Help me get my game on (and my son's).

April 6, 2007 7:02 PM

What's the best console system for a soon-to-be-five-year-old boy (and his dad)?

I'm about to take the plunge and buy a videogame console - my boy is about to turn 5, and he has a real interest in them. And I'm an old-school Atari/Intellivision gamer, so I'd kinda like to rekindle that old flame myself.

My first instinct is to get a Gamecube, because of the family friendly games and reasonable price. But I'm wondering if there's a better choice, based on the quantity and quality of games available.

In a nutshell: Much of modern console gaming drives me crazy, because it's based on numbing repetition. Beat level, beat boss, beat level, beat mega boss, repeat. Get killed once, start the whole mess over.

Are there console games today that eschew this formula (or any other prevailing formula - FPS, death-by-statistics RPG) for good old-fashioned creativity, of the kind the Atari generation knew? I'm drawn to the Katamari games for this very reason (which, of course, would mean a Gamecube wouldn't be the right choice).

Sorry for rambling. Hopefully some older video gamers can empathize and point me in the right direction.

posted by jbickers to computers & internet (28 comments total)

I think a Wii is going to be the popular answer--it's known to be extremely family-friendly, and a lot of the games are designed to be able to be played in small bits, so you wouldn't have to sit through an hour or two of gameplay if you didn't want to. The controls might be easier for a younger child to master, and you would probably really enjoy it, too.

I've heard of very few people who didn't enjoy the system very much--everyone from little kids to their grandparents seems to love the console.
posted by DMan at 7:18 PM on April 6, 2007

Not many games yet but have you considered a Wii? It's pretty much designed to be the family friendly console, and it's a ton of fun to boot.
posted by saraswati at 7:19 PM on April 6, 2007

Whatever you get, make sure it plays Legos Star Wars II.
posted by saffry at 7:21 PM on April 6, 2007

A Wii would probably suit both of you. It has a lot of family-friendly titles, and since it's new, will be supported by developers for years to come. There will also be some decidedly adult titles heading to the Wii as well, for those times when perhaps Junior is asleep and you want something a bit more mature, such as an FPS.

A lot of the Wii games are simply designed, yet not overly simplistic. Sometimes they look graphically simple, but provide a good challenge. Such is the general buzz on Super Paper Mario, which is a title both my boyfriend and I are looking forward to playing.

Overall, you'll have fun playing as a family but also by yourself, as the controls are both very intuitive and innovative. The fact that they're responsive adds to the fun. As a bonus, classic console games are available for download through the Virtual Console option, for those times when you want to feel like 1988 is new again.

It doesn't seem like you have overarching graphical concerns, or the absolute necessity of online play, so it seems that you guys would likely find what you're looking for with a Wii.
posted by cmgonzalez at 7:22 PM on April 6, 2007

Gamer Dad is a good source for real reviews of video games and how they play with kids.

Lego Star Wars I and II are huge hits with my nephew who is about that age. Nice "puzzles" to solve, two-player cooperative games, fun action but not scary or gory.
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:27 PM on April 6, 2007

I would start off with the GameCube, just because it's so darn cheap, and the games are still newish and enjoyable. Kirby's Air Ride, Super Smash Brothers Melee, Pokemon Colosseum, Mario Kart Double Dash, Tony Hawk, Mario Brothers, the Link/Zelda games...there are tons of fun titles he can play alone or you can play together. We have a 360, a GameCube, and a Wii (finally), and the GameCube is always being moved from room to room for group and family games because we have a nice little library of cheap titles that are super fun. It's the console we always take with us when we go to the beach for the weekend. It's a good start - lots of future classic gaming there.
posted by iconomy at 7:27 PM on April 6, 2007

And the Katamari games are truly great, too. We got a PSII just to play them.
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:30 PM on April 6, 2007

Boy, this is making me nostalgic for my old Apple IIE with the 5 1/2 inch floppy of Frogger...

Don't discount the good ol' computer, you know. While not necessarily for adults, the Learning Company games were a blast when I was a kid. I'm sure there are similar games out nowadays. You could get a Mindstorms kit, too, if you really want to indoctrinate your son into the geek culture. Besides, the computer games very subtly train your son how to use a computer which is an indispensable skill nowadays.
posted by backseatpilot at 7:37 PM on April 6, 2007

My 5 and 7 year olds love - LOVE - the Wii.
posted by Addlepated at 7:41 PM on April 6, 2007

It's been confirmed that there's a version of Katamari Damacy being developed for the Wii.

