Games for young kids

[davepesc]

I need suggestions for games for my 3-year-old daughter. I'm looking for simple games where it is dificult if not impossible to die.

Her favorites so far are:

N64: Yoshi's Story (her favorite, calls it "bubble game"), Tigger's Hunny Hunt and the Elmo games

Genesis: Aladdin, Ecco

2600: Pitfall, Laser Blast, Frogger, Frogs and Flies

Please don't suggest any current gen games. She adores Katamari Damacy, but she just can't get a feel for the Dual Shock.

[nik]

Some NES sesame street games?

I happen to have a Berenstain Bears Camping Adventure for genesis up for trade too if you want it.

[Haoie]

It's my opinion that a 3 year old should be focusing on more important matters. At her age, you should be teaching her to sufficiently read, write, how to interact with peoplem, play outdoors, get a dog etc.

If you want her to veg out in front of a box at her age, go for it.

In which case I suggest titles like Reader Rabbit, Zoombinis, etc. Something with some educational merit.

[nik]

It's my opinion that a 3 year old should be focusing on more important matters. At her age, you should be teaching her to sufficiently read, write, how to interact with peoplem, play outdoors, get a dog etc.

If you want her to veg out in front of a box at her age, go for it.

In which case I suggest titles like Reader Rabbit, Zoombinis, etc. Something with some educational merit.

More like learning how to use her fingers and eyes faster, and I doubt he lets her do it long enough she "vegs out", and besides, kind of rude of you to start dictating how someone should be raising thier child, don't you think?

[Gamereviewgod]

Sothy's Big Boob Hunt '05. I never learned more about anatomy there than I did in school.

[Haoie]

I didn't mean disrespect to the man. Just questioning how wise it is to be introducing video gaming to a girl under the age of 5 and before even starting school. How much vocabulary do you suppose a 3 year old has to play games? Not even enough to understand what I'm typing right now. And how small are their hands for controllers? Even most edutainment titles are marked for age 5 or over.

Having stated that, I've suggest the Zoombini series [PC], which I think was rather fun and helped with basic skills like finding patterns, simple maths, and so on.

[scooterb23]

I started on Pong at 3...I suggest that.

[Daniel Thomas]

Mortal Kombat.

Conker's Bad Fur Day.

Can't see why the kid wouldn't like those.

[googlefest1]

there is a care bears game for PC in the budget pc bins

at the compusa near me they have these budget pc racks near the registers

i found this carebears game that i got for my nephew - you use the mouse

it has memory games - geometry game - timing games - and finding pattern game

i think that one is good for kids that are almost babies

[TeddyRuxpin]

The Sega Pico system is a good choice if you want her to have her own system. Then there's also the vTech vSmile but I don't know anything about that system.

[davepesc]

It's my opinion that a 3 year old should be focusing on more important matters. At her age, you should be teaching her to sufficiently read, write, how to interact with peoplem, play outdoors, get a dog etc.

If you want her to veg out in front of a box at her age, go for it.

In which case I suggest titles like Reader Rabbit, Zoombinis, etc. Something with some educational merit.

I appreciate your concern, but while some games, like Yoshi's Story, are just for fun, the Elmo games reinforce letter and number recognition and introduce simple problem solving.
As was said, video games are not an all-day activity and we do plenty of reading and playing outside, but I also like that she sees me doing something from time to time, like playing games, and wants to do what I do.

There will come a time, I'm sure, when she won't want to do ANYTHING with her lame old father, so I'm enjoying every opportunity I get now.

[davepesc]

The Sega Pico system is a good choice if you want her to have her own system. Then there's also the vTech vSmile but I don't know anything about that system.

I actually got her a Pico for her birthday. She likes the Richard Scary game and Magic Crayons. She also liked the Disney tie-ins, but doesn't really understand what to do yet.

By the way, we don't have a computer at home yet, but I appreciate the PC suggestions anyway.

And I suppose 3 years old is a bit young to introduce gaming, but it makes her so happy to accomplish something in the game and I don't see it stunting her learning or anything. Her vocabulary grows daily and she now gives me a full report of the days events when I get home from work.

