Shmups and Children

Accutron · Post by **Accutron** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 10:50 pm

So today my 2 year old comes up to me and says 'Wanna play a game?' I'm like 'sure, how about Giga Wing?' and he says 'no, how bout G Darius?' Thus followed a 10 minute argument about whether we were going to play Giga Wing or G Darius

Anyway, I've asked it before in other peoples' threads, but does anybody else have kids? I suppose alot of you still are kids heh, but what about the older folks? I don't think I've seen anybody else on here ever mention their children, and I'm starting to wonder if shmups cause erectile dysfunction or something. I know that shmups and small kids aren't exactly closely related subjects, but as anybody with kids knows, they're involved with everything you're involved with.

Anyway, for those of you who do have kids, how old are they? Do you play shmups with them? Are they any good? Do shmuppers reproduce?

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 10:57 pm

Hey, amazing topic! I do not reproduce yet, so I can't bring my experience with kids... All I want to say is that your 2 year kid already has better tastes in shmup than his daddy! Cheers for him, I would pick G-Darius too

P.S. I hope you let him choose the game ^_^ But any way, you should decide in turns

Accutron · Post by **Accutron** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 10:59 pm

No actually we have the same taste...I like both, but greatly favor G Darius. It's just that Giga Wing was already in the DC from the night before, and I didn't want to have to fart with swapping mem cards and controllers on the PS2

Oh and he did win the argument, we played G Darius, so I guess everybody won!

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 11:01 pm

That's just great... Now you're truly passing your shmup genes (and your shmup culture) to the future, as Kojima san would put it!

nullpointer · Post by **nullpointer** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 11:09 pm

my son is only 2months old right now.. but he seems to like the pretty patterns in psyvariar and shikigami..

and at least i dont have to worry about some strange evil influences he might get from watching me play GTA all day instead!

Accutron · Post by **Accutron** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 11:27 pm

Turrican wrote:That's just great... Now you're truly passing your shmup genes (and your shmup culture) to the future, as Kojima san would put it!

It's interesting that you mention shmup culture...that's kinda how I've been approaching it with my son. Er...not shmup culture in specific, but gaming culture in general (with a primary emphasis on classic gameplay models). I mean, I'm from Ohio...what the hell kinda culture does some white dude from Ohio have? Chili dogs? Weed? But I've been playing video games as long as I can remember, and watched a bona fide culture form around the medium. My wife is a dedicated gamer, as are all of my friends. So, my kid is something of an experiment in raising a child with gaming as their culture. We'll see what happens!

nullpointer wrote:my son is only 2months old right now.. but he seems to like the pretty patterns in psyvariar and shikigami..

Hey speaking of pretty patterns in Psyvariar, the first time my son saw Psyvariar 2, he exclaimed 'IKARUGA!'

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 11:34 pm

Accutron wrote:
Turrican wrote:It's interesting that you mention shmup culture...that's kinda how I've been approaching it with my son. Er...not shmup culture in specific, but gaming culture in general (with a primary emphasis on classic gameplay models). I mean, I'm from Ohio...what the hell kinda culture does some white dude from Ohio have? Chili dogs? Weed? But I've been playing video games as long as I can remember, and watched a bona fide culture form around the medium. My wife is a dedicated gamer, as are all of my friends. So, my kid is something of an experiment in raising a child with gaming as their culture. We'll see what happens!

Oh, don't bash Ohio so much, I'm sure there are worse places to live in. But, yeah, the gaming culture is something I that must be passed on. Keep us updated with the progresses of your kid. Usually it's like "he got his first tooth!" but we're really more interested in his first 1cc!

Darkcomet72 · Post by **Darkcomet72** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 11:35 pm

I'm not amazed at the fact that your son has the amazing shmup gene at the tender age of 2, I'm amazed that your son could talk that fluently at the age of 2!

Accutron · Post by **Accutron** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 11:56 pm

Turrican wrote:Oh, don't bash Ohio so much, I'm sure there are worse places to live in. But, yeah, the gaming culture is something I that must be passed on. Keep us updated with the progresses of your kid. Usually it's like "he got his first tooth!" but we're really more interested in his first 1cc!

Heh, I don't hate Ohio or anything...great chili dogs... ... ...but it doesn't get any more 'plain vanilla' than Dayton.

Darkcomet72 wrote:I'm not amazed at the fact that your son has the amazing shmup gene at the tender age of 2, I'm amazed that your son could talk that fluently at the age of 2!

Dude, he never stops talking. Complex, grammatically correct, and eternal.

I feel compelled to show a picture, because he's so damn cute too

And yes, that is a crappy hand-drawn Dreamcast logo he's holding up.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 11:59 pm

He's the bestest! If I ever reproduce I want one like him. I also think that growing up in an environment so imbued with shmups will highly increase his skills!!

TWITCHDOCTOR · Post by **TWITCHDOCTOR** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 12:25 am

You outa dress him in red leather, dye his hair white...and call him Lil Dante.
I would!

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 12:36 am

Youngest shmup fan ever? Somebody get him an account on the forum!

whoisKeel · Post by **whoisKeel** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 12:58 am

Cute kid

How good is he at games? I remember when I was 8 or 9 years old, I couldn't last long enough to get a fireflower in SMB. (I didn't have my own nes yet) I wanted those fireballs so badly! I remember asking my older cousin if he would rather have a 1-up or a fireflower. Of course he was like, ummm, 1-up idiot...but I wanted the fireflower!

the2bears · Post by **the2bears** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 1:28 am

My 4 year old loves Ikaruga and Rez, and will play both. Means we have to take turns on the DC:P

He does prefer fighting/brawling games though.

