Nintendo Switch Games - Recommendations

[cameocat]

DS9 recently saved up for one. Loved Pokemon Sword and enjoys Mario Kart.

What else might he enjoy?

I hear good things about Zelda but he might be a bit young. Animal crossing? luigi's mansion? Crash bandicoot? The games are eye wateringly expensive so would love to hear your experiences/recommendations.

Mario kart, mario odyssey or all stars?

@Lazysundayafternoons I think it really depends on your child. My DS is 7 and is really getting into Breath of the Wild, but he's been playing a lot of different games on the Switch for a year and can handle the complexity/open world feel.

Link's Awakening is a Game boy game and completely different. My son was really enjoying this until BOTW came along! It's still a great game, but you can get stuck solving dungeon puzzles, so You Tube was needed at times.

@MsMiaWallace

Mario kart, mario odyssey or all stars?

Mario Kart and Mario Odyssey - totally depends on your preference. Kart is better for multiplayer but Odyssey is so much fun.

I wouldn't get All Stars for kids, the old games are great but don't think they'd have the same appeal for kids as the other two. The games do show their age.

That's a pity about Allstars @SionnachRua
My ds is getting it for Christmas. I thought its might have been a fresher version of the games like the new Super Mario bros. Hopefully he will still like it.

Thanks Sionnach for the info on zelda aswell.

@PineappleUpsideDownCake

The games are actually worse. Both of these ones which we are looking at are £39.99 in Currys. Yet more for second hand in cex.

I don't understand why anyone would buy second hand for more than new!

We are buying for Xmas (and will probably try and buy new on Black Friday. ) But as our income has made this a huge purchase for us thought we'd look at cex first. Hence the surprise they were selling consoles and games at a higger price for second hand...

Oh well I don't know. Just buy it in argos if it's cheaper I suppose. Perhaps they are hoping people will buy it using part exchange and that gives them an edge over somewhere else. But yes usually brand new stuff is no cheaper in there.

This has been really useful; thanks everyone.We have had a year of Pokemon Sword, Mario Odyssey and Animal Crossing and definitely got our money’s worth from them - everyone from 4yo to me plays all of them (although the 8yo helps him with Mario)

Glad to hear Origami King is liked as was looking at that and Pikmin for Xmas presents. Anyone know if Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games is any good?

The only other game we’ve played that I’ve not see mentioned yet is Professor Layton’s Detective Agency - it’s very very short compared to the others but really nice animation and 10yo DD enjoyed working her way through all the puzzles.

my DH and I love Unrailed. We buy lots of indie games from the store, not as eyewatering as physical copies!

@Lazysundayafternoons

That's a pity about Allstars *@SionnachRua* My ds is getting it for Christmas. I thought its might have been a fresher version of the games like the new Super Mario bros. Hopefully he will still like it.

Oh it's actually really fun if you like Mario! Just wouldn't be my pick as a starter Mario game for kids on the Switch. Worth the money for Nintendo fans though

I'd actually forgotten Links Awakening exists I was only thinking about the Hyrule Warriors game! Awakening is very cute but you wouldn't get the same amount of playtime out of it as you would BOTW. I'd recommend getting it in sales if you can.

Pikmin is absolutely gorgeous but it can be very upsetting when the Pikmin die, be warned! Great game though.

There's a Mario and Sonic Olympic games demo that you could try out? There used to be one at least. I thought it was ok from the demo. Never bought the full game though.

Mario Odyssey looks awesome...I'm guessing it's a single player game but can you have more than one account on it? ie could both of my dcs work through it at their own pace?

You can do two player - one is Mario, one the hat. I'm not sure about multiple profiles playing it but I know you can have more than one save file so I don't see why not.

@fluffyugg

Mario Odyssey looks awesome...I'm guessing it's a single player game but can you have more than one account on it? ie could both of my dcs work through it at their own pace?

Yep no problem - my three have all worked through it separately on their own user accounts.

So what's the best ganes for complete computer novie kids just wanting some fun....

Games. Novice. Doh.

I was wondering about the cheaper racing game rather than mario, 1 2 switch and lego incredibles. Maybe a mario game or a zelda?

