By age band
Ages 4–7. Look for forgiving games with no real failure. Kirby is the standout — adorable, very gentle, and with a second-player mode a parent can drop into to help. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is the other strong pick here, because it includes characters designed so a struggling young player effectively can’t die. Mario Kart works from about five upward too, since the game can steer and accelerate for them. If the child is right in the middle of that band, our games for 6-year-olds list applies the same thinking across every console rather than just this one.
Ages 8–11. The sweet spot for most of the library. Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Minecraft and Pokémon all land perfectly here — enough challenge to feel real, nothing frustrating, and plenty of depth to keep going for months.
Ages 12 and up. Pokémon and Minecraft still work, and Luigi’s Mansion 3 suits an older child who enjoys a cartoon-spooky theme. At this age many children also want what their friends are playing, which is worth asking about.
The best gift for a household rather than a child
If there are siblings, or if the game will be played when relatives visit, buy a multiplayer title. Mario Kart and Mario Party Jamboree both support four players on one console with no extra hardware beyond controllers, and they level the field across ages in a way that stops the youngest constantly losing. It’s often the better gift than another single-player adventure. Choosing between the two Mario Party games? Our Jamboree vs Superstars comparison settles it — the answer changes on a Switch Lite. And for the grown-ups’ own evenings, see our Switch games for adults.
Two practical things to check
Do they already own it? Popular Switch games are extremely widely owned, and Mario Kart in particular is in most Switch households already. A quick word with a parent avoids the duplicate. Do they have the right controllers? Four-player party games need enough controllers to go round, and Nintendo Switch Sports needs the detachable kind, so it doesn’t suit a handheld-only Switch Lite. If in doubt, a Nintendo eShop gift card lets the family sort it out themselves.
Buying a Pokémon game specifically? Our Legends: Z-A vs Scarlet comparison covers which one suits a younger player, including the difference between their two ESRB ratings.
If the console in the house is the new one
This list is the original Nintendo Switch library, and almost all of it runs on a Switch 2 as well — so none of it is wasted. But the new console has its own shelf, and it is less child-friendly than people expect, because most of its headline games are rated E10+ or T rather than E. Our best Switch 2 games for kids sorts what is actually suitable by age, and what a Switch 2 really costs is the page to read first if the console itself is the present.
