Nintendo Switch for dummies

[Acunningruse]

So DH and I are the least tecky people ever.
We are thinking of getting DS (10) a Nintendo switch for Christmas. He loves football so I would also get Fifa 23. Can I just check:

• I think with a switch it can be handheld or like a games console through the tv?
• will this be the case even though our YV is ancient?(it is a smart tv but must be 8 years old)
• is it suitable for a 10 year old? I know many have Xboxes etc but we only have one tv so not keen on living room been taken over every time he wants to play
• wheh out and about does it use batteries?
• there seems to be something called an Oled now, what's the difference?

Thanks! Any other tips welcome as I have no idea about this!

Forgot to ask best time to buy!! Is it worth waiting til Black Friday or then do I risk not being able to get one?

We have a switch
Yes it can be played hand held or you can take the sides off and pop into a controller and plug into a tv through a hdmi port

The base of the switch charges it up and will last a while off the charger like a phone would!

You may need to buy him headphones with a mouthpiece too £25

Be warned of the constant talking and shouting into the said headphones. I'd surprised if my neighbours can't hear him shouting
Kill me now
Get off, oh no I'm being beaten
Aghhhhhh arghhh get off, no no no don't raid my stash

Im expecting a visit from ss at any moment 🤣

But it does have a parental lock and app so you can switch it off and limit ages of games and playtime which is great feature

DS 9yo has a switch, yes it can be played as a handheld or through tv. The switch lite can only be used as a handheld though, so be mindful when buying because they are cheaper and you might think you're getting a good deal.

Agree with headphones, and maybe a travel case if planning to take out of the house. It can be charged either from the cradle or using a USB-C cable.

Not sure about the OLED one, I think it has a better screen resolution maybe?

When we bought one we waited until Black Friday or Tech Monday (whatever it's called!) and got a bundle with a couple of games that we knew he would like. FIFA 23 is bound to be in a bundle if you can handle waiting!

Your 10yo will love it 😁

Maybe go for the switch lite that is purely handheld so no worry of him taking over the TV

Are there parental controls for the handheld lite one too?

I would go with a switch over a switch light because it can be played 2 player on the TV as well as carried around. It plugs into the hdmi port but I had to buy a seperate splitter thing for our TV because the 3 hdmi ports are too close together to use all 3 at once. Didn't notice this until DS's birthday when he wanted it on the TV and we had to unplug something else!

The OLED is better picture quality. We have the ordinary one and I think the picture quality is great but we aren't a household with much in the way of tech. I worried the TV would be constantly taken over (we also only have one) but it isn't really. DS seems to prefer it handheld unless he wants me to play with him.

It holds charge really well (compared to the kindle fire we had previously). You get 7 hours or so of play from full I think which is plenty for car journeys etc.

It comes with an adapter to plug into charge, and the controls slide off to allow playing it on the console style controller on the tv or 2 player. The set up was very easy. We haven't got ours connected to the Internet yet. Some games you buy and get a physical game card, others you download. We only have the game card ones at the moment.

Can you watch YouTube etc on them? And when you buy the games, are they actual cartridges then? I'm so glad this thread was started @Acunningruse thank you

I don't think you can watch YouTube on it, certainly DS has never tried to!
The games are little cartridges, look a bit bit a larger sd card. But you can download games straight to it from the Nintendo eshop, they quite often have sales on and can get some games for a few pounds, they're not all £40/50. Some are even free!

Yes. There is an e-shop which let's you buy and download electronic copies of the games. Or you can buy a physical copy games.

You can also get You Tube on switch. Not sure about other stuff like Netflix etc.

I have an Oled and my kids have the older ones. The oled has a bigger and clearer screen. But this only applies when you're playing hand held. The picture quality is the same on the TV. The oled also let's you connect your switch to an ethernet cable (so wired Internet connection). Normal switch is WiFi only. I think the stand on the back is different as well.

As long as your TV can take an HDMI cable, it can run a switch.

It comes with a charger and docking station. If you want to charge it or play it on the telly, you put it in the dock.

I would always recommend buying the original model rather than the lite (hand held only) model. Even if you rarely play it on the telly it is less faff finding chargers etc with kids when it needs charged. And you can play it on the telly while it charges. It also lets you play games multi player as you have two controllers.

If DC want to play games with their friends online, they will need to subscribe to Nintendo online. There are various opinions, single or family (if you have more than one switch). There is also an expansion option that is more expensive but gives you certain online games and download able content for games. IIRC, it's about £50 a year for the family expansion online subscription.

Make sure you password protect the e-shop and also password protect your card details. You also don't need to save your card details and I'd recommend not saving them.

There is a parental control app but IME it doesn't actually block the switch, just has an alarm to tell them when time is up. It also allows you to see what they are playing and for how long etc. My advice is monitoring your DC rather than relying on a app to do it for you.

You need to install YouTube on it in the e-shop. Its not on there as standard.

My boys have switch lites and they are the most used electronics in the house. They have a PlayStation so I didn't want anything else for a TV, plus the joy cons break on normal switches all the time and aren't cheap to replace.

They can watch YouTube on it if they download the app. Not Netflix though.

Id recommend getting cases they can keep the games in with it, screen protectors and the rubber cases that go on the actual handset. Plus headphones with a mic.

Thanks so much for all the advice!

Can you play games without connecting to the Internet?

You can on the switch lite with the game cards x

@slushycuppa you can change the parental controls to kick them off not just play an alarm. I love it as I don't need to remember to remove devices at night etc. All their tech including switches are set to turn off overnight and they all have time limits on them too.

The Switch is a great bit of kit. Do spend some time to set up age-ratings etc.
Also, I know this isn't what you asked, but the game "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe" is very silly and huge fun for the whole family, and worth buying an extra controller or two so you can all sit around the TV and laugh a lot while your DS inevitably leaves you in the dust. (I also really enjoyed playing some other games with my DS and DD but they are a bit more niche!)

Ds loves his switch. I bought from Smyths because there is a guy behind the desk who knows everything & he told me exactly how to set it up, how it worked etc. It was super easy.

Now, when Santa brought a PS5 to our house in 2021 he didn't stick around to explain how it all worked. Reader it was up and running at 7pm. We had been out of our beds for 11 hours by the time it was all working!!

A standard switch is all you need, we don’t bother with the internet part, we just buy games with either codes or cartridges and they work fine, I don’t want my children talking to random people on the internet. We got our switch in my March the one with the extended battery life for £200 with a club card deal. I personally would buy a lite one because if he has mates over they won’t be able to play together. …..agree MarioKart8 is a must!

Wouldn’t* buy a lite

@Greenstar22 you can on any of the switch devices, we don’t have ours with internet as I don’t want my kids talking to random people. All our games work fine, the cartridge ones and the code ones work great without internet.

Any recommendations for headphones for the switch? DS1 wants some wireless ones but I wasn't sure if they were comparable.

At 10 I'd be buying a console (PlayStation or X box ) over a switch.