'But what about the children?' Gaming for young badgers - The Bear and Badger

Eric

Thought it might be an idea to pull the collective thoughts of the forum together to recommend games that are suitable for young kids. I have 4 and 7 year old boys and struggle to select a suitable game they (both) can play, at which point I just put on Mario Chase!

Suggest away and I'll pull together a definitive list in the OP.

Eric

Single Player Games For Kids
Minecraft Franchise
Lego Franchise
Rush: A Disney Pixar Collection
Disneyland Adventures
Disney Infinity
Kinect Party
Kinect Adventures!
Double Fine Happy Action Theater
The Adventure Pals

Co-op Friendly Games To play Together:

Wii U
Rayman Legends (1-4 Player multi format 1-5 player Wii U)
Mario 3D World (Wii U)
Donkey Kong Country : Tropical Freeze

Switch
Captain Toad Treasure Tracker
Mario Odyssey
Nintendo Land

XBONE
Humans Fall Flat
Unravel 2

Retro
Street Of Rage II

Multiplayer Games:
MarioKart
Splatoon
SEGA All Star Racing Transformed
Nintendo Land

Eric

Reserved

FranticPea

Rush: A Disney Pixar Collection and Disneyland Adventures are great for young kids to co-op. Simple but fun games.

Minecraft.

Lego games.

You can probably pick up an Infinity starter pack for peanuts. I think all the servers for the creation stuff are dead but the campaigns are fun in co-op.

Bob

My boy is already obsessed with the asthetic of Minecraft.

Skade

Yeah kids love Minecraft and Lego.

Mariokart is also a favourite in our house, and 7 year old Alfie is hooked on Splatoon.

hylian_elf

Mariokart 8 has been the only game so far that I haven’t had to sit and help or play with my kids.

Otherwise following have been or are being played in co-op:
DKC Tropical Freeze
Mario Odyssey
Captain Toad

SpaceGazelle

My one is currently playing Hollow Knight and Wargroove, although Nintendo is usually the preferred choice. Mario 3D World, MK, Splatoon etc.

regmcfly

How old are yours, sg?

SpaceGazelle

Just the one, he's 8.

stormyskiesahead

The Adventure Pals (PC and Switch afaik) is pretty magical. The art direction, level design, and music are all top-notch. Well worth a look for the grown-ups as well.

SpaceGazelle

If you want a game for 4 and 7 then deffo Mario 3D World. One can do the harder bits and the other can just jump around getting coins.

Moot_Geeza

Great idea for a thread, will compile a list shortly. I'd pay all the money for 3D World on Switch, I had it on WiiU but sold the game (and then the console) before my daughter was into games so I never played the mp. She's been known pretend to be playing YouTube videos of people playing it, I think a two player 3D Mario game could even trump the mighty Odyssey as her favourite game.

Bob

stormyskiesahead wrote:

The Adventure Pals (PC and Switch afaik) is pretty magical. The art direction, level design, and music are all top-notch. Well worth a look for the grown-ups as well.

Would this suit a three and a half year old who loves the switch?

Moot_Geeza

It might, but it didn't when mine was that age. It was the first game she described as boring. Bit harsh.

Bob

That sounds like she was too advanced for it?

regmcfly

I played Mario world when I was 5. I still find cognitive dissonance in that I don't expect 5 year olds to be as cohesive around a pad.

regmcfly

I wish I could be getting ready for a wee guy to play rn (sad face maybe taking to a different thread)

Bob

regmcfly wrote:

I played Mario world when I was 5. I still find cognitive dissonance in that I don't expect 5 year olds to be as cohesive around a pad.

I wondered about dusting the mini snes out and letting him have a bash.. I think the original pad might be alright.

I let him have a go on WRC7 and he can drive a car around in a circle while i accelerate.

Moot_Geeza

Bob wrote:

That sounds like she was too advanced for it?

Not really, she was dying a lot. I think 'grrr, this isn't Mario Odysseeey' would've been closer to her real grievance. Will try her on it again as I forgot I had it.

regmcfly

Bob wrote:

regmcfly wrote:

I played Mario world when I was 5. I still find cognitive dissonance in that I don't expect 5 year olds to be as cohesive around a pad.

I wondered about dusting the mini snes out and letting him have a bash.. I think the original pad might be alright.

I let him have a go on WRC7 and he can drive a car around in a circle while i accelerate.

It makes sense in that they are coloured and they are digital responses.

davyK

The Multiplayer 2D Mario games (the Wii one is the first I recall) would be a good start. Any decent side on platformer would be really - Rayman games have multi-player. Kirby would be a shout too.

The world builder stuff like Minecraft seems to be a bit hit with kids too. Animal Crossing or its ilk may go down well too.

Lego Star Wars

Kart racing - Mario or Sega.

Anything that has loads of characters to play with - kids will spend time just going through those - the Kirby games are great because of the way the main character changes depending on what he eats.

Lord_Griff

Harvester on the 3DO

stormyskiesahead

Regarding The Adventure Pals, I think three and a half is definitely too young to get a grasp of it. 7 and up would probably be more like it. My 8 year old nephew and 11 year old niece adore it.

So do I tbh.

Roujin

Children should be forced to face off in that most brutal crucible of sibling rivalry, Streetfighter 2.

I'm not a barbarian of course, no throws allowed and no spamming fireballs you fucking cheater, MUUUUUMMMMM HE'S DOING FIREBALLS ALL THE TIME AGAIN ITS NOT FAAAIIIIRRRRR! BabyRage.

hylian_elf

Mine played SFV. They liked it.

Blocks100

According to the latest government pronouncements, children should be spending less time at their screens, not more.

Get your kids to play outdoors with a wheel and stick, never did me any harm.

nick_md

I was really surprised how difficult my gf's son found Mario World on the mini, he really couldn't get his head around the need to run and jump. He died constantly on every level, fucking scrub.

I don't remember being that bad at his age (he's 9) but maybe I was? Nah, I doubt it. I'd clocked Mario 3 around that age and was getting ready to nail Starwing and SFII as well.

I blame touch screens.

monkey

Mario Kart 8 is decent for my daughter. She's just turned 5. Put on all the assists and even your gran could get round the track.

Mario Odyssey is ok-ish for her to run around in. There's bit and pieces that are pretty easy and safe.

Anything 2D is completely out for her, which is a shame. If you can't jump and move in mid air to a specific point under pressure, you can't play them. And she can't. No skills.

monkey

I thought Captain Toad would be alright but that gets a bit tricky for 5 year olds pretty quickly into the game. There should be more dicking about games for rubbish kids.

RedDave2

There should be more dicking about games for rubbish kids.

Yeah, often I find my daughter enjoys playing a game only to find the games need to be a proper game gets in the way. She loves the virtual doll stuff on my phone. Mario kart is another winner. But the Lego games kept trying to get her to progress which just annoyed her.

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