A Switch for a gift - help a novice out?

December2012

I think I'll buy my husband a Switch for Fathers Day. What do I need to start it up? What do I not need?

He has various devices already, and plays football games on them, but I think he'd like fun games to play with our children age 7 and 9.

Is it worth the money?

TrustedApple

December2012 wrote: »

I think I'll buy my husband a Switch for Fathers Day. What do I need to start it up? What do I not need?

He has various devices already, and plays football games on them, but I think he'd like fun games to play with our children age 7 and 9.

Is it worth the money?

Does he just play Fifa and shooters ?.

Does he like Mario ?.

IF so there is a Fifa coming to the Switch but it wont be like the PS4 and Xbox one games at all its going to be one made just for the switch.

What other games does he like ?. Does he travel to work on Public Transport ? . If so get him a switch as i play mine daily on the bus and its prob the best thing i have ever played as its such a good console.

Heres a Idea of some of the games I have and what kind of games they are and would he like them ?.

Zelda - Big open world game where you have to find out what to do for yourself as it does not guide you by your hand over a few 100 hours of gameplay here. One of the best games of all time.

Mario Kart 8 - The perfect Raceing game ever where you just dont know whats around the corner your kids will love this one as well.

Lego City Undercover - A game for all ages and maybe the best lego game other then the lago star wars ones.

disgaea 5 - A TJRPG not for someone who does not wont to learn to play a game for the ground up and its extramly hard but 100s of hours of game play.

To me the Switch is the perfect console but would your partner have a use for it ?.

Banjo

Hi. I'm a father of 3. Not a good one, but the social ain't taken 'em yet so I can't be all bad For reference they are all girls, aged 3 1/2, 5 1/2, 8

I bought the switch for myself, 330 quid plus Zelda so the guts of 400. Oh, and a carry case to put it in, for around 20 quid, that came with a Screen protector. I consider all of those things necessary purchases.

Was it worth it? In the words of Stone Cold Ed Miliband, hell yes it was. To me. It's probably done my marriage irreparable damage because Zelda : Breath of the Wild is one of the best games ever made and I can take that experience anywhere I go and enjoy it. Front room, kitchen, bedroom, bus, work, toilet, sitting in the car while the mrs shops... the only limit is the battery, which is quite limited, but you can get external power packs to get around that for a few hours.

Games I would play with my kids :
Mariokart
Mariokart is superbly fun, fast paced, anarchic action with simple controls that anyone can play, making it perfect as a family game (albeit, your family will eventually come to blows over it!) but with a depth and high skill ceiling that gives it plenty of life for the more grown up player.
We play this on WiiU. We do not play this on Switch. Why? Because you need as many controllers as you have players, up to a max of 4. The Switch comes with a Left and Right joycon which can be used as 1 controller or 2 seperate controllers. A 2nd pair of Joycons costs 80-90 euro. That's why. That's the only reason though - Mariokart on Switch has 2 incredible features for family play, assisted steering to keep you on the track and assisted acceleration to keep you moving forward. You can plonk a controller in front of a turtle and it will finish the race.

SnipperClips
This is a 2 player game where you work together to cut chunks out of eachother and shape eachothers' character to perform simple tasks. And inevitably it turns into a psychotic frenzy of competition and violence instead of the pastoral serenity of co-operation it's supposed to be. Very funny, pretty kid friendly, there's a free demo of it that's kept my kids busy since march.

Just Dance
Again, free Demo (the track list of the full game isn't great) - one song, the incredibly annoying "Watch me whip... watch me nae-nae..." but it's good fun for 2 people with a joycon each.

Bomberman
I don't have it, but my wife loves Bomberman, my kids would probably get into it and it supports up to 8 people in local couch co-op if you can get the controllers together.

Minecraft
Again, I don't have it - yet - but my kids all love playing this on tablet, being able to play 2 player will be fun and might be a chance to get my eldest into Survival mode.... if you don't know, you start the game in a field/desert/mountain etc that's essentially made of lego bricks and you can dig holes, cut trees, build houses etc. and, if you so choose, keeping yourself alive in a hostile environment full of giant spiders and skeletons and the dreaded exploding Creeper - but it's taken on a life of it's own and now people use it for building working models of Turing Machines and the Starship Enterprise.

When they come out, I'm hopeful I'll be picking up Arms - a fighting game where your hands are on springs. It's better than it sounds - and Splatoon - this is basically Call of Duluxe, you are a Squid/Child with a paint gun and an attitude, it's more about painting walls than painting walls with the brains of your enemy. My eldest has played both as Switch demos (and Splatoon on the WiiU) and really enjoyed them. Arms is out next week I think but I don't think there's another demo session between now and then. Both games on Switch allow 2 people to play online together which is going to be magic for bonding (or tragic, as I scream "hit him!!! You're doing it wrong!!" and make her run away crying).

Games I play by myself
Zelda
I've been playing games since I was 5 or 6, I'm approaching 41. This is probably the greatest gaming experience I've ever had, and I'm including Half Life 1 and 2, the opening of Medal of Honour : Allied Assault, my first win in Quake 3 Arena, Pokemon Blue, discovering Leisure Suit Larry when I was 13 (maybe that was a different kind of experience?), sunday mornings playing TMNT down in the Pierrot Club and that first level of GoldenEye on the N64. If he doesn't like it, he's broken - return him under warranty.

That's all I have! Arms, Splatoon, Minecraft, Disgaea and when it price-drops StreetFighter 2 are all on the list though...

Let me just restate the Controller situation :
The Switch ships with a Left and Right Joycon, and a Joycon grip. In Portable mode, they clip on to the side of the screen on the left and right. In docked mode, you can play with them in your hands or slide them into a grip that makes them into a standard console controller. You can also use each joycon as a small Stand-Alone controller.

So, out of the box you get 1 full controller / 2 mini-controllers.

You have 2 kids. And don't forget yourself, it's easy to forget that while you're looking on, face aglow with the joy you've brought your family, most of these multiplayer games will have room for Player 4!

You have the option of going for a 2nd JoyCon pair for 80-90 quid, which gives you 4 small controllers. Add in a Joycon Grip (or the Charging grip, joycons have batteries in 'em) and you also have 2 full controllers. Alternatively there's the Pro Controller, which is a standard console controller, it's very comfortable and definitely my preferred way to play Zelda on the Telly or indeed on the go if I remember to pack it. But you have to ask yourself do you really need a Pro Controller? Or do you prefer having 2 kidneys? Because they are not cheap.

In conclusion :
If you want this as a family console, it's capable and will have the games. BUT make sure your budget is realistic.