What retro games do your kids play?

[IntelliMission]

I know some kids and teenagers like retro games and I'm curious about which ones they prefer. Since many users here have kids, I figured out I could ask.

 

What retro games do your kids prefer to play?

[Ricardo Cividanes da Silva]

My children preferred racing games and platform games like Kirby and Mario 3 (Mario 1 was very difficult for them), Ray Man games (Wii, DS, PS1) and Donkey Kong (SNES and Wii) were liked very much.

[Mikebloke]

My 4yo is currently playing Final Fantasy 3, though he's played big parts of or with me: Dragon Warrior (NES), Final Fantasy 1+2 (PS1 Origins version), Chrono Trigger (SNES) and Tales of Symphonia (Gamecube). When he was 2 he got into Gemcraft which is not really retro but now he hates it when I boot it up. However, he learnt of the existence of Minecraft, and after ignoring him for 6 months I relented, and for the last month its his main game right now. Its less stressful to watch now he's got the 2 analogue stick thing down and he no longer asks for help. He's got past blowing up things with TNT and is now using the red electrical thingy to do stuff. He comes and goes from Pokemon yellow, he started it when he was 3 and he is past the safari bit now. He's finished Super Mario Land 1 and also Kirby 1 on gameboy. I actually bought him Kirby 2 (nearly finished) and Pokemon Crystal for an Eid-al-fitr / Birthday present, and he did most of Kirby (NES) by himself till the last boss level.

 

Oh, I just got a Magnavox Odyssey Light Gun Rifle, he tries his best to shoot targets on screen but he struggles to "pump" the reload while holding it so he buts it to the floor and pulls it down. When he gives up, he points it at me instead and fires.

 

My 9yo also plays minecraft and pokemon mostly, but we've played games like Bubble Bobble together (forget which version, might have been either NES or Amstrad) and finished it.

 

The 4yo is a keeper, as long as I can move him on.

 

There's been many topics on this general question but I've generally found younger kids actually prefer the retro, especially if they aren't natural gamers. The videopac / Odyssey 2 is usually a big hit regardless of age of kid, though "well known" labels such as the NES and mega drive also get a lot of attention. Only those infected by their own parents or personal interest in gaming usually know what an Atari is these days if I'm brutally honest.

[Lord Mushroom]

On 4/3/2021 at 12:59 AM, Mikebloke said:

My 4yo is currently playing Final Fantasy 3, though he's played big parts of or with me: Dragon Warrior (NES), Final Fantasy 1+2 (PS1 Origins version), Chrono Trigger (SNES) and Tales of Symphonia (Gamecube). When he was 2 he got into Gemcraft which is not really retro but now he hates it when I boot it up. However, he learnt of the existence of Minecraft, and after ignoring him for 6 months I relented, and for the last month its his main game right now. Its less stressful to watch now he's got the 2 analogue stick thing down and he no longer asks for help. He's got past blowing up things with TNT and is now using the red electrical thingy to do stuff. He comes and goes from Pokemon yellow, he started it when he was 3 and he is past the safari bit now. He's finished Super Mario Land 1 and also Kirby 1 on gameboy. I actually bought him Kirby 2 (nearly finished) and Pokemon Crystal for an Eid-al-fitr / Birthday present, and he did most of Kirby (NES) by himself till the last boss level.

Your four year old son is a video game savant.

[Lord Mushroom]

On 4/1/2021 at 1:23 PM, IntelliMission said:

What retro games do your kids prefer to play?

My four year old nephew is borrowing my SNES and sometimes plays Super Mario World, Kirby´s Fun Pak/Super Star and Rival Turf. He is not very good, so he doesn´t play them much.

 

He didn´t like Arkanoid: Doh it Again and (surprisingly) Pop´n Twinbee. He also found the first boss on Joe and Mac:Cavemen Ninja to be scary.

[digdugnate]

my teens largely nodded at then subsequently ignored any game from the 80s and 90s.  

 

i could get my youngest to play 994A stuff with me (just about anything multiplayer. they're really good!), but in general if it didn't come out before 2008 or so they're not interested in it.

 

i think the last time i got an eyeroll and had a game called a 'grandpa game'.   ?