With the online store, you can fulfill your craving for old NES and SNES games.

Our Wii's been tons of fun. Can't recommend it enough...
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:43 PM on April 6, 2007

I guess I'm the lone dissenter here... but he's only 5! Why not just get the cheapest and oldest game system, like Nintendo or heck, even Atari 2600? You can hook him on some of the old school stuff and when he grows tired of it you can tantalize him with a newer generation of games. I think this would be a cool way of doing it rather than spoiling him on all the new technology (and you can save the budget for later).
posted by rolypolyman at 7:50 PM on April 6, 2007

The Wii will play Gamecube games as well as its own. You'd need to buy Gamecube controllers for it, though -- the Wii controllers don't work with the older games.
posted by panic at 8:03 PM on April 6, 2007

Just a couple more thoughts about specific games (which you can find versions of for different systems):
The same nephew (and his slightly older sister) love to play Mario Kart (car racing game with silly cars and characters) and other Mario series games. Based on what you said about experimental games, you might like ones like WarioWare, which have a bunch of "minigames", where players compete at silly tasks for very short time intervals - to sneeze the most in 5 seconds for example.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:07 PM on April 6, 2007

I guess I'm the lone dissenter here... but he's only 5! Why not just get the cheapest and oldest game system, like Nintendo or heck, even Atari 2600?

This is actually a valid point and I think I'm going to retract my Wii recommendation. I made it a personal project to get my nephew hooked on video games at a young age, so a few years ago I loaded my brother's computer with emulators and roms from all the classic consoles. He enjoyed that for a long time, and I'd still give him a taste of Dreamcast and, later, Xbox when he'd come over. After years of getting a thorough education in the history of gaming via the emulators and also an original Gameboy purchased a garage sale, I gave him my Xbox and a bunch of games a few months ago. I think he appreciated it that much more because of what he started with. To my amazement even though every one of his school friends talk at length about the latest next-gen FPS, he still will put down the Xbox controller from time to time and play the original NES version of Zelda. I think there's something really cool about that.
posted by saraswati at 8:08 PM on April 6, 2007

With the online store, you can fulfill your craving for old NES and SNES games.

I'll second this. One of the funnest (??) things about the Wii is downloading old games we haven't played since we were .. ahem .. kids and playing them now.

On the other hand, rolypolyman does have a point about letting him grow into the technology.... Although the Wii online store sort of serves that purpose as well (at least from a graphics standpoint).
posted by anastasiav at 8:10 PM on April 6, 2007

I'm not sure the Wii recommendation is realistic at this point because they are still virtually impossible to find.

This might sound nutty, but you might want to start off with one of those cheap plug and play controllers with the built in games. They cost about $20 a throw, so you don't have to freak out that the kid might break it, because, hey, $20. The only drawback is that most of them are one player only.

My friend's son (who is 7) really enjoyed the classic arcade one (it had Pole Position and Galaxian and a couple other games built in), and it was his first experience with video games. Nice thing about the classic arcade titles is that they are relatively easy to pick up and play, which is great for a kid just getting started.

I donated my GameCube to them after I bought the Wii (because the Wii plays GameCube disks). I'd definitely recommend the GameCube if you have your heart set on a console... lots of kid friendly titles. Don't forget to pick up Donkey Konga if you get one!
posted by MegoSteve at 8:20 PM on April 6, 2007

I think that the Wii would be a good option, if you can find it. The download service is excellent for finding old school classics and it's backward compatible with Gamecube games. I agree that the other consoles aren't really for younger kids, so I suggest you stick with Nintendo.
posted by Aanidaani at 9:12 PM on April 6, 2007

The wii should be your number one choice.
posted by mand0 at 9:50 PM on April 6, 2007

I think a wii is your best bet for a five year old because the controller doesn't require the finger dexterity of other consoles.
posted by subtle_squid at 10:29 PM on April 6, 2007

Katamari is great, great fun. And if you're into the older games, depending on the console you end up with you can probably find lots of compilation discs of old Atari games, arcade favorites, and other oldies-but-goodies. Or if you think a simpler controller would be good, maybe one of those plug-and-play retro game units with an arcade-style joystick?

