As a parent, what would...

Easily Minecraft. It's fun, creative and can be played in spliscreen.

The PS2.

My kid will see the horrors of voice chat when he/she reach at least 12, unless they want a PC- then all hope is lost.

Any decent 2d platformer will usually do. Basically just give the kid a SNES and a Genesis and they're set.

football, that kid better grow up to be a rich successful athlete so he can take care of me at my old age, or they better die trying, besides I won't be able to save up for their college

I'd make him/her read a book instead,

Then i would make him/her play a sport.

A Nintendo game, or one of those Lego games.

Where everyone should start:

probably a simple game like Minecraft. lets you build stuff and has no violence in it if you play in creative mode.

I'm no parent but when I introduced my sister to Sonic, she became an overly obsessive fangirl about him and never shuts up about him whether it's how amazing his games are or how handsome he is. She even makes OCs and writes pointless stories about them. You have no idea how annoying she would get and kind of makes me regret introducing her to Sonic.

I mean geez, even back when I was a Sonic fan it didn't get that bad.

Just be aware that this could happen to your potential child.

Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volley Ball

I don't want to be a parent, f that

I think I started my boys with NES Mario. They now have a whole room full of games and love games from about every genre just like me.

I think I would start by introducing my young impressionable child to wholesome family entertainment.

That's why I pick Rapelay as their first game.

It has got to be Super Mario Bros.

Mario

How about the Witcher 3? Have them start on the GOAT!

The sad reality is (at least seeing kids around my neighborhood) is that they are addicted to P2W/F2P grinding games like clash of clans, candy crush etc on their smartphone or tablet..

@FireEmblem_Man: haha that works. Why not

A few years ago I connected up my Genesis and was playing the old Sonic games. And my kid climbed up on me and watched. Now a gamer. Already passed on the hobby.

@silversix_: best answer to this thread already.

I wouldn't even get my kids to play games. I'd just get them to argue on internet forums about games instead because they need to see first hand how shitty the world really is.

Rain on the PS3.

Great soundtrack, easy to control, fun puzzles platforming adventure with a touching story.

Sonic Genesis collection.

Genesis collection has some great classics to start with. Fun to play and catchy soundtrack to get a child's attention and children love platformers.

Vivian's first game (at 3) was Sonic the Hedgehog (Green Hill Zone). From there.. Humm. It's been a bunch of random SNES things. She's pretty big into watching "Let's Plays" with her dad.

@mesome713: For my kid, as much as she loves Pokemon, she used to get really, REALLY upset when a wild Pokemon would faint because she couldn't help it.

Being a parent is a mistake. Children take your money, comfort, and strip you of your happiness for the next 20+ years. When all that is said and done, they will just leave you. Besides, there are too many children in this world that they're killing Earth. Help save our planet, use a condom.

My daughter started gaming really early with children's PC games like the Rugrats and stuff like that, and simple Atari 2600 games. When she became a little older and had better coordination she played moved up to stuff like Pitfall on the 2600 and SNES games like Mario. The great thing is that my daughter to this day still loves to pull out the old consoles and play some classic games because she has been exposed to them pretty much all of her life, or at least as long as she can remember.

Jungle Hunt....nice !!!

Its funny you ended up an MGS fan :P

@mesome713: I think I would do games with text in it. I pretty much learned to read from my nintendo console when I was growing up. It was good to have something that interested you and something you wanted to read to find out what was happening

@shalashaska_: Most young kids cant read though. Its not till theyre about 6+ they start to read some. Then yeah, Nintendo has great reading games to help in their vocabulary.

Kirby, Mario, Mario Kart, and Smash Bros etc still have reading, its just not overwhelming reading.

@coasterguy65: I knew I'd find a fellow 2600 brother.... Jungle hunt is still legit.

Sequest, kangaroo, yars revenge... All still incredibly playable.

@mesome713: ya im not thinking like toddler age, but I think games are good to help reinforce reading knowledge because it keeps kids attention. Nintendo usually has simple games that require some reading, but isnt too text heavy, to me, so that would be my pick.

