Sesame Street Friends and Fun is a licensed game aimed at kids and younger players. It offers a single-player adventure with a basic progression system, along with local co-op for a second player. The game launched on the original Nintendo Switch rather than Switch 2, but it runs fine through backward compatibility. That’s how I played it, docked on my Switch 2.
There’s not a huge amount of content here, but it can be a fun time for kids, particularly those who already love Sesame Street. You’ll find familiar characters, locations straight out of the show, and plenty of opportunities to interact with them. The educational focus is another selling point for parents looking for something their children can enjoy while picking up a few useful skills.
The visuals caught my attention first. I expected a few rough edges from an original Switch game running in backward compatibility, but I didn’t run into any major problems while playing docked. The art style is simple and clean, and the characters look good on screen. It fits the game well.
You begin by creating your own character, although the customisation options are fairly limited. There’s not much room to make your avatar stand out from everyone else’s, at least initially. You can unlock more hairstyles and outfits by completing mini-games and other tasks, which gives you a little more freedom as you progress.
The game plays as a third-person adventure, with different Sesame Street characters handing out quests for you to complete. You’ll spend most of your time running around the relatively small map, talking to characters and finishing objectives. There’s little in the way of meaningful exploration, so don’t expect a particularly deep adventure. This is a straightforward licensed game built around familiar faces and activities that young players can understand without much help.
You also have Tango the Dog that follows you around. You can pet it, which is a nice little touch, but the dog serves a practical purpose, too, by helping you find your way towards objectives. In one of the early quests, you need to find a missing key for your apartment. After arriving home and realizing that the key is gone, you set out to search for it.
As you progress, a few extra activities become available. You can ride a tricycle around the area and use a camera to take pictures. Neither feature adds much depth, but they offer a welcome change from running between quest markers and talking to characters.
The cast includes Abby, Elmo, Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster, and other familiar faces. Each character offers their own quests and activities, covering things like cooking, photography and farming. You can tackle these on your own or bring in another player through local co-op, which should make the experience more enjoyable for kids who want to play with a sibling or parent.
Exploration also turns up collectibles that lead to puzzles. Puzzle boxes, for example, contain different types of challenges that you need to solve. A few might take younger players some time to figure out, but adults are unlikely to find them particularly difficult. That’s fine, since the game is clearly designed for children rather than players looking for a serious challenge.
The educational activities are where Sesame Street Friends and Fun makes its strongest case. Kids can practise recognising shapes and colours, counting, sorting, simple maths and basic problem-solving as they play. These concepts won’t challenge an adult, of course, but they can be useful for younger children who are still learning the basics. There’s enough interaction to make the exercises feel more engaging than simply sitting through a lesson.
In many ways, the game feels like an elementary school lesson wrapped in an adventure. Rather than asking players to learn complicated mechanics, it uses familiar characters and straightforward activities to help them practise basic skills. I can see it working particularly well for elementary-aged children who enjoy learning through games.
Progression is easy to follow. Completing tasks earns you items and opens up additional mini-game areas. You get your own apartment, which you can decorate with the things you’ve collected. It’s a simple reward system, but having a space to personalise gives kids another reason to keep playing.
I also appreciated the support for the Switch touchscreen. Plenty of games on Nintendo’s system don’t make use of it, so it’s nice to see it included here. It feels like a natural fit for a game aimed at younger players.
The game does a decent job of delivering what it promises. The visuals are pleasant, the sound design works well, and spending time with familiar Sesame Street characters has its appeal. The educational content is the biggest draw, giving younger players something useful to take away from their time with the game.
The limitations become apparent once you’ve spent a few hours with it. Exploration is basic, the activities don’t offer much variety, and most of your time goes towards moving between characters, completing simple tasks and colouring objects. The gameplay never develops much beyond that, so anyone looking for a bigger adventure with more freedom to explore will probably find it lacking.
Your enjoyment will largely depend on what you’re looking for. If you want a substantial adventure to play yourself, the game’s limitations will become apparent fairly quickly. For parents with young children who love Sesame Street, though, there’s enough here to make it worth considering. The familiar characters, accessible gameplay and educational activities are well suited to that audience, and I’d recommend it to families looking for an entertaining way to help their kids learn.
Game Information
- Game Title: Sesame Street: Friends & Fun
- Price: $29.99
- Publisher: Outright Games
- Developer: Infinigon Limited
- Platform: Nintendo Switch (Reviewed)
- Review Code: Provided by the publisher
