Games for young children

[TrevHead]

Child of Eden (easy to beat and has an casual / god mode), Rez HD, Rayman Origins, Kirby's Epic Yarn

Possibly a shmup with infinite continues and novice / easy mode. Here a vid of mushihimisama Futari, BTW it's bullet hell so only the very center of the player ship can take a hit


Mushihisama Futari 360 {Japan Region free, get platinum ver for £25 from Play Asia.com)

 

[StBishop]

If they see someone being hit with a sword on TV, very often they'll grab a stick and whack a relative.

And that's where parenting comes in to tell them that what they are doing is wrong. Kids will always be exposed to such violence, no matter how hard you try to form a protective bubble around them.

But when you're not the parent it's a little more difficult.

I understand what you're saying but there's only so much you can do about cousins and nephews/nieces.
For example, my nephew threw his toy light saber at me and it hit me in the throat. He didn't mean to hurt me and he hasn't done it since because I explained to him that it hurt and he can't throw light sabers at people. He just wanted to be like Anakin in the Clone Wars TV show.
It's not even a violent show. But you can see how things like that can be a good idea to avoid exposing young people who aren't your own children to anything violent.

I'm not suggesting that watching Scarface will make a kid kill people or take drugs, but a kid who watches a kung-fu movie will want to play with nunchaku and fly kick people.

When it comes to other people's children it's easier to just avoid that kind of thing.

 

[NearLifeExperience]

-snip-

Yes, I suppose I was a little quick to jump to the gun on that one, and I apologize for that. It's probably caused by the sheer ignorance of the parents of today, desperately trying to 'protect' their little ones from anything that isn't made out of sunshine and butterflies, because god forbid children being encouraged to become powersuited spacemarines and fight cyborg dragons on the dark side of the moon. The more you try to shield kids from such things, the more likely they will be to go out and explore them on their own, without the parents being there to give the proper explanations.

Of course it is quite different if it isn't your own kid, again, sorry for that!

But we digress. Let's turn this topic around, shall we!

Kid friendly games, let's see.. uhm.. what about Epic Mickey, OP? That's a game the both of you could enjoy.

 

[the_great_cessation]

I think a lot of the people here are forgetting the child in question is four. Although I agree games like The Legend of Zelda being great titles for children, the amount of critical thinking required might be a bit much for someone his age. The same would go with some of the more "developed" platformers listed like Braid and Rayman Origins, which although rated "E" are more likely aimed at more experienced gamers. Kirby's Epic Yard seems like a good starting point. I would also recommend motion gaming, although that could prove troublesome if you are trying to encourage him to not engage in a violent manner (ie; the amount of actual arm flailing that goes on in a title like Kinect Star Wars). I'd say Epic Mickey is another good one as it has the open endedness that would allow for him to just explore freely, while presenting it in a manner which does not necessarily encourage violence as a means to continue.

So basically, a Wii with Kirby's Epic Yarn, Epic Mickey, Wii Sports / Play and maybe a Mario game or a Lego title would probably give him a good starting point.

 

[MorganL4]

Has no one said Portal yet? Or Bastion?


I guess I should do what everyone else on this thread is doing and say KIRBY!!! Did you know about KIRBY?? I don't think it's been said enough.... KIRBY!!!

Seriously guys every post doesn't need to have the exact same game

 

[mrm5561]

if he like super heroes try amazing spiderman. the game is harmless and its fun to swing through the city. also if you want a game you can both enjoy let him watch you play any of the assassins creed games. when you kill someone it looks like your giving them a hug or getting a piggy back ride and all swearing is in another language. you could also buy him skylanders if you want him to become a slave to activision

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

The Castle of Dr Brain. Or any of The Learning Company Super-Solvers games.

Let him use his brain - he won't when he's able to play grown-up games.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Mario. The correct answer is Mario. Anything Mario. EVERYTHING Mario.

Kirby is also a very easy series, so that'd be an even better choice.

Definite second.

Been gaming for 23 years, since I was 4. We had a NES and a very basic PC for the time back then. I played a lot of Mario and Tetris, and basic PC games(that was back when NES games looked better than what was out of PC, of course PC games were in their infancy.)

But yeah, Mario is a good choice, and of course the old Mario games are still fun and challenging to this day. I every once in awhile get nostalgic and fire up my NES or SNES and play some Mario or Kirby Superstar(I still think it is the best games to grab up if you are looking to get good SNES games for your collection.

I would say to people, even if you don't have some of the old systems, hit up antique stores, or better yet flea-market stores(less-uppity and less-expensive), I've always seen old games and systems(a friend bought an old working Sega Genesis for 30 bucks). I've also seen old NES games too. So if you want to get old kid friendly games, that is a good way to go, for little cost, plus you will be introducing the kid to retro-gaming.

 

[dessertmonkeyjk]

There's always Steam you can look at... strange there's no age filter in the search options but yeah.

Things like Bastion, RoboBlitz, Diamond Dan, Psychonauts, Rayman Origins, etc. seem like what you're looking for.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

Kirby's Return to Dreamland is an awesome game (as well as Super Mario Bros. Wii). They also feature local multiplayer, so you both can enjoy the game. For the PS2, there are several games which offer old school 8 and 16-bit classics that are cool and fun. I have the Sonic Mega Collection for the PS2. There's also a Sega's Greatest Hits for the Xbox 360.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Snip

He has a PC so emulators are also an options if he doesnt want to go out and buy another system

I had already thought of that, but I wasn't going to suggest it. The only way I would suggest it is if he already owned the system he was going to be emulating and had copies of the games he was going to play, because that is the only time when emulation is right.

 

[LostCrusader]

If you can find an emulator version of star fox 64, that would be my recommendation. When I played games with my younger cousins back in the ancient days of the Nintendo 64, I came up with a brilliant plan to just hand them a controller that wasn't plugged in and told gave them each jobs to do (hit this button).

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Man, definitely Demons' Souls, let's get some life lessons up in here.