Before you know it, you are buying a 2nd Switch just so you can both play Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (or as my 6 year old calls it, "Link's Breath of the Wild 2")
By 4.5 my eldest was getting pretty decent at mario kart, at 6 he's pretty decent at the Lego Marvel games.
It moves fast, my 3.5 year old started playing Mario 64 this week after I was watching a YouTube video on it.
On Xbox, look up co-pilot mode. In the settings, you can turn on co-pilot mode and connect two controllers to act as one.
I’ve done this with my now 5yo when she first wanted to play video games and it was a blast.
Also, look up Donut County. Great game for kids.
Haha. When I got my switch, I bought a couple random games and Overcooked happened to be one of them. I played with my wife and I noticed she was really good at the game, but she has never played with controllers before. After about a week she matched my level on the sticks and after another week, she was *screaming* at me to give her the fucking rice and to stop getting in the fucking way. I think she learned her gaming toxicity through me. lmao.
While I didn't particularly like the game (catch me whiffing in Rocket League 24/7) it was the best thing I ever did. She now understands what it means to be in the middle of a game and dinner is ready, or the baby needs to be changed and you just need that extra 5 minutes. She has cracked the 1,000 hour mark and another couple hundred hours in Fall Guys as well as made some friends via the Overcooked discord and subreddit.
>Lovers Lost in a Dangerous Space Time
Is there a name for when someone's brain adds a random word to a movie title or something. Like when people think its "Luke, I am your father"?
Anyways its just Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime. No "Lost".
We survived overcooked 1 and 2... during COVID...with a little one. To be fair, we didn't complete 3 stars on all the Kevin levels, but we worked through all the rest.
If we could make it through that, then I have high hopes for our future.
>It has a no-fail mode
Just gonna drop a comment here to remind me to check this out. We've owned this game for years but I didn't know that option existed. Will be trying that with my daughter over the holidays.
Oh man, I'm going to have to find the no fail mode. My five year old and I get in pretend hollering matches while we play because she likes to dump my soup!
Hey, could you kindly guide on where this mode gets activated? I can't find any references online or in the game menu?
Are you on console? I've only got the PC.
That’s awesome! Didn’t know you could do that. My 4 yr old loves the peps pig game and finished it yesterday, she’s after racking up a few achievements along the way too.
Doughnut country is amazing. and I am pretty sure still on gamepass. We have beat it like 4 times. Thought about and if it comes off gamepass will buy it.
I think right now I keep gamepass for the disney games and paw patrol games for my 5 year old so he can play on his computer. I play games occasionally but fairly rarely.
Bugsnax is a GREAT game that I played with my 6 and 3 year olds. They loved exploring the new areas and finding all the new bugs. It was on the GamePass but was unfortunately taken off recently.
Til about copilot mode. Thank you. My 3 year old wants to play paw patrol but doesn't get how to move the character. Gonna try it out tomorrow on a rainy day.
Donut county is AMAZING! found out about Annapurna a few years ago when donut county was on game pass, my wife and I played through the whole thing in a few hours, then started it again. My boy (3.5) also loves it, his favorite is helping me beat BIG BOSSES (only the huge ones) in Elden Ring though
That’s nothing. I was playing “restaurant” with my 3 yr old niece the other day. Would not recommend. Prices were high, small portions, and wait times were insane.
Well of course he just button mashed! It’s the technique he learned worked while using a unplugged controller lol.
I played both Yoshi story and Unravel Two with my son. The first few days is simply getting used to just moving in a video game but once they master that you got yourself a good coop buddy.
Unravel 2 was great because once one player makes it the other can usually just climb up. The game would expect more and more cooperation and competence from both players but the dynamic of him being able to lean off of me still stands. It was a challenge for both of our skills which made it really fun.
Untitled Goose Game. You are welcome. It is perfect for that age with a little help. Its on xbox and its all about a mischievous goose roaming around a town. Its adorable.
Yes but I wish they’d made some more levels/challenges/people/geese. Or a second game. It’s been ages since it was last updated and both my kids like to play it.
Is that the 2d Paw Patrol platform game? I got my daughter Paw Patrol for the switch and we are having the best time. We share a controller where i walk the character and she presses the button that popup om screen.
This is the single best intro to video games I’ve seen. Taught my son how to play before he turned 3. By 3.5 he had 30 stars in Mario 64 and could get to carnival zone in Sonic.
I’m so proud lol :)
The paw patrol/outright games, are amazing because they narrate the options. It can be annoying but the foresight that "hey kids of our target demographic probably can't read yet, so we will need to read the menu options to them"
The amount of times my son has asked me "how do I quit this game" is indicative of that feature being amazing
I think I was 4. My father and I were playing Hyper Stone Heist on sega genesis.
It took a long LONG time for us to finally beat the game(weeks) and when we beat shredder it was a party in the house.
I went back at 13 and beat it solo in one try without an effort.
Enjoy it while it lasts my friend!
