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Two brothers, young and old
More than 30 years apart
One is alive, the other is a memory

Nothing in common, except for one word
A love for playing and gaming
And a desire to be held by hands

One is family-friendly, the other is not
Many boys and men are among their fans
Who are these two brothers?

Old version of the riddle:

Two brothers, young and old
Nothing in common, except for one word
One is family-friendly, the other is not
One is alive, the other is a memory

What are the names of these two brothers?

Additional hidden clue:
Both brothers like to play games

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    $\begingroup$ My caring father is much younger than my long-lost, wicked uncle. And they are so different except for their family names. Do you take that as an answer? $\endgroup$
    – William Nathanael
    Commented Jul 2, 2017 at 6:53
  • $\begingroup$ "Nothing in common" would imply no parents in common. I suspect that the answers are not literal people. $\endgroup$
    – MikeQ
    Commented Jul 2, 2017 at 8:49
  • $\begingroup$ @MikeQ You're right about that. :D They really have nothing in common... except for that one word in both their names. $\endgroup$
    – user38002
    Commented Jul 2, 2017 at 11:33
  • $\begingroup$ ... as well as that additional hint I just added. $\endgroup$
    – user38002
    Commented Jul 2, 2017 at 12:23
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    $\begingroup$ It might be a good idea to incorporate that hint into the main riddle rather than spoilertagging hint. Riddles should be uniquely solvable even without any extra hints. $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Commented Jul 2, 2017 at 12:33

6 Answers 6

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I already don't like my answer, but the brothers are...

Game Boy and Play Boy

Two brothers, young and old
More than 30 years apart

I don't feel like looking up the age of the later at work
But I do feel like frittering time away on riddles :D

One is alive, the other is a memory

One has informative articles regarding living things, the other has electronic memory of digital things

Nothing in common, except for one word

The word Boy

A love for playing and gaming

The words Play and Game

And a desire to be held by hands

Both are hand operated

One is family-friendly, the other is not

Game Boy is more family friendly than the other one

Many boys and men are among their fans

Boys like the former, men like the later. At least a long time ago they did.

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  • $\begingroup$ Don't feel bad, cause your answer is correct! :D Only thing I don't like about your answer (besides the fact that you didn't add the year they were created in) is "One is alive, the other is a memory". It was actually meant to mean that the "dirty" one is still ongoing, while the other is not around anymore. You may argue it's still here because of Virtual Console, but the device itself certainly isn't around anymore. $\endgroup$
    – user38002
    Commented Jul 5, 2017 at 13:45
  • $\begingroup$ Cool. I know Hugh's like 90, but one of those things is almost 30. I wasn't sure the other could really be 60+... And that was my other interpretation of "One is alive, the other is a memory", but I liked smriti's take on "memory" more so I stole it. $\endgroup$
    – user1566694
    Commented Jul 5, 2017 at 14:19
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my first answer was

wolf-ram

as for the new version, this is how far i got:
are they

Light gun shooter(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_gun_shooter)

and

wii remote

Two brothers, young and old
More than 30 years apart
One is alive, the other is a memory

now a days the guns are not in use as they are not compatible with modern high-definition televisions

Nothing in common, except for one word
A love for playing and gaming
And a desire to be held by hands

they both are held by hands, all they have common is they both are consoles

One is family-friendly, the other is not
Many boys and men are among their fans

well, gun is NOT family friendly
although i have my doubts about remote(considering how many arguments and fights it has started)

Although, I am not sure about the answer, I think I am close to the actual answer

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  • $\begingroup$ Play games in case of Wolf could mean hunting. Game as in hunted animal. $\endgroup$
    – Sid
    Commented Jul 3, 2017 at 13:33
  • $\begingroup$ Good guess for the old version of the riddle, but wrong unfortunately. :( I like how you interpreted "Nothing in common, except for one word" though, even if it's not the "right" interpretation for the solution. Didn't even think of that possibility. $\endgroup$
    – user38002
    Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 12:39
  • $\begingroup$ You and mr23ceec got a lot closer to the solution. :) You are right that one of the brothers is related to gaming in some way, but the other brother isn't related to gaming at all, even if he loves "playing". $\endgroup$
    – user38002
    Commented Jul 5, 2017 at 12:29
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Another way to answer

Present and Past tense or time

Brothers:

- Both time or tense same type or category - Young: Present - Old: Past

Nothing in common

One word Tense or Time

Family Friendly

Present, Gift, Exists, near

Alive and Memory:

