Nintendo Switch games to play long distance with 6 year old

April 20, 2022 5:08 AM

My niece (turning 6 soon) was recently gifted a Nintendo Switch, and I already have one. Which games can we play together long distance which will be easy enough for her to pick up with a bit of initial guidance. She currently loves playing animal crossing with some help from her dad - what is the level of interaction we can have if I get a copy of that as well? Any other suitable options?
posted by amerrydance to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (10 answers total)

Best answer: You can play Mario Kart over the internet, and it includes steering and acceleration assist options. I have nephews about that age and they enjoy crashing around and throwing shells at the other karts.
posted by backseatpilot at 6:19 AM on April 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: My kid (6 at the time) played a lot of Animal Crossing long distance with their grandpa, and it worked out well. They'd keep a FaceTime connection open to chat while they were playing. I think whether this is fun mostly boils down to how fun you think Animal Crossing looks in general (I find it pretty boring). We never really found any other games that worked, but Mario Kart is another possibility.
posted by another zebra at 6:22 AM on April 20, 2022

Best answer: You could do a cooperative farm in Stardew Valley. I think a 6 year old could pick up most of it easily, the fishing is a little bit hard, but otherwise it should be okay.
posted by mareliz at 6:37 AM on April 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Animal Crossing is great and totally appropriate for that age. Fun multiplayer Animal Crossing options include visiting each others' islands, emoting at each other, cooperating on various tasks, and, if you have the Nintendo Switch app on a smartphone, voice chat. (The Animal Crossing on-screen Switch keyboard is quite terrible, as an adult fast typist, I can't be bothered to use it for anything more complex than "hi," "ty," or similar. Just wave/smile/dance or get onto voice chat.)

Mario Kart is also fun, and if I remember correctly, each race includes 12 participants, a maximum of 4 of which can be human players. The game will try to have some of the computer-generated particpants 'challenge' or come close to the skill of every human player, so it's engaging even if you're at wildly different ability levels.

I love Stardew Valley, but for a 6-year-old it might be too much - there is a LOT more text, complexity, and different menus, projects, and areas than in Animal Crossing. You can also get to some brief references to serious-ish concepts if you unlock the right cutscenes (Shane's self-destructive behavior, Kent's ex-POW stuff) but I'd be much less worried about that than all the reading and strategizing.

Fishing in Stardew is a fast-paced fine-motor-control activity with no reading required, and small children in my experience can be startlingly good at learning and doing those.
posted by All Might Be Well at 6:53 AM on April 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I like being able to send my niblings items in Ankmal crossing. Evening if I’m not available at the same time, I can send them an in game note or gift!

Mario cart tends to be a good one that spans generational divides
posted by raccoon409 at 7:21 AM on April 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: You must be able to play Smash Bros online. If you're unskilled like me it's a bunch of button mashing and lucking onto patterns for moves. It has a ton of characters that may be familiar. My son's been playing the WiiU version for the last 4-5 years and he's only 7. He's not great but he's better than me.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 7:24 AM on April 20, 2022

Best answer: The thing I like best about Mario Kart is that the game gives slower players better items and trips up faster players with more setbacks. Even when I was so bad at it that I kept running off the road and didn't know which way to go, it was still kinda fun because it's visually engaging and you still have the chance to throw shells and zoom ahead. You unlock more car options as you play, which is a nice source of variety.

I know people who play Animal Crossing together, but the whole series just isn't my thing. I would play to stay in touch with a young relative, and let them enjoy showing me how to do things / decorate my house in silly ways.

Agreed that Stardew Valley is too much for a 6-year-old. I often refer to the wiki while I play, and some things are only available seasonally or in certain weather which is a big hassle for completing some objectives.
posted by momus_window at 8:26 AM on April 20, 2022

Best answer: Oh, also, if you're not aware you'll both need to subscribe to the Switch Online service in order to play multiplayer over the internet (definitely for first party Nintendo games, not sure about 3rd party). It's about 25 dollars a year, so not a huge investment but something both Switch owners will need to pay for.
posted by backseatpilot at 9:48 AM on April 20, 2022

Response by poster: Thanks all - really helpful answers so far! Was also wondering re. Minecraft, but is that a bit too old for her and/or not great for long distance collaboration?
posted by amerrydance at 4:18 PM on April 20, 2022

Best answer: You can play Minecraft with friends. My kids do this and the other people don't even need to be on a Switch version of Minecraft. It always takes us a bit of trial and error to set it up but that might be because we don't do a lot of Minecraft otherwise.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 4:58 PM on April 20, 2022