Jeez didn't mean to open that can of worms. To answer the question, my son is going on 5. He already plays some of the PS2 games I have. He gets a good bit of outside time and I am definitely not worried about him intellectuallly. Basically I was looking for something fun for him as an alternative to his TV time and to pass the time when we are in the car. We spend a good bit of time in the car traveling, especially during the holidays.. I like the idea of puzzle games. I just don't know if he will be able to do them. Mario is also a possibility.
get 'em started early all jokes aside what about like Mario? My brother is like 6 and he plays Mario on the gameboy
Like Gummi Clutch mentioned, I'd think really think about getting the DS or PSP instead of a GBA. The DS would probably be a much better choice though since I doubt you son will really use the music and movie features of the PSP and Nintendo will probably make some good games that may interest your son...not to mention that fact that the only way you could get a PSP in time for Christmas would be to import it from Japan. The DS will be a little more expensive ($150 vs $80 IIRC) but it can still play GBA games. DS games should take advantage of a built-in microphone and the touchscreen on the DS, so any games for it should be quite an experience for a 5 year old. As for any GBA games, this is somewhat hard for me since I wouldn't know exactly what would interest a 5 year old. There is plenty of Mario, Pokemon, Sonic, etc., IIRC. A game that I think is called WarioWare is supposed to be pretty good, although I never played it. I think it basically consists of a bunch of different minigames to perform. I imagine that would probably interest him pretty well. I think they have a Mario Cart game too for the GBA which should be a lot of fun. So um..yeah, anything with Mario would probably be a good choice, and Nintendo has a lot of Mario games. What you can do if you want some more suggestions is go to www.gamerankings.come, click under Gameboy Advance, and then on Recent Games to get to a page where you can filter all the games for the GBA. You can then get a list of the top 10,20,30, etc., games (based on an average of media reviews) with an "Everyone" rating. I will warn you that some of the games, like maybe Advance Wars and Final Fantasy Tactics, may be a little more advanced for a 5 year old since they rely heavily on tactical decisions, but the list does include other great games involving Mario, Sonic, Zelda, etc, that should do well with your son. You could check out the reviews from the different sites as well to see what the game has to offer.
As a proud Toys R Us emplyee, allow me to help! It basically depends on what your kid likes, but the games that have been being bought the most lately are: *The newer Pokemon games (FireRed and LeafGreen), *Those GBA Video Series things are selling like crazy (they're videos that you can watch on the GBA) *Any of the Yu-Gi-Oh games sell out quick *Like the guys on here have said, the Mario games are always the best. DO NOT buy the GTA game for Game Boy Advance. Just because the games are great on the big systems, that doesn't mean they're good on GBA. This game sucks big. I played it at work the other day and *blech*
Other thing about the new DS, Castor...it will be 150 bucks, which isn't a bad price, but it will be able to play the Game Boy Advance games as well as everything that will be coming out for it. Essentially you're getting two systems for the price. And the touch screen opens up a lot of puzzle game possibilities that may be the stimulating type of games your looking forward to. Other than that, some good titles: Everything Mario is good for all ages. (this includes stuff like Mario Kart) Pokemon if he's into that, though it does require a good understanding of simple strategy/mixing and matching. WarioWare is a series of minigames that are super fast and easy...but incredibly addicting. There are tons of movie-based games (as is the case for all systems), which - again like most systems - aren't very good. But at 5 years old, a Harry Potter game or a Fish Tale, etc. will probably still be appealing. If there's a specific title you're wondering about, I can help you out there as well.
DS is out of the question. I can't spend $150 on a system. This isn't his main present. That has already been purchased. I just wanted something else to go along with it. I am not real concerned about not getting the DS. For the amount of time I anticipate he'll use it he won't notice it. It will really be just an introduction to gaming.When he is a little older then we may start looking at getting him a higher end system. I wasn't really looking at anything specific just trying to get ideas of what others have played. I haven't had a handheld system, since the game gear (which at the time was a bad ass system). It looks like I will probably end up with a Mario game and maybe an older Pokemon game. I did see a few cheesy looking Power Ranger games pretty cheap, that I may end up with just because he like them.
haha trying to be the funny man eh? I'll have you know I still have my original model, bought for me when I was 5. It still works and my son currently calls that his "Gameboy".
I suggest two games, both stimulate the brain to some degree Don't know how old your kid is, but I'm in love with a game called Advance Wars, theres a sequel as well. Its a strategy game with tanks and soldiers, land sea air units, and its very much like a board game, units attack and defend, lose points, each unit has various weaknesses strengths, you have to buy units and there is terrain as well. Very good game for logic, learning how to use and save resources, a little bit of math, etc. very addictive, non-violent (tanks and soldiers, but its cartoonish, things blow up or get knocked off screen, no gore) im in my 20's and its a great game to unwind to. the other game which was fun is Mario and luigi superstars, which is an RPG game, its fun, cute, entertaining, and has some puzzles as well while having a good action element. metroid, yoshis island, mariokart, zelda are also winners. other than that, i'd avoid games based off of platforms, movies, cartoons, or whatever else is there just to make a quick buck on its name. If you want to do some research, www.ign.com can be a good friend, although im sometimes skeptical about how unbiased their ratings are. also, depending how knowledgable of these things your kid is, he might be a little bitter that you got him the old gameboy instead of the upcoming gameboy sp, especially if his friends at school get them. Its pricey yes, but if you're going to get him hooked on GBA, he's going to be asking for the new gameboy in a few months anyway. the new one plays old GBA games, as well.
Um...yeah...uh...this so awkward and would be such a way to lose in the spelling contest. I have many of these, such as the time I said "I love my crack," but it was out of context. IIRC, Nintendo plans to come out with the GBA2 (since the DS is technically not a Gameboy) in like 2006 anyways, so his son may be complaining by then no matter if he gets the DS (I think that's what you meant) or the GBA, not to mention the fact he may feel the same way on the PSP. So it could just be a lose-lose situation. I guess if this is just going to be a "small" present for him, you could stick with the GBA. Purhaps you may even get lucky and with these price wars between Sony and Nintendo, the DS and PSP could go down in price pretty "quickly" (maybe like mid to late 05 at soonest), and you could maybe trade in the GBA plus a little bit of money for the DS later on, perhaps on his birthday (depending on when that is) or if he made the best grades in his class or whatever. That would actually work pretty well especially since he could still play his GBA games on the DS as well.
I'm not worried about any anger or backlash from him. He has new clue about systems yet. I give it a couple more years before I have to worry about that. He would be happy if I gave him one of those $10 tiger handheld games that only played one game.
Didn't they come out with Zelda for the GBA. Go with that. Adventure, problem solving, puzzles...fun all around.
