Switch game recommendation for 9 & 6 year olds (and parents!)

[SpinningTops]

I have no experience of gaming, well not since my game boy days 25 years ago!

I’m getting a family switch and would like to start with a couple of games for the kids / whole family to play.

My ideas so far:

Mario Kart
Animal Crossing
Switch Sports
Lego City Undercover
Mario Party Jamboree

But I’m keen to know from those more experienced which might be best (will probably choose 3 to start with).

Mario Party is great as a multiplayer - it is like a board game. Mario Kart is the same - if you have enough controllers, 4 players can play together. The only other one I have experience of is Animal Crossing - it can be played as a multiplayer online but not really as a family.

I'd go with mario kart and switch sports for sure as both can be easily played together as a family. Switch sports uses motion controls so gets you up on your feet and active while also being very fun.

Animal crossing is very slow/a lot of reading. It's an amazing game but might not hold interest for kids that young.

Mario party is a collection of mini games, it can be fun but your youngest might struggle with some of the mini games.

I've not played the Lego game so I can't comment on that.

Mario odyssey is utterly amazing and I highly recommend it - it's a single player game but a second person can join in and control marios hat and throw it around which might be fun. Have the eldest play while the youngest assists.

Yoshis Crafted world is adorable and great for younger players and they can play it together.

Luigi's mansion 3. A bit spooky in a cartoony way (you catch ghosts in a haunted mansion) so maybe only for the older kid.

Pokémon is fantastic but single player so they'd need to take turns playing.

Minecraft pretty much goes without saying. They'd both love it.

Bear in mind any new games will mostly only be released for the switch two now so getting a switch 1 will limit future options. I'd maybe go for a second hand switch 1 if you can't afford a 2 and pick up a 2 in a couple of years when there are some more games they really want out that they can't play.

Thanks for the advice.

I think they would love Pokémon. They’ve had a little play on the original version we found you could play on a laptop. I’ve seen some games suggest you can have an attempt at a 2 player where the 2nd player doesn’t do much. Maybe let’s go pikachu?

I’m ok with not getting the newest games. I’ve seen the price of the switch 2 games and quite happy to spend several years with the older games - there are plenty to choose from.