An Awesome Day at Nintendo HQ with my Boys #nintendoamerica #sponsored

Hey guys! I’m still getting adjusted to being back home and on East coast time after a couple of fun-filled days out in the Seattle area. We were invited back to Nintendo headquarters in Redmond, WA, which is like a dream come true for our little gaming family. {You can read my review from our 2016 trip here}


Nintendo is the favorite in our house. And I think anyone my generation probably has a good first Nintendo story.

I remember that we got the original NES when I was a freshman in high school. I put in a lot of hours on the original Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt! It was such a fun family system and still is. And I think that’s what makes Nintendo so unique to other gaming companies. Their schtick is that they are for ages 5-95 and it’s so true. So many of the games produced for Nintendo systems are just good family fun games that can appeal to multi-generations. How many activities can you all play at the same level of fun from grandkids up to grandma? Nintendo definitely has you covered in this.

I know in our family, when we get together for a game night, it’s all about our WiiU or our Switch. We have epic Mario Kart battles in our house.

Another thing that’s really cool about Nintendo as a brand is how everyone seems to know the characters and have some sort of Nintendo experience or story they can share with one another. It really serves to bring kids together. I love that we got all these bloggers and their kids in a room and how, despite the fact that they don’t really know one another, they were able to just share this common interest and bond over these games.

So of course our favorite system by Nintendo these days is the Switch. It’s definitely the hot holiday gift this year if you don’t have one already. And good news: after they were so hard to get in the spring, production and supply has increased so Nintendo says you should be able to score it more easily than previously. Still, it’s super popular so if you see it, I say snag it! Hopefully there will be some good sales on it as we get closer to the holidays.

What we love about it though is the portability. Your Switch can be played on your TV at home like a regular gaming system but it travels lightly and easily for gaming in the car or out of town. This was all my guys played on the plane both ways!

We got a Switch the day it came out and the game choices were limited but there’s a ton of games out there now that are worth purchasing. Our top favs right now are Mario Odyssey and Mario Kart. My kids have also asked for Arms so that may be a holiday gift I have to pick up! But there are a ton more games out there and I’ll be bringing you guys reviews in the coming weeks of stuff we tested out.

My kiddos also played a lot on the new Nintendo 2DS XL. Nintendo was nice enough to send them each a game system to play with and these are great smaller, handheld gaming system alternatives for kids who are just starting out learning gaming. And of course being that they are portable and the game cartridges are so tiny makes them awesome for travel. Their favorite game on this trip was Mario Party: the Top 100 which is a bunch of mini-games. You can play locally with friends and compete in fun little challenges.

In fact, a cute story during out trip involves our last night in Seattle. We were staying down by the airport for an early flight the next day and we had blogger friends who are in a room across from ours. I texted the blogger Mom and her two kids and mine synced up and played mini games for awhile while they each rested in our rooms!

Disclaimer: This was a press trip with Nintendo. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.