@whatsarobot
I laughed out loud just reading these references, which is a testament to how funny this show was
@yeso thanks for this recommendation I just got two for my nephew so he doesn't hand me the bad player two controller ever again
I just finished bumbling my way through editing most of the posts in here. If I messed up anyone’s messages or you need me to edit one of them while I’m still able to edit, just yell at me about it.
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I got the controller for my son and he loves it! It’s perfect for his little hands, very responsive and one of the best built controllers I’ve ever held. That thing is sturdy and then some. Not been thrown yet but he’s also not learned what rage quitting is so there’s still time.
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Nice editing there 
I am having issues with my PC using the forum and don’t have the time to do them all on my phone without a mouse and keyboard so it’s much appreciated.
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My nephews have been really getting into games now and it’s usually the first thing they want to do whenever they come over. I have to limit them, cause it’s probably all they’d do if I let them. Here lately they only want to play Super Mario Odyssey.
One of them has really progressed rapidly. He’s found several moons in Odyssey with little or no assistance from me. Heck, he beat maybe a majority of New Donk City on his own. He’s able to utilize a lot of Mario’s kit, he can do stuff that requires multiple button presses like ground pounding and back flips. He’s even been able to remember his directions now, he knows up and down and usually remembers which way is right and which is left. I’m pretty impressed for what he can do as a four-year-old.
The other one struggles and bumbles about like I expect the typical four-year-old probably would. He runs about as he pleases and gets easily distracted. I got him to a moon last night and it took a lot of coaching for him to be able to walk under it and jump to collect it, but he was very ecstatic to finally have collected a moon of his own. I think he likes playing dress-up with Mario’s different costumes more than anything really. It’s funny to me though, he’s not able interface with the controller well but he’s more situationally aware of game mechanics than his brother, he’s typically the one to point out the solution to a problem.
The skill gap has become a bit of an issue with them. At first they were just switching taking turns whenever one of them died, but that’s no longer a fair way to split game time. The one who’s better at games has also now becomes very frustrated watching his brother struggle to do things he considers easy. I don’t like reprimanding him, but I have to or else he acts down right harsh to his brother. I thought games were fairly constructive for them at first, but I’m not liking this budding capital G gamer anger and elitism at all.
My son has not shown much interest in playing videogames himself, which is fine. He likes watching me play.
But his interest in chess has become bonkers! He’s becoming tremendously talented as well, at least for a five year old. It got to the point where I felt a sort of duty to beat him, which is an odd thing. But part of being a parent is teaching your kid how to be a good loser. Which is not fun!
He had a very negative reaction to losing, which isn’t a surprise, but I do think it’s something that he needs to learn how to do. It’s easy to be a good winner, especially when you never lose, but it’s more difficult to be a good loser. And so we’re working on that.
Complicating this is the fact that he may have gotten to the skill level where I may never beat him again. A week ago we played three games. First was a draw. The second I won, but I allowed him to roll the moves back a single move and then he beat me in three moves. The third game I had to fight and crawl just to achieve a draw.
After this, I looked to find a chess club or something like that for him. I’m finding a strange sense of duty in helping him become better at chess or at least giving him access to an environment where he can keep progressing well beyond my own skill. I did find a chess club and we went this weekend. He was the youngest kid there and so I thought he’d be very nervous and shy. And while he was shy, he overcame this very quickly once he was playing and once the lesson began. When the lesson ended, he almost cried because he just wanted to stay and keep playing chess. When we got home, he played two games of chess against himself and then played against the computer for two hours.
And I really need to stress how little I care about chess. If he never played chess again tomorrow, I would not care. But he really really fucking loves chess. So I’m doing my best to help him get as much out of the game as he wants. And who knows - in a month or year, he may never play chess again. But I kind of think this may be something he sticks with for a long, long time.
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That’s impressive, you should be proud. Like I was saying my nephews are four and can’t remember their directions yet, teaching them to move pieces in diagonals or Ls sounds like a nightmare. For the sake of my own pride I hope they don’t take up chess. Even in my old man state I’ll be able to play circles around them in video games for years and years, but the second they learn basics of chess I’m doomed.
Yeah, I was not equipped to teach him chess, haha. That’s where Storytime Chess came in. It really did a remarkable job of breaking down the game in a digestible way, and they advertise “chess at 3.”
