Where are all the games for kids?

[Emerald Hawk]

By the way, Kirby star allies and Kirby Fighters 2 both have free demos on the switch, as does Yoshi's Crafted world.

I actually find my kids have a lot of trouble with NES / SNES games, despite fewer buttons (as did I when I was their age, those games are tough!). Modern 1st party nintendo games have a lot of accessibility options, handholding, and less punishing death penalties. My 5 year old (just turned 6) was able to handle Mario Odyssey (assist mode on) and even New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (use Nabbit) just fine.

 

[Deleted member 35478]

Paw Patrol: On a Roll, Mario Kart 8 50cc assists on, Lego City Undercover, Donut County, Super Mario 3D World (co-op), and Yoshi's Crafted World are a few games on Switch my 5yr old likes to play. Also enjoys Wattam on PS4.

 

[GalvoAg]

They're on the Switch

 

[BassForever]

Did you beat Bugsnax?

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Yeah I'm surprised at the amount of people suggesting Bugsnax for young kids.

 

[ghostemoji]

Sackboy is a really good co-op experience. Very underlooked.

 

[Lord Azrael]

Sounds like you're just looking in the wrong places. Nintendo has tons of couch coop games for all ages

 

[Darknight]

Sounds like you're trying to find them on a PlayStation or Xbox system when you should be looking on a Nintendo system. Having gone through the same thing myself, I was quite surprised how little content was aimed at kids on both Sony and Microsoft's systems. Sure you can find a few games, but the selection is really sparse. As a result, my youngest plays pretty much only on the Switch but there's plenty of games for him to choose from. He even asked me at one point with why are there so many violent games on PlayStation.

A Nintendo Switch is your answer if you want to find a nice selection of games that are kid friendly.

 

[MoneyBee]

Wu-tang is for the children (of god)!

 

[Sprat]

As a father of two young children 5 and under, who get half an hour of gaming time every weekend, I am surprised to see that not many games exist for kids say younger than 8.

At the beginning, they amused themselves by playing through Astro's Playroom (the same cooling springs level everytime) and enjoying the feedback on the DualSense. Recently, we have been playing Disney Rush on Gamepass.

Both these games still require a good amount of dexterity with the controls to get anything done. I should probably use copilot on xbox more but that will be more difficult for us since both my kids prefer to play at the same time (split screen).

So where are the onrails games that small kids can get into without needing a lot of controller skills? Any suggestions?

Edited: It is Astro's Playroom, not Astrobot

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The paw patrol games

 

[Dannepannepuff]

Disney Rush is perfect. Also Mario Kart or coop Mario 3D World.
Viva Piñata, Luckys Tale, Spyro Trilogy and Mario Party works pretty well.
But yeah, I've been going retro for some good kids games. Especially Mega Drive and Ecco Jr and Super Pony Adventure or what ever the name of that game is. And Disney Princess on PS2.

Edit: oh yeah, Yoshis Crafted World.

 

[Zaro]

Riverbound is a good hack and slash for kids.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

Does Untitled Goose Game have co-op yet? My young kids love that silly game.

 

[DoctorPlayer MD]

Yoshi's crafted world, it's a slow paced platformer and they can play co-op.

If you wait a bit there's New Pokemon Snap, although we don't know the controls yet I assume it's a game where you just look around for pokemon and take pictures.

 

[Budi]

There are some licensed games like Paw Patrol and Trollhunters. Can't guarantee they'd be any good though. Most of the Lego games could probably work. Most kids love superheroes I'd assume.

 

[Citizencope]

I remember my nephew starting with the Lego games. Didn't really know what he was doing but had fun and would just hand me the controller if he got stuck.

 

[808s & Villainy]

Yoshi's crafted world, it's a slow paced platformer and they can play co-op.

If you wait a bit there's New Pokemon Snap, although we don't know the controls yet I assume it's a game where you just look around for pokemon and take pictures.

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I'd be VERY surprised if New Pokemon Snap become complicated enough for it to be too much for an 8 year old

 

[Typographenia]

Some of the titles from Amanita Design like Chuchel or Botanicula could possibly work? There are some creepy looking critters from time to time, but it is generally a game where you can tap or click on things to make something happen. No spoken dialogue from what I can recall. A bunch of emoting and silliness.

