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What Nintendo Switch games should I get my 6 year old

Eiknarf

Eiknarf

Banned
I know absolutely NOTHING about the Nintendo Switch. But my parents got my 6 year old a Switch for his birthday, and I wanna get him the best games.

Im looking at Metacritic and can see which were reviewed best, but which are best for a 6 (and brother who is 8) year old ?
 
You really can't go wrong with Super Mario Odyssey.

BotW might be too tricky at the start even though a few people will reply to this post telling me that their two years old kid did it blindfolded. The 8 year old might do alright with it though.
 
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Can't go wrong with Mario, Odyssey and NSMB are both great. There' a solid Yoshi too. Rayman Legends is on there, great game. There's a bunch of LEGO games too.

Also Switch Online has lots of good NES and SNES titles like Mario and Kirby. So for $20 you can get access to all those.
 
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bayonetta-nintendo-switch-37328.png


Perfect for a 6 year old.
 
AV said:
You really can't go wrong with Super Mario Odyssey.

BotW might be too tricky at the start even though a few people will reply to this post telling me that their two years old kid did it blindfolded. The 8 year old might do alright with it though.
Click to expand...

Yes. Odyssey is perfect.
 
Mario Kart, ARMS, and Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Most young kids don't actually care about beating a game, they just want to jump in and play something fun.
 
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I would start with the following and see how they do:
Kirby Star Allies
Mario Kart

Next, I would graduate them to
NSMBU
Yoshi

From there,
Mario Odyssey
Breath of the Wild

Lastly, those kids have got to know the masterpiece that is...
Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze

Prepare in advance by stocking up on new controllers! They will destroy your current ones at this point.
 
If they are anything like my daughter, just buy minecraft, I've bought her, zelda, smash, msario kart,, Mario oddessy, just dance, arms and while she plays those for maybe a couple hours, she has over 300+ hours in Minecraft.

That damn game just doesn't die with that age group.. it even forced me to buy it on my system so I could interact with her in multiplayer.
 
Just show him gameplay videos on youtube and ask which one he likes. Kids these days knows.
But kids similar age alk do touch screen games, not sure how he will do with button pushing games on switch, some kids cant understand if its not touch screen thing
 
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Yoshi or Kirby are great for young kids. Mario Kart is great until they ask you to play with you, then they start laughing and thinking they're winning when you're lapping them and have to sit there and watch them crash into the sides of the track repeatedly for several minutes while they finish the race. That's my experience anyways...
 
My son's 6 years old and he's played through Super Mario Odyssey without too much trouble.

The biggest issue I've found is that a lot of the Nintendo titles are very text heavy, but if the game design is solid enough, no reading is really required. It's especially a challenge for my son since English is not our native language and he'll only start learning how to read English in the next couple of years.

That being said he's also thoroughly enjoyed the following :
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Super Mario Party
Luigi's Mansion 3
Sonic and Mario at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
 
Mario Odyssey is safe and for a six years old, that would provide tons of value and longevity. You may have to support your son here and there though.
Super Mario Party is great if you´re looking for something to play with him or to have something he can play with friends.
And Yoshi´s Crafted World is really charming and laid back, a videogame any child would probably be able to play and enjoy all by itself.


Eevee86 said:
Mario Kart is great until they ask you to play with you, then they start laughing and thinking they're winning when you're lapping them and have to sit there and watch them crash into the sides of the track repeatedly for several minutes while they finish the race. That's my experience anyways...
Click to expand...

Mario Kart has systems in place that can be enabled to support young players, like automatic acceleration or steering them away from walls and pits. It certainly makes the title suitable for children.
 
its_Ditz said:
Mario Odyssey is safe and for a six years old, that would provide tons of value and longevity. You may have to support your son here and there though.
Super Mario Party is great if you´re looking for something to play with him or to have something he can play with friends.
And Yoshi´s Crafted World is really charming and laid back, a videogame any child would probably be able to play and enjoy all by itself.




Mario Kart has systems in place that can be enabled to support young players, like automatic acceleration or steering them away from walls and pits. It certainly makes the title suitable for children.
Click to expand...
I know. Even with those on my niece and nephew manage to take several minutes longer than me to finish the races while I just sit there grinding my teeth. They aren't very responsive to my tutoring.
 
If you have time to play with them watching, Luigi's Mansion has been great. It looks like a cartoon l, it's fun in bite sized chunks, doesn't require a lot of dexterity or skill when a kid is climbing all over you m, etc
 
Thaedolus said:
If you have time to play with them watching, Luigi's Mansion has been great. It looks like a cartoon l, it's fun in bite sized chunks, doesn't require a lot of dexterity or skill when a kid is climbing all over you m, etc
Click to expand...
Is it Luigi's Mansion 3?
 
