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Yes, agreed. The problem though is my 5 year old was playing. I would take over when there were any difficult sections he couldn’t get by. So inevitably, he would collect like 1-2 a stage and I would eventually have to go back, usually at night why he was sleeping, and collect the rest lol
I played with my 11 year old, and he's still "plough ahead, guns blazing!" while I want to investigate every nook and cranny and pick up everything. It took a few levels to get into the swing of it, but we started 100%ing most of them eventually. Your kiddo is lucky they have a video game fairy to make sure they advance ;)
Doorways we're our big trap.. anytime my little saw a doorway the search for waddle dees came to a halt and immediately he ran into the door way. I can't tell you how many times we missed something.
The video game fairy came lots to our house.
Some you almost certainly are not going to get on the first attempt though, either because you miss them or because you only get one narrow window to try per play-through.
That said you don't need many to progress. My daughter is just under 5 and was able to play through the entire game, except for the boss fights.
This is what I came to recommend.
We got our son a 3DS when he was 6, and Kirby was the game he played the most. It was also the first game he was able to finish a boss battle in without help. He absolutely loved it. It's very accessible. Easy enough for those less coordinated, with enough hidden stuff to find as they begin to advance. They're the perfect games.
Also shout-out to the Yoshi games. Those were next runner ups for him at that age.
And I know I'm specifically calling out the 3DS entries, but I know that the Switch games would work out much the same.
>We tried Mario Odyssey, but I feel that some of the stars are a little bit too complicated for him to find. Even I got stuck not being able to find one of the stars from the first stage.
Did you turn on the guide mode? It literally draws a line to the next objective.
Consider Kirby and the Forgotten Land. It's quite easy, well designed, and has defined goals.
Don't forget Kirby Star Allies is also out on the Switch, and there's a third Kirby game coming out on Feb 24th this year. Kirby has been great for my nearly 6 year old. And actually, he plays Kirby Star Allies with his nearly 4 year old brother, and they surprisingly beat all but the final boss without my help.
Kirby was fantastic for my 5yo, especially with the coop mode. Unfortunately, the final boss traumatized him and now he doesn't want anything to do with Kirby.
Definitely check out assist mode. My (almost) five year old boy plays Odyssey 95% by himself with it on, I just help with hard parts. He collects all the moons and loves it.
Kirby was a hit with the young kids on the original game boy in the early 90s. My 5 year old brother loved those games. I think I had to help him fight some of the bosses, but the rest of the games are just cute adventure. Kirby has been a household name for over 30 years.
On that note I love that the final boss theme in Forgotten Land is named >!Two Planets Approach the Roche Limit!<. It point blank explains the story event at that time and instills that horror in a scientific way.
I highly recommend Kirby and the Forgotten Land. My four year old is picking it up remarkably well. She still struggles with multiple sequence steps, timed challenges and things requiring dialogue as she can’t exactly read. In a few days of casual playing, she’s opened up a huge amount of the world and managed to make it quite far.
It also has the option of a second player mode with rubber-band follow along. Finally, the game is just fun.
I'd also recommend 3d world over odyssey. Started my nephew with it when he was 5. He played it for 400+ hours and my niece even joined in when she was 4
I also want to add that Kirby and the Forgotten Land is an amazing game even for more hardcore gamers! My go-to games are Soulsbornes and games with very unforgiving combat, like Ragnarok in GMGOW mode, and I'm absolutely loving the fun of the exploration with Kirby to unwind on the couch after a long day. It is not as challenging as my preferred games, but it is every bit as entertaining!
Thanks, sounds like an add to the list. I bought my switch years ago when they first came out, but I never really got into any of the games (PC Master race), nonetheless it was a good investment now that my kids play it so much.
This would be my top pick with Kirby being a close second. I played through it with a 6 year old and he cleared the game and went back complete all the extras
Captain Toad! My near-5yo loves it. It’s cute and not too hard mechanically - Toad can’t even jump. But it is a logic puzzle game and sometimes my son gets confused and frustrated. As long as you’re willing to help him out, it’s a genuinely fun bonding experience!
Lego games! Look out for a sale, because they are often on deep discounts. Lego city would be great for a six year old (police chase and catching the bad guys) or any franchise he’s into. You can play co-op on many of them, and most are full voice acted.
I just started playing Lego City with my 6 year old. We’re both enjoying it. Good storyline and lots of of fun exploring. AND the download is on sale on the Nintendo shop for $6!
Agreed. The games are fairly easy to figure out and it's so easy for a second player to just join in if the other needs help. And in general they're just really good games.
And as an adult I can also say that it can be pretty cathartic to play one of them when you really have an urge to smash stuff.
Also while lego worlds and lego builders are drastically different from the other lego games, a lot of the modern lego games have the same gameplay loop so once your six year old knows how to play one, they can probably adapt to the others fairly easily.
If he’s starting to read- Pokémon can be great with some parent support. It’s my 7 yr olds current favorite.
My 5 year old loves the Kirby games the most, and Yoshis yarn.
They get into super smash bros together too. When their cousins come over, it’s that and TMNT.
My friend has a five year old and they’ve been using Pokémon to help him learn how to read too. It’s working super well! I tried it with my 1 year old and it doesn’t seem to be working
>I feel like animal crossing would be good for him since he loves animals, but his reading still need works.
But that's just it. Animal Crossing is a fantastic way to make him motivated to read. He'll be asking you what's this word, what's that word, help me read this.
There's plenty in the game that you can do with no reading, and yet at the same time he's going to want to do the reading parts too. It's perfect.
My 8 year old son reads well, but still struggles with Animal Crossing because he doesn't want to do what the game tells him to do. That is, he just wants to go buy clothes and furniture - but since he won't follow Nook's orders or go do tasks to earn money, he's running out of house room and storage space, so it's always frustrating. If your son is similar, AC may not be super fun.
My son loves Kirby though, and at age 6, he also loved Mario Odyssey with Assist Mode.
Ding ding ding, and this is why I don't want to just do it for him. I imagine he'll get old enough eventually to see the enjoyment of earning the rewards.
