Dadish
Wonder Boy 3: the Dragon’s Trap, a simple “Metroidvania” style platformer with fun action and enemy design. No deep story, but one of my all-time favorite game soundtracks
Agree, the lack of tactile feedback was awful. It’s like playing on a mobile phone screen today
This doesn’t answer your question, but thank you for the love and patience you have for your son.
Like those occasional illustrations in Alice in Wonderland or Narnia, game manuals provided a window into a world you couldn’t fully see (in the case of old consoles, due to low res or low poly graphics) and served as a jumping off point for so many children’s imaginations to fill in the rest of the details.
https://atariage.com/manual_page.php?SystemID=2600&SoftwareLabelID=128&ItemTypeID=MANUAL¤tPage=0