"SMG became impossibly difficult. Not for all people. Just for me."

I didn't say that. I was checking out Kotaku and there was a particular news story that caught my eye. The excerpt read...

"Danc over at Lost Garden has written quite a number of serious and lengthy pieces on game design - this time he's written an essay a little closer to home, on his experience with Super Mario Galaxy. It's a well-accepted truth that not everyone likes the same kind of games, and even games that are universally well received (like Super Mario Galaxy) can just not do it for someone. Danc would fall into that category with Super Mario Galaxy - but his problems with the game stem from his preferred play ****

Sometimes, it is the player, not the design that is at fault. Somewhere along the way, I have diverged from the traditional gamer path. Those simple pleasures of twitching in sequence to bizarre spacial/temporal puzzles are lost on me. Instead of finding them fun, I find them to be obnoxious time wasters.

He goes on to suggest that demos ought to be the thing that makes the world go 'round - or at least something that becomes more commonplace, since there are people that aren't going to be feeling that celebrated gem, even if everyone else does."

I then proceeded to check out the full blog article (http://lostgarden.com/2007/12/super-mario-galaxy-breakup-note.html) and my mind was somewhat blown. I read the comments from people that fell in line with the blogger's demographic (I had forgotten what normal level headed comments actually read like) and was very much surprised by their views on the game and video games in general.

Of course, most people here wouldn't agree with their complains and concerns, but CAN you understand them? Just several weeks ago I decided to make my dad (53 years old and has never really played games) play SMG. It took us like 45 minutes to get the first star in the first galaxy because he kept dying. Just controlling Mario and making him go in any given direction was somewhat a problem.

So what is the point of this? Well, aside from directing people to an article that was an interesting read its the fact that people like the blogger actual outnumber people who play video games regularly. Is that a problem? He cites Animal Crossing as his game of choice and dislikes games with a challenge. It seems that after years, maybe a couple of decades of playing we have forgotten how many skills we have acquired and are required to play today's games.

Any thoughts on the article or anything?

Today's games are NOTHING compared to some of the stuff from the 8-bit and 16-bit eras. Contra 4 for the DS is mind-numbingly difficult because it's old-school, but I can't think of a single 3D game that can compare to that level of difficulty.i_like_pizza

Most "difficult" games from the 8 and 16 bit eras weren't difficult; They were hard to play. See: Touch damage.

I've heard people say it's difficult, and some people saying it's easy. So which one is it? :?Cristallis

80% of the game is pretty easy for anyone who has played a 3D platformer or is just generally good at 3D oriented games.

20% of it is pretty difficult for anybody, but none of it, so far, has been impossibly difficult for me.

The 3 galaxies off of the green launch star are pretty difficult, but nowhere near impossible.

[QUOTE="i_like_pizza"]Today's games are NOTHING compared to some of the stuff from the 8-bit and 16-bit eras. Contra 4 for the DS is mind-numbingly difficult because it's old-school, but I can't think of a single 3D game that can compare to that level of difficulty.Xolver

Most "difficult" games from the 8 and 16 bit eras weren't difficult; They were hard to play. See: Touch damage.

Games like Battletoads and Contra were just plain hard.

I've heard people say it's difficult, and some people saying it's easy. So which one is it? :?Cristallis

Beating the game the first time (with 60 stars) is easy, but getting all the stars? There are some challenging ones.

I've heard people say it's difficult, and some people saying it's easy. So which one is it? :?Cristallis

I would say its the easiest game I've played in a long time...

[QUOTE="Cristallis"]I've heard people say it's difficult, and some people saying it's easy. So which one is it? :?tcc024

I would say its the easiest game I've played in a long time...

That's so informative, I don't think I'll ever need to ask a question about anything else in my life. ;)

... what have you played recently?

Today's games are NOTHING compared to some of the stuff from the 8-bit and 16-bit eras. Contra 4 for the DS is mind-numbingly difficult because it's old-school, but I can't think of a single 3D game that can compare to that level of difficulty.i_like_pizza

[QUOTE="i_like_pizza"]Today's games are NOTHING compared to some of the stuff from the 8-bit and 16-bit eras. Contra 4 for the DS is mind-numbingly difficult because it's old-school, but I can't think of a single 3D game that can compare to that level of difficulty.Xolver

Most "difficult" games from the 8 and 16 bit eras weren't difficult; They were hard to play. See: Touch damage.

Thats dead on. They were not more difficlut just hard to play... well said.

I've heard people say it's difficult, and some people saying it's easy. So which one is it? :?Cristallis

The first half of the game is very easy.

The last half gives you a heart attack.

I almost had one with those blasted coin levels.

[QUOTE="Cristallis"]I've heard people say it's difficult, and some people saying it's easy. So which one is it? :?Willy105

The first half of the game is very easy.

The last half gives you a heart attack.

I almost had one with those blasted coin levels.

