Best Nintendo Christmas Gifts 2024: Switch Consoles & Games, eShop Credit And Lots More! | Nintendo Life

Oct 17, 2024

The best Nintendo presents and stocking-fillers!

If you're looking for the very best Nintendo gift ideas or the top Christmas presents for gamers this year, we're here to help with this Nintendo-flavoured Holiday gamer gift guide.

Below, you'll find our top recommendations for stocking fillers and video game-themed gift ideas to brighten your friends and family's day this Christmas. We're talking Switch consoles and games, eShop credit, Switch accessories, Nintendo toys, Nintendo homeware ideas, and everything in between!

There's so much to choose from, so use our handy table below to browse through any categories that take your fancy and to see our top picks, or if you'd rather shop all gift ideas by price bracket, make sure to check out our Nintendo Christmas Gift Budget guide:

From cheap stocking fillers to luxury gifts

On this page: Best Nintendo Christmas Gifts 2024: Switch Consoles & Games, eShop Credit And Lots More!

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The ultimate gift for Nintendo fans has to be Switch eShop credit. This credit can be spent on anything on Nintendo Switch including the hottest new games or even a subscription to Nintendo's Switch Online service. Simply buy your chosen amount below, give the voucher you receive to your special someone, and they'll be all set to buy whatever they like!

Buy Nintendo eShop Credit

If you want to get them something extra special, a shiny new Nintendo Switch console is no doubt at the top of every Nintendo fan's list. There are a few options to choose from depending on what features you're looking for and the budget you have to play with:

Nintendo has launched a range of Switch console bundles for the holiday season, throwing in additional goodies like games and Switch Online subscriptions at no additional cost to get you started.

The bundles featured below each come with their respective game and a 12-month Nintendo Switch Online subscription included for free. Savings shown are based on the usual total cost of buying all bundled items separately.

The Nintendo Switch OLED would be our top choice when it comes to Switch consoles. The OLED model is the most powerful and most versatile of Nintendo's Switch console range, allowing you to play in both docked and handheld modes (the latter making use of its gorgeous OLED screen). It's the most expensive of the Switch console line-up, but we think it's worth every penny.

Buy Nintendo Switch OLED Model

If the OLED is a little too steep or if you're looking for a console that's a little more hardwearing – perhaps for younger gamers or those who like to play on the go – the Switch Lite is a fantastic choice. This slightly smaller console strips away the features that let you play on the TV and gets rid of the detachable controllers in favour of an all-in-one handheld-only experience that's lighter on the wallet and in the hands.

It's a wonderfully robust little machine capable of playing almost all of the games in the Switch library, but with a smaller price tag and easier portability.

Buy Nintendo Switch Lite

Save $80 / £70 on Nintendo's console deals

How does 'Switch OLED' compare to the standard Switch and Switch Lite?

Here we have what gaming's all about – the games, obviously! Here are some of the hottest Switch games available as we enter the 2024 holiday season, including some of the latest must-have releases and some evergreen classics that we think will make a perfect gift:

Mario Party! Dragon Quest! Mario & Luigi!

All of the games featured below have gone down a treat with Nintendo Life readers and proved to be super-popular options, but of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg. For more, make sure to check out our guide to the 50 Best Nintendo Switch Games To Play Right Now, and remember that Nintendo Switch eShop Credit can also be used to buy games digitally from Nintendo's online storefront.

An often overlooked but absolutely essential piece of kit for any Nintendo Switch owner is a microSD card. The Switch doesn't have much storage built in, so popping in a microSD card can transform your console and allow you to store so many more games. The bigger the card, the more games it can hold.

If you have the budget to play with, securing a huge 1TB or 1.5TB microSD card will eradicate most Switch owners' storage woes for good. We'd only recommend grabbing one of these if the person you're buying for plays and downloads lots of games – there are cheaper options below.