Games from Amanita Design

Amanita Design, Happy Game, Pilgrims, Creaks, Chuchel, Botanicula, Machinarium, Samorost 3, Samorost 2, Samorost

amanita-design.net

It seems like more and more the phone/tablet is the place for games that younger crowds can have access to, though.

 

[Scruffy8642]

I guess you probably know best, but I would say don't underestimate what your kids are capable of playing. I was absolutely playing PlayStation 1 platformers comfortably when I was five, and games were way more archaic back then. Their dexterity will probably skyrocket when they find something they really like.

3D platformers are definitely the best genre I'd say as they tend to be quite forgiving compared to 2D outside of Kirby and Yoshi, and they don't require strong mastery of the analogue sticks. Stuff like Sackboy, Spyro Reignited and Mario 3D World (Probably easier than Odyssey due to fixed camera and simpler controls) I can imagine going down well. Also Pokemon goes down a treat with super young kids. Quite easy to play even without knowing how to read, and they'll learn a ton!

 

[twentytwo22]

My 7 and 4 year old daughters love Super Mario 3D World, Mario Maker 2, and Mario Kart. My 7 year old as an avid reader also loves Pokemon and Animal Crossing a ton. Switch is definitely where it is at for the kiddos, although as the OP already mentioned, they both LOVED LOVED LOVED Astro's Playroom.

 

[gifyku]

By the way, Kirby star allies and Kirby Fighters 2 both have free demos on the switch, as does Yoshi's Crafted world.

I actually find my kids have a lot of trouble with NES / SNES games, despite fewer buttons (as did I when I was their age, those games are tough!). Modern 1st party nintendo games have a lot of accessibility options, handholding, and less punishing death penalties. My 5 year old (just turned 6) was able to handle Mario Odyssey (assist mode on) and even New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (use Nabbit) just fine.

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Yes i find the older gen games while simpler mechanically (left right scrolling) are less forgiving on the timing and that can be frustrating for kids

 

[NattyBo]

8 year olds aren't beating Sonic Mania lol

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Who said anything about beating it?

I used to have tons of fun with games I had no idea what I was doing at that age. My kid is 12 now but I clearly remember him having fun with a lot of sonic games at 5 and 6. When he got bored or frustrated he just moved on. The beauty of being a kid

 

[OmegaDL50]

Some of the Lego games would be decent suggestions I guess.

Lego Worlds is a great take on the Minecraft formula but everything is Lego and even the adventure and sandbox modes have no overly harsh difficulty, unlike say the Survival Mode aspect for Minecraft. You can just walk around and explore the various environments and the biomes are very varied enough it's actually nice the amount of detail that went into them.

Also Lego Marvel Super Heroes is very dense and content filed open world game with dozens of Marvel characters from Spider-Man, The Fantastic 4, Hulk, the X-Men, Iron Man, etc. The first game was actually a launch PS4 title for me. As far as I'm aware I know the first game follows the Cinematic Universe so there are references to the films if your Kids saw any of them.

 

[Deleted member 45130]

I picked up Super Mario 3D World with my daughter in mind. I was probably a bit enthusiastic thinking that a 3 year old could play it but even I'm having some trouble with the game!

 

[Kingpin Rogers]

Bugsnax!!! Minecraft. There are tons of games for kids. Mario Kart, Mario Party, just goofing off in Smash, Roblox, 2D Mario games, Sonic Mania..

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Bugsnax seems a bit heavy for kids, no?

 

[Magog]

Get them the new Intellivision when that comes out. I played those games when I was 5 just fine.

 

[teenaxta]

Dark Souls. Teach your kids that the world is a tough place early.

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you sir have my respect

 

[NattyBo]

Bugsnax seems a bit heavy for kids, no?

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I played like 20 min of bugsnax but based on the replies here, shit must get WEIRD, so I take back that recommendation

 

[StrangeRoboMemory]

The recent Yoshi games are good for kids, they are only hard if you want to 100% everything.

 

[Efejota]

They announced DC Super Hero Girls the other day on the direct and a bunch of people complained that it was even there.
I wish we got more license games like this since you always found some hidden gems.

Decades ago platformers were the children genre by default, but nowadays they catter more to expert players that'd like something hard like on the NES days but with more checkpoints. (See Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair)

Who said anything about beating it?