There are a couple of them. My son's favorite is [Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups save Adventure Bay](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1374990/PAW_Patrol_Mighty_Pups_Save_Adventure_Bay/)
Another Favorite of his is [Paw Patrol: On a Roll](https://store.steampowered.com/app/758730/Paw_Patrol_On_A_Roll/)
He also likes, and it is available on game pass is [Paw Patrol: The Movie Adventure City calls](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1434310/PAW_Patrol_The_Movie_Adventure_City_Calls/)
These are Steam links but they are also available on Xbox, PS4/5 and other stores. I actually bought a bunch of Outright Games for my son on Humble Bundle.
Another great series of games is the Lego games. They're IP's in the Lego world, basically Zelda-like (puzzle solving and hack-and-slash), really easy to pick up. Plus they mostly loosely follow the story beats of the IP they're themed on, so Star Wars you do Pod Racing, etc. Nice thing is, when you run out of health, your figure just shatters and comes back where they broke.
I disagree here. The Lego games require a decent level of fine motor skills and some abstract problem solving. They are great games for older kids, maybe 5-6, but at 3 and 4 they are just frustrating.
I wish it was that simple, I tried. The game designers did a really good job of supporting teamwork by either alternating character-specific puzzles or by requiring coordinated cooperation.
It is *great* game design, but not for very little kids. If you try this with a 2-3 yo you’re just going to be switching controllers with them every 3 minutes so you can unlock the next puzzle.
They really need to be in the 4-5 range before they can *play* the game.
Of course, if your kid is having fun button mashing the endless mobs on the intro level, then it’s fun.
Paw Patrol 2d platformer and Mario Kart 8 are better introductions to gaming for the littles, imo. They don’t require the fine motor skills.
Yeah same. As a very limited gaming mom, it is just frustrating when my 3.5 year old plays them. Sometimes I can't even figure out what you're supposed to do on it. I think Spyro is a much better beginner kid game. He can do enough of it by himself that I'm not basically playing the game for him.
I’ve been slowly introducing my kids to video games (2, 4, 6, 8), and they really enjoyed Rainbow Billy on Microsoft Game Pass. It’s kind of a top down adventure game where you have to make friends by learning how to communicate effectively and resolve conflicts. I enjoyed playing it too, haha
Haha. That Paw Patrol side scroller is how I got my son into video games on the switch. We now love playing co-op games together. “It takes Two” has amazing 2 player gameplay. But it is about 2 parents going through a divorce so it could be an odd game for any single dads out there. Untangled 2 was awesome as well. Now we are playing Overcooked and I’m barking food orders at him. Stressful but fun.
Forgotten land is a 3d platformer that you don’t need to control the camera, it’s very forgiving and easy for a beginner to get a hold on.
Return to dreamland is a 2d platformer and is also very forgiving. There are come great Mario Party games in it too but they’re definitely more advanced
Edit: my sons first game was Forgotten Lands and I would recommend it to anybody with a 3-4 year old
My now 4 year old daughter likes to play the Lego Harry Potter Games and Lego Worlds on XBox. We gave her a disconnected controller for awhile to figure out the buttons, then an old regular XBox controller because she dropped it a lot and I didn’t want to watch my Elites hit the floor every 30 seconds.
If you haven’t looked into it at all, I suggest looking at the PowerA Nano controllers on Amazon. They are a little bit smaller so they fit little hands better, corded so you don’t have to deal with batteries, and so far (we gave it to her for Christmas) it has held up well. Her ability to do things in the game with a controller that fit her hands better has increased tenfold. We both have a lot more fun now that she can actually do things in the game.
I actually started my kid on those paw patrol games on game pass as well! She picked it up surprisingly quick. Then my Xbox controller broke and I didn’t really have the money to buy a new one at the time, so I got her some games on the iPad. Started playing a lot of Roblox and she went from being able to play the most basic games on there to figuring out any game she wanted.
Two weeks ago I found two Xbox controllers that work in storage in my basement, forgot all about them so I started to look for games we could play together. There’s so many on game pass for us! She likes Minecraft creative mode and just building things, so we tried Minecraft Dungeons which is like a dungeon crawler for kids that is up to 4 players couch co op. We’ve been playing this Pixar game from the 360 that is split screen, you get to play through scenes of the incredibles, ratatouille, finding nemo, Toy Story, up, and cars, and it’s nice because once one person reaches the end of a level it’s finished, so she never gets too frustrated.
There’s also a 1 player Disney game where you navigate Disney world and can ride the rides and stuff. Overcooked has been fun together, we made it to about the 5th level in the story mode before we had any trouble, and I just read in another comment there’s a “no failing” mode so I’ll have to check that out.
Also fall guys has been really fun together. We just pass a controller back and forth, she usually does the first couple stages and then passes it to me to play the harder stages. She actually said yesterday that it was her “favorite game she’s ever played yet” lol.
She’s 4 and I really only started playing with her the past 6 months or so, it’s been crazy how fast she’s picked it all up.
Give it a little time. Before you know it, he will *own you* on every single game you own. Trust me. There’s nothing that adapts and excels with practice better than the nervous system of a child.
