# Kid-tested video games: Titles that appeal to the youngest of players > Source: > Published: 2026-06-25 21:43:50+00:00 **Getting your** [Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...I started playing video games when I was 4, and my son recently reached the same age. I’ve been trying to introduce him to the land of Mario, Pokémon and Lego superheroes. The problem is that the industry has changed a lot since Atari’s primitive graphics. Games have grown more complex since “Yars’ Revenge.” They have open worlds, multibutton controllers and more complex systems. I’ve tried throwing him in the deep end, letting him play “Lego City Undercover.” He loves the game, but he ends up frustrated because he’s not ready for a city-spanning adventure that requires dexterity that’s difficult for his smaller hands that can barely grasp the controller. Better solutions were to give him a dead controller and put on a Let’s Play video or give him an inactive one and tell him that he’s helping me as I play. It works most of the time, but the big dividing line is attention span. There are some games that transfix him and others that bore him in a few minutes. Here are the ones that my 4-year-old is into: **“Pokémon Pokopia” —** On the surface, this Pokémon spinoff looks like a combination of the fan-favorite franchise and “Minecraft,” but the game is so much more. Players take on the role of a Ditto capable of mimicking its human trainer, and the Pokémon is thrown into a world devoid of humans. As Ditto, players have to rebuild cities and attract other pocket monsters to live in them. My Lego-obsessed kid loved the concept of building roads, homes and facilities for the Pokémon along with intricacies of figuring out how to attract new ones. I was also obsessed with exploring the different environments and discovering the inner lives of the creatures, which were used for specific roles in each city rather than just for battling like in the mains eries games. **Attention Span:** It holds his attention for at least an hour but we come back to it every week or so. He calls it the Pokémon City game. (Available on the Nintendo Switch 2.) **“Mario Tennis Fever” —** This iteration to Nintendo’s accessible sports series enraptured my son who knows nothing about the racquet sports. He picked up the basics in the introduction, but what really fascinated him was the single-player mode’s beginning after Mario and his team are turned into the baby version’s themselves. Naturally, they headed to tennis school, which acts as a tutorial that teaches players the game’s nitty gritty, including the power-ups attached to the rackets, the different types of swings and more. He liked training and improving Baby Mario so he could level up and compete against stronger opponents. He had a desire to try out the minigames and wanted to learn all aspects of “Mario Tennis Fever.” **Attention Span: **This game had a strong start but petered out. He does occasionally want to play. (Available on the Nintendo Switch 2.) **“Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight” — **My son is obsessed with police officers and Lego, and I have been trying to broaden his horizons. One of those avenues is this latest iteration of the superhero franchise. The game melds several different Batman stories across different media, including films, comic books, TV series and other games. Fans will see shades of “Batman Begins” and “Batman Returns.” I enjoyed it on one level, appreciating the references to the iconic hero’s iterations, while my son liked Batman because he worked with the police and helped them. Like other titles on the list, it was too complex for him, but I let him watch a Let’s Play while holding a nonfunctional controller so that he at least thought he was playing while enjoying the story. This version of the game is less about fisticuffs and more about stealth and detective work. In many ways, it resembled the legendary “Batman Arkham” games, so when he does grow older, he can appreciate their gameplay depth. **Attention Span:** I didn’t purchase the game, but my son did spend hours watching Let’s Play videos and was enthralled by the action. (Available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and X, PC. A Nintendo Switch 2 version is available on Sept. 18.) **“Yoshi and the Mysterious Book” —** Although this beautiful 2D side-scroller has a childlike look, it’s more complex than it looks. As Yoshi, players enter the pages of Mr. E, an encyclopedic book that contains numerous creatures. The game is more about discovering the traits of these unusual flora and fauna. That leads to experimentation as players test out how creatures react to the environment, Yoshi and other animals. Mr. E records each discovery on each level. The open-ended gameplay, reminiscent of “Super Mario 64,” is refreshing for veterans, but it confused my kid, who wanted a more direct approach that he has seen in other 2-D adventures. Aside from documenting each creature, players also have to accomplish goals such as collecting flowers or finishing other tasks. The game is more puzzle-heavy as players figure out the rules of each environment and how they can uncover the secrets of each level. **Attention Span: **I loved the concept of the open-ended play, but it was too abstract for a 4-year-old so he didn’t want to see me play it much. (Available on Nintendo Switch 2) **“Bluey’s Quest for the Golden Pen” —** Parents’ favorite Australian Cattle Dog has been in a few video games, and my kid is most familiar with “Bluey: The Videogame.” He sampled this newer title, which was originally released for iOS and Android, on PS5. The mobile influence is immediate as players take on the role of a drawn Bluey and Bingo as they quest for the Golden Pen in a fantasy world. Using the controller, the game plays fine, but my son would have appreciated the game more on the iPad. It’s simple enough as Bluey ventures across the world from a top-down perspective, solving simple puzzles and collecting items. It’s simpler than a “Zelda” game, but it was still too complex for a kid that just turned 4. He did like the voice acting from the Bluey cast though. **Attention Span: **My kid loves Bluey and stuck with the game a bit, but he got frustrated and didn’t stick with it despite being more approachable. I suspect he would have loved it more on a touchscreen. (Available on iOS and Android devices, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC, Xbox Series X and Series S)