I used to have tons of fun with games I had no idea what I was doing at that age. My kid is 12 now but I clearly remember him having fun with a lot of sonic games at 5 and 6. When he got bored or frustrated he just moved on. The beauty of being a kid

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This is a nice take too. I had a lot of fun with my NES and Game Boy games despite not being able to beat any of them until my teen days. I remember it felt very special to reach a new stage after many tries.

 

[World B. SkiFree]

As other have said, mobile normally has more options for that age range.

Was also going to chime in on LEGO games. Sometimes, kids have a lot of fun just roaming around the city (or whatever open world) in LEGO games. May require you to make sure they are on the actual open world part of the game via save.

 

[bounchfx]

there are a lot of great suggestions here, but I must say I'm a little surprised at people shitting on younger kids as being incapable of playing games like sonic, lmao. obviously can't speak for everyone but I was playing NES and SNES at 5-6 years old beating games like super mario world, sonic 1-2, and other platformers that aren't exactly cake walks in some spots, and even holding my own with stuff like super ghouls and ghosts. sure not all kids (just like, you know, adult people) are going to be great but this is the perfect age to introduce them to games that have at least a little challenge and stretch their ability. the kirby and yoshi games suggested are also great options, as is stuff like donkey kong or hell, why not just sub to switch online for a few bucks and get all those SNES games?

the bugsnax suggestion made me laugh. it's an amazing game, but if I played that as a kid it would have probably fucked me up a little lmao

 

[Darknight]

As other have said, mobile normally has more options for that age range.

Click to shrink...

My problem with mobile is the way a lot of games are structured, it seems awfully predatory whether it be from micro transactions or just the flood of ads that get puts in their face as well as how they promote getting other games. I really hate how mobile gaming is presented towards kids compared to console gaming which is why I would rather my kids play that than on a mobile device.

 

[Mik2121]

My daughter (5 years old) has finished Yoshi's Crafted World almost all by herself, only asking for my help during the boss stages since they scare here a little bit. She has played with the assist mode both on and off, and either way she was able to enjoy it a lot.
She also plays a lot of Mario Odyssey on the peach castle stage mainly since there are no enemies, but she's also been able to get a few moons here and there in some of the other stages.

Other than that, Mario Maker 2 (I make stages for her), Mario Kart 8 with assist mode, and a few others are her favorite titles. Oh, and also Animal Crossing. We have played that a lot this last year. Also she plays a lot of Sonic Mania. She enjoys the game a lot, and she likes Sonic a bunch, which I imagine is fairly uncommon these days. She likes the old design better, though (which makes sense since it's the superior one).

On PS4, the only title she's ever touched was Assassins Creed Odyssey on tour mode climbing around Ancient Greece!

 

[werezompire]

Here are some of my twins (boy & girl, turning 7 soon) favorite games:

Super Mario Odyssey
Mario Kart 8
Kirby Star Allies
Animal Crossing
Luigi's Mansion 3 (actually completed this one, although I helped in co-op for some of the harder stuff)
Little Dragon Cafe
My Sims
Plants vs Zombies (the original)
Peggle
Mario Maker 1/2
Ring Fit Adventure

 

[World B. SkiFree]

My problem with mobile is the way a lot of games are structured, it seems awfully predatory whether it be from micro transactions or just the flood of ads that get puts in their face as well as how they promote getting other games. I really hate how mobile gaming is presented towards kids compared to console gaming which is why I would rather my kids play that than on a mobile device.

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That's a good point. My boys had kid Kindles or whatever they are called and many of the game/apps were self-contained or "offline" so to speak. I realize those type of options are few and far between these days.

We actually still have those Kindles; mostly just used for Netflix now.

 

[BringBackSonics]

As a father of two young children 5 and under, who get half an hour of gaming time every weekend, I am surprised to see that not many games exist for kids say younger than 8.

At the beginning, they amused themselves by playing through Astro's Playroom (the same cooling springs level everytime) and enjoying the feedback on the DualSense. Recently, we have been playing Disney Rush on Gamepass.

Both these games still require a good amount of dexterity with the controls to get anything done. I should probably use copilot on xbox more but that will be more difficult for us since both my kids prefer to play at the same time (split screen).