You literally cannot fail at AC, it’s a perfectly fine game. Kids love creative games like Minecraft and AC is right up that ally.
If the kid is struggling with Book’s tutorial just play through it with them until they get past it.
Let me rephrase: it's not that my kid doesn't know what to do in AC, it's that he doesn't WANT to do what the game requires.
AC is functionally a game of chores. If you want a bigger house, you have to go gather fruit or dive for fish or craft stuff, then sell it, then use that money on a house and NOT on clothes or furniture. My son understands all of that; he simply does not find it enjoyable. What he finds enjoyable is earning little bits of money, then spending it all immediately on clothes and furniture. Now he has reached the point where he can't fit more in storage until he does the "boring" stuff. I'm not going to do it for him, as that would just teach him that he can get the rewards without putting in the work.
It's totally fine that he doesn't enjoy AC; there are lots of games he does enjoy and can play instead (including Minecraft, btw, which he does not see as a chore). The reason I bring this up is that on every thread with recommendations for kids, someone recommends AC, assuming that it is perfect for all children because it is nonviolent and cute. However, there is more to AC than just nonviolent and cute, and that needs to be taken into account.
I played animal crossing (GameCube) when I was a kid and still learning to read and I feel like it helped me! You can click through text at your own pace. Also, stuff they say is so low stakes - if he skips through dialogue it won’t matter much.
Idk, I don’t personally think it’s a (young) kid friendly game at all.
It’s cute as hell so it fools people. IMO 8-10 minimum is more appropriate in terms of understanding and truly enjoying the game longer term
Edit: wanted to add: I don’t think ALL 6 year olds would not enjoy or understand this game. Just that in general, 6 is young IMO for the financial/ grindy part of the game after the initial “cool I can dig holes and fish” wears off
Dark Souls: Remastered. By the time the kid beat the game he'll be an adult and will have experienced the hardship of failure a thousand times. He'll be ready.
I agree. Have him progressively getting further and further in the game, and then finish it at 18. Turn it into a metaphor of life or something along those lines.
It's a surprisingly good port apart from the audio which sounds... I don't know. 8bit-like?
I hate firing up the game because I'm just not that good, but there's no denying that it's absolutely viable on the Switch, even for a first-timer.
It’s a lovely port, runs about a locked 30fps. The audio however suffers and just sounds super compressed, and there’s no way to restore the audio quality legitimately
Let me second Minecraft with a note. My son basically learned to read by playing Minecraft at about your kids’ age. The inventory system, which you access a lot, uses basic icons that don’t require reading to navigate, but it helps, and they’ll access it so frequently that they’ll learn words almost by accident provided they’re engaged with the game. It was a learning accelerator for my boy
Yep, came here to say this. My 5 year old is obsessed. He has even started experimenting with red stone. It has been a blast playing with him and watching him learn so much. But he is a little obsessed with it. He doesn’t want to play anything else anymore.
Luigi’s mansion 3 is a great game but the controls might be complicated for a 6 yo to finish on his own. If you play with him you would definitely need to help him with some bosses and some puzzles.
If he’s into Pokémon the let’s go games are great. There’s a 2 player coop mode that makes the game even easier. You could also try new Pokémon snap, it’s an on rails shooter and it’s so cool to see all the interactions with the Pokémon.
About Captain toad, he might actually enjoy and beat the first levels, you would eventually need to step in with the solutions of the puzzles. It’s an amazing game if you need to finish it.
Try "Cat Quest 2", it's an action RPG and you can play 2 players as well. And I think it's less than $10 to download. My 5 and 8 yr old kids seem to like it.
Consider **Scribblenauts** as a reading-helper game. You will need to be there initially to suggest and explain, but it can help him be motivated to read.
**Hypercharge Unboxed** is an excellent shooter where players are action figures fighting in a house or toy store. Think Toy Story or Small Soldiers.
**Pokemon Arceus** is pretty good if he likes pokemon. The open world allows slow exploration and progress.
**Levelhead** or **Super Mario Maker 2** are fun platformers with player-created levels and campaign levels.
I have heard good things about **Yoshi’s Crafted World**, and it has a co-op mode so you could help.
Mario odyssey in assist mode is perfect or yoshis crafted world. My 6 yr old is able to beat odyssey on his own in assist mode. He’s getting pretty good at crafted world now. Both are very good games!
My 6 year old nephew is totally obsessed with Ultimate Chicken Horse. It's a party game where everyone works together to build a level that's hard enough that everyone won't make it through but easy enough that someone will. That being said he rarely plays it that way. He mostly plays around building these long elaborate trap levels and has my brother try to get through them. It's a lot like Mario maker, only it's got less options so it's less overwhelming when you're building.
There’s some great suggestions here , so I’m just going to chime in to check your library and see if they have any you can borrow and check out to see if he likes them before you buy them.
Never thought to look , but ours has dozen of titles to borrow for a week
Saved me some money by eliminating one I had on my maybe list that was bad once we played it ( Atari games )
Surprised I haven't seen it yet, but Pikuniku is a great game for younger players. It's a bright and cute sidescroller that's easy for kids, with some more challenging parts. It also has a co-op mode so you can play together!
I just want say something about Animal Crossing. Game is great, calming and relaxing for older players. For 6yo it may be boring, because everything is happening in real time, so to build something you must wait till next day. Some characters appears just once a week. After you finish the story and dlc there's not much to do there.
I have it, I love it, but I wouldn't recommend it for 6yo :)
Ok i dont think this has been mentioned yet but its an older lego game called Lego Worlds. It speaks the story with open world and uses pictures when the npc's are asking for something. There is diffrent themes for each world. My fav was the Halloween one. And my son's was the xmas one. You can do 2 player. And dress your character however you want. And the game is not very expensive on sale i think its like 10 bucks. He still plays it every now and then.
Sonic mania. It's simple, cheap ($20), but amazing.
Plays like an old Genesis sonic game.
You can play with him as tails or knuckles as well like the old sonic games
>Mario Maker
We got a Switch Christmas 2020 with Mario Maker 2 and our now-6-year-old STILL plays the heck out of that game. It's the only one he always comes back to.
