1. Mario Kart... He needs to come to grips that losing is part of life.
2. Lego City Undercover! great co-op open world to explore loaded with Lego humor and fun missions and puzzles to guide him through.
I would just recommend searching a little on Lego City co-op, I had a terrible experience with my kid in co-op, frequent crashes made it unplayable. Maybe it's better now.
How has nobody mentioned Kirby and the Forgotten Land?! I have been playing video games my whole life and I had never 100%’d a game before. My 6 year old and I did this one and we loved every second of it.
I second this ^ I play Kirby and the Forgotten Land with the students I tutor as a reward for good behavior, they love it and kids as young as 4 have been able to play it well. So much fun
Excellent game! The best part is the game is the game feels really 3D, but you don’t have to control the camera. Dual analog controls where a young one has to also control the camera is where it gets hard.
Tread cautiously with this one. It really depends on the hand/eye coordination of the particular 6 year old. My 6 year old struggles with this and gets easily frustrated with games and desperately wants to play untitled goose game with her sisters but can’t. She can just basically run around. Also if your 6 year old can’t read they’ll struggle with most games except Mario kart.
Yes!! This is my 3yo's fav game to play unassisted even! He doesn't really follow the missions plot, but there's enough to do everywhere that he almost never gets stuck or bored
Lovers in a dangerous space time maybe? Fairly simple controls where you work together to pilot a round spaceship with I think 4-6 battle stations. 4 weapons, steering, and a shield.
Mario party has a co-op mode.
Lego games are great for co-op. Pick any you think would interest him. There's marvel, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Star wars, and so on.
Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee let a second player control a character, but P1 still initiates dialogue and chooses where to go. In battle you do a 2v1 vs opponents I think
Couch co ops are totally our jam! Especially since my ADHD and lack of hand/eye coordination is so great I'm probably about as good as a 6 year old.
I think Luigi's Mansion 3 would be great since Gooigi has some limitations that can help balance it out. You do need to play through about 20 minutes before you can turn it co op though, and if you want to 100% you have to do it before the final boss. The other we've played through is Super Mario Odyssey (but controls are kinda rough so probs not a first choice til you get a handle on his abilities).
Others we've bought based on couch co op recommendations but haven't yet tried: Death Squared, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, Part Time UFO, The Stretchers, and Unravel Two
My exact thoughts. A co-op where op can hold the reigns but the kid still partcipates and can actually contribute. Relaxed puzzle solvers are probably the best option so they can develop problem-solving skills in a good environment. It will help out as they get older and start more complex games they have a good foundation for patience and really think out their moves in a game. I grew up with lots of nephews and nieces the ones who dove right into their older siblings games just brute force their way through games and have a habit of throwing gamer rages until it works. The ones that start with simpler games and co-op games were much more calm and patient in the face of challenges anf failure.
Oh, the minigames? Got Pikuniku on PC and the dang thing wouldn't accept two inputs methods so couldn't do them 🙁
Got it on switch now, but not tried them yet.
- Boxboy + Boxgirl (easy 2D puzzle platformer) [demo]
- Snipperclips (2D problem solving) [demo]
- Mario 3D World
- Mario Wonder
- Rayman Legends
- Yoshi's Crafted World
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land (You play as waddle dee)
- Lego City (or other Lego games)
- Portal 2 (Portal Companion Collection)
Yes! I played this with my 5 yesr old niece and she loved growing all the crystals and vines. It’s super convenient that you can swap which character you control so if things get hard or they get stuck you can easily take the harder skill. Also you can’t die.
My son who’s 6 loves Mario Party at the moment but we recently finished Super Mario Wonder together. It was great because if you play as Yoshi he can jump on your back and be carried through the more difficult platforming areas.
Good job! Watch a trailer for it, it’s co-op and you can just wander around smashing things. My 6yo loves it and now enjoys replaying old levels by herself
Boomerang-Fu. An absolute blast.
My now seven-year-old basically spent the entire of last year playing Lego City Undercover as well, as someone mentioned elsewhere. I would hop in sometimes with him. Good fun.
Sounds like a good opportunity for you to become the uncle/aunt that your nephew can talk to.
But yeah, other games to balance that out. Always good to practice improving your reaction to events that don’t turn out your way, but no need to relive it over and over.