On a side note, she has begun to stutter a bit, as I did as a child. You can see the little wheels turning faster that her mouth can make words, it's kind of neat.

[Flack]

My kid could beat worlds 1-1 and 1-2 of Super Mario Bros when he was 2. I don't see any problem with kids playing games, as long as they're age appropriate and done in moderation (like any activity should be done). We have a digital clock timer next to our entertainment center; Mason gets 30 minutes a day, period. He can play in the morning before school, right when he gets home, or after dinner. It doesn't matter when, the important part is the limit.

I don't know if your daughter just turned three or is almost four, but my experience so far has been that my son, with a little bit of practice, can pretty much play any game that appropriate for his age group. He plays Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex, Star Wars: Battlefront and of course Lego Star Wars. He's not too good at driving games yet but pretty much any 3D platformer he can get around in and even if he doesn't beat a level, he still has a good time playing.

I've posted this before, but here's a shot of my son playing Revenge of Shinobi on the Genesis at the age of 2.

http://68.12.158.32:533/temp/mason-genesis.jpg

PS: When and if you get a PC at home, there are so many free online games for kids between Disney.com, Nickelodeon.com and SesameStreet.com that you won't have to pay for games for quite a while. My son loves the counting and reading games on the Sesame Street site.

[davepesc]

My kid could beat worlds 1-1 and 1-2 of Super Mario Bros when he was 2. I don't see any problem with kids playing games, as long as they're age appropriate and done in moderation (like any activity should be done). We have a digital clock timer next to our entertainment center; Mason gets 30 minutes a day, period. He can play in the morning before school, right when he gets home, or after dinner. It doesn't matter when, the important part is the limit.

I don't know if your daughter just turned three or is almost four, but my experience so far has been that my son, with a little bit of practice, can pretty much play any game that appropriate for his age group. He plays Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex, Star Wars: Battlefront and of course Lego Star Wars. He's not too good at driving games yet but pretty much any 3D platformer he can get around in and even if he doesn't beat a level, he still has a good time playing.

I've posted this before, but here's a shot of my son playing Revenge of Shinobi on the Genesis at the age of 2.

http://68.12.158.32:533/temp/mason-genesis.jpg

PS: When and if you get a PC at home, there are so many free online games for kids between Disney.com, Nickelodeon.com and SesameStreet.com that you won't have to pay for games for quite a while. My son loves the counting and reading games on the Sesame Street site.

I limit her to an hour, It doesn't feel like it's too long, especially if she's playing "educational" games.

Thanks for the tip about the free games, I hadn't thought of that. A computer has been on our "to buy" list ever since out last one crapped out like 2 years ago. But other than games and the occasional work I could do from home, we don't have a pressing need for one.

[Sylentwulf]

It's my opinion that a 3 year old should be focusing on more important matters. At her age, you should be teaching her to sufficiently read, write, how to interact with peoplem, play outdoors, get a dog etc.

If you want her to veg out in front of a box at her age, go for it.

In which case I suggest titles like Reader Rabbit, Zoombinis, etc. Something with some educational merit.

Do you have kids? I'm guessing not since those with kids tend to STFU And let the other parents do their own parenting. You can't be "on" 16 hours a day teaching your kids stuff, growing up is about having fun too ya know.


Anywho........ I would second SMB 1/2/3 my kids LOVED that game at age 3-4. They used to do fairly well too. Other than that, they liked a lot of the NES platform/adventure type games, SMB/Zelda/TMNT... Basically anything they can SEE that they're controlling is fine, not too much reading or backstory, just straight into playing.

[cityside75]

I'll second Super Mario. My daughter is 4 and she absolutely adores everything Mario related, and she has since she was 3. The interesting thing is that she's really into the story and the characters, and secondarily into the gameplay. So she's content to watch me play the more advanced levels quite a bit of the time, instead of actually playing herself. She can complete a few levels of Mario World on her own though.