Some six year olds are skilled enough for the platforming and puzzle challenges in Mario Odyssey, others would find it frustrating. Depends on your son.

If your kid is a beginner to gaming that uses physical controls (tons of kids start off on phones, and so many of us forget how hard it is to use a joystick at first) then something simpler like the Lego games would be a good bet. Lots of content, very replayable. They also have coop built in, so you or more likely his bro can play with him. Just pick his favorite franchise (Marvel? DC? LotR? HP? Incredibles? Generic Lego - Lego City is great btw, but the coop wasn't smooth at launch) and go.

As others have said, Mario Party is a lot of fun. Mario Kart has all kinds of assist modes, like auto-acceleration and edge protection, that he can turn off as he gets more skilled.

Minecraft adventure mode is pretty involved, but builder mode is basically virtual Legos (moreso than any Lego game, ironically).

Kirby is a good starter action-platformer, and it has 4-player co-op.

I wouldn't worry about Metacritic so much, because the audience that most of those reviews are written for is for older, seasoned gamers. As long as the game isn't trash, just keep it simple and co-op centric, and you can't go wrong... unless it's a Switch Lite. Is it a Switch Lite? No co-op on a Switch Lite.
 
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StormCell said:
I would start with the following and see how they do:
Kirby Star Allies
Mario Kart

Next, I would graduate them to
NSMBU
Yoshi

From there,
Mario Odyssey
Breath of the Wild

Lastly, those kids have got to know the masterpiece that is...
Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze

Prepare in advance by stocking up on new controllers! They will destroy your current ones at this point.
Click to expand...

My then 4 year old loved and finished Kirby so that is a very forgiving and fun game.
 
Super Mario Party is really kids oriented. Same with Yoshi's Crafted World. Both are really fun

My friend's 5 yo daughter loves Super Mario Odyssey

I think buying the online games for your kid to try out just for fun could be a great idea too. I was like 3 or 4 when I started playing Sega Genesis and my dad bought the subscription of 30+ games each month or whatever Sega offered at the time. Was really cool. I wasn't all the way ready for all the games being that young, but I still remember the ones I played and they were all pretty cool to see and play even if just to test if I liked them or they held my attention / were fun you know
 
I have a 7 year old (just turned 7) This is his list for you.

LM 3 (he has beat this 3 times already)
Mario Odyssey
Pokemon
Mine craft

He says NSMB2 is too hard. He also doesn't dig Yoshi.
 
If you're comfortable letting them loose with an undocked Switch I recommend Pokemon: Lets Go Pikachu/Eevee. Keeps my 7 year old nephew quiet for hours when he is staying with us.
 
My seven year old can't stay away from Minecraft. He has Luigi's Mansion, Mario/Rabbids, MarioKart, but he always chooses Minecraft when he gets to play.
 
Smash Brothers and Mario Odyssey are must haves for kids IMO. Smash is something they can just jump into at anytime. Don't get anything that has a lot of mechanics to it. Mario Odyssey is a wonderful game and it's easy to just move around.

Games with "rules" or difficult objectives will make them bored. Kids want a sandbox or something that always delivers. Zelda relies on understanding the objective, Donkey Kong is too difficult to be mindless fun, and Mario Kart won't let you do anything but race. Mario Maker sounds awesome for kids, but it takes a lot of thought to create, launch, and then save your levels. My kid loves Mario Maker, but she gets bored sitting through text screens. New Super Mario Brothers is fun, but my kid dies a lot. Super Mario 3D World on Wii U was enjoyed a lot more than NSMB and Donkey Kong.
 
Eiknarf said:
I know absolutely NOTHING about the Nintendo Switch. But my parents got my 6 year old a Switch for his birthday, and I wanna get him the best games.

Im looking at Metacritic and can see which were reviewed best, but which are best for a 6 (and brother who is 8) year old ?
Click to expand...
Mario Kart is fun for all ages :)
 
Pokémon Sword or Shield - Kids still LOOVE Pokémon.
Luigi's Mansion 3 - Super fun to play both single player and co-op when they want to play together. It's never too difficult.

Free to play:

Super Kirby Clash.
Fortnite.
 
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sublimit said:
giphy.gif


Captain Toad is a must IMO although maybe you'll have to help them at a few levels.
Click to expand...
IMO the only challenge is finding all the items in a stage and occasionally not knowing how to operate a cannon or something.

My daughter picked up the game at age 5 (Wii U version) and beat all three chapters before I'd beaten the first one. Perfect for kids.
 
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