Legion303 Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Please recommend me some games for a smart 8-year-old. We have a Wii, GB (mono), GBA, DS, PSP, PS3, X360, Dreamcast, PSX, 3DO, and emulators for other systems. He was big into the Humongous adventure games but obviously outgrew them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Splint Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 With that many systems you're going to get hundreds of answers. Can you elaborate on a genre or two or maybe give some more examples of games he currently likes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legion303 Posted February 12, 2012 Author Share Posted February 12, 2012 Hundreds of answers is fine. I just want to pick games that will be challenging for him but not too hard. I don't know what's suitable for 8 because at 8 I was still on Atari 2600. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Splint Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Well, based on his age and your PSX, you can't go wrong with the Crash Bandicoot series. 1-3 are great, Wrath of Cortex for the PS2 (the fourth installment) was the last good game IMO. For PS2, Jak and Daxter is another great series, along with Ratchet and Clank. I don't know of many RPG's that would suit an 8 year old. You can buy Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie on XBLA, both great games and suited for his age. And of course, there's always Pokemon for GBA and DS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychowolf Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 For the wii i recommend Okami. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirby Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Well, based on his age and your PSX, you can't go wrong with the Crash Bandicoot series. 1-3 are great, Wrath of Cortex for the PS2 (the fourth installment) was the last good game IMO. For PS2, Jak and Daxter is another great series, along with Ratchet and Clank. I don't know of many RPG's that would suit an 8 year old. You can buy Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie on XBLA, both great games and suited for his age. And of course, there's always Pokemon for GBA and DS. Hey, the first two Crash games on GBA (Huge Adventure and N-Tranced) weren't half-bad either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flare4War Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 At that age any Mario Kart is going to fascinate him. Super Smash Bros. Brawl or Melee will also keep him busy for hours on end if you don't already have them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC2151 Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 I feel that Kirby games are the perfect games for kids. The latest one, Return to Dreamland, would be a good choice. Plus it has cooperative single-player, so you can join the game with him. Epic Yarn will more than likely bore a kid at that age (and any older), because of the total lack of difficulty. Rayman Origins is good too. Difficult but not overly punishing. Same goes with Donkey Kong Country Returns. The whole Metroid Prime Trilogy might be good, but it would be tough going for an 8-year-old. Then again, I just speak from the personal experience of the game being tough-going for a 15-year-old! They are fantastic games, a lot more like detective games with some shooting elements thrown in. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) is also a good exercise in a more "cerebral" gaming experience of the Metroid games, though it is pretty actiony and blast-em-up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zerothemaster Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Duke Nukem Forever. Actually I recommend the Mega Man Battle Network series, the protagonist is an elementary school kid and all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirby Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Duke Nukem Forever. Actually I recommend the Mega Man Battle Network series, the protagonist is an elementary school kid and all. I second the true recommendation in that quote. I love these games. And you can always get Network Transmission, which along with a stellar soundtrack combines the battlechip gameplay of the main BN games with the sidescrolling of the classic games, and throws in tons of references to the classic series as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legion303 Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 Duke Nukem Forever. How dare you, sir. The jokes are stale and the single-player is like 5 hours long. I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy. I'm getting lots of good ideas. Keep them coming. On the subject of RPGs, he's played through Link's awakening with help from Gamefaqs, and is currently stuck on Great Greed. I'm going to get him hooked on SoM and Chrono Trigger soon. He's beaten Sword of Mana on the GBA a couple of times. Would Earthbound be good for his age? I've never played it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PixelPanic Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 How dare you, sir. The jokes are stale and the single-player is like 5 hours long. I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy.I'm getting lots of good ideas. Keep them coming. On the subject of RPGs, he's played through Link's awakening with help from Gamefaqs, and is currently stuck on Great Greed. I'm going to get him hooked on SoM and Chrono Trigger soon. He's beaten Sword of Mana on the GBA a couple of times. Would Earthbound be good for his age? I've never played it. It'd be perfect. But Moonside might be confusing and Magicant could maybe get scary. Depends on how he reacts to those kinds of scenerios. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ectogemia Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 =Would Earthbound be good for his age? I've never played it. I actually got it around the time I was 8 for Chanukah, and in the big box with the guide and everything. Aaaand then I got Secret of Evermore for Christmas. <3 being in a multi-religious family. Anyway, I played it and loved it at that age, but I didn't "get" it. Looking back on it... like... shit. That's a game with some seriously life-improving. inspiring sequences and overtones in it. I was a pretty smart 8-year-old as well, but I can't say I grasped its main thrust at that age. Still, the goofiness and the beautiful visual aesthetic of it were enough to keep my attention even at 8. Still one of my favorites for its story content despite that fact I've really grown to despise JRPGs for their vapid gameplay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabeel Ansari Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Megaman Starforce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zerothemaster Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 How dare you, sir. The jokes are stale and the single-player is like 5 hours long. I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy.I'm getting lots of good ideas. Keep them coming. On the subject of RPGs, he's played through Link's awakening with help from Gamefaqs, and is currently stuck on Great Greed. I'm going to get him hooked on SoM and Chrono Trigger soon. He's beaten Sword of Mana on the GBA a couple of times. Would Earthbound be good for his age? I've never played it. Even satan hates that game Oh yeah and the Donkey Kong Country games. They were awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucasFlicky Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Ys, specially