Games I’ve Beat With My Kids

[Lago | 217]

I wanted to start chronicling the games I beat with my kids.  Primarily, that consists of my son right now.  Hopefully, that’ll change in the future.

Date: 6-27-2020

Kids age: 5

Game: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Hyperstone Heist 

platform: Sega Genesis 

Settings: Normal difficultly, max lives and continues

The fun stuff:

I decided that I’d let my son have all the pizzas in this game, which give you max health.  That held true on all but one occasion where I took the pizza because he died before he could get to it.  I also let him get all of the power up pizzas, which was as awesome to watch out of game as it was in.

 I played as Donatello and my son chose Leonardo.  A departure from his normal Raphael.

 I did a lot of the heavy lifting in this game.  With the exception of Tatsu.  That guy just had my number from the get go.  Lucky for me, my son was on point and dropped him like a sack of potatoes.

We both grew to despise the purple foot soldiers that always seemed to hit us with throwing stars no matter what.  The favorite enemy by far was the mousers.  I’m guessing because they jumped all over the place, which was my son’s preferred method of attacking.

All of the boss fights were fun.  The one enjoyed the most was Baxter Stockman, again, because of the mousers and jump kicking  necessity.  When it came to Rocksteady my son adopted the “I’m going to stay on the other side of the screen” approach.  It did keep him alive, so, success?

 I was the only one to get one-shot killed by Shredder.  I always attacked from the rear after that. All in all this game was a lot of fun.  I did find it rather short overall.  The length was about right for my son as we needed a break to address a Hand cramp.

This was the first retro game my son had beat and he had a hard time grasping that you just played the game for the sake of playing the game.  He expected a treasure chest at the end, and thought I was giving him a hard time when I explained the game is just over.

Feel free to share games you beat with your kids if you would like.

 

[fox | 1,665]

That’s...Turtle Power!

Awesome thread.  Good luck tackling some other titles.

[Lago | 217]

Date: 07-12-2020

Kids Age: 5

Game: Altered Beast

Platform: Sega Genesis 

Settings: Normal difficultly, 5 lives, 5 health, 1 continue 

The fun stuff:

My son wanted a fun game to play.  I showed him fatal fury.  He liked it, but he wants to play with dad not against him.  So I went looking for co-op games when I remembered playing Altered Beast as a kid while my mom would shop.  
 

The thing that drew me to the game as a kid was turning into the beasts. A mechanic the game had nailed for me back in the day.  To my nostalgic delight it nailed it for my son as well.  I watched as my son said “I’m getting bigger.”  To “Look how strong I am.” To “Dad!!  I’m a wolf!! Look at me I’m a wolf!  I can shoot fireballs! And I go whoosh!”

The same reaction repeated for the dragon, the bear, the tiger, and back to the wolf.  Once you transform you can absolutely wreck the stage, which we both enjoyed.

There’s no getting away from the bosses in this game so we both had to fight every boss.  I liked that because I got to watch my son think of different attack strategies.  There was a constant attempt to hide from the bad guy so he wouldn’t steal our powers.  We never were successful.

The stage difficulty really ramped up on stage 5.  It came down to the wire on the last boss as we were both running low on health and lives.  Remarkably we took down the rhino in short order.  
 

The game was about the perfect length for us.  When I asked my son what his favorite beast was he replied “All of them!”  I felt the same way.

[NESfiend | 1,514]

This thread is awesome. My son will be 2 in September. Im so hopeful he will want to play through games with me like this when he gets a little older. He likes carrying around controllers, carts, and gun cons especially. Hopefully he stays interested and your thread is a preview of my future. 

[OptOut | 8,881]

I originally read the title of this thread as "Games I've beat my kids with"! 

Personally, I recommend a wireless guitar hero controller, you can get a real nice arch into your swing with one of those!

The handle on the GameCube also makes it a pretty effective bludgeon, although the corners are a little overkill, depending on how naughty the little Bastards have been!

[Lago | 217]

On 7/13/2020 at 2:46 PM, NESfiend said:

This thread is awesome. My son will be 2 in September. Im so hopeful he will want to play through games with me like this when he gets a little older. He likes carrying around controllers, carts, and gun cons especially. Hopefully he stays interested and your thread is a preview of my future. 

Duck Hunt!!  My kid did the same thing!  We had a blast with Duck Hunt for the longest time.  Then we, naturally, transitioned over to Super Mario Bros.  The NES controller worked well too.  A lot of the modern controllers were just to big and, honestly, complicated for him at two. 

