Ask HN: More Co-op games I can carry my 5 year old through?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38204888

by robviren • 3 years ago

8 23 3 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I am trying to keep my son off of ad riddled tablet games when he gets some electronics time. I have a short list of good couch co-op games I can "carry" him through because he is still learning and finds a lot of game frustrating, especially newer more complex games.

Does anyone have good suggestions for games similar to the following?

- Kirby Dream Land (SNES)

- Super Smash Bros Brawl: Adventure Mode

- TMNT: Turtles in Time

- Spiritfarer

Kirby for me nails the forgiving second player mechanic by making them unable to fall to death, easy extra life, I can essentially force progression by moving forward and he just flies towards me at a certain point. The balance just feels right in that game and the others mentioned. Only problem is I can't seem to find a wealth of games that hit this sweet spot.

Any ideas HN crowd?

seren• 3 years ago

Pikuniku is an independent platformer, where you cannot mostly not die except some boss encounter, but some part can be difficult for a 5 years old. It is mainly single player, with a small 2 player part. Available on Switch & PC at least.

houseatrielah• 3 years ago

Some of the old "Sonic: the Hedgehog" games had a 2-player mode where only sonic could die and tails would just respawn. You can't die in "A Short Hike" but its 1-player.

mneil• 3 years ago

Super Mario Wonder has excellent multiplayer mechanics including characters that don't take damage and respawn as long as one character survived. Game might be tough still at 5.

Kirby and the forgotten land has a second player that takes damage but respawns is they die. Items like food can be shared which makes for a really mechanic where the two of you can celebrate a health share when eating.

No reload heroes allowed players to save each other when they "die". It's a generator dungeon crawler with lots of replay time for fairly cheap.

Unraveled two literally allows you to carry the other person. Admittedly some parts require two players and may be frustrating at 5.

Mario kart 8 is amazing for young kids. Options exist to self propel and keep your kart on the track. You can set you controller down and still finish a race. The colors, music, and powerups are all appealing.

Minecraft. Both my kids started around 5. Peaceful mode, help them learn to build. By age 7 they will be teaching you how to play. This game goes deep but starts shallow. There's a reason it's so popular with kids. I love it as well.

DrOctagon• 3 years ago

My 5yo enjoyed Alba: A wildlife adventure. It’s not co-op but it’s not skill based and impossible to ‘die’. The camera angle can be hard for a little one to manage and I had to read all the dialogue. We still had fun with it though.

iteria• 3 years ago

Chicory? It's an adventure game about coloring in the world. There is no death state that I know and player 2 gets to color while player 1 explores and colors

CaptainHardcore2• 3 years ago

Me and my sister (5 years younger) enjoyed the original Bubble Bobble on the NES. The mechanics are very simple. The MAME arcade version and the Lost Caves bootleg are both good.

HenryBemis• 3 years ago

I remember playing BB on PC back in the early 90s.. When I had 45-50mins to spare I would rock it.. If memory serves well, if you reached lvl 20 without losing a life you would open up the bonus levels.

CaptainHardcore2• 3 years ago

Correct. The secret room would appear at levels 20, 30, and 40 if you didn’t lose a life.

I watched a video last night about how the special items are calculated. Blew my mind- I thought it was random.

https://youtu.be/8ufe9swEtzg

roland35• 3 years ago

Baldur’s Gate 3 is great for young children. It will teach them about good and evil. Maybe have them stick with an easier class like barbarian and they can just whack stuff.

userinanother• 3 years ago

A good beheading to teach your kid the ways of the world.

flakyfilibuster2• 3 years ago

hard disagree

solardev• 3 years ago

Child of Light is a story-heavy game where one co-op player has a significantly easier time (playing a flying ball of light that supports the main player)

Never Alone is a Native American mythology game where the second player plays a supporting spirit fox

The Lego games are great in co-op, and the first player can do most things to progress

Roblox is more of a community of minigames and sandboxes, so you can choose fun ones together

When they're a bit older...

Trine is an excellent physics puzzler

Grounded is a co-op survival game where you're kids shrunken to the size of ants

Unravel is a... eh... yarn puzzler? Hard to explain but cute in co-op

It Takes Two is a wonderful series of puzzles in 3D.

Farm Together is a farming game.

Stardew Valley is also a farming game but with a story.

