Modern gamers don't know how to play Metroid

[Emehr]

This reminds me of some arguments I'd gotten into back in my GameFAQs days with people over the original Legend of Zelda. They would insist that it was a terrible game because it was to hard to figure out what to do or where to go. To me that was always the point and what made it so much fun. Zelda 1 can be beat in like 30 mins if you know where everything is. Instead it occupied years of my childhood because I had to find everything myself.

 

Finding things, sharing with your friends, and then having them share things they found with you...man it is to bad the internet killed gaming experiences like that. Not saying it is worse now but playing Zelda 1 with a lot of people who didn't know any more than you did was a blast back in the day.

 

That's why Zelda 1 will always be my favorite Zelda. The graphics of the tile-based environment clearly established how you could interact with it and still left room for secrets. Each enemy type had its own movement style and weakness. Plus, they were all distinctly drawn. You could never confuse them. The dungeon puzzles were challenging but never felt impossible. Each item had a specific advantage over the other items. Everything just seemed to be balanced perfectly. Nothing went to waste in that game. Top it all off with memorable music and sound effects and it really is a perfect game.

[+Random Terrain]

I think the Internet is at once a wonderful powerful tool and a crutch that is going to hurt newer generations.

 

With Google, video on demand, instant downloads, movie streaming, etc. Kids today literally do have it way too easy. They expect instant gratification and they don't want to work for anything because why should they? If a game is too hard they can go download something else on their ipad.

 

Sad really.

 

Back in the late 1980s, there were magazines and guide books telling kids how to beat games.

[number six]

Back in the late 1980s, there were magazines and guide books telling kids how to beat games.

 

I'm not saying we had no resources in the 80s, but it wasn't so instant. If you got stuck in a game you couldn't just google 'stuck in xxx'. Your choices were to ask friends who had the game, check magazines.. and if it was later on hint books.. or very last case was the 1-900 nintendo hotline. I only recall calling that once, for the tornado/cliff puzzle in Castlevania 2 which OK that one wasn't fair

 

None of those options were instananeous (well versus the hotline but that cost money) so if you got stuck you'd sit there and play and play and play until you figured it out. You couldn't go download another game or play runescape or whatever. No, you had your Nintendo and that one new game for probably the month (or more) so you figured it out or you played Super Marios Bros. again. That was your option.

 

Now kids don't have to work they just go straight to google and off they go. At the end of the day i think that sort of thing does make life a bit too easy at times.

 

And I'm not saying I'm above this either at this point. I usually play console RPGs with my tablet nearby with GameFAQs open on it so once again i'm not better.. but at least i have sat for hours in certain parts of Super Metroid trying to figure out what to do but by god I figured it out

[DaytonaUSA]

This makes me feel old... like "In my day we walked to the bus station to go to school, and that was 15 miles away... and it was snowing" type of old...

[LidLikesIntellivision]

Internet isn't any kind of problem to me. I simply don't watch and don't read what I don't want to know.

 

For instance, I still don't know how to unlock adventure's easter egg! (actually I didn't have adventure, so I didn't play it that much)

I feel I didn't try it enough. Since it isn't a major part of the game, if I can't find it I will eventually check the net after more tries.

Honestly I even don't like to see my brother playing certain games so I won't be spoiled.

 

On the other hand, even after beating Super Metroid and the Metroid for the nes I ... I must confess I got stucked in the Metroid for the Wii .

[xDragonWarrior]

I never play Metroid on the SNES(I need to i know) and i could probably figure out how to get past that part.

[Algus]

This makes me feel old... like "In my day we walked to the bus station to go to school, and that was 15 miles away... and it was snowing" type of old...

 

Back in my day we had to flick fifteen difficulty switches and reset the game just to play. You young whippersnappers with your options menus don't know how easy you have it.

 

Now get off my Kentucky bluegrass.

[Uzumaki]

Back in my day we had to flick fifteen difficulty switches and reset the game just to play. You young whippersnappers with your options menus don't know how easy you have it.

 

Now get off my Kentucky bluegrass.

 

In my day you had only 5 different TV channels. Often time you had to adjust the antenna when you changed channel. No DVD player, no blue thang, no internet movies on demand, nothing to watch movies. If there were nothing to watch, people actually went outside to play.

[+Random Terrain]

In my day you had only 5 different TV channels. Often time you had to adjust the antenna when you changed channel. No DVD player, no blue thang, no internet movies on demand, nothing to watch movies. If there were nothing to watch, people actually went outside to play.

 

Some places where I lived, we were lucky if we got NBC, CBS, ABC, and PBS and some of those channels were all fuzzy/ghosty.

[Uzumaki]

Some places where I lived, we were lucky if we got NBC, CBS, ABC, and PBS and some of those channels were all fuzzy/ghosty.

 

You forgot Fox. Back then they were actually good for Saturday morning shows. Not the mindless drivel they spew now day.

[+Random Terrain]

You forgot Fox. Back then they were actually good for Saturday morning shows. Not the mindless drivel they spew now day.

 

Fox didn't exist when I was a kid.

[karokoenig]

This may be slightly off-topic: When I visited my family last weekend, I brought a 2600 with me and set it up to play with my nephew (15). Handed him his ass in Combat and Phoenix first, but he liked the stuff and got better. He understood the fascination of this old-school stuff we grew up with. It really raised my eyebrow when he said an appreciative "Nice graphics" seeing Jungle Hunt. All is not lost in the younger generations. Remember that they grow up in tough and complex times. I'd say give them a break. They have to cope with a lot of crap already.

[CatPix]

Modern gamers have been used oto some tricks. We old players are used to other tricks, that's all.

 

I found myself getting stuck in modern games, where other people (youger people) find their path easily.

The most recent example I recall is in "Fahrenheit" (Project Indigo).