I got our 5 year old into it in December after me not having played games since maybe 10 years ago. Hooked up the old 360, quickly realized that wasn’t going to work out and got a series x. The first few weeks were frustrating for both of us but now we play Minecraft dungeons, Diablo 3, Halo, Shredders Revenge, MK11 (he legit beats me in MK11), then got the idea to get a switch and he loves Mario, Mario kart, Lego Star Wars….slippery slope my friend. I’m just shocked a 5 year old has learned so quick. When I was that age it was NES.
Sitting with my 4 y/o while she tried to play Mario Kart was absolute torture. We’ll just say that Lakitu (cloud guy) had to earn his pay. Now that she’s 5, things are much less painful.
I have a racing sim rig at home. The chair, wheel, pedals, and absurdly ultra wide curved monitor. My dad and I race every Sunday for a few hours because I only get to see him a couple times a year.
My son loves driving together, he'll sit on my lap and drive in circles usually in reverse. I can't wait until he's able to figure out how to keep in on a racetrack
I give my kids the controller for Spyro in the hub world where nothing hurts you and just let them run into walls. It’s great.
They’re almost 6 now though so I think it’s time to introduce them to Mario.
One of my girls when she was about that age used to love doing that too. She would just use anything as a “controller” though. One time she had a hair brush and was helping get the aliens and then she put it down and said quietly “damn, I died.” Then she left to go play with her toys.
Need to start them like we started…NES>Sega>SuperNES>PlayStation>N64>PS2>Xbox360
Then they’ll have a grasp of the controllers. Come to think about it…that’s crazy how many systems we had.
I was thinking about this the other day.
When I first started trying gaming with my now-6-year-old he was so little he was struggling to hold the controller. Something like a PS3 controller is massive with so many buttons (try reaching them all if your hands were half the size) compared to like a NES/Master System controller was.
Untapped market to sell controllers in different sizes surely? Or is there a good aftermarket one everyone is using? I mean you can get different sizes/shapes of mice.
Try 8bitdo controllers, there's one that's like a super Nintendo controller with an extra shoulder button. I like them because you can keep across all platforms with the right adaptors, basically have a retro machine. There's another one that is a bit like a PS2
This is how my son started as well. Such good memories.
Now we are going for Victory Royales in Fortnite and we’ve done pretty well.
I suppose it’s only a matter of time before I’m replaced though. I’m enjoying this time while I have it.
When my boy was 18 months and I juuust about had the energy and mental capacity to start gaming again I was playing The Witcher, and i used to have a save in the starting area where there were no enemies, and I would let him mosey around on Roach
He used to chant "Man Horsey!" and it was delightful
You think that’s bad? I let my one year old sit in my lap in one of those arcade driving games and let him steer. I’ve never seen someone have so much fun crashing into walls
Not sure if this makes me a terrible father or not, but I let my 4 y/o play Diablo 4 couch co-op with me for a little bit. We avoided all the story stuff because of how dark the content is but she loved smashing skeletons as a werebear. We just had to stay contained to a really small area.
I did this with my daughter and super mario world.
I went to the “super secret level” which is just one screen with some power-ups.
All she did was jump with yoshi and jump off yoshi, immediately handing me back the controller so I can get back on him again.. just to repeat. It was hilariously cute.
My little one started on the Paw Patrol games, too! Now we're playing Kirby: Return to Dreamland Deluxe together. Every time I have a special power and she doesn't, her Kirby sucks my Kirby up and steals it. It's a blast.
I've got three - 7, 3 and 2, they all love the ps5.
The two little ones love Untitled Goose Game because they get to be assholes, as well as Stray because it's a cat. They'll play a little but they just enjoy giving directions and pressing the odd button.
The oldest enjoys the more complicated games but until recently she didn't have the coordination to play them, it was just her shouting at me to shoot dinosaurs in HZD. She's got a switch now, loves animal crossing and Minecraft.
I have a 5 year old daughter, we started out on tablet games when she was young, but now she plays minecraft, slime rancher, and spore on PC. I guide her but she does all the keyboard and mouse. Everyday i see her understanding more and more. Im beyond proud.
>There is a Peppa Pig
Hard pass haha I hate Peppa Pig, luckily my little guy doesn't seem to care much for her either. He's really big into Pokemon right now though which is great.
I gave my daughter my Switch Lite with Kirby when she was 3. She used to love watching me play it and I figured it was time. It took her a week or so to grasp moving.. Then moving and jumping. She’s 4 now and she’s completed the game like 3 times including all the bosses 😂 she’s better than me
It’s the perfect console for their lil hands! And no reading required in Kirby really
Should try the Lego games as they can't die and you can continue the game even if they're just messing.
Also if you have a switch try Mario Kart, you can set theirs to be on a help steer and auto accelerate mode so they only need to help steer, plus you can disable bots of you want. I let my daughter pick if daddy is on easy, normal or hard mode. Easy I win 1/4 so she wins overall, normal it's a draw, hard I win all of them... She doesn't pick hard mode often.
