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Tag: Nintendo eShop

  • Nintendo Switch 2 Black Friday deals are live: Savings on Switch games and accessories, plus the best Switch 2 console bundles for the holiday shopping season

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    Nintendo gear is always sought after during the holiday shopping season, but this year likely more so than others. The Nintendo Switch 2 is the console launch of 2025 and it will undoubtedly be at the top of many wish lists for both kids and adults alike. If you were hoping to save a bit on the console during the Black Friday shopping season, you may be disappointed. The Nintendo Black Friday sale was just announced, and unsurprisingly, there aren’t a lot of true “deals” to be had. This is typical of Nintendo — legit Nintendo Black Friday deals are hard to come by — but there are ways to at least get the best value for your money if you’re going to pick up a Switch 2 before the year is out.

    As has been the case for many years, the marquee Nintendo deals for the holidays come in the form of console bundles. When the Switch 2 launched earlier this year, it was available as just the console only for $449 or bundled with Mario Kart World for $499. Both options are still available now. Considering the games by themselves cost $70 each, you do save a bit by picking up a console bundle. you can pick up the console and its bundles at most retailers including Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy and others.

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    Nintendo Switch game deals

    When it comes to deals on Nintendo Switch 2 games, the Nintendo eShop will have Cyber Deals starting on November 20, running through December 3. The shop will feature “holiday offers on select games,” so it appears we’ll all just have to go to the online store on November 20 to see the games on offer.

    Starting on November 23, select retailers will have discounts on some physical Switch games including Princess Peach: Showtime!, Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe. Those will each be $40, while other games like Super Mario Odyssey, Nintendo Switch Sports, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Splatoon 3 will be $30.

    Nintendo Switch accessory deals

    Switch 2 accessories were conspicuously absent from the announced deals, but there’s always a chance they’ll receive discounts from third-party retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy. A handful of official Nintendo accessories made it onto our best Switch 2 accessories list, but you can find plenty of good ones from other manufacturers as well. If you’re keen on getting a first-party accessory, though, for yourself or as a gift for someone else, here’s where you can find some of the most popular ones.

    Joy-Con 2 bundle

    Switch 2 Pro Controller

    Switch 2 Camera

    Hori Nintendo Switch 2 Piranha Plant Camera

    Joy-Con 2 Wheels (set of 2)

    More Nintendo Black Friday deals

    Even if you can’t get huge discounts on Nintendo consoles or new games this year, that doesn’t mean you can’t find decent deals on other Nintendo gear. There are plenty of great ideas for gifts for the Nintendo fan in your life, and Engadget’s Sam Rutherford got to see a bunch of them in person when he attended Nintendo’s holiday showcase. From collectibles to clothing to plushies and holiday decor, there’s really a ton to choose from — but you may want to pace yourself if you’re also a Nintendo fan finding things that you want to pick up for yourself in the process of looking for good gifts. Here are just some of the best Nintendo gift ideas that you can look out for during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

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    Dark Horse Books

    There is so much lore and history to the Zelda franchise that it was difficult to keep things straight. That is, up until a few years ago when this compendium came out and finally corrected the record and shed some light on some of the murkier events across one of the most storied game sagas of all time. — Sam Rutherford, Senior Reporter

    $22 at Amazon

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    Sam Rutherford for Engadget

    This may not be a welcome sight for parents, but this is sure to delight children who love cars, Mario or both. And because it has room to store more than 30 karts, this might actually help reduce some clutter. That’s a win-win situation in my book. — S.R.

    $50 at Amazon

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    Sam Rutherford for Engadget

    When I first saw this Lego set in person, it took all my restraint not to run out and buy it for myself. Just look at it. If this doesn’t conjure up cozy feelings of a handheld that chewed through AA batteries while keeping millions of kids entertained during road trips in the ’90s, then you might be dead inside. Lego even includes some faux displays with a lenticular effect to give the impression that the game actually runs. Very neat. — S.R.

    $60 at Amazon

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    USAOPOLY

    If you’re looking for a less frenetic nod to Nintendo’s creations, this 1,000-piece Pikmin puzzle is fun for the whole family. It’s the perfect activity to relax while enjoying good food, drink and the warmth of a nearby fire. And if this particular set doesn’t do it, there’s also an official Mario Kart-themed one as well. — S.R.

    $15 at Amazon

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    Sam Rutherford for Engadget

    You can’t hate Kirby. You just can’t. He’s just a lovable little puffball that deserves to go wherever he wants — and thanks to this backpack that looks like a plushie or this nifty little beanie, you can take him with you everywhere. — S.R.

    $30 at Amazon

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    Valentina Palladino

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  • Tears Of The Kingdom Is Smaller Than A Call Of Duty Patch, And That’s Great

    Tears Of The Kingdom Is Smaller Than A Call Of Duty Patch, And That’s Great

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    Like many others, I just bought the digital version of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on my Switch. I paid for the game, exited the eShop, and then it just…started downloading. No prompt to delete something else to make room. No minor crisis over deciding which of the half-dozen unfinished games on my console would get the boot. The download finished quickly, and then I started playing. Simple, right? And yet I can’t remember the last time installing one of the biggest games of the year went so smoothly.

    Most modern blockbusters have filesizes of at least 50GB. The biggest are over 100GB, even well over it. With standard PS5 and Xbox Series X storage drives being only 500GB, with even less space available purely for storing games, it doesn’t’ take long before downloading the next hit, or even a small indie game, leads to headaches. Do I really have time to be replaying The Witcher 3 right now? Should I put God of War Ragnarök on hold while I finish Horizon Forbidden West’s Burning Shores DLC? What if I just play one more hour of the latest random 2D Soulslike I downloaded before deleting it?

    Star Wars Jedi: Survivor threw this whole gauntlet into overdrive. The game was huge. The patches were huge. The patches kept coming. I love what I’ve played so far but man, that whole part sucks. God help you if you also have an online multiplayer game you jump into regularly like Destiny 2, Apex Legends, or Fortnite. And if it’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, well, all I can say is I’m sorry.

    Image: Nintendo

    Hence the surge of relief when I installed Tears of the Kingdom and didn’t have to deal with any of that. I have a 128GB microSD in my Switch and have never pressed up against the invisible barrier of its storage limits. Nintendo is renowned for optimizing its Switch games, with filesizes routinely half of what ports like Doom 2016 require. Tears of the Kingdom is only one gigabyte bigger than Breath of the Wild, despite an entire new crafting system, a much bigger map, and a ton more voice acting. It’s a small marvel, and one I appreciate now more than ever. And the version 1.1 day-one patch? Barely 300MB.

    I get it. With 4K textures, mountains of cutscenes, and full voice acting, cutting-edge blockbusters on the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC are never going to be that small. External storage add-ons are also getting cheaper, alleviating concerns for those who can afford them. And maybe one day all our games will be streamed from the cloud anyway, making local storage obsolete. In the meantime, I’m not taking conveniently small game footprints for granted.

    Something feels a little old-school about Tears of the Kingdom, and it’s not just that it’s the newest adventure for some of Nintendo’s oldest characters. The midnight launch. The lines wrapped around the block. The fact a gaming culture that’s increasingly fractured, fragmented, and heated is momentarily concentrated on Link gluing rockets to a raft. It’s nice. Also, the game just works. Incredible.

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    Ethan Gach

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