I'm sure this must have been asked here before but for the life of me I can't find the search function on my phone. I'm thinking of getting my daughter a 2ds for her 5th birthday and I'm looking for recommendations. The first things that came to mind were Mario kart and new super Mario Bros. Because they are relatively simple, fun, colourful games that require little to no reading (she can read small words and sentences). But I know there are hundreds of 3ds games for kids like lego friends, frozen, moshi monsters etc etc that you and I might not consider worthwhile games but perhaps are suitable for a five year old? Thanks for any helpm

Does she have a favourite show? Chances are there's a DS game of the show.

Yeah, good thinking. Barbie, my little pony and Peter rabbit are amongst her favourites.

Good old fashioned Mario.

I have a nephew who I introduced to videogames when he was about 4. He's 6 now. I found that Mario was actually a bit punishing for him to learn, so I got him started on my copy of Kirby: Triple Deluxe and got him Kirby: Planet Robobot along with a 2DS for his 6th birthday.

I think either of those are good games to start with because not only are they not that complicated, you can also take some damage just walking into enemies and there's no time limit like there is in Mario. The first stage doesn't even have enemies for a while and instead just teaches you with signs that you can jump, or hop through floors and so on, no reading required. Whenever you stand in front of a door a animating D-pad let's you know what to do to enter and for some sections you can just cheese past enemies by flying.

They are also super charming and well animated games that threads a line between cute and cool which I think gives it a wide appeal for younger kids, and while there are a lot of advanced stuff you could do with the different powers none of it is required. It'll does get tougher as they get further in the game but as kids I figure they'll either have the tenacity to push through or they can play the earlier stuff over and over.

My daughter is turning 5 in June and she recently started playing one of the older Pokemon games on the 3DS and absolutely loves it. She has so much fun just fighting/capturing wild Pokemon, it's very cute to watch.

She also like playing Spelunky. She can get past the first level in the mines which makes me quite proud.

I agree with @jacksukeru that the Kirby games for the 3DS are probably a good place to start for a kid of that age. A couple of the early Kirby games (NES, Game Boy, SNES) had punishing difficulty in parts, but not so much in the past decade or so; the Kirby series has become almost exclusively for small children because it's now really quite forgiving and not actually that much of a challenge, but still looks really cute and charming and they're still well made games overall.

I mean, if she absolutely tears through a Kirby game or two and says they're too easy, then maybe graduate her up to a 3DS Mario game for Christmas or her next birthday or something, but I think Kirby is a good starting point.

Also Mario Kart is probably a decent option as well. And I'd guess that any of the LEGO games are vaguely aimed at her age range, so that's probably an OK option as well.

Try Picross 3D 2 if she's into puzzles at all. There's a lot of stuff there that could help learn basic math and logic skills

Agreed with those who say Kirby is a nice platformer to start with. The first 8 worlds of Mario 3D Land weren't that bad either if I remember correctly.

Also if you find any of the LEGO games that are tied to a franchise she likes, that's a safe bet as well.

The barbie games are awful. Truly the most non progressive poorly made drivel. Theres a quick look on the site somewhere.

Oh, great, she doesn't even need video games then! Just send her over to the Bronie subforum on Reddit and let her go wild! Haha ;)

I would just steer clear of almost all the licensed stuff except for maybe some of the Lego games as suggested above. Go with Animal Crossing (although there is a maybe too much reading in this), the two Kirby games, Poochy and Yoshi's Wooly World, Mario 3D Land, maybe Mario Kart.

This is a good suggestion as well, especially since it's apparently the easier version.

Every SMT and Zero Escape title and maybe even Senran Kagura

@frodobaggins: The new Yoshi & Poochie's Woolly World would be good.

Wow thanks all some great suggestions. I haven't even considered kirby. Also Yoshis woolly world would probably be ideal. What about Yoshis Island? Bit too hard? Isn't there a Mario party game on 3ds? Am I right in saying the 2ds plays original DS games?

Yoshi's Wooly World in particular has an awesome "mellow mode" where he has wings and can fly over everything. It's the cutest thing ever.

@splodge: There's nothing wrong with a girl wanting to play a Barbie game if that's what she wants to play.

@frodobaggins: Yeah, the 3DS does play DS games, and there's a Mario Party on DS and two for 3DS.