The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II, Metroid, Punch-Out!!, Castlevania, Ghosts n' Goblins, Gradius, Kid Icarus, Ninja Gaiden, Final Fantasy, Contra, Battletoads. All of these games (and I'm pretty sure others) have two things in common: They are very hard, and they are on the Nintendo Entertainment System. This has me raising a question about the gray box that saved gaming: Is it just me, or does the NES have the highest difficult-game ratio of any videogame system?
The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II, Metroid, Punch-Out!!, Castlevania, Ghosts n' Goblins, Gradius, Kid Icarus, Ninja Gaiden, Final Fantasy, Contra, Battletoads. All of these games (and I'm pretty sure others) have two things in common: They are very hard, and they are on the Nintendo Entertainment System. This has me raising a question about the gray box that saved gaming: Is it just me, or does the NES have the highest difficult-game ratio of any videogame system?Gugand
I wouldn't consider Zelda (well Zelda II was hard), Metroid, Kid Icarus, Punch Out or Final Fantasy hard.. they're beatable.. but yeah the rest are because they're all arcade games at heart and Arcade games are hard because they want you to pump quarters into their machines over time, and developers still had the mindframe on the NES.. and their games were short so they had to make them hard on purpose for that too...
I'm pretty sure the reason NES games were difficult is because they couldn't fit a large easy game on the carteridges... so they made the games difficult and short in length. People would have felt cheated if they paid 60+ dollars for a game and they could beat it in one day.
alot of those games imo weren't THAT hard, but they could be pretty brutal the first couple of times you played them. i think games now are just far too easy :P i guess thats what i get for being an old timer. i will say the difficulty definitely added to the replay value and when you beat the game you really felt an accomplishment.
some atari games are harder... in the sense that you have no idea what to do.
FFuematsufan
True! :P
But NES games are concidered hard today, because a lot of them had to sue differnet tactics to make games last longer then what we use today.Like, no saving, or few save checkpoints, Tougehr bosses, cheap deaths, back tor estart continues, Today they use mroe refined ways tomake games last longer and harder. Imagine if you had tor estart halo from the begining if you died each time?
Well the games had to be hard so you would get your moneys worth. Beause games back then costed about 40 or 50 dollars then adjust that for inflation. Imagine a game costing that much only lasting a few days
Well the games had to be hard so you would get your moneys worth. Beause games back then costed about 40 or 50 dollars then adjust that for inflation. Imagine a game costing that much only lasting a few daysVideogamefan123
You mean games like Fable and Justice League Heroes. I beat JLH in one day and was pi$$ed.
I never found many nes games that hard. I guess thats because I was an atari pro by the time NES came out.
Meh, maybe hard at one time but not after playing a few times. Pretty much every one of those games is pattern based and knowing where to stand, or where items are helps you sail through the game. The only game I'd really consider hard is GhostsNGoblins. And only because that game is cheap (as in questionable collision detection while jumping) and hard to play with the NES controller.
I still have a NES hooked up and have been playing through a ton of those game recently. I hadn't played Metroid since it release, and still beat it under 5 hours. Just knowing the tricks and best weapons to use, helps you sail through levels. Kinda same with Zelda. I would just go into screen and know there was something around, but couldn't remember exactly where. Still finished the game w/o dieing.
I played many NES games. Some of them were hard to beat- the Adventure of Bayou Billy, and Ninja Gaiden 1-3. You may need to be patient for finishing whatever game.
Zelda 2 was a very hard but enjoyable and rewarding game. I used to spend hours trying to make strategies for defeating iron knuckles and the mini thunderbird knights in the last palace. Now I can beat that game in a couple of hours.
Zelda 2 was a very hard but enjoyable and rewarding game. I used to spend hours trying to make strategies for defeating iron knuckles and the mini thunderbird knights in the last palace. Now I can beat that game in a couple of hours.WushuFighter
Iron Knuckles always fell for the same tactic: the jump slash.
[QUOTE="WushuFighter"]Zelda 2 was a very hard but enjoyable and rewarding game. I used to spend hours trying to make strategies for defeating iron knuckles and the mini thunderbird knights in the last palace. Now I can beat that game in a couple of hours.King9999
Iron Knuckles always fell for the same tactic: the jump slash.
I always beat them the hard way by blocking and slashing their open spots. I didn't figure that jump slash trick untill later lol.
Yes many of those NES 8-bit games are brutal regarding the difficultly. Today in 2008 I went into a Japanese run used videogame store. I asked the owner what was your favorite videogames system of all time. The answer was the N.E.S and the reason was because the games were hard. You needed good hand-eye/reflexes and skill to beat "Those simple 8-bit Nintendo games". The only really tough NES game I beat was Tatio's Skyshark. The game just keeps scrolling back to the beginning. There were many Nes games I never got close to finishing. Many nights of "Controller tossing" Yep the NES has The hardest videogame library of them all. Not wonder the game shop owner picked "The original Nintendo" as his favorite system of all time. I Almost want to pick up a N.E.S 2 "top loader" and have another go at those hard games again. Almost....
The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II, Metroid, Punch-Out!!, Castlevania, Ghosts n' Goblins, Gradius, Kid Icarus, Ninja Gaiden, Final Fantasy, Contra, Battletoads. All of these games (and I'm pretty sure others) have two things in common: They are very hard, and they are on the Nintendo Entertainment System. This has me raising a question about the gray box that saved gaming: Is it just me, or does the NES have the highest difficult-game ratio of any videogame system?Gugand
You forgot the hardest of all: Super Mario Bros! It might not have been so hard had you not had to beat the entire game in one sitting. Sure the NES has a lot of tough games, but I don't know if it's the hardest system overall.
NES too hard?, yes, absolutely, i havent beat Punch Out and not to mention some other games like Ninja Gaiden, so for me, yes NES games are too damn hard.
Contra isn't hard. I can beat both Contra and Super C back to back without getting game over once (not without getting hit, though), and I'm by no means a Video Gaming God. I'm an above average skilled gamer at best.
Contra only started getting hard with Contra 3: The Alien Wars on the SNES (especially considering that there was no 30 lives cheat code here in North America.)
your just not old school...that might be the case, over the years gaming has gotten easier, i found some big ass rant by this guy that just cant stand this gens level of difficulty he says that its really easy and that gaming today is leaning towards casual gaming, i think he needs to chill the hell out. id give you a link but the site is lagging badly. and i believe that the old school guys need to become friends with the select your difficulty option.
I grew up on the NES and thought the difficulty was perfect. Yes, they were hard as hell, but when you beat a damn near impossible game like ghosts and goblins, it does something good to your soul. =] The other games you mentioned weren't too bad honestly.
your just not old school...that might be the case, over the years gaming has gotten easier, i found some big ass rant by this guy that just cant stand this gens level of difficulty he says that its really easy and that gaming today is leaning towards casual gaming, i think he needs to chill the hell out. id give you a link but the site is lagging badly. and i believe that the old school guys need to become friends with the select your difficulty option.ConkerAndBerri2
I totally agree!! I mean, companies now are watering games down so that they can attract more casual players and people that have never played videogames. It's lame.They don't realize they are going overboard and making the games too easy.
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