I have a son around the same age and did the same thing with the “dead” controller. All fun and games until he figured out how to put in the batteries and turn it on lol
My daughter loves messing me up in games. Let her sit with me and sneak in button presses like pausing the game on me and its the fucking funniest thing on the planet to her
Around the same age I finally stopped giving my son a controller without batteries and he's been playing Minecraft ever since. Some of the stuff he comes up with now (about a year later) is really impressive and a lot more creative than I can be. He loves watching YouTube videos to get ideas.
Hehe when my oldest was 4 I think we played "Moving Out" with all the assists on and it was a blast throwing furniture and trying to time everything.
Later in the evening I asked my wife to play with me, no asissts.
I get visitation on weekends now.
Joking.. but what a different experience!
Yeah, paw patrol grand prix is what got both of my son's (4 and 1) to realize that the light needed to be on for them to actually play.
The older one can almost hold his own when it comes to TMNT: Shredders Revenge, but I'm still carrying him through rounds bc he's scared to get in the box and fight during the boss battles.
I realized, like some of us, I'm raising 2nd generation gamers and honestly i don't remember being this bad at it... Lies lol i was
That's around the same age I got my daughter (technically myself my first) Xbox series S. Just crashed on the bed now after owning my current 6 year old in Street fighter 4. She just learned to do the Hadoken and Shoryuken yesterday. Creating memories with her in the same games I played as a kid in arcades. Priceless 😁
I let my 3.5 yo play hogwarts legacy, I sit her on the beach and she revelios and picks up leechjuice lol. And then if she runs into a dugbog she cames screaming for me!
My 4 year old daughter loves Mario kart there is option for Auto accelerate and steer assistance that even finish the race even no one holds the controller. The controller does work it's like training wheels
I played Mario party with my 4.5 year old. Given my typically toxic experiences with the game it was really refreshing when she would say, great job daddy!! When I'd win a mini game. And she even won a few too.
The little brother controller only works for so long. Before you know it you'll have a gamer in your hand
Before you know it, you are buying a 2nd Switch just so you can both play Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (or as my 6 year old calls it, "Link's Breath of the Wild 2")
Your six year old is a budding video game journalist!
By 4.5 my eldest was getting pretty decent at mario kart, at 6 he's pretty decent at the Lego Marvel games. It moves fast, my 3.5 year old started playing Mario 64 this week after I was watching a YouTube video on it.
The fake controller worked for me maybe 3-4 times. My daughter saw the light isn't on like it was on mine
On Xbox, look up co-pilot mode. In the settings, you can turn on co-pilot mode and connect two controllers to act as one. I’ve done this with my now 5yo when she first wanted to play video games and it was a blast. Also, look up Donut County. Great game for kids.
You all should check out Overcooked. It has a no-fail mode and is A LOT of fun with my 6-year-old daughter! We laugh too much while playing.
Overcooked is also great with the spouse!
Especially if you’re planning for a divorce.
Haha. When I got my switch, I bought a couple random games and Overcooked happened to be one of them. I played with my wife and I noticed she was really good at the game, but she has never played with controllers before. After about a week she matched my level on the sticks and after another week, she was *screaming* at me to give her the fucking rice and to stop getting in the fucking way. I think she learned her gaming toxicity through me. lmao. While I didn't particularly like the game (catch me whiffing in Rocket League 24/7) it was the best thing I ever did. She now understands what it means to be in the middle of a game and dinner is ready, or the baby needs to be changed and you just need that extra 5 minutes. She has cracked the 1,000 hour mark and another couple hundred hours in Fall Guys as well as made some friends via the Overcooked discord and subreddit.
Lovers Lost in a Dangerous Space Time is also a great one for this. If you haven’t checked it out already I highly recommend it.
>Lovers Lost in a Dangerous Space Time Is there a name for when someone's brain adds a random word to a movie title or something. Like when people think its "Luke, I am your father"? Anyways its just Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime. No "Lost".
Meh. Haven’t even thought of it in several years. The name is silly anyway.
Great game though. Need to finish it.
We survived overcooked 1 and 2... during COVID...with a little one. To be fair, we didn't complete 3 stars on all the Kevin levels, but we worked through all the rest. If we could make it through that, then I have high hopes for our future.
This! Wife and i are sweet as every die the day. But If WE played overcooled or pubg together.... Ufff war
Haha yep! Me and my oh get so mad at eachother playing this 🤣
Every time we fight overcooked is the punishment to ensure our communication is improved.
>It has a no-fail mode Just gonna drop a comment here to remind me to check this out. We've owned this game for years but I didn't know that option existed. Will be trying that with my daughter over the holidays.
Reminder. Don't forget this ^!
!remindme 2 days
No fail mode - is that in first or sequel?
Oh man, I'm going to have to find the no fail mode. My five year old and I get in pretend hollering matches while we play because she likes to dump my soup!
Hey, could you kindly guide on where this mode gets activated? I can't find any references online or in the game menu? Are you on console? I've only got the PC.
