Mario, too easy?

[mrbios]

I was thinking to myself that the modern mario games seem to be too easy, recently bought a Wii U and started playing super mario bros U and it seems a bit too easy....granted it's designed to be for younger ages but once a mario fan, always a mario fan i say I've played 3-4 hours of it, and plenty more to go. I also noticed on the Mii comments that some people mentioned older games being so much harder than this......

 

Thinking it was too easy i decided to compare, so last night i purchased super mario world (the SNES version) on the eshop of the Wii U, and i've completed the whole thing + the star levels and half the secret levels in the space of about 5-6 hours of play in a single day. Do we just think the older games were harder purely because we weren't as good at them as kids perhaps? Or are they really that easy?

 

Granted the second half of the secret levels are really frustratingly hard but that's like 5 levels out of a whole game, and i could remember all but one of the secrets to the star world from ~20 years ago lol which did make it a bit easier i guess, but still to complete it in the same time as people complete the COD single player kind of put it in perspective for me i think.

 

No point in getting mario 3 i guess as over half the game can be skipped with flutes and i find that one easy.....maybe mario 1 will give more of a challenge?

[Richie8410]

I think the fact that you couldn't save the dam game on the NES made it that much harder. I remember having to start from the beginning every time I lost my lives or was forced by my mother to turn the console off! Had I had a memory card I think it might not have taken me the three years or so to finish! But I'll always be a retro gamer, although I love the graphics and game play in modern games, and the depth of the story lines. You can't beat the games you grew up on.

[mrbios]

I think the fact that you couldn't save the dam game on the NES made it that much harder. I remember having to start from the beginning every time I lost my lives or was forced by my mother to turn the console off! Had I had a memory card I think it might not have taken me the three years or so to finish! But I'll always be a retro gamer, although I love the graphics and game play in modern games, and the depth of the story lines. You can't beat the games you grew up on.

 

Here's something that'll make you kick yourself... There's a key combo you can press on the game over screen to start from the beginning of the world you were in. For example if you die on level 5-3 you can start again from 5-1. Can't remember off top of my head but it was a jaw dropper when I found out that existed.

[sted]

also games like zelda back in the day if i was stuck i was stuck now you can just google it rather than spend hours looking for a switch

[Richie8410]

True, true! I'm going to get the NES out of the loft and complete that game using the key combo! Perhaps I'll give the magic Kingdom another go, if I can Google where I was previously stuck!

[CAM]

They are easier due to you being older and having better reactions, etc. Well, maybe once you get a bit older...

 

As for new titles, they are designed with player gratification instead of challenge in mind, blame the playerbase for that one. However, the final secret level in Mario Bros U is one hell of a tough nut to crack.

[Sdrawkcab]

If you want tough modern platformers, get a PC and then buy Super Meat Boy and VVVVVV. If they aren't hard enough, "I Wanna Be The Guy" is free and will make you smash keyboards with rage because of how hard it is.

[Fleetwood]

I found GoldenEye 007 (on the N64) difficult back when it came out right from Level 1... ha ha ha, what a noob I was... still terrible at it now with the aiming... but will forever be a legendary game! If you ever got into the situation where you kept dying and got really cross with it you knew you could cheer yourself up by dislodging the catridge ever so slightly from the corner which resulted in the AI having a complete meltdown. Hilarious, even today! (or maybe I have crap sense of humour.. probably that one. )

 

EDIT: video showing the 'cartridge tilting' bug as it's known:

 

Even the "Bond Barrel" scene right at the beginning as me in stitches

Edited June 25, 2014 by Fleetwood

[mac_shinobi]

I found GoldenEye 007 (on the N64) difficult back when it came out right from Level 1... ha ha ha, what a noob I was... still terrible at it now with the aiming... but will forever be a legendary game! If you ever got into the situation where you kept dying and got really cross with it you knew you could cheer yourself up by dislodging the catridge ever so slightly from the corner which resulted in the AI having a complete meltdown. Hilarious, even today! (or maybe I have crap sense of humour.. probably that one. )

 

I can complete that game on medium setting, it was most of the cheats that I couldn't get like invincibility, Infinite ammo I could get, the golden gun I could get

 

Even got to the aztec level and the last level where you had to kill 006 running around that satellite dish thing (whatever that was called )

[Fleetwood]

I can complete that game on medium setting, it was most of the cheats that I couldn't get like invincibility, Infinite ammo I could get, the golden gun I could get

 

Even got to the aztec level and the last level where you had to kill 006 running around that satellite dish thing (whatever that was called)

 

That one still makes me rage now, such an annoying level!! Not as bad as the Jungle one though, that has to be my all-time hated level of the game. Ugh.

