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Game recommendations for a bright 7 year old?


Chimpazilla
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Hi all,

My 7 year old son is a very good gamer. He took my ds lite out of my hands when he was 3 and beat the entire NSMB including the final castle. We have played every Mario game for DS and Wii, and he has nearly completed DKCR by himself. He is top notch at Mario Kart. We have played through every Zelda game together and we are halfway through Skyward Sword now.

Can anyone recommend other games that my bright child might find interesting, yet that are suitable for his age? The Lego series are way too easy and boring for him, and I don't want him getting anywhere near the Call of Duty type games... looking for other epic adventures similar to Zelda* that he can do. We have a Wii but would consider getting another console if the game was right.

*yes of course I know NOTHING compares to a Zelda game except Zelda, haha!

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Looking on virtual console games theres chrono trigger, earthworm jim, any and all of the sonic series,

but via normal wii games okami has been mentioned already so... sonic colours? i havent played it myself but ive heard its good (yes im a sega fan as you'd guess) i think thats all i can think of so far

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INCLUDING Other M.

I really don't think the story is appropriate for a child of that age. 9 or 10, maybe, but 7 strikes me as too young. Non-skippable cutscenes too, so it's not like he can avoid it.

OP: Recommend playing Other M yourself first, if you're considering it for him.

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Wow great recommendations... gonna check them all out!

For some reason Sonic doesn't do much for Tommy (I love Sonic though). And we played through Okami all the way to the point where you *must* do the digging challenge to continue (not a side quest) and it is IMPOSSIBLE so we gave up on it... (sad chord here)

@Ecto: Yes he is a video game wizard, amazingly advanced for his age, navigates all the confusing dungeons with ease and fights the gnarliest enemies and makes it look easy. *so proud of him*

Tom is the only first grader (only kid in his entire school I think) who has a backpack covered with triforces. No one else he knows has even ever heard of LoZ.

That music from Alundra is awesome. I forgot to mention Tom is a music afficionado as well... he remembers every song from every stage of every game we have ever played, and can hum every bar perfectly, even four years later. I can't wait to get him started with FL Studio, he's going to be my favorite music buddy too. He needs to be reading more reliably first... we are getting there.

Can you tell I love my kid? Thanks again for these suggestions, keep 'em coming if you've got more.

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The Etrian Odyssey series might be pushing it, depending on what his attention span is like and whether he's ok with more logical RPG-type games, but if you think he can handle wandering in a dungeon where it's *easy* to die within the first 10 minutes of the game, where *every* trip to the dungeon can be hazardous unless you're over-leveled, where each dungeon floor is big and you have to draw your own maps on the touch-screen, he might like it. It's easily among the most challenging games on the DS.

Also, especially since you mentioned music, I want my nine-month-old to turn out like Tom :D

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You should check out the Paper Mario series. It's a bit of reading but for a 7 year old that's kind of perfect; you can play it together and he can practice reading. The original Paper Mario is available on Virtual Console (it was an N64 game), and Paper Mario 2: Thousand Year Door is available for Gamecube, so you can play that on your Wii also. Just see if you can track down a used copy.

Also I don't know if this is on VC yet but Super Mario RPG for SNES is also a good one for little kids. I gave that one to Neblix when he was little and he got a lot of reading practice out of it.

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You should check out the Paper Mario series. It's a bit of reading but for a 7 year old that's kind of perfect; you can play it together and he can practice reading. The original Paper Mario is available on Virtual Console (it was an N64 game), and Paper Mario 2: Thousand Year Door is available for Gamecube, so you can play that on your Wii also. Just see if you can track down a used copy.

Also I don't know if this is on VC yet but Super Mario RPG for SNES is also a good one for little kids. I gave that one to Neblix when he was little and he got a lot of reading practice out of it.

I really, really want to double this recommendation.

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The Etrian Odyssey series might be pushing it, depending on what his attention span is like and whether he's ok with more logical RPG-type games, but if you think he can handle wandering in a dungeon where it's *easy* to die within the first 10 minutes of the game, where *every* trip to the dungeon can be hazardous unless you're over-leveled, where each dungeon floor is big and you have to draw your own maps on the touch-screen, he might like it. It's easily among the most challenging games on the DS.

Also, especially since you mentioned music, I want my nine-month-old to turn out like Tom :D

He's got a great attention span, logic, and photographic memory. His map reading is crazy good. His only real downfall is getting frustrated when he loses a race or challenge, but getting killed by worthy adversaries seems to be no problem. He is learning quickly about the importance of going into battle fully stocked on health and potions!

And thanks for what you said, I hope your nine month old is a cool kid too!

You should check out the Paper Mario series. It's a bit of reading but for a 7 year old that's kind of perfect; you can play it together and he can practice reading. The original Paper Mario is available on Virtual Console (it was an N64 game), and Paper Mario 2: Thousand Year Door is available for Gamecube, so you can play that on your Wii also. Just see if you can track down a used copy.

Also I don't know if this is on VC yet but Super Mario RPG for SNES is also a good one for little kids. I gave that one to Neblix when he was little and he got a lot of reading practice out of it.

We have Super Paper Mario, that was great! Will check out the Thousand Year Door, thanks! Will have to check out SMRPG. We played through Bowser's Inside Story and that was another terrific reading practice.

These are great replies, thanks so much everybody. :)

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I wouldn't recommend the Etrian Odyssey games unless your little young charge loves grinding ceaselessly, and heavy inventory management.... Not exactly fun things for a young kid. Super Mario RPG is much better in that regard - great difficulty curve, great music, battle system (timed hits you see!), and all in all, lots of fun. A perfect "kid" game for the experience. Plus, it is the forebear of all the subsequent Mario rpg games (including Paper Mario and the Mario n' Luigi games), and in my view, still better than all of them.

If you haven't, there is always Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest. You don't need to play any of the other 2. But it's two-player, lots of fun, and challenging. I was mesmerized as a child by the bright, cartoony, vibrant world. I don't know if graphics make or break a game for your kid, but I feel like these ones hold up because of the pseudo CG graphics.

Speaking of vibrant, there is also Yoshi's Island. Great game.

However, if you want something more -up-to-date- (because, deep down, we all like pretty graphics) there's Zack and Wiki, an adventure point-n-click game for the Wii... but those puzzles, lemme warn you, are HARD. Fun game, though.

There is Sin and Punishment 2: Star Successor for the wii. Think of it like Starfox 64, but a lot more going on, and it's crazy chaotic fun. Not everyone is into arcade-style shooters, though. Lots of weirdo alien bosses, massive levels, rockin' tunes... One of my favorite Wii games. However, the controls are complex (but it's one of the few games that I feel actually uses the Wiimote effective, being your laser-gun pointer)... It IS rated T for Teen, though. Like, slight suggestive themes, and the bad-guys blow up. Maybe wait till he's 10 ; p

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I wouldn't recommend the Etrian Odyssey games unless your little young charge loves grinding ceaselessly, and heavy inventory management.... Not exactly fun things for a young kid.

Hmm, good point on the grinding. I didn't find the inventory management to be too hard, other than having to remember to always buy a warp wire before you leave town (it's an item that warps you back to town and it's pretty much essential to always carry one).

And thanks for what you said, I hope your nine month old is a cool kid too!

He's quite cool. He's got an ear for music already, I let him play our upright piano or my keyboard fairly often. He loves percussion too: at church, he'll stare at the drummer the whole time. I took him to a music store a couple weeks ago while my wife was shopping, and he had the greatest afternoon ever playing with all the instruments. He's even smart enough to hit congas with one hand on each. He's making up for being born in the car on the half-mile drive to the hospital :)

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