Help: Games for my 6 year old daughter

Boseafus

Boseafus

CAG Veteran
So my daughter is addicted to my sons DS (who's 8) and loves playing Mario Kart. I picked up Nintendogs for her the other day and while she likes it, She has a hard time reading the text on this game (and frankly any other game).

Are there any games for the DS or GBA that are really simple, aimed for a young girl. For example, she LOVES playing games on the internet like a barbie game where you dress her up or simple adventure type games. Any thoughts?

I noticed a few out there but they seemed to be aimed for a 8-10 year old.

Thanks a ton.
 
Yeah, just looking at games that came out the past few months, there's also these games I have never otherwise heard anything about, thus they must be for kids and/or girls:

Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses
Princess Natasha
That's So Raven Psychic on the Scene
Nicktoons Battle for Volcano Island
American Dragon Jake Long - Attack of the Dark Dragon
Spongebob Squarepants - Creature from the Krusty Krab
Flushed Away
Crash Boom Bang
Scooby-Doo! Who's Watching Who
Alex Rider - Stormbreaker
Hannah Montana
The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventure
Rainbow Islands Revolution
Bratz - Forever Diamondz
Danny Phantom - Urban Jungle
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody - Tipton Trouble
 
Well, I have a 9 year-old girl, a 6 3/4 year-old boy, and a nearly 4 year-old boy. I don't let the nearly 4 year-old touch the DS. He plays the GBA - mostly Super Mario Bros 3, WarioWare, WarioWare Twisted, and DK Country 2.

My 6 year-old gets the most use out of the DS - he plays Super Princess Peach, NSMB, Yoshi Touch And Go, Clubhouse Games (he sticks mostly to Ludo, which is like Sorry, the Battleship clone, and the balance game, none of which require reading).

Super Princess Peach is a good platformer for children - the main levels are fairly easy (though my son couldn't do the boss fights). NSMB is a little too complex for most little kids, though my son was able to get a few coins that I had missed :D.

He also likes Animal Crossing (as does my 9 year-old girl). But that requires more reading of course (though not if you just go chop down all the trees like my son did one day :roll:).

The older Spongebob game has pretty damn good graphics for the DS and that might be a good choice (the Yellow Avenger one). I picked it up when it was $8.96 at CC this summer (should still be that price there and you might still even find it). My son played it a bit, but then went back to the AAA titles he prefers (Princess Peach, Mario, etc).

Most of the games designed for little kids just aren't that good - and they still often require too much reading for their target audience. Sometimes I just don't get game makers :lol:.
 
Please don't feed the stereotype and give her crappy "girl games." It's bad enough that Gamestop is trying to act like they know what they're doing when they put up these displays, please don't prove them right:

Games4Girls.jpg


Go grab Yoshi's Island 2, Kirby Canvas Curse, New Super Mario Bros., heck maybe even Brain Age.
 
[quote name='redgopher']Please don't feed the stereotype and give her crappy "girl games." It's bad enough that Gamestop is trying to act like they know what they're doing when they put up these displays, please don't prove them right:


Go grab Yoshi's Island 2, Kirby Canvas Curse, New Super Mario Bros., heck maybe even Brain Age.[/QUOTE]

Yes, this was sort of my point above too - no need to go down the "Bratz" route - just pick some of the better classic games. I would not suggest Yoshi's Island 2, though, as Roufuss, for example, is all excited that it is a hard-core difficult platformer game like the original. Not good for young kids, at first anyway. Start her off with Super Princess Peach. And I'm not picking that because it is a "girls" game - I played through the whole thing myself, and my 6 year-old son likes it too. I agree with NSMB, but probably not Brain Age if you want to avoid too much reading. I just don't think little kids will be that into it. Maybe give that to her when she's 8 or 9. Kirby Canvas Curse is a good one too. But don't overlook Yoshi Touch and Go - it is a perfect small-scale game for kids that introduces the touch screen aspect without being too difficult.

If you want more of a kids game, go with Spongebob Yellow Avenger as I suggested above - it has great 3D graphics for a DS game and had gotten positive reviews.

I suggest using metacritic for a good overview of game quality. Then you can delve into reviews to see if the games are really good for kids or not:

http://www.metacritic.com/games/ds/alpha/

You'll find that most of the kids fare is pretty abysmal. Spongebob Yellow Avenger has a 67/100 average though - not great, but on par with things like Magical Starsign, Children of Mana, True Swing Golf, Cooking Mama, etc. Kind of the second tier of DS games.

Looking at the "top" games, of course there is Mario Kart which you said she plays already, then NSMB and Kirby Canvas Curse. Then the second tier ones I mentioned above.
 
My 4-year-old daughter loves Cooking Mama (which unfortunately stopped being recognized by our DSLs, I have to call Nintendo today). I taught her to play it in practice mode, so if there's a section she really likes she can play it again. I also recommned Finding Nemo:Escape from the Big Blue, a great collection of mini-games. Electroplankton is also fun for someone who enjoys music.
 
[quote name='adamsappel']My 4-year-old daughter loves Cooking Mama (which unfortunately stopped being recognized by our DSLs, I have to call Nintendo today). [/quote]that's usually just a problem with the contacts on the cart. you can clean it with rubbing alcohol.
 
