Top 10 Gifts for Gamers (2019)

Lots of younger gamers aren’t growing up with classic titles older people would have played to death in arcades, and that’s a shame. Luckily, you can rectify this with mini arcade machines, and Micro Player devices are some of the best. People can relive their childhood nostalgia of playing “Pac-Man”, “Galaga” or “Dig Dug” on these tiny machines, or can be introduced to classics for the first time. The best part about mini arcades is they won’t cost you a cent beyond the original purchase price of around $35, no matter how many times you die and restart.

Solid State Drives are the future of gaming, but they won’t be hitting mainstream consoles until late 2020. In the meantime, games are getting bigger, but the current consoles can’t quite keep up. After all, “Red Dead 2” clocked in at 100GB on consoles and that was in 2018, while “Modern Warfare” is 175GB on PC. If you know someone in desperate need of a memory increase, getting an SSD is the way to go. Compared to Hard Disk Drives, Solid State Drives are flash storage drives with no mechanical parts, making them much, MUCH faster. SSDs can typically transfer data with speeds upwards of 400MB/s, leaving 170MB/s hard drives in the dust.

The PSVR has been the most affordable VR system on the market for a while now, but that still doesn’t mean it comes in too cheap. PSVR bundles easily exceed $300 throughout the year, meaning that lots of people just aren’t willing to pay for it on top of the PS4. But Sony has brought out the PSVR Mega Pack once more, where for a similar price you can get the VR headset, PS Move controllers, and five VR games – including AAA titles “Skyrim” and “Resident Evil 7.” If you know someone who already has a PS4 and wants to try out VR, this is the best time of year to invest in the equipment.

Pop Vinyls aren’t the cool, small gifts they once were since now it’s possible to get one of everything that’s ever been in the media – or at least, that’s how it seems. For an awesome alternative, check out pixel pals, pixel-art figures of some of gaming’s greatest characters – and the best part is, they light up. You can get classics like Mario, Sonic, Mega Man and Link, as well as “Street Fighter” characters such as Ryu and Akuma, or even superheroes like Batman, the Flash, and Superman. They’ve even got Patrick and SpongeBob, what more could you ask for?

If you know someone who’s been dying for a game to scratch that “Fallout” itch, “The Outer Worlds” is the thing to buy. The latest outing from “New Vegas” developers Obsidian Entertainment, “The Outer Worlds” is the space western we’ve been craving since “Fallout 4” dropped the ball. It’s a good middle-ground for people who are both long-time fans of RPGs and people who just want a solid game, since it’s a robust game that clocks in much shorter than other titans of the genre, at around 30 hours. But if you want a long game to sink your teeth into, it’s got tons of replay value, with different play-styles, skills, and abilities to explore.

Mini cabinets are definitely cool collectables, but they’re still very small. If you’ve always dreamed of having a large, almost full-size cabinets in the comfort of your own home, you might want to drop some hints to those closest to you that Arcade1Up Cabinets are better than ever. Since 2018, additional classic games have been added to the roster, including “Mortal Kombat” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. They’re the perfect addition to any game room and are fun for people of all ages. The only downside is you have to do some assembly, but the finished product is more than worth it.

Your PC gamer friend probably already has a flashy, ergonomic mouse with a dozen re-mappable buttons and LEDs, but they probably don’t have one of these. While it’s probably not the best mouse for long sessions of gaming, you can’t say that this NES-like mouse isn’t true to the system’s legacy – after all, the original controller’s small size and sharp corners were the bane of many a “Super Mario” player in the 1980s. With the trademark grey body, red buttons, and black D-pad, this nifty accessory could be the perfect present.

Released in September 2019, the younger brother of the wildly successful Nintendo Switch can make a great gift for anyone who hasn’t been able to pick up the flagship console yet or is on the fence about coughing up $300 for it. The Switch Lite is the cheaper alternative, and while it can’t connect to your TV and you can’t detach the Joy-Cons, it has a longer battery life, is way more portable due to its size and the ability to play all the best games – including “Super Mario Odyssey”, “Breath of the Wild”, and “Pokémon Sword and Shield.” They’re also much more durable than the standard Switch, making them a great option for youngsters.

Whether you’re buying for a kid who’s just got their first Switch or someone old enough to remember playing the original 2001 GameCube title, “Luigi’s Mansion” is a safe bet for people of all ages and families of all sizes. The single-player campaign sees Luigi don the Poltergust G-00 and set about ridding a haunted hotel of its ghostly guests, with the aim of saving his friends and defeating King Boo once more. If that wasn’t exciting enough on its own, the local multiplayer can host up to 8 people for some co-operative ghostbusting. You can never go wrong with a first-party Nintendo game.

The retro consoles market is certainly booming. While the NES and SNES releases worked pretty well, and the PlayStation Classic flopped hard, Sega has come out on top in the war of the retros. The Sega Genesis Mini released in September 2019 and has 42 classic games on it, retailing at just $79.99 – not bad when you imagine how much those games cost when they were new. Even cooler, most of the games available have three different versions to play depending on which region you have selected which is certainly a nice touch.