This Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Switch Lite bundle has been doing the rounds for some time now, but I never expected to see it this cheap. Walmart's current sale has Amazon well and truly beat, packaging in the handheld console with a free copy of the island adventure and slashing the price of both. The result essentially nets you a Switch Lite for just under $100 - and I'm not convinced next week's Prime Day Nintendo Switch deals can beat that.
You'll find the bundle available for just $159 at Walmart right now (was $199.99) - that's sold and shipped by the retailer itself, so no need to worry about third-party sellers. Considering Animal Crossing: New Horizons by itself carries an MSRP of $59.99 - and doesn't stray too far from that price on sale - the cost of the actual console comes in at just $99.01 - by far the lowest I've ever seen. I've been celebrating this offer for months now, even at the full $199 whack. I was then overjoyed when it skipped down to $179 for a short while a couple of months ago. I never expected it to hit this kind of price.
If you're on the hunt for a Nintendo Switch Lite this week, I certainly wouldn't pass this deal up. Even with Amazon's own sale gearing up, the handheld by itself is still sitting at $179.99 on Bezos's side of the battlefield - and that's only for the yellow model. Not only that, but Amazon doesn't even list the Animal Crossing bundle on its site, and creating that kind of value separately is going to be a tall order for Prime Day next week. Walmart's won this bout and it's done so by a mile.
Should you buy the Nintendo Switch Lite?
The Nintendo Switch Lite launched as a budget follow up to the fully fledged system in 2019 and, a few stock issues aside, has stood strong on the shelves since then. It's handheld-only, so you won't be able to dock the system to your TV or remove the controllers for wireless multiplayer. However, it's also considerably cheaper than the main device - $100 cheaper before any discounts are applied.
That makes it the go-to for anyone who wants to dive into Nintendo's current catalog of games without spending the full $300. You won't get the screen size or OLED quality of newer models, but this is still a robust system - and the drop in screen size means the picture is actually sharper compared to the more expensive devices. You'll be able to play every game pretty much as you would on the main console (detached Joy-Con aside) as the Lite features the exact same innards under the hood.
The Switch Lite is also perfect for smaller hands. If you're buying for kids who don't need a ton of multiplayer features this is where you need to be looking - it's more compact, more durable, and much lighter.
We're also keeping you up to date on all this month's Prime Day PS5 deals and Prime Day Asus ROG Ally deals. Or, for a whole overview of the event check out our guide to all this year's Prime Day gaming deals.