[CAM]

Cradle. As for cheats, unlocked most of them...using cheat carts.

 

Control was my least favourite, couldn't even do that one on Agent. Natalya, stahp! Take cover!

[mac_shinobi]

That one still makes me rage now, such an annoying level!! Not as bad as the Jungle one though, that has to be my all-time hated level of the game. Ugh.

 

I haven't played that game for a while but the Jungle and that 006 level are quite easy, the jungle one is just a case of knowing which direction to go and the 006 one you have to use a certain gun like a Magnum and shoot him in the head ( a few times ) whilst he is at the bottom of that bridge

 

Golden Eye 007 Cheats for the N64

 

The Cradle in under 2 minutes and 15 seconds, basically have to get 006 to run to the bottom of the bridge ( either side ) and keep dealing out head shots ( by standing on one side of the top bit and zooming in )

 

Jungle :

 

 

The Cradle :

 

 

The Jungle level I used to wield two assault rifles and keep zooming in on the drone guns to make them blow up and then kill the people or visa versa

Edited June 25, 2014 by mac_shinobi

[Zoom7000]

I though Mario and Sonic were challenging enough games at the time when I played them back in the 90's. In fact, they are still pretty challenging when I play them today. I though New Super Mario Bros Wii was pretty challenging too, but I guess it felt easier because most of us are older than the original target audience.

 

I still can't believe how those guys do those speed runs without using any power ups or losing any lives. Crazy!

[CAM]

They are called Tool Assisted (or TAS) runs. A piece of software that attempts all possible actions and records the fastest ones, including those that result in glitches like wall-leaps.

[Zoom7000]

They are called Tool Assisted (or TAS) runs. A piece of software that attempts all possible actions and records the fastest ones, including those that result in glitches like wall-leaps.

 

I know, but not all of them are Tool Assisted. Some are legit non tool run throughs!

[Pete10141748]

Games today are definately easier than they used to be.

 

Save points, checkpoint, unlimited lives, if you die X times you get aditional help (Mario Bros. 2 Invincible Tanooki suit anyone?), hints & tips all over the screen plus the internet for walkthroughs, videos and so on. The advances in controller design, control schemes in games and response times within games are all improved massivly since I started playing my first games using a 2-button joystick on a Sepctrum ZX+!

[X-13]

Games today are definately easier than they used to be.

 

~cough~Dark~cough~Souls~cough~

[Pete10141748]

~cough~Dark~cough~Souls~cough~

 

Which is the exception that proves the rule; someone had to purposefully make a game that was challenging becuase there arn't any anymore!

[X-13]

Which is the exception that proves the rule; someone had to purposefully make a game that was challenging becuase there arn't any anymore!

 

3 games actually.

 

And there are others.

 

Character action games [stylish action sub-genre like Bayo, Devil May Cry and Revengance] are hard.

 

 

Though, Bayo has "easy auto" difficulty that can literally be played with one hand.

 

Oh, and fighting games are super hard.

Edited July 21, 2014 by X-13

[Pete10141748]

Some of it is going to be down to personal preferences and skills though too; I find most fighting games tedious because all you have to do is learn a few of the insane damage generating multi-button combo moves and you can get through. The exception is things like Smash Bros. but that's more down to playing other people rather than the AI most of the time.

 

Never found a DmC game to be all that hard (the most recent was a cake walk) unless you put it on the intentionally night-on impossible Dante Must Die / Heaven and Hell difficulties. Ok there was some hard(er) parts in places but I seem to remember most of that being down to botched camera angles actually!

 

 

I'm not complaining though - I'd rather have a fun time playing with a good story than getting enraged just because someone decided that after the first 3 hours you should be punished for anything less than a perfect play!

 

In fact the games that I find "hardest" to play are ones that make you do things that you don't want to (Heavy Rain, anyone? Some *nasty* parts in that that are hard to play through! Or killing your own companion cube in Portal? Brutal!), less of difficulty in the game and more of the "but.... but... I don't WANT to do that! No!"

Edited July 22, 2014 by Pete10141748