Toddler/Pre-School Games

[NoBonus]

I am looking for MAME games that would be fun for toddler and pre-school aged kids.  You know, where they can stay playing for a little bit and not die (I guess any cheat could fix that), but has kid-friendly graphics, sounds, and interface?  Any ideas?


NoBonus

[SirPoonga]

That's tough, as most arcades were designed to suck quarters fast, it's the console stuff you want.

You can always put on free play or whatever for a particular title.

I'd say the old classics, they are simple.

[DaveJ-UK]

Pacman and DK all the way!

I found DK on my NES hellish hard when I was a kid tho.

[quarterstringer]

My 2 year old son plays World Class Bowling and Shuffleshot. I had to turn on the reverse on both games because it was easier for him to roll the trackball towards his body.

[Minwah]

Miss World Nude '96

(tee hee  )

[Santoro]

My six year old loves Bubble Bobble.

[Generic Eric]

Try puzzle/maze games

I like camel try, and puzz loop.  they are fun games, and meet your critera

Or even racing games.

[ErikRuud]

My 7 year old daughter loves PacMan (especially Super PacMan).  World Class Bowling and Shuffleshot are also favorites.  She has also taken a liking to Tetris.

[Lilwolf]

There are some... but I can't remember the names.

there is one with 3 buttons (red, blue and green) and you have to press the right one..

but its really lacking... Even some of the kid arcade games are MUCH harder then most of the PS2 games on the market.

[walls83]

Since everybody is thowing out trackball games what about SHUUZ?  I love that game.  what about breakthrough games?

[SirPoonga]

asteroids and space duel are decent.  Frogger possibly.  Capcom bowling.  

However, you may want to look into kids software that is cab friendly.  Mayby board game software.  I have a monopoly that works well in the cabinet.

[TimO]

I'm a pre-school teacher. and yes, i know this isn't an arcade game but my kids love... LOVE the putt putt games... maybe find a hacked exe file and put it on there as a pc game. assuming you use other things than mame   I know it could work with the control panel

[REBIRTH]

My youngest is a 3 year old girl who really likes, and is able to play for a while without dying, a game that I had never heard of until Mame.  Now I hate to do this, but I can't remember the !@)*!@)#* name of the game.  It is a horizontal game, and you play as a tucan bird or some type of bird.  You can play as 2 players.   If no one else can think of the name I'll find it tonight.  It is also a very trippy game - whomever programmed it had to be on LSD or something.  There are colors and shapes that make no sense to the game other than to make you lightheaded!!!

[Lilwolf]

oh yeah...

my daughters love to play DinoRex.  Its a great fighter game where hitting the buttons fast is really the only strat.  My 8 year old can kill me as often as I get her... And she can be a T-Rex.

[Stormy151]

My wife's niece one day got to Cervantes (the next to last character) in Soulblade on the Dreamcast just by mashing buttons.

She was 6.  

[jerryjanis]

Leprechaun is an arcade game made specifically for little kids so that they can play for a while on a quarter.  The machine itself was midget-sized.  I remember playing it at the candy store and doing really really well at it.  For years, I wondered why on earth I was able to play for so long on that game...  That is, until I saw a picture of the cabinet and played it again in Mame:

"The game is exactly like Game Plan's Pot Of Gold except the machine is only about three and a half feet high and the difficulty factor is set for children ages three to five."

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=L&game_id=8415

Check out some of the other games by the same company.  I know at least some of them are designed for little kids also:

http://www.klov.com/manuf_detail.php?manuf_id=1517&game_id=8415

[REBIRTH]

My youngest is a 3 year old girl who really likes, and is able to play for a while without dying, a game that I had never heard of until Mame.  Now I hate to do this, but I can't remember the !@)*!@)#* name of the game.  It is a horizontal game, and you play as a tucan bird or some type of bird.  You can play as 2 players.   If no one else can think of the name I'll find it tonight.  It is also a very trippy game - whomever programmed it had to be on LSD or something.  There are colors and shapes that make no sense to the game other than to make you lightheaded!!!

I am quoting myself here... the name of the game is JJ Squawkers - my 3 year old can play pretty easily and go long enough to keep her interested, epsecially when I play 2P with her and take the brunt of the abuse.

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=&game_id=8211

[NoBonus]

I found some sort of Penguin related game from 2000 that my daughter just loves.  She especially likes the music.  She also likes the Pang games quite a bit (mind you she is 1.5 years old and basically enjoys cartoon-ish games, games with techno music, and game where it makes a funny noise when she pushes the arcade control buttons or moves the joystick).


NoBonus

[rsoandrew]

Sure it's an old thread but I just finished the working prototype of my cab and the kids (2 and 4) want to play.

Add Ribbit to the list of potential toddler games. The 4 year old can play it pretty well. The 2 year old just jerks the hell out of the joystick.

They're playin JJ Squaker right now.

[rsoandrew]

One other Ribbit feature. If you change the setup to 5 toads, it really changes it to 100 toads (00 displayed until you get killed).  It does require 2 quarters though  

edit: must have been a mame bug. The next time we went into the game, it was 5 lives, one quarter. Oh well, 100 lives was good while it lasted.

[SuperRabbit0]

Tried JJ Squawkers with my daughter tonight and it was great!!  Thanks so much for the tip...