My little guy just started Mario Paint this week and he’s loving it. He’s not reading yet so a game with easy symbols and painting is age appropriate. Plus that fly game is getting him a lot of practice learning how to use a computer mouse.
this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2025
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Yes! On the SNES switch online thing? My 3 y/o has been loving it too, especially after finding the rocketship eraser.
Yep! Our favourite now is creating and saving our own stamps.
When I was young my parents encouraged me to watch Marx Brothers, Three Stooges, and Abbott & Costello. These are easy things for children to watch because the physical comedy is universal.
As I got older my love for them remained, but also it gave me a love for media from any age. So long as it's done reasonably I think this sort of thing can be quite enriching.
I do plan to start my sons on retro games starting when they're about 4 years old. They'll basically get an abridged experience of some of the best games from each generation.
They should be on modern games by the time they're old enough for it to matter in terms of relating to their peers. And it's not like I'd say "no" if they said their friends wanted to play a particular game with them just because it's from the "wrong" generation.
I'm also not going to force the issue if they just aren't receptive to it. Everyone has different interests.
I assumed my kids would love games, but they're just not that interested. I got my six-year-old obsessing over one of the UFO 50 games, at least until she couldn't progress any further, but for the most part toys are just way more exciting.
A well made game knows no age limits! My kiddo was super into the original mario when we showed it to him. I would have thought it would look dated, but he doesn't know!
Today's kids have the benefit that insanely amazing graphics in huge budget games is commonplace, pixel art is a popular visual style that has new games coming out all the time, and janky homemade graphics with visual glitches (essentially memes in game format) are also popular thanks to everything from garry's mod recordings to platforms like Roblox where a million people make their own goofy little games.
So if I take my 3rd grader though some gaming history, starting at least from the NES era where you have decent resolution, smooth scrolling, and numerous colors, things are not instantly dated like we olds might expect.
I could fire up Super Mario Bros, TIE Fighter, Super Mario World, Chrono Trigger, Symphony of the Night, VVVVVV, or Elden Ring, and I honestly don't think any of them would get a particularly positive or negative reaction based on visual fidelity. It's just a question of whether it looks like the type of gameplay he is into. Even with the obviously popular chunky Minecraft/Roblox look, he's draw to it because it's a popular style that he likes. If I comment about how ooh they updated the Xbox version to 4K rendering, or look at the crazy stuff I can do with the draw distance in the Java version on Linux, he does not give any fucks. It's the command line and the mods that let us do wacky things that are actually entertaining.
definitely one day
You are just giving your kids more options, most don't have that choice and can only play whatever launches for phones or switch.
Phones, tablets other portable devices are where this generation is at. There is a question of when you give your child access to brain rot materials. Assuming they are above 12 in this situation, they are already in touch with the general status quo of digital entrainment. The ego they will gain and cool points in the future is unknown but working in Education I feel students with a boarder background make for Better Humans. In the UK most public spaces like community centre or library, school will always have computer relics in a cupboard. A good Gamer will seek these out even if they don't have a dad, which is maybe the reason they are there...
I am 50+, remember paying quarters to play Pong and Space Invaders.
Built my kids a game box using Batocera Linux and ROMs from the 80s and 90s (Atari2600, Intellivision, Colecovision, etc)
I was thereby able to show them the True Magic and Wonder of Computers
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Why so salty about a dad sharing his interests and stuff from his life with his kid? She can play other games too.
Legit, it's not an either/or. I ragequit Warioland on RA and took my frustrations out building and unleashing siege weapons in TOTK
Salt gets traction, no one on the internet wants normal family values or feelgood anything
I still play animal crossing new leaf. Just got the golden net the other day (my town has been going since 2013)
3DS is still awesome even in 2025.
Don't think it'll ever be not awesome.
I'd love someone to make a modern foldable smartphone in the shape of a 3ds. With the controls and everything, and a stylus. But also cellular capabilities and a modern camera system. Most of all, a chip that can emulate the 3ds. Would be even cooler if one eventually came out that can emulate the Wii U.
Ayaneo Flip DS exists but is ludicrously expensive
I am and I don't care.
I did this to myself because I only played games that my gpu could perform and that was the reason why pretty much all of the games I play are pre 2010.
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as if everybody gaming in the 90's we were all in sync with each other. lol i was rocking pc win98 tie fighter, and old floppy disc knock off games/ sim city, one kid down the street, she had a Nintendo with 3 Disney games Aladdin, lion king etc, one had a Sega with zombies ate my neighbors, that paper boy game and some sanic. it was pure chaos even later when "everyone" had a ps1 everyone's tastes were completely different. sure there were trends but nobody felt they were stuck in a outdated bubble like op is implying except for that Atari kid. only played pong, fuck that bubble kid neanderthal mutherfucker. lol
Oh what a memory! I remember I was playing Sonic the Hedgehog, where my best friend was playing Zelda Lttp and my crush was playing Doom on Win95.
And yeah, when PS1 came out, suddenly we were bringing our own controllers to play Tekken. And then once in a while, go to our one buddy's house to Oogle Dead or Alive 2 on Dreamcast.
- Mario 64?
- Ocarina of Time?
- ~~Turkish~~Turok?
- Goldeneye?
This kid is about to meet one of the gaming gods.
Kid'll be fine.
Besides, what super awesome lifestyle changing game is out right now that the kid will miss?
Edit: Ha! Yes, Turok, not Turkish!
Turkish?
One of these things is not like the other... I tried to look this up and can't find it. My best guess is an autocorrected Turok?
I've tried to figure out what your typo for "Turkish" was supposed to be. I can only assume "Turok".
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