Minigame facts for kids
A minigame is a small, short game that is usually found inside a bigger video game. Think of it like a fun side activity within a main adventure! Minigames often have different gameplay rules or goals than the main game. They are usually simpler and quicker to play.
Sometimes, a whole video game is actually a collection of many minigames. For example, Olympic Decathlon (1980) was a game where you played many different Olympic sports, each like a small game. Minigames can also help show a specific action in a main game, like lock picking a door or scanning an area.
Games Full of Minigames
Some video games are made up almost entirely of minigames. These games often link all the small games together with a fun theme. A great example is Nintendo's WarioWare series, where the minigames are called "microgames" because they are super short and fast!
Other games, like the Mario Party series by Nintendo, are known as party games. These are designed for many players to compete in fun minigames. In party games, you might try to do an activity faster than your friends or collect more items to win. Some minigames might even depend on luck!
Cool Minigame Examples
The famous Final Fantasy series has included minigames in almost every game since the very first one in 1987. For instance, the first Final Fantasy had a hidden 15 puzzle game. It was like a secret Easter egg that players could find!
Older game consoles sometimes had special accessories that let you play minigames on the go. The PocketStation for PlayStation and the VMU for Dreamcast were small devices. You could download minigames from your main console onto these pocket devices. Then, you could play the minigame anywhere and even save your progress back to the console later! One example was the Chocobo World minigame found in Final Fantasy VIII.
See also
In Spanish: Minijuego para niños
