Video Game Mom

The other night, my daughter asked to play some games on my computer, so I told her she could. I was watching her play one of the games – Pet Paradise Salon. This is a pet salon where people bring their pets in to be washed/cleaned and groomed. 

As I watched her play, I was impressed with her skills, as she took each pet one-by-one and placed him or her in the designated area for pampering with washing/cleaning and the grooming of the pet’s hair and nails. I thought this was funny, especially when the pets would whine and whimper because they had to sit in a particular spot too long waiting for someone to tend to them. 

Now, some may think Pet Paradise Salon might be a bit on the boring side, because you do the same thing over and over. But, this is a cute game, and my little girl really enjoys playing Pet Paradise Salon. She knows how to juggle those pets and earn that money. When she earns enough money, she buy tables, supplies, flooring and even hires help, which is needed.

My daughter has always been very organized, and she is only six. Pet Paradise Salon helps to strengthen her organizational skills, as well mathematical, critical thinking and the ability to solve problems — she is fast and quick to think, move and do what needs to be done.

Video games like Pet Paradise Salon can have some strong benefits to help further train and stretch the giftings like it does with my daughter. Plus, she is learning what real customer service is all about — taking care of the customer. 

Jewel Quest Solitaire II is a card and puzzle game you can play on your PC, which I discovered last night. Normally, I don’t play games on my computers because of the controls being the keyboard(prefer hand-held), but this one is okay — I can use my mouse.

In Jewel Quest Solitaire II, you go through different levels by matching the cards that are dealt and removing them. You find the match for each card, whether it is in sequence of order or the same (pair of 2’s, 3’s, etc.). It doesn’t matter what the suit is, as long as you match them. Once you have matched all the cards, you get the chance to match the gems you have collected, sort of like Bejeweled. I thought that was different and interesting but fun.

In my opinion, this is an easy game to play — too easy, I think. But, I also haven’t made it that far in the game, either, so it could easily change. I do like Jewel Quest Solitaire II and catch myself wanting to do one more, just one more, okay … just one more. Hours later, I realized I had way too many “one mores.”

If you want to play a video game that offers fun, laughs and lots of turtle shells, Mario Kart is the one. It is full of laughs and adventure, as you race with all the favorite characters we love.

Mario and Luigi with Princess Peach, Toad, Donkey and Diddy Kong, Wario and his brother, Waluigi, Bowser, his son Baby Bowser and the adorable Yoshi will test your racing skills, as you go through the many courses in this game. You have a variety of weapons to use against your opponents, such as red and green turtle shells, bananas and golden stars that gives temporary power to become invincible. I have to say, my favorite weapon to use is the lightning bolt that will shrink everyone in front of you, so you can run them over and flatten them.

There are other weapons to use, and the laughs don’t seem to end with this game. I love it! My kids are very good at this game, especially my son, who is notorious with it. He takes the lead then sits on the side of the track allowing everyone to pass him. Once the other players pass him, he slows down and collects the weapons to use against them — the red shells, blue shell that goes after the one in the lead and the lightning bolt. Look out!

Mario Kart is a super fun game to play and is available for the Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance, Gamecube, Nintendo DS and the Wii. Mario Kart is a keeper!

My family is filled with gamers – my sister, brother, mom and even my dad. Gaming definitely runs in my family, but the one most people find to be interesting is my kids grandfather — my dad.

My dad has played video games for many years and enjoys them in his spare time. He is faithful to video games for his Super NES – Bomberman, Super Mario World, Super Mario All Stars (four games in one) and one of his favorites — pool.

Most people want to try something different, but my dad doesn’t like to venture with anything other than his trusty Super NES. He just says, “Ahhhh, this one is fine.” My son did get him to try the Bankshot Billiards game on the Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360, but he still wants to play his Super NES.

I think one of the reasons my dad loves his Super NES so much is because it is a very special reminder to him of the times he spent with my children. When my son was five-yrs-old, he asked his grandpa to play Super Mario World with him, and he said okay. He has been playing ever since.  

In the near future, I plan to buy my dad his own Xbox 360, so he can play the arcade games he loves. Plus, we can help to ease him into some of the games he has never played before and will help him with those, too.

Kirby Air Ride for the Nintendo Gamecube is a racing game with mini games where you race and attack your opponent to compete for first place with the help of power-ups. This little pink ball of a guy is very cute with his big blue eyes and little round and puffy body. But, there is so much more than meets the eye with Kirby.

Kirby has one powerful mouth that he uses to take a deep breath and inhale his enemy, so he can take and use the weapon. When he swallows the knight, he attains the sword; a snowman gives him the ability to freeze with ice; the little guy with the bombs is explosive; Kirby becomes a fast wheel when he swallows the guy with the wheelie, and one of the cuter ones is the miniature guy with a head full of fire. Talk about a hot head!

There isn’t very much Kirby can’t do, and he definitely shouldn’t be underestimated. No matter what it is, Kirby can swallow it and use it against his enemies. He is a cute little pink guy that I think is adorable, especially when he says, “Hieeeyyyee!”

If you children are like mine and love Sonic the Hedgehog, they will enjoy Sega Superstar Tennis. You have your choice of eight characters you can play as in the beginning — Sonic is one of them, but the rest will have to be unlocked as you go along.