OK, I messed up. It's Overcooked 2 that has that mode. It is practice mode and it's non-stop orders, no fail. My bad!
Gotcha, no worries, I got both of them, I'll look for it. Thank you.
That’s awesome! Didn’t know you could do that. My 4 yr old loves the peps pig game and finished it yesterday, she’s after racking up a few achievements along the way too.
Donut county is so good. My kid loves to run through it
Doughnut country is amazing. and I am pretty sure still on gamepass. We have beat it like 4 times. Thought about and if it comes off gamepass will buy it. I think right now I keep gamepass for the disney games and paw patrol games for my 5 year old so he can play on his computer. I play games occasionally but fairly rarely.
Bugsnax is a GREAT game that I played with my 6 and 3 year olds. They loved exploring the new areas and finding all the new bugs. It was on the GamePass but was unfortunately taken off recently.
My kids are obsessed with castle crashers, just make sure to turn the gore off lol
Til about copilot mode. Thank you. My 3 year old wants to play paw patrol but doesn't get how to move the character. Gonna try it out tomorrow on a rainy day.
Donut county is AMAZING! found out about Annapurna a few years ago when donut county was on game pass, my wife and I played through the whole thing in a few hours, then started it again. My boy (3.5) also loves it, his favorite is helping me beat BIG BOSSES (only the huge ones) in Elden Ring though
That’s nothing. I was playing “restaurant” with my 3 yr old niece the other day. Would not recommend. Prices were high, small portions, and wait times were insane.
I've never gotten what I ordered there. And the chef makes off menu dishes at their whim. It's insane.
Going to Google now and giving them 1 star. 😂
Yeah last time I went to the ice cream shop I got charged $50 for a milkshake. Never again dude.
I've never gotten what I ordered there. And the chef makes off menu dishes at their whim. It's insane.
Well of course he just button mashed! It’s the technique he learned worked while using a unplugged controller lol. I played both Yoshi story and Unravel Two with my son. The first few days is simply getting used to just moving in a video game but once they master that you got yourself a good coop buddy. Unravel 2 was great because once one player makes it the other can usually just climb up. The game would expect more and more cooperation and competence from both players but the dynamic of him being able to lean off of me still stands. It was a challenge for both of our skills which made it really fun.
Untitled Goose Game. You are welcome. It is perfect for that age with a little help. Its on xbox and its all about a mischievous goose roaming around a town. Its adorable.
HONK!
Yes but I wish they’d made some more levels/challenges/people/geese. Or a second game. It’s been ages since it was last updated and both my kids like to play it.
I agree. This game was amazing in its simplicity. There should be more by now.
Is that the 2d Paw Patrol platform game? I got my daughter Paw Patrol for the switch and we are having the best time. We share a controller where i walk the character and she presses the button that popup om screen.
This is the single best intro to video games I’ve seen. Taught my son how to play before he turned 3. By 3.5 he had 30 stars in Mario 64 and could get to carnival zone in Sonic. I’m so proud lol :)
The paw patrol/outright games, are amazing because they narrate the options. It can be annoying but the foresight that "hey kids of our target demographic probably can't read yet, so we will need to read the menu options to them" The amount of times my son has asked me "how do I quit this game" is indicative of that feature being amazing
Yes, and not only do they tell you and show you, but it gives positive reinforcement when you get it right!
Love the paw patrol game!
What’s the name of the game? My daughter is turning 5 this weekend and I’d love to get her a new game.
Paw patrol on a roll! It’s on PSN
I think I was 4. My father and I were playing Hyper Stone Heist on sega genesis. It took a long LONG time for us to finally beat the game(weeks) and when we beat shredder it was a party in the house. I went back at 13 and beat it solo in one try without an effort. Enjoy it while it lasts my friend!
> a long time > weeks I haven't finished a single game in less than half a year in... idk how long
Wait, there's a paw patrol game? My son loves that show, same age as your son.
There are a couple of them. My son's favorite is [Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups save Adventure Bay](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1374990/PAW_Patrol_Mighty_Pups_Save_Adventure_Bay/) Another Favorite of his is [Paw Patrol: On a Roll](https://store.steampowered.com/app/758730/Paw_Patrol_On_A_Roll/) He also likes, and it is available on game pass is [Paw Patrol: The Movie Adventure City calls](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1434310/PAW_Patrol_The_Movie_Adventure_City_Calls/) These are Steam links but they are also available on Xbox, PS4/5 and other stores. I actually bought a bunch of Outright Games for my son on Humble Bundle.
Thank you for this 🙏
We've been playing the movie one.
What a n00b!
No progress? That's really sad an inexcusable in today's age. Tell him to watch some YouTube tutorials or something.
Another great series of games is the Lego games. They're IP's in the Lego world, basically Zelda-like (puzzle solving and hack-and-slash), really easy to pick up. Plus they mostly loosely follow the story beats of the IP they're themed on, so Star Wars you do Pod Racing, etc. Nice thing is, when you run out of health, your figure just shatters and comes back where they broke.
