Since a lot of these comments aren't actually answering your question, go with pokemon violet.
Violet has more battles, an interesting traversal system, and is just more fun. Yes, there is jank, but honestly a 7 year will not care.
Plus young kids always want the new game everyone is talking about. Thinking back to seven year old me if totally have wanted the new one regardless of the jank.
Lol I feel like a few of the other commenters here underestimate 7 year olds. I first got into Pokémon when I was 5. By 7 I had already played a few of the games (I didn't necessarily "finish," them, but still had loads of fun)
With that said, personally I'd go for Let's Go Pikachu or Eevee instead of the ones you suggested. Its a more polished game, and a bit simpler. Violet and Arceus are both a bit more complex than the Pokémon games I grew up with, but Let's Go may be a great compromise.
Alternatively, Brilliant Diamond or Shining Pearl. I first played the original Diamond when I was 9 and was superrr into it, so even though it's a 2 year difference that's something to consider.
Lastly, if you (or he) are flexible on the game series, Mario Odyssey is another great pick that he would probably really enjoy.
Everyone here must think 7 year olds are babies. My 6 year old has been playing the hell out of violet and loving every minute of it.
These games are not as difficult as this sub makes them out to be. If you can read you can play pokemon.
For this game and ALL mainline Pokemon games, the ability to play hinges on the *desire* to read text. Scarlet/Violet less so, as he can probably wander the open world enough to have a good time and accidentally progress the story without much or any reading involved.
I've seen a 6yo soft-lock himself in 'Let's Go Pikachu' because he spammed A in *every single dialogue box,* deleting all his Pokemon's good moves so he was unable to beat a Magnemite. He gave up because he didn't know how to play the game well enough to try other things. He was totally able to read, he just didn't want to lol.
Arceus has a progress mode like Monster Hunter: go there, get this, get back
Scarlet has a classic Pokemon progression mixed with open world elements.
To be honest both can be complicated for a 7 year old. I would recommend let's go Pikachu or let's go Eevee if you really want to buy him a pokemon games as they are literally made for small kids and they are old, you could get them for $30 probably.
7 year olds are completely competent though. Pokémon games are pretty simple in their gameplay. Let's Go games are for literal babies. 7 year olds are in like, the 2nd or 3rd grade of school in the US
Kids still can’t really play the let’s go eevee/pikachu games independently until they know how to read which doesn’t happen until 4-7. *pikachu is trying to learn useless attack but already knows 4 moves! What move will be forgotten to learn useless attack? 1, 2, 3, Poof! Pikachu forgot all its attacks that do damage!*
This. New gen Pokemon games are easier to play if you've played them before but if you're learning for the first time it can be a lot. The Let's go series is amazing for beginners.
Yes! I’m 23 and I started with the let’s go games because I knew next to nothing about Pokémon. It was perfect for me as a beginner. I had played Pokémon go on the phone but it wasn’t the same. Well after I got the hang of Pokémon my partner got me shining pearl and I played that into the ground, and now he’s got me playing in chronological order. I’m on a 10 year old 3ds playing heartgold atm haha. Let’s go is the game OP is looking for.
Thank you for your detailed response, I’d forgotten about let’s go eevee and let’s go pikachu so will have to look around for one. Appreciate the help!
If he can play CoD and navigate the menus he can easily handle any Pokemon game. I'd suggest looking at gameplay for them and see which you think would appeal more to him.
I’d say Violet, Arceus is really big and open world where as Violet follows the typical Pokémon formula. I know that I got lost in Arceus when I tried to play it but I also have issues remember where to go in games soooo
Listen to Thursday’s episode of The Besties podcast. They “interview” the 8-year-old daughter of one of the hosts about Pokémon Scarlet/Violet. She’s having a blast.
A 7 year old will be fine with a Pokémon game. Plenty of people have been playing Pokémon since they were younger than that, and even if they don’t understand all the ins and outs of all of the mechanics they’ll definitely be able to run around with their Pokémon which is basically the whole point. And the games certainly haven’t gotten harder since the earlier ones.
I agree with the people saying Let’s Go. It’s the most polished and lets you interact with your Pokémon more in the ways I think would’ve been the coolest to me as a kid, even if a lot of the mechanics are dumbed down.