KomoD• 3 years ago

The lego games, a great option

subsection1h• 3 years ago

If you're open to board games, not just video games, here is a list of cooperative board games listed at BoardGameGeek that are categorized as children's games and are sorted by popularity:

https://boardgamegeek.com/search/boardgame?advsearch=1&sort=...

And here is a list of co-op board games that are not categorized as children's games but have complexity ratings of 1.7 or less:

https://boardgamegeek.com/search/boardgame?advsearch=1&sort=...

I chose 1.7 because one of my favorite co-op board game for young children is Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters (out of print), which has a complexity rating of 1.63. What's nice about filtering board games based on complexity ratings is that a parent can increase the complexity rating for their search as their children get older. Not all games with low complexity ratings are suitable for children, but BoardGameGeek also provides two suggested minimum ages for each game: one from the publisher and one from BoardGameGeek users.

robviren• 3 years ago

He did great with Catan JR. So we are for sure on the board game train. Also made my own version of a TTRPG using Pokemon cards and D6s. He's been big into Pokemon. We played through some Pokemon Red which is great for basic math, strategy, and reading ironically.

croo• 3 years ago

Brothers - a tale of two sons is a good story driven 3d platformer. It can be played with one controller, both holding it.

v-erne• 3 years ago

Knack 1 & 2 worked great for my son.

It has a really great coop mode where you can help other player exactly as much as he needs.

nusl• 3 years ago

- It Takes Two, though it has love themes but is fairly innocent - Lego Batman or other Lego games - Minecraft? - Slime Rancher

1_1xdev12• 3 years ago

it takes two is great, but actually requires coordination, and probably hard for a 5 year old

cameron_b• 3 years ago

Untitled Goose Game

Grab two USB SNES-style controllers ( 15 bucks / pair is available ) and put it in two player. My 5yo has been playing with me for about a year and we ( mostly on my work ) have reached the endgame lists, but he still wants to do funny things with the items you can move around and play silly tricks of people.

His latest thing was to take the bag of soil from the gardener and take it all the way up the creek. We were off doing some other silly task, and saw it floating down into the lake, and it made us really laugh.

I like that it has text and non-verbal cues. I have to read the lists to him, but he's starting to get that part. That part draws us together, and puts him on a track to make up his own "to-do" list in his own way.

Even though it is only one or two player, it's a solidly funny game to watch and becomes a family event.

https://goose.game/

1_1xdev12• 3 years ago

new super mario bros wii (and whatever the latest successor of that is)

CM30• 3 years ago

Super Mario Odyssey and Bowser's Fury could be good choices, since both contain secondary characters for player 2 that can move, hurt enemies and interact with the environment, but can't actually take damage from anything and are in some way tied to player 1's progress.

The only issue with the former is that because player 2 controls Cappy, you won't always have him where you need him to bounce off for a difficult jump.

Yoshi's Woolly World and Crafted World could work. They're both co-op games like the New Super Mario Bros series, but come with a 'mellow mode' where players can fly around freely and platforming is much easier.

Super Mario Bros Wonder is a good choice, since there are characters who are completely immune to damage, and (for the Yoshis) have the ability to flutter jump in mid air to make platforming far easier. The special world levels would certainly be a challenge, but hey, having two players actually makes the game easier for you as well, since you can revive so long as one person is alive.

If you liked Kirby, then Kirby's Return To Dreamland and Kirby and the Forgotten Land have co-op multiplayer and work about the same. Maybe Star Allies, but the game isn't really as good as the other two.

Oh and Luigi's Mansion 3. Gooigi is player 2's character, and has a way easier time during the adventure than Luigi does, respawning whenever he runs out of health, being immune to spikes, etc.

Hope that helps!

flakyfilibuster2• 3 years ago

Mostly seen younger children having a problem with 3D games, because they have to manage both the movement of the character as well as the camera perspective. I feel like below 6 years, they have a hard time wrapping their heads around it / master the controls.

Having said that, Mario Kart 8 is really a good choice (despite it being 3D): * it almost drives itself in 50cc cups * it has 4 types of cups, which gradually get harder * it's great fun alone and in coop * it has great challenges: win the cup/ win all races

if it's not about co-op, but about letting your kid drive and _you_ sitting in the passenger seat, i can highly recommend the titles from https://www.humongous.com/games They are like interactive cartoons with some mini games thrown in. Basically old school point and click adventures for kids.

Ask HN: More Co-op games I can carry my 5 year old through?

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