Ghost Manor for the 2600 is a fun game with lots of atmosphere. However it’s also pretty simple and will only occupy you for 10-20 minutes. It sure was a blast when I was a little kid, though.

There’s also Monster Bash, the 1982 Sega arcade game.

Ocarina of Time. After the action and increasingly beautiful pixel art of the first four Zelda games, I found the 3D one boring and ugly.

This doesn’t answer your question, but thank you for the love and patience you have for your son.

That games goes great with a real NES controller, so you can throw it across the room after dying.

Ultima Runes of Virtue 1 & 2 for the Game Boy. Great action-adventure-puzzle games. But very unforgiving, every dungeon is filled with fatal errors. I couldn’t get to the end when I was young!