With Christmas just around the corner, and the pit stop of Thanksgiving ahead, the Black Friday deals are already upon us, providing choice opportunity to save a few bucks before the big holiday. As always, though, the pickings can be a crapshoot; often what we want and what retailers want to get rid of don’t overlap. With that in mind, we took a look at the listings from all the big retailers, culled out the clutter, and found the stuff worth waking up early for. Check out what’s going to be available at the end of this week.
$30 Off Poké Ball ($20)
If $50 sounded a bit too hefty for a niche accessory like the Poké Ball (which is used with games like Pokémon GO, Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, and Pokémon Sword and Shield), then you’ll want to take advantage of the Black Friday pricing on the device. You’ll be able to find it at many retailers for the discounted price, but my recommendation is Best Buy, where you can also snag some other great Switch deals at the same time.
$15 on select Nintendo Switch controllers, $20 on select Joy-Cons
It’s no secret that Nintendo controllers, with their penchant for left analog stick drift, are a disaster. This Black Friday at Best Buy will be the perfect opportunity to stock up on a few new ones (so you can rotate out the old ones for repair), with novelty Nintendo Switch controllers going on sale for $15, including the black The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild edition, red Super Mario edition, and yellow Pikachu silhouette edition controllers. Select Joy-Cons will also be $20 off, and if you need a memory card for your Switch, the 128GB SanDisk is on sale for $35, a savings of $33.
Major game savings over at Target
Of all the retailers selling videogames and videogame-adjacent items this Black Friday, Target seems to have the widest selection of discounted games, with over 100 titles at $15, like Overwatch: Legendary Edition on PlayStation 4, Kingdom Hearts III on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, Aladdin and the Lion King on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Switch, Overcooked! 2 on Switch, and Resident Evil 2 Remastered on PlayStation 4. Their 40 different $25 games meanwhile appear to include one of the year’s best and a Paste Games favorite, Control, as well as Overwatch: Legendary Edition on Nintendo Switch and The Sims 4: Island Living Expansion Pack on PlayStation 4. For $30, you can also snag Mortal Kombat 11 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, and Red Dead Redemption II on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, among over 30 others. See the weekly ad for a few more details.
PlayStation 4 Dualshock Controller $38.99, Wireless Headset $69.00 (select colors)
The new colors for the Dualshock and the Sony Wireless Headset are very handsome; I’m partial to the Rose Gold, which came out this past October, myself. As the Dualshock and Wireless Headset are both fairly expensive on the regular ($64.99 and $99.99, respectively), now’s an ideal opportunity to get an extravagant look without the extravagant prices. The discount, which puts the controller at $38.99 and the headset at $69.99, is available at several retailers on Black Friday, but I also spotted them over at Walmart, already at the sale price.
$10 on PlayStation Hits
Not to be outdone by Target’s selection of game discounts for Black Friday, Best Buy also has some deals that are too good to pass up, especially in the PlayStation Hits department, where games like God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition, The Last of Us Remastered, and Persona 5 Standard Edition are going for just $10 a piece. The other price brackets have some nice selections too, like Civilization VI and Overcooked! 2 on the Nintendo Switch half-off for $19.99.
Major discounts on all Gamestop collectibles
If you need additional novelty items for the gamer in your life, Gamestop’s doorbuster deals will be a good place to clean house. The savings include up to 40% on all holiday apparel, calendars and ornaments, up to 30% on all board games, puzzles and Funkoverse strategy games, 20% off Lego sets, buy 2 get 1 free on all Funko POP! vinyl figures $11.99 and under as well as all plush, blind box, Nerf Microshot and POP! Pez stocking stuffers (all mix and match), and also buy one get one free on T-shirts. The Pokémon Trading Card Box Triple Pack will also be priced at $29.99, a $30 savings.
50% off select PC game at the Microsoft Store
Any savvy gamer already knows one of the best games of the year, The Outer Worlds, is already on Xbox Games Pass for free, arguably making the price of admission worth the service in a single title alone. That said, if you’d like to own it permanently, now would be the time, with The Outer Worlds included as one of the many games offered at half price until December 2 as part of Microsoft’s Black Friday deals. Also included are titles like Minecraft, Prey, Dishonored 2, Cuphead, Superhot, Ape Out, Creature in the Well, Thumper, Minit, Tacoma, The Flame and the Flood, and many others. There will also be up to 67% off over 650 different Xbox titles.
Arcade game cabinets at Walmart
One of the more awe inspiring doorbuster deals of Black Friday has to be the assorted arcade cabinets at Walmart, with some half-off for $149.99, like Galaga or Final Fight, or Mortal Kombat at $80 off for $220 and Street Fighter II and Star Wars, $50 off each. Truly, ‘tis the season to give the gift of classic gaming.
Nintendo Switch Mario 8 Deluxe bundle with $25 gift card
One of Nintendo’s big Black Friday discounts this year is the $199 Nintendo Switch bundle with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and you can get it at several different stores. But if you are choosy about your retailer, you can also score an additional $25 gift card. As part of their doorbuster deals, Gamestop is offering that very thing, Thursday and Friday only, with a $25 gift card also available with purchases of Nintendo Switch Lite on Saturday and Sunday only.
Sony PlayStation 4 1 TB Bundle with God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn and The Last of Us Remastered for $199.99
If you’re looking for a decent starter bundle for the PlayStation 4, there’s a solid mix of hefty storage and decent games in the 1TB bundle that’s being discounted during Black Friday. With three fantastic titles, God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, and The Last of Us Remastered, and a solid chunk of space to store them in, the $100 savings makes this a great package to buy if you or a loved one has never owned the console before. An additional Sony PlayStation 4 bundle, exclusive at Gamestop, will include the Sony PlayStation Pro 1TB Glacier White System for $299.99, at a discount of $100, along with a $25 gift coupon.
If Xbox One is more your thing, there’s also a great discounted bundle in the 1TB Xbox One Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order package in Black, marked down from $499 to $349, which includes a digital copy of the game and a Dualshock controller, among other goodies.
Holly Green is the assistant editor of Paste Games and a reporter and semiprofessional photographer. She is also the author of Fry Scores: An Unofficial Guide To Video Game Grub. You can find her work at Gamasutra, Polygon, Unwinnable, and other videogame news publications.