Edited April 12, 2021 by digdugnate

[Rogerpoco]

Tho he's "outgrown" it now, we were all pretty amazed at how decently my then 3 y/o Grandson was at Super Mario Brothers, and how much he enjoyed it-

He's a 5 y/o "modern" gamer now, Switch, and actually beats the Luigi Mansion type games, pretty much all his clothes are Mario, etc, etc, etc.

NES was really my "first" system as a teen, was a tad young for 2600 tho they were always around(I always played on "A", because A comes before B, so it is "easier", right?

(I didn't read manuals, or experiment much as a kid, I suppose...)

(I swear tho, I didn't know you could pass thru the walls on Frogger until recently, I thought it was "part of the game" that you were gonna die there...)

But as an adult, I've gone much farther back than NES now(there actually aren't many systems I don't have now-Aquarius, Fairchild, the real "odd stuff" is all I lack), so I don't actually see NES AS "retro", hehe.

 

Oh, haha, this just occurred to me!!!

Street Racer!!!

I do "World Records" elsewhere, "getting it on tape" is a priority for me-I just wanted to see what would happen if my Grandson Myles gave this a shot, haha!

I DO have him a "full evidence package"(I was behind him, recording another coordinating video with my cellphone, this vid is my PC camera), if he ever wants to submit, but unless I hear otherwise-

"Youngest 2600 Maxout on video!"

(Sorry, Guys...this thread just begged for it...being a Parent is one thing, but if you are a Grandparent, "you know". Mine is better than yours.)

"Now can I play Mario?"

 

 

Edited April 12, 2021 by Rogerpoco

[Mikebloke]

7 hours ago, Rogerpoco said:

Tho he's "outgrown" it now, we were all pretty amazed at how decently my then 3 y/o Grandson was at Super Mario Brothers, and how much he enjoyed it-

He's a 5 y/o "modern" gamer now, Switch, and actually beats the Luigi Mansion type games, pretty much all his clothes are Mario, etc, etc, etc.

NES was really my "first" system as a teen, was a tad young for 2600 tho they were always around(I always played on "A", because A comes before B, so it is "easier", right?

(I didn't read manuals, or experiment much as a kid, I suppose...)

(I swear tho, I didn't know you could pass thru the walls on Frogger until recently, I thought it was "part of the game" that you were gonna die there...)

But as an adult, I've gone much farther back than NES now(there actually aren't many systems I don't have now-Aquarius, Fairchild, the real "odd stuff" is all I lack), so I don't actually see NES AS "retro", hehe.

 

Oh, haha, this just occurred to me!!!

Street Racer!!!

I do "World Records" elsewhere, "getting it on tape" is a priority for me-I just wanted to see what would happen if my Grandson Myles gave this a shot, haha!

I DO have him a "full evidence package"(I was behind him, recording another coordinating video with my cellphone, this vid is my PC camera), if he ever wants to submit, but unless I hear otherwise-

"Youngest 2600 Maxout on video!"

(Sorry, Guys...this thread just begged for it...being a Parent is one thing, but if you are a Grandparent, "you know". Mine is better than yours.)

"Now can I play Mario?"

 

 

Haha this was great. I get "can I play the one you don't want me to play" a lot. Replaying the X (beyond the frontier) series and he's been bugging me to let him play it. Might get off my iron man save and let him crash into asteroids or stations at some point.

[bluejay]

Given that I am a “kid” can I share what I play?

 

I play whatever I can get my hands on... Everything from Pole Position to Zelda to Doom. I’ve recently started getting into Sega stuff. I definitely prefer Nintendo over Sega, but still the games are fun enough. 

[Lord Mushroom]

10 minutes ago, bluejay said:

I play whatever I can get my hands on... Everything from Pole Position to Zelda to Doom. I’ve recently started getting into Sega stuff. I definitely prefer Nintendo over Sega, but still the games are fun enough. 

I recommend playing Toejam & Earl (Sega Genesis/Mega Drive) with a friend, unless that is a too modern console for you.

 

For the Sega Master System I would recommend playing Super Monaco GP with a friend. Or Phantasy Star if you are playing alone.