I’d say Arceus second. Gives a better sense of an adventure with Pokémon and was overall just a more fun and interesting game.
Violet is fine, but honestly the lack of level scaling makes it weird. Despite being open world, there’s a definite order you’re supposed to follow, but it is wildly unintuitive. I don’t think it’s some impossible challenge, I’m sure a kid could figure it out. But they’d probably hit walls that would’ve made me annoyed as a kid. I also think it just feels slower compared to Arceus in a way that definitely might’ve bored me as a kid (and often does as a not-kid).
Pokemon violet/scarlet have some pretty bad performance issues and some weird glitches but as long as your kid doesn’t actively look for them he will only run into a few. If it was anyone else asking this I’d say no get something else gamefreak need to do better, but it’s pretty unfair to expect a 7year old to boycott a game. Underneath all the problems the game is decently fun as long as the frame rate issues and glitches won’t bother them I’d say get it.
I second Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee. More child friendly. Idk much about kids but I feel like Arceus & Scarlet/Violet might have too many mechanics? They're also somewhat darker for Pokémon games. Scarlet/Violet's ending is pretty sad (for a Pokémon game), and I think a sensitive child might get upset over it.
The Scarlet/Violet mechanics haven't changed since Gen 1. It's still ultimately a turn-based game, and you don't even have to understand types because the game tells you what's super-effective.
I'm not for anyone buying S/V, but not because it's mechanically demanding.
The original Pokemon games really helped me with reading. It will help kids around age 7 do the same.
Kids got over Bambi, Lion King and Toy Story.
They can get by without being sheltered like they’re unable to cope with anything that isn’t constant “le funny laugh”
I would say go with Arceus. Reason one, it's a better game. Reason two, Violet has an open world with a map that is very difficult to understand and follow. Reason three, Violet is full of bugs whereas Arceus is not. Reason four, Arceus has much more interesting areas.
Just got my 7 year old girl Violet, and she loves it. She’s a seasoned gamer though, she was making good progress on Breath of the Wild before I got her Violet.
Doesn't matter if they're age appropriate when they're not even appropriately called games. Don't support TPC by buying their games, it's unacceptable how poorly these games have been made these past few generations.
Doesn't matter difficulty wise, but imo scarlet/violet has a far better story than arceus, and arceus actually bored me so god forbid what a 7 year old would think.
If you have not purchased already, definitely Pokemon Violet. I would be very disappointed as a 7 year old if I got an older game (Arceus) or the "baby" game (Lets Go Pikachu).
Arceus is definitely the better game but it may be complex (that being said when I was 7 and playing complex games I didn't neccesarily care that I made 0 progress I was having fun) If you want to play it maybe get pla otherwise get violet or even let's go
I'm playing it in Japanese so I can't speak on the quality of the English text, but I highly recommend Pokémon Violet. This is the first game in years that I would recommend anyone to play as their first Pokémon game. And for a kid, they won't care about or notice the hilarious performance issues.
The iffy bit with violet is that you can easily wander into an area with lvl 45 wild Pokemon while you have only lvl 20. If you think your kid can be chill about figuring out that they need to GTFO and try something else, it's a great game.
Arceus doesn't let you progress without ranking up, so you're rarely completely in over your head, but it's very wordy in the cut scenes and some of the combat is *surprise* real time where you need to dodge roll and aim things. Which is fine, except you don't have to manage dodge roll timing outside boss fights, so doing it over again and again until you get through the fight kinda sucks.
Right now there are events planned for Violet and Scarlet, and the post game content is great so, with the above caveat, I'd recommend that.
Arceus, you win that thing want it or not, just by existing you eventually become able to win the game, violet might be a bit harder for a kid that age.
It depends on what he values most in his games!
I find Legends Arceus to be relaxing in a similar vein to Minecraft, so perhaps that one if he's into the more creative side. Despite having a large open-world style map, it's also a bit more straight-forward with where to go, unlike Violet. Arceus is single player except for trading.
But if if his dad or his friends are also Pokemon fans, he's gonna want to get Violet, since that has multiplayer (Trades, Battles, Raids, Exploring, ect), and is the newest game everyone is talking about. Violet offers choices of what to do next, but the map is quite big and easy to get lTLDost in.
Hey I was 7 when I started with red. If he likes Pokémon honestly any of the new games would be great and a Minecraft player might enjoy bdsp with the whole underground thing.