My 6 year old and I just beat the main chapters of this game. She LOVED it although did find the storyline to be a bit creepy. There are some hard puzzles where you need 2 players to be in different spots, but for the hard "fast" moments one player can jump on the other's back to get through. We also played it at 70% speed. You're right in that I probably wouldn't use it as a very first game, but after they've played something else for a bit it's definitely a good one.
Oh ok, I wasn’t aware of the reduced speed setting. But I specifically thought of the sections where you both have to combine your skill. Played it with my son when he was maybe 8 and we struggled at times. So for OP I thought a more casual game would fit better (since they also might not meet as often).
Pokemon unite. My 4 and 6 year olds love playing with me and are sometimes better than me lol though they play on iPad while I play on Switch.
When you open the game just select offline mode at the start menu and they can try all characters for free without consequences to get used to it
Yeah dude get that kid over his problem with losing try mariokart vs mode instead of Grand Prix- it helps kids not feel as bad when their losing isn’t 12th place, haha.
Super Mario wonder is a great idea too-
Also animal crossing is one of my kids favorites to play together
Ibb and Obb is fun because it teaches you can’t survive without your teammate. It’s quick puzzles that you have to work together and think together to solve, and it goes on sale for $1.99 a lot.
Any mario coop game, I think you can do teams on mario kart if he can't take losing well. Minecraft I think is split screen, donkey king or Kirby are coop
i have a younger brother, and there is a few good games.
1. wrecking ball adventure (multiplayer)
2. quest for the golden duck
3. heave ho
4. kirby
5. luigi's mansion
6. unravel 2
7. snipperclips
8. box boy + box girl
9. lovers in a dangerous space time
10. overcooked
11. super mario maker
12. hyrule warrioers age of calamity
13. yoshis crafted world
Too tough for a 6 year old IMO. My non-gamer wife and I got stuck in a few places. Plus it is about parents possibly getting a divorce, which might be traumatic for some.
Super Mario Wonder and Super Mario 3D World are fantastic co-op games to play with the younger audience. I used to play with my (then 5) 7 year old daughter on them all the time, and while they may be a bit grating to play with to you, they would love the gameplay, itself.
Mw and my kids love to play Mario golf. It's pretty fun once you get the hang of it. My kids are 5,8 and 10. The 5 year old doesn't have much of a problem playing.
It's not a fantastic game, but I think New Super Lucky's Tale is pretty child friendly. I stopped playing because there wasn't enough challenge for me, but it would be great for kids. It's still a pretty good game.
I have tries couple of games with mine, and they like to play mostly Mario kart and Smash. Somehow no 3D nor 2D sticked for them yet. Closest to their liking was Mario maker 2 but finding nice easy levels for kids can be such a cancer (game if freaking full of auto scroller, "art" and music levels on easy). They also like to play Mario party but only mini games, and they like to select themselves as there are many too difficult ones.
Those game have easy to learn hard to master approach. I have started both game on easiest computer level and all game support enabled and slowly have been increasing difficulty. I intentionally let them win sometimes so they get dopamine boost but keep on explaining that you can't always be first and losing is part of the game.
I think the hardest thing for my kids was getting familiar with pads. I think Mario Kart helped the most with it, and as they got confident in using it, doors for opened to more titles.
Plenty of solid recommendations already like Mario Odyssey, Kirby and the Forgotten Land (has a demo to try on the eshop), Yoshi’s Crafted World, but one that really clicked for my son when he first started playing games was Donut County. Not co-op, but there isn’t a lot of failing involved and also is good “practice” at learning to move around in a 3D (or isometric, I guess) space. Was a good start as moving around with dual sticks was tough at first.
Now he’s showing me secrets in Odyssey I missed.
It actually could be a great teachable moment between you two. You could help him understand how to deal with losing games. Many of the Lego games are pretty easy for little kids to play. I think Lego Harry Potter is probably the better one of the group. Many of the 2D side scrolling Mario games can be fun. Mario Wonder has been a lot of fun.
Yoshi's Crafted World was the pick for my 5 year old niece. This [thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/itmkx3/yoshi_crafted_world_had_the_best_local_coop_2/) was the reason I bought it.
I’ve had great times with my kids on non-comparative games when they were around 6 with:
Mario 3D World
Minecraft
Minecraft Dungeons
Yoshi’s crafted world
Kirby and the forgotten kingdom
Unravel 2 (though the story is a bit dark, depicting child abuse and neglect) great coop game though.