Bill

Reiki · Post by **Reiki** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 3:00 am

My cousin's daughter absolutely loves the colours in Fantasy Zone. She used to sit and stare mesmerized at the screen for ages whenever I'd play it but she only recently picked up the joypad as started to play it. I run it through MAME when she's around so she can use invincibility cheats instead of getting killed every 5 seconds (which would get annoying for a 5-year-old). She'll just sit there slack-jawed, pile of drool on the carpet.

Simple pleasures.

Accutron · Post by **Accutron** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 3:43 am

Thunder Force wrote:Youngest shmup fan ever? Somebody get him an account on the forum!

As soon as he learns to type

whoisKeel wrote:Cute kid

How good is he at games? I remember when I was 8 or 9 years old, I couldn't last long enough to get a fireflower in SMB. (I didn't have my own nes yet) I wanted those fireballs so badly! I remember asking my older cousin if he would rather have a 1-up or a fireflower. Of course he was like, ummm, 1-up idiot...but I wanted the fireflower!

Well, he's no world-class shmupper just yet

He's figured out how to use a controller, but he's having issues watching the screen and using the controller at the same time. I guess it's kinda like learning to play the piano...at first you have to watch your hands. He's much better with a d-pad than an analog stick.

Melf · Post by **Melf** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 4:21 am

My 18 month-old is already in training.

IlMrm · Post by **IlMrm** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 6:59 am

Very cute kid. He must be the youngest person ever to say the word Ikaruga. Did you post the Dreamcast logo on the fridge?

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 7:05 am

Can I clone him? Please? Accutron, let me clone him!

Post by **Ghegs** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 7:22 am

IlMrm wrote:Very cute kid. He must be the youngest person ever to say the word Ikaruga.

"IKAWUGA!"

Cutest. Thing. Ever.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Mon Jan 31, 2005 7:36 am

Cute indeed. I'll prolly have my kid say something Shmuppy right after he/she calls me "dwady".

But I'll just use Gradius.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 1:54 am

Just wait until the little shmup-o turns 10 or 11....

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 2:23 am

Reiki wrote:My cousin's daughter absolutely loves the colours in Fantasy Zone. She used to sit and stare mesmerized at the screen for ages whenever I'd play it but she only recently picked up the joypad as started to play it. I run it through MAME when she's around so she can use invincibility cheats instead of getting killed every 5 seconds (which would get annoying for a 5-year-old). She'll just sit there slack-jawed, pile of drool on the carpet.

Simple pleasures.

Don't show her the MSX Fantasy Zone! That one has some of the most messed up colors I have seen in a MSX game.

Accutron · Post by **Accutron** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 2:59 am

Melf wrote:My 18 month-old is already in training.

Whee! That reminds me of a pic I saw, not long after Xbox launch, of a little boy sitting in a diaper holding a huge oversized Xbox controller.

Specineff wrote:Just wait until the little shmup-o turns 10 or 11....

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3

If he turns out like that, then I will have succeeded as a parent! Er...well, I hope he doesn't get too involved in RPG's...wouldn't have much gaming in common then

straight · Post by **straight** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 4:30 am

When my five-year-old twin girls see me playing shmups, they say, "What's Daddy playing?"

"Just a blowing-up game."

"Oh. Daddy, can we play Final Fantasy? Or Zelda?"

greg · Post by **greg** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 5:58 am

About a year ago there was a guy on the forum... I think his handle was Gotetsu... he had a little girl named Morrigan. She was a real shmupper too. Talking with him was real inspiration to have kids, and he had a totally cool attitude towards becoming a father by surprise.

This March my wife and I will celebrate our fourth anniversary, and we're hoping that this will be the year when we start having children of our own. We're going to try for a girl, and probably another girl for our second child later on. (We like girls, BTW.) I'm looking forward to becoming a parent. I'll just try to enjoy sleep as much as possible before we have a baby...

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 6:09 am

My sons name is Warren and almost 4. He often watches me play Strikers 1945 plus or ESP ra.de on the cab. In fact he joins in most of the time even though I tell him "bad boy". Must turn off freeplay, or insert 1 credit at a time.

Anyway, shmups and super monkey ball all the way for him.

He even likes RE4, which wife doesn't seem to mind him watching if I'm playing it. He's like "kill the monster daddy, kill it".

The funniest thing he said recently still sticks with me. My family are from UK and I live in the USA. My mother and brother are coming up this year to the States but they have never been here since he was born and he's never met them. On the telephone he said -

"Steven, why don't you come and see me, is it because your in Jail".. LMAO!

My brother was in shock.

mannerbot · Post by **mannerbot** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 7:59 am

Hahaha, kids really do say the darndest things.

greg · Post by **greg** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 7:42 pm

neorichieb1971 wrote:He even likes RE4, which wife doesn't seem to mind him watching if I'm playing it. He's like "kill the monster daddy, kill it".

Now that's where I would draw the line. I find it disturbing to desensitize little children to ultra violence. I'm not into sheltering kids at all, but in my philosophy there are appropriate ages in which to expose kids to certain things.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 8:35 pm

No kids yet but I know a 9 year old who likes to play Raiden in MAME. I'm gonna introduce he and his older brother to some Saturn shmups (have talked about these kids before). Talk about kids with good taste, they like Genny and NES games GC, whatever is on the TV as long as it's good.

That reminds me, EGM.1up.com did another "Let's introduce modern kiddies to old games" and although there were (of course) some reeeaaally dumb comments on some of the games they played, their playthroughs of Zelda and Gunstar Heroes were mostly praise. They were also genuinely funny time in a smart way. Also, Dan Hsu asked them what would they do if their kids made fun of their modern games like say,Wind Waker a few of them said I'd disown/cut them out of the inheritence. lol Guess they chose a better gene pool this time (or maybe better games, you can't fault kids for making fun of stuff like the old Atari Adventure game haha)