+atari2600land Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Why do video games have to be so hard nowadays? I beat Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario World, and Yoshi's Island, but now, I can't get past level 4 in Yoshi's Island 2, and Super Mario Galaxy and Beautiful Katamari are virtually unplayable to me given the level of difficulty. So, why do they have to make games more difficult? I think their hidden agenda is to make me mad. But why me? I bet I couldn't beat a Strawberry Shortcake game on the GBA. So please, if you're making a video game, no matter what console it's on, please think of people like me who can't play video games very well and make them easier. I guess the topic of this topic is, why do I have to suck at today's video games? (I beat Tetris Evolutions for the XBox 360, though. After you get 150 lines in Marathon Mode, the game ends. Weird.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Why do video games have to be so hard nowadays? I beat Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario World, and Yoshi's Island, but now, I can't get past level 4 in Yoshi's Island 2, and Super Mario Galaxy and Beautiful Katamari are virtually unplayable to me given the level of difficulty. So, why do they have to make games more difficult? I think their hidden agenda is to make me mad. But why me? I bet I couldn't beat a Strawberry Shortcake game on the GBA. So please, if you're making a video game, no matter what console it's on, please think of people like me who can't play video games very well and make them easier. I guess the topic of this topic is, why do I have to suck at today's video games? (I beat Tetris Evolutions for the XBox 360, though. After you get 150 lines in Marathon Mode, the game ends. Weird.) I've got the exact opposite complaint. I think games today are too easy. Lots of games are impossible NOT to finish if you put in enough playtime. Lots of classic games, however, continue to hand my ass to me every time I play. I plowed my way through GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, but I consider Battletoads to be an exercise in futility. I've got Super Mario Galaxy, and it is a lot of fun, but I'll bet you any money I'll beat it before I ever get the best of CastleVania. I think it was much more accepted for games to be stupidly hard in the past. Those programmers took a lot of us to the cleaners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HammR25 Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 The sports games have started to annoy me. They seem to get more complex every time I play them. I have to switch them from the default to the classic modes so they only use 4 or 5 buttons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanJr Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 I've got the exact opposite complaint. I think games today are too easy. Lots of games are impossible NOT to finish if you put in enough playtime. Lots of classic games, however, continue to hand my ass to me every time I play. I plowed my way through GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, but I consider Battletoads to be an exercise in futility. I've got Super Mario Galaxy, and it is a lot of fun, but I'll bet you any money I'll beat it before I ever get the best of CastleVania. I think it was much more accepted for games to be stupidly hard in the past. Those programmers took a lot of us to the cleaners. TOTAL agreement. It is like nowadays they do everything they can to make sure you beat the game. Heck, I cannot remember the last time a modern game didn't allow me to start right back where I died or gave me unlimited lives to keep trying. I'm not saying it makes me happy that every five continues I have to start Super Star Wars over again, but it certainly adds to the challenge. And you know what, I'll have better memories of beating a game I had to play the hell out of, than one that I beat the first go through just because they let me win. Save points are great, because if I fail to save, guess what, time to do it all over again, but if I remember to save, whew! that was a close one! I think there needs to be a balance, like save points, to make sure a game is difficult enough without just letting you walk right through it. The rules are also different depending on the kind of game. RPG's desperately need save points and "start over where you died" interface. Adventure games could benefit from a "save at the beginning of each level/area" option. Arcade and puzzle games almost have to be, "sorry your game is over, please try again." To put it succinctly, I remember Super Mario 3 WAY better than I remember Super Mario Galaxy, and I haven't played Mario 3 in about 10 years, but I beat Galaxy 3 months ago.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Monkey Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 I just beat Mega Man X on the PSP in about 10 days of sporadic playing. I haven't beat the SNES version yet - its been 14 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmpddytim Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Why do video games have to be so hard nowadays? I beat Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario World, and Yoshi's Island, but now, I can't get past level 4 in Yoshi's Island 2, and Super Mario Galaxy and Beautiful Katamari are virtually unplayable to me given the level of difficulty. So, why do they have to make games more difficult? I think their hidden agenda is to make me mad. But why me? I bet I couldn't beat a Strawberry Shortcake game on the GBA. So please, if you're making a video game, no matter what console it's on, please think of people like me who can't play video games very well and make them easier. I guess the topic of this topic is, why do I have to suck at today's video games? (I beat Tetris Evolutions for the XBox 360, though. After you get 150 lines in Marathon Mode, the game ends. Weird.) I've got the exact opposite complaint. I think games today are too easy. Lots of games are impossible NOT to finish if you put in enough playtime. Lots of classic games, however, continue to hand my ass to me every time I play. I plowed my way through GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, but I consider Battletoads to be an exercise in futility. I've got Super Mario Galaxy, and it is a lot of fun, but I'll bet you any money I'll