It’s Nintendo to the rescue for Christmas gaming gifts

like last year, the items at the top of many gamers’ wish lists — the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X — have fallen victim to chip shortages and supply chain breakages, so few will find their way under Christmas trees.

Which leaves gamers looking elsewhere. i’d advise them to try Nintendo. Their upgraded OleD Switch console (£309.99) isn’t just glorious, with its more generous proportions and fancier screen, it’s also readily available. Buy it with Metroid Dread (£49.99) to really show off its abilities.

On a pure bang-per-buck basis, Nintendo’s new Game & Watch: The legend Of Zelda (£44.99) may be even better. it’s a small handheld device that harks back to the company’s past, not least by featuring the first and second Zelda titles (from 1986 and 1987), as well as one of my top three games of all time, The legend Of Zelda: link’s

Awakening. Of course, existing PlayStation and Xbox owners still need games to play. For adults, you can’t really go wrong with the freewheeling excitement of driving through Mexico in ForzaHorizon 5 (£54.99, Xbox and PC only, pictured). And for children (and inner children), there are the cartoon capers of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (£69.99, PS5 only).

There is another way to enjoy Forza: it’s included as one of the games in Xbox’s Netflix-style subscription plan, Game Pass (from £7.99 a month), along with the new Halo, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Control and dozens of others.

Otherwise, there’s always a good pair of gaming headphones. i’ve been getting much aural delight from both Roccat’s Syn Pro Air (£139.99) and Turtle Beach’s Recon 500 (£69.99).