Getting a Switch for xmas – advice please

My good wife has shown some enthusiasm for getting the family a Nintento Switch for xmas. Obviously I’m more excited than anyone having not had a games console since my 20s. I have some questions:

– I gather the OLED version has better sound than the others – is this true? Our TV setup is apple TV and homepods so putting the audio through there woud require quite a lot of expense (it’s doable, but not with our setup).

– Family games: We’re definitely getting mario kart. What else should we look out for that can get the whole family involved? I assume there’s an isotope of WiiSports, but other ideas welcomed

– Me games: I’m not terribly up to date with gaming. I’ve enjoyed the recent Tomb Raider trilogy and the batman arkham games on my mac as well as the metal gear games on my PS2. Anything along those lines I should look out for?

– Obviously I’m planning miles ahead given it’s august but I thought it might give me a chance to spot a deal somewhere. Any suggestions where to look or am I likely to pay RRP?

Ta in advance

Get the online for 12 months & expansion pack – this gets you extra tracks etc in Mario kart, online play, plus loads of game boy, snes, nes etc games. Our kids really enjoy playing the old games.

Personally I wouldn’t worry about the oled too much, I try and encourage ours to use it through the tv instead of having their face too close to a small screen.

We have similar setup with Apple TV and HomePods, I believe I can get sound through the HomePods using EARC but I haven’t tried it yet

The last two Zelda games are a must if you liked TR – massive open world with lots of puzzle solving and action. There’s a new one coming soon which has a different visual style but will hopefully be good too!

The eldest has one, and the youngest plays too. The must-haves based on a 11yo and 7yo (and 45yo dad…) are Super Mario Odyssey (honestly one of the best games ever made), Mario Kart 8, Mario Party Superstars, Mario Wonder, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Human Fall Flat and Luigi’s Mansion.

Having bought an OLED one I think the only advantage it has is because of the Pokemon colour scheme!

Buy a nice big genuine SD card as you’ll either be downloading games or big updates.

Sounds like we’re similar in having ignored gaming for a good few years which is an advantage as you don’t need to chase the latest and greatest. Games I’d recommend are:

Pikmin 4 (pokemon vibes but fair more interesting and you can have two playing it.)

Sniper Elite 4

Rogue Trooper

Burnout: Paradise City

I recently bought the Metal Gear Solid collection for some nostalgia but on a big modern 4K TV the image just looks washed out and it’s unpleasant to look at.

Mario vs rabbids

We have a few of these in the house and I would definitely say get thr oled version as the screen is bigger and better

Game wise – go Mario- it’s the exclusive franchise and almost all of the games are amazing- the ones the flyingox reccomeded are a great start

Re sd card, you don’t need genuine just a good quality one is fine

To clarify, by genuine I meant a genuine branded card as opposed to an eBay special, not a Nintendo branded one, those are a complete ripoff!

I got a sega mega drive collection game, it was fairly cheap and has lots of 80s classics like sonic, columns etc.

Not much help with modern games as ours is used for Fortnite, original Sonic and the SNES collection usually, all of which were free. Decent free driving game called Asphalt Legends as well. Got it for the boy but he doesn’t use it much so have not really explored the better games.

Defo get an SD card though as the standard memory is terrible. I got one from Tesco that seems to do the job.

Nintendo games tend to hold their price well. If you buy physical copies they can be sold on later for a good amount. Obviously downloads are more convenient, but you pay for that convenience.

There is a new switch on the horizon, there could be some good deals about on the original in the coming months.

The sound comes out of the TV if you have it docked, so the sound quality on the console itself isn’t much of an issue. It’s tinny either way.

Mario party is a great family game. Mario wonder and super mario u bros deluxe both let you play 4 player.

You’ll need an extra pair of joycons (how much!) and the little controller holders (cheap) are good for most 4 player games

For you and the wife, 51 worldwide games and it takes two.

The Nintendo controllers are a silly price. We got two of these for our Switch as I prefer them and its useful when playing 4 player Mario Kart.

https://www.8bitdo.com/pro2/

Switch 2 isn’t looking likely this financial year.