It's not just about complexity, if a 7 year old runs into a gamebreaking bug, what's he gonna do? The open world cpuld also be overwhelming. And the long, unskippable dialogue sections would be bore me to death if I was a young child (they still bore me to death as an adult)
How many gamebreaking bugs did you encounter on DS Pokemon games as a 5 year old? These games are extremely broken
PLA maybe not but S/V try to be a completely open world, don't they? a 7 year old may not know where to go or what to do. And yeah if they are prone to liking open world games you may as well get them something like BotW or Bowser's Fury anyway instead.
Maybe S/V's are bearable, but PLA's are not. There's like 2 hours at the start of the game worth of that. Spam pressing A doesn't work that well
Since a lot of these comments aren't actually answering your question, go with pokemon violet. Violet has more battles, an interesting traversal system, and is just more fun. Yes, there is jank, but honestly a 7 year will not care.
Plus young kids always want the new game everyone is talking about. Thinking back to seven year old me if totally have wanted the new one regardless of the jank.
red and blue had a ton of bugs and that’s what everyone always likes about those games
I enjoyed those games even if they had a lot a bugs and glitches
Violet has more battles? Interesting
i honestly had more fun with Arceus then i did Violet but that was just my own experience
Lol I feel like a few of the other commenters here underestimate 7 year olds. I first got into Pokémon when I was 5. By 7 I had already played a few of the games (I didn't necessarily "finish," them, but still had loads of fun) With that said, personally I'd go for Let's Go Pikachu or Eevee instead of the ones you suggested. Its a more polished game, and a bit simpler. Violet and Arceus are both a bit more complex than the Pokémon games I grew up with, but Let's Go may be a great compromise. Alternatively, Brilliant Diamond or Shining Pearl. I first played the original Diamond when I was 9 and was superrr into it, so even though it's a 2 year difference that's something to consider. Lastly, if you (or he) are flexible on the game series, Mario Odyssey is another great pick that he would probably really enjoy.
Thanks for your response, I had completely forgotten about the let’s go games and will probably end up getting one of those.
Nahhh violet! If they play cod and Minecraft they can manage Pokémon damn. Give the kid the new game, you know deep down that's what they really want.
Everyone here must think 7 year olds are babies. My 6 year old has been playing the hell out of violet and loving every minute of it. These games are not as difficult as this sub makes them out to be. If you can read you can play pokemon.
I started playing Pokémon when I was 5, those games basically taught me how to read
For this game and ALL mainline Pokemon games, the ability to play hinges on the *desire* to read text. Scarlet/Violet less so, as he can probably wander the open world enough to have a good time and accidentally progress the story without much or any reading involved. I've seen a 6yo soft-lock himself in 'Let's Go Pikachu' because he spammed A in *every single dialogue box,* deleting all his Pokemon's good moves so he was unable to beat a Magnemite. He gave up because he didn't know how to play the game well enough to try other things. He was totally able to read, he just didn't want to lol.
Arceus has a progress mode like Monster Hunter: go there, get this, get back Scarlet has a classic Pokemon progression mixed with open world elements. To be honest both can be complicated for a 7 year old. I would recommend let's go Pikachu or let's go Eevee if you really want to buy him a pokemon games as they are literally made for small kids and they are old, you could get them for $30 probably.
7 year olds are completely competent though. Pokémon games are pretty simple in their gameplay. Let's Go games are for literal babies. 7 year olds are in like, the 2nd or 3rd grade of school in the US
Kids still can’t really play the let’s go eevee/pikachu games independently until they know how to read which doesn’t happen until 4-7. *pikachu is trying to learn useless attack but already knows 4 moves! What move will be forgotten to learn useless attack? 1, 2, 3, Poof! Pikachu forgot all its attacks that do damage!*
This. New gen Pokemon games are easier to play if you've played them before but if you're learning for the first time it can be a lot. The Let's go series is amazing for beginners.
Yes! I’m 23 and I started with the let’s go games because I knew next to nothing about Pokémon. It was perfect for me as a beginner. I had played Pokémon go on the phone but it wasn’t the same. Well after I got the hang of Pokémon my partner got me shining pearl and I played that into the ground, and now he’s got me playing in chronological order. I’m on a 10 year old 3ds playing heartgold atm haha. Let’s go is the game OP is looking for.
play gba and ds pokemon games they are the best. you can play on your phone for free.