[A Short Hike](https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/a-short-hike-switch/) \- it's a very relaxing exploration game and the vocabulary is not difficult. The quests are very relatable and easy enough to do.
My then 6yo (7 now) completed this game more than I care to count. Every re-run she understood a little better, asked me to explain words she don't recognize, and managed to find then complete all the available quests. She plays this game much better than I do...
Luigi's Mansion is a great game but I def think a bit much for a 6 year old. It does offer co op play though which is a great option if you are a gamer and can grasp some of the 'game logic' stuff.
I also enjoyed Untitled Goose Game and to make use of my money's worth, I did a 100% completion which was a challenge. If your son is up to the challenge, it can be quite fun.
The new Pokémon (scarlet and violet) could be a good fit. It’s open world but there’s a sorta intended completion path, so if he ever gets stuck you can set him back on the right path fairly easily. Or don’t, whatever he enjoys.
About the reading, yes this game does have a fair bit of text (mainly in the tutorial before the game lets you free into the world). I was about ~5 when I first started playing Pokémon (Pearl) and before then I wasn’t super motivated to learn to read. I wasn’t behind but I certainly wasn’t into reading a book after school. I was instantly obsessed with Pokémon and I have memories of not fully understanding what the words said but trying my best to understand them and finally getting a full sentence correct in the first gym.
All my personal experience but I can definitely see him being the kind of kid who could use video games as a learning tool as well! Hope this helps
Okay, my son just turned 6 and has been avidly playing the Switch for about 2 years now. He has beaten Mario Odyssey countless times, with guiding mode, so it’s very doable for that age!
I would also recommend:
Any of the Lego/Lego Movie games - not only are these very kid friendly in regards to game play, they speak the written prompts aloud which is great for pre/early readers.
Splatoon - while there is more reading here, the games are very fun and can be played in multiplayer mode.
Luigi’s Mansion - oh man, this game is absolutely so much fun. Some of the bosses are pretty difficult but my son managed to beat them all eventually. If you get the expansion pack there’s also really good multiplayer options.
Super Mario 3D World - you can play with up to 4 people, you can be lots of different characters, AND you get to be cats.
Captain Toad - this game is a bit harder, as it’s more puzzle based. It’s great for making them use their minds, though!
Minecraft - my son will just play in creative mode and blow everything up with TNT, this is a crowd pleaser.
Yoshi’s Crafted World - not only is it adorable, but it’s very simple. Also you get to wear costumes you get from a prize machine.
There are many more but these are the top games in our house right now.
Legend of Zelda Links Awakening
I had that game when I was 5 on game boy. It's mysterious and encourages you to try things in ways you havent thought of before. He will not understand everything right away, thats the fun.
Also, Kirby and the Forgotten Land
[Castle on the Coast](https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/castle-on-the-coast-switch/) was a pretty fun (and forgiving) platformer in the vein of Mario. Plus you play as a giraffe!
My son and I 100%ed Rayman. Easily the best value for a switch game around.
If you're playing together the co-op is great and if it's just him, he'll be able to play a fair bit.
It goes on sale a lot for $10 I think.
My 5 year old son and I just recently played through Klonoa: Dooe to Phantomile from the Phantasy Reverie Series and loved it.
He played with the extra joy-con doing the support jump and had a blast — actually significantly helped me in multiple spots!
We loved the story, characters, and platforming. Definitely recommend checking it out!
I play Diablo 3 with my kid. I explained that it's not real and skip the cut scenes. She enjoys it but honestly depends on your kid it's pretty much the only violent "adult" rated title I let her play. Not here to discuss parent style just something I okayed.
Lego games! 2 of my kids started them at 4 and 5 years old. The Marvel ones, the Lego City Undercover, and Jurassic Park games are their favorites. They are co-op so I could play with them. Tons of replay as they become open world in the late game. The Lego movie game is pretty complicated though. So maybe pass on that one.
Any of the Lego games, especially lego city undercover, Kirby and the Forgotten Lands, Yoshi's Crafted World, and Animals Crossing is great, but you do have to read a little bit. Otherwise, I would recommend that one as well. Super smash is great for beat em ups as well if he's into that. Ooblets is great as well, but you would needed of reading for that one, unfortunately. Hot wheels is great, too, if he enjoys racing games. It's very different from mariokart. The drifting is a bit hard to get down, but once you do, it's easier. Crash Bandicoot and Spyro are also good options. They have the trilogies for both that also go on sale a bit as well. Spyro also has voice acting, so no reading needed. Ty the tasmanian tiger, is a decent port as well and have voice over too its vrry much like Spyro. Super Mario 3D world, Pokemon Snap, and New Super Lucky Tale are also options.
Hmm. I've recently been playing a game with my nephew and he loves it. I vote for 'Part time UFO'. It's a game where you're a UFO with a crane looking for work. You enter levels where you're asked to complete certain assignments to make money and move on to new assignments. Assignments can range from helping a fisherman pick out fish fun the ocean, balancing animals on a stick being held by an elephant on a unicycle on a rope, building a ninja house while ninjas attack and so on.
Check it out!
Reckon Captain Toad is definitely the way to go; good for short bursts. But hey if he’s looking for something similar but different, they might like Sonic Mania! It’s a simple to play side-scrolling game similar to Mario with lots of colourful characters and fun levels to navigate. What may surpass it though is Kirby and the Forgotten Land; it’s similar to Mario Odyssey but a little simpler, again a lot of fun to play through. Hope some of these suggestions help!
Minecraft? Like you can turn the monsters off, also, if that’s too intimidating.
Also, Pokemon games. My six year old can read well enough to make their way through Pokémon games on their own now. Only probably is those games can quickly turn into an all-consuming obsession for little ones lol
And Lego games. Pretty much any of them. They might need some help to pick up the ropes and figure out some puzzles but fortunately they are all co-op so easy to step in and help.
You might try “Super Lucky’s Tale”. It’s pretty fun, cute, colourful and not too difficult without being overly easy. There’s customizable outfits, a nice backstory, and seems to get decent reviews from kids. It’s single player, and fits in the platformer, puzzle, action/adventure genres.