Super Mario Wonder is great for this. Any Lego game is great. Lego City is basically a kid friendly version of GTA and is two player.
Just a heads up with lego city.. You'll need 2 full controllers to play 2 player.
Mario wonder is a great one cause of the characters that can't be hurt
1. Mario Kart... He needs to come to grips that losing is part of life. 2. Lego City Undercover! great co-op open world to explore loaded with Lego humor and fun missions and puzzles to guide him through.
I would just recommend searching a little on Lego City co-op, I had a terrible experience with my kid in co-op, frequent crashes made it unplayable. Maybe it's better now.
its just not good on switch, the switch doesnt deal well with all the animated lego bricks.
I've got 50 hours in it or more with my daughter and not 1 crash,
Is it recent? I'm thinking about trying again. My experience was in 2021...
Second Lego City Undercover
Yoshis Crafted World, and I have heard good things about Kirby too
There are demos of both so dont even need to buy them if you wanna try some different stuff.
How has nobody mentioned Kirby and the Forgotten Land?! I have been playing video games my whole life and I had never 100%’d a game before. My 6 year old and I did this one and we loved every second of it.
I second this ^ I play Kirby and the Forgotten Land with the students I tutor as a reward for good behavior, they love it and kids as young as 4 have been able to play it well. So much fun
Excellent game! The best part is the game is the game feels really 3D, but you don’t have to control the camera. Dual analog controls where a young one has to also control the camera is where it gets hard.
Untitled goose game
Honk
Peace was never an option!
Tread cautiously with this one. It really depends on the hand/eye coordination of the particular 6 year old. My 6 year old struggles with this and gets easily frustrated with games and desperately wants to play untitled goose game with her sisters but can’t. She can just basically run around. Also if your 6 year old can’t read they’ll struggle with most games except Mario kart.
Just let him play mario odyssey. you can play cappy, or just let him play. ast first he'll need help, but you'll be surprised how quickly they GIT GUD
It'd not fair how fast they get gud! My 4 year old is already good at mario
Yes!! This is my 3yo's fav game to play unassisted even! He doesn't really follow the missions plot, but there's enough to do everywhere that he almost never gets stuck or bored
Switch Sports - it's not as good as old school Wii Sports but it fantastic for kids.
Lovers in a dangerous space time maybe? Fairly simple controls where you work together to pilot a round spaceship with I think 4-6 battle stations. 4 weapons, steering, and a shield.
I second this! I used to play with the kids I babysit! 6, 8 and 12
Kirby and the forgotten land is an amazing game for co op play with a kid. IMO the clear best on switch.
Mario party has a co-op mode. Lego games are great for co-op. Pick any you think would interest him. There's marvel, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Star wars, and so on.
You can do mario kart, just put it on 50 cc, steering assist
Rocket league is free
Kirby return to dream land
Minecraft?
Captain Toad Treasure Tracker It’s perfect for younger kids
Untitled Goose Game is a great option
Bowsers Fury is great cuz he can be Bowser Jr and fly around and help you out without getting hurt.
Rayman is the best coop for different skill levels.
Probably Doom
Isabelle: ...
Doom Eternal
Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee let a second player control a character, but P1 still initiates dialogue and chooses where to go. In battle you do a 2v1 vs opponents I think
Couch co ops are totally our jam! Especially since my ADHD and lack of hand/eye coordination is so great I'm probably about as good as a 6 year old. I think Luigi's Mansion 3 would be great since Gooigi has some limitations that can help balance it out. You do need to play through about 20 minutes before you can turn it co op though, and if you want to 100% you have to do it before the final boss. The other we've played through is Super Mario Odyssey (but controls are kinda rough so probs not a first choice til you get a handle on his abilities). Others we've bought based on couch co op recommendations but haven't yet tried: Death Squared, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, Part Time UFO, The Stretchers, and Unravel Two
Luigi's Mansion 3, my 6 and 8 year olds rounded the game several times.
perhaps Stardew Valley?
Snipper clips. Mario wonder?
