(Image credit: Nintendo)

Nintendo’s latest financial report made for interesting reading, if that’s your idea of a good time. Not only did the Switch console sell almost a million consoles between June 30 and September 30 of this year, bringing the lifetime sales of the games machine up to 154 million, but the Switch 2 has clocked up more than 10 million in sales already. That makes the original Switch Nintendo’s best-selling home console ever, though it hasn’t overtaken the handheld Nintendo DS or Sony’s PlayStation 2, which has sold north of 160 million units.

So if you’re one of the three people who hasn’t already got one of Nintendo’s hybrid consoles, now is a great time to get onboard. As the Switch itself has been out for a while - it launched in 2017 - there’s an enormous library of games available for it. There’s a vibrant online store from where you can download titles to the Switch’s microSD card storage, and which holds regular sales, and also a thriving second hand market for the game carts themselves, so you can save cash by picking up these cut-price slivers of metal and plastic, and play your games the old-fashioned way.

Money off hardware and software

You can also save some money on the new Switch 2 console itself, thanks to a promotion Currys is running in the weeks before Black Friday. They’re not vast discounts, admittedly, but the saving is enough to pick up an extra game with.

(Image credit: Nintendo)

It starts with the Switch 2, Mario Kart World, microSD Express Memory Card (256 GB) & Switch Online 12 Month Membership Bundle, which nets you one of the best games for the system - and the seed behind raucous sessions of multiplayer karting with lots of hooting over the homing properties of red and blue shells being unfair - for £469. That’s £27 less than the previous price. The memory card is essential for storing your savegames and downloads from the online store, and the Switch Online membership means you’ll be able to race against other people even when you haven’t got friends round.

You can get a similar bundle, only with Donkey Kong Bananza as the included game, for £529, a £20 discount, and a few without the online membership if you’d prefer it that way: the Nintendo Switch 2, Mario Kart World, EA Sports FC 26 & Samsung microSD Express Memory Card (256 GB) Bundle is £509, while the Nintendo Switch 2 and Mario Kart World, Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate & microSD Express Memory Card (256 GB) Bundle is £504.

(Image credit: Nintendo)

If you’re going to let your teenagers play online, they’re going to want a headset to compliment other players on their skills, and the Nintendo Switch 2, Mario Kart World & Cloud Mini Kids Gaming Headset Bundle allows them to do just that, looking sharp in the process thanks to the headset’s bold colours. It’s a specially designed headset from HyperX designed for ages 6 to 12, and is limited to 85dB to protect their hearing. They can also take their Mario Kart skills to the next level with the Goji Joy-Con Racing Wheels Bundle for £409, or display their skills in a different sport with the Mario Kart World & EA Sports FC 26 Bundle for £459.

Catch at least one

There’s an absolute mass of Mario madness in the Nintendo Switch 2, Mario Kart World, Super Mario Party Jamboree + Jamboree TV & Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Star-Crossed World Bundle for £519, and Pokémon rears its head in two bundles, the Mario Kart World & Pokémon Legends: Z-A Bundle with or without stickers, both for £459. We know which one we’d choose.

All these Switch 2 bundles open up a lot of gameplay for your downtime, as well as a way to marvel at the creative excellence on offer from both Nintendo and the thirdparty developers who make games. From racing in unlikely karts to collecting myriad creatures and making them fight, the Switch 2 is one of the best ways to get into gaming right now.

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Ian Evenden has been a journalist for over 20 years, starting in the days of QuarkXpress 4 and Photoshop 5. He now mainly works in Creative Cloud and Google Docs, but can always find a use for a powerful laptop or two. When not sweating over page layout or photo editing, you can find him peering at the stars or growing vegetables.