Topic: 10 hours of video game history

I recently convinced my kid to play 10 hours of "old" games, what suggestions do you have for how I should split that time up on different games. (I'm thinking mostly SNES, but I'll take suggestions)

great idea!

is it actually 10 metered hours of game time?

what games do they already like?

do they like to read? if so, what books?

movies, cartoons, same question.

about how old?

10ish , they love reading and will read anything really and they are really into Stardew valley and tears of the kingdom

yes, it is exactly 10 hours

ok, so harvest moon and link to the past both on snes are obvious choices ... but are they too "on the nose?" will this just seem like creaky dusty old versions of what they already like?

I know they hate harvest moon, but A link to the past is one that I think will work well, along with maybe Kirby superstar or yoshi's island?

Pokémon Red or Blue?

I would suggest dividing the 10 hrs into gaming decades of 2 hrs each. 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s, 20s to show the full trajectory of how gaming evolved (text adventures, simple arcade games, pixel based stuff, early 3D games and their evolution, retro styled games with modern mechanics etc.) and where the games they are playing today have their roots. For actual titles though I would have to come back to you, that might take me a while …

That’s a good idea jfp I think I’ll probably do some of that

Super Mario World is a great one for your kid to try out. I loved playing it as a kid and I still love it today. Yoshi's Island is another great one... they're two of my favorite games of all time.

Any of the Kirbys! Notably Adventure or Super Star.
They've aged very well and are very accessible I find.

Super Mario Kart and Donkey Kong Country are also good choices.

to point out the obvious, if youre an NSO subscriber, youve got 10 hours of stuff to do just there, easy. ✌️ especially in the NES, SNES, and 64 sections.

This is sweet. I'd like to say choose a series they enjoy already so there's at least some connection and it's not a total jump into the dark. If they like Zelda then ALTTP and OoT seem like great shouts. Even better if they like Mario and you can show them World, 64, etc!

Super Mario World and/or SMB3.

@Pingoinhyrule
Try Dog Island on PS2 or Wii.
It has a good narrative story for kids adventure games with puppies as the characters.

15 minutes each of:

• 1972's Pong
• 1978's Space Invaders
• 1979's Asteroids & Galaxian
• 1980's Centipede, Missile Command & Tempest
  30 minutes each of:
• 1980's Pac-Man
• 1981's Donkey Kong, Frogger, Galaga

That's about 4 hours of history fun right there, covering the biggest hits of the first decade of the golden age of arcades. They're all on Switch.

The point of early arcade games was competing for high scores, so if there are complaints of "boring", just challenge them yourself or with others for bragging rights.

After Pac-Man, you could blast the 1982 Top 10 Billboard hit song "Pac-Man Fever"
After Frogger, you could show them the 1998 "The Frogger" episode of Seinfeld, etc.