Ys Oath in Felghana (PSP & PS2) and Ys I & II Chronicles (PSP) and all the other 15+ games of the series for all other consoles you can imagine.... great game and principally, memorable music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garian Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Get some platform goodness going on, Classic Super Mario Bros 2 is a good starter because it's got a more kid-friendly approach (cartoony character designs, less threatening endboss, and plenty of secrets to learn without resorting to walkthroughs). It's also got a gradually increasing difficulty so it's a great game to learn to improve one's 2D platforming. After mastering SM2, I'd suggest SM1 and "Lost Levels" in the Super Mario All-Stars pack, then migrate to more difficult platformers. Rygar, Super Metroid, and Metroid 2: Return of Samus all come to mind... I was stomping the shit out of SM when I first got it in 1995, my brother and I would do speedrun races of it and back then my fastest time was about 1:40 with a decent item collection rate lol. I would DEFINITELY encourage you to not let him use the internet to figure out how to play Super Metroid because it's a brutal game that is designed to work one's mind. It's not oppressively difficult like the original is either, so while there are a few cheap tricks it's pretty straightforward. Bonus points in SM for save points for leaving the game if it feels too difficult, also! Mario Kart is another great suggestion I've seen, it's just a very fun game with a decent learning curve-- I'm surprised no one mentioned Tetris Attack/Panel de Pon yet, that was another favourite of my brother and I back in the day. It's a great cerebral experience in any case, even if it starts out feeling overwhelming. And that also leads me to Tetris, which definitely tests the wits of any level player. I've seen plenty of great 3d platformers, but I'm surprised no one mentioned Super Mario 64 (n64 emulation is pretty groovy these days and it's also been remade for the DS). It's a pretty good standard for judging 3d platformers (camera issues aside), and it's a Mario game, again with the cartoonish character design and overall typical Nintendo kid-friendliness. Back in the realm of 2d, How about any of the later Bomberman games? They're great fun for playing multiplayer, the concept is fairly simple but the execution requires some learning and patience. CT and SoM are both great choices as well, I would probably push SoM first because it has a little less depth in the story and is more action oriented, so it doesn't require the same amount of forethought that CT does (I just finished the battle with Magus and found myself rewinding my emu a lot because I wasn't paying attention I am a dirty cheater). Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link would be another suggestion from me but I cut my teeth on some really tough games on the NES (thanks Grandma!), so if he finds it too difficult it might be one to store for later... it has a very steep difficulty curve just before the midpoint. Ocarina of Time and Link to the Past are probably much better introductions to the Zelda franchise, and they both provide their own unique challenges. I also second the Ys series, my cousin rented Ys 3 a long time ago and I really enjoyed watching it then, and later as an adult I revisited it and fell in love with the music though the gameplay was a bit lacking. The 3D remake on the PS2, the Oath in Felghana (also available on the PC with a fan-translation) really made up for it, though, and what's great about the Ys series is that the first 3 or 4 games were on literally every system at the time, and have been remade a million times over as well. The music is also excellent which is another great reason to suggest the series. The original Ys 3 is a sidescrolling action/adventure game with some RPG elements, it's fairly challenging so might not be a first choice unless he's feeling like taking it on. Not sure how you feel about the Mega Man franchises, but if you're looking for a challenge a good introduction would be Mega Man 3 or X, Not really sure which would be more appropriate because both are fairly iconic and going from the SNES game to the NES series might be jarring, but the NES games were more difficult on the whole. The Rock Paper Scissors boss items adds a slight layer of depth to the games, but it's more about the execution of the platforminakthat makes the older games more difficult-- Mega Man can't wall climb like X does, and having to learn the games without it after having it might cause some frustration. Mega Man 1 is extremely oppressive in this regard (seriously, fuck Guts Man's stage) and Mega Man 2 has some issues with this as well (Mostly Wily stage 1's dragonbot chase, as well as the lava pit in Heat Man's stage). Still, the series is a great challenge and is also fun to revisit later on. Okay so maybe I just have some nostalgia goggles on, and some people keep telling me that I'm kinda way ahead of average in terms of video gaming, but I always considered myself below average since I compare myself to people who are actually really good (like Bahamut and Taucer at Tetris Attack). I hope these suggestions aren't really too oppressively difficult, like I said I cut my teeth on stuff like Mario 1 and 2, Zelda 1 and 2, Mega Man 1 when I was like 4 or 5 years old, so hopefully those suggestions aren't too far out of bounds! Best of luck Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucasFlicky Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Would Earthbound be good for his age? I've never played it. Earthbound was one of the first games i became completelly addicted on, it is quite different from traditional medieval & fantasy RPGs so it may be a good choice. the same I say about Mother 3 (that would be a earthbound 2) but this one is only available in japanese (unless you take the fantranslated rom) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garpocalypse Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Earthbound was one of the first games i became completelly addicted on, it is quite different from traditional medieval & fantasy RPGs so it may be a good choice. the same I say about Mother 3 (that would be a earthbound 2) but this one is only available in japanese (unless you take the fantranslated rom) Just make absolutely sure your copy is clean or else this will happen if you go with earthbound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucasFlicky Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Just make absolutely sure your copy is clean or else this will happen if you go with earthbound. well, that actually is for cartridges only, not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RealFolkBlues Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Boom Blox 1 and 2. Seriously great games, and a lot of fun for the whole fams. Lego Harry Potter 1 and 2 if he's a Potterhead (which he should be.) Mario, natch. Obviously more Zelda is always fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady zelda Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Playing Machinarium on my iPad. It's a cute little point and click adventure game I think an 8 year old would enjoy and the puzzles are sufficiently challenging. It's meant for PC but you can also play it on PS3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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