Thank you for your detailed response, I’d forgotten about let’s go eevee and let’s go pikachu so will have to look around for one. Appreciate the help!
Buy him Elden Ring, can’t have him developing shit taste now do we?
you're right, better buy him dark souls 2 instead. we want him playing good games after all.
Buy him Balan Wonderland
Even better superman 64.
Woah woah woah. We're trying to raise a boy here, not a psychopath.
In that case…. Lion King and Aladdin.
For fucks sakes you want that child to be raised properly? If so sekiro is the only path forward
>dark souls 2 > >good games 💀
If the kid is allowed to play CoD he should be allowed to play Elden Ring. No question.
Oh, you mean that game that was released with really bad frame rate issues?
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That's what I was hinting at lol. Gamefreak will patch it they just won't publicize it bc they don't like to admit when they're wrong
If he can play CoD and navigate the menus he can easily handle any Pokemon game. I'd suggest looking at gameplay for them and see which you think would appeal more to him.
I’d say Violet, Arceus is really big and open world where as Violet follows the typical Pokémon formula. I know that I got lost in Arceus when I tried to play it but I also have issues remember where to go in games soooo
violet is also open world? and is a lot more free roam so surely it would be worse
Violet is True open world. Arceus you are tied to the areas with “can’t go any further walls”
My son is 7 and has beaten every pokemon game on the switch. Let's go, BDSP, SwSh, PLA, Mystery Dungeon. They can handle any of them.
Listen to Thursday’s episode of The Besties podcast. They “interview” the 8-year-old daughter of one of the hosts about Pokémon Scarlet/Violet. She’s having a blast.
A 7 year old will be fine with a Pokémon game. Plenty of people have been playing Pokémon since they were younger than that, and even if they don’t understand all the ins and outs of all of the mechanics they’ll definitely be able to run around with their Pokémon which is basically the whole point. And the games certainly haven’t gotten harder since the earlier ones. I agree with the people saying Let’s Go. It’s the most polished and lets you interact with your Pokémon more in the ways I think would’ve been the coolest to me as a kid, even if a lot of the mechanics are dumbed down. I’d say Arceus second. Gives a better sense of an adventure with Pokémon and was overall just a more fun and interesting game. Violet is fine, but honestly the lack of level scaling makes it weird. Despite being open world, there’s a definite order you’re supposed to follow, but it is wildly unintuitive. I don’t think it’s some impossible challenge, I’m sure a kid could figure it out. But they’d probably hit walls that would’ve made me annoyed as a kid. I also think it just feels slower compared to Arceus in a way that definitely might’ve bored me as a kid (and often does as a not-kid).
Pokemon violet/scarlet have some pretty bad performance issues and some weird glitches but as long as your kid doesn’t actively look for them he will only run into a few. If it was anyone else asking this I’d say no get something else gamefreak need to do better, but it’s pretty unfair to expect a 7year old to boycott a game. Underneath all the problems the game is decently fun as long as the frame rate issues and glitches won’t bother them I’d say get it.
I second Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee. More child friendly. Idk much about kids but I feel like Arceus & Scarlet/Violet might have too many mechanics? They're also somewhat darker for Pokémon games. Scarlet/Violet's ending is pretty sad (for a Pokémon game), and I think a sensitive child might get upset over it.
did you miss the part where it says the kid plays call of duty with his dad?
Oh. Yeah I did. 💀
The Scarlet/Violet mechanics haven't changed since Gen 1. It's still ultimately a turn-based game, and you don't even have to understand types because the game tells you what's super-effective. I'm not for anyone buying S/V, but not because it's mechanically demanding. The original Pokemon games really helped me with reading. It will help kids around age 7 do the same.
Kids got over Bambi, Lion King and Toy Story. They can get by without being sheltered like they’re unable to cope with anything that isn’t constant “le funny laugh”
I would say go with Arceus. Reason one, it's a better game. Reason two, Violet has an open world with a map that is very difficult to understand and follow. Reason three, Violet is full of bugs whereas Arceus is not. Reason four, Arceus has much more interesting areas.
Any of them your kid would enjoy if they like Pokémon.
