At some point last year, Cameo got his hands on one of those TV arcade things – the controllers that allow you to play Pacman and a couple of old arcade games from the ‘80s. It’s not my era, but I’m down with it and it’s fun to get him into games that I’ve got some sort of familiarity with. Of all of the games on the system, Pacman was by far the one that he wanted to play the most. There was just one problem; he was terrible at it. Awful.
I mean he was only 3, so I shouldn’t really criticise him like that, but it’s painful watching him fall for the same trap and get backed into a corner by a colourful ghost time and time again. It turns out that Pacman was a lot harder than I remember it being and it’s absolutely no surprise that he couldn’t complete a single level at 3 and a half, but after about four attempts, we basically buried the idea of him playing any games that I’d consider fun.
He’s got games on his tablet that he enjoys, but they’re made for little ones. It’s not any fun for me, unless I can see that it’s got some sort of educational benefit to it.
When we introduced Cameo to DVDs (and made a HUGE mistake in the process) we played the DVD on a PS3. It was the only console I could find. I know I’ve got a PS4 (and I’m sure there’s a PS2 somewhere in the garage too) but I just couldn’t find it. I settled for the PS3 and figured that it didn’t matter too much, as we were just using it for DVDs.
Then I clocked something.
I got the original PlayStation console in 1996, and my first game was Tekken 2. Prior to that, I had a Super Nintendo. I had a handful of games for that console:
- Super Mario World
- Super Mario Kart
- Donkey Kong Country
- Mohawk & Headphone Jack
- Street Fighter 2: Turbo
- Killer Instinct
Notice something about the latter two? I was into fighting games from extra young. I turned 5 in 1996, which means I must have been playing the other games from even younger. If that’s true, then why haven’t I introduced Cameo to my favourite game series yet?
I changed that within days. I went on eBay and bought the first Tekken 6 copy that I could see (as my sister’s got our old version) and prepared myself for Cameo’s first foray into proper games.
And now it’s on. It’s action time. It’s only now that I remember I used to have my little cousins on Tekken 4 when they were 2 and 3, so I’m late with my new 4-year-old.
After a little practice session, I unleashed my Cameo on his first arcade battle. He chose Roger and wiped King out. You should have seen this boy’s face. He’s never been more satisfied that when he realised he beat a computer by kicking a jaguar-masked wrestler over and over again. Cameo even taunted him after – something he’s NEVER done before. This is a turning point.
Unfortunately, his winning streak soon came to an end, as things got more difficult, and Wang humbled him, but the main point is that he’s finally into a game that I can really get down with. Once I find the PS4, we’re really taking things to the next level. I just need him to stop choosing Roger and Panda, because he’s never going to get anywhere if he carries on like that.