[quote name='io']

Most of the games designed for little kids just aren't that good - and they still often require too much reading for their target audience. Sometimes I just don't get game makers :lol:.[/QUOTE]

That reminds of me of when I bought a Rugrats game for Gameboy Color for my sister. It was bad enough that it didn't use battery save so it had to use passwords but the password was somewhere around 15 digits and was letters, numbers, and symbols. To make it worse, the password system was glitchy and sometimes wouldn't accept the password you entered. A game designed for kids should not be that complicated to save and resume a game. Apparently THQ didn't learn their lesson either because most of their Nickelodeon GBA games that came out in 2001 all had password save and then GT Advance which I stupidly bought for myself had a 16 digit password as well. That was my last THQ purchase until they started using battery saves.
 
[quote name='YoshiFan1']That reminds of me of when I bought a Rugrats game for Gameboy Color for my sister. It was bad enough that it didn't use battery save so it had to use passwords but the password was somewhere around 15 digits and was letters, numbers, and symbols. To make it worse, the password system was glitchy and sometimes wouldn't accept the password you entered. A game designed for kids should not be that complicated to save and resume a game. Apparently THQ didn't learn their lesson either because most of their Nickelodeon GBA games that came out in 2001 all had password save and then GT Advance which I stupidly bought for myself had a 16 digit password as well. That was my last THQ purchase until they started using battery saves.[/QUOTE]

Exactly - there was a Dora game that my then 2 1/2 year-old loved. But it had a password save with all the wacky symbols. There was no way he could handle that, and I didn't even want to bother. And this was a relatively recent GBA game! There's no excuse for that. Luckily I was able to trade it in to Gamerush for about 3 times what I paid for it :D.

That's one of the ones I was thinking of in my rant about game makers and kids games - the gameplay was good for him at 2 or 3. Yet, even now that he's almost 4 he STILL wouldn't be able to handle the password save (he can barely handle normal saves and is always erasing them and starting over) but has now moved past the gameplay and Dora theme (ie, he's too old for that now).
 
Heres my suggestions:

Super Princess Peach - a very fun platformer.
Mario 64 - a classic 3d platformer with some nifty mini games she will likely love to play
Metroid Pinball - no reading required really and very addictive
Spyro A New Beginning - my mom even loves this game
Tetris DS - am surprised no one has mentioned this!
 
[quote name='banpeikun']that's usually just a problem with the contacts on the cart. you can clean it with rubbing alcohol.[/QUOTE]

That worked! Thanks so much.
 
[quote name='banpeikun']dude, she's SIX.[/QUOTE]

Yes? So what if she is six? I was playing Tetris when I was that age, and Zelda, Rygar, Solomons Key and a million other games. Tetris is one of the easier games to pick up and learn. My 66 yr old dad can't play squat for games and has no coordination but plays Tetris. I think she can handle it. And its a classic to boot.

Here's another suggestion: Frogger Toy Trials
The game is really fun and not too difficult. Keeps true to the Frogger gameplay but is really super cutesy.

Please stay away from the Bubble Bobble remake though, its butt ugly and broken beyond repair (there is a room you get to that you are just stuck there. They forgot to program in the boss so its an empty room with no way to progress). That was one of my favs when I was little. :D A shame they uglied it up and made it unplayable.
 
My little 6 year old sister plays everything from Space Channel 5 (her favorite game) to Sonic Adventure to Xenosaga.
Click to expand...

Most adults I know can't even play Xenosaga, so that's pretty amazing.

Yes? So what if she is six? I was playing Tetris when I was that age, and Zelda, Rygar, Solomons Key and a million other games. Tetris is one of the easier games to pick up and learn.
Click to expand...

I agree. Puzzle games have many levels of difficulty. If kindergarten kids can understand how tangrams work, they can play Tetris. She might not become a world champion at her age, but it's a good alternative to the games that underestimate children. Bobby Fisher!

While I don't think Tetris DS is as good as Tengen Tetris or the NES Nintendo Tetris, it's still pretty fun.

Try Magnetica, it's one of my favorite DS puzzle games, and they're also releasing a Disney version of Meteos, which is good if she likes Disney stuff and puzzle games.

A lot of people recommend Super Peach Princess, and while the game design is good and the production values decent, the female stereotypes in that game might not be the best role model for a little girl.
 
[quote name='kittycatgirl2k']Yes? So what if she is six? I was playing Tetris when I was that age, and Zelda, Rygar, Solomons Key and a million other games. [/quote]Uh, maybe eight. But whatever you say.
 
WOW!!!
I come back to the boards expected a reply or two but you peeps really took the time to give some great, thoughout suggestions. Thanks a ton (you will be saving me $).
I have read a ton of reviews online but honestly, those reviews are from pro-reviewers that are writing the review from their perspective...not that of a child.
Anyway, thanks again. I have a great list started for Christmas.


 
My god some of these suggestions...the girl is six years old.

Wow.

Electroplankton is probably too challenging for her (not to sell her short...but 6 is very young and a hard age to buy for), much less Mario 64.

