Topic: My almost 3 year old doesn't share my taste in games -recommendations?

I'm mostly into RPGs, have been forever. And while my almost 3 year old finds some joy in roaming very low level dungeons with highlevel characters and hitting the a button frantically until everybody is dead, I'm thinking I should give him something more suited his abilities to play.

Most kids games, as far as I can see, look like crap and from what I have seen several of them seem to be at least partially broken. And as I or his father will have to play with him we would like him to play something of quality (for our own mental health sake). He has had great fun playing the minigames from new super mario bros on my old ds, he loves mario and luigi, and he plays mariokart on the wii, so I guess new super mario 2 would be an obvious choice, but does anyone have other recommendations?

He also likes the demo for lego chima - but the newer lego games have gotten some lukewarm reviews. so...

anyone? any good ides?

I'm grateful for input. Obviously I would like to raise a gamer with good taste

You're giving a two year old RPGs games to play?
He probably doesn't understand them, and how they work.
Seriously, wait until his reading improves.

You said he liked the demo for the LEGO Chima game right?
You should get it, it's actually pretty good.
Also, LEGO Marvel Superheros got an 9/10 on Nintendolife, so you might want to look into that.

Pocket Monster. Seriously. Pokemon is the best thing to start him off with, and is playable by any age level, and is enjoyable even to adults.

Not to be "that guy," but I recommend that you have your toddler play with age-appropriate toys, eg, not a video game.

Thank you for the recommendations. Pokemon sounds like a very good idea, and I'll see if I find Lego Chima on sale somewhere. I'm still happy to get more ideas

I do feel the need to clear up a few things though:
Of course I don't think a 3 year old can understand RPGs, and I'm not trying to make him play them, but there are times when he sees me play and wants to try, that is when I let him roam around low level dungeouns in colorful games (JRPGs with friendly looking monsters and such) and make the monsters go away by repeatedly pressing the a button. So there is little understanding, but he finds it fun for about 10 minutes

And while I do allow my child to play games on both the ds and the ipad it is not a big part of his play. He is very vell stimulated by both age-appropriate toys and activities. I do believe that some game playing has no detrimental effect on him, and I no doubt prefer interative screentime to passive tv watching.
I know this is a big debate, and there are many different views on how to regulate games for young kids. But my own feeling is that a little time spent on playing with technology is both an opportunity for learning and not a danger to a childs developement.

Have you ever thought that maybe he isn't into the same types of games that you are because he's practically 3? Of course he's not into RPGs yet, I know I wasn't at his age. I mainly played Game & Watch Gallery 2 at his age. Anyways, give him a bit of time to develop, and maybe one day he will come to love RPGs like you do. In the mean time, give him a game with lots of free roaming, like Lego City Undercover, or a party game like Mario Party 8/9/DS or the upcoming Island Tour.

I honestly think a 3 year old child is too young to play videogames, let alone RPGs. I started at 5 with Super Mario Bros. I think Mario is a good starting point for everyone, but at this age Fisher-Price and similar toys are the best for them.

I agree. I love video games and all, but as he's not even 3, maybe let him develop his motor and speech skills a bit more. Take him out to play, maybe get him working on learning a second language if you have any of that in your family background (I could kick my mother for not pushing me into Spanish when I was younger, since we're a Mexican family and all of my cousins started at around 3-4, and they all speak it rather well, I speak Japanese and am learning Chinese, but that's taking me a long time). Or I dunno, maybe get him started on something musical.

In my opinion, since he's at an age where he's going to be soaking in a lot of new information and things mental and physical are all so new to him, and what he's exposed to will most likely have a big impact on what his later skills are, worrying about him not having a certain type of video game interest seems really silly.

To be honest when I first got into gaming I was about 7 (GBC). I really enjoyed platformers because they were easy to get into, but I also loved the one Dragon Quest RPG I played. Granted, I had no idea what I was doing and couldnt get past the first town, but I loved it none the less. For a three year old I think RPG's are pushing it. At the end of the day if your child ends up not liking RPG's, its not the end of the world.

I played flight sims at a year old, so try those

At 3 year old, I didn't want anything to do with an RPG, let alone any type of video game like it.
Pushing someone to play video games will most likely make them dislike'em, then letting them ease into it.
I think there better things to push on a child, then making him a social shut-in at a young age because video games are a treat, not a skill.

Ok...

I was trying to be humorous in my subjectheading and comment about wantingmy child to like quality games - obviously I failed.
As I tried to make clear in my second post, gaming is not a big part of my childs play, but I do let him play some, and I don't believe that to be a problem. I appeciate your concern for my kids upbringing, but I can assure you that he is exposed to a lot of different influences and activities, both culturally, physically and so forth.

That being said, i'm not unwilling to go into a debate on whether or not it's ok for young kids to responsibly play videogames, educational games or pure entertainmentgames. But I was not expecting one to start here, this not being a parentingforum

I knew you were joking, though I gotta admit, this lead to some interesting discussion.

There's nothing wrong with a good 3d platformer. Something like Mario 64, galaxy games or the upcoming 3d world can work.

Wii sports? I've seen kids go nuts with those games same with the dance games.

I've been desperately trying to sway my brother to have a good taste in games his whole life (from about when he was 2 - now he's 9). I'd warn you, it doesn't always work. He has horrible taste in games despite all my best efforts. I've basically had to wave the white flag with regards to convincing him to ever play a Zelda game ever again. He's getting a 3DS for Christmas that I know he won't play enough because instead he'll be playing whatever PC trash all his favourite Youtubers happen to be playing at the time.

What I'm saying beneath all this bitterness is that you can try and give your son good taste, but don't be too upset if he rebels against it! And in answer to your question, Pokémon. A great entry level RPG that is as simple or complex as you want it to be.

Don't see the problem with small children playing video games, as long as you do other stuff with them as well. I've been playing video games since I was 3.

Think about the games that got you into gaming. I don't know how old you are or how long you have been gaming but platformers, like Super Mario Bros. are normally a good choice, easy learning curve with plenty of exploration and difficulty spikes. I wouldn't worry too much about him/her playing bad games as he/she is still exploring what video games are. Back when I was young I didn't need lots of new games, Just a couple I play over and over again. That is my advice.

Recommendations? Don't give him video games to play and do something else...

pretty much this. if they're happy playing what they've got, they're happy.

if you're trying to choose a christmas present or something and not just trying to find something new for them right now, though, if the kid is showing interest in the Lego Chima game, why not go with that? it's just like cowboy boots with a princess costume or pretending the couch is a safe zone and the floor is lava, sometimes a little kid is going to enjoy simpler things that an adult would find silly or not worth their time. a three-year-old is a bit too young to be forced into the idea of 'good taste', and lord knows we all grew up playing the crap along with the awesome and turned out just fine, so as long as the reviews aren't showing it to be glitchy or broken somehow, i'd suggest giving it a chance.