Welcome to GamerDad: Gaming with Children. My name is Andrew S. Bub - the GamerDad - and I've been writing about videogames, movies, and children for over 15 years now. After working as a magazine journalist, I switched gears to write about how media violence affects children, educating parents about them, and working closely with magazines, newspapers, major retailers and even politicians. GamerDad is an internationally recognized expert in this field. Games, movies and media are fun, kids and families love them, they aren't going away. So join me in cutting through the hype and lets have a real conversation about the things that matter: Video Games, Violent Media, and their supposed effect on children and families.
Welcome to GamerDad: Gaming with Children. My name is Andrew S. Bub - the GamerDad - and I've been writing about videogames, movies, and children for over 15 years now. After working as a magazine journalist, I switched gears to write about how media violence affects children, educating parents about them, and working closely with magazines, newspapers, major retailers and even politicians. GamerDad is an internationally recognized expert in this field. Games, movies and media are fun, kids and families love them, they aren't going away. So join me in cutting through the hype and lets have a real conversation about the things that matter: Video Games, Violent Media, and their supposed effect on children and families.
King of Ping Pong MEGAMIX (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
I’ve never been a big fan of tennis or ping pong video games, because they just seem like glorified Pong games to me. But this one has arcade style gameplay and wacky characters, so let’s see how this one fares for me. King of Ping Pong MEGAMIX is available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
Hallmark Halloween Pikachu Ornament
Every year I always get some video game themed Christmas ornaments from Hallmark and write about them here. I plan to do that this year, too. But in this year’s batch, there was a video game themed ornament that doesn’t belong with the Christmas stuff. You see, Hallmark has gotten into making Halloween ornaments as well. While I think having a Halloween tree is a bit much, some people do like their spooky stuff! Usually they have things I’m not much interested in, like Harry Potter ornaments. And even the ones I think are kind of cool I wouldn’t get, like Peanuts and Disney’s Haunted Mansion ornaments. But when they released a Pikachu Halloween ornament this year, I just had to get it. So let’s take a look at it.
40 Sports Games in 1 (Switch, PS5)
Garfield Kart 2: All You Can Drift (Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
When I was a kid in the 80s, Garfield was huge! Newspaper comics strips were a popular form of entertainment for all ages back then, and the fat orange cat was right at the forefront. Not only that, but he had countless merchandise, Emmy award winning TV specials and a Saturday morning cartoon! So yeah, Garfield was a big part of my childhood. So good or bad, I’m always happy to review a Garfield video game. So here comes Garfield Kart 2: All You Can Drift, a typical cartoony kart racer featuring the fat cat and his friends. I’ve never played the first one, so I don’t know if this one improves anything in any way, but the sequel is available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.
Pokémon Kisses
Pokémon Friends (Switch, Mobile)
You’ve arrived in a new town to start your very own Pokémon plush toy shop. Kind of like a Build-A-Bear with Pokémon I guess. But while unpacking, your yarn gets all tangled up. So now you have to solve Pokémon themed puzzles to unravel your thoughts, and the yarn in Pokémon Friends. It’s available on Switch and mobile devices, but reviewed on Switch here.
The Edge of Allegoria (Switch, PC)
The best way to describe this game is that it’s Pokémon with a potty mouth. The Edge of Allegoria is an old school styled RPG with a green and white color palette similar to the Game Boy. It has some similarities to Pokémon, too. You don’t train and fight monsters, but the battle screen and the map are very similar to that series. In the game you play as a generic person who goes out to make something of themselves. You come to a town with a goblin problem, and beat up the leader in a dungeon, only to have other goblins come and demolish your house. Then a fairy comes to tell you that the world is not in balance anymore after you fight her. And in typical RPG fashion, you just go on from there, visiting towns for clues and items and fighting monsters on route to dungeons. Only other thing that sets this game apart from others is that it uses more curse words in the text than any other video game I’ve ever seen! It’s available on Switch and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.
Let’s Tour the Welcome Tour!
When the Nintendo Switch 2 released earlier this year, one of the launch games was the download only Welcome Tour. It was set up like a museum, and you controlled a little person as they walked around a giant Switch 2 and its accessories. You could play mini-games, try tech demos, and take quizzes on facts about the new console. To me, it sounded like a lot of silly, quirky fun. And I love games that have museums in them, whether it be Namco Museums or Animal Crossing. There was only one problem. They charged you for it. It really should’ve come with the system, and that’s what it’s going to be known for from here on out. I really wanted to boycott it and not buy it to support that kind of behavior. But here’s the thing. I only believe in boycotting if it doesn’t hurt yourself. And the game still sounded interesting enough to me that I didn’t want to miss out on it. Life is too short to miss out on what you think is fun. So I got it. It was only ten bucks anyway, and I can spend more money than that on fast food! So I figured I’d take you all on a tour of the Welcome Tour!
Glover (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
I first started writing video game reviews way back in 1996 for The Dallas Morning News (yeah, newspapers, remember those?), and it was around the same time that the N64 was released. So I got to review a lot of N64 games then. But surprisingly, Glover wasn’t one of them. Which is strange because I remember Hasbro Interactive, the publishers of that game at the time, being one of my first PR contacts. Since then I’ve read and watched a lot of stories about how Glover was a memorable game to people as a kid, for better or for worse. So I’m glad that I’m finally able to review the game with QByte Classics re-release of Glover. It’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
D.U.C.K. Dangerous Ultimate Cartridge Kidnapper (Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
A group of duck friends finds an old game cartridge and decides to take it home and play it. But when they do, an evil spirit emerges and traps them in the room and forces them to play games to make it out alive! This game is a take on WarioWare, where you play small mini-games in succession. But instead of games that only take seconds to play, these are a bit more involved and may take a minute or longer to beat. And most are imitations of arcade and console classics, from titles like Namco’s Tank Battalion or Game & Watch to Rhythm Heaven! The game is available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.