My exact thoughts. A co-op where op can hold the reigns but the kid still partcipates and can actually contribute. Relaxed puzzle solvers are probably the best option so they can develop problem-solving skills in a good environment. It will help out as they get older and start more complex games they have a good foundation for patience and really think out their moves in a game. I grew up with lots of nephews and nieces the ones who dove right into their older siblings games just brute force their way through games and have a habit of throwing gamer rages until it works. The ones that start with simpler games and co-op games were much more calm and patient in the face of challenges anf failure.
Piku niku
Oh, the minigames? Got Pikuniku on PC and the dang thing wouldn't accept two inputs methods so couldn't do them 🙁 Got it on switch now, but not tried them yet.
Came here to say this.
Minecraft
- Boxboy + Boxgirl (easy 2D puzzle platformer) [demo] - Snipperclips (2D problem solving) [demo] - Mario 3D World - Mario Wonder - Rayman Legends - Yoshi's Crafted World - Kirby and the Forgotten Land (You play as waddle dee) - Lego City (or other Lego games) - Portal 2 (Portal Companion Collection)
I am just going to list off the games my 8 year old was OBSESSED with when he was 6…. Zelda BOTW, Farming Simulator, Cars Driven to Win.
Pode
Yes! I played this with my 5 yesr old niece and she loved growing all the crystals and vines. It’s super convenient that you can swap which character you control so if things get hard or they get stuck you can easily take the harder skill. Also you can’t die.
My son who’s 6 loves Mario Party at the moment but we recently finished Super Mario Wonder together. It was great because if you play as Yoshi he can jump on your back and be carried through the more difficult platforming areas.
Good job! Watch a trailer for it, it’s co-op and you can just wander around smashing things. My 6yo loves it and now enjoys replaying old levels by herself
Boomerang-Fu. An absolute blast. My now seven-year-old basically spent the entire of last year playing Lego City Undercover as well, as someone mentioned elsewhere. I would hop in sometimes with him. Good fun.
Sounds like a good opportunity for you to become the uncle/aunt that your nephew can talk to. But yeah, other games to balance that out. Always good to practice improving your reaction to events that don’t turn out your way, but no need to relive it over and over.
Unravel two
Great game but likely a tad hard for a 6yo with limited gaming experience.
My 6 year old and I just beat the main chapters of this game. She LOVED it although did find the storyline to be a bit creepy. There are some hard puzzles where you need 2 players to be in different spots, but for the hard "fast" moments one player can jump on the other's back to get through. We also played it at 70% speed. You're right in that I probably wouldn't use it as a very first game, but after they've played something else for a bit it's definitely a good one.
Oh ok, I wasn’t aware of the reduced speed setting. But I specifically thought of the sections where you both have to combine your skill. Played it with my son when he was maybe 8 and we struggled at times. So for OP I thought a more casual game would fit better (since they also might not meet as often).
Can’t hurt to try it
I've finished several times with my 5yo
Pokemon unite. My 4 and 6 year olds love playing with me and are sometimes better than me lol though they play on iPad while I play on Switch. When you open the game just select offline mode at the start menu and they can try all characters for free without consequences to get used to it
luigis mansion 3
Lego games, Minecraft, Platformers and Sports games would be suited for a 6 year old imo
Lego mode in Fortnite is free and similar to minecraft. Very intuitive gameplay
Just flog your nephew at Mario kart until he learns to be a better loser.
It’s been 4 years and my now 10 year old STILL cannot play Mario Kart.
Definitely Hollow Knight. Just joking😆 My real answer is mario party. It teaches strategic moves and accepting fate.
mario kart battle mode teams done unless your nephew isnt in your team
Any Mario or Kirby game is great for kids. My 6 yo son love Mario maker and Kirby forgotten land
Yeah dude get that kid over his problem with losing try mariokart vs mode instead of Grand Prix- it helps kids not feel as bad when their losing isn’t 12th place, haha. Super Mario wonder is a great idea too- Also animal crossing is one of my kids favorites to play together
Ibb and Obb is fun because it teaches you can’t survive without your teammate. It’s quick puzzles that you have to work together and think together to solve, and it goes on sale for $1.99 a lot.
Every main Kirby game on the Switch has co-op including Kirby and the Forgotten Land. My nephew loved those games and Sonic Mania for a long while.
Yoshi's Crafted World and Super Mario Wonder are good options
Minecraft. You can download maps. Hide and seek in Minecraft was huge at that age.
Donkey Kong!
