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I'm struggling myself to find videogames for my daughter (almost 4). She played Kirby star allies and Yoshi's Crafted World (both finished now), but after that I've been struggling to find any meaningful game that had the right difficulty, right theme and didn't have the requirement of being able to read.

I avoid all tablet games because there is too much garbage.

Anyway, depending on the age of your kids, those two have "cartoon violence", yoshi throwing eggs, not sure if you would count it as that.

Does super mario count as violent with jumping on monster heads?

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FYI some games my son has enjoyed that had reasonable difficulty and/or co-op so we can play together:

* Super Mario Odyssey

* Sackboy: A Big Adventure

* Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

* Paw Patrol Games (gameplay maybe a bit too simple though)

* Overcooked 1 & 2

* Untitled Goose Game

* Ultimate Chicken Horse

* Astro's Playroom

Captain Toad is on my radar. Overcooked is nice for like... the first hour, then my brain goes mushy because it's too repetitive and my daughter goes into panic mode because it gets too fast, lol.

Super Mario Odyssey was good early on, but now she gets bored because it's too easy to play as the hat. If she plays as mario, it's too boring for myself, but playing by herself is still too challenging.

The other ones, I will try! Paw Patrol is indeed too easy, she played harder games with me (we played together Sundered, which is metroidvania coop, quite hard for myself too) and I was keeping an eye on it and determined she would learn anything new from it.

It's particularly challenging to find for kids "hard but not frustrating" because their frustration meter is quite lower than that of an adult.

Yeah I know what you mean there’s surprisingly few games that hit the sweet spot. The latest sackboy is probably the best one I’ve played in that you both get to play a full character (ie no boring cappy), it drops extra lives like a sieve if someone isn’t doing very well, so the adult can usually get you both through a tough level and there’s plentiful checkpoints. It does get hard towards the end game but there’s a lot of content before then.

I originally thought super mario would be good but the older ones are surprisingly hard for younger players. Although that reminds me Super Mario 3D World / Bowsers Fury is pretty good for co-op too if you’ve not tried it yet.

I’ll also mention its worth playing any game with a builder, my son loves building his own tracks in track mania turbo for instance.

Thank you, this is really good input. I evaluated the builder but haven't found anything that would hook my daughter, she gets caught in the "full freedom" thing and regresses to "I'll just go around" mode.

SUper Mario 3D world looked good, but I was afraid after the Odyssey experience, I'll put that on my wishlist.

I'll check sackboy, never heard that game!

EDIT: I see, it's playstation only, I'm cut out of that. PC or Switch in this home, and it was a big sacrifice bringing a Switch in (I'm against consoles in their current form and try to vote with my wallet against them. Steam Deck is a good compromise)

Super Mario 3D World is more like Sackboy so you’ll probably enjoy that, 3D world is more typical Mario levels, then Browsers Fury is more free form/open world platforming - both have you in control of full characters though.

RE Sackboy - keep an eye out Sony seem to have relented and are releasing their games on PC now so it’ll probably appear at some point.

I am indeed keeping an eye out (I have a wishlist that spans any platform). Especially Sackboy and Returnal seems like good candidate.

Returnal for myself, obviously ;)

Here's some unrequested parenting advice, but almost-4 year olds do not need video games in their lives.

OR, you could play videogames and have great bonding moments.

The hand-eye coordination my daughter has is incredible too, her creativity is incredible. A lot of in-the-park games are a consequence of what we play: one time she grabbed a short stick (a wand) and a huge stick (I assume a two handed sword) and invited me to go around and defeat monsters and bosses. Never played a game like that in the park with her, she came up with it. We actually had a great time.

Use videogames like any other toy: with a critical eye at all time, with moderation at all time.

EDIT: Sorry I'm very bitter on this. People keep treating videogames like a special case, but it's like any other toy. TV included. Just keep careful eye on your child and constantly re-evaluate how toys are impacting them. It's easy to see how more than 1 hour TV makes your child grumpy and bored, however it's also easy to see how some movies stimulate her will to dance and sing (Moana, Frozen), which in turn promotes playing with her little brother.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania: Don't get Banana Blitz HD, the camera controls suck. If you're unfamiliar with Monkey Ball: Monkeys in balls navigate puzzles to get from the start to the finish in as little time as possible. Originally an arcade game. Sponsored by Dole, the banana people.

Tetris Effect: It's Tetris! With lots of shiny colors! I'm not the hugest fan of how they set up the grading system, but it has lots of replay value and has lots of no-fail modes.

Abzu: Somber, deep, with bright colors and lots of fish. A little eerie in places. No dialog/words.

Journey: Possibly a little mature (despite its Everyone rating) for how eerie it is, Journey contains no words. There's spoken dialog in a language that nobody knows anymore. [2] reviews.

Offspring Fling: You're a momma fluff who's gotta get her little fluffs home! Very little penalty for failure, it's a fun sidescrolling platforming game. A few spots might need help from a parent to get right.

Echochrome: Think MC Escher, but as a perspective puzzle game. PSP/PS3 only, though...

Do you read to your daughter? If she's got the basics of words down and you want to work on words being read, heard, and having meaning, I have some suggestions!

SkateBird: BIRBS! TECH DECKS! Heckin TRICKS! There's story, told in birbish. The difficulty can be turned to super low, the assists turned up super high. There's very few "big words" anywhere -- most of them are maybe two syllables, and the story revolves around "Big Friend". The whole first part of the adventure is cleaning up Big Friend's room. You can customize the bird you play as. You can, in fact, pet the bird.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX: Pokemon, but with a focus on... the pokemon? Yeah it's an RPG, and there's fighting (like any pokemon game), but it has just enough plot that you'll be able to read for your daughter and help her along. [1] reviews it.

PIKMIN 3: It's Pikmin, there's really nothing else to say. It's cute, it's teamwork, but beware: There's a lot of (vaugely useful) dialog.

Katamari Damacy: Not super recommended, but worth a try if you're not familiar. The king of all cosmos has gotten himself "one with nature" (read: drunk off his petard) and dumped all the stars outta the sky. Lots of colors, but the difficulty curve is tough for a 4yo. Also there's a loud siren at the end of each level as you run out of time that spooked me the first time I was playing it.

Here Comes Niko!: You're Niko! Your goal is to make friends! Dialog-heavy in places, but with a little adult help, definitely doable!

The Unfinished Swan: perhaps a bit artsy, give it a glance and see if it's something you and your daughter would enjoy.

[1] https://youtu.be/qrvRbKiLZKI [2] https://www.gameinformer.com/games/journey/b/ps3/archive/201...

Thank you, that's amazing list

You're welcome.

If you'd like some games that you might enjoy playing with your daughter watching (or sometimes engaging in as appropriate), I left another list: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31625560

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