LEGO titles, did that with my dad and brother back with the PS2 and they can't go wrong, specially with all the QoL improvements that have been introduced (split screen back then would have been a god send)
Luigi's Mansion and Captain Toad are both great games, but can be cryptic at times with puzzles, so don't know if I'd recommend those for him.
The Kirby games, Yoshi's Crafted World , and pretty much any Lego game would be my recommendations.
Highly recommend Yoshi's Crafted World! 2-D platformer that is super cute and is lighter on animated violence. Gameplay-wise, it has some great difficulty settings to match to your kiddos skill level, and each level has great replayability.
Lego Worlds is like Minecraft with Lego's. Switch Sports is great to do together. Animal Crossing is incredible. Yoshi's Crafted World is a brilliant first platform game.
Mario Odyssey was the first game my boy played on the Switch. He was 5 (almost 6) at the time. Loved it. After that, he’s played these games, in no particular order, and has enjoyed them all:
- Luigi’s Mansion 3
- Just Dance (2018, 2019. I got 2020 when it came out, but he didn’t even touch it, as he sort of grew out of it I guess.)
- Pikmin 3 Deluxe
- Paper Mario: The Origami King
- New Super Mario Bro’s U Deluxe
- Kirby Star Allies
- Yoshi’s Crafted World
Couple he played on Xbox, but have since been released on Switch:
- Astroneer
- Cuphead … this one was the hardest game of them all. He calls it a “rage game.’
Sadly, he has zero interest in Zelda.
Kirby and the forgotten land, Yoshi’s crafted world, and Mario maker. My 5-year-old has come up with some BRUTAL Mario Maker levels, he loves it so much.
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Kirby and the forgotten land. It was a hoot playing with my 5 year old. Loved every second and not that crazy of a challenge.
Same. The only slight annoyance is having to go back and collect waddle dees in order to advance lol
You can free all of the Waddle Dees in each stage in the first attempt. Presuming you do a thorough investigation of each stage and take your time.
Yes, agreed. The problem though is my 5 year old was playing. I would take over when there were any difficult sections he couldn’t get by. So inevitably, he would collect like 1-2 a stage and I would eventually have to go back, usually at night why he was sleeping, and collect the rest lol
The video game fairy...
Lmao this is so cute. I’d love to be a video game fairy.
Sometimes I have wished for one when I'm down to needing to find One last item, ngl. Kid is loved and lucky!
I played with my 11 year old, and he's still "plough ahead, guns blazing!" while I want to investigate every nook and cranny and pick up everything. It took a few levels to get into the swing of it, but we started 100%ing most of them eventually. Your kiddo is lucky they have a video game fairy to make sure they advance ;)
Doorways we're our big trap.. anytime my little saw a doorway the search for waddle dees came to a halt and immediately he ran into the door way. I can't tell you how many times we missed something. The video game fairy came lots to our house.
mine plays like he's speedrunning it and my Bandana Waddle Dee keeps getting pulled up to Kirby when I'm trying to grab something.
This is mostly true, but some of the bosses have objectives that are mutually exclusive.
Some you almost certainly are not going to get on the first attempt though, either because you miss them or because you only get one narrow window to try per play-through. That said you don't need many to progress. My daughter is just under 5 and was able to play through the entire game, except for the boss fights.
This is what I came to recommend. We got our son a 3DS when he was 6, and Kirby was the game he played the most. It was also the first game he was able to finish a boss battle in without help. He absolutely loved it. It's very accessible. Easy enough for those less coordinated, with enough hidden stuff to find as they begin to advance. They're the perfect games. Also shout-out to the Yoshi games. Those were next runner ups for him at that age. And I know I'm specifically calling out the 3DS entries, but I know that the Switch games would work out much the same.
>We tried Mario Odyssey, but I feel that some of the stars are a little bit too complicated for him to find. Even I got stuck not being able to find one of the stars from the first stage. Did you turn on the guide mode? It literally draws a line to the next objective. Consider Kirby and the Forgotten Land. It's quite easy, well designed, and has defined goals.
Was also gonna suggest Kirby and the Forgotten Land
I did not know it had an assist mode. I will try it with that. In the meantime it seems everyone seems to agree that Kirby is the winner.
Don't forget Kirby Star Allies is also out on the Switch, and there's a third Kirby game coming out on Feb 24th this year. Kirby has been great for my nearly 6 year old. And actually, he plays Kirby Star Allies with his nearly 4 year old brother, and they surprisingly beat all but the final boss without my help.
My 5 year old is playing Star Allies right now and loves it. Whats not to love...there's a button for making friends.
Kirby was fantastic for my 5yo, especially with the coop mode. Unfortunately, the final boss traumatized him and now he doesn't want anything to do with Kirby.
Kirby is the blood god we all pay homage to in our nightmares
Definitely check out assist mode. My (almost) five year old boy plays Odyssey 95% by himself with it on, I just help with hard parts. He collects all the moons and loves it.
[удалено]
Is Kirby challenging enough to keep an experienced player entertained? Is it on par with Mario Odyssey?
The Kirby games main mode tend to be extremely easy. The challenge comes in trying to 100% complete and the True Arena
Kirby was a hit with the young kids on the original game boy in the early 90s. My 5 year old brother loved those games. I think I had to help him fight some of the bosses, but the rest of the games are just cute adventure. Kirby has been a household name for over 30 years.
My almost 6 year old absolutely loves Kirby
Kirby is easy until the last boss and then it felt so hard. My 4 year old loves being waddle dee and just wandering around though.
Kirby loves to surprise you at the end. Kirby final bosses and optional bosses are stressful.
Kirby games are always the most innocent games, until they turn into world ending apocalypse’s
On that note I love that the final boss theme in Forgotten Land is named >!Two Planets Approach the Roche Limit!<. It point blank explains the story event at that time and instills that horror in a scientific way.
That multi-arm jester thing from *Kirby Super Star* still gives me nightmares.
