mine had their Gameboy since they were 5. They just got a DS this past Christmas. That gameboy has been through the ringer, and it always worked and they always loved it. You can't go wrong with a Nintendo DS for a 5 year old, it will last him as long as he wants it.....
I'd add to the votes for the Leapster. My girls are 6 & 4 and love their Leapsters. It can keep them happy in the car for hours. You can find them and the games on ebay to save some $. Target also puts the games on sale quite often. If you buy the Leapster new and anything goes wrong in the first year (we had cllibration issues), the company will really stand by the product and fix it or replace it. Leapfrog products have taught and reinforced so many educational concepts in my children (esp the videos). I highly recommend them.
I couldn't find a gameboy for sale, are they outdated? I found the games, just not the console. So far, it looks like the most popular for this age (according to everyone on here) is DS & Leapster
DMJ, get him a DS. He will like it, I know it! There are enough games for him to play with that he can do. He's definitely smart enough to do it. Start him off with some racing games like Cars or Mario Kart. you will probably have to get him started since there is some reading involved, but soon enough he will figure it out. I promise
Another vote for the DS... kiddo (5yr old) has the Leapster below he got for Christmas from his Grandma. Great learning tool that's helped him with math. He just got the DS and picked up on it VERY quick! Either one would work pretty good.
we had one of those too. they are nice systems too. You really can't go wrong DMJ. he will like it all.
Yeah. a major plus on the DS though is scalability. The games on the DS have a much broader range, meaning the DS can scale with his maturity level (by buying titles with more mature, or difficult content). i LOVE my DS. i'm a big fan. i played Zelda: Phantom Hourglass nonstop for days.
OK - another question. Is there a difference between DS & DS lite? I'm seriously thinking about doing the leapster for his bday, getting his older brother the DS for his bday (December) and that way I have both, and they could always swap on trips, stuff like that. I have a 2 yo too, so I don't care if he outgrows the leapster, because I can pass it down...
DSLite is a smaller case and a lighter weight package... theres really no other difference between them. oh, and the DS lite comes in colors, i have the red and black one but theres also fully black, pink, blue, fully red, and probably a few other colors.
My husband & I are HUGE gamers! We are both in other mid thirties. We own every single system since Pong! No kidding. We have the Sega Genis, dreamcast, hand held Neo Geo ( couldnt compete with GameBoy), Ps1 PS2 PS3, PSP, Gameboy advance, ds, lite...Nintendo 64, super nintendo, gamecube, wii, you name it we own it. Oh we never bought the X box's...I had to put foot down somewhere. If you are looking for a gaming system, i recommend Nintendo. The games are more suited for kids. Most PS games target an older audience.
20% off on Leapster games I just got an e-mail from Leapfrog.com advertising 20% off on all Leapster games. Karen
I got the Colbalt blue one for my daughter, I'm tempted to go and get my own..I thought it would be silly though.
That is one of the games I got my daughter she will be 8 this month, I'm worried it might be to hard for her to play, but it had such good reviews. Your tempting me to go get my own now
The DS Lite is the newer version. Bigger screen, brighter colors and the unit weighs a little less. It takes the same games as the original DS.