She and I just recently started Zelda: OOT. I've never played it before, and it has all of the story elements she wants, a beautiful princess and a hero to rescue her. So to me it's a nice way to spend some quality time while playing a great game, and to her it's like watching an interactive Disney movie that we figure out together.

I feel like she benefits by having reasonable and moderated exposure to games. Aside from the obvious hand-eye coordination and problem solving benefits, I find it to be a more engrossing experience then simply watching TV. She'll choose a game of Zelda over TV anytime.

[davepesc]

I'll second Super Mario. My daughter is 4 and she absolutely adores everything Mario related, and she has since she was 3. The interesting thing is that she's really into the story and the characters, and secondarily into the gameplay. So she's content to watch me play the more advanced levels quite a bit of the time, instead of actually playing herself. She can complete a few levels of Mario World on her own though.

She and I just recently started Zelda: OOT. I've never played it before, and it has all of the story elements she wants, a beautiful princess and a hero to rescue her. So to me it's a nice way to spend some quality time while playing a great game, and to her it's like watching an interactive Disney movie that we figure out together.

I feel like she benefits by having reasonable and moderated exposure to games. Aside from the obvious hand-eye coordination and problem solving benefits, I find it to be a more engrossing experience then simply watching TV. She'll choose a game of Zelda over TV anytime.

My daughter loves watching me play Super Mario 64 for kind of the same reasons. I would show her Zelda, but she doesn't really understand violence. Not that Zelda is super violent, but butt-bouncing Goombas is ok, while an elf swinging a sword would bother her. As I mentioned in another thread, she saw me playing Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits and was concerned that the characters were not "being nice" and hitting each other.

[cityside75]

cityside75 said:
I'll second Super Mario. My daughter is 4 and she absolutely adores everything Mario related, and she has since she was 3. The interesting thing is that she's really into the story and the characters, and secondarily into the gameplay. So she's content to watch me play the more advanced levels quite a bit of the time, instead of actually playing herself. She can complete a few levels of Mario World on her own though.

She and I just recently started Zelda: OOT. I've never played it before, and it has all of the story elements she wants, a beautiful princess and a hero to rescue her. So to me it's a nice way to spend some quality time while playing a great game, and to her it's like watching an interactive Disney movie that we figure out together.

I feel like she benefits by having reasonable and moderated exposure to games. Aside from the obvious hand-eye coordination and problem solving benefits, I find it to be a more engrossing experience then simply watching TV. She'll choose a game of Zelda over TV anytime.


My daughter loves watching me play Super Mario 64 for kind of the same reasons. I would show her Zelda, but she doesn't really understand violence. Not that Zelda is super violent, but butt-bouncing Goombas is ok, while an elf swinging a sword would bother her. As I mentioned in another thread, she saw me playing Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits and was concerned that the characters were not "being nice" and hitting each other.

LOL
If my daughter hears me playing my MAME games, she always rushes downstairs to see what's happening. If I happen to be playing Mortal Kombat or some other fighting game, she usually says "Mom told me not to watch games like this..." and leaves. I was playing Doom 3 one evening when she was going to bed, and when I came up to tell her good night, she wanted to know what I was playing because it didn't sound very nice.

[davepesc]

Found another good one, Barney's Hide & Seek for the Genesis. Player controls Barney as he searches for his friends over colorful, multi-tiered levels. In addition to your friends, you find presents that reward you with anything from a visit from an animal to a fireworks display.

There is some basic platforming involved, moving platforms and whatnot, but the game won't let you miss and you cannot "die."

Nonviolent games are hard to find. We were looking through the new Gamepro last noght and other than some puzzle games, there were lots of "not nice" things going on.

Granted, the mags don't much cover games for kids. Maybe I've discovered a niche.
Hey DP, Interested in another quarterly column? Most of us are reaching childbearing age and are looking to pass the torch of gaming. I could do games parents could play with kids.

[Bratwurst]

Crystal's Pony Tale is another kid friendly game while you're looking at the Genesis. One of those aimlessly wander, can't die, look at the pretty animations kind of things. You get to customize your pony color too which is BITCHIN.