You can practically set your watch to it: each year, as Black Friday pokes its head over the horizon, Nintendo releases the same Nintendo Switch bundle. This time it's ready for Prime Day 2, but it will surpass that and still be a great deal all the way through to Black Friday on November 24. It includes an original Switch (not OLED, unfortunately), a digital copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and a three-month individual Nintendo Switch Online subscription. It costs $299, and you can order it now at Amazon.
Nintendo Switch Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Bundle 2023
Don't let my apparent lack of enthusiasm spoil this for you, though. If you’re going to buy a standard Switch and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe anyway, this is definitely a good deal. The bundle costs the same price of a Switch alone, so buying the bundle saves you roughly $65 over purchasing the items individually. And if you’re buying your first Switch, you’re definitely going to want to pick up Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, because it rules. An NSO subscription is also pretty great, because it gets you access to a bunch of classic NES and SNES games.
Is it kind of a bummer that Nintendo releases the exact same bundle every year? Yeah. It would be cool if they’d do a Switch OLED bundle, or at least package in a different game. Mario Kart 8, though it definitely rules, is a pretty old game at this point. The original Mario Kart 8 came out for Wii U in 2014. Couldn’t they throw in Breath of the Wild instead, or Nintendo Switch Sports one year? Mix it up a little?
In any case, if you’re looking for a deal on a new, non-used Nintendo Switch, you won’t find a better one any other time of the year. Nintendo’s never been wild about discounting its games or hardware, so even if this isn’t a deal most of us are going to get excited about, at least its dependable. And for a certain type of person, who somehow doesn’t have a Nintendo Switch in the year 2023, it’s a great piece of hardware packaged with a great game.
Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN's board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on (long inhale) Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, and the social network formerly known as Twitter.