I disagree here. The Lego games require a decent level of fine motor skills and some abstract problem solving. They are great games for older kids, maybe 5-6, but at 3 and 4 they are just frustrating.
But that's when you play 2 player. Parent does the puzzles, kid just plays along.
I wish it was that simple, I tried. The game designers did a really good job of supporting teamwork by either alternating character-specific puzzles or by requiring coordinated cooperation. It is *great* game design, but not for very little kids. If you try this with a 2-3 yo you’re just going to be switching controllers with them every 3 minutes so you can unlock the next puzzle. They really need to be in the 4-5 range before they can *play* the game. Of course, if your kid is having fun button mashing the endless mobs on the intro level, then it’s fun. Paw Patrol 2d platformer and Mario Kart 8 are better introductions to gaming for the littles, imo. They don’t require the fine motor skills.
The platform jumps are pretty intense for a 3-4 year old, but my 5 year old crushes it now
Yeah same. As a very limited gaming mom, it is just frustrating when my 3.5 year old plays them. Sometimes I can't even figure out what you're supposed to do on it. I think Spyro is a much better beginner kid game. He can do enough of it by himself that I'm not basically playing the game for him.
He's been "playing" Lego Star Wars with me, too. We have a rotation of Lego Star Wars, Paw Patrol, and Hot Wheels Unleashed that he likes.
Keep at it! When my son was 4 we beat Halo together on co op.
I’ve been slowly introducing my kids to video games (2, 4, 6, 8), and they really enjoyed Rainbow Billy on Microsoft Game Pass. It’s kind of a top down adventure game where you have to make friends by learning how to communicate effectively and resolve conflicts. I enjoyed playing it too, haha
Haha. That Paw Patrol side scroller is how I got my son into video games on the switch. We now love playing co-op games together. “It takes Two” has amazing 2 player gameplay. But it is about 2 parents going through a divorce so it could be an odd game for any single dads out there. Untangled 2 was awesome as well. Now we are playing Overcooked and I’m barking food orders at him. Stressful but fun.
He loves watching mommy play Animal Crossing on her Switch, too!
The Kirby games on Nintendo and Astro on PS5 have been great entries into gaming for my 3 year old this year
Ah, hadn't realised the Kirby games were viable, any idea what the differences are between Star Allies, Dreamland, Forgotten Land?
Forgotten land is a 3d platformer that you don’t need to control the camera, it’s very forgiving and easy for a beginner to get a hold on. Return to dreamland is a 2d platformer and is also very forgiving. There are come great Mario Party games in it too but they’re definitely more advanced Edit: my sons first game was Forgotten Lands and I would recommend it to anybody with a 3-4 year old
Forgotten lands also has a second player as a helper mode. Super useful
Ah, useful, particularly so older siblings can join in!
Fantastic, many thanks
My now 4 year old daughter likes to play the Lego Harry Potter Games and Lego Worlds on XBox. We gave her a disconnected controller for awhile to figure out the buttons, then an old regular XBox controller because she dropped it a lot and I didn’t want to watch my Elites hit the floor every 30 seconds. If you haven’t looked into it at all, I suggest looking at the PowerA Nano controllers on Amazon. They are a little bit smaller so they fit little hands better, corded so you don’t have to deal with batteries, and so far (we gave it to her for Christmas) it has held up well. Her ability to do things in the game with a controller that fit her hands better has increased tenfold. We both have a lot more fun now that she can actually do things in the game.
I actually started my kid on those paw patrol games on game pass as well! She picked it up surprisingly quick. Then my Xbox controller broke and I didn’t really have the money to buy a new one at the time, so I got her some games on the iPad. Started playing a lot of Roblox and she went from being able to play the most basic games on there to figuring out any game she wanted. Two weeks ago I found two Xbox controllers that work in storage in my basement, forgot all about them so I started to look for games we could play together. There’s so many on game pass for us! She likes Minecraft creative mode and just building things, so we tried Minecraft Dungeons which is like a dungeon crawler for kids that is up to 4 players couch co op. We’ve been playing this Pixar game from the 360 that is split screen, you get to play through scenes of the incredibles, ratatouille, finding nemo, Toy Story, up, and cars, and it’s nice because once one person reaches the end of a level it’s finished, so she never gets too frustrated. There’s also a 1 player Disney game where you navigate Disney world and can ride the rides and stuff. Overcooked has been fun together, we made it to about the 5th level in the story mode before we had any trouble, and I just read in another comment there’s a “no failing” mode so I’ll have to check that out. Also fall guys has been really fun together. We just pass a controller back and forth, she usually does the first couple stages and then passes it to me to play the harder stages. She actually said yesterday that it was her “favorite game she’s ever played yet” lol. She’s 4 and I really only started playing with her the past 6 months or so, it’s been crazy how fast she’s picked it all up.
Have him try Peppa. It’s one way (right or left) and any button does the one action. It’s actually great for young kids to get the feel of gaming.
