Switch purchase advice

[Perimenopausal42]

Looking to get my son who will be 8 a switch for his birthday.

What am I looking for ?

What's difference between oled and normal?
What memory would I need what's the difference
What extras would you get?

I know he wants FIFA
What other game would you suggest?
Any other accessories that you would recommend?

Wondering if to buy second hand off eBay or stick with cex who are warrantied

Why not go with the Switch 2? I have the Original release, the OLED and the 2. The Switch 2 came out this year is by far the best in terms of performance and you can play almost all Switch 1 games on it anyway. The original and OLED are quite old technology at this point.

I always recommend going with 256gb and getting a minimum 256SD card, you’re unlikely to run out of room with that. With the 2, they changed the design so you can only use Micro SD express cards, a standard £20 MicroSD card won’t work.

My DS7 really enjoys Splatoon, Hogwarts Legacy, Minecraft and Mario Kart

My DD4 loves Mario Kart, SuperMario Galaxy & Animal Crossing.

It's going to be a gift from my parents so need to keep the ££ as low as possible

In that case just get a 2nd/3rd hand Original or even Switch lite as those are significantly cheaper. Switch 1 games are also generally cheaper and you can use any old basic SD card. It should last you a few years and then if he really gets into it you could upgrade to a recent model.

I believe indie game updates are continuing to the end of 2026 for the Switch 1 and main Nintendo games/ software updates until 2030 due to the massive initial release.

I wouldn’t expect an OG console to cost more than £150, if you get a pro controller with it, Max £200 as that still retails for around £60 but you can get 3rd party ones but the risk of lagging isn’t worth it in my opinion. Games are still around £30/40 each so it’s an affordable gift if you stick with 2/3 basic games.