@shalashaska_: Some of their games can be though, Xenoblade, Zelda, Pikmin, Animal Crossing, Pokemon, these can overwhelm younger kids when your trying to teach them basic gameplay mechanics. When your starting the kids off on gaming you want them to focus on the simple things, like running left to right, jumping, running and jumping at the same time.

Once they start getting these basic things down its easier to teach them more stuff, like reading menu options etc. My oldest could read menus from memory alone without even knowing how to read. This is how he learnt his letters also, dude is 6 years old and can read like a 5th grader. Hes not afraid of trying to learn new words and enjoys it, to him its part of the game, its rewarding to him.

But even he can be overwhelmed by too much reading, it can start to bore him if hes having to read like long letters during the games.

Yeah some 2600 games are painful to play back through but the ones you mentioned, and most of the Activision ones like Pitfall, Kaboom and River Raid are still fun ways to waste some time gaming. Sure the graphics suck, but quality game play is still quality game play.

@mesome713: Ya I think I'd be thinking more like star fox, mario, yoshi, and kirby. I dont think I would start them out with a JRPG right out of the gate XD

@shalashaska_: Yeah, im still waiting till i cant get him to play a Zelda game, i think i might try this Christmas and see if he can beat it himself. I bought 3 for 3DS, just not sure which to let him try first yet.

@mesome713: ya I would try link between worlds, if its between that and the remasters. It was pretty simple and you can do it in any order you want so you dont get stuck much and need a walkthrough :P. All great games though.

Now that's not accurate. Being a parent is only a nightmare if it's your first time ever having a kid, i was one of them. My baby mama told me she was pregnant the firs time, I always thought it was the end of the world for me but however, it isn't bad as it may seem. I only have one child, a daughter and I can say it's not all bad and she's only 8 years old and as her Dad, I'll treat her to take care our planet.

The first video game my twins played was Kinnectimals, they now have their own 3DS's with Pokémon (and a couple of other games) but they're more into playing My Little Pony dress up browser games or Fire Boy and Water Girl.

It's my hobby, not theirs and like anything else they have to want to do it, there's no point forcing them to do something they don't enjoy.

@shalashaska_: I might start him with that one. I wanted to play a Zelda game for thee 30th anniversary, but i couldnt figure out which one i wanted to play, so i just bought them all, i got issues.

Thats pretty funny, i could see someone getting upset, its sad when they get beat um. Pokemon is a great game. If i remember correctly mine wondered why the trainers needed Pokemon, i had to explain how dangerous it was to not have Pokemon to protect you. Hes just got to reading good so has only played Pokemon Omega Ruby, but he loved it and is big Pokemon fan now.

@coasterguy65: yeah, those games were built upon solid design and limitations in reactive controls as we are a custom to today... There are definitely a ton of game I used to play as a kid that feel like dinosaur fossils today... But oddly some still hold up in a weird way... Combat? That game is still awesome.

Oh no, they're bound to find out that there's creepy grown men that obsess over those underage ponies and draw disturbing fanart of them.

Where do you think rule 34 came from? Think goodness my daughter isn't into MLP cause that comes out of my pay lol.

@mesome713: Gotta get through all of them before twilight princess comes out, so you can use the amiibo for the zelda wii u now XD.

@foxhound_fox said:

Where everyone should start:

The only correct answer.

My daughter, who is turning 3 weeks old tomorrow, will start where her father started 30 years ago.

Yeah, i did preorder that bundle, its driving me crazy trying to guess how they will implement the amiibo. I think i read all the Zelda amiibos will work. Im guessing it wont be much, but just can get a good guess as to what.

You're not wrong and I keep a constant watch on what they're looking at, especially when they look for pictures to draw and copy.

@davillain-: Raise her up on Mario, and make sure she doesn't have any of you weird tastes and she'll grow up to be a good person. Make sure she hates Animu as well, she has to.