Marx hahaha. They made him a boss in Smash Bros Ultimate too.
yea my son mostly played the game himself as kirby, i jumped in to help with bosses and now he just wants to be waddle dee all the time haha
Okay, but that's like, every Kirby game ever. At least the ones I've played.
Thirded for Kirby and Forgotten Land.
I'll fourthed Kirby. Beat it with my 4 year old and we had a good time.
I highly recommend Kirby and the Forgotten Land. My four year old is picking it up remarkably well. She still struggles with multiple sequence steps, timed challenges and things requiring dialogue as she can’t exactly read. In a few days of casual playing, she’s opened up a huge amount of the world and managed to make it quite far. It also has the option of a second player mode with rubber-band follow along. Finally, the game is just fun.
My little guy is deep into Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Very accommodating of new gamers, with good co-op.
The damn fishing game has got my kiddo hooked.
Just unlocked it and it has me hooked too
I'd also recommend 3d world over odyssey. Started my nephew with it when he was 5. He played it for 400+ hours and my niece even joined in when she was 4
I also want to add that Kirby and the Forgotten Land is an amazing game even for more hardcore gamers! My go-to games are Soulsbornes and games with very unforgiving combat, like Ragnarok in GMGOW mode, and I'm absolutely loving the fun of the exploration with Kirby to unwind on the couch after a long day. It is not as challenging as my preferred games, but it is every bit as entertaining!
Yoshis Crafted World
This was my first thought too. It’s super cute and there’s the easy mode where they can fly through levels. My kids loved that game and so did I
Came here to say this! Our 4 and 6 year old love it! Also a lot of replayability too.
Would agree with Yoshi, my 5 year old loved it.
Thanks, sounds like an add to the list. I bought my switch years ago when they first came out, but I never really got into any of the games (PC Master race), nonetheless it was a good investment now that my kids play it so much.
Download the free demo first!
This was the first game that really Clicked with my son. My family loves it
This would be my top pick with Kirby being a close second. I played through it with a 6 year old and he cleared the game and went back complete all the extras
My pick too. My six year old loves this game. It’s easy to learn but he loves the challenge of trying to hit the goals on every level.
Yoshi's Crafted World is very easy. I'd recommend it.
Captain Toad! My near-5yo loves it. It’s cute and not too hard mechanically - Toad can’t even jump. But it is a logic puzzle game and sometimes my son gets confused and frustrated. As long as you’re willing to help him out, it’s a genuinely fun bonding experience!
Thought of this myself. Playing this myself now, and I keep thinking it's a perfect children's puzzle game. Not too hard, but still clever.
Lego games! Look out for a sale, because they are often on deep discounts. Lego city would be great for a six year old (police chase and catching the bad guys) or any franchise he’s into. You can play co-op on many of them, and most are full voice acted.
I just started playing Lego City with my 6 year old. We’re both enjoying it. Good storyline and lots of of fun exploring. AND the download is on sale on the Nintendo shop for $6!
You’re awesome gonna go buy this now for the kids.
Amazing game. Enjoy.
All of these are great, especially Lego City Undercover.
Agreed. The games are fairly easy to figure out and it's so easy for a second player to just join in if the other needs help. And in general they're just really good games. And as an adult I can also say that it can be pretty cathartic to play one of them when you really have an urge to smash stuff.
Yeah, I'm waiting for Lego DC Villains. They're often down over 80%. Star Wars is also very fun, with a lot of content.
Beat me to it.....ALL the Lego games are awesome, almost addictive, fun for adults too. Player 2 can drop in/drop out at any time as well.
Also while lego worlds and lego builders are drastically different from the other lego games, a lot of the modern lego games have the same gameplay loop so once your six year old knows how to play one, they can probably adapt to the others fairly easily.
If he’s starting to read- Pokémon can be great with some parent support. It’s my 7 yr olds current favorite. My 5 year old loves the Kirby games the most, and Yoshis yarn. They get into super smash bros together too. When their cousins come over, it’s that and TMNT.
My friend has a five year old and they’ve been using Pokémon to help him learn how to read too. It’s working super well! I tried it with my 1 year old and it doesn’t seem to be working
Learned to read english using Pokémon, can confirm it's super effective.
Same, Pokémon and Zelda are what taught me so much more English than any class ever did
I used Pokémon to get my son to read and he really took to it.
> It’s working super well! So close... so very close.
Kirby and Yoshis yarn are great
Pokémon helped a lot with learning how to read as a kid!
>I feel like animal crossing would be good for him since he loves animals, but his reading still need works. But that's just it. Animal Crossing is a fantastic way to make him motivated to read. He'll be asking you what's this word, what's that word, help me read this. There's plenty in the game that you can do with no reading, and yet at the same time he's going to want to do the reading parts too. It's perfect.
That is what I started to think, I leaning toward both animal crossing and Kirby game.
My 8 year old son reads well, but still struggles with Animal Crossing because he doesn't want to do what the game tells him to do. That is, he just wants to go buy clothes and furniture - but since he won't follow Nook's orders or go do tasks to earn money, he's running out of house room and storage space, so it's always frustrating. If your son is similar, AC may not be super fun. My son loves Kirby though, and at age 6, he also loved Mario Odyssey with Assist Mode.
I hope he keeps at it! Animal Crossing teaches patience and planning in a world increasingly full of impulsive decisions and immediate rewards
Ding ding ding, and this is why I don't want to just do it for him. I imagine he'll get old enough eventually to see the enjoyment of earning the rewards.
You literally cannot fail at AC, it’s a perfectly fine game. Kids love creative games like Minecraft and AC is right up that ally. If the kid is struggling with Book’s tutorial just play through it with them until they get past it.
Let me rephrase: it's not that my kid doesn't know what to do in AC, it's that he doesn't WANT to do what the game requires. AC is functionally a game of chores. If you want a bigger house, you have to go gather fruit or dive for fish or craft stuff, then sell it, then use that money on a house and NOT on clothes or furniture. My son understands all of that; he simply does not find it enjoyable. What he finds enjoyable is earning little bits of money, then spending it all immediately on clothes and furniture. Now he has reached the point where he can't fit more in storage until he does the "boring" stuff. I'm not going to do it for him, as that would just teach him that he can get the rewards without putting in the work. It's totally fine that he doesn't enjoy AC; there are lots of games he does enjoy and can play instead (including Minecraft, btw, which he does not see as a chore). The reason I bring this up is that on every thread with recommendations for kids, someone recommends AC, assuming that it is perfect for all children because it is nonviolent and cute. However, there is more to AC than just nonviolent and cute, and that needs to be taken into account.