Can easily recommend for highly critical kids:
This maze book, you can find a used copy pretty easily. Hyper-detailed physical mazes.
Translates to “Pythagoras’ Device”, which is the colloquialism for a rube goldberg machine. Kind of a Japanese Sesame Street, but has lots of good design and manufacturing segments. Good for practicing the language if you’re starting out, but legible enough even if you’re not. There are a number of them online, this episode might be a good one to get a taste.
All of Tinybop’s apps are pretty good, but we probably got the most milage out of this monster one. It’s a gussied up character creator, but the art is great and there are no ads or hidden gambling mechanisms.
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This looks right up my son’s alley!
He loves mazes and shit. Mostly he loves monster books, so I ended up just picking up the DnD Monster Manual from the library to let him pick his way through it. I think he likes considering the different strengths of these monsters in a theoretical all out monster brawl (monster mash, you could say).
Is anyone aware of a fairly easy to play video game that has construction or farm equipment in it? Something as simple as a racing game that has a dump truck or tractor to drive would probably do the trick.
My one nephew who hasn’t quite gotten the hang of games yet is big into that kind of stuff. He is always asking to play “the construction game.” I’m sure he doesn’t have a specific game in mind and just assumes there’s a construction themed game suitable for him out there.
I downloaded Farm Simulator off Gamepass and will give that a try. Not sure how much fun for him that’ll be since he’ll need a ton of assistance. I also downloaded Blast Corps. I think letting him putt around as the bulldozer or dump truck in that game might scratch the itch.
Finally had a chance to test the 8bitdo Zero 2 with the kids and they loved it. Really well suited to small hands and it did survive a drop or six as well - thanks again @Herb and @yeso for the endorsement.
What was a great learning experience for us all was how difficult some of the retro games are, and both my sons got stuck on simple NES and master system games, until I had a crazy idea which worked out - the Game Gear! I found the games on a bigger screen looked really good due to the original design for the smaller screen, the games themselves seemed a bit easier (I compared a few from SMS to GG and they did seem different) and they enjoyed playing them a lot more.
So if you’re struggling with retro games, as always - never forget Sega. Specifically the Game Gear. You and the little ones will be plesently surprised.
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What Game Gear games were you playing? I’ve been meaning to experiment with the library but
most of the ones I tried seemed brutally hard! Like the first boss in one of the Sonic games is stupidly tough.
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We played a few actually, my sons got on better with types of different games.
The main one they enjoyed was Sonic on the GG more than the SMS, mainly due to the size of the characters
(I didn’t take captures while playing, but found some images online)
This is the SMS
And this is the GG
As you can see Sonic is actually quite a bit bigger and is in a differen position which was easier to play. My three year old managed to do the first level without any help at all, which was a very big achievement!
My eldest got on really well with Galaga '91 which was a bit slower than I remember other versions of and again, it’s the size of the ships that made it easier for him.
The best one by far for them both was Sonic Drift - which was a japanese only release but the menus and game are all in English. This was great as there’s a free run mode so they could just practice steering and the habit of holding down a button to accelerate. Again, big characters helped a lot and it’s a really easy game to play
We tried a lot more for a few minutes but nothing really clicked with them so will again. I will be happy to share the findings when we get a chance to play again as this was a real breakthrough for them and they really enjoyed it!
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I let my 2 and a half year old play somr NES games the other day. Mario was a but much for him still, so was practically any platformer. However, EXCITEBIKE is an excellent choice. You can do the mode with no other riders and its just a time trial. So he took many minutes to get through the levels, but he did it. I dont thinj he quite understood to hold the button down unless i reminded him. It was really cute though. Anytime he wrecked and had to run back to the bike, he would go “OH NO!” then throw his hands up. Haha
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I finally had a chance with it being the holidays here, to play Bluey - The Video Game with the boys and we all loved it! Really did feel like you were in an extended episode, with the same high level of dialogue and the look of the show. The cast were the same, except I think they had a different child playing Bingo at times, which really added to the experience. There’s no need to explain the plot as while there is one, a bad episode of Bluey is still a lot better than a good episode of many other shows, it could have been on TV and people would have been pleased.