So where are the onrails games that small kids can get into without needing a lot of controller skills? Any suggestions?

Edited: It is Astro's Playroom, not Astrobot

Click to shrink...

A lot of those classic lego games are great..especially as Co-op. Minecraft is also great. And Animal CRossing.

 

[Hazz3r]

When I was 5 was playing Rayman, Spyro, Crash Bandicoot. So pick up some 3D and 2D platformers.

The Spyro remasters for instance. And those Lego games are incredibly fun. Well worth a purchase.

 

[Darknight]

That's a good point. My boys had kid Kindles or whatever they are called and many of the game/apps were self-contained or "offline" so to speak. I realize those type of options are few and far between these days.

We actually still have those Kindles; mostly just used for Netflix now.

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My kids were really good about not using their iPads too often which my guess is pretty abnormal for kids their age. Most of their usage usually came from going on trips rather than daily usage around the house. All that changed once the pandemic hit and they started using their devices more as it was their gateway to the outside. Don't get me started on how they went from no social media or communication with them and now it's something that they had to pick up because of what's going on. That was something I thought I had at least a few more years before going down that path. So ya, once all this happened, I started seeing more of how those mobile games work, especially with the ads.

Their iPads are setup so they have to get approval to download any app, and they were constantly asking for approval. At first, I would just look over it to make sure it seemed okay on the surface but as they kept coming back for new games, that's when I learned how the ads were being constantly shoved in their face and that's why they kept asking for new games. It certainly was an eye opener. Now admittingly, I was a bit ignorant on all this prior, but I was kinda surprised how predatory it felt since it was on an Apple device and I was more under the impression that things were a bit safer than this because of Apple. Certainly, consumer privacy isn't exactly the same thing, but still I just had this impression that Apple would be a bit more protective on the predatory methods.

Lesson learned, and fortunately they've been pulling away from it more now that they've both found Minecraft and will play that on the Switch. I'm certainly more comfortable with them playing on a console without having to worry about what's popping up when I'm not looking.

 

[gifyku]

Lesson learned, and fortunately they've been pulling away from it more now that they've both found Minecraft and will play that on the Switch. I'm certainly more comfortable with them playing on a console without having to worry about what's popping up when I'm not looking.

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I prefer consoles for this same reason. Their ipad usage is restricted to reading sesame street books on the Books app plus whatever school apps they need.

Thanks everyone. The upshot of all your suggestions is that I should use my switch more which i will! It would be great if Nintendo rereleased some of the Wii Sports titles again

 

[vixolus]

They are watching me play 3d world now. lol. I do play clubhouse games with them; the slot machines ones which they enjoy.

I think something on rails where camera is taken care of and movement is mostly taken care of would be the sweet spot.

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Super Lucky's Tale (not New Super Lucky's Tale) has a fixed camera (that can pivot left and right) and is relatively easy. Enemies die in one hit, and there's some challenging parts perhaps for very inexperienced kids, but nothing impossible that you couldn't jump in and help out.

Both are on Xbox Game Pass and you can co-pilot like you said. NSLT has a fully 3D camera like Mario, but the original is more "on rails" even in the 3D levels.

 

[Whipwhopper]

If you have the switch you can always introduce them to the old NES games on NSO. I started off with duckhunt and SMB1 and all of those when I was a little kid, so they shouldn't be anything too difficult.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

99.9% of the games on switch are for kids?

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1. not even remotely close
2. read the OP

 

[Deleted member 2180]

maybe Just Dance? There is a kids section and you don't need a lot of dexterity (in the sense of holding and learning a controller), I might be wrong on this definition though lol

 

[Hieroph]

As a father of two young children 5 and under, who get half an hour of gaming time every weekend, I am surprised to see that not many games exist for kids say younger than 8.

At the beginning, they amused themselves by playing through Astro's Playroom (the same cooling springs level everytime) and enjoying the feedback on the DualSense. Recently, we have been playing Disney Rush on Gamepass.

Both these games still require a good amount of dexterity with the controls to get anything done. I should probably use copilot on xbox more but that will be more difficult for us since both my kids prefer to play at the same time (split screen).

So where are the onrails games that small kids can get into without needing a lot of controller skills? Any suggestions?