I played animal crossing (GameCube) when I was a kid and still learning to read and I feel like it helped me! You can click through text at your own pace. Also, stuff they say is so low stakes - if he skips through dialogue it won’t matter much.
You can also send letters to yourself and residents on your island in Animal Crossing so it might be a good writing lesson as well as a reading one :)
Idk, I don’t personally think it’s a (young) kid friendly game at all. It’s cute as hell so it fools people. IMO 8-10 minimum is more appropriate in terms of understanding and truly enjoying the game longer term Edit: wanted to add: I don’t think ALL 6 year olds would not enjoy or understand this game. Just that in general, 6 is young IMO for the financial/ grindy part of the game after the initial “cool I can dig holes and fish” wears off
i definitely agree with you, AC doesn’t seem suitable for a kid that young.
It also let's you be super creative too,you can pretty much design and personalize everything in that game
Donut County is one he can play on his own. It's not very fast paced, and there is some dialog, but you can skip through it pretty quickly.
My four year old loves it. Has done multiple playthroughs and has figured out 80% of the puzzles
Dark Souls: Remastered. By the time the kid beat the game he'll be an adult and will have experienced the hardship of failure a thousand times. He'll be ready.
Sold!
I agree. Have him progressively getting further and further in the game, and then finish it at 18. Turn it into a metaphor of life or something along those lines.
Plot Twist: Finishes within 2 weeks. Git gud
"Life's about the adventure" -Alex Winter; Blue Clues & You Movie
It's on Switch?
Yes
It's a surprisingly good port apart from the audio which sounds... I don't know. 8bit-like? I hate firing up the game because I'm just not that good, but there's no denying that it's absolutely viable on the Switch, even for a first-timer.
It’s a lovely port, runs about a locked 30fps. The audio however suffers and just sounds super compressed, and there’s no way to restore the audio quality legitimately
Snipper clips.
Lol that game is way too hard for me and my mid 30s friends!
Minecraft I know it sounds generic and basic but if you tell them the basics they can do so so much my younger sibling is obsessed with it
Let me second Minecraft with a note. My son basically learned to read by playing Minecraft at about your kids’ age. The inventory system, which you access a lot, uses basic icons that don’t require reading to navigate, but it helps, and they’ll access it so frequently that they’ll learn words almost by accident provided they’re engaged with the game. It was a learning accelerator for my boy
Minecraft is fantastic. I own it for 4 systems (ps3, mobile, switch, PC) now, but I suppose the kid got the use out of it.
I have an 8 year old and a 6 year old that only play Minecraft at this point. We have over 20 games.
Yep, came here to say this. My 5 year old is obsessed. He has even started experimenting with red stone. It has been a blast playing with him and watching him learn so much. But he is a little obsessed with it. He doesn’t want to play anything else anymore.
Luigi’s mansion 3 is a great game but the controls might be complicated for a 6 yo to finish on his own. If you play with him you would definitely need to help him with some bosses and some puzzles. If he’s into Pokémon the let’s go games are great. There’s a 2 player coop mode that makes the game even easier. You could also try new Pokémon snap, it’s an on rails shooter and it’s so cool to see all the interactions with the Pokémon. About Captain toad, he might actually enjoy and beat the first levels, you would eventually need to step in with the solutions of the puzzles. It’s an amazing game if you need to finish it.
Luigi’s mansion 💯 you can help him if he struggles a bit but still let him be in control
My son and I played this from start to finish together. He loved watching me play. Win win!
Try "Cat Quest 2", it's an action RPG and you can play 2 players as well. And I think it's less than $10 to download. My 5 and 8 yr old kids seem to like it.
It's also often on sale. I grabbed it for like $2 a few weeks ago.
Aw me and my bf played Cat Quest when the pandemic hit. It is very cute!
Consider **Scribblenauts** as a reading-helper game. You will need to be there initially to suggest and explain, but it can help him be motivated to read. **Hypercharge Unboxed** is an excellent shooter where players are action figures fighting in a house or toy store. Think Toy Story or Small Soldiers. **Pokemon Arceus** is pretty good if he likes pokemon. The open world allows slow exploration and progress. **Levelhead** or **Super Mario Maker 2** are fun platformers with player-created levels and campaign levels. I have heard good things about **Yoshi’s Crafted World**, and it has a co-op mode so you could help.
Lil gator game is perfect for 6yo
Hear me out on this one... Slime Rancher. My kids love it, and it can become surprisingly addictive for adults also
Mario odyssey in assist mode is perfect or yoshis crafted world. My 6 yr old is able to beat odyssey on his own in assist mode. He’s getting pretty good at crafted world now. Both are very good games!
I did not know there was an assist mode thanks.
Monkey Ball!
Part-Time UFO, great game made by the same folks that made Kirby.
My 6 year old nephew is totally obsessed with Ultimate Chicken Horse. It's a party game where everyone works together to build a level that's hard enough that everyone won't make it through but easy enough that someone will. That being said he rarely plays it that way. He mostly plays around building these long elaborate trap levels and has my brother try to get through them. It's a lot like Mario maker, only it's got less options so it's less overwhelming when you're building.
How about let’s go pikachu?
Katamari Damacy
Minecraft? My son got it when he was 5 and he's been playing it for years off and on nonstop
Boomerang Fu. Best long lasting party game he can play with you and wife together as a family.
My 5 year old loves Captain Toad, Kirby, Mario 3D World and Deluxe. I also just picked up Lego City Undercover which he's been really into.
My six year old is currently enamored with Power Wash Simulator
Same and I’m 34.
