The Nintendo Switch

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?

Looks like a cute little story-driven retro platformer.

it looked like a game for redditors

CarlSagan42 would love it

How about "I Am Dead"? Almost pulled the trigger but stopped short because i remember i always want to like story games and then never do.

This looks great, internet 1.0 aesthetic: https://www.pcgamer.com/hypnospace-outlaw-review/

(lol I tried watching some CarlSagan42 videos, but he seemed a little too much like a smug gamer dude compared to ryukahr's buoyant positivity)

hypnospace was my 2019 goty, its good

i was just trying to remember the name of that game. thanks

https://www.usgamer.net/articles/the-first-fire-emblem-is-coming-to-nintendo-switch-this-december

I'll probably buy this just to support these kinds of efforts. That said, I think I missed it the "last time" it was around, when they remade it for DS as Shadow Dragon.

yeah weird that they're doing the original of a game that got a remake but i guess its easier to romhack a translation into a nes emulated game than restructure a ds game to work on the switch

also i refuse to buy anything with a limited time release just out of principle. its such a weird tactic on their part that's burning through so much goodwill for seemingly no reason

i agree that this Disney Vault-style time release stuff is completely bullshit