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Yesterday's [DOS] games, today's children

R

reenigne

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I have two kids - Alex is 5 and loves playing Minecraft, Penelope is 3 and enjoys flash games like Starfall and Poisson Rouge. They're both very interested in what I'm doing when I'm tinkering with my XT, but what they really want is to play some games on it. However, they haven't been particularly impressed with the games I used to play on the Amstrad PC1512 when I was a kid. I was a bit older than them when we first got that machine (probably 8 or so) and games like Digger and Willy the Worm require a bit too much dexterity, while games with too much reading tend to stretch their patience.

Does anybody have any suggestions for CGA games suitable for 3-6 year olds?
 
Now you are asking. I can remember most everything about the games my sons liked as kids, except the names. There was one which involved loading a truck with bricks. Let me see what I can find in the loft.....
 
Bet they would both enjoy FaceMaker. :)

For something that's more action-oriented but relatively easy on the dexterity, perhaps Space Commanders could work. Or the inimitable Lode Runner (I'm pretty sure I first played it on an Apple ][ around the age of 5-6).
 
el_VR said:
Bet they would both enjoy FaceMaker. :)
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My dad had an Atari 800 when I was in that age range and Facemaker was one of the games I remember fondly. I didn't know there was a PC version. It's a shame there's no PC version of Story Machine, it might help with those reading skills. And it's fun to 'zot' things.

And yes, any of these Sierra games are quality. I remember having trouble completing The Black Cauldron when I was kid though. I particularly recommend Mickey's Space Adventure, it's a scavenger hunt through the solar system with Mickey. The clues are obvious enough that any kid can figure them out, but you do have to think about them. But if that's too much reading, Donald Duck's Playground is almost all action.
 
Amy's First Primer was popular when I was a kid. My girls when they were younger were happy with the little bulldozer moving the right shapes around and liked the Froggy maze game. Might be a little too simple though. There were some typing games too .. trying to remember what it was called but I enjoyed it. Falling letters from the sky that you had to hit on the keyboard and I think if you won there was a little guy in a hot air balloon that rose up and waved goodbye to you. I remember how it got faster and faster the less it had to draw of him (when he starts to get above your screen his waving/speed increased).

There were other sort of simple games too though like Moon Bugs, Fleet Sweep (might be hard at their age but it's a good joystick spaceship shooter), centipede (dos).

I wasted lots of time in Dr. Halo too.
 
Hatta said:
And yes, any of these Sierra games are quality. I remember having trouble completing The Black Cauldron when I was kid though. I particularly recommend Mickey's Space Adventure, it's a scavenger hunt through the solar system with Mickey. The clues are obvious enough that any kid can figure them out, but you do have to think about them. But if that's too much reading, Donald Duck's Playground is almost all action.
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FWIW, all three of these (and a few more) are made available by the programmer, Al Lowe, at his website. Though possibly not all in their IBM format (if you need a particular game in IBM format, PM me - I probably have it, and since Al's giving them away on his site, I figure that makes them public domain)
 
I don't know if it had an official name other than "Grinch". This looks like it and has a publisher. It was fun as a kid. It's a find the bird game, you type the coordinate where you think it is and it chirps out how many spaces off you were and you guess again. After a few guesses I think it can move, or if you find it I think it plays a little happy face dancing song.
 
Hatta said:
My dad had an Atari 800 when I was in that age range and Facemaker was one of the games I remember fondly. I didn't know there was a PC version.
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There were actually two different PC versions -- one was a "booter" deal written in Forth and dated 1982; that's the one I played way back when. It had stacking windows and all, very much ahead of its time in terms of UI. :)
The other was a DOS executable dated 1984, "licensed to Tandy Corp." and featuring 3-voice Tandy 1000 music (the graphics were still plain CGA); seems like it was programmed completely from scratch. Doesn't have all the options that the earlier version had, and doesn't appear on MobyGames either... time for another MG submission, I guess.
 
el_VR said:
There were actually two different PC versions -- one was a "booter" deal written in Forth and dated 1982; that's the one I played way back when. It had stacking windows and all, very much ahead of its time in terms of UI. :)
The other was a DOS executable dated 1984, "licensed to Tandy Corp." and featuring 3-voice Tandy 1000 music (the graphics were still plain CGA); seems like it was programmed completely from scratch. Doesn't have all the options that the earlier version had, and doesn't appear on MobyGames either... time for another MG submission, I guess.
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Not all cga but there's a great compilation of stuff from the early '90s that can fit on a floppy disk- http://superkeen.com/peacecorpsweblog/learning-software/

My 5 yo grandson loves Commander Keen, Monster Bash etc.
 
As I think of it, Zeliard could run at playable speeds on an 8088 with graphics capabilities (either Hercules mono, CGA, or EGA). It's an old hack n' slash that's probably a bit complicated for your children so far as playing the game to complete it, but running around the town and then fighting monsters in the caves might be appealing.
 
I introduced my cousin to Commander Keenand Duke Nukem and he enjoyed them. For their young age, I'd turn on God mode so they can play it without getting killed constantly and losing interest in it. Another one similar to that is Secret Agent (by Apogee as well). And once they can get the hang of those, you may give Gate World a try. Sokoban is also a favorite of mine.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone. I'll get the machine running later and we'll see which of them the kids like best!
 
God mode? Duke 3d I guess? The original Duke Nukem was fun too and is just a side scroller. Others that are higher system specs but similar were Crystal Caves and Jungle Jill (pretty neat sound if you had adlib but that gives you the obvious idea that it probably wouldn't run on an 8088).

Actually another almost simple (gets tough so good loser required) would be Janitor Joe. Monochrome or CGA is fine on this one, it's just a side scroller chutes and ladders type of game. Higher levels add robots and eventually robots with lasers which will zap you if you get too close.
 
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