[NESfiend | 1,514]

4 hours ago, Lago said:

Duck Hunt!!  My kid did the same thing!  We had a blast with Duck Hunt for the longest time.  Then we, naturally, transitioned over to Super Mario Bros.  The NES controller worked well too.  A lot of the modern controllers were just to big and, honestly, complicated for him at two. 

He doesn't play anything yet. But he carries the equipment everywhere. Also likes to pick games off the shelf and have me fire them up so he can see the title screens. That 'game' get tedious quick for me, but anything to keep him interested. 

Can your son pick up a controller and get through a few stages of smb or other platformers of normal difficulty? Ive had nieces and nephews and few friends kids try on my nes or snes. All older than your son and none got anywhere. And of course, if you suck at a game, it's not much fun, so none of them lasted long. I was thinking I'd have to wait to 7 or 8 at least before he could play proficiently enough to enjoy it. Your thread proves that wrong for sure 

Edited July 18, 2020 by NESfiend

[Lago | 217]

Date: July-18-2020

Kids age: 5

Game: Streets of Rage 2

Platform: Sega Genesis 

Settings: Normal/Easy, lives 5/9, level select code

The Fun Stuff:

When I was growing up Saturday morning was for cartoons.  Now that my son is growing up Saturday morning is prime gaming time.

we have been working on Streets of Rage 2 off and on for a couple of months.  I would typically play as Axel and my son almost always played as Max.  Who he referred to as “Hulk Smash”.

We started this game on normal and spent a fair amount of time beating each other up.  I switched over to easy in the hopes that we wouldn’t be able to hit each other.  We still could.  Regardless, we got fairly proficient at staying away from each other.  Pfffttt!! No we didn’t.  We beat the crap out of each other on every stage.

 As with most beat em ups I did a lot of the heavy lifting.  There’s always exceptions and in this case it was Jet, the jet pack guy, or any of his iterations.  I just couldn’t get that guy, but my son came through in a big way against him every time.  We split the turkey’s , but my son wanted the apples because they were apples.  Kid logic is a wonder to behold.

 I wasn’t going to use the the level select cheat but this game was just to long for us.  We were ripping through the game.  Started level 6 with 5 lives for me and 4 for him and he just wanted to stop.  “I’m tired of playing, daddy”. So we stopped and picked up where we left off.  I don’t really consider that cheating.  When we picked up Is when we went from 5 to 9 lives.  My son really liked using the special attack, that happens to kill you when you use it.  So, we came up with a workaround.  Hulk proceeded to SMASH!

[Lago | 217]

1 hour ago, NESfiend said:

Can your son pick up a controller and get through a few stages of smb or other platformers of normal difficulty? 

When he was 3 almost 4 we started playing SMB.  It took about an hour over a few days to make it over the first jump.  The celebration was epic.  An hour or two of game time over about a week and he’d beat stage 1-1.  8 or 9 hours in and he could get to the castle on 1-4.

The key was for me to SHOW him how to do it, but I absolutely refused to do it for him.  The advantage your child has is he hasn’t played games.  Games today are easier.  Your kid doesn’t know that so he can cut his teeth on the classics just like we did.

[Lago | 217]

Date: 7-25-2020

Kids Age: 5

Game: Super Double Dragon - fully trained hack

Platform: Super Nintendo 

Settings: Default

Fun Stuff:

Man!  Double Dragon brings back so many memories.  I’m not a huge music person but I love turning the volume up and listening to Double Dragon soundtrack.  It takes me back to the gas station that I’d play the original at.  Where my Mom would give me a few quarters and I’d just play.  It reminds me of simpler times.  Back when a gang of street thugs would kidnap your girlfriend for no good reason. You’d grab your best friend, armed with only your world class martial arts skills and grit.  Who doesn’t have those? Walk out in the street and fight your way to her freedom.  Because 80’s.

 I realize it seems that my son and I only play beat ‘em ups.  This isn’t the case.  I’ve got a very small backlog of games we’ve beat I’m going to post about in the near future.  

I have the reason we’ve been gravitating towards them though.  1. A high number of them are co-op. 2. The reward is really quick and relatively easy.  3. The controls are simple. Punch, kick, jump, block.  Or in my sons case jump kick.

There was so much funny for me in and with this game.  On a personal note I got way to much satisfaction out of trapping a punch and Jean-Claude Van Dammeing somebody’s face.  My son immediately set about learning how to jump and kick.  His aerial assaults were unstoppable. 

My daughters got a kick out of this as well.  They both were captivated for the majority of the game.  A great sign!  My youngest (2) even took the controller for a bit, from me. She performed exactly like you’d expect.  Pausing and unpausing the game in rapid succession daring anyone to move.  A virtual game of red light green light for the ages.

The stage where you fight beside the airplane before it takes off was a huge hit.  I don’t know why.  