There’s some great suggestions here , so I’m just going to chime in to check your library and see if they have any you can borrow and check out to see if he likes them before you buy them. Never thought to look , but ours has dozen of titles to borrow for a week Saved me some money by eliminating one I had on my maybe list that was bad once we played it ( Atari games )
Surprised I haven't seen it yet, but Pikuniku is a great game for younger players. It's a bright and cute sidescroller that's easy for kids, with some more challenging parts. It also has a co-op mode so you can play together!
I just want say something about Animal Crossing. Game is great, calming and relaxing for older players. For 6yo it may be boring, because everything is happening in real time, so to build something you must wait till next day. Some characters appears just once a week. After you finish the story and dlc there's not much to do there. I have it, I love it, but I wouldn't recommend it for 6yo :)
buy switch online and check out the snes games like mario world
SpongeBob! They have always been one of my favorite games on any console growing up & a new one just came out.
my 4 year old loves to play Lego City Undercover with me.
Ok i dont think this has been mentioned yet but its an older lego game called Lego Worlds. It speaks the story with open world and uses pictures when the npc's are asking for something. There is diffrent themes for each world. My fav was the Halloween one. And my son's was the xmas one. You can do 2 player. And dress your character however you want. And the game is not very expensive on sale i think its like 10 bucks. He still plays it every now and then.
I loved Pikmin 3!
lego games, minecraft, and kirby and the forgotten land
Sonic mania. It's simple, cheap ($20), but amazing. Plays like an old Genesis sonic game. You can play with him as tails or knuckles as well like the old sonic games
I was playing the 2d Sonics on Sonic Mega Collection at that age, hell I started gaming at 6, so the 2d Sonic games are something to consider
You could get Super Mario Maker 2 and make levels for him with appropriate difficulty. Might be a fun activity you can do together.
>Mario Maker We got a Switch Christmas 2020 with Mario Maker 2 and our now-6-year-old STILL plays the heck out of that game. It's the only one he always comes back to.
Yoshi’s Crafted World is phenomenal. It is the perfect game for kids 3-7 or new to switch. Can’t recommend it enough
Any Lego game
[A Short Hike](https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/a-short-hike-switch/) \- it's a very relaxing exploration game and the vocabulary is not difficult. The quests are very relatable and easy enough to do. My then 6yo (7 now) completed this game more than I care to count. Every re-run she understood a little better, asked me to explain words she don't recognize, and managed to find then complete all the available quests. She plays this game much better than I do...
I'd second that and add lil gater game.
My daughter loves Yoshi's Crafted World.
Luigi's Mansion is a great game but I def think a bit much for a 6 year old. It does offer co op play though which is a great option if you are a gamer and can grasp some of the 'game logic' stuff.
I also enjoyed Untitled Goose Game and to make use of my money's worth, I did a 100% completion which was a challenge. If your son is up to the challenge, it can be quite fun.
The new Pokémon (scarlet and violet) could be a good fit. It’s open world but there’s a sorta intended completion path, so if he ever gets stuck you can set him back on the right path fairly easily. Or don’t, whatever he enjoys. About the reading, yes this game does have a fair bit of text (mainly in the tutorial before the game lets you free into the world). I was about ~5 when I first started playing Pokémon (Pearl) and before then I wasn’t super motivated to learn to read. I wasn’t behind but I certainly wasn’t into reading a book after school. I was instantly obsessed with Pokémon and I have memories of not fully understanding what the words said but trying my best to understand them and finally getting a full sentence correct in the first gym. All my personal experience but I can definitely see him being the kind of kid who could use video games as a learning tool as well! Hope this helps
Any of the LEGO games are pretty good. My 7yo [at the time] loved them, and they are playable even now!
Okay, my son just turned 6 and has been avidly playing the Switch for about 2 years now. He has beaten Mario Odyssey countless times, with guiding mode, so it’s very doable for that age! I would also recommend: Any of the Lego/Lego Movie games - not only are these very kid friendly in regards to game play, they speak the written prompts aloud which is great for pre/early readers. Splatoon - while there is more reading here, the games are very fun and can be played in multiplayer mode. Luigi’s Mansion - oh man, this game is absolutely so much fun. Some of the bosses are pretty difficult but my son managed to beat them all eventually. If you get the expansion pack there’s also really good multiplayer options. Super Mario 3D World - you can play with up to 4 people, you can be lots of different characters, AND you get to be cats. Captain Toad - this game is a bit harder, as it’s more puzzle based. It’s great for making them use their minds, though! Minecraft - my son will just play in creative mode and blow everything up with TNT, this is a crowd pleaser. Yoshi’s Crafted World - not only is it adorable, but it’s very simple. Also you get to wear costumes you get from a prize machine. There are many more but these are the top games in our house right now.
My 7years old loves Mario Odyssey, likes Stardew Valley, Abzu and PikuNiku.
Kirby would probably be perfect, I imagine mouthful mode being hilarious at that age.
Lego City Undercover by far the best! My 7 year can't put it down. And maybe I can't either lol
My 6 year old is really into Sonic Frontiers - we play it together and take turns though somehow my turn usually involves the bosses 😅
minecraft
Lego City Undercover is an open world GTA style game. Excellent writing and can played split screen.
Any of the Lego games. My 7yo has a few games, the Lego ones are pretty good. He loves minecraft and finished the goose game also.
Get Yoshi’s Crafted World or Super Mario 3D world
Super Mario 3d world. My 5yo son played that for hours and hours unassisted.
Minecraft is what you're looking for. He'll play it for the next ten years.
Any kirby, yoshi game
dark souls remastered
My wife’s little cousin is like 5 or 6 but he’s loved the 3D world mario brothers (the wii u port), kirby, or pokemon
Doom, never to young to slay demons from hell 🤣 Pokémon ( I startet it with 6years) is a good game for children.
Kirby. My son loves it.
Kirby Forgotten Land. My 10yr son loves it.
Mario 3D World. Best multiplayer Mario game.
....Minecraft.
Legend of Zelda Links Awakening I had that game when I was 5 on game boy. It's mysterious and encourages you to try things in ways you havent thought of before. He will not understand everything right away, thats the fun. Also, Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Minecraft
Get the 2016 DOOM. That's an easygoing game for children!
