The weekend’s best deals: Nintendo Switch New Year’s sale, Apple Watch, and more

  News
image_pdfimage_print
The weekend’s best deals: Nintendo Switch New Year’s sale, Apple Watch, and more
Ars Technica


Happy weekend, and welcome back to another Dealmaster. Our latest roundup of the best tech deals we can find is headed up by a range of deals on digital Nintendo Switch games. The Mario maker is running a sweeping “New Year Sale” over at its online eShop, with many of the more notable discounts duplicated at third-party retailers such as Amazon, Target, Best Buy, Walmart, and Humble. While the sales don’t include price cuts on some of the most popular Switch games—there’s nothing for Zelda, Smash Bros., Animal Crossing, or Mario Kart here—the discounts still cover a variety of games we like and have previously recommended here at Ars.
We’ve curated a list of standout deals from the sale below, but among the particular highlights, the delightfully mischievous Untitled Goose Game is down to $10, while the Switch port of the breezy and charming puzzler Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is down to $28. Clubhouse Games, which collects 51 innocently fun mini-games that span various methods of play, is also on sale for $28. Several ports of easy recommendations are discounted as well, including near-universally acclaimed RPGs in Disco Elysium, The Witcher 3, and Divinity: Original Sin 2, the gorgeous Tetris Effect, and the chaotic first-person shooter Doom Eternal. Plus, there are a handful of deals on smaller-scale indies we’ve highlighted in past guides, including the moody action-adventure game Olija, the comedic and genre-shifting side-scroller The Messenger, and the satisfying roguelite Dead Cells.

Now, many of the multi-platform games on sale here can often be had for less on other devices, and Nintendo still charges a bit more than we’d like for years-old first party games in particular. (Games like Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Super Mario Maker 2 would ideally be available for $40 by default these days, not just when they’re on sale.) Nevertheless, if you’re willing to pay the usual Nintendo premium for the Switch’s portability, all of the deals we’ve curated are well below their typical street prices, and the majority of them are either at the lowest price we’ve tracked for the Switch or at least very close.

Also of note: if you don’t have eShop gift credit already, it might be worth buying with a digital code from a third-party retailer when applicable, since you’ll get the full amount of “Gold Points“—Nintendo’s reward currency for purchasing eShop games, which you can then use toward future purchases—even if you’ve paid less at Amazon, Target, or the like. Either way, though, if you recently picked up a new Switch over the holidays and need things to play, there are a few good opportunities to stock up here. Nintendo says the sale will last through January 16.

If your gaming backlog is already overflowing, though, our roundup also has deals on Microsoft’s high-end Xbox Elite controller, a GPS + Cellular variant of the Apple Watch Series 7, gaming headsets and USB-C chargers we like, and more. You can have a look at our full roundup below.

Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

Featured deals of the day

Clubhouse Games supplies 51 easygoing, innocently fun games that span across cultures and methods of play. Many of them are playable with a friend, too.” src=”https://rassegna.lbit-solution.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/the-weekends-best-deals-nintendo-switch-new-years-sale-apple-watch-and-more-1.jpg” width=”640″ height=”360″ srcset=”https://rassegna.lbit-solution.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/the-weekends-best-deals-nintendo-switch-new-years-sale-apple-watch-and-more-6.jpg 2x”>
Enlarge / Clubhouse Games supplies 51 easygoing, innocently fun games that span across cultures and methods of play. Many of them are playable with a friend, too.

Video game deals

Untitled Goose Game, you play as a mischievous goose.” src=”https://rassegna.lbit-solution.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/the-weekends-best-deals-nintendo-switch-new-years-sale-apple-watch-and-more.png” width=”640″ height=”360″ srcset=”https://rassegna.lbit-solution.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/the-weekends-best-deals-nintendo-switch-new-years-sale-apple-watch-and-more-2.png 2x”>
Enlarge / In Untitled Goose Game, you play as a mischievous goose.
Tetris Effect: Connected is Tetris with stunning aesthetics and a killer soundtrack.” src=”https://rassegna.lbit-solution.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/the-weekends-best-deals-nintendo-switch-new-years-sale-apple-watch-and-more-1.png” width=”640″ height=”360″ srcset=”https://rassegna.lbit-solution.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/the-weekends-best-deals-nintendo-switch-new-years-sale-apple-watch-and-more-3.png 2x”>
Enlarge / Tetris Effect: Connected is Tetris with stunning aesthetics and a killer soundtrack.
Disco Elysium has some of the most incisive writing from an RPG in recent memory.” src=”https://rassegna.lbit-solution.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/the-weekends-best-deals-nintendo-switch-new-years-sale-apple-watch-and-more-2.jpg” width=”640″ height=”358″ srcset=”https://rassegna.lbit-solution.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/the-weekends-best-deals-nintendo-switch-new-years-sale-apple-watch-and-more-7.jpg 2x”>
Enlarge / Disco Elysium has some of the most incisive writing from an RPG in recent memory.
The Apple Watch Series 7 isn't a massive upgrade over the Series 6, but if you use an iPhone, we still consider it the best smartwatch you can buy.
Enlarge / The Apple Watch Series 7 isn’t a massive upgrade over the Series 6, but if you use an iPhone, we still consider it the best smartwatch you can buy.
Corey Gaskin

Electronics deals

It's not cheap, but the Xbox Elite Series 2 Controller is built well and comes loaded with "pro" features, including swappable d-pads, pressure-sensitive triggers, customizable thumb sticks, multiple settings profiles, wireless charging, and both USB-C and Bluetooth connectivity.
Enlarge / It’s not cheap, but the Xbox Elite Series 2 Controller is built well and comes loaded with “pro” features, including swappable d-pads, pressure-sensitive triggers, customizable thumb sticks, multiple settings profiles, wireless charging, and both USB-C and Bluetooth connectivity.
Sam Machkovech
SanDisk's microSD Card for Nintendo Switch performs quick and reliably, regardless of whether you use it with an actual Switch console.
Enlarge / SanDisk’s microSD Card for Nintendo Switch performs quick and reliably, regardless of whether you use it with an actual Switch console.

Accessories and miscellaneous deals

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1824434