beat it before I ever get the best of CastleVania. I think it was much more accepted for games to be stupidly hard in the past. Those programmers took a lot of us to the cleaners. I agree. Quite a few of the modern games I have beaten recently have been so easy it wasn't even funny. Yeah, some were pretty long but I did not feel challenged during the entire game. I remember spending months mastering SMB3, Castlevania, Metroid, etc..but modern games seem to last only a few weeks at most. In my opinion the worst offender recently is New Super Mario Bros for DS. That game throws extra lives at you like its going out of style. I had over 50 men when I beat the game.....Seriously, that is just stupid. -T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 My issue with modern games is that some levels are too easy and others absolutely kick my but for days. Half Life 2 had a sand lion (or whatever they are called) level where I got stomped no matter what I did and then without doing anything different than before... I suddenly killed the #$%*($*&*#&*#@ beast just as I thought I was going to die yet again. I don't mind having to try and try to get past a boss or section of a game but when it's for days and winning appears almost random???? Grrrrrrr.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaperman Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 (edited) how can video games ever be too hard these days? Even if one happens to be, they all have cheats... how many of us would really have beaten super mario brothers without cheats? Edited April 17, 2008 by Reaperman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aikainnet Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 I beat super mario bros w/o cheating, as for modern day games... I think they are way too easy. Thus why I am a classic gamer to the end Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 Geez! Someone needs to come over to my house and unlock Petey Piranha and King Boo in Mario Kart: Double Dash then. The only reason I've unlocked every level in Super Mario 64 and Diddy Kong Racing is because I had my friend do it for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 It depends on the game. When I rented HALO for the old Xbox, I kept getting killed at one point when a helicopter-like vehicle dropped me off and that was on the easiest setting. Seemed like there were 5 billion enemies shooting at me at the same time and I had nothing to hide behind. How in the heck do people beat it on the hardest level when you can't even take one step on the easiest level without getting your nuts shot off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaperman Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 (edited) I beat super mario bros w/o cheating, as for modern day games... I think they are way too easy. Thus why I am a classic gamer to the end I wasn't really looking for a real answer, I just picked a game everybody's cheated on... super mario (and many other games) have a special 'annoyance' about them and without warpzones I'd never have cared enough to keep going. That's what happens when one buys 'too much' game for themselves--rather than simply throw it in the corner to collect dust, I cheat first. It's never the game's fault for being hard, but I just plain suck. Current titles are often awful. Instead of the main plot being the challenge of the game, the new challenge is unlocking 100% of every little thing they decided to throw into it. how challenging is even a 30+ hour experience (as most games seem to have become) when there's a savepoint every 5 minutes and the only really difficult part is finding a way to get into the hole in the third rock to unlock the _________, which really isn't at all necessary to complete the game anyhow. A lot of older games are beautiful. You can't win--it's hopeless to try, but you're back again and again. I can't think of the last time I've seen a modern title like that. Edited April 17, 2008 by Reaperman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iswitt Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 I love to collect anything video game, as most of us here do, so I see lots of games with varying difficulty. I agree with the majority of responders that games nowadays are just too effin' easy. Gears of War was a breeze, even on "insane" mode (though the online play can be addictive). On the contrary, Metal Gear for the NES kicks my ass each and every time I play it. Another one that I have never beaten: Street Fighter 2010 for NES...wtf? It's like the game is playing with me it's so hard. I still think a lot of the modern games are fun though. Many of them have beautiful graphics, clever storylines, and a wide variety of things to do. But even with all that going for the games, they are still easily beaten. It's almost gotten to the point that if I die too many times on Army of Two, I wonder if I've lost my video gaming edge... that game was just ridiculously easy (and short). I'll even get angry about dying too often and throw shit like we used to as kids trying to beat sonic the hedghog and we sucked hard at it. There has to be a middle ground. Too hard... I throw shit...too easy....I still end up throwing shit. Anybody here beaten Guardian Legend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roloking Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 In my opinion the worst offender recently is New Super Mario Bros for DS. That game throws extra lives at you like its going out of style. I had over 50 men when I beat the game.....Seriously, that is just stupid. -T I remember after beating that game I felt cheated. It was so easy it was stupid! So I'm not completely derailing. . . I remember games like Megaman 2 and 3, Castlevania, Metroid, and Metal Gear kicking my ass and loving every second of it. I think when games are hard now it feels more like you are just being screwed over by the game than actually being bad at it. Recently games are only hard to me if they put a really low time limit on whatever task you are doing or if the game is just randomly being an a-hole to you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadow460 Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Hmmm, well, I walked right through coded Arms last year. The closest thing on the 2600 is probably Tunnel Runner or Escape From the MindMaster. It took about four years