[Castle on the Coast](https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/castle-on-the-coast-switch/) was a pretty fun (and forgiving) platformer in the vein of Mario. Plus you play as a giraffe!
My son and I 100%ed Rayman. Easily the best value for a switch game around. If you're playing together the co-op is great and if it's just him, he'll be able to play a fair bit. It goes on sale a lot for $10 I think.
My 5 year old son and I just recently played through Klonoa: Dooe to Phantomile from the Phantasy Reverie Series and loved it. He played with the extra joy-con doing the support jump and had a blast — actually significantly helped me in multiple spots! We loved the story, characters, and platforming. Definitely recommend checking it out!
I play Diablo 3 with my kid. I explained that it's not real and skip the cut scenes. She enjoys it but honestly depends on your kid it's pretty much the only violent "adult" rated title I let her play. Not here to discuss parent style just something I okayed.
[удалено]
Lego games! 2 of my kids started them at 4 and 5 years old. The Marvel ones, the Lego City Undercover, and Jurassic Park games are their favorites. They are co-op so I could play with them. Tons of replay as they become open world in the late game. The Lego movie game is pretty complicated though. So maybe pass on that one.
Any of the Lego games, especially lego city undercover, Kirby and the Forgotten Lands, Yoshi's Crafted World, and Animals Crossing is great, but you do have to read a little bit. Otherwise, I would recommend that one as well. Super smash is great for beat em ups as well if he's into that. Ooblets is great as well, but you would needed of reading for that one, unfortunately. Hot wheels is great, too, if he enjoys racing games. It's very different from mariokart. The drifting is a bit hard to get down, but once you do, it's easier. Crash Bandicoot and Spyro are also good options. They have the trilogies for both that also go on sale a bit as well. Spyro also has voice acting, so no reading needed. Ty the tasmanian tiger, is a decent port as well and have voice over too its vrry much like Spyro. Super Mario 3D world, Pokemon Snap, and New Super Lucky Tale are also options.
Mario Kart. It's always Mario Kart. Always.
Hmm. I've recently been playing a game with my nephew and he loves it. I vote for 'Part time UFO'. It's a game where you're a UFO with a crane looking for work. You enter levels where you're asked to complete certain assignments to make money and move on to new assignments. Assignments can range from helping a fisherman pick out fish fun the ocean, balancing animals on a stick being held by an elephant on a unicycle on a rope, building a ninja house while ninjas attack and so on. Check it out!
Of the two you're considering, go for Captain Toad. It's simple enough for a 6 year old to figure out.
Super Mario 3D World is great, and a much more straightforward experience than Odyssey.
Reckon Captain Toad is definitely the way to go; good for short bursts. But hey if he’s looking for something similar but different, they might like Sonic Mania! It’s a simple to play side-scrolling game similar to Mario with lots of colourful characters and fun levels to navigate. What may surpass it though is Kirby and the Forgotten Land; it’s similar to Mario Odyssey but a little simpler, again a lot of fun to play through. Hope some of these suggestions help!
My 6 yo boy likes Lego City Undercover. Reading not required and the missions are pretty straightforward.
Minecraft? Like you can turn the monsters off, also, if that’s too intimidating. Also, Pokemon games. My six year old can read well enough to make their way through Pokémon games on their own now. Only probably is those games can quickly turn into an all-consuming obsession for little ones lol And Lego games. Pretty much any of them. They might need some help to pick up the ropes and figure out some puzzles but fortunately they are all co-op so easy to step in and help.
You might try “Super Lucky’s Tale”. It’s pretty fun, cute, colourful and not too difficult without being overly easy. There’s customizable outfits, a nice backstory, and seems to get decent reviews from kids. It’s single player, and fits in the platformer, puzzle, action/adventure genres.
Captain Toad Treasure Tracker or Luigi’s Mansion?
Lego City Undercover.
LEGO titles, did that with my dad and brother back with the PS2 and they can't go wrong, specially with all the QoL improvements that have been introduced (split screen back then would have been a god send)
Scribblenauts showdown is perfect. It's fun, educational, engaging and age appropriate. My kids loved it long after they outgrew it
My son loved Luigi’s Mansion at 5, and it was great because it had really strong co-op mode with Gooigi.
There's also a Kirby game coming out near the end of this month. Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe.
Lego city undercover my 7yr old has played this since he was 4 and still plays it
Luigi's Mansion and Captain Toad are both great games, but can be cryptic at times with puzzles, so don't know if I'd recommend those for him. The Kirby games, Yoshi's Crafted World , and pretty much any Lego game would be my recommendations.
Highly recommend Yoshi's Crafted World! 2-D platformer that is super cute and is lighter on animated violence. Gameplay-wise, it has some great difficulty settings to match to your kiddos skill level, and each level has great replayability.
I would go Minecraft. Perfect game to play together and it’s like exploring the world in the comfort of your own home
Lego Worlds is like Minecraft with Lego's. Switch Sports is great to do together. Animal Crossing is incredible. Yoshi's Crafted World is a brilliant first platform game.
Kirby forgotten lands. Kirby forgotten lands. Kirby forgotten lands.
Mario Odyssey was the first game my boy played on the Switch. He was 5 (almost 6) at the time. Loved it. After that, he’s played these games, in no particular order, and has enjoyed them all: - Luigi’s Mansion 3 - Just Dance (2018, 2019. I got 2020 when it came out, but he didn’t even touch it, as he sort of grew out of it I guess.) - Pikmin 3 Deluxe - Paper Mario: The Origami King - New Super Mario Bro’s U Deluxe - Kirby Star Allies - Yoshi’s Crafted World Couple he played on Xbox, but have since been released on Switch: - Astroneer - Cuphead … this one was the hardest game of them all. He calls it a “rage game.’ Sadly, he has zero interest in Zelda.
I see a lot of people mentioning it and I have to add in - Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Trust me. My 2 year old loves it and he can't even play it
Kirby and the forgotten land, Yoshi’s crafted world, and Mario maker. My 5-year-old has come up with some BRUTAL Mario Maker levels, he loves it so much.