OLED is a no brainer if buying new.

Buy your Nintendo Online sub from CD Keys, MAKE SURE IT’S THE FAMILY ONE! But don’t give money directly to Nintendo if you can help it, I only use Online so I can save my games and not lose them. Yes, you read that right.

Honestly, if I was buying again I’d have just given them a body swerve, bought a Steam Deck and emulated the Nintendo stuff, you can buy ROM dumpers now that copy physical cartridges so you can play with legally bought copies on a decent screen with a decent refresh rate and save to your hearts content without worrying about losing the file at any time. If you care about that.

I won’t be buying a Switch 2.

As for games, Thems Fighting Herds is a good beat em up and single player adventure (originally started as a My Little Pony game till Hasbro got involved and the original MLP artist redesigned the characters), an updated version of the original F Zero is available to subscribers (no new version yet) as is Goldeneye.

Mario Kart and and extra pair of controllers.

Loser cooks

My kids (5 & 7) love Mario Wonders, proper belly laughing from the 5 year old.

I’ve got Zelda TOTK, I don’t get much time to play but it is very good. WRC was only £5 but is very hard. And I downloaded Doom for a couple of quid.

Wrecked is pretty good too.

It’s ******* August, be gone with your talk of Christmas!

We are thinking same. Internet seems to suggest switch 2 being announced tonight!

But don’t give money directly to Nintendo if you can help it

Why not?

Zelda – absolute must.

I’m waiting for a switch 2. Writing my letter to Santa tomorrow.

@jeffl I missed your link earlier, took a quick look and they also sell a Bluetooth adaptor that means I can use my Xbox controllers on the Switch! Win!

Why not?

@chambord ah that’s a can of worms if ever there was one.

Short answer – because they are at the leading edge of enshitification.

Long answer – because they gouge you for absolutely everything. You’re not a customer, you’re a money tree that they will shake so hard you’ll turn into a handy runny goo that they can distill and extract more cash from.

Let’s look at the controllers.

How much?? Indeed, and that’s just for one. Half really. Everyone else can turn a whole one out for the same price.

The tech? It’s old. As always. I don’t mind that so much but when they expect you to pay a premium for old hardware that’s just mid 2000s iMac levels of cynicism (they aren’t selling wheels for them though. Yet)

But suppose I do buy one, I don’t see the need to pay for a subscription because I only want to play Zelda and Metroid and more Zelda and you get the picture. Then one day my console breaks. No biggie, I’ll buy a new one, put my carts in and, what? No save data on the cart? Oh it must be in the SD? Nope. Ah it’s my account, ah, yes there, wait, no. That’s only if I paid the online service subscription. My data died with my console.

Never mind, I have a load of NES, SNES and Megadrive games I bought in the Nintendo store when I had a Wii, I can relive some old memories on my handheld and pretend I have a Nomad. No, I won’t because that was the Wii store which isn’t the DS store or the Switch store, I’ll have to buy all those again. Even Microsoft arent dicks of that magnitude.

So okay, the hardware is a ripoff and their subscription model is a ripoff but I really want to play the games, because I’m not an arsehole and I believe they are still owed for that. So I buy better hardware, rip some carts and, oh. They shut down the emulator developer. Never mind there’s a new on…

…no never mind they shut them down too. That’s the thing, anyone that tries to subvert their anti-consumer enshitification just gets legal eagles set on them. Who could even afford to fight it?

So that’s why I won’t give money to Nintendo if I can help it, I’d rather fund another golden toilet for GabeN or whatever the hell he spends his money on. At least I know there’s a high probability my Steam library will still be accessible in the next 20 years never mind the next 5.

Thanks all. Seems like there’s plenty of games to be going at!

The sound comes out of the TV if you have it docked, so the sound quality on the console itself isn’t much of an issue. It’s tinny either way.

I was under the impression you can change the settings to play through the native speakers. Our TV is actually an old dell monitor that has no sound capabilities. We’d need to change both the monitor and our apple TV unit to something ARC compatible to get any sound out through the homepods, hence thinking about the native speaker quality.

The switch has Bluetooth, whether that works in docked mode is another matter.