New Nintendo DS Lite for the kids.

McLoki

Scored a pretty good deal on a couple of Nintendo DS lites for the kids. (girl age 7, boy age 5)

Now that we have the DS lites (with the extended warrantee....) what games would be good to pick up for christmas? My daughter is just learning to read, my son has not started - straighforward game play would be nice. (else all is will get is hours of "dad what does this say")

Any thoughts on game titles that would be a good match for that age child? The DS and the games will, of course, be christmas presents.

All I can say is Santa is much cooler now than he was when I was a kid.... :rolleyes:

Michael

bdaley6509

The new Super Mario Bros would be a good choice. And the Metroid Pinball is a lot of fun as well. Also, can't go wrong with the Mario Kart DS. Great system...hope they love it.

krabby5

I would get the Brain age and Brain Academy games...pretty cool and they may actually learn a little at the same time.

plus they're only $19.99 each

Sansui

McLoki wrote:

Scored a pretty good deal on a couple of Nintendo DS lites for the kids. (girl age 7, boy age 5)

Now that we have the DS lites (with the extended warrantee....) what games would be good to pick up for christmas? My daughter is just learning to read, my son has not started - straighforward game play would be nice. (else all is will get is hours of "dad what does this say")

Any thoughts on game titles that would be a good match for that age child? The DS and the games will, of course, be christmas presents.

All I can say is Santa is much cooler now than he was when I was a kid.... :rolleyes:

Michael

At some point you have to get "Animal Crossing: Wild World"! It's a keep busy type of game. The only problem would be the reading which is needed to really enjoy the game. This game may be more suited for your daughter. Once she walks around her town, learns how to pick up fruit and sell them for "bells" (money), buy items to put into her house, upgrade her house with more rooms, visit other the "animal citizens" in the town that is created for them (she'll pick the name of the town), and pick up sea shells (for bells) she'll be "hooked". She can also catch insects, catch fish, and dig up fossils to donate to their museum (for display or to sell for bells).

This game support direct connect (like Pictochat) and if you have a DSL connection she can go onto Nintendo's world server and visit other towns (when she gets older).

You have to make sure your daughter answers the first questions at the start of her game correctly so she's a girl. Each game cartridge only supports one player.

What I like about this game is that it's not a "reflex" game. I lost my "tiger lightening" reflexes years ago. Well, catching fish is a reflex (more timing and reflex) thing as is catching insects buy they're not *that* hard to get the hang of.

Not all towns are the layed out the same. They have the same buildings but in different locations, the grass areas, dirt paths, waterfall, stream (which leads to the beach always at the "bottom" of the layout), bridges over the stream are layed out differently too.

I've been hooked on this "cutsie" game for about eight months now and played it at least one hour every night while I watch TV since my son talked me into trying it out. You'd be surprised at my age (not even "going there").

I might suggest you do a Google search on "Animal Crossing Wild Worlds DS review" and see what you think before you buy it. If you do just a "Animal Crossing review" search you'll get both the Game Cube and DS listings even though both versions are geared to the same ages and are basically the same. Both IGN and Gamespot are good sources for all types of game reviews and such. There are also Animal Crossing websites you could visit (thank you Google again) before you make a decision about buying it or not.

Hope this helps!

Sansui

krabby5 wrote:

I would get the Brain age and Brain Academy games...pretty cool and they may actually learn a little at the same time.

plus they're only $19.99 each

Great idea! That would be a good idea for the 7 year old. I just asked my son and neither of us could come up with more titles. He mentioned that games that mainly use the touch screen would probably be the best. The problem is that the 5 year old isn't reading yet.

Sansui

McLoki, go to nintendo.com site, select "Nintendo DS", and click on "See all DS game titles" (about 1/2 way down the page on the left). There's 281 listings as of today. You're interested in the ones with an "ESRB rating" of "E" (not "E +10"). Note the "Release Date" so you don't do "homework" on one that won't be out before X-mas. With your selections do a Google search for reviews on games you feel your children might be interested in.

McLoki

thanks for all the great ideas....

We are thinking of the mario cart and nintendogs. When I purchased the DS's it included one used game - we picked up zoo tycoon. I don't know if they will be able to play it or not, but it looked like it would be fun and maybe they will let dad have a turn...

I will check out the recommended sites... any good review sites that you all like?

Michael

Sansui

McLoki wrote:

thanks for all the great ideas....

We are thinking of the mario cart and nintendogs. When I purchased the DS's it included one used game - we picked up zoo tycoon. I don't know if they will be able to play it or not, but it looked like it would be fun and maybe they will let dad have a turn...

I will check out the recommended sites... any good review sites that you all like?

Michael

Both are good ideas! I've got both of them and can't figure out why they didn't come to my mind yesterday. Mariokart supports direct connect and you'll only need one game card for them to link up. It would be better if they each had one though so each could save their own settings instead of one using the other's settings and possibly changing them. I don't do good at that game but like zooming around the tracks anyway.

Nintendo Dogs will be a good choice for each one of them too once they get start training their puppies (which never grow out of the puppy stage). If it wasn't for Animal Crossing I would have started playing this game already.

Like I said before, ign.com and gamespot.com seem to have good and fair reviews on many games for all types of systems. Those are the two I rely on the most. (No fair going to the "cheats" areas.)