Over the last year, we’ve reviewed a lot of products on our humble site. Now we could never choose favorites among any of them, especially the ones that reviewed really well. And it’s pretty hard to say exactly what the gamer in your life exactly wants. So what we’ve done with this article is try to find a couple of staples of gaming, really great products we’ve featured, and ones that we didn’t get a chance to feature. Hopefully at least one of these will make your gamer friend or family member smile!
A Gaming Console or Handheld:
Now, I thought it would be smart to start with the obvious answer. Everyone is already thinking it and if you’re thinking about it, you should do it. If you’re considering buying one, it must be because they asked for one. But there’s so much more to it than that. Once they have a new console that they can go crazy over, you have now a ton of stuff that you can always buy for them. Not just the newest and best games, but also gaming accessories, as well as a subscription to the online service associated with the console.
It really is a smart move as it’s the gift that you can keep breathing new life to across the holidays, birthdays, or just because you care! What’s great about a console is that if you get a current generation console, they’ll feel awesome because they can play games online with others. If you get them a retro system, then there is an overabundance of already existing games and accessories. You really, truly cannot go wrong. And best of all, you can find most any console at any store online and get really good prices this time of year!
Mini Console:
Another no-brainer, especially if you’re on a budget. Look, we all love the miniature aspect of the current and future releases of these consoles. What’s extra great is that a fair amount of these consoles can be modified to add more, if not all of the games you want to them. Most of these mini consoles have multiple controllers and are plug and play with no additional purchases needed. This is truly a great idea if you have a gamer that has all of the current generation stuff and they want to play some retro stuff without buying a console that may be older or broken and then buy all of the games and an extra controller and then may not even work on your modern TV. The go to mini consoles are NES Classic and SNES Classic with the PlayStation Classic on the horizon. But maybe your gamer is an arcade fanatic. We recommend the Super Retro-Cade from Retro-Bit. And there is a special version of the Neo Geo Mini for the Holidays as well. It’s coming soon.
Portable Battery Options for Nintendo Switch:
Lots of options exist when it comes to keeping your Switch alive longer than its own battery allows. We covered two of them from Nyko recently. What’s great about those products is that they have more than one purpose. Sure, you can buy battery banks, which we are about to cover. But the Power Pak is a snap on battery pack that gives you a better kickstand on the back. The Power Shell is a full-blown protective carrying case that lets you charge the Switch in tabletop mode.
With regards to portable batteries, there are plenty of options. You have probably too many to choose from. Since we haven’t covered any yet on our site, I scoured the web to find you three of the best rated battery banks.
- Anker PowerCore 20,100 mAh (Go with the black color, it’s $10 less.)
- Mophie Powerstation 19,000 mAh
- Aukey 10,000 mAh Power Bank
Third Party Controllers:
Third party controllers, like any accessory, can be a good way to save money. Additionally, you’re probably more likely to find one available as first party options sell the fastest. However, third party can be scary, so you want products that are going to be good and useful. Nintendo Switch, XBOX One, and PlayStation all have quality third party controllers via PowerA. We reviewed one recently for the XBOX One. It’s worth noting that they aren’t all winners. So here are links to PlayStation 4 and Switch equivalents so you only buy the best!
- PlayStation 4 Horipad FPS Plus Wired $51.00
- PowerA Nintendo Switch Wired $24.99
- PowerA Nintendo Switch Wireless $49.99
Wall Mounts:
There are quite literally tons of wall mount options out there in the world. We covered a lot of them from various companies. The final consensus was that the ones with the most variety, best price, and incomparable quality was from Borangame. If you’d like to find out more about them, you can read the review here where we cover the PS4 wall mounts. The downside of Borangame is that they’re based out of Italy and while they have fast shipping, it will cost you. So you either need to buy them now or read some of our secondary options here and here. They’re both very good, but they’re a little shy of a perfect score.
Honorable Mentions and Other Ideas:
This can be anything that your gamer might already be missing. This could be anything from shelving to chairs to gaming headphones and/or a surround sound setup. If you’d like our full breakdown of these products, check out this article from last year. If you’re looking at getting a gift for more of a collector than a gamer, look more into getting shelving setups and dust covers. If they’re more of a gamer than a collector, then digital games are going to matter more. I would suggest a gift card for the PS Store, eShop, or the XBOX Store.
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