Jeraden

My son, who just turned 3 last month enjoys video games and I want to get him a game he can actually play and have fun with. Given that he just turned 3, his reflexes aren't all that great and he can't really figure out complex puzzles. Right now he can sort of play Animal Crossing (since he sees us play it), but he doesn't do much except shake trees and eat fruit and drop umbrellas everywhere. He plays some Thomas train game on the PC that has some simple puzzles that he can do ok with. He also plays a few flash games on the PC like Elf bowling although he's not that good at it either. He has a racing game on the PC too but he can't steer very well and always gets stuck every 5 seconds.

Anyways, I wanted to get him a console game for christmas but don't know what would be good for someone thats only 3. I'm afraid they'd all be too difficult - for example he likes Finding Nemo, but I read the game gets really tough later on.

Any suggestions for the little guy?

PixyJunket

The Lord God of all video games steps forth to welcome new blood:

Pac-Man

young

no games that i can think of. my 3 yo likes some of the games at noggin.com though. she's pretty good at them.

she's ok w/ Dora for the gameboy which we play on the gamecube w/ the gameboy player.

Jtnguyen12

If you got Gamecube I did recomanded Pacman/Pacman 2 (GC) $19.99 or Less

I can't think anything games goof for 3 yrs. old

sniper308

I bought one of the Namco joysticks that has several games built into it for $14 and my kids love it. It has PACMAN, Galaxian, Bosconian, Rally X, and Dig Dug. It connects via RCA composite connections (if you have front inputs on the TV this makes it very easy). My 3 year old daughter likes it.

My 5 year old likes it too and he can play some things on the GBA player (he loves super street fighter II ... I just set the difficulty at an appropriate level).

PixyJunket

BTW.. I meant original Pac-Man.. Pac-Man World 2 would be too complicated.. but Pac-Man (along with many other classics) can be had on any system with Namco Museum.. or the cool joystick snipes mentioned.

Breakfast with Girls

See, the thing about 3-year-olds is that they really suck at everything, including video games.

PixyJunket

But they don't know the difference between sucking and being good, they just have fun..

sfsdfd

Ooh, here's one that's perfect for a three-year-old:

Scooter's Magic Castle

It's abandonware, so it's a free (and legal) download from Home Of The Underdogs.

- David Stein

~~ PAL ~~

Check out Piglet's Big Game, which should be very kid-friendly.

Outlaw

Get him one of those Leapfrog things, those are a lot of fun and educational too.

illennium

Pretty much anything reviewed by Seanbaby in EGM should fit the bill.

edytwinky

Pong, Pac-Man, Dig Dug, etc.

Jeremy517

I don't think Pong would be good at all.

My 3-year-old nephew loves RC Pro Am and Excitebike. He doesn't win (unless he gets lucky), but most 3-year-old males love cars/vehicles.

Decker

Go to www.nickjr.com
They have some Dora, Blue's Clues and other simple games that my little 2 yr old girl loves to play with me.

BTW my little girl likes to watch me play Piglet's Big Game and Finding Nemo, but there's no way she could play them herself.

She also loves trying to fly around the levels of Crimson Skies. She can't shoot at anything of course, but she gets a kick out of watching the plane fly around and respont to her jiggling the controller.

toogood

How bout that new pokemon game. I believe it's called Pokemon Channel. Saw it in this week bestbuy ad for $30.

Dah-Dee

My little guy got a Gamecube last year for his 4th birthday and loves it (a little too much!). Piglet's Big Game is a fun one for little ones, good to play with Mommy or Daddy. He loves Kirby Air Ride. which has cutesy graphics and is very easy (joystick and A button are pretty much all you really need to use to play the game!). The Rugrats game is very cute and also pretty easy, with a little help from Mommy/Daddy with reading here and there. Sonic 2 and Sonic DX were huge hits. He also likes to play Animal Crossing with us. Unfortunately, he's also crazy about Super Smash Brothers Melee (a "T" game, lotsa cartoonish fighting and zapping). Spyro the Dragon is also cute and pretty easy.

Jeraden

Well we tried that Scooter's Magic Castle from the link above and it was kinda dumb. Anyways, I was more or less looking for console games when I said any system. He plays lots of flash games from the nick/disney sites, but he's always wanting to play the consoles and all the games are too difficult for him. I'll look into that Piglet game.

TheAllPurposeNothing

The one my three year old has taken to is "Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters." In fact, it has led to an intense Godzilla fascination, which in turn has led to repeated viewings of "Godzilla's Revenge."

Which I guess amounts to more of a warning than a recommendation...

KirstenS

My 3 year old loves Mario 64. He doesn't play any of the levels, but he has a blast running and jumping around the castle.

Heat

I have a son who turned 3 this past October. He loves Mario Kart, Battle Tank, and StarFox, all on the Nintendo 64.

Consider the Nintendo 64, it is cheap on ebay and uses cartridges instead of DVDs, thus the games are pretty kid-proof (no smudges, scratches, etc). It's too late to get one by Christmas, of course, but he won't care if you give it to him a couple of weeks later and tell him it was from Santa.

madcougar

It's Christmas morning and I don't want to argue... but my 3 year-old is actually pretty good at several video games. I've been amazed at his agility with Mariokart Double Dash, where he routinely finishes in the top four. After a year, he's collected about 40 stars in Mario World. He's also very good at games like Spyro, Crash, and even Tony Hawk (3 and 4). His favorite game is Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue.

By the way, Bob the Builder: We Can Fix It is pretty easy to play and your 3 year-old might enjoy it.

darkside

I still have my 3DO & CD-i just for this reason. My son played all the educational games on them when growing up and my daughter will be next to use them. Sesame Street, Putt Putt, etc. I think the PSone has a few titles as well that a 3 year old would like. Bob the Builder and Blues Clues for sure are on PSone.

WOWZY

When my daughter was 3, she had no coordination with a controller at all until I let her play MarioKart 64. It really helped out alot and she didn't get bored with it. At 7 yrs. she's become a very good player on almost all video games. Heck at age 5 she defeated Halo on Normal and then on Heroic right before her 6th birthday. Legendary has proven many times to cause her to throw the controller on the floor and bust out crying

The N64 is probably your best system to start him out with, to develop his hand and eye coordination.

RocShemp

Every gamer (and future gamer) should play Pac-Man.