Game over?

[Celephais]

http://www.tomshardware.com/game/20050902/index.html

Article about the disneyfication of games. Brings up some good points, I also really like how they brough up super marioland. That game really challenged me (I was 6 or 7), and I felt like I actually accomplished something when I beat it. Unlike any of todays games.

Ties in rather nicely with the death sting's mechanic changes and no more going demonic.

Rather than another thread about Death's sting... how about name some games you found challenging or really felt "proud" about beating. Or the other end of the specturm, games you beat without breaking a sweat (... what? You don't sweat when you play tough games?)

[Axhinde]

Ever play Prince of Persia: Warrior Within? That game is fucking hard! AND it has cheesy heavy metal music in the background, which damn near completely ruins the atmosphere. So out of place.

[Celephais]

No I never did... but it has save points right? Games like Ninja Gaiden and Double Dragon, TMNT (one was nasty hard, two was a bit easier), Contra. A lot of side scrollers on the NES come to mind. Those games really kicked your ass if you screwed up. In order to beat them you had to set aside a few hours... mess up and you lose it all.

Haven't played them in forever, I'm sure they'd be easier now (I need one of those "you were # when this game came out" for video games, not popular events...)

[Stunseed]

Street Fighter 2021. It was an NES scroller made way before Street Fighter the one we all know came out. It took me literally 72 hours spread out to beat it.

[Sean of the Thread]

Originally posted by Celephais
No I never did... but it has save points right? Games like Ninja Gaiden and Double Dragon, TMNT (one was nasty hard, two was a bit easier), Contra. A lot of side scrollers on the NES come to mind. Those games really kicked your ass if you screwed up. In order to beat them you had to set aside a few hours... mess up and you lose it all.

Haven't played them in forever, I'm sure they'd be easier now (I need one of those "you were # when this game came out" for video games, not popular events...)

Actually I busted out my 8bit NES a couple weeks ago and Contra was HARDER then I remembered it being. Still fun as shit.

[DeV]

Off Road and Super Off Road. I was the shit at that game. I beat any who crossed my path after I beat the game.

[Gan]

Rygar on Nintendo. Spent 7 straight hours because the first version did not have a save feature you could hold your place and come back to later.

Zelda on Nintendo. Zelda II.

Mike Tyson - Punch Out!

Ikari Brothers - coin arcade game... .killed Hitler in the end, it rocked.

Pitfall on Atari. w00t!

Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark on Atari.

[Edited on 9-6-2005 by Ganalon]

This guy has way too much time on his hands. I remember a game was so tough once, my friend got pissed, bit off his start button, through the controller at the tv and was upset for the rest of the day. Weird, I know, but he was super laid back.

Anyway, the point is.. There are pleanty of tough games out there, but they are just that, games. People want to be entertained and see new things not be be stuck on the same silly monster forever. More rewarding to beat it? Sure. Do people really like those games now? Not really. That Shinobi game that came out on PS2 was awesome and flippin' hard. No one bought it though. Rose tinted glasses and shit.

Not to mention, all the games mentioned were easy once you figured out a simple pattern or the answer to puzzle that would require blind luck and not brain power. Give me a break.

- Arkans

[Androidpk]

Definately Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2 on nes. Also got pretty pumped when I beat Halo on legendary difficulty. :D

Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2? Those games with those infinate continues?

- Arkans

[Skeeter]

Battle toads. that queen bitch and those bike boards were tough as hell.

Kid Icarus - I did a dance when I finished this one.

The Goonies - Jesus this game was a pain in the ass.

Pitfall 2 - took days to beat that one.

Apparently I hit my video game stride when I was about 12 and the first nintendo came out. beating games now just doesn't have the same appeal.

[Kitsun]

I generally agreed with the article that many(most) games have gotten easier. Games now cater to a generation that likes to feel powerful even if they haven't earned it (Hello Cheat Codes, Hacks, Ebay characters).

The arthor of the article didn't seem to hone in on the fact that maybe some different genres of games have multiple difficulty settings that can accomodate the hardcore, punish-me gamer. Fighting games, RPGs, FPSs, Strategy all have settings that you can't force people to make hard.

I don't know about anyone else but I don't find the real challenge in video games to be competition against precision perfect AI. I'd rather be facing down other players that are skilled. I suppose the games where those apply however don't have a real endgame. The game is just training to prep you for later.

[weasel82]

fuckin' Metroid...longest game ever...and sorta boring at parts...but I slept for two days straight when I was done with it...

[The Ponzzz]

Legacy of the Wizard is the hardest fucking game ever(NES). Then comes Paladin's Quest(SNES). Then Super Hylide(SEGA) and a few games for the Master system that i can not remember.

