So I got my daughter Rhino Hero: Super Battle, but we have not had a chance to play it yet because my mom got her the My Little Pony branded Game of Life…and she is now obsessed with that game as MLP is her favorite thing in the world. I guess it’s more fun than Candy Land at least?
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Also, we got Pokken Tournament for the Switch. I don’t know why, but my 5yo keeps beating me by just button mashing. It’s really quite sad.
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I bought Pokken when it launched for two reasons: I love Pokémon and I love games where you can -theoretically - master a character/hero and be competitive. I haven’t played online but Pokken certainly feels a bit loose in the mechanics department but does provide my with some entertainment. I’d probably give it a 7/10 in a completely arbitrary scale, which for me means good but not great.
I got my son Boss Monster and Star Wars Destiny. Destiny is ok, it’s a lot to keep track of (for me) but my son copes just fine. Got a few booster packs with some rare cards which pleased him as well.
Boss Monster is on the back burner for now.
Last night I think I achieved one of my my greatest gaming feats ever.
Mario Kart is the hands down favorite for my 5yo. Even with steering assist though, it is difficult for her. She usually finishes about 7th or 8th, but some super aggressive opponents and she is last. She loves the game, but gets frustrated with it. And as we are just playing 50cc, I win every race.
So the other day I decided if winning was not a challenge for me, can I hold back and run blocker and see if I could get her a win. And it worked eventually. The other night I was able to get her a first place finish. It’s still a challenge as she can still manage to run into walls and falls behind easily. If she falls behind like 5th place, you can’t usually get her back up.
Last night…I finally was able to run blocker for the whole Mushroom Cup, getting her her first 4 1st finishes and her first cup trophy! She was so excited and was jumping up and down. And it really was a fun challenge for me.
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I finally found a copy of Just Dance 2018 for the Switch and fired it up for the kids (ages 5 and 3) this evening. It was an hour of hilarity watching them, especially the 5-year-old. Certainly not a game I would buy for myself (says the guy who owned some DDR dance pads ina sorry attempt to keep in shape), but really fun for the kids.
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My wife and I have actually been having fun playing it with our 5yo. and in a way, I got it for my wife as much as my daughter, as I knew she would like it. It’s just silly fun.
This sounds to me like an overall summation of what it is to be a parent in microcosm: sacrificing your race to give them a chance to better enjoy theirs.
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Yeah, but with a bonus fresh way to enjoy the race you’re in.
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Nintendo just held a news conference today and I saw some snippets that might interest some of you. First, Donkey Kong is coming to Mario + Rabbids. Second, it sounds like there is a new Mario Tennis game on the way. Games like this excite me because I like watching my kids use the motion controls and I’m sure tennis will have them swinging away.
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Ha! I literally just finished watching the Nintendo Direct video and had the same thought, Tennis looked like the best family fun.
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I am looking for recommendations for crafting and/or tycoon-style games for my son. He is just turned 5 and cannot read yet, but can navigate menus remarkably well. He absolutely loves building with anything he can get his hands on - legos, magnatiles, marble runs, my couch pillows, etc. He has a few basic “tycoon” style games on his iPad like Hoopa City. While there isn’t really an economy - and therefore not actually a game - he loves putting together towns and vistas. When he is old enough he will love tycoon games like SimCity.
I am thinking about getting him Minecraft but am not sure yet. I’m also looking for any other suggestions. I would prefer iOS.
Thanks, Stately Parents!
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You might want to try Township. I used to play it more, these days I am kind of just in maintenance mode with it. But you have to build simple supply chains between farming and factories and fulfill orders from a couple different simple “mission systems” in the game.
Does the Kinect read small kids well? Trying to decide when and how to introduce my 4 year old daughter to gaming, and that could be a good option. I may also just start her at the beginning, hook up the Atari and let her work her way through the generations.
Might be worth having a look at ROBLOX, seems to be a range of tycoon style games of varying complexity
Thanks for the tips, but I do think I want to avoid any of the F2P games. Not only is is a business model that I don’t want my kids to become involved with, but I tend to keep all wifi turned off on their devices.
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@Mirefox, you might consider Isle of Tune Mobile. It mixes neighborhood design and, um, music. Weird, but fun to tool around with. In fairness, there’s virtually nothing city-building about it other than the sprites, so it’s really more of a music game with music reconceived spatially. But I bought it for my kids years ago, and have put several hours into it myself.
Absolutely not what you’re asking for, but appropriate at about the same age: DragonBox is the best edutainment I’ve seen. It’s good enough I sneak it into tangentially related conversations.
@Hustlertwo, I found Kinect Party for the 360 to be tremendous with kids as young as two. One of the reasons I got an Xbox One rather than a PS4 (though I finally have both, as of December) was the expectation that it would be ported and would continue to be wonderful for them. It never was, and nothing for the Kinect ever came out that made me want to try it on the new system. I may eventually get Dance Central, but the developer support for little kids’ games has been a real disappointment. All of that said, if you placed and calibrated it well, even the older Kinect did okay with little kids. Not great, but it wasn’t great with anyone, and the ones supposed to be better.
Does anyone have a good recommendation for a race/roll-and-move game for a 5-year-old who can’t read yet? We have Monza, and I do like it, but I know there are more out there. I’m almost considering a stripped-down Formula D, but I don’t know if he will understand that rules for corners. I know games like Candyland and Sorry are generally loathed by the gaming community, but there is some value in them for parents teaching their kids to game. If there are better options out there, though, I’m very much open to them.
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So my 5yo is obsessed with My Little Pony, and so we got the MLP version of The Game of Life for her. I had not remembered the game, and was worried it would be little more than Candy Land (which is worthless for anything other than learning to follow directions), but am surprised at how many skill learning opportunities there are.
First, just from a dexterity point, spinning that wheel is a little challenge for her, we dont count her spin unless it goes all the way around at least once. There are some risk vs reward decisions to make, and we talk about them with her. Lastly, just the simple math and handling of the money has been interesting, and reinforces the common core match she gets in kindergarten, but since those are single digit numbers of 1-10, she has to think about those as values of 10-100 instead. So teaching her 50-20=30 is the same as 5-2=3.
The MLP is “friendship points” and not money. There are probably other branded versions also.
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There’s nothing wrong with Candyland and Sorry when you’re teaching your kids how to play games. They work great for teaching how to take turns, what things a turn consists of, and how to lose gracefully and have fun playing rather than worrying about the finish line. The only thing wrong with Candyland and Sorry are that the parents usually have to play along with the kids and both games are simply dull as hell. If you don’t mind sitting through a game (or 10…they’ll never want to play only one), then those are fine. I have both (as well as Don’t Break the Ice and some other mainstream titles) in my collection, and they’ll be there until my youngest says he doesn’t want to play them anymore.
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