Here are 10 classic games that will give kids some gaming skills, teach a little video game history and maybe even save you some money, as older games tend to be less expensive than the newest crop. (The age suggestions refer to ability, not appropriateness, and we’ll warn you when a game is inappropriate for young children.)

Super Mario Bros.
The most influential and successful game series in history is the one that elevated the Italian plumber to iconic status. He’s the Mickey Mouse of gaming and (fortunately!) all of the early games are available for all of Nintendo’s systems (even the cheap Game Boy Advance) and for download in the Wii Shop. "Super Mario" games are the perfect introduction to gaming—the game world is funny and cute, the bad guys aren’t scary and "violence" consists of Mario jumping on enemy’s heads. You’ll never get the soundtrack out of your head, but you’ll also never get Mario out of your heart. For age 5 and up.

—Andrew Bub, GamerDad

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