- Present: Alive, Exists
- Past: Memory, Old

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  • $\begingroup$ I don't see how it relates to "Family Friendly"... Family? Seriously? $\endgroup$
    – William Nathanael
    Commented Jul 2, 2017 at 10:43
  • $\begingroup$ @William Nathanael Family Friendly is a way of speaking friendly not related offer gifts, presents, close, neighborly, nice $\endgroup$
    – yass
    Commented Jul 2, 2017 at 10:47
  • $\begingroup$ Well, that makes sense. As a non-native English speaker, I must admit that I often get confused. $\endgroup$
    – William Nathanael
    Commented Jul 2, 2017 at 10:51
  • $\begingroup$ @yass Good try but no. :) Real answer is much simpler (kinda). Not sure if I should give this hint, but the two brothers are not an abstract concept like time but... something more tangible. $\endgroup$
    – user38002
    Commented Jul 2, 2017 at 11:24
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Here's my thought...

Sonic the Hedgehog and Jabba the Hutt.

Two brothers, young and old

Sonic is young: hedgehog lifespans are generally less than ten years; Sonic is depicted as a youthful character; and the first Sonic game debuted in 1991, so the franchise is only 26.
Jabba was roughly 600 years old by the time of Episode VI, making him quite old indeed.

Nothing in common, except for one word

The only thing they have in common is the word "the"!

One is family-friendly, the other is not

Sonic is aimed at kids.
Jabba is a ruthless gangster type who hires hit men and keeps slave women literally chained up by his side - when he's not feeding them to his pet rancor or to a Sarlacc. He's not particularly family friendly!

One is alive, the other is a memory

The Sonic franchise and character are both alive and well.
Jabba, meanwhile, is dead - throttled to death by Leia, using her own chain. Thus he is now but a memory.

What are the names of these two brothers?

Sonic the Hedgehog and Jabba the Hutt.

Additional hint:

Both brothers like to play games
Jabba is a gambler. He's also appeared in Star Wars video games.
Sonic is a video game character, so literally plays games. He has also appeared in "Mario vs Sonic" titles in which the two characters compete in Olympic Games themes mini games.

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  • $\begingroup$ Are you trying to imply that this is too broad? ¬‿¬ $\endgroup$
    – feelinferrety
    Commented Jul 3, 2017 at 21:41
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    $\begingroup$ I thought this as plausible an answer as any other. So, yes. $\endgroup$
    – Rubio ♦
    Commented Jul 3, 2017 at 21:43
  • $\begingroup$ @Rubio Definitely the weirdest solution so far. XD Given the vagueness of the old version of my riddle though, I can't exactly blame you. Hopefully the new version will narrow the possible solutions down a little. :) $\endgroup$
    – user38002
    Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 12:46
  • $\begingroup$ Amusingly, this still almost works for the new version. $\endgroup$
    – Rubio ♦
    Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 13:42
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Is it

Hangman

Two brothers, young and old

Hangman the game is relatively young (i.e. new) whereas hanging people as a death sentence happened a long time ago

Nothing in common, except for one word

The game is about guessing letters, not killing people so there's nothing in common there.

One is family-friendly, the other is not

Hangman the game is family friendly, hangings aren't.

One is alive, the other is a memory

Two meanings here, hangman the game is still something we do today, i.e. alive, also no one dies playing hangman, so that's alive too.

What are the names of these two brothers?

Hangman

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  • $\begingroup$ Very creative solution. I would say it's wrong because it's not the solution I wanted, but your solution ticks all the boxes of the old version of my riddle that I still consider it somewhat "correct". Definitely a good try. $\endgroup$
    – user38002
    Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 12:44
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Is it

Nintendo Switch and FamiCom?

Two brothers, young and old More than 30 years apart

indeed 34

One is alive, the other is a memory

not literally alive, but certainly in production

Nothing in common, except for one word

Nintendo

A love for playing and gaming

gaming consoles, duh

And a desire to be held by hands

Famicom is not a handheld device, but it does have a very tactile joystick (much moreso than, say, a keyboard)

One is family-friendly, the other is not

FamiCom!

Many boys and men are among their fans

stereotypically. Though studies show that the difference isn't actually significant.

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  • $\begingroup$ You are very close, one of the brothers indeed has something to do with gaming (and Nintendo specifically), the other is completely unrelated to gaming however. :) $\endgroup$
    – user38002
    Commented Jul 5, 2017 at 12:30

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