Fun Levels to Challenge You

There are multiple levels in Sega Superstar Tennis that will entertain you as you try to conquer the many stages in it. The levels offer fun ways to  challenge your coordination, as you have to think and react quickly in each stage. Pick one of the many levels, and let the games begin!

In the stage Virtua Squad, you use tennis balls to hit moving targets. Choo Choo Rocket is definitely challenging, because you have to use the tennis ball to hit arrow pads on the other side of the court in order to guide a long line of mice into a rocket. By doing so, you are helping to prevent the mice from being the cat’s entree.

The Super Monkey Ball level is interesting. This level has you hitting big balls across the net of the tennis court into the rings to free the monkeys and/or collect items.

Specials for the Characters

There are specials you can use for each character. Amy hits the tennis ball and a heart causes her opponents to be stunned — sort of like Cupid with his arrows. The monkey’s special is bananas, of course. And well, Sonic … he is cool as always with his super form.

Sonic and Xbox Live

You can play matches with others as single or doubles on Xbox Live for the Xbox 360. Or, you can participate in a tournament. The thing I find to be unusual but intriguing is being able to watch other players while they play on Xbox Live, and those players will never know it, unless they get an achievement for it.

I have to admit Sega Superstar Tennis is worth buying and so much fun to play with my children. This game has tons of things to do that will continually keep you and your children occupied with fun and laughs.

I don’t play PC games very often for various reasons, and one of the reasons is the keyboard. I just don’t like to use the keyboard as my controller. But, there are a few games I am willing to play — Tumblebugs is one of them.

In Tumblebugs, a bad black bug gathers the colored beetles and gets behind them trying to push them into his hole. Tumble is a female beetle who runs to the aid of the innocent colored beetles being led captive to free them. This is one protective beetle!

In order to free the colored beetles, Tumble carefully looks for two beetles of the same color. When she finds two of the same color, she aims at them and shoots the same color at them, and they are freed from the bad black bug. 

Tumblebugs is a very cute game and one I don’t mind playing on my PC or laptop.There are many levels to rescue these cute little colored beetles with various power-ups to enhance your strategic rescues. This game is packed with colorful adventures you will enjoy.

Out of all the video games I have played, I can’t help but wish I still had Klax for the Sega Genesis. Klax was a load of fun and is a game that could challenge your coordination, as you had to match the colors and do so quickly.

Match the Tiles Any Way You Can

The thing I like about Klax is that you are able to arrange the tiles in any position — horizontally, vertically and diagonally. Once you match three or more tiles they would disappear, until you reached the required limit. The more combos you made in Klax, the more points you would achieve, which would help you to attain the limit quicker.

Better Hurry!

Now, Klax could be mind-straining at times, because you had to organize the tiles by their color, like you do with Bejeweled. They are on a platform  that rolls towards you — some are exponentially fast, while others are excessively slow.

You Can Do It

As the tiles begin to come towards you, you find yourself wrestling to sort through the tiles as they fall down to prevent the small area from over-filling. When that happens, it is too late — game over.

Klax is challenging in ways and is a lot of fun. It sure will make the time go by faster for you, because you will be so busy trying to keep up with organizing all those tiles.

In Feeding Frenzy for the Xbox 360, you swim around and gulp up your meals as a fish, as you try to eat your way through the “food chain” of fish. But, beware to make sure that the fish you eat are going to be smaller than you are, or you will be the one on the menu.

This game is fun, because the more fish you devour, the bigger you grow. You go through multiple stages doing this, and you can even eat the star bubbles coming from a mermaid at the end of a stage.

Be strong in Feeding Frenzy, and you will make it to the big fish stage where you can be a shark and a whale, then ultimately have to bite the boss, himself down to size, so you can eat him, too. 

Two plumbers by the name of Mario and Luigi have been around for a long time and have captured the interests of gamers everywhere. They are one-of-a-kind characters that take you through multiple levels in each one of their games.

Collect All You Can

Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo is unique with all the blocks of coins, mushrooms, power ups, extra men and other goodies. You go through and collect as many as you can, along with weapons. Some of the weapons you collect in the blocks are fireballs, invincibility (star), mushrooms, feathers to help you fly and Yoshi — many Yoshi’s to choose from. They are all so cute!

I can remember playing this for hours and hours with my kids. Going through stage after stage, and when you get to add Yoshi to the fun, the adventures become even more exhilarating.

Never Get Enough of Yoshi

Yoshi adds color and fun to the Mario games. My favorite Yoshi is the blue one, because he could fly when he has any color shell in his mouth. But, the blue Yoshi There’s nothing like soaring past your enemies on the ground, while those big bullets are flying beneath you!

When the yellow Yoshi has a shell in his mouth, he can stomp bigger and better knocking his enemies down. The green one — well, he IS the main Yoshi, and the red one spits out a fire in waves when he has a shell in his mouth. Basically, no matter what the shell is for the Yoshi, it brings out their special abilities — flying, stomping and breathing fire.

The Mario games are filled with action, adventure and fun. There is never a dull moment when you play Super Mario World.