(Back to consoles, if you go with PlayStation for the sake of Katamari and want something else that's unique and appealing, I cannot say enough good things about Ōkami .)
posted by Smilla's Sense of Snark at 10:46 PM on April 6, 2007

My son's the same age, and I'm holding off on the game console as long as possible (a year anyway). A) Once he starts there's no going back -- he's already whining too much about the TV limitations. B) From a child-development standpoint, he'll gain much more from playing in the real world and manipulating real objects: Legos, checkers, a baseball bat, boxing gloves... Now is the time for creative play, not more zoning out in front of the TV. C) His friends will insist all they do is play videogames because they don't have them at their homes; his friends' parents may not be grateful.

He'll have plenty of time for video games. What's the rush? Unless you need a rationalization to buy a console for yourself... :-)
posted by parkerbennett at 12:15 AM on April 7, 2007

I wouldn't count on a five-year-old to not scratch up optical discs. With that restriction, I'd go for an Atari 2600 (dirt cheap, and most of 'em still work, and if those are the kinds of games you want to play, well, yeah), or a Super Nintendo or Nintendo 64. If you really want to go modern, or you really want to spend a lot of money on this thing, buy a pair of Nintendo DSes.

If this is a rationalization to buy a console for yourself, get an Xbox 360.
posted by box at 4:58 AM on April 7, 2007

Have any of you actually played Atari 2600 games recently? We all have fond memories because that's all there was, but compared to modern games, atari 2600 games are finicky, frustrating, and arcane... remember using the manual to look up the easy mode games, then paging through the modes to get to it? My 5 year old son and I play a LOT of videogames together, but neither of us have fun with atari plug & play.

Get a Wii. Just find out when target or RU are getting their next shipment (TRU is usually more forthcoming) and get there 3 hours before opening. That's all it takes. With a wii, you have the best of all worlds... modern, accessible gaming for a kid that age (wiisports alone will keep him enthralled for months), the entire gamecube library full of awesomeness, plus all the best games (eventually) from nintendo, sega, and other's past on the wii shop channel.

If you really want to expose him to other old games, get the Midway arcade treasures and Namco museum discs for gamecube. A modern interface makes all the difference for a younger kid to be able to explore old titles rewardingly.

Plus, a five year old is completely capable of handling discs carefully. You just have to teach them how to do it and what the consequences could be if they mistreat the discs.

My son and I camped out for a Wii on launch day. I know he'll always cherish his memories of camping with his dad on the sidewalk in front of Toys R Us.
posted by ulotrichous at 7:35 AM on April 7, 2007

I would recommend the Gamecube for now, until the Wii library gets a bit larger and the system becomes more available. You can get a used one for cheap, and the library is chock full of the kinds of games you are looking for. Mario Kart, Pikmin, Super Monkey Ball, Mario Party, Animal Crossing all would be good candidates. There are plenty of old-school compilations too, including one for Intellivision.
posted by Otis at 10:20 AM on April 7, 2007

If you don't like repitition, I wouldn't go for the Wii until they come out with more games.

Mario Kart Double Dash for GameCube is a great family game, I would recommend that.

I still think snes is the best game console ever invented, though. =)
posted by lain at 11:32 AM on April 7, 2007

Absolutely get a wii. You can play gamecube games with a wireless controller while you are waiting for more good Wii titles. We got one around New Years. It was challenging but kind of fun, like a treasure hunt casing the various stores. I suspect it is quite a bit easier now.
posted by Manjusri at 11:49 AM on April 7, 2007

No matter what you want to go with Nintendo.

I suggest buying a Super Nintendo, the cartridges are easy to care for, for a 5 year old, there are TONS of games you can get for really cheap and its a FABULOUS system. Not to mention, if your child is anything like me, (i was 5 when the NES came out) I really grew to love the first two systems because they were simple but still incredible.

If you insist on a new system the Wii is hands down my favorite system, it is just so much fun, and some of the games can be pretty active. Nothing like getting tennis elbow from a video game.
posted by trishthedish at 6:54 PM on April 7, 2007

I suggest buying a Super Nintendo, the cartridges are easy to care for, for a 5 year old, there are TONS of games you can get for really cheap and its a FABULOUS system. Not to mention, if your child is anything like me, (i was 5 when the NES came out) I really grew to love the first two systems because they were simple but still incredible.

This got me thinking, so I went on ebay and starting poking around for SNES' ... and I come across this thing called an "FC Twin System" that plays both SNES and 8-bit NES games. Obviously not an official Nintendo product, because they're dirt cheap ($12 new). Anybody messed with one of these?
posted by jbickers at 6:17 AM on April 8, 2007