Edited: It is Astro's Playroom, not Astrobot

Click to shrink...

Sackboy's Big Adventure does this well I think. Going through the main storyline is really forgiving, but getting all the extra stuff and challenges is there to not make the game a total pushover. Has local co-op too.

 

[RowdyReverb]

As a father of two young children 5 and under, who get half an hour of gaming time every weekend, I am surprised to see that not many games exist for kids say younger than 8.

At the beginning, they amused themselves by playing through Astro's Playroom (the same cooling springs level everytime) and enjoying the feedback on the DualSense. Recently, we have been playing Disney Rush on Gamepass.

Both these games still require a good amount of dexterity with the controls to get anything done. I should probably use copilot on xbox more but that will be more difficult for us since both my kids prefer to play at the same time (split screen).

So where are the onrails games that small kids can get into without needing a lot of controller skills? Any suggestions?

Edited: It is Astro's Playroom, not Astrobot

Click to shrink...

My 5 year old daughter adores Animal Crossing New Horizons. I have to do the reading/selling/crafting for her, but she knows how to pick up seashells, catch bugs, and most importantly- buy new outfits.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 50cc and turn on all the kid friendly options

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This is also a great option. With the assist options, they can really play at any speed and have a good time

 

[Meriadock]

I started playing games with my dad on PC when I was 2. He had just bought his first computer and I was always sitting in his lap while he played DOS games. When I was 4 years old (I'm 30 now) I played DOOM and Wolfenstein 3D on my own and loved it. Not to say you should play these games with your kids (obviously not, lol), but playing games (and being good at them) isn't something that's necessarily tied to age. Just let them play games they enjoy and they'll grow to get better at those games. I'd say 2D games like Super Mario Bros. might be easier to get into than the 3D stuff, but overall most Nintendo games are fine for little kids.

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Dude ahahha that's EXACTLY my story. 30 years old, but it was my mom, not my dad. We used to play Doom, Prince of Persia... Good times.

Last game she completed was Zelda Ocarina of Time (with my help) when I was twelve.. Good times...

 

[The Albatross]

Super Lucky's Tale can be played by kids at least most of the early levels. I'm "playing" it with my toddler, where basically she sits with me and says "NINJA CAT" or something and watches as I play, laughing whenever Lucky goes underground (So I go underground a lot). I'm only so far, maybe ~60mins, it's very easy and so I imagine a 5-8 year old might like it. If you're trying to master the level and all of the secrets there might be some nascent challenge but right now the core game is very easy as far as I can tell.

But yeah not a ton of games for young'ins/

99.9% of the games on switch are for kids?

Click to shrink...

lol, no.

 

[The Albatross]

My problem with mobile is the way a lot of games are structured, it seems awfully predatory whether it be from micro transactions or just the flood of ads that get puts in their face as well as how they promote getting other games. I really hate how mobile gaming is presented towards kids compared to console gaming which is why I would rather my kids play that than on a mobile device.

Click to shrink...

Same.

We have a kids Kindle tablet, and some of the content is good... there's a mickey drawing games/activity book, and some others that we like. But.... next to the mickey puzzle drawing activity book is also something that *looks* kinda similar to it, and so an unsuspecting kid taps on it, and then it's just complete utter junk packed with shit.

The barrier of entry in mobile is low, but like for every 1 or 2 good mobile games that kids like, there's 10,000 that are predatory ripoffs and no child can tell the difference. It's just not like how it was when I Was growing up that my parents could send me into the video rental store, trust that y'know, there's good games and bad guys but for the most part, they'd be spending $2 for 2 days and I'd get a game that would probably keep my interest for 48 hours, bad or good.

 

[DanteAlighieri]

Get Immortals for them, it's great to learn about Greek mythology as well. There are some more adult jokes, but in the vein of many cartoons aimed mainly at children.

 

[arcadepc]

My 4 year old nephew loves to use a racing wheel for Euro/USA track simulator and also loved Sonic Racing Transformed on gamepad and Ridge Racer Unbound and Distance. With a few minutes vreaks as they are quite addicting.



Though I had to help him by pressing the pedals and shifting gears while he used the wheel.

But when I let him play Beware with lights off, he was scared and wanted lights on and ended up not liking the game

But I'd suggest countless educational computer games instead or virtual learning environments