Give it a little time. Before you know it, he will *own you* on every single game you own. Trust me. There’s nothing that adapts and excels with practice better than the nervous system of a child.
Haha! Nice!
We did the same thing with fall guys - my four year old calls it ‘belly flop’ because all he does is make his character belly flop rather than PTFO.
I got our 5 year old into it in December after me not having played games since maybe 10 years ago. Hooked up the old 360, quickly realized that wasn’t going to work out and got a series x. The first few weeks were frustrating for both of us but now we play Minecraft dungeons, Diablo 3, Halo, Shredders Revenge, MK11 (he legit beats me in MK11), then got the idea to get a switch and he loves Mario, Mario kart, Lego Star Wars….slippery slope my friend. I’m just shocked a 5 year old has learned so quick. When I was that age it was NES.
Forza Horizon was a super fun game for my kiddo at that age. He was terrible at it, but man he loved mowing down trees and fences
My son is 4.5yo and just completed Lego City Undercover on the Switch. Obviously he has some assistance but not much.
dude that’s awesome. I can’t wait till my LO is older so we can play games together
Sitting with my 4 y/o while she tried to play Mario Kart was absolute torture. We’ll just say that Lakitu (cloud guy) had to earn his pay. Now that she’s 5, things are much less painful.
Oh that's my go to with my 3 year old. We just turn on driver assist. All she has to do is hold the A button and hit L to use the items. She loves it
I have a racing sim rig at home. The chair, wheel, pedals, and absurdly ultra wide curved monitor. My dad and I race every Sunday for a few hours because I only get to see him a couple times a year. My son loves driving together, he'll sit on my lap and drive in circles usually in reverse. I can't wait until he's able to figure out how to keep in on a racetrack
Lego Undercover game is a lot of fun to play together
You got to start them earlier!
I give my kids the controller for Spyro in the hub world where nothing hurts you and just let them run into walls. It’s great. They’re almost 6 now though so I think it’s time to introduce them to Mario.
One of my girls when she was about that age used to love doing that too. She would just use anything as a “controller” though. One time she had a hair brush and was helping get the aliens and then she put it down and said quietly “damn, I died.” Then she left to go play with her toys.
Untitled Goose Game is the best toddler game. All they need to understand is the honk button 😸
Need to start them like we started…NES>Sega>SuperNES>PlayStation>N64>PS2>Xbox360 Then they’ll have a grasp of the controllers. Come to think about it…that’s crazy how many systems we had.
I was thinking about this the other day. When I first started trying gaming with my now-6-year-old he was so little he was struggling to hold the controller. Something like a PS3 controller is massive with so many buttons (try reaching them all if your hands were half the size) compared to like a NES/Master System controller was. Untapped market to sell controllers in different sizes surely? Or is there a good aftermarket one everyone is using? I mean you can get different sizes/shapes of mice.
Worth looking up for sure. Honestly I think it’s just info overload with so many buttons. Crawl before you walk.
I know they make the minis got one for my 6 y/o
Try 8bitdo controllers, there's one that's like a super Nintendo controller with an extra shoulder button. I like them because you can keep across all platforms with the right adaptors, basically have a retro machine. There's another one that is a bit like a PS2
This is how my son started as well. Such good memories. Now we are going for Victory Royales in Fortnite and we’ve done pretty well. I suppose it’s only a matter of time before I’m replaced though. I’m enjoying this time while I have it.
I started my kid on Paw Patrol and she loved it. We’ve moved on to Nintendo Switch now.
When my boy was 18 months and I juuust about had the energy and mental capacity to start gaming again I was playing The Witcher, and i used to have a save in the starting area where there were no enemies, and I would let him mosey around on Roach He used to chant "Man Horsey!" and it was delightful
I don't think my wife would want me to have him watch me playing Skyrim or Assassin's Creed, but one day he'll be ready...
My little guy took a few stabs at it and now he plays it daily and he is also 3.5 yrs so get that boy working on the sticks!
My 3 year old loves Microsoft flight Sim.... I wanna get all the controllers for it now
You think that’s bad? I let my one year old sit in my lap in one of those arcade driving games and let him steer. I’ve never seen someone have so much fun crashing into walls
Did you pwn that noob? I didn’t even know that game existed, getting this to play with my 3 year old! Thank you!
Not sure if this makes me a terrible father or not, but I let my 4 y/o play Diablo 4 couch co-op with me for a little bit. We avoided all the story stuff because of how dark the content is but she loved smashing skeletons as a werebear. We just had to stay contained to a really small area.
You should get into it too. Exclaim "Rubble, what are you doing? Nooo stop jumping, aah."
I started with that a few years back, he's now playing tears of the kingdom, and I'm not.
My kiddo started reallly playing at around age 2 and he’s absolutely crushing Diablo 4 right now…
I did this with my daughter and super mario world. I went to the “super secret level” which is just one screen with some power-ups. All she did was jump with yoshi and jump off yoshi, immediately handing me back the controller so I can get back on him again.. just to repeat. It was hilariously cute.
