GamerDad and family 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.
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Unplugged: Pac-Man: The Card Game

As many of you may already know, I’m a huge fan of Pac-Man.  So when I saw this Pac-Man card game, I had to get it and try it out!  I don’t know how long it’s been out, I got it on sale at Amazon for 5 bucks.  But I figured I’d review it anyway.

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Pretty Girls Rivers (PS4, PS5, Switch, PC)

Play a version of Mahjong with slightly different rules, all the while unlocking outfits for a bevvy of anime ladies in Pretty Girls Rivers.  It’s available on current PlayStation systems, Switch, and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

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Z-Warp (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S)

Z-Warp is a fast paced vertically scrolling shooter with classic styled graphics and sensibilities.  In the future, a spaceship with a new warp drive goes missing, and it’s up to you to pilot a special craft to recover the black box and find out what happened.  But story doesn’t really matter, just shoot everything that moves and avoid all the bullets!  Z-Warp is available on most current consoles but reviewed on PS4 here.

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Pac-Man Models and Figurines

A while back I bought a couple of Pac-Man model kits and figurines that I found on sale, so I though I’d write about them here.  You all know how I like Pac-Man!

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Fingun (Switch, PC)

Fingun is a silly and quirky Japanese style horizontal shooter.  You control a gloved hand pointed in the shape of a gun (think Master Hand from Smash Bros.) as you fire bullets at crazy bosses.  It kind of reminds me of a mix of WarioWare and Sexy Parodius.  It’s available on Switch and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

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Thunder Kid: Hunt for the Robot Emperor (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, PC)

Thunder Kid is a 3-D run and gun action game with retro-styled polygonal graphics that make it look like a PSOne game.  The story has something to do with a future war between the US and Canada, and robots taking over, but all you really need to know is that you are Thunder Kid and you must shoot all the robots.  The game is available to download on nearly all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

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Taito Milestones (Switch)

Video game maker Taito has a lot of history behind it.  Just as much as other long-time developers such as Namco and even Nintendo!  Some of the games they’ve made you’ve surely heard of, like Space Invaders, Bubble Bobble, Bust-A-Move, and many, many more.  And now there’s a collection of classic Taito games on the Switch, so let’s take a look at what’s on there!

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Time Loader (Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, X/S, PC)

In the mid 90s, a boy named Alex slips on a toy car in his tree house and falls to the ground, causing him to be paralyzed and bound to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.  He grows up to be a scientist and invents a time machine so he can send a robot back in time to destroy the car that he slipped on so none of that would happen.  In Time Loader, you control the robot he sent back in time as you explore a giant house and surroundings.  The robot has wheels and a claw arm, but you can gather upgrades as you progress.  But when you destroy the car in the past, the present is still the same, but a cat causes Alex to fall from the tree house instead.  So when you get rid of the cat, you make the timeline worse because a house fire happens later because rats chew through wires because the cat wasn’t there to chase them away.  So you’ll travel back and forth from the mid to late 90s as you try and set the timeline right again.  Time Loader is a 2-D physics based puzzle platformer available for nearly all current game consoles, but reviewed on Switch here.

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Flat Kingdom: Paper’s Cut Edition (Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, PC)

In a pop-up book paper kingdom, magical jewels keep things in balance.  But when a ninja steals the jewels, it’s up to a little brave hero to save the day.  This little hero can fold into different shapes to solve puzzles, bypass obstacles, and defeat enemies.  Flat Kingdom: Paper’s Cut Edition is a 2-D puzzle platformer and is available on nearly all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

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Big Bang Pro Wrestling (Switch)

Regular readers of my reviews and podcast may know that I’m a big fan of SNK and their handheld NEO GEO Pocket Color.  It came out in the late 90s to compete with the Game Boy Color and had some awesome games on it.  Including one I even liked more than Pokémon (SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash).  A lot of NGPC games have been re-released on the Switch in the past couple of years, and the newest one to enter the ring is Big Bang Pro Wrestling.  I had never heard of this one, which surprised me, but then, I’ve never been into wrestling games.  I figured it was one that had never been released in the US, but the game is in English so maybe it was!

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