For most players, a microSD card somewhere in the middle ground sizewise will be the best pick. The cards featured here are amongst the best when it comes to value (essentially how many GB of storage you're getting for your money), but you can track all the best prices in our full microSD card guide.

As a special treat, these officially licensed cards can make fantastic gifts – they're practical but cute at the same time! Usually, you'll pay slightly more for an SD card with a Nintendo design than its standard counterpart, but all the cards we've featured below are manufactured by SanDisk – a brand that we can wholeheartedly recommend after lots and lots of testing ourselves.

The best SD card deals and discounts for your Switch

A new controller is always a welcome gift for any gamer – either to use as a backup, or to enable multiplayer fun. Here are some controllers that are a) definitely compatible with Nintendo Switch, and b) great gift ideas!

When you're in the market for a new Switch controller, nothing compares to the official offerings from Nintendo. Below, we've rounded up plenty of options for both Nintendo's Pro Controller (a comfortable, premium pad designed for longer gaming sessions) and Joy-Con (the detachable controllers that come with the Switch as standard). There are plenty of designs to choose from.

Buy Nintendo Switch Pro Controller

Buy Nintendo Switch Joy-Con

Hori's Split Pad Pro range has become something of a favourite here at Nintendo Life, serving as a perfect Joy-Con replacement for those who want extra comfort – and especially for anyone with large hands who struggles to use Nintendo's smaller controllers. If you want to treat your loved one to something a little different this year, maybe give one of these a go...

Buy Nintendo Switch Split Pad Pro

Oddly, when it comes to controllers, Nintendo doesn't tend to release all that many options with fun designs featuring its top mascots. Thankfully, that's where companies like PowerA step in, launching more affordable pads with some awesome designs.

The controllers featured below don't have all the features of Nintendo's own (you won't find HD Rumble or NFC capability here), but we've had plenty of game time with PowerA's offerings and have never come away disappointed.

Here are some of our favourites that have launched recently.

Whether you want to play with friends online or simply enjoy your gaming without disturbing the entire house, a headset is a great accessory for any Switch owner. Here are some of our top picks:

When it comes to the best wireless headphones for gaming at a price point reflective of the headset's quality, you'll find the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless sitting right near the top of almost everyone's list.

Endorsed by popular gaming streamers, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pros boast active noise cancellation tech to immerse you in your gameplay, have truly wonderful sound quality, and come with two easily-swappable rechargeable batteries so that you never run out of juice.

If you're looking for a premium set at an impressive price point, these are a fantastic choice.

By going for a wired headset, you can often save quite a bit of cash but still enjoy the same excellent sound quality – just bear in mind that wired headsets will need to plug directly into the Switch console, even when playing docked.

The BlackShark V2 X is a lightweight headset with comfortable memory foam ear cushions, perfect for longer gaming sessions. Its noise-isolating microphone is great for chatting with friends in games like Fortnite, and a Windows-only 7.1 Surround Sound feature make these even better if you happen to play games on PC as well as your Switch.

There are plenty of budget headsets available on the market these days, allowing you to plug in and play at very little cost. Below, we've gathered three more affordable headsets from brands we can wholeheartedly recommend – just bear in mind that the sound quality and comfort, whilst still more than good enough for playing on Switch, won't quite match the more expensive options listed above.

What's almost as important as saving Zelda? Clothes! Yes, even gamers need to put clothes on sometimes, so here are some cool Nintendo-themed options.

Split across US and UK markets, we've gathered some of our favourite pieces from Amazon (thanks to their ease when it comes to ordering and returns) and Zavvi (because of the fantastic quality we've always received when ordering there ourselves). If you want even more options though, we'd urge US readers to check out GameStop's clothing range, and for UK readers to take a look at both GAME and Just Geek.

Or how about we go one step further with an ugly Christmas jumper? Some of these look perfect.

Want to go the extra mile and make their Christmas even more Nintendo-themed? Check out these Christmas cards!

