All posts tagged 'Movies with Children'

Dreamworks’ Spirit: Lucky’s Big Adventure (Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PC)

I have a younger cousin who lives in Alabama who just loved horses as a kid.  One time when I came to visit she had a N64 and a copy of Ocarina of Time and wanted me to help her get to the part of the game where she could ride the horse.  So I played to that point and gave the controller to her and that’s all she did!  A few years later when I came back to visit, there was an animated movie in theaters that we took her to see called Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, and she loved it!  Bottom line is, kids love horses.  And why wouldn’t they?  Horses are pretty cool animals.  And now there is a computer animated spin-off series of Spirit on Netflix, plus a new movie based on the Netflix show out now in theaters.  And now you can play a game based on the new movie and Netflix series with Dreamworks’ Spirit: Lucky’s Big Adventure.  It’s available on nearly all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

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What The Dub?! (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox X, PC)

You wanna know what my all-time favorite TV show in the whole wide world is?  It’s Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Man I love that show!  In it, a guy and two robot puppets are sent out in a space station by two mad scientists, and are forced to watch bad movies and make fun of them.  You might’ve seen this show and not even realized it, because most of it is just the old movie with a silhouette of theater seats and the characters at the bottom talking all throughout the movie.  It hasn’t been on TV in a long time, but you can still catch it in syndication and on Netflix.  Some of the show’s creators and stars have gone on to do similar works, like Rifftrax, which are great, too.  But MST3K is still my favorite.  Since I like video games a lot, I always thought it would be neat if they made an MST3K video game.  But until they do, What the Dub?! may be the closest thing to that.  It’s a party game where you watch clips of old movies, type in missing dialogue in your phone, and vote on the funniest submissions.  It’s available for nearly all current game consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

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Cary’s Favorite Pokémon Spin-Off Games

I’m really excited about the upcoming release of New Pokémon Snap.  The original was a special game to me, and I’ll explain why in this blog.  The mainline Pokémon games are great, but I haven’t played any of the more recent ones because I feel they are all pretty much the same game.  Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Why fix what isn’t broken?  And with every new generation of Pokémon game comes a new generation of kids to enjoy them, and while they may be the same game to me, it’s new to them.  While I haven’t played a new mainline Pokémon game since Black & White, I still like the Pokémon settings and characters and do enjoy a lot of the spin-off games.  So in this blog we’re going to take a look at some of my favorite Pokémon spin-off games in honor of the upcoming release of New Pokémon Snap!

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Funko Pop Blitz (Mobile)

Those big-headed, soulless black eyed Funko Pop figurines are EVERYWHERE!  And pretty much any movie, TV, comic book, even food commercial characters have their own figure.  I’ve tried to stay away from them, myself, since I’m already so bad with amiibo figures, but even I have a few of them.  I had to have all the Pac-Man ones, because you know I would.  Plus I’ve got a couple of other video game related ones I’ve found on sale.  And now there is a match three puzzle game on mobile devices featuring Funko Pop characters!

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Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix (PS4, Switch, Xbox One)

A couple of years ago I reviewed Nickelodeon Kart Racers, a kart racing game featuring characters and tracks from multiple generations of cartoons from kids’ cable channel Nickelodeon.  Now it’s back with a sequel with more characters, more tracks, and just more stuff in general.  It’s available on all current consoles but reviewed on PS4 here.

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Pokémon Café Mix (Switch, Mobile)

You’re about to open up a café that serves food especially for Pokémon!  And the waiters and cooks are Pokémon as well!  Help prepare delicious dishes for your Poke-pals in this free-to-start puzzle game for Switch and mobile devices (reviewed on Switch here).  Stir around Pokémon head icons to match them and make them disappear.  It kind of reminds me of other action puzzle games on mobile like Yo-Kai Watch Wibble Wobble or the Disney Tsum Tsum game.

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Pokémon Smile (Mobile)

Pokémon has delighted and entertained kids for generations, and now the little pocket monsters are helping make brushing teeth a little more fun.  Pokémon Smile is a brushing app for mobile devices (reviewed on iPhone here) geared towards very young children.  Best of all, it’s completely free with no in-game ads or purchases.  Not sure how it makes money, but good for them!  But will it make kids excited to brush their teeth?  You’ll just have to read on to find out!

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Double Dragon & Kunio-Kun: Retro Brawler Bundle (PS4, Switch)

Hey kids!  Are you ready for a video game history lesson?  Sure you are!  Anyway, back in the mid-80s, game maker Technos created one of the first brawlers featuring a character named Kunio.  He’s a hot-blooded high school student who sometimes gets into fights, but always stands up for his friends and against bullies.  His first arcade game was a hit in Japan, and they brought it to the US under the name Renegade.  A few graphical and name changes were made.  The character now sported a sleeveless leather jacket instead of a Japanese school uniform, and instead of locations like an outdoor train stop, you fought in places like an underground subway station.  It was a modest hit in the US and got a version on the NES, but it was nowhere near as big as the original game in Japan.  The bosses at Technos wanted to recreate that success in the US, so they tasked the team to make another brawler that would really appeal to overseas audiences.  So they created Double Dragon.  Needless to say, that was a huge hit with countless arcade sequels and ports, a cartoon, and even a live action movie (it was famously bad, but fun in a B-movie sort of way).  And now you can play almost every NES and Famicom version of the Double Dragon and Kunio-Kun series in a collection on the PS4 and Switch (reviewed on PS4 here).  It even includes Renegade’s ‘sequel’ River City Ransom, as well as sports spin off titles like Super Dodge Ball!  Yes!  Super Dodge Ball was my favorite sports video game until Wii Sports came along!

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The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics (PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PC)

I was a child of the 80’s, and Jim Henson stuff was a big part of my childhood.  I watched TV shows like Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and Fraggle Rock.  I saw films like The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and heck, the very first movie I ever remember seeing in a theater was the first Muppet Movie.  So I was very interested in seeing the new Netflix series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.  And I LOVED it!  I don’t normally binge watch things, but one day when I was off work, I watched two episodes of it in the morning and two more in the evening.  It was so good.  I’d watch it again if I had time.  So I was excited when I heard they were making a video game out of it, but I was disappointed that it was a tactics strategy RPG game.  I don’t like those.  Could my love of the series and Jim Henson stuff in general save this game for me?  Well you’ll just have to read this review and find out!  The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics is available to download on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

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Ice Age: Scrat’s Nutty Adventure (Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PC)

Ice Age is one of the longest running computer animated movie series, and it stars a group of prehistoric animals like saber tooth tigers and woolly mammoths.  But clearly the crowd favorite has to be Scrat the saber toothed squirrel and his constant chase for his beloved acorn nut.  And now Scrat gets his very own game with Ice Age: Scrat’s Nutty Adventure.  While chasing his acorn, Scrat stumbles across a hidden temple of the Scratazons, an ancient advanced race of saber toothed squirrels.  Now in order to get his nut back, he must collect special purple crystal acorns across the land.  Scrat’s Nutty Adventure is a 3-D platformer available for all current game consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

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