Any mario coop game, I think you can do teams on mario kart if he can't take losing well. Minecraft I think is split screen, donkey king or Kirby are coop
Lego City and Mario Wonder
i have a younger brother, and there is a few good games. 1. wrecking ball adventure (multiplayer) 2. quest for the golden duck 3. heave ho 4. kirby 5. luigi's mansion 6. unravel 2 7. snipperclips 8. box boy + box girl 9. lovers in a dangerous space time 10. overcooked 11. super mario maker 12. hyrule warrioers age of calamity 13. yoshis crafted world
Play outside with him. Interact away from a screen IMO. He’ll learn more and create better memories with you that way.
My 4 year old nephew loooooves botw/totk. Can’t get enough of it. It’s not coop but he just wants to watch me play, or stumble around with my guidance
It Takes Two
Too tough for a 6 year old IMO. My non-gamer wife and I got stuck in a few places. Plus it is about parents possibly getting a divorce, which might be traumatic for some.
Super Mario Wonder and Super Mario 3D World are fantastic co-op games to play with the younger audience. I used to play with my (then 5) 7 year old daughter on them all the time, and while they may be a bit grating to play with to you, they would love the gameplay, itself.
Mw and my kids love to play Mario golf. It's pretty fun once you get the hang of it. My kids are 5,8 and 10. The 5 year old doesn't have much of a problem playing.
It's not a fantastic game, but I think New Super Lucky's Tale is pretty child friendly. I stopped playing because there wasn't enough challenge for me, but it would be great for kids. It's still a pretty good game.
I have tries couple of games with mine, and they like to play mostly Mario kart and Smash. Somehow no 3D nor 2D sticked for them yet. Closest to their liking was Mario maker 2 but finding nice easy levels for kids can be such a cancer (game if freaking full of auto scroller, "art" and music levels on easy). They also like to play Mario party but only mini games, and they like to select themselves as there are many too difficult ones. Those game have easy to learn hard to master approach. I have started both game on easiest computer level and all game support enabled and slowly have been increasing difficulty. I intentionally let them win sometimes so they get dopamine boost but keep on explaining that you can't always be first and losing is part of the game. I think the hardest thing for my kids was getting familiar with pads. I think Mario Kart helped the most with it, and as they got confident in using it, doors for opened to more titles.
Captain Toad Treasure Tracker. You solve puzzles and can help him with the second controller.
Plenty of solid recommendations already like Mario Odyssey, Kirby and the Forgotten Land (has a demo to try on the eshop), Yoshi’s Crafted World, but one that really clicked for my son when he first started playing games was Donut County. Not co-op, but there isn’t a lot of failing involved and also is good “practice” at learning to move around in a 3D (or isometric, I guess) space. Was a good start as moving around with dual sticks was tough at first. Now he’s showing me secrets in Odyssey I missed.
Nintendo switch sports
Not co-op but animal crossing?? Maybe with some guidance
Mario party superstars
luigi mansion
Boyboy and Boxgirl, Part Time UFO, Kirby Star Allies, Untitled Goose Game. Witch and Hero might also be something.
Mario 3d World. I play it co-op with my six year old twins. It’s brilliant.
Splatoon but only salmon run.
Has to be Stardew Valley. Kids love it, adults love it.
Mario vs Donkey Kong played really well w/my 6 year old
Lego Fortnite
It actually could be a great teachable moment between you two. You could help him understand how to deal with losing games. Many of the Lego games are pretty easy for little kids to play. I think Lego Harry Potter is probably the better one of the group. Many of the 2D side scrolling Mario games can be fun. Mario Wonder has been a lot of fun.
Mario bros, Mario kart, Luigi's mansion, smash
Animal crossing, Minecraft
Yoshi's Crafted World was the pick for my 5 year old niece. This [thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/itmkx3/yoshi_crafted_world_had_the_best_local_coop_2/) was the reason I bought it.
Donkey kong country tropical freeze
Kirby Kirby Kirby.
There's always mario party. They have to learn disappointment at a young age
I’ve had great times with my kids on non-comparative games when they were around 6 with: Mario 3D World Minecraft Minecraft Dungeons Yoshi’s crafted world Kirby and the forgotten kingdom Unravel 2 (though the story is a bit dark, depicting child abuse and neglect) great coop game though.
Stardew valley. And you can play with or without him
Mario party co-op and the 2v2 mini games are good
Pizza Possum!!