Parents' Guide to

Discovery Kids Dolphin Discovery

By Jeff Paramchuk, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 7+

Slow-paced dolphin training sim is light on fun.

Game Nintendo DS , Nintendo DSi 2009
Discovery Kids Dolphin Discovery Poster Image

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What you will—and won't—find in this game.

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What’s It About?

DISCOVERY KIDS DOLPHIN DISCOVERY is a title in the Discovery Kids pet simulation series. In this game you choose your favorite dolphin and control it through an underwater course. Along the way, you can find treasure and help other sea creatures escape nets and find missing items. As you play, you can also take photographs of sea life to build your photo album, as well as collect treasures scattered through the sea.

When not scouring the undersea environment, you can find messages in bottles and play minigames scattered on the surface of each of the courses in the game. The minigames involve timed jumps made by sliding the stylus over your dolphin.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say Not yet rated
Kids say (3 ):

Dolphin Discovery moves at a snails pace, so it is unlikely to keep the attention of younger gamers. Plus the interactivity between the dolphin and the player is quite minimal, especially when compared to Puppy Playtime, another title in this Discovery Kids series. It is possible to tickle the dolphin when not in a minigame, but there isn't much in terms of trick learning or problem-solving, other than the fetch quests that other sea creatures ask you to perform.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about dolphins and what makes them so endearing? Is it the intelligence they display, or the fact that they always seem to smile? Do the families think that dolphins in captivity are living a good life, or would they be better served to stay in the wild only?

Game Details

  • Platforms: Nintendo DS , Nintendo DSi
  • Available online?: Not available online
  • Publisher: 505 Games
  • Release date: March 26, 2009
  • Genre: Simulation
  • ESRB rating: E for (No Descriptors)
  • Last updated: November 5, 2015

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