for me to beat Escape, and I've never finished Tunnel Runner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 About New Super Mario Bros.: I thought you had to keep firing at Bowser when all you really needed to do was walk under him when he jumps. I still haven't unlocked level 7 yet, although level 4 is very difficult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Current titles are often awful. Instead of the main plot being the challenge of the game, the new challenge is unlocking 100% of every little thing they decided to throw into it. how challenging is even a 30+ hour experience (as most games seem to have become) when there's a savepoint every 5 minutes and the only really difficult part is finding a way to get into the hole in the third rock to unlock the _________, which really isn't at all necessary to complete the game anyhow. I am rrrreeeeeeeesaaaaaaaaaallly starting to hate that. It started off as being cool when the Zelda games were doing it, and there would be like, three or four items that weren't truly needed, but it REALLY made sense to get them anyway. Now it seems like the items and secrets that ARE needed to progress through the game are the minority... sometimes 25% or something pathetically small like that. What's the point of playing a game when the bulk of what you do isn't needed at all, and kind of just amounts to busywork? I hate to say it, since I know it's the trend in the industry, but it strikes me as being bad game design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanJr Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 What I hate is that mini-games (and unlocking them) have become more important than the main game. And most mini-games end up sucking anyway (Monkey Ball for the Wii). Many times great main games have gotten a shaft due to attention to mini-games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Monkey Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 What I hate is that mini-games (and unlocking them) have become more important than the main game. And most mini-games end up sucking anyway (Monkey Ball for the Wii). Many times great main games have gotten a shaft due to attention to mini-games. Stan made me go off-topic... I think forced tutorials are more annoying than both the difficulty (or lack) and mini-games combined. I haven't been able to start playing Burnout 3 yet because every time the damned tutorial with that surfer dude voice starts up and I can't bypass it - I end up turning it off and playing something else... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross PK Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 (edited) I think we're all forgetting something, that to finish modern games '100%', then most probably are just as hard as the old games. Think about getting all 'A's on Sonic Adventure 2, or completing Goldeneye 100%. Edited April 17, 2008 by Ross PK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari5200 Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 I am also the opposite and think games now a days are too easy. With auto save features and the like. Plus I don't know if with age comes experience, but I would always play games when I was younger on the easiest settings and not exactly always breezing through those games, now a days, I don't play anything on the easiest settings, either going for normal default or harder, and yet I don't seem to have any problems, specifically with 360 games like GOW, The Darkness, Rainbow Six Vegas, and more recently Bullet Witch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madhatter667 Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 I will say that it does depend on the game, though as a general rule, the older games were a little tougher. Some of my favorite titles tend to either be addictingly fun, or have a lot of plot elements. I recall that without doing 2 player mode B and having a turbo controller, I could NOT beat Double Dragon II on the NES. I played the hell out of Super Mario World, and unlocked all but the back door to Bowser's castle for the longest time... that ate at me forever... having a 99/100. Castlevania IS hard... almost doesn't matter the installment.... though I had an easier time making progress with Portrait of Ruin than say.... SOTN, or Chronicles... or Dracula's Curse... or Harmony of Dissonance. Contra? Always getting your butt whooped. Dragon Warrior? How long did you take leveling up so you wouldn't get your ass handed to you on a silver platter at the end? I took forever. and a day. I played the Darkness... fun, repetitive... and you pretty much can't die. Lost Planet I make an exception for... it is pretty tough. Some parts of God of War were pretty frustrating too. There are tough modern games, but they are not as common as tough classic era games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ransom Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 So many of the old games are still difficult for me, after playing them off and on for 20+ years. Most of those games were pretty consistent in their difficulty levels throughout the game, though. But now, I find that I can sleep-walk through most of a game, then come upon a point that just seems impossible to master. It would be great if every game allowed the user to customize the level of challenge down to some level of detail, without the use of cheats. I bought the game to provide myself with a fun diversion. Trust me with the power to set the level of challenge that will be fun for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Helmet Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 There are some tough games out there...but I'm a little confused about a couple of them listed...New Super Mario Bros and Super Mario Galaxy? There is plenty of challenge there, but not hard. I'm not any sort of game god and I beat both of those pretty quickly. Granted, I don't have all of the stars in SMG, but I did beat the game. Most of the time I find modern games way to easy, especially when you can crank the difficulty level way down when you get frustrated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atarifever Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 (edited) Add me to the "modern games are too easy" group. Modern games are made for little girls. Edited April 17, 2008 by Atarifever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.