For every swearing ten-year-old logging into Call of Duty, there are plenty of adults in the world enjoying another round of Mario Kart.
A common sentiment across the gaming world is that it is more fun when everyone gets to play, and there is a whole host of games to satisfy all players of all ages. From young kids just learning to pick up a controller to the most experienced players from the console wars, to say that there is something for everyone would be a gross understatement.
That all being said, there is a shocking amount of overlap when it comes to player ages. For every swearing ten-year-old logging into Call of Duty, there are plenty of adults enjoying another round of Mario Kart. While some games might be directed at kids, that does not mean grown-ups cannot play too.
On paper, the idea of getting to play a soccer game with giant suped-up race cars sounds like an idea that players of any age can enjoy. With its over-the-top gameplay and colorful visuals paired with the ridiculous-yet-fun premise, it should come as no surprise that the game has gathered such a huge following.
Sports games have always been something that draws a large crowd of players. From the early days of Pong to more modern titles like Madden, gathering players to go head-to-head on a game field or in an arena tends to be a great strategy. Throw in rocket-powered cars and a giant neon soccer ball, and it is a recipe for success.
If players can build with Legos, they can build with Minecraft‘s big, chunky, pixelated blocks. To be fair, the game is marketed to most players regardless of age, but kids are still a huge audience. Creative imaginations come in all shapes, sizes, and ages, and this game is a great way for players to unleash their inner builder.
While kids can certainly enjoy the building, exploring, and even the survival mode, older gamers frequently pour hours and hours of gameplay into creating grand and glorious worlds. From something as simple as their own private island to a full-on replica of Hogwarts, the possibilities are practically endless.
It is simple, it is cartoony, it can be finished in under five hours, and it is utterly ridiculous, but that does not mean adults cannot find something to like about it. With its random sense of humor and eccentric visuals, kids are immediately going to be drawn into the chance to play an antagonistic goose on the loose through a virtual town, but there is certainly appeal for adults too.
Sometimes all adult players want to do is just turn their brains off for a while, and there is no fault in wanting to do so. Getting to harass and pester various characters to solve puzzles and progress across levels is certainly a great way to do that.
Everyone loves a good platforming game; it is practically the first genre most players are introduced to. From Mario to Sonic, anyone can embark on an adventure, collect their coins, jewels, rings, etc., and race to the exit while bopping off enemies and defeating bosses along the way to the end level.
While there are certainly more than a few methods to accomplish this, the Rayman games have a certain kid-friendly quality to them that adults seem to enjoy. Not many games feature giant mosquito racing, zany worlds, and characters lacking necks and limbs. Playing a more modern Rayman title is like running through a Saturday morning cartoon. If players can accept the goofiness, they are in for a good time.
Many players of all ages enjoy a good puzzle, and the gaming world has more than a lion’s share. As kid-friendly as Captain Toad might be, however, it will definitely put a few brains to the test. Kids can certainly pick it up and explore their way through, but adults absolutely will not back down from the challenge.
The Mushroom Kingdom already has an infectious nature, being that it is the setting of one of the first games many players have experience with, but trading in Mario and Luigi for an adventurous Toad is certainly a breath of fresh air for those looking for a new experience in a familiar environment.
Splatoon is weird; that much is made clear right from the box art, but that is not saying it is not original. As surprising as it might seem for such a successful shooter to come out of Nintendo, trading in bullets and bombs for super-soakers and paint rollers turned out to be quite the stroke of genius.
Kids will definitely get sucked into this colorful team-based shooter, but adults who are tired of the same old standard shooters will be thoroughly entertained by how much paint they can sling around to take control of the map. If only it had a zombies mode.
Apart from going into an immense amount of debt and building a functioning community, the Animal Crossing series is about as blatant as they come in the realm of kids’ games. With its cute and cuddly animal villagers, bright color palette, and enough fetch-quests to keep players busy for hours, it certainly feels like it earns its reputation. That being said, sometimes it feels like its adult audience is arguably larger.
Whether it is the escapism, the characters, or the creation tools seen in later games, older players have definitely found their own virtual paradise in these quirky titles. At the end of the day, its addictive and zen-like nature is what keeps players coming back for more.
Whether it is Star Wars or The Lord of the Rings, the Lego games are a series that captures the best of both worlds for players young and old. Kids will appreciate the fun and sense of humor the bricked world of the minifigures have to offer, but adults will catch all the references, visuals, and in-jokes that might go over younger players’ heads.
The games themselves are often eccentric action platformers, but that works exceptionally well to showcase famous movies and shows in a different medium. As silly as it can be, there is just something so smile-inducing seeing characters like Batman, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Gandalf turned into plastic-looking block versions of their famous selves.
From game rooms to dorm rooms, the Mario Kart series has been a beloved pastime of gamers young and old for decades. While most players might be introduced to the series as kids, Mario Kart is simply one of those titles that remains a constant fixture in both the industry and the lives of the players.
It is the shamelessly competitive nature of the games that keeps the series alive and well. With eight core entries and dozens of tracks, cars, racers, and many things that may take time to discover, there is no denying that the series knows how to keep the gameplay fresh with each new generation of players.
Whether players were there in the early days of Red and Blue or picked up their very first copy of Let’s Go, Pikachu!, the world of Pokémon has been a part of the gaming world for nearly twenty-six years. While the younger generation might love it just as much as older players did in the ’90s, there is a good chance that a large portion of the game’s audience is players who have grown up with Pikachu and his Pokémon pals for years.
With the original game released in 1996, veteran trainers have been exploring and filling their Pokédexes for a considerable amount of time. Although its direction is aimed at kids looking to try their first RPG, the original players still jump at the opportunity to embark on a new quest to become a Pokémon Master.
Zach Gass is a writer from East Tennessee with a love for all things Disney, Star Wars, and Marvel. When not writing for Screen Rant, Zach is an active member of his community theatre, enjoys a variety of authors including Neil Gaiman, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkein, and is a proud and active retro-gamer.