The controls are very easy for a child to understand and be able to play with, my youngest had no problems doing the basic parts of the game. There’s a lot of guides on where to go and what to do next, plus Mum and Dad tell you what to do while you’re playing which helps. With the mini-games and collectables you can get in a good few hours of gameplay, which no doubt children would want to go over and over again just like the show. It’s four player co-op so you can play as the entire Heeler family meaning you can help the little ones if they get stuck. From a childs perspective it’s a perfect a game!
Not everything is perfect. There’s a few glitches here or there as you play, nothing game breaking but as an adult you notice them, but there were glitches in Fallout games. Sometimes the dialogue doesn’t sync up perfectly, but it didn’t in Sonic Adventure. You try and make jumps in smaller areas and they just don’t work properly, but … platform games! Yes there are parts which aren’t great but unlike most other games they don’t ruin the experience, because ultimately it’s not for you, it’s for the little ones.
And I mentioned in the games we’re currently playing thread that it has one thing every parent needs to show their children - this minute detail shows how much love goes into Bluey. You can run around the Heelers house as much as you want, into all the rooms (Their house is huge and the layout is fantastic), the garden, everywhere. You run and run and run and run, but YOU CANNOT RUN UP AND DOWN THE STAIRS!!! When my boys asked me why, I smiled and said that if Bluey can’t then you can’t, so they will try not to anymore. I love how gaming can do things like that!
If you and any children you play video games with like Bluey, then play Bluey. If you don’t and they do, then play Bluey and you’ll like Bluey. I think if my boys could give a review score it would be a clear 7/10 on that one!
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Everything Mario continues to be a hit in this house. The nephews have wrapped their heads around Mario Kart 8 now and it’s became their new favorite. They like Mario 3D World, especially Bowser’s Fury. We’ve collectively been champing at the bit for Mario Wonder to come in the mail for months. My play-asia order was cheap but it sure hasn’t been expediant.
Basically anything where there’s leeway to explore and make their own fun is a hit. Untitled Geese Game(The 2P mode) was a short-lived hit. I’ve never seen them laugh so much and work cooperatively in a game before. Definitely a good one to duo up one adult and child on. When both nephews were playing it without me on one of the controllers they had considerably less fun because it just became chaos. If these were gaming magazine times it would definitely be categorized as “a great rental.”
Anyone here played Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity? I’m thinking of getting it for my nephew who loves Link for his upcoming birthday. Everything I’ve seen on it says it’s fairly easy, but is it easy enough for a soon to be five-year-old to muddle around and button mash on without seeing a game over screen every two minutes?
It’s sorta wild how quickly my two formerly pristine 8bitdo pro controllers have rapidly deteriorated in the clutches of my little nephews:
Anyone else have similar experiences with their sticks? Or do these nephews of mine just have corrosive little gremlin paws?
The nephews and I have added two more games to the rotation here recently, whenever they come over. I think both are fun options for kids of most any age or skill level.
If you’re not averse to cartoony violence Streets of Rage 4 is a great time. I haven’t seen anything that seems very objectionable in the game outside of hitting guys across the head with a lead pipe. We play on easy mode and it’s very forgiving for us. Just mashing the attack button is plenty enough to get by, but things like i-frames in the jump lead me to believe there’s plenty of room for skill expression in the game. Frequent fail states are always a concern with games, but we’ve never came close to running out of lives despite haphazard play - and I believe we’re close to the end of the game. I don’t think there’s a way to turn off friendly fire, so my nephew ends up accidentally beating the crap out of me as much as any enemies do. It is an up to four-player game, but my other nephew always opts out, he enjoys watching games more than playing them himself recently. Great game, great art and music. If there’s one tiny nitpick, it’d be nice if there were more animated segments. The boys love the animated intro, so it would’ve been nice if the art stills in between levels were small animations.
Samba de Amiga is a pretty good time in short spurts. The joycons’ hit detection for the location of your maracas is pretty generous, so if your motions are in the ballpark things typically register. There’s a decent selection of pop bangers in here, mostly from the past dozen years or so. The boys’ go to song is “Good Time.” I’m partial to “I Love It.” The nephews loosely try to follow the guided motions, but more than anything they just sorta dance like wild men and some of their flaying matches up by happenstance. This is usually plenty enough to get by, but on some of the higher star-rating songs they sometimes get a fail state and are a little disappointed. They like pop music and a good excuse to dance, so this one has been a hit.
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