I still have yet to beat Legacy of the Wizard. I think its impossible. Paladin's Quest I think i beat by luck. Maxxed level I died every time. And Super Hylide gave me nightmares for 5 years.

But after those, Ninja Gaiden 1 & 2 are tough ones that require a pause for an over night rest then play or a sacrifice of an entire afternoon.

[The Ponzzz]

But to stay on topic, yea console games are so easy(RPG wise). I feel I waste money if I spend more than 30 on one...

[Bobmuhthol]

[Celephais]

I loved Legacy of the Wizard... I have all the midi's of the music for it and stuff. That game ruled. (I never beat it either, I was too much of a pussy to not be the pet all the time so I couldn't... the game would kick my ass if I wasn't the pet).

Difficulty modes put kind of a monkey wrench in it... it lets the carebears see everything, but if you want a challenge there is no reward. GoldenEye had a real nice way of dealing with that. I'm certainly proud of unlocking 007 mode (not 00 agent mode), and earning all the cheat codes. Beating Aztec on 00 gave me an adreneline rush, damn that was tough.

[Landrion]

The most obnoxious game Ive ever played has to be Nethack. I dont know, maybe Ive gotten old or lost the touch, but dieing 100's of times like I did in the old 80s games just doesnt appeal any more. I can sit to packman for a game or two and then Im like "why did I pay quarters for this again?".


Anyway, for you masochists out there. www.nethack.org. Ive never beaten it, I probably never will.

[StrayRogue]

R-Type.

[Doyle Hargraves]

Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark on Atari.

Man...I loved that game. I remember being stuck on something (I think it was trying to get to the black market where you buy the shovel. Turned out to be some trick with the parachute either in a certain area, at a certain time, or both) for the longest time. Eventually me and my mom wrote to Atari (or Activision or whoever put the game out) asking what the hell, because we were seriously stumped. A week or two later, Atari responded and sent me a 2 or 3 page printout with a bunch of hints and stuff, with accompanying pictures, which was pretty awesome of them to do I think. I still have it lying around here somewhere too. Sometimes I wonder if that was the very first "strategy guide" ever made. This was all back in the early 80's. Christ I feel old.

The only thing I hated about that game was you had to use two joysticks for it. I don't remember why offhand, but it makes playing the game on an emulator near impossible. I haven't figured out a way for it yet anyway.

I wonder if my Atari still works. I wanna play that game now.

[Edited on 9-6-2005 by Doyle Hargraves]

[Detri]

Tecmo Super Bowl bitches!

[Soulpieced]

Ultima: Exodus is the hardest game evever. End of story. Plz move on.

[The Ponzzz]

It that 4 for NES? If so, then I agree... i forgot about that one... If it's 1-3 those games are really worth playing.

But next in line is Legacy of the Wizard...

[Bobmuhthol]

Game Over is a pretty good band. Heavy Mario and The Grim Reaper pwn.

[Revalos]

How about Conflict for the regular Nintendo?

Holy crap that game was hard...it was complete luck if you beat it and unlocked the final stage...which was funny as the codeword to unlock it was Congraturations or something equally "engrish"

Nethack/ADOM (www.adom.de) are my favorite computer games for repeatability, with ADOM in the lead since it doesn't have all the bones of the previous characters. I still haven't even gone 1/2 of the way through the game because I refuse to look at the cheats. No save feature, no continues, you get to start all over if you die. AAAAND it is different every time. Also, it is free, which rocks. Just get prepared for ASCII graphics before you play.

[Volstock]

Tetris on NES.....I got up to like level 25 before I could handle it anymore and my eyes starts to hurt from concentrating too much

The story on Tetris is funny. Some Soviet guy created one of the most popular games ever in existance and the Soviet gorvernment was all like.. NO PATENTS.. :rofl: He got pwned out of a lot of money.

- Arkans

[Androidpk]

I don't know about the later ones but Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2 did not have infinite continues. Hence why I named them. Getting to the last boss and then dying when he was at like 5% sucked.

[StrayRogue]

X-Com 2 on the highest difficulty is probably the hardest game ever.

[Celephais]

I was thinking about mentioning X-Com, it's one of the few games where even with save's you can royally fuck yourself. You can save and not know that russia defected to the aliens and then after saving over all your files they pull funding.

[StrayRogue]

That and the fact that on the last level, which makes all previous encounters look feeble by comparison, you cannot save.

[Celephais]

The entire X-Com series kicked ass, and it certainly didn't pull any punches. I really wish they'd finish making 'The Last Hope' and that it's good (it's a community project without a whole lot of support so it probably won't be)