This seems like a thread where people can help me

We have a Wii which we’ve had about 10 years I think. And enjoy playing games together (mostly DS, DD and me). I am thinking about getting a switch for Christmas - can you do multiplayer games, is there anything like the Wii Party type games and what exactly do I need to get in terms of controllers etc? I am finding it confusing when I feel it should be easy

@MirandaWest we've got a Wii and a Switch. We use the Switch to play Mario Kart and Just Dance - it comes with 2 controllers but you can buy more if you want. I wish they did Jedi school on the Switch! Much easier than having to replace the batteries in the Wii controllers and the bar when the kids keep forgetting to turn them off.

Luigis mansion is fantastic!

Supermario brothers U deluxe is very good as is Mario odyssey

We also have the trilogy where they've remastered the original mario, mario sunshine and mario galaxy which is great as its 3 separate games for 1 price

The lego games are good too

Thanks 😊 Can you have multiple profiles for Luiguis mansion also?

Yes you can have multiple profiles which work on all games.

Miranda, the Mario Party game is quite like the Wii games which are party like - you can get others along these lines.

What's quite clever with the switch is that it comes with two "Joy cons". These can be used either as tiny standalone mini controllers with limited controls, which are fine for games designed predominantly for multiplayer, like Mario Party, Mario Kart, or you click two joycons together into one adapter and it is used like a full sized controller and has a few more buttons on it, for more complicated games.

You can buy more sets of joycons, we have two sets, so we have two full controllers or 4x mini controllers for party games. I'd recommend this for a family of 3-4 or maybe even one set of extra joycons + a full controller which can't be split in half (these are a bit cheaper).

It's quite similar to how on the Wii sometimes you use the wiimote + nunchuck and sometimes you just use the wiimote on its side, like a controller. Except instead of the nunchucks being useless on their own, it's like you have 2x wiimote type controllers.

The joycons also slide into the side of the Switch itself, which charges them and means that when you take the Switch out of the dock it acts as a handheld console.

The only issue with the joycons is after a while the analog sticks start leaning to one side, but you can send them to Nintendo and they repair them and send them back. Or maybe they have fixed this with newer ones?

Goose game is brilliant. Mario Maker was a big hit with our minecraft lover. Agree with Zelda BOTW and Luigi's Mansion 3, Pikmin, and ours loved Snipperclips too. Splatoon was a bit tricky but he was 5/6, I think 9 is probs perfect.

Oh and yes to Paper Mario: Origami King, too! Hanging around for more suggestions now :)

Oh yes, shout out to Mario Maker, it was the first game my son wanted as he's a 'builder' and also wanted to design his own levels! Would appeal to any kids that love Minecraft or designing in general.

Along with Zelda BOTW, Mario Odyssey and Animal Crossing, Mario Maker has been played the most and he's still on it a year on. If you sign up to Nintendo online you can play endless courses on the internet and upload your own for others to try.

Nintendo Online... this is the other thing I need to know about - haven’t signed up so far but feel like we are missing quite a bit in Animal Crossing not being online and given the current circs if there’s an opportunity for DCs to do something social with friends whilst playing I’m in favour of that.

So, can anyone tell me main advantages/pitfalls/how easy it is to restrict them to just friends they know/not accidentally buy random stuff etc.? Any games it is particularly useful for?

And do you just buy one account for the console and then all users can use it or does each user need to be attached to an account?

I’m sure I can find all this out on Nintendo site but it makes my mind boggle whereas advice from mnetters always sorts me out

Yeah playing online does really add a lot to AC! It's quite safe - you can have it so that only friends can visit the island. Even if you opened it up people can only visit with the Dodo (access) code so no one is going to be able to land on you at random. It is good for AC - I don't know about other games but then I only use it for AC. I could see it working for Splatoon or Smash but I really don't know.

You can get an online family account to cover 8 account holders yes.

Also in terms of buying stuff, if you put a password on your eShop (or don't have card details linked) that shouldn't be a problem. There's nothing you can buy through the NSO subscription I think...but I'm not 100% sure on that so check it out.