Nintendo Switch

Zelda Skyward Sword for the Switch is $30 this weekend at Target. That’s a much more reasonable price.

I’m late here, but I totally get your frustration with this. 80% of Metroid Dread is one of my all time favorite games and the other 20% is the boss fights (this may not be a scientifically accurate percentage). I just don’t possess the finger skills or patience to get good at the bosses without being totally frustrated. I would be totally down for a ‘skip boss’ option. That said, it’s still an excellent game and if you like the series and/or genre at all, it’s well worth a second chance.

Aww, why did you have to mention this here? Now, I may buy it at that low (for Nintendo) price, play it for 30 minutes, and never touch it again like I’ve done with every Zelda post Wind Waker.

I have this problem with this and with the Metal Gear series: after loving the first few games, could not get into the later games but keep picking them up anyway instead of admitting that perhaps they’re not for me anymore.

This’ll probably deserve its own thread at some point.

Until then, your thread for the original game is probably a good spot for it. Unless the sequel will be a Switch exclusive being published by Nintendo or something.

Does anyone here have experience transferring user data and saves from an old switch to a new one? I’m thinking about trading my OG switch in for the OLED model but I’m clueless how painful it is to do that. I’ve got physical games and saves and games on an SD card and the switch itself.

You don’t need to worry about transfering saves if you subscribe to Nintendo Online.
If you don’t, then I don’t know!

I remember there is an option to transfer saved screenshots and other stuff in a pretty convoluted way in the system settings. Maybe that’s the same for saves.

Pretty much this.

If you have switch online you can enable cloud saves and everything just syncs.
If you don’t, you have to transfer over saves manually with both switches physically nearby. Per game. Per user.
Also, you need to mark your new switch as your primary console.

So in preparation for Christmas I’ve got the kids a switch. My eldest is almost 5 and very likely on the spectrum. He’s inordinately interested in my and his mum’s phones and when allowed just blankly stares at awful YouTube videos.

I’m hoping to use the switch to make his screen time a bit more interactive, help his fine motor skills and share something with him that I’ve always loved. It comes with Mario Kart, I’m considering getting him Minecraft (as he’s quite often watching streams of people’s Minecraft on YouTube).

Does anyone have any other suggestions for games for a young , neurodivergent, numbers obsessed little boy? Bonus points if it can be enjoyed by his bossy little 2yr old sister too!

Last year I got my 4 year old all the Mario games, and it definitely made him disinterested in the youtube garbage on his tablet, thankfully. But it did make him pretty obsessed with Mario from then on. Which I can live with, because Mario is pretty awesome. I did also try 2D Mario games with him, which I’m really bad at, and have never personally seen the appeal. I was hoping he would take to them and teach me. But he is also terrible at them and doesn’t like them.

Mario Kart is a really good choice, especially since the newest version has auto-steering and auto-acceleration that you can turn on. Super Mario Odyssey might be good too, since it’s an open-world game where he can just run around and have fun. My kids (my son especially) really enjoyed open-world games where there wasn’t a specific goal or time limit.

Sounds encouraging, just what I’m hoping will happen with him! I really would love to share it with him too.

He’s such a specific little chap though that I can see it all falling on it’s arse!

At least I can get the latest Zelda games for myself then though.

Not while he’s 5, but maybe around age 7 you could try a light strategy or tactics game with him. Maybe Mario & Rabbids or something like that? Even if he doesn’t totally get the nuances right away, a deeper experience like that might be engaging for him. I credit early exposure to strategy games(I couldn’t have been older than 7 or 8 when I first played the original Civ) for helping to develop a lot of my critical thinking skills.

I’d heard about the auto steering/acceleration from a friend which sealed the deal for me.

If something’s not immediately easy for him it can be a bit challenging to hook his interest, so getting the training wheels on to begin is definitely a plus!

This one for sure. Kids can play Mario Kart from a very young age and have fun, even if they are terrible.

A Short Hike might be a good one too: It’s an open-world indie game where you’re trying to climb a mountain, and you interact with other animals along the way.

Any of the Lego games would be good too, since they all have open hub worlds. Marvel/DC/whatever he’s interested in.

I found it very interesting that my son didn’t like Mario Kart at all. He quickly figured out the auto-steering and auto-acceleration meant he didn’t need to do much. And funny enough, he still lost all the races despite those features (dead last). But when I turned them off, he became a lot more interested. But he’s used to the open world features of the Mario games, so he gets incredibly frustrated that he can’t just take his kart and explore the world. The moment he starts going “backward” on the track the game resets him, and he starts shouting at the screen. He did finally figure out that he CAN go backwards on the track, but he needs to go in reverse.

My 5yo started with both the assists in Mario Kart turned on and is probably at the point now where I should turn them off. And that’s because … he’s been playing the terrible Pixar’s Cars racing game at the same time and it has 0 assists, which means he’s had to actually learn how to stay on the track in that one.

Hahah, I love all that. Now I’m wondering what open world kid-friendly vehicle games there are and the first thing that came to mind was Trailmakers where you can also build your own stuff. That’s not on Switch though :/

Anyway! @HUMBY50 I played the new Kirby game earlier in the year, Kirby and The Forgotten Land, and loved it. I usually gravitate to more challenging games but that was such a delightful and breezy experience (with some surprising bite if you’re looking for it). As a bonus, a second player can jump in as another character to help out Kirby. There’s a good demo too if you wanted to try it, which is what sold me on the game–I’d never played a Kirby game before but was really taken by it. I thought this was a great post from @thatdudeguy in the game’s thread about his 6 year old’s experience:

So I have a friend whose 8 year old is also on the spectrum. Here are some games he loves:

Mario Kart
Mario Odyssey
Sonic Mania
Mario Party
Minecraft
Mario 3D World
Super Smash Bros
Any Lego game. Jurassic World and Star Wars are gimmies

I’ll ask what else too, but thats a start for you.