At some time during the game, you're supposed to walk around a moving truck to stay hidden.

 

I failed and failed, until I started to look on walkthroughs/FAQs (the written kind). I looked at a dozen one, in French then in English, only to find the same line "follow the truck then move behind".

Still it wasn't working, so I looked on a video walkthrough and finally I could do it.

 

But even when I found forums with the question "I'm stuck at this very part, what do I do?" the answer was the same. And players found it usefull, but for me, it was total BS.

 

 

On the other hand, I am always amused when people doesn't seem to deal with a simple game with one or two buttons...

I see people grabbing Atari 2600 joysticks without caring about where the wire goes out of it (I mean, except for some oddities, the wire aways goes out from the upper part of the pad)... and a surprising number of people that grab the Atari 7800 joypad upside down!

Edited May 19, 2013 by CatPix

[+Random Terrain]

I see people grabbing Atari 2600 joysticks without caring about where the wire goes out of it (I mean, except for some oddities, the wire aways goes out from the upper part of the pad)... and a surprising number of people that grab the Atari 7800 joypad upside down!

 

Reminds me of actors in commercials. They don't know how to hold a controller. They're just there to get paid so they can buy more cocaine.

[thegamezmaster]

I remember calling the help lines when stuck. Or Wait for a magazine to come out. Still have The Legend Of Zelda help book mint that I got from Nintendo back in 1987 I think. Glad I'm old school.

[GameGirl420]

Reading the OP title of this thread, and that being said ,I must say I am an Old-school gamer who doesn't know how to play Bioshock Infinite.

 

LOL anyways also as an old-school gamer , I never understood what the big deal is with "modern games". IMO, most of them really suck.

Seems like modern games being produced nowadays haven't grown out of that whole 3-D RPG/ war simulation craze of the late 90's. Borrrrrrring!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I also find that most "modern gamers" are a very different crowd than old-school gamers . Most of them seem like hipsters, who would only brag about having a PS4 just because it is the "in" thing. Much like the same people who would brag about having a Blu-ray player and at the same time dismiss VHS and Betamax because in there narrow minds they think those are inferior. That's just really lame. I never liked games like GTA IV, Mass Effect, or any other lame 3-D modern "virtual" simulation game. Those games suck ass and I blame them for the demise of the arcades,and I really miss it when arcades were more the norm, and when arcade games were actually superior than what you had at home.

 

/rant

[edweird13]

I have never played any of the metroid games. My first experience with the NES was not a good one. I bought it in 88 with the Donkey Kong cart not knowing it didn't have all four levels. I quickly returned the system and the game after finding that it didn't and didn't own another Nintendo system till the 64. However I my roomate in college around 91 had one and I got my first taste of Zelda an addiction that has never left me.

[cimerians]

I remember arcade games were the king. I would go home and wish I had a system that could do what they did.

 

One thing with arcades though if you didn't figure out how to play the game you were then out of quarters or quickly went to the next one.

 

I think kids\grown ups these days can figure out a game like Super Metroid quite easily. It's the impatient\un-disciplined kids I tend to chuckle when I see them rant....and not even try to think and figure things out on their own.

 

I miss fast pitch and running bases. BMX riding all day.

We used to do that all the time if not playing an Atari 2600.

 

[Reaperman]

Gosh, I hope they release Metroid II for VC. Oh the comments: "I'Z HEER. WERE 2 NOW?"

 

I found that one a little painful in the 'where do I go' area--not because it stopped me at dead ends fairly frequently like super metroid does, but because it was more open. I think I needed a map that I could check things off on.

Edited May 22, 2013 by Reaperman

[bomberpunk]

no, Metroid II was linear. it's almost impossible to get lost. if you get to lava, that just means you missed a metroid and have to go back and find it in the previous "level". i was able to take on that game without any help (internet, maps, etc) at a very young age and still got the best ending (bikini Samus, under 2 hrs).

Edited May 22, 2013 by bomberpunk

[Emehr]

Yeah, I picked up Metroid II several years back and I gotta say that it's probably one of my least favorite Metroid games. It felt linear, all of the scenery looked the same, the sounds were not memorable (did it even have music?), the mutated Metroid things lacked any personality, the gameplay felt slow, and the game didn't have much difficulty to speak of. Some of the power-ups were neat, like the spider climb thing, but there isn't a single game play experience that cannot be had in any of the other Metroid titles. I'm glad to have it in my collection because there aren't any bad Metroid games (besides certain aspects of Other M), but it's also my least-played of the franchise.

[bomberpunk]

i loved it. it was my favorite until Fusion was released.

[SoulBlazer]

Lot of good comments here about old vs modern game players. I consider myself in the 'old' game (born in 76) but still play modern games, so I can see both sides of the picture.

 

Older gamers are better at reflexes, memorizing things, finding their way around without any help, and being patient.

 

Modern gamers are better at figuring out complex puzzles, trying things in new ways, split second decisions (different then reflexes) and getting everything out of a game.

 

I enjoy playing Fallout: New Vegas just as much as River Raid.

 

But everyone who has commented on how things were before the Internet is so correct.

[Reaperman]

no, Metroid II was linear. it's almost impossible to get lost. if you get to lava, that just means you missed a metroid and have to go back and find it in the previous "level".

I wasn't aware. I believe I probably got to one of those lava points, turned around and walked way too far the other way. I remember walking past a lot of dead metroid in little circles with that *awful* music going.

[Pixelboy]

I think kids\grown ups these days can figure out a game like Super Metroid quite easily. It's the impatient\un-disciplined kids I tend to chuckle when I see them rant....and not even try to think and figure things out on their own.

 

Yeah, I get a chuckle out of them too. Here's an example I recently stumbled upon. This kid was obviously born with a silver joystick in his mouth: