Wii game appropriate for a 4 year old.

[josh_manga]

Hey, i'm not savvy on the Wii game market, or what would be accessible to a 4 year old girl who doesn't read much yet (she's mastered the alphabet, but hasn't put it together yet to form words or read words consistently.)

Fantasy creatures are fine, we aren't sticklers about fairytale stuff, i was contemplating getting Harvest Moon for her, but from the screen shots it looks like it might be a little over her head.

Also, no dating sims (probably don't have to say it but i will).

Can't think of any other conditions right now.

Let me know what suggestions you can think of, any help is appreciated!

Thanks!

[LastLfan]

I have a four year old little brother and he can't really read either so i suggest a platformer, if its on the ii virtual console then sonic the hedgehog 2 is great because player 2 can't cause you to lose and can only help you so its great for little ones who can't quite figure out controls or who forget that they are playing not just watching, but the wii wifi service is getting shut down in a week or two so you'd have to get it quick. Apart from that anything like a just dance kids or lego rock band can be fun. Skylanders is good but not sure how much she would like it, also she might get frustrated with the controls like my brother does. Not sure about any other wii games except maybe smash bros. I know its T but to be honest i played it at 7 and am fine with my 4 year old brother playing it with me. Its no more violent than power rangers and its prettt fun. All in all find a multiplayer game, co-op lets you help her, but competitive lets them feel independent(just make sure you let them win a couple of times, at least until they actually can beat you). Good luck

[josh_manga]

Thanks for the suggestions!

Lol, one of the big requirements (the whole reason i asked) i somehow forgot to mention in my OP. She's frustrated with any games that have combat of any kind. Zelda, Secret of Mana, Mario, Sonic, all those that require bashing something to avoid losing has her severely frustrated right now.

Also, anything that requires additional peripherals, such as Skylander toys or guitars is out of the question at the moment, tight budget (just bought a house!)

Violence isn't a problem with us, we have Super Smash Bros. Melee, but like i said, she's just frustrated with anything combat centric right now. And we have two Mario kart games, which she has a hard time with (keeps getting stuck in a corner, and i end up playing the game for her).

[MomentOfInertia]

Four? Okay...

Kirby's Epic Yarn A 2D action/platformer with an adorable art style, forgiving difficultly, and minimal text.

LEGO Star Wars: the complete saga would probably be good. Forgiving difficultly 3D action/platform a silly, silent, retelling of the Star Wars movies. Worst problem should be an occasional bad camera or obtuse puzzle.

Both of the above games have drop-in/out cooperative play. Which means that at any time someone can pick up another controller and play along for awhile either to help out or just to give the little one a chance to play with daddy.

Mario Kart Wii Racing game, pick up wacky items to attach fellow racers, loose physics. Good fun, I've been playing the series since the N64 version.]

Might want to save these until she's gotten her gaming feet under her.

New Super Mario Bros. Another 2D platfromer with drop-in cooperative. Ive heard it's good might be a bit more of a challenge than what you're looking for.

I've heard good things about Boom Blox though that's more of a puzzle game.

Super Smash bros. Brawl Nintendo's 2D fighting game. Up to four players. Can get very chaotic, lots of fun.

I'm sure there are others, but that should get you started.

EDIT: Have you looked at Pikmin? strange game, more RTS than anything a fair amount of reading to get started but little after that. I'd recommend getting the second, the first has a hard deadline on some objectives to finish which might be frustrating given how long the deadline is. SPOILER: Highlight text to read: The first game is a "shipwrecked, limited time to repair ship" plot the second is "return to strange planet in search of treasure"

[Masaru]

the wii wifi service is getting shut down in a week or two so you'd have to get it quick.

Just for clarification's sake, the WiFi service is only ending for games that have online capability; the Shop Channel will still work (along with a few other things that I don't remember but are probably irrelevant.).

Anyhow, I would say that any Kirby game is a pretty safe bet for sure.. they're fairly easy and lighthearted platformer games that I think would be great for her (Kirby's Adventure was one of my first games when I was realllly young in fact, lol). There are enemies to avoid and jumps to navigate, but both are extremely easy to deal with. You could always look up some gameplay videos online if you'd like to make sure. Some of the older Kirby games are on the Virtual Console, but you'd probably end up getting a lot more bang for your buck by getting Kirby's Dream Collection: it has six games on it and at least two of them have a co-op feature.
(Kirby Super Star's co-op is especially nice because it warps the 2P-controlled helper back to you if you go too far ahead, and there's basically no consequence for "dying" as a helper)

Kirby's Return to Dream Land is a more recent entry (also with co-op), but judging by the going rate for it on Amazon right now it is probably out of print, so you might be hard-pressed to find that one outside of finding it used someplace.

[LastLfan]

Sonic 2 still works as she can literally sit there with her thumb in her mouth and as long as you don't lose she's fine(i know from past experience, great babysitting game) good to know the shop is still up mas, i want to get the original smash bros to play with my brother. Carnival games maybe? And with a little help wii sports. We have fun with that sometimes. Granted my opinion might be skewed since the four year old can literally beat me in marvel vs capcom 3 anyway those are some ideas and if shes still into seasame street they have some cool elmo games.

[nillapoet]

There's a Sesame Street game for the Wii that should be good for that age.

[josh_manga]

Awesome suggestions guys, thanks! I'll look into those Kirby and the carnival games. I think we have Sonic 2 and Sonic and Knuckles on the Genesis still. She loves Sonic, but the games frustrate her and i just end up playing them.

More looking for something she can play while i'm working on stuff around the house and whatnot.

[Sheenar]

Wii Sports is also a good one --it has bowling, tennis, baseball, etc.

[Nate]

Kirby's Return to Dreamland, while it's not exactly hardcore gaming XTREME, ranks a bit higher in difficulty than some other Kirby games, and there's pretty big focus on combat.

I'd say Epic Yarn is the much better choice, especially since there's no lives or way to die in the game, and combat is minimal.

[Masaru]

I'd say Epic Yarn is the much better choice, especially since there's no lives or way to die in the game, and combat is minimal.

You're right, I totally forgot that that was a feature of Epic Yarn.
Definitely a great choice for her, then.

[randomuser2349]

I'd say avoid any RPGs until they are around 7-8ish, maybe excepting the more kiddy RPGs. They often contain many mature and grimdark themes that may not be suitable for 4 year olds. Secret of Mana is one of my favourite RPGs but I'm not sure if it's appropriate for younger kids (I mean it gets pretty scary at times). Rated E actually means ages 6+.

Give your 4 year old a more forgiving game. Try the slice-of-life games such as Cooking Mama.

[LastLfan]

Dragon quest IX was a good dog for a younger crowd. Not really dark as I remember but very long. Also pokemon as yes you can lose, but it's not timed, it'd turn based, once she figures some of it out she'll be fine

[mdmrn]

I see this is old, but with a nearly 6 & nearly 4 year old myself - I have to say the recommendation of Kirby's Epic Yarn is SOLID. My kids love it.

Also, if they like Sesame Street - I have found when my kids were younger the Sesame Street video games for the Wii were excellently done and very easy to play. Also, added bonus, most of them are teaching the kids about letters/numbers/shapes. If you want basic and aren't worried about the learning elements yet, the Grover game is mostly just waving the Wii-mote around and dancing with Grover or trying to get Grover to catch stuff. Simplistic gameplay, but that's not a bad thing for a little one.