Parents with cubes

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gaelan

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I'm tossing around the idea of getting a cube. I have a girl about to be four and was wondering how kid friendly GC games are. I have an xbox and to be honest, I'm tiring of the lack of good RPGs and onslaught of FPSs bar a couple of titles. On a side note, she likes moving the characters around like Jade on BGandEvil and the Fable kid, but there is no coordinated button interaction yet.

For her, do you think there are some cheap games she could relate to? I have a couple of 3rd party games in mind (spongebob stuff), but what 1st party games would be appropriate for her. I was thinking something like mario paint used to be or Animal Crossing although I don't know too much about it.

For me, I know of a couple of RPGs and platformers for the cube that sound interesting, so I know I'll get me money's worth even if it takes her some time to warm up to the system.
 
She would probably enjoy Animal Crossing. She probably wouldn't be able to do too much, but she would probably enjoy wandering around.
 
The Mickey Mouse game on that system has a neat kid feature that it automatically has Mickey do what he needs to do if he sits still too long. My daughter loved that game when she was about 4
 
Definately, that's fun for everyone. It could also teach her great communication skills, as you can literally have three or four people in one town (you, your wife and your daughter) and you can send letters to them. Could also teach sharing, since you can trade items and do things for other people.
 
Mario Party maybe? Most of it is just button mashing so coordination shouldn't be a problem. Also try Pokemon Channel which only involves simple interaction with pokemon and a tv.
 
I can't praise Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat enough. At four, she might not have the coordination for the boss battles, but I bet she can at least get through the first four stages. My 2.5yo enjoys the game simply because she can see the relationship between her drumming and DK moving.

Wario Ware is a good game for anyone who can comprehend the instructions. For instance, a drawing of a needle appears on screen alongside a drawing of a hand holding a string. The screen says "Thread!", the needle starts to move, and you have to aim the hand. Simple VG basics, but a lot of fun for kids and adults. The Mario Party games are as much as any other roll & move-style board game, with the twist of having simple-to-control mini-games after each round, so once she's old enough to hold her own in the mini-games (which are opponent-based, so it depends on who she's playing against), she'll enjoy that. Animal Crossing is a gimme as far as a time killer, but she may have to be a few years older to really enjoy it and comprehend the interactions and mini-gamesque tasks. Throw on a Game Boy Player and you have the whole GBA library, which has a lot of kid-friendly stuff and good 2D gaming. I'll probably start my kids out on the SNES, but the Cube has a lot of potential. (Get the bongos!)
 
My daughter is only 7 months so she doesn't play video games yet... I think I'm going to start her out on some classics though to build an appreciation for it - once she can top 80,000 in Ms. Pac-man we will talk about getting her off of mame and onto some consoles... :D
 
Get your kid an NES or an Atari.

I think the learning curve is way to steep for small kids when trying to play any next-gen system. There are just way too many buttons for them to look at.

At least with the NES or Atari, you're daughter will only have to worry about using one or two buttons.

Then when she's getting the hang of playing those, introduce her to the Genesis or SNES and so on.
 
This is embarassing for me to say as a parent, but my son started playing Pac-Man on the Dreamcast when he was two. He played Star Was: Jedi Power Battles and Ms. Pac Man Maze Madness on the Dreamcast almost every day for about a year.

He is five now, and in the past year he was into Animal Crossing for about 4 months, and played through Super Mario Sunshine and Paper Mario. He can handle regular enemies in Mario games, but he is scared of bosses and asks me for help.

One plus is that if you get strategy guides and the kid is into the game, it is an incentive for them to learn to read.
 
[quote name='Yo Mama']One plus is that if you get strategy guides and the kid is into the game, it is an incentive for them to learn to read.[/QUOTE]

That's right! Some simple RPG games can encourage kids to learn how to read to get through the game. I remember when I was first learning to read, I was motivated to learn so I could get through games like Crystalis and Dragon Warrior.
 
Be careful with some of the "kids" games like Spongebob or Jimmy Neutron and things like that from THQ. I bought them for my sister(who was 14) and she had a hard time to the point it wasn't fun.

Like someone else said, Pokemon channel is very simple, and my whole family(under 40) enjoyed Animal Crossing and Donkey Konga.
 
