Customer Reviews

LeapFrog Leapster TV Learning System

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

We have had this product for a little over a month and the Leapster TV is a great product for people who purchased the Leapster before the L-Max. The kids love playing their game library on the TV. It is nice being able to see what they are learning on the big screen. I love the fact that it is compatible with every Leapster cartridge ever made. The controls are a little different from that of the Leapster heandheld but my son was able to adjust much faster than I was. You have the opton of one or two players and there is an additional slot to expand the unit to use two controllers. Overall, this is a good value and we have had a lot of fun with it.

I am about to return this to the store. The graphics are lousy, 80's style. The writing pad doesn't work, I had a hard time just moving the pen across the pad to make Dora walk a few inches. Then when we got to the screen to enter your name only half of the letters showed up and everything else vanished. For a Leapfrog product this is a huge disappointment. I expected more from them. My son has a leapster and I've never had any trouble with it. Leapfrog, this is a shame and you should be embarrased to have made such junk.

Didn't even deserve the 1 star!

I have bought lots of other educational toys from Leapfrog and when faced with the choice between this and V-smile I immediately bought this based on our previous experience with Leapfrog. Big Mistake.

The setup is easy and it does have cross platform and backward compatibility but that's where the good comments end. The pen tool is difficult to use for a 35 year old much less a four year old. In order to play a game you must enter a player name and you must use the pen tool for this. My daughter often get frustrated trying to put in her name and starts to cry. The controller itself is clunky. I don't know what they were going for but they missed the target.

Second and probably the most glaring flaw is the graphics. When compared to the cheapest PC game for children this system is not up to par. The graphics appear to be circa 1984. My old Smurf game for my Colecovision had better graphics. The graphics are pixelated to the point of looking boxy around the edges and the color lookes washed out. The effect is glaring, kinda like the feeling you get when you see those horrible little Boobahs.

Third, the gameplay is neither intuitive or fun. This is based on the Dora game that comes with the system. The theme is carnival oriented so the underlying goal, which the game does not mention, is to get tickets. You find out how many tickets you get at the end of the game. There are no prizes or mini incentives to keep the child interested. By this I mean you don't know how many tickets you've won after each activity, only at the very end. There is also no indication of how many tickets you already have like a running counter Also, children like to buy things with tickets, it would have been a nice touch to add a little section where they can buy stars or other little toys with their tickets. That would have been much more fun for this little Chuck E Cheese crowd. Playing some of the games with the controller requires a bit of dexterity. My husband (a hardcore gamer) stumbled a bit on the pinata letter game. This game shows pinatas slowly sliding down a tube. Each has a letter or number and you have to pick a letter or number based on what the narrator requests. In order to select an answer you have to line the the letter up with Dora's stick and select. This is not that easy to do. You can move the pointer line 360 degrees but it doesn't quite line up visually. This is confusing for little ones. The best way to play the game would be to leave the stick in one place (not very fun) and wait, wait, wait for the correct pinata to hit the pointer line. My daughter tries to move the stick and as a result ends up going in circles. This frustrates her because she knows the answers but can't easily choose them with the controller.

Fourth problem is the sound. You can hear static in the background and the music and voices sound very canned. The transitions between scenes are choppy and rough. For an educational game the visual and audio should be key components.

This system may have been competitive in the early 90's but now it appears dated and substandard. The little plug and play games that you can get at any drug store offer better graphics, sound, and gameplay.

My only guess is that Leapfrog wanted to rush something to the shelves to compete with V-smile. Unfortunately for us we bought one and received two more as gifts. We plan on taking all back.

Save your money. I can't recommend V-smile but after I buy it I'll update this review.

EVEN THOUGH THE L-MAX CONNECTS TO THE TV, MY DAUGHTER COULD NEVER PLAY THE GAMES. SHE WOULD GET DISTRACTED WITH THE HANDHELD SCREEN AND NOT LOOK AT THE TV SCREEN. SO WHEN THIS CAME OUT I KNEW SHE WOULD LOVE IT. NOW SHE PLAYS ALL HER LEAPSTER LIBRARY ON THE LEAPSTER TV.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED IF YOUR KIDS LIKE LEAPSTER GAMES DEFFINITELY GET A LEAPSTER TV.

My children did not enjoy this toy. It was difficult to use with the pen and my children quickly lost interest. I found that the pen was difficult to use also. Writing and tracing did not feel natural. I'm glad I got this product on sale and received additional promotion discounts that reduced my cost to about [...] because this is my worst educational toy investment. All of my children have the leaspster lmax now and that is the product I recommend. I cannot recommend leapster tv to anyone. It is not user friendly nor durable.

We decided to buy this TV version with the idea that it would be easier to use and read for our pre-reader but the opposite is true. The graphics are terrible, the pictures are blurry and the writting almost un-readable!!! A complete disapointment and soon to be returned.

Like many other reviewers I thought long and hard before buying this for my son. Christmas morning he was estatic. His big brother got the X-box 360 and he got this. He plays with this all the time, we bought Cars, Backyardigans, Thomas, and Dora. He didn't have a leapster before but has easily learned these games. He plays NBA 2K7 on X-box and moves to his Leapster TV with no complaint about graphics or sound. He has no issues with the pen or controllers. He's 3 y.o. and loves it!

I bought this for my grandson's third birthday and he loves it.My son (his dad) loves to play video games and I thought this would be something fun for them to do together. It is a fun interactive toy for toddlers and parents.

We have a playstation-2 and my son was always hounding my husband to play games on it. The problem is we don't have any 'kid-friendly' games for it and I wasn't too keen on my 4-year-old breaking the controllers, the discs, or the machine.

I bought the Leapster TV so my son could have his own game system that I did't need to worry about him 'destroying'. HE LOVES IT! Not only does he have his own games but he has the freedom to play without lots of 'mom help'. The games are also totally educational, not just mindless fighting and running around (like the PS2 Shrek game I finally bought).

From my standpoint... yes, I agree with the others who have made comments about the picture and sound quality; being raised in the '80's I've seen video games go from blocky 'pong' to the super-fine pixels they are today. But, really, for my 4-year-old's first video game system that I'll be lucky to have survive until next Christmas, this is good enough for him to learn on until he's able to control more sophisticated games.

I am blown away by some of the reviews for this. Some of you folks need to chill out and remember that this thing is for kids. It is a learning tool.

My dad bought this for my son(who will be 6 next month) for Christmas. While he didn't like the Dora game, he has had a lot of fun with Animal Genius and the Thomas game. I have no complaints about the graphics or the sound because HE doesn't. He's never played any other type of game system so he can't compare them.

The stylus is a bit wonky, but it seems to work well for the most part. We had to re-calibrate it once, but that's all.

I've been playing video games for 20 years and never once thought to compare this to an actual video game system.

We plan on purchasing the handheld version so he can play these games when we go on long trips in the car.

I am happy with it because HE is happy with it.