I would say that your best bet is to buy GBA games (more variety, more games for her age range) until shes a year or two older, or some easier games come out.
 
[quote name='Arkay Firestar']
Electroplankton is probably too challenging for her (not to sell her short...but 6 is very young and a hard age to buy for), much less Mario 64.
[/QUOTE]

One of my relatives loved Mario 64 when it came out and he was about five at the time. So...meh.

One of my cousins is 7 and she is currently playing Open Season (based off of the movie). It looked like a decent game and she seemed to like it. That may be another consideration for you.

She also likes Pokemon Trozei.

Kudos on getting a new generation of gamers hooked at an early age and glad you found some of these suggestions of use.
 
Strawberry Shortcake, Miss Spider Harvest Time Hop and Fly, and Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties recently came out for the DS.

Not the best games in the world, but I am pretty sure a 6 year old would enjoy them.
 
[quote name='redgopher']Please don't feed the stereotype and give her crappy "girl games." It's bad enough that Gamestop is trying to act like they know what they're doing when they put up these displays, please don't prove them right:

Games4Girls.jpg


Go grab Yoshi's Island 2, Kirby Canvas Curse, New Super Mario Bros., heck maybe even Brain Age.[/QUOTE]

Ya know, why is Cooking Mama on there? Is Gamestop trying to tell us that a woman's place is in the kitchen or something?

Seems to odd to have a display "games for girls!" and throw the only cooking game on the system on there, because OBVIOUSLY girls love to cook and must get started as soon as possible!

And shit, that shit gives Cooking Mama a bad name like it's some kind of kids game.
 
[quote name='Arkay Firestar']My god some of these suggestions...the girl is six years old.

Wow.

Electroplankton is probably too challenging for her (not to sell her short...but 6 is very young and a hard age to buy for), much less Mario 64.

I would say that your best bet is to buy GBA games (more variety, more games for her age range) until shes a year or two older, or some easier games come out.[/QUOTE]

I agree Mario 64 might not be a great buy - only because the control on the DS is pretty wacky and difficult (now for a Virtual Console purchase for the Wii I would recommend it - I will probably get that ASAP for my son).

It might seem that GBA games are better, but really, they are often harder to control, and due to cheapo production values tend to require more reading as well (everything displayed in text 'cause it's cheap and easy). (Having said that, my near 4 year-old is obsessed with Super Mario Bros 3 for GBA). A good DS game with intuitive stylus control is great for little kids. Like I said, I have a 6 year-old son. His favorite game right now is Clubhouse Games. If you have 2 DS's you can play it with her with only one cart. I was just doing that with him this evening (SO much better than shivering in some boring line waiting for a PS3 ;)).

I'll reiterate what I've said before - he also likes NSMB, Super Princess Peach, Animal Crossing (she'd need help with reading there though), and Yoshi Touch and Go. On the flip side, while he likes Sonic he gave up pretty early (first boss) in Sonic Rush because it was too hard. He also likes Mario vs Donkey Kong 2 but only made it through the middle of world 2 (I just played this for the first time last night though and I really like it!). He also gave up on Ultimate Spiderman. He played a bit of Mario Hoops and StarFox Command. He did pretty well on the early levels of those, but I hear they both get pretty hard later (and are both very stylus intensive, perhaps a bit TOO much).
 
Hi, I was wondering if my 5 year old would like starfox command DS he really likes the starfox assault game they have in the store demo on the gamecube.
I am getting the Wii on Sunday, I was wondering if I should get him the starfox assault or an older starfox that got better reviews called starfox adventures. Any help? My son and I tried out the Wii yesterday at gamestop. It was fun.
My 5 year old son really likes NSMB( mini games are great), elite beat agents, yoshi touch and go , animal crossing ( just moving the boy around and making things happen, he can't read). Warioware touched, cooking mama, kirby's canvas curse, vietiful joe, mario hoops, mario vs Donkey Kong, super mario 64, Nintendogs( just messing around with the dog a little)
 
Hi, I was wondering if my 5 year old would like starfox command DS he really likes the starfox assault game they have in the store demo on the gamecube.
I am getting the Wii on Sunday, I was wondering if I should get him the starfox assault or an older starfox that got better reviews called starfox adventures. Any help? My son and I tried out the Wii yesterday at gamestop. It was fun.
My 5 year old son really likes NSMB( mini games are great), elite beat agents, yoshi touch and go , animal crossing ( just moving the boy around and making things happen, he can't read). Warioware touched, cooking mama, kirby's canvas curse, vietiful joe, mario hoops, mario vs Donkey Kong, super mario 64, Nintendogs( just messing around with the dog a little)
 
[quote name='Roufuss']Ya know, why is Cooking Mama on there? Is Gamestop trying to tell us that a woman's place is in the kitchen or something?

Seems to odd to have a display "games for girls!" and throw the only cooking game on the system on there, because OBVIOUSLY girls love to cook and must get started as soon as possible!

And shit, that shit gives Cooking Mama a bad name like it's some kind of kids game.[/quote]You can argue that not just "cooking," but both words in the title carry a feminine connotation.
 
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