[NeonSpaceBeagle]

I don't have kids, but my me and my dog like playing Street Fighter 2 and other similar games together.

 

 

[Reaperman]

Ah, the child abuse topic (I kid)

 

"Put down that dang-blasted phone and play grandpa's games!  Grandpa-games are better than yer phone games, because you get the square between these other squares, and over to the square over there--totally different than your angry flappy runner." -Reaperman, creator of a game where the square moves between other squares.

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Reaperman

[Hwlngmad]

The last retro game my son played was 'Kirby Super Star'.  He really does love him some Kirby.

[Gamemoose]

My 5 year old digs "Bubble Bobble" on NES the most out of the elder games. Lately, though, he and the next two siblings up like to play "Tom and Jerry:Fists of Furry" on the N64.

 

Other than that, everyone else doesn't play anything older than a DS. Though on Vita some do play "Legend of Dragoon", but that has fallen to the wayside once they discovered I had "Minecraft" and "Little Big Planet" on there.

[+GoldenWheels]

Arcade beat'em ups have always been big hits with my boys....anything you can play 3-4p simultaneous.  They LOVE Nigthstalkers (for them it is very "adult"), and oh man there is this 3 player mech beat'em up I can't think of right now, where you add on tank tracks and different weapons. On my xbox those games have been finished dozens of times.

[Lord Mushroom]

4 minutes ago, GoldenWheels said:

Arcade beat'em ups have always been big hits with my boys....anything you can play 3-4p simultaneous.  They LOVE Nigthstalkers (for them it is very "adult"), and oh man there is this 3 player mech beat'em up I can't think of right now, where you add on tank tracks and different weapons. On my xbox those games have been finished dozens of times.

Your boys have great taste. I think you are talking about Armored Warriors.

[IntelliMission]

What about PS1/N64/Saturn/Pentium era? Do your kids find those early textured polygons ugly?

[Lord Mushroom]

1 hour ago, IntelliMission said:

What about PS1/N64/Saturn/Pentium era? Do your kids find those early textured polygons ugly?

No, my four year old nephew plays on my sister´s PS1 every now and then. He doesn´t really have any favourite games.

[+GoldenWheels]

22 hours ago, Lord Mushroom said:

Your boys have great taste. I think you are talking about Armored Warriors.

That is the one! Baffled me it was never home released bitd for 16 or 32 bit (I don't know where it falls) but I guess it has been a part of Capcom beat'em up packs. AWESOME freakin' game.

[+GoldenWheels]

3 hours ago, IntelliMission said:

What about PS1/N64/Saturn/Pentium era? Do your kids find those early textured polygons ugly?

My kids are weird....if the graphics are "basic" to them, they expect a basic game. Otherwise, in newer games, they want Skyrim levels of depth, and god help you if the interface is AT ALL clunky...they gon' quit!

 

(I honestly think we all came from a better gaming generation....in the old days, you rent that game Friday and it is all you have for three days....you ARE going to stick to it. You WILL learn the clunky interface and get through "cheap" parts. You have to...what else is there to do, go outside?)

[digdugnate]

17 hours ago, GoldenWheels said:

My kids are weird....if the graphics are "basic" to them, they expect a basic game. Otherwise, in newer games, they want Skyrim levels of depth, and god help you if the interface is AT ALL clunky...they gon' quit!

 

(I honestly think we all came from a better gaming generation....in the old days, you rent that game Friday and it is all you have for three days....you ARE going to stick to it. You WILL learn the clunky interface and get through "cheap" parts. You have to...what else is there to do, go outside?)

lol- half the time the damn manual managed to get lost before you rented it, too.

[Billy Beans]

All five of my kids play games for systems ranging from the 2600 to the XBSX/PS5. Whenever two of my daughters are both here at the house, they love to play Gamecube/Wii games together.

 

One son loves to play 2600 games on a Harmony Encore, and is usually the first to put a homebrew beta on there to check out. A couple of years ago, he bought an Intellivision on EBay that came with an Intellivoice and around 50 games. We spent hours checking out the games together. He will load up B-17 Bomber once in a while. I recently got him interested in ColecoVision. He's been suggesting we get an SGM for it.