away for testing. The bonus is you get nectar or club card points with the purchases and no hard sell on extended warranties.

Obviously I hope you won't get a faulty console, but if you do I don't want you coming into an argument just to get a working item. Game will do nothing if they cannot see the fault themselves, smyths want a day or 2 with the item to check it out etc etc so with 3 kids I'm sure you don't want the hassle.

Hopefully this all helps.

Ive just bought the 3 original switch handset things and 3 games from Tesco. Thank you again.

My pleasure, I'm just glad I helped.

Well they will be very lucky and happy kids come Christmas, I hope they love them as much as I love mine.

Hi my gates are open for trick or treating dodo code is BBYLB

Hey just wanted to check in and see how they are doing with their switches? Sorry I don't know how to Private message otherwise I'd do that rather than digging up an old thread.