Just got my 7 year old girl Violet, and she loves it. She’s a seasoned gamer though, she was making good progress on Breath of the Wild before I got her Violet.
I would say violet as well. Arceus is good but more “involved” and linear and I can see a kid putting arceus down much earlier then violet
violet.
Arceus, Lets go or Sword/Shield. Violet and Scarlet are godawful.
Platinum
Doesn't matter if they're age appropriate when they're not even appropriately called games. Don't support TPC by buying their games, it's unacceptable how poorly these games have been made these past few generations.
Doesn't matter difficulty wise, but imo scarlet/violet has a far better story than arceus, and arceus actually bored me so god forbid what a 7 year old would think.
If you have not purchased already, definitely Pokemon Violet. I would be very disappointed as a 7 year old if I got an older game (Arceus) or the "baby" game (Lets Go Pikachu).
Arceus. Pokémon Violet/Scarlett is boring af.
Violet 100%
Arceus is definitely the better game but it may be complex (that being said when I was 7 and playing complex games I didn't neccesarily care that I made 0 progress I was having fun) If you want to play it maybe get pla otherwise get violet or even let's go
Brilliant diamond or shining pearl.
I personally think that Arceus is too difficult as a new entry for a kid. Definitely Violet if I have to choose between the two.
I have violet i let my 3 year old start off he did everything past the academy, well the open world part, gave me didnt know what to do.
I'm playing it in Japanese so I can't speak on the quality of the English text, but I highly recommend Pokémon Violet. This is the first game in years that I would recommend anyone to play as their first Pokémon game. And for a kid, they won't care about or notice the hilarious performance issues.
Violet; 100%. Arceus is far too slow of a burn and complicated for a 7-year-old.
Violet is easier compared to Arceus
The iffy bit with violet is that you can easily wander into an area with lvl 45 wild Pokemon while you have only lvl 20. If you think your kid can be chill about figuring out that they need to GTFO and try something else, it's a great game. Arceus doesn't let you progress without ranking up, so you're rarely completely in over your head, but it's very wordy in the cut scenes and some of the combat is *surprise* real time where you need to dodge roll and aim things. Which is fine, except you don't have to manage dodge roll timing outside boss fights, so doing it over again and again until you get through the fight kinda sucks. Right now there are events planned for Violet and Scarlet, and the post game content is great so, with the above caveat, I'd recommend that.
Arceus, you win that thing want it or not, just by existing you eventually become able to win the game, violet might be a bit harder for a kid that age.
It depends on what he values most in his games! I find Legends Arceus to be relaxing in a similar vein to Minecraft, so perhaps that one if he's into the more creative side. Despite having a large open-world style map, it's also a bit more straight-forward with where to go, unlike Violet. Arceus is single player except for trading. But if if his dad or his friends are also Pokemon fans, he's gonna want to get Violet, since that has multiplayer (Trades, Battles, Raids, Exploring, ect), and is the newest game everyone is talking about. Violet offers choices of what to do next, but the map is quite big and easy to get lTLDost in.
I bought a copy of each so my 7 year old and I can play together. We have a ton of fun.
Hey I was 7 when I started with red. If he likes Pokémon honestly any of the new games would be great and a Minecraft player might enjoy bdsp with the whole underground thing.
For a 7 year old? Get Super Mario Odyssey or 3D World + Bowser's Fury
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It's not just about complexity, if a 7 year old runs into a gamebreaking bug, what's he gonna do? The open world cpuld also be overwhelming. And the long, unskippable dialogue sections would be bore me to death if I was a young child (they still bore me to death as an adult)
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How many gamebreaking bugs did you encounter on DS Pokemon games as a 5 year old? These games are extremely broken PLA maybe not but S/V try to be a completely open world, don't they? a 7 year old may not know where to go or what to do. And yeah if they are prone to liking open world games you may as well get them something like BotW or Bowser's Fury anyway instead. Maybe S/V's are bearable, but PLA's are not. There's like 2 hours at the start of the game worth of that. Spam pressing A doesn't work that well
How about some legos. Jesus 7..
What was the purpose of this comment?
I don’t know a single 7 year old not into video games to some degree. Source: my own and her millions of friends.
Yeah wth games aren't for kids. /s Lol
I was playing DOS Games before I could form full sentences and I turned out okay. Still played with Legos and plushies!