The Nintendo Switch

desktop MarioOS

mario.exe

I’ve never played a Zelda should i buy it

botwild is simultaneously the most zelda of the zelda titles and the least zelda of the zelda titles, so yes

buy it now don't stop

I have never really been into video games (and in fact felt some level of disdain for the whole endeavor based on some "gamer" types I've known). I had an NES and SNES 30ish years ago and played a few N64 and PS1 games but have spent probably a total of 30 minutes playing video games in the past 20 years - I've never touched any Xbox or post PS1 controller.

But my son and I have been playing old school NES/SNES/GBA games on a raspberry pi since corona lockdown and he's gotten into watching youtube videos of people playing kirby and mario games recent vintage, so I went for it and bought a switch because they were around after not being available for a while and I imagine they might not be available closer to december. It's sitting in my closet right now until santa brings it for my six year old.

What all do I need to do or purchase in terms of controllers? Can we play a two player game right out of the box or do I need to get some other controller? HOW DO GAMES WORK? Like there's digital things and physical ones too? What games are good if I loved the hell out of mariokart, marios 1/2/3, super mario brothers, donkey kong country ages ago but was never into zelda and have literally never played any first person shooter type thing? Also my kid LOVES pokemon go but neither of us had any any interest in any of the old roms I installed.

you can play most 2-player switch games with the controllers that come with it but i wouldn't recommend it, especially for adults. they are tiny little things. you should get at least one extra controller.

you can buy most games digitally or physically. i recommend buying a big SD card and only buying games digitally, so you don't have to keep track of the little cartridges. the only exception is if you think you might get a separate switch in the future and have it assigned to a different person (like your kid). in that case, the physical games make it easier to share games.

how old is your kid?

v. smart play to buy it now , good move. it will definitely get worse by November
the 32GB built-in will tide you over for a little while, but i'd keep an eye out for deals on SD cards immediately
easy picks are Zelda, Mario Odyssey, Smash Bros., Mario Kart, everything else is gravy

Kid turns six in late november so this might be a bit early for him but being stuck at home all winter feels like it's going to be dire so hoping this will help with that.

if you subscribe to Nintendo's online service ($20 a year) you gain access to tons of NES and SNES games as long as your subscription lasts
the online shop is hard to navigate so use Dekudeals instead to find out what digital games are on sale
https://www.dekudeals.com/

my almost 6 year old kid loves playing mario kart 8 with me. she loves animal crossing and splatoon 2 as well but there's no local 2-player mode on those. she also loved super mario odyssey, which technically has a local 2-player mode but i found that option pretty confusing to play.

and yeah the online service is a good deal, you get the old games zappi mentioned and you can play mario kart, splatoon, etc. against other people online.

for my kids i love that you don't generally have to worry about them playing other people online. there aren't efficient ways for people to be trolls, at least in the games we have.

my 5.5 year old loves Lego City Undercover most, which is basically grand theft auto for a 5 year old. only buy lego games digitally and on sale. go to dekudeals.com to be sure you get the best price. they go on sale at a fairly regular clip.

Lego City is also fun for 2 players but will crash. Unravel 2 is great to play along with a 6 year old.

gyac: yes!!

Bought a Switch a few weeks ago. My soon-to-be 7yo daughter and I have been enjoying Mario Kart, Mario Odyssey (she likes playing as Cappy), and mostly Yoshi's Crafted World (I find the 2 player mode to be more difficult than single due to how many ways you can hinder each other if you aren't communicating, but this also leads to some really funny situations).

I bought a Pro controller. It's nice we can play 3 player Mario Kart with the JoyCon and Pro, but I'm thinking about one of those lower end 8bitDo controllers for a third and because I prefer a d-pad to analog for certain types of games.

Is there an official Pro controller? - just had a quick look on Amazon and it looks a minefield

If not, can anyone recommend a decent one? (as it would be great to be able to play 3 player Mario Kart with my kids)

official pro controllers also drift just like the joycons so consider if you really need one instead of a 3rd party alternative

i'm happy with 8bitdo sn30 pro+ so far
https://www.8bitdo.com/sn30-pro-plus/

We have two official pro controllers and haven't had any drift. By contrast I've returned all four of our joycons (two pairs) for drift. At least the latter was quick and free.

i have two pro controllers and they don't drift. one of my ps4 controllers does though so i guess i'm living in an alternate universe to everyone else shrug

my 8bitdo controller sucks at syncing with the switch, i ended up going back to the joycons-in-weird-frame setup.

the dogface

BTW, I did end up getting one of the Skull & Co Grip Cases and it made playing handheld mode much better on my hands which would normally start cramping up after a few hours of play. The "case" is a s soft rubbery sleeve and it comes with three sets of Grips for different hand sizes. Def recommended

yeah i have one of the satisfye grips thats just like a hard plastic frame you slide the whole unit into and it adds the controller wings on the sides and spaces your hands correctly to emulate using a normal controller. nice upgrade if you have giant hands like me and want to play handheld without cramping up

mario 35 is loads of fun

are the Lego Harry Potter games fun?

I don't know, but I do know they have no dialogue

that's a plus!

All the Lego games I've played have been fun - Star Wars, Marvel & Harry Potter - but play them all with my kids as the co-op mode is great

I thought the first Lego Harry Potter was great. The second one isn’t nearly as much fun.

Would also say that a lot of the enjoyment in these games comes from being familiar with the source material

Yeah, there's a whole lotta "oh, that scene, but in Lego form!" Which tbf is the gist of the actual Lego tie-in sets.

haha, I am very familiar with the HP source material!

the kids are wizards. you get it, right?

you'll understand when you don't have to shit little brown studs even once during the whole game bc you know they are wizards

i'll likely be picking up Pikmin 3 Deluxe (a port of the 2013 Wii U game), as I've never played any Pikmin before. i'm pretty excited, i've always wanted to give it a shot

Yeah, Mario 35 is great - I can't get better than third though.

I've never played Pikmin either, all I know is that when I play my kids in Smash Brothers they make me play as the Pikmin guy as a handicap.

ryukahr's Mario 35 streams are wonderful

i'm also tempted by pikmin via smash brothers induced curiosity

lol i've been watching some of CarlSagan42's Mario 35 streams but haven't watched ryukahr's yet. i've gone full geek during quarantine

CarlSagan42 is the most reddit ass username i've ever seen

otm

There are a lot of people who are very good at smb, it seems

yeah, it's hard to be competitive unless you are willing to make it your religion

I got a 2nd! I'm fine as long as I don't think about what my hands are doing.

Okay, I won one and can now stop.

Horace getting good reviews. Anyone tried it?