I have an old Raspberry Pi 1 (!) still going strong with Batocera Linux running NES, SNES and Mega Drive (Genesis) emulators.
I’m looking for easy multiplayer games that can be played with a 5yo. Non violent and ideally co-op, bonus points if somewhat educational.
Lode Runner (NES) might be okay. Not multiplayer, but it’s got nice low-stakes puzzling gameplay.
Edutainment games are a bit few and far between on consoles - Donkey Kong Jr. Math springs to mind, but it’s remarkably dry for a Nintendo game.
Troddlers - SNES
The music in Troddlers slaps.
Its a puzzle platformer game similar to Lemmings. Little dudes walk in a straight line and you play as a wizard that can place blocks. You have to get the little dudes to the exit.
The only violence is when the little guys or the other player gets smooshed by a block I think, its been a long time since I played the game.
Pacman! I am not entirely sure, but I think it was an Atari 2600 where I really enjoyed this on at a similar age
The 2600 version is considered extremely bad. (It’s not that bad but it’s also not arcade-accurate)
There’s a SNES version of Ms. Pac-Man which is extremely good, though.
I have not played it since the beginning oft the 90s, so… perhaps it was Mord enjoyable if you had no alternatives 😉
This is true! If you don’t have a frame of reference for what is “good” (or what everyone else considers “good”) then who the heck cares, play what you want
SNES:
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Harvest Moon - this can lead into allowing the kid to plant something IRL and having them water it regularly, allowing them to “be a real farmer”. Incidentally this is also a great way to get a child to eat vegetables, as a child who refuses to even consider eating a vegetable will change their mind when they grew it themselves
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Super Mario Kart
Mega Drive:
- Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine - simple puzzle game with humorous characters from the old cartoon
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R.C. Pro Am
The NES sesame Street games are pretty good.
My youngest loved sesame Street countdown. it was really forgiving and taught her basic platformer mechanics.
Lemmings for Amiga had a 2player split screen mode. Goal is to guide the most lemmings (yours and the other players) into your exit.
A bunch of arcade games become much more friendly to kids with infinite continues, shmups, fighters, brawlers, etc but for those you’ll need to filter on violence. I’d probably also avoid anything RPG or story heavy.
My picks would be Bubble bobble, Kirby on SNES, ice hockey on NES, Mario 1-3, super Mario kart, Tetris, monkey ball, Dr Mario. For Sega Sonic 1-3 & knuckles, ecco, robotnik’s mean bean machine, Alex kidd, outrun
It doesn’t count as non-violent, but every kid I have played it with has thoroughly enjoyed the TMNT arcade game (as well as the Simpsons game that plays similarly. If you play with them you can essentially carry them through the game and they are just along for the ride, but feel like they are part of the team.
Joust. Easily understood game for little ones, and you can discourage player killing.
Ooh. Good one! Joust even gives nice bonus points for managing not to kill each-other.
That’s easy. Daggerfall.
I like the way you think.
A c64 emulator? Then basically anything, LOCO maybe?
Kirby Super Star
Bubble Bobble is one of my favourite retro multiplayer games since it has both players playing simultaneously (not each take a turn/hand off the controller) but might still be a bit difficult for a 5 year old 🤔
Edit: Tetris & Dr. Mario for the SNES might also work
Dr Mario? My 3 yo wanted me to play Dr Mario while looking around in the n64 thing on switch. The game totally crushed me. Maybe 5 year olds are better at it than 40 year olds 😂
Nah. I played the crap outta Bubble Bobble around that age. Some of my best early memories involve playing Bubble Bobble on NES with my parents after dinner every night. Had all the level codes jotted down on a sheet of notebook paper, including all the lettered levels.
I second Dr Mario. When I first went off to kindergarten, my mom and little brother would play Dr Mario together. It’s perfect for that age range, simple to play and control, with an option for two-player mode.
If Bubble Bobble fits; Snow Bros, TumblePop, Puzzle Bobble or Super Pang may work too.
- Bonus educational game, is to install GCompris and solve the puzzles together.
I played the shit out of bubble bobble as a 3 year old. It has passwords for saves, which was tricky because none of me and the other neighborhood kids could read. It’s a great game, though.
There’s one level like a third of the way through that baffled us for weeks. Still hard, as an adult. Good fun, though. Lots of “go go go go get it go go go oooh no dang.” moments.
This is a great idea. I was also just thinking of using cheats to enable invincibility for player 2, that way they can save you and not worry about dying.
I’m double on the Bubble Bobble! A core memory for me is playing that game with my brother for hours on end!
Lots of other great suggestions. But I do think the consensus is multiplayer games with coop.
Konami beat ‘em ups like TMNT, The Simpson, Xmen would be great.
I’m also going to throw in Party games or kart racers, CTR and Mario Kart of Mario Party or Crash Bash would also be great
That said Pokémon might be a nice option too though not sure how you’d play that together.
Or edutainment like Gizmos and Gadgets or Jumpstart
