As I mentioned in a previous review, my husband and I are trying to introduce some old school items to our daughter. We are bring up movies and cartoon characters from our youth and now, games that we used to play.

I sent the husband to the store for a birthday gift for a little boy, and that was all. I asked him to get something appropriate for a 6 year old and keep it simple. As most parents know, you run up and down a toy aisle in the store multiple times trying to pick out something just right for your child or for a birthday gift for one of your child’s school mates. You will likely come across these little, quick to plug in tv gaming ‘systems’ on the shelf. It looks so inviting. They have bright colors, a small package and a decent sales price. And, usually, a number of your old time favorite games to entice you even further into purchasing it!

Now, let me preface this by saying that I had mentioned this little hand held, plug into the tv gaming system quite a few times before to my husband. My nostalgia of games that I played (Pac-Man, Mrs. Pac-Man, Galaxian, Rally X) kept calling to me, buy me, buy me. My husband said that it was a waste of money and that it shouldn’t be purchased. That was quite a few months ago. Now, on this recent shopping mission, he came across this brightly colored gaming system and brought it home. He took it from the shopping bag and told me, “I know I said that we shouldn’t get this, but with you talking about Pac-Man and the daughter likely the song Pac-Man Fever so much, I thought it would be fun”.

The Product

It’s brightly colored little hand-held game “system” for lack of a better name. It has the white and yellow connections that plug into virtually all newer tv sets, since most have the cable connections up front now a days for just this purpose.

The ‘system’ is basically a little joy stick that has the cables to connect, and off and on switch and a “little .25 slot” which is a reset button. You kick off games by turning this on and it runs through a multiple screen acknowledgement of the games, copyrights, etc. Then, it comes up to a screen with a selection of games that might blow your might, depending on what you played when you were younger and if you have ever heard of them. The list of games is as follows:

Pac-Man, Mrs. Pac-Man, Super Pac-Man, Pac-Man Plus, Galaxian, Bosconian, Rally X, Dig Dug

Wow, all but Bosconian were favorites of mine! I was thrilled, but it wasn’t for me! This was a little game for the babester to play. Wow, what a happy day and yet a sad day for me, as I knew I wasn’t going to get much play time with this little unit!

The joystick does not plug into the wall at all, only through the tv with the a/v cords. You have use 4 AA batteries to make this work. The joystick is decent and plays well. It has a fire button for you to fight of the spaceships in Galaxian or to blow smoke screens at the cars chasing you in Rally X. But, my oh my, what a blast.

Now, one complaint, the battery cover on the bottom of the joystick is just a loose plastic disk that connects by sitting down the joystick over the cover. It doesn’t really have any true connections. My husband likens this as setting a quarter down on top of a bottle. There are no snaps, nothing to hold it in place, and thus, something that can be easily lost. Or, possibly, provide an inquisitive preschooler an easy way to access this area to investigate where all of these little yellow circles come from and show up on the tv screen!

The games are like I remember them, and scarily enough, I feel like I am starting to remember some of the old patterns that I used to play way back when and I am getting some play time and practicing my Pac-Man moves! It’s got the same little ׀ bit” graphics of old, the same little chase scenes on Pac-Man when you clear a couple of levels and the same little fruits that temp you into the center of the screen trying to rack up more points!

My daughter has truly taken to these games and is getting better all of the time! Her goal is to get through ALL LEVELS possible on these games! Dig Dug, one of my other favorites is a blast to play as well. My daughter, so far, enjoys the basic Pac-Man, Rally X and those are her favorites. Dig Dug, she hasn’t quite gotten the premise down yet just like Galaxian. But, she’s learning.

They say this system is really for 6 – 99 year olds. But, if your toddler or preschooler plays with other hand-held types of games and does quite well, I don’t see why they would not be able to understand the Pac-Man game and be able to try to outrun those little ghosts (Blinky, Pinky, Clyde and Inky). If you want to find out more information about these or other games, you can check them out at the following website www.tvgames.com.

Overall Impressions

If you have a nostalgia bug biting at you now, due to this review, you should check these out. They are offered by Jakks Pacific and are called TVgames. You literally Plug and Play! There is nothing to install, nothing to do but put in batteries, hook up the cables to your tv with the a/v cords (which are color coded, you just hook the yellow cord to the yellow port and the white cord to the white port and you are off).

We are pleasantly surprised the by authenticity of the games, the game play and the sounds and price. It was around $20 and we found it in a local Wal-Mart store. They have a lot of variety, so check the ones in your store out and see which temp your nostalgic bones in your body, and enjoy!

The only big complaint is that I wish these games would have a plug in for electricity rather than the battery only option! That way, you wouldn’t be using so many batteries as most people don’t use rechargeable batteries. But, other than this, the game is a blast and I truly am enjoying trying to outplay my husband and to help introduce some fun old games to the next generation.

~Thanks for spending time with me today!~

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Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 20
Type of Toy: Game
Age Range of Child: Whole Family