I’ve been considering getting a switch since 2019, but there’s a few things making me wait. During COVID it became hard to find one, and then I got stuck in a mindset of waiting in-case there was new hardware coming out. If there is a new Switch coming out within the next 2-3 years, I’d rather just wait for that. If I bought the regular Switch now, I probably won’t buy whatever it’s next upgrade/replacement will be.
At this point I’ve already waited a couple of years, and I don’t mind waiting a few more to play the 10 or so current Switch games I’m interested in. I mostly play on PC, and I’d only be getting a Switch for the few exclusives I’m interested in. It’s a bit of a gamble though. If the next handheld hardware isn’t backward compatible with the current Switch games, then I’d have to buy an old Switch anyway to play them, and I’ll have waited for no benefit.
I just found out that some libraries in my area allow you to “check out” Nintendo Switches (and tools and other stuff) for two weeks, like a book. I don’t know if that’s available in your area, but if so, it would be a great way to test it out before you have to drop a wad of cash on it.
Huh! I just checked, and there’s a Nintendo Wii available through interlibrary loan. (Or at least it’s listed–I’m not sure how the rural library a 3-hour drive from me would feel about ILLoaning out its single Wii). Very interesting, but not what I’m looking for.
Anyway, I cleared it with my wife last night (we check with anything more than about a hundred bucks), and she’s cool with it as long as the kids don’t station themselves in front of it all summer. I made no promises about what I would do. And I was sleepy and cranky today, and at some point I thought, “You know what would cheer me up? Buying a Switch!”
So I ordered a refurbished one, along with BotW, from Best Buy, and it’ll show up tomorrow. Squee!
Breath of the Wild is the perfect game to use on your Switch. My kids are watching me play the sequel and it is just one of those games that is fun to play and watch.
Agree, there is a collaborative pleasure in having people watch you play and help you out (unless you are my wife, she doesn’t like being watched while she plays) and the “great plateau” training area in BOTW is a text example of teaching without teaching.
You never forget that moment when you escape the plateau for the first time.
Yes, it is the greatest tutorial in gaming history. Some people really liked the Sky Island you start on in Tears of the Kingdom, but I think the Great Plateau is quite a bit better.
The one thing I wish is that it had a multiplayer mode (which I know is not at all Zelda, I still wish it): it’d be awesome to be able to play it with my kids.
If I got a second game, is there any decent coop Switch game that a 10yo or 14yo might enjoy? They’re not really into fighting games, and I’m not a big fan of racing games.
one thing that my kids have done is to play through it again with one of them using the left joycon and the other the right.
I don’t necessarily recommend it, it isn’t co-op in the strict sense of the word but then they can be deeply curious children. How it doesn’t descend into sibling violence I don’t know.
Here’s a list of co-op games. I haven’t played that many of them unfortunately but “overcooked” is fun (and it may descend into wholesale anarchy if our family is anything to go by)
The daughter who lives with us owns a Switch, and she generously shares it, so Mr. Legend and I have both now started Tears of the Kingdom games. (I really should fire up the WiiU and finish my BOTW game, but I’m notorious for losing interest in games when they get hard, and the lightning boss you have to defeat in Gerudo defeated me.)
Our family now watches TV only if we’re eating; otherwise, two of us are watching the third play the game.
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is a very fun game that can be played fully co-op…
Luigi’s Mansion 3 is also fun, but we honestly got tired of it before the end. Fully co-op after the opening moments. It makes you start single player for just a bit, then gives you the co-op option.
It Takes Two is terrific and I had no idea it received a Switch release until just now. Co-op required for this one, can not be played single player. Wonderful game, just terrific.
After looking at the list @Novelty_Bobble linked to above, this is the one that was most intriguing to me.
I got the Switch set up last night and was clearly giddy. My ten-year-old said, “Dad, is it okay if I don’t like the game?” I was like, of course, what a strange question, and she was like, “Okay, I just don’t want you to be disappointed in me and make me play it.” She gets weird sometimes, and I stopped to reassure her that this was a zero-pressure thing.
Anyway, I could barely take the controller out of her hand when it was bedtime.
The second section involves entering a bee hive of sorts and I honestly found that to be the most frustrating section of the game when my wife and I played. After that, the game is smooth as can be and awesome. Perhaps you won’t have an issue with it.
Anyway, it was a real gem of a game and it came out of nowhere. It won some “game of the year” award and people were shocked.