[QUOTE="Willy105"]

[QUOTE="Cristallis"]I've heard people say it's difficult, and some people saying it's easy. So which one is it? :?Nintendo_Ownes7

The first half of the game is very easy.

The last half gives you a heart attack.

I almost had one with those blasted coin levels.

It'll take a while, but I got through. The first thing you might want to do, though, is head for the 1-Up. Other than that, I don't have any advice, except for making sure that your 100th coin (out of 150) is near where you started.

SMG isn't really too hard. It's pretty damn easy to me.

Every Nintendo game since Super Mario 64 has been like this. I demand a challenge!

It's pathetically easy to beat OoT with 3 hearts... Games have to be harder...

Anyone who says that SMG is an easy game has rushed it.

[spoiler] By "rushed it", I meant ending the game after 60 stars [/spoiler]
MoldOnHold

Exactly.That's what's great about games like SMG. You can enjoy them at any playing level (as long as you are decent enough toat least get 60 stars lol). Thenmore hardcore gamers can go and grind away tocomplete the coin missions, etc.

Exactly.That's what's great about games like SMG. You can enjoy them at any playing level (as long as you are decent enough toat least get 60 stars lol). Thenmore hardcore gamers can go and grind away tocomplete the coin missions, etc.

mynameisdumb

If he thinks that SMG is hard, he should play the Contra series. He doesn't know what hard is.Verge_6

Have you GOTTEN all of the stars in SMG? No? Then I don't think you can judge whether Contra or Galaxy is harder ;) . I haven't done both either, so I'm not saying it isn't harder, but Galaxy is definitely still a challenge.

i've seen several non-gamers or average casuals give mario galaxy a go. they do find it extremely difficult. I didnt get a single game over screen in my entire 120 star quest but they had about 5 game overs before they could beat dino-piranha, in fact one of them couldnt beat the guy at all and asked me to do it.samusarmada

Today's games are NOTHING compared to some of the stuff from the 8-bit and 16-bit eras. Contra 4 for the DS is mind-numbingly difficult because it's old-school, but I can't think of a single 3D game that can compare to that level of difficulty.i_like_pizza

I've heard people say it's difficult, and some people saying it's easy. So which one is it? :?Cristallis

Both(at least to me). Some stars are easy to get while others are hard to get.

[QUOTE="samusarmada"]i've seen several non-gamers or average casuals give mario galaxy a go. they do find it extremely difficult. I didnt get a single game over screen in my entire 120 star quest but they had about 5 game overs before they could beat dino-piranha, in fact one of them couldnt beat the guy at all and asked me to do it.Nintendo_Ownes7

to be honest i cheated a bit on luigis purple coins. (to be fair I went straight into the level with the 9 lives you get at the start rather than going in with a running total or whatever.) I got to the point where I had about 2 lives left and I said "f''k this Im not gettin a gameover screen" so I went back into the observatory and got all the lives there. Then I went back and did it after only a few attempts. funny what a break and a relief of pressure does to you ;)

[QUOTE="Nintendo_Ownes7"][QUOTE="samusarmada"]i've seen several non-gamers or average casuals give mario galaxy a go. they do find it extremely difficult. I didnt get a single game over screen in my entire 120 star quest but they had about 5 game overs before they could beat dino-piranha, in fact one of them couldnt beat the guy at all and asked me to do it.samusarmada

to be honest i cheated a bit on luigis purple coins. (to be fair I went straight into the level with the 9 lives you get at the start rather than going in with a running total or whatever.) I got to the point where I had about 2 lives left and I said "f''k this Im not gettin a gameover screen" so I went back into the observatory and got all the lives there. Then I went back and did it after only a few attempts. funny what a break and a relief of pressure does to you ;)

[QUOTE="Cristallis"]I've heard people say it's difficult, and some people saying it's easy. So which one is it? :?Willy105

The first half of the game is very easy.

The last half gives you a heart attack.

I almost had one with those blasted coin levels.

The first 80 stars are easy.

The next 30 are somewhat challenging.

And the last 10 or so are hard but nothing a few tries wouldn't take care of.

There was only one star that I really felt was mind-numbingly difficult. The Toy galaxy purple coin challenge. I hated it so much.

For the most part the first half of the game was actually the most fun because they were awe-inspiring, new, and creative, if not that hard. The other challenges were just fillers: coin collections and "repeat this level again but with some minor twist" stars.

It was much easier to get the last 60 stars than the first 60 for me. I don't know why. Maybe it was because they were all fillers on levels I have already played so I knew how to approach them. SMG is a great game, but there was so much more potential with the gravity puzzles and abstract level design. It feels like they cut it a bit short and could have continued to build upon certain levels but instead they just ended and I was left with minor disappointment. At first I was fine becuase I thought the difficulty would really ramp up, but it really doesn't and I was ultimately left a little unsatisfied. I couldn't but think: That's it? Maybe I am just spoiled by oldschool platformers to be satisfied with SMG's short levels and meager difficulty. It's still one of the best games of the year but, here's hoping that the sequel packs more of a punch.