This happened: My son would jump next to someone, walking is reserved for special occasions, and just stand there facing them.  A few seconds would pass and he’d get punched in the face.  Time for video game dad to intervene.  I pause the game.  “Son, what are you doing.”

”I’m trying to talk to him.”  My curiosity is piqued.

”About what?” Honestly, I was fighting back a chuckle.

”I’m trying to ask him if he doesn’t want to fight.”   My mind immediately went to an alternate reality where instead of fisticuffs you break out in a verbal parley.  Like the debates in one of the Romance of the Three Kingdom games.

”Well of course he wants to fight son.” The concept of not killing the enemy is STILL a foreign concept to me.  Even in stealth games.

“We’ll never know if we don’t ask them Daddy.” At the age of 5 my son has surpassed me on some levels.

This also happened: In an incredibly tense moment in the game my son, standing in front of the tv, places the controller on his head. Yells at the top of his lungs, ATTACK, and starts spinning in circles while mashing buttons.  Still spinning he asks “Am I getting them Daddy?”  This worked better than I expected.

There was absolute heart break when: My son’s favorite weapon, the barrel/rock, rolled off the screen where he couldn’t pick it up again.  Every time he threw it I couldn’t help but say, “Do a barrel roll”. Different game I know.

A complete overreaction happened: every time a bad guy threw a Molotov cocktail.  We’d both shout BOMB!! And run as far away as possible.  I almost did a real life dive behind the coffee table, but the parent in me said this is a bad plan.  So I didn’t.

Inexplicably: my son got hit by way more knives than you’d think possible.  If it was thrown he’d unwittingly walk into it.  UNTIL the last stage where there was a complete role reversal and if a knife was thrown he’d throw it back at the enemy with insane accuracy.  Usually at the toughest guy.

How in the world: Do you make that jump on the bridge.  Neither of us ever made it.  No amount of out of game acrobatics helped. Luckily the game starts you on the other side after you die.

Those bosses though:  Mainly two.  Affectionately nicknamed The Arnold and Kung Fu Elvis.  To many Arnold quotes were used every time The Arnold was on screen.  I’m not ashamed.  
 
Kung Fu Elvis uses your kick against you.  My logic don’t kick Kung Fu Elvis.  My sons logic, JUMP KICK!! Both strategies worked.

That ending was terrible.  Talk about phoning it in.  You know what? Don’t care.  This game was an absolute blast.  Shot of nostalgia for me, a solid watch for my girls, and a good work out for my boy.

I really rambled on this time.  Part of me wants to apologize.  The other part of me thinks it is a discussion board.

As always, feel free to share games you’ve beat with your kids if you would like.

 

 

[Lago | 217]

Had a minute and wanted to post a game we’d beat from the backlog.

Date: 05-25-2019

Kids Age: 5

Game: Mega Man 11

Platform Nintendo Switch 

Settings: easy

Fun Stuff:

I needed a break from Mario.  Figured I’d introduce my son to Mega Man.  My wife had picked the game up for me as a surprise.  It seemed like the stars had aligned.

Given that my son’s gaming skills are in full development mode and mine are as dull as Ben Stiller in Tropic Thunder the easy setting felt like the way to go here.  I was right.

 The first stage we beat was Tundra Man.  My boy immediately fell in love with the TORNADOOOOOOO!! As it was pronounced every time it was used.

This game is a great tool for experimentation as my son was constantly “Daddy we can beat this bad guy with that weapon!”; “Daddy I’ve got a great plan!”; “Daddy this idea is a genius!”.  The last one being my personal favorite.

Proud Dad Moment when I got called away on the honey-do list and came back and my son had beat Acid Man completely on his own. I didn’t have to do a lot of heavy lifting in this game.  Exceptions being the stuff that chased you across the screen and instakilled you, one extremely frustrating jump on Bounce Man’s stage, and that first boss in Wiley’s castle.  
 

This really felt like a collaborative effort.  I could see my son getting better.  
 

Two side notes: Two days after we beat MM11 my Switch disappeared for three weeks.

My son’s favorite type of music to listen to is video game music.  It is entirely because of this game.  We listen to it almost every morning on the way to school.  He asks me to roll the windows down so “other kids can hear how great this music is.  They might like that a little bit.”

 

[Jeevan | 8,909]

How close is he to a good rpg age?  I don't know how you feel about rpg's but intro. him to some good rpg's and help him out with them.  My brother and I loved Final Fantasy growing up and played together on our first playthrough of it.

[Lago | 217]

15 minutes ago, Jeevan said:

How close is he to a good rpg age?  I don't know how you feel about rpg's but intro. him to some good rpg's and help him out with them.  My brother and I loved Final Fantasy growing up and played together on our first playthrough of it.

