Next Generation of RBI Players

[BeefMaster]

Last night, my son and I played our first game of RBI on the NES together.  He's only 2 1/2, but he knows the raw basics of baseball (throw ball, hit ball), and he likes to watch me play video games, so I figured we may as well give it a try now that I've got the old NES working.  He insisted on being the Twins, and I picked the Cards to go against him.  He has absolutely zero idea how to use the D-pad, but I taught him that you push "the button by the A" to pitch and swing the bat, and he thought that was cool.

I swing away twice (wanted to try and show him a homer) and struck out a couple times to hurry through my at-bat so that he could try hitting.  Lo and behold, he made contact with the first pitch he saw - Gladden knocked a routine grounder to the second baseman.  He ended up hitting fair balls with two of the five batters in the first inning (Hrbek popped one up to shallow center), and he also fouled off a few pitches.

Unfortunately, by the time I realized "Hey, we should get a picture of this!" he had already become bored with baseball, so I didn't get any pics to post.  I'll try to get some next time.

Any of you with older kids have any insight on when a kid can figure out how to use the D-pad?  Playing games would be a lot more fun if he could actually participate in something besides Duck Hunt and World Class Track Meet - as it is, I generally play 1-player games and let him hold the other controller.

[TempoGL]

i can tell you this much.  my brother was barely 4 when we got the NES, and he quickly became quite adept at Super Mario Brothers.  I don't remember if he was actually "good" or not, but I just remember at first he was better at it than I was.  He was also better than my parents, and my dad used to play arcade games fairly often.  So basically, if a kid is reasonably competent at age 4, your son should be able to at least do something shortly after he turns 3.  That's my guess.

[Attezz]

I wasn't too good at SMB by the time I was 4, but, I was able to learn to add and subtract amazingly well when I was three solely by watching my brother (6 years old) play and my mother asking me how he was doing and me instantly responding with "He needs 38 coins for a new life"

So, in short, I learned everything I'll ever know from NES.

[Nacho]

I have probably told this story on here before (and Strassy has undoubtedly heard it several times), but my dad also used to get very into video games when I was young, and was quite competitive with me.  He once woke me up an hour or so after my mom put me to bed to taunt me after having beaten my high score in California Games.  I believe the event was surfing.  I was approximately six years old.

[BeefMaster]

My parents visited us a couple weeks ago, and my dad was up for an hour after everyone else went to bed playing River City Ransom (after spending a couple hours during the day playing it with my brother).

[ryno]

just wait til he's 4 1/2 and playing the ps2. . .  and beating your ass at it, too.

[nomaaa]

video games have always been a large part of my family. there are pics of my mom playing some arcade games in her wedding dress (pac man & space invaders, if i recall correctly).
we've owned a nintendo for as long as i can remember. and since i was born in '89, we probably got it christmas in '88. i don't remember when i started playing it, but since super nintendo came out when i was five, and i know i had been into video games for a solid amount of time before that, i had probably legit started at 2.5-3.  there are christmas videos of my first christmas with me running around, playing with shit. and i think we got a game for the nes on my second or third christmas, and my sister and i were playing it together.

[ryno]

very similar to my folks, nomaaa.   I remember my mom and dad having friends over and everyone playing the Intelevision

[TempoGL]

super nintendo came out in august 1991.  I don't expect nomaa to remember stuff from when he was 2, but knowing him, i did expect him to know when super nintendo came out...disappointed!

[nomaaa]

super nintendo came out in august 1991.  I don't expect nomaa to remember stuff from when he was 2, but knowing him, i did expect him to know when super nintendo came out...disappointed!

sorry, that was my mistake. i got the super nintendo when i was five. for my fifth birthday, in fact.
super nintendo came out with smw as the release title, no? and i've played it thousands of times to know its '91.
trust me on this one.

[TempoGL]

ok, i'll let you off the hook...although i am guessing that nightwulf would not be as forgiving

[nomaaa]

i'm not sure why you say that, but i guess i'm glad you're not nightwulf.

[TempoGL]

nightwulf may be the biggest stickler of all time for video game-related accuracy

[BeefMaster]

Ben's first RBI homerun: February 23, 2008 - a 2-run shot with Kent Hrbek that just cleared the wall in right-center.

[Nacho]

A proud moment.  Congrats, BeefMaster and BeefProtege!

[ultimate7]

BeefProtege!

What about VealMaster

[Nacho]

That works too.

[TempoGL]

BeefProtege!

What about VealMaster

beefmaster keeps his son chained up in a dark space barely larger than his own body?