[quote name='Doylerulez']Be careful with some of the "kids" games like Spongebob or Jimmy Neutron and things like that from THQ. I bought them for my sister(who was 14) and she had a hard time to the point it wasn't fun.

Like someone else said, Pokemon channel is very simple, and my whole family(under 40) enjoyed Animal Crossing and Donkey Konga.[/QUOTE]

I tried to just post with along list of suggestions as my sister is 4 (I am a few days away from 26) but the database had an error.

Anyway

Wario Ware and Kirby she can play be herself. She likes the Gameboy Player and she likes to watch/play Animal crossing and harvest Moon. My Mother helps her a lot with those games.

She also has a Madcatz "Micro Con" controller and it helps a lot.

She liked the Bongos and there are a few more.

My mom bought her Incredibles and another game or two from THQ but they are NOT kid friendly as they are actually difficult for the market they are going after.

Wario Ware was a huge success and again she is just turned 5.
 
I think it is best for her to play the games that use the fewest buttons. My 7 year old daughter's favorite games are Kirby, Mario Kart: DD, Mario Party 4 and Super Smash Brothers.
 
Animal Crossing is defintely a good one, becuase there's no real time limit to it- she cna do nothing but wander around for a few days and it'll make no difference.

Get one of those plug n' play controller things for Atari too- simpler games, 1 button, much easier for a 4-year old. The Ms. PAc-Man one would probably be good too, because it "looks" more like a "girl's" toy.
 
Cube is good to have with kids . . . get a Wavebird (or two) cordless is great with kids!

Mario Party is good simple fun that you can play together.

I think the Fairly Odd Parents games are a cut above the regular Nick stuff. Good cel-shaded graphics, feels like the show and is easy.

Too bad they haven't done a Mario collection for the cube . . . Put All-Stars, World and Mario 64 on a disc and sell millions for $30 a pop . . . maybe on revolution???
 
Don't forget Tonka: Rescue Patrol. It's only $10 at most places, including Amazon, and well worth the money for a young kid.

The training missions will keep even a 3 year old entertained, and the actual missions are good for 4-8 year olds.

I definitely have to agree with the previous poster, that a wavebird is ideal for young kids, as there are no cords, and it's easy to keep the actual gamecube far out of reach.
 
The super monkey ball games are really good too, but may get hard at later levels (hell, they are hard for me).

I'll agree with most to all of those games up there. Animal Crossing, Wario Ware, Mario Party... my 4 year old (about to be 5 in a month) also enjoys games we play at the same time like Ninja Turtles Battle Nexus (simple enough beat em up).
She loves Donkey Konga and Jungle Beat too. Can't go wrong.
 
Do it. My 4 yr old loves alot of the games. I bought one in January and it's been a great decision. Alot of the games both he and I can enjoy and play together. Zelda:WW, Wario World(3rd favorite), Luigi's Mansion (2nd favorite), Metroid Prime, Animal Crossing, Smash Brothers (probably his favorite), Mario Kart:DD, Mario Sunshine, Pikmin, etc.
 
I'll also vouch for the Cube being a great system for those with kids. My son is four and plays DK:Jungle Beat, Mario Kart, Mario Party, etc. He also has a good time with Mario Sunshine and the Sonic games just running around the environments not really completing any levels. He has fun though, and that's what it's all about.

Good luck!
 
My son's about to turn 4 and had a lot of interest in my gaming. I was an Xbox only gamer, and most games I liked weren't suitable for me to play in front of my kids, so I bought him a hand held Namco museum controller with Ms. Pacman, Galaga, etc. He absolutely loves it. I just picked up a GC, but I'll be honest and say that it's mostly for me to play the Metroid games. I am looking forward to picking up a couple of titles such as Zelda:WW and Donkey Konga so that he can play along side me. They may not be able to play a lot of them, but they'll love to watch and "help". I let me son play along side me with my arms around him to help with the controllers. A nice way to spend SHORT bits of time with my kids between books, sports, etc...
 
eh i think GC is fine..My little cousin had a blast with Lego Bionicle..then he got into Donkey Konga and Jungle Beats and has never put it down. i just bought him custom robo but i dont know if that wil be too hard for him. He is only 7
 
I started my lil sis on Super Smash Brothers Melee when she was 5. All they need to do is move and hit the A button. If you set the computer to 1 they even win once and a while.
 
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