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The Best Gifts for Gamers
From portable Steam consoles to the finest soundtracks committed to vinyl
By 
Knowing what to get for the gaming obsessive in your life – your Football Manager casualty mate, the nephew you vaguely remember liking dinosaurs before he went all quiet, or just your fine self – can be tricky. By the nature of the whole gaming industry, a lot of the things they might want they've already got, and they're not particularly satisfying to hand over to them. You could try printing out the code to the new Spider-Man and reciting to to the receiver, but it's not quite the same.
Still, there are loads of things gamers will love to get their hands on, and which it'll actually be plausible for you to physically hand over to them. These are the best videogame gifts out there.
Original? No. Memorable? Not really. Personal? Definitely not. But you'll never be cursed behind your back with a gift card. It's not just a voucher – it's the gift of choice, you'll tell anyone within earshot.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
If 'family gaming' has a name in 2023 it's Super Mario Bros. Wonder.Nintendo have seemingly rounded up every unused idea scribbled onto a Post-it in the history of Mario development and stuffed them into this super-fun, old-school 2D scroller for the Switch. Elephant power-up? Check. Pipes bending like worms? Sure! Gravity all over the shop? Why not? Plus, in multi-player mode, so long as another player is on-screen, you're easily resurrected if you die – meaning it's likely to keep players of all abilities hooked for longer. The fastest-selling Mario title of all time.
£41.99; johnlewis.com
A seven-inch screen which takes your Steam games on the road with you, fired by Windows 11. It's a comfy, powerful ride.
This is an endlessly customisable set-up for streaming, and you can rejig its controls for any number of other programmes too.
HyperX Cloud Alpha gaming headset
Getting the full immersive soundscape experience is a lot easier with noise-cancelling cans. Also useful for screaming at the 13-year-old who's just gubbed you on Fifa.
Nintendo Super Mario Christmas tree ornament
Nintendo Super Mario Christmas tree ornament
A slam-dunk Secret Santa gift here: a three-inch model of everyone's favourite hapless plumber to whack on the tree for less than a tenner.
An all-in-one controller and recorder for streaming, with 4K screen capture and and an integrated audio interface. Despite the day-glo looks, it's serious piece of kit.
Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 Core Edition
Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 Core Edition
Interchangeable thumbsticks with variable tension, hair-trigger locks to help you fire faster, and an extended battery life. This is business class gaming.
Razer Razer Basilisk X Hyperspeed wireless gaming mouse
Razer Razer Basilisk X Hyperspeed wireless gaming mouse
Generally you want a wired mouse if you're taking your competitive gaming seriously, but the lack of latency and the six programmable buttons here make it stand out. It's billed as having a 285 hour battery life too.
The quality of game soundtracks are so high now that owning a copy of them to stick on an actual turntable is a viable gift option. The barbershop harmonising of Cuphead is very lovely, but Dan Golding's riffs on Debussy's Préludes for Untitled Goose Game are our pick.
Xbox Light Up Master Chief Cable Guy
Master Chief is here to hang onto your controller whenever you're done with it. Thanks, Chief.
Literally nobody doesn't want this game. It's the Bonestorm de nos jours. Pinging around New York City sorting out bad lads? Errr yes please.
There are 18 Capcom classics built into this handheld unit, including Street Fighter 2, and you can buy extra cartridges to expand the collection.
Back when life was simpler – when binmen carried bins on their backs, children respected their elders, and joysticks knew you only wanted to go in one of four directions – the Atari was king. Recrown it with 110 built-in classics.
There he is, all 2,807 tiny plastic pieces of him. Snapping jaws, posable arms, legs and tail, with fireballs firing from his mouth. Drink him in.
A nice lowballer this one: pick your size of print, and add in your mate's Football Manager heroes plus their name and club. At last, the Champions League winning Haringey Borough FC squad are immortalised.
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