Nintendo Switch: 5 must-buy games for younger kids this holiday season

Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee/ Let’s Go Pikachu

If there has been one game that managed to capture the attention of children for decades, it’s been Pokemon, easily. Sure, Mario may be a bit more iconic on the world’s stage, but I guarantee you that while most children could easy name 200-300 different Pokemon by sight alone, you can show a kid about 10 different Mario enemies before they get stumped on the name. I’m looking at you Porcupo.

While there are a lot of Pokemon games on the Nintendo Switch, including the remakes of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl that are coming out this November, you might wonder which is a good starting point if they’ve never played one.

Let’s Go is that choice.

Choose either Let’s Go Eevee or Let’s Go Pikachu based mostly off which Pokemon your child likes more as that Pokemon will be their companion through the game. Once you get in there, the game is a remake of Pokemon Red/Blue from over two decades ago with the exception that it isn’t an absolute slog like the originals.

Vibrant graphics, adorable animations and a limited selection of just the first 151 Pokemon (which seems like a lot until you realize there’s over 1,000 Pokemon) makes it a great entry point in learning the mechanics. They also added a lot of fun features my kids really loved from using the touch screen to style your Eevee or Pikachu’s hair, having your Pokemon run with you (or, if you choose the right one like Dodrio or Haunter, right ON it) and best of all, really good motion mechanics. If you want, and this is entirely optional, you can enact motion controls which allow you to actually throw the Pokeball. Pairing it with the optional Pokeball controller (which is not necessary but super fun) adds a level of interaction with every encounter that keeps it fresh.