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.
River City Girls Zero (Switch)
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Posted on March 18th, 2022 by
In Japan there is a popular series of games starring Kunio-kun. Kunio is a hot-blooded high school student who sometimes gets into fights and trouble, but he always stands up for his friends and against bullies. And when he’s not doing that, he competes in sports. Some of these games were brought to the US under name and graphical changes, so if you’ve ever played Renegade, River City Ransom, or Super Dodge Ball, you’ve played a Kunio game and may not have even known it! A few years ago, game maker WayForward came out with River City Girls, a game that played like River City Ransom, but starred Kunio’s and his pal Riki’s girlfriends as they fought to save their guys! And now they’ve ported over a River City Ransom sequel that came out on the Super Famicom but never in the US. In the game, Kunio and Riki have been framed and sent to prison, but they break out and team up with their girlfriends to fight the gang that caused all this. Supposedly this was the game that inspired WayForward to make River City Girls. Huh, that’s interesting, I didn’t even know that! Anyway, WayForward added an intro, cutscenes, and an English translation to the Super Famicom game and called it River City Girls Zero. It’ll be available on more consoles later, but as of this writing, it’s only available on Switch.
Explosive Candy World (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
Posted on March 16th, 2022 by
Toss exploding candy to fling your little pixel candyman to a goal in Explosive Candy World. It’s available on most current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here. All you do is move around a cursor. When you hold down a button, a line will extend from your candyman and when you let go of the button, you’ll fling a piece of candy that’ll explode upon impact. What you’ll want to do is use the cursor to aim the candy so the explosion launches the candyman in the air and to a candy cane goal somewhere on the single screen level. For some weird reason, it reminds me of golf!
Bulbs 2.0 (Mobile)
Posted on March 14th, 2022 by
Turn on lightbulbs and change their hues so they are all the same white color at once in this free-to-play puzzler on mobile devices (reviewed on iPad here). You know how some video games have mini-puzzles where you must turn on all the lights and the lights around you will also turn on or off, so you have to figure out how to turn them all on at once? Well this game is like that except you also have to think about mixing colors as well!
Pokémon Oreos
Posted on March 11th, 2022 by
A while back I got a box of Pokémon Oreos so I thought I’d write about them here. I actually got them last Fall, so I’m not sure if they’re still available in stores, but I’ve been so busy with other reviews and things I’ve only had a chance to write about them now. So grab yourself a glass of milk and let’s take a look at them!
Beat Souls (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
Posted on March 9th, 2022 by
Dodge obstacles to the beat of the music in Beat Souls, an action game for nearly all current consoles, but reviewed on PS4 here. First choose an anime girl to play (you can unlock three more, but they all play the same). Then choose from 60 unlockable songs as you avoid obstacles and line up soul icons.
Dino Galaxy Tennis (Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PC)
Posted on March 7th, 2022 by
Play tennis! With dinosaurs! In space! Who thought of this game premise, a five year old? Well it doesn’t matter, because this game is actually pretty fun! But it really plays more like Pong or air hockey than tennis. Dino Galaxy Tennis is available on most current game consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.
Yeah Yeah Beebiss II (Switch, PC)
Posted on March 4th, 2022 by
I’m not really a fan of most video game YouTubers. Many seem like just young punks just yelling profanities into the microphone, and spending more time talking about games rather than playing them. Plus I’m just jealous that they’re stealing all my thunder (hey at least I’m honest). But there are a few I can stand. One of them is John Riggs. He talks mostly about retro games and seems to be about the same age as me with the same experiences with video games in the past, so he’s relatable. And he made his own homebrew game and I got to review it! (Switch version reviewed here)
El Gancho (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, PC)
Posted on March 2nd, 2022 by
In El Gancho, you play as a yellow dinosaur with a bow tie who must explore randomly generated cave mazes as he rescues lost dinosaurs (called Cocos for some reason). And how do you do this? By swinging around with a grappling hook! It’s available on most current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
Moto Roader MC (Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, X/S)
Posted on February 28th, 2022 by
Moto Roader was a launch title for the TurboGrafix-16, a video game console from the late 80s and early 90s. The game was a top down racer and the screen scrolled in any direction as you made laps to win (kind of like Micro Machines). Moto Roader had a couple of sequels, but I’m not sure if they left Japan. Moto Roader 2 had a futuristic feel to it, and the tracks scrolled mostly vertically up. The third game in the series, Moto Roader MC, went back to the lap tracks of the original, but ditched the scrolling, so everything was on one single screen. So it played more like Super Sprint or the Top Ride mode from Kirby Air Ride. And now you can play Moto Roader MC on most current game consoles, but reviewed on Switch here.
The Humans (PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PC)
Posted on February 25th, 2022 by
When I was a pre-teen/early teen in the late 80’s and early 90’s, one of my favorite games was Lemmings. I played the heck out of this series, and I’m sure most gamers still know about it since there were tons of ports and sequels. In these games, you guided a bunch of mindless critters to an exit by giving them tools and skills so they wouldn’t walk blindly off of cliffs and into danger. Back when this game was on store shelves in places like Babbage’s (remember those), another game that was next to it was usually The Humans. It featured cartoony art of cavemen so it always caught my eye, but I never played it back then even though it looked like another Lemmings style game to me. So that’s why I’m glad I got to review this collection now. Turns out the game is a bit more like The Lost Vikings than Lemmings (games with prehistoric themes sure were popular back then, what with titles like Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninjas and this). Anyway, The Humans is a puzzle platformer where you guide and switch between cavemen as you use tools and make human ladders to achieve goals. It’s available on most current consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch and PS4 here.