I’m not sure we’re there yet.  We tried Paper Mario Origami King but he didn’t have the patience to get through the text.  You got any recommendations?  Maybe one with mainly video instead of text would be a better introduction.

[Jeevan | 8,909]

Hmmmm.......let me think on that one.  I was thinking some of the older ones, my favs .  

When he does get old enough tho. I suggest the dragon warrior series for NES.  But I grew up on them.  1 is simple enough and pretty straightforward too so it would be a good intro. when he does get old enough.

[Jeevan | 8,909]

TBH, I think I would have been about 7 or 8 when I first played DW, but I was hooked on the rpgs after that.  Might continue doing what you are doing right now until he gets a little older.  Is he into books at all?  If not, when he does start to get interested into books then that might be the time to start with the rpgs

[fox | 1,665]

2 hours ago, Jeevan said:

TBH, I think I would have been about 7 or 8 when I first played DW, but I was hooked on the rpgs after that.  Might continue doing what you are doing right now until he gets a little older.  Is he into books at all?  If not, when he does start to get interested into books then that might be the time to start with the rpgs

I got into FInal Fantasy II aka IV when I was 7 or 8.  So that was a good age and a simple enough introduction.  There is a secret 2 player mode (both controllers can be used), so you could kind of play that together in a way.  It does require reading, but it also should help his reading and vocab.  I'd agree if he is starting to get into real books like chapter books, that is a good age to start with RPGs.

Super Mario RPG would be another good entry level title.

[NESfiend | 1,514]

On 11/14/2020 at 11:10 AM, Lago said:

I’m not sure we’re there yet.  We tried Paper Mario Origami King but he didn’t have the patience to get through the text.  You got any recommendations?  Maybe one with mainly video instead of text would be a better introduction.

The first pokemon (red/blue) has minimal text and held the attention of young kids. Its also easy to level up and explore. Perect first rpg imo. You could pick up a super gameboy for ten bucks and play it on your snes and big tv. 

[Jeevan | 8,909]

27 minutes ago, NESfiend said:

The first pokemon (red/blue) has minimal text and held the attention of young kids. Its also easy to level up and explore. Perect first rpg imo. You could pick up a super gameboy for ten bucks and play it on your snes and big tv. 

didn't even think of those, but that opens up a rabbit hole

[Lago | 217]

Date 2/27/2022

Kids Age: 7

Game Name: Transformers Devastation

System: PS4

I realize it has been a while since I posted one of these.  My kids have discovered Roblox and have spent the majority of their gaming time playing that.  New game every 5 minutes if that's what you wanted to do with it.  Way different than when I was growing up.  You had a handful of games and had played them so much you could beat them blindfolded.

This game was a little bittersweet for me.  My son's gaming skills have gotten to the point where he can handle most of the game on his own.  I'm happy to see this, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit I'm gonna miss the "Dad help me with this" times.

There were a couple of those, though.

I've got to say that this game was the Transformers episode that I wanted to be in when I was a kid.  The game felt like you were playing through the cartoon series from the graphics to the voices, even the scene transitions.  It did a fantastic job of smashing all those nostalgia buttons.  

It absolutely hooked us right away, too.  The tutorial had you fighting freaking Devastator.  I mean if that doesn't have you chomping at the bit for more, then Transformers might not be for you.  I also appreciated the fact that there were plenty of helpful "push this button to do this" hints that popped up on the screen.  Especially after we had let the game sit for a couple of weeks.

The game has a good assortment of Autobots you can choose from, but we primarily stayed with Optimus Prime.  We did play with Grimlock for a little bit, and tried out some of the others, but we always came back to Optimus.  You fight a ton of the Decepticons too.  Wonderful assortment of characters.

The game goes complete old school on the last stage when you have to fight all of the previous bosses leading up to your final confrontation with Megatron, which was awesome.  In this last stage you have to fight Devastator and Menosaur at the same time, which prompts Optimus to say "This ... will be difficult."  I found that hilarious.

The only time my son really needed help was the two battles in outer space with Starscream and Megatron respectively.  The camera was absolutely disorienting in those battles.

There is a weapon upgrade system that we completely ignored. 

The game clocked in at about 7 hours and each chapter was about an hour with tons of clean stopping points throughout.  It really was laid out well.  I felt like this game was a passion project.

favorite line from my son at the beginning of the game, "Daddy is his name Possumus Prime or Awesomeus Prime."  I cracked up.  This was his introduction to Transformers.  He's officially a fan.

On a side note I bought this game used from GameStop, and it was a formal rental.  Only PS4 rental game I have ever seen.