I've recently let the kids try video games for the first time - only short periods and 1-2 times a week, cause I don't want them to have a lot of screen time.
I gave them Mario Wonder, one of them (3 years old) quite likes it and already got the hang of running and jumping somewhat. 3D World was evidently too hard because navigating in 3D. And Mario Kart World completely overwhelmed them, they didn't even know what they were looking at.
Oh and they both didn't like Bowser at all, the intro of Wonder scared them to the point that they wouldn't approach a pipe anymore.
So generally my impression was:
they love Mario characters (they already did)
a game needs to be clear and rather calm at that age
the rating alone doesn't say much about how well suited a game is, Kart for example is rated "0" / "E" and still wayyy to much for young kids. Not inappropriate, but stressful and unintelligible.
Do you have any thoughts on this? I thought of "Epic Yarn", sadly that's only on Wii...
@NintendoWife I don't know how much of a kid's ability to navigate a 3d game is part of natural development stages, which kids can vary. My nieces didn't seem to start grasping navigating a 3d game until they were six years old. I've heard of other kids doing ok by five years old, but I don't know what average is for being able to navigate a 3d game environment.
As far as finding a game that's simple and intuitive for a young kid, a game I got that worked was, Spot the Differences Party!. I think that may be the the best spot the difference picture/game. It has more pictures & differences to find than other similar games on eshop and it's only $5. https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/spot-the-differenc...
Otherwise, I too struggled to find games the kids could grasp when they were young.
Are you aware that Mario Kart World and Mario Kart 8 have steering and accelleration assists that help younger kids stay on the track & participate? Disregard if you already know about the assists. On the kart selection page, if you press X, it will open settings to turn on/off assists for steering, accelleration, and auto-use-item (weapon). You can also turn the assists on/off from the pause menu during a race.
When my nieces did start grasping 3d game navigation, Mario Odyssey was their favorite. They could do a good deal in the game, but I still had to play the boss battles.
@WoomyNNYes
Yeah, I'm familiar with the assists in Mario Kart, but I could just tell that that game was not good visual input for them. At 3 they can't process the chaos and speed.
Generally it's not that I want them to play videogames no matter what. Quite the contrary, they should mostly play with toys and books and materials and friends anyway. But they love the Mario characters already and our boy in particular kept asking about the games once I showed them.
Thanks for the hint with "Spot the Differences", I'll check it out!
@NintendoWife The thing to remember is that generally kids have no taste 😂 from my experience they'll generally play for ages on stuff with familiar characters or simple controls even if the games themselves are terrible! My own kids wanted to play some truly awful games back when they were starting out - my daughter spent hours playing Hannah Montana and other Disney-channel based games on the DS. My nephew played the Paw Patrol games on Switch a fair bit when he was younger, along with some Lego games and Switch Sports.
If you have Switch Online then maybe try some of the NES or SNES 2D Mario or Kirby games which have fairly simple controls and aren't too difficult.
@NintendoWife Would a game like Suika Game work? It's a puzzle game but fundamentally you just drop fruit on similar fruit and hope they merge. And the music is pretty catchy.
@dmcc0 True That's why I (like any gaming parent) would like to curate their exposure. The old Mario games are great in that they are more straightforward, but at the same time, likely too punishing. Wonder is pretty good with its more modern difficulty ramp and invincible character choices (looking forward to the update in march, when any character can be made invincible and falling down pits can be disabled). Wonder is chaotic and multilayered though, compared to the old ones.
The thing is, at 3 they are really young. Coordinating two button presses is already tricky.
@NintendoWife Yoshi's Crafted World immediately comes to mind. I haven't played it so don't have first hand experience but the levels are seemingly easy (by series standards) along with there being a 'Mellow Mode' in and of itself.
Bowser Jr. was deployed for this game with his father nowhere in sight so hopefully he makes for a villain that's more cute than scary in the eyes of a 3 year old!
@NintendoWife
Oh, you can also introduce your 3 years old kids with simple and easy board games if you don't want they got too much video games exposure.
Maybe something easy like Snake & Ladder but all the playable characters are Mario characters, Tic Tac Toe, simple Battle card with custom design characters they like, etc.
@NintendoWife
Oh, you can also introduce your 3 years old kids with simple and easy board games if you don't want they got too much video games exposure.
Maybe something easy like Snake & Ladder but all the playable characters are Mario characters, Tic Tac Toe, simple Battle card with custom design characters they like, etc.
I did just that, they got a Mario themed version of Hasbro’s classic “Guess Who?” for Christmas and love it
Forums
Topic: Games that are well-suited for 3 year olds
Posts 1 to 11 of 11
Please login or sign up to reply to this topic