We've actually found that Etsy is often the best place for cute Nintendo-themed Christmas cards, with lots of sellers offering customisable designs so that you can include your special someone's name on the front. Check out the full range here, or keep scrolling to see some of our top picks.

There's a surprising number of fantastic gaming books out there that we're sure will prove to be an excellent gift for any Nintendo fan. Here are some of our favourites...

This series of The Legend of Zelda books is quite frankly essential reading for any fan of the series, and indeed anyone with a deep interest in Nintendo's game development practices. These books dive deep into The Legend of Zelda's lore, offering up concept art, timeline details, interviews with artists, maps and databases of in-game characters, and so much more.

This official Super Mario Encyclopedia is jam-packed with information and pictures detailing the first 30 years of the franchise. It offers info on the series' games, characters, items, worlds, and more, even including an interview with Super Mario producer Takashi Tezuka. It's a perfect resource and timesink for kids with a strong reading ability – and it's pretty great for us big kids, too!

Designed for younger children, the Pokémon Primers series of books are board books full of colour and interactive flaps to engage your little one's mind. The first three in the series tackle letters, numbers, and colours, which we think make for a great start – if they love the first three, there are even more Primer books to be found.

If you're looking for a top coffee table tomb full of interesting facts about Nintendo's greatest games, Chris Scullion's Encyclopedia series is a great place to start. You might have seen Chris' words on this very site from time to time – what further proof could you possibly need to show that these will be top quality?

You'll find books relating to specific Nintendo consoles below.

In recent years, we've had not one but two fantastic books relating to Nintendo's top brass. Both of these books – an autobiography from ex-Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils Aime and a collection of words of wisdom from late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata – are excellent reads that'll no doubt prove to be perfect gifts for diehard Nintendo fans.

In our opinion, there's nothing cooler than seeing little Nintendo trinkets dotted around the home. So we thought it only fair to share some of our favourite pieces with you here.

Again, we've split our favourite choices into those available in the US and those from the UK, so head to your region's section below and have a browse.

Statues and figures can be pretty expensive, but if you have the budget available, there's nothing quite like them. These would make any mantelpiece twenty times better in an instant – you can't go wrong!

Our top choice for stunning statues and figures is, without question, First 4 Figures. The items available here can be pretty pricey, but boy do they look amazing.

Browse their entire collection at the following link, or keep scrolling to see some of our top choices (don't worry about the US pricing – these ship to most places worldwide!)

Posters? Prints? You got it. Help your special someone transform their home with these gorgeous pieces of art:

In recent years, Nintendo's been expanding into the world of LEGO with lots of official collaboration sets.

If Nintendo + LEGO sounds like the dream combo for your loved one, check out our dedicated Nintendo LEGO guide which offers all the links you need to buy the best sets and offers more info:

Complete lists and where to buy them!

A perfect option for younger Nintendo fans – or older ones if you're anything like us – are these toys and board games. There are a fair few fantastic editions of Monopoly available, as well as some great toys and card games that could make for excellent stocking fillers (note that we've put all the Nintendo LEGO in its own section above!)...

Let's end on something a little different. This section isn't strictly Nintendo, but we're willing to bet that there are lots of Nintendo fans out there who'd love a home arcade. Are we speaking from experience? Maybe...

Arcade1Up has been offering up some great home arcades in recent years, with cabinets for games and studios like Pac-Man, Mortal Kombat, Marvel vs. Capcom, The Simpsons, Atari and more ready to spruce up your house.

If you're in the US, browse the range over at Best Buy; those in the UK should check out all of the options at GAME:

If you're also on the lookout for the Best PlayStation Christmas Gift Ideas or the Best Xbox Christmas Gift Ideas, click through the links to see our sister sites' top holiday recommendations this year.

This guide is part of our series of Nintendo buyers' guides. Check out the following for even more inspiration:

Everything you need for your Switch

And how to get discounts!

The best SD card deals and discounts for your Switch