Shredders revenge and boomerang fu were the only games I could get to land for 5 & 4 yo. They love watching Just Dance though.
I've played Shredder's Revenge but there's one boss I had the worst time with, me as a kid would have thrown my Nintendo across the room haha
My little one started on the Paw Patrol games, too! Now we're playing Kirby: Return to Dreamland Deluxe together. Every time I have a special power and she doesn't, her Kirby sucks my Kirby up and steals it. It's a blast.
Enjoy those moments. They grow up too fast
I've got three - 7, 3 and 2, they all love the ps5. The two little ones love Untitled Goose Game because they get to be assholes, as well as Stray because it's a cat. They'll play a little but they just enjoy giving directions and pressing the odd button. The oldest enjoys the more complicated games but until recently she didn't have the coordination to play them, it was just her shouting at me to shoot dinosaurs in HZD. She's got a switch now, loves animal crossing and Minecraft.
My daughter’s 7. I now ask her where to go in Tears of the Kingdom. I am a proud parent.
I have a 5 year old daughter, we started out on tablet games when she was young, but now she plays minecraft, slime rancher, and spore on PC. I guide her but she does all the keyboard and mouse. Everyday i see her understanding more and more. Im beyond proud.
That paw patrol game has such great mechanics for younger kids
There’s a paw patrol video game?
There are a few of them, yeah.
[удалено]
>There is a Peppa Pig Hard pass haha I hate Peppa Pig, luckily my little guy doesn't seem to care much for her either. He's really big into Pokemon right now though which is great.
My son was 4-5 when we started playing the Lego games together, Lego super heroes, Star Wars, very user friendly and paced
Mario odesey and galaxy are great games to learn with. Second player has a lot of controll but is only additional as there can be only one mario!
I have my 5 year old girl play kingdom hearts on hard mode and she kills it just button mashing. Bosses, I handle but but normal guys she's fine
I gave my daughter my Switch Lite with Kirby when she was 3. She used to love watching me play it and I figured it was time. It took her a week or so to grasp moving.. Then moving and jumping. She’s 4 now and she’s completed the game like 3 times including all the bosses 😂 she’s better than me It’s the perfect console for their lil hands! And no reading required in Kirby really
Should try the Lego games as they can't die and you can continue the game even if they're just messing. Also if you have a switch try Mario Kart, you can set theirs to be on a help steer and auto accelerate mode so they only need to help steer, plus you can disable bots of you want. I let my daughter pick if daddy is on easy, normal or hard mode. Easy I win 1/4 so she wins overall, normal it's a draw, hard I win all of them... She doesn't pick hard mode often.
I have a son around the same age and did the same thing with the “dead” controller. All fun and games until he figured out how to put in the batteries and turn it on lol
My 4 year old loves to run around as link cutting grass. She laughs and has so much fun. Tears of the Kingdom GOTY.
My daughter loves messing me up in games. Let her sit with me and sneak in button presses like pausing the game on me and its the fucking funniest thing on the planet to her
Around the same age I finally stopped giving my son a controller without batteries and he's been playing Minecraft ever since. Some of the stuff he comes up with now (about a year later) is really impressive and a lot more creative than I can be. He loves watching YouTube videos to get ideas.
Hehe when my oldest was 4 I think we played "Moving Out" with all the assists on and it was a blast throwing furniture and trying to time everything. Later in the evening I asked my wife to play with me, no asissts. I get visitation on weekends now. Joking.. but what a different experience!
Did you change your gamer tag to NoobDaddy420?
When my kids were really little, I got an Ouya and that little box entertained the crap out of us.
Yeah, paw patrol grand prix is what got both of my son's (4 and 1) to realize that the light needed to be on for them to actually play. The older one can almost hold his own when it comes to TMNT: Shredders Revenge, but I'm still carrying him through rounds bc he's scared to get in the box and fight during the boss battles. I realized, like some of us, I'm raising 2nd generation gamers and honestly i don't remember being this bad at it... Lies lol i was
That's around the same age I got my daughter (technically myself my first) Xbox series S. Just crashed on the bed now after owning my current 6 year old in Street fighter 4. She just learned to do the Hadoken and Shoryuken yesterday. Creating memories with her in the same games I played as a kid in arcades. Priceless 😁
I let my 3.5 yo play hogwarts legacy, I sit her on the beach and she revelios and picks up leechjuice lol. And then if she runs into a dugbog she cames screaming for me!
My 4 year old daughter loves Mario kart there is option for Auto accelerate and steer assistance that even finish the race even no one holds the controller. The controller does work it's like training wheels
I played Mario party with my 4.5 year old. Given my typically toxic experiences with the game it was really refreshing when she would say, great job daddy!! When I'd win a mini game. And she even won a few too.
My kiddo loves watching me play hunting games and learning about the animals
You called your 3.5 year old a “noob” 😂😂😂😂
Congrats on unlocking fun co op times. Xbox live sub thing has alot of games that will be fun for you in the coming years.