Are retro games harder than current-gen?

[disgaeniac]

A big difference today is that you can quickly find a walkthrough of nearly every game ever made.  If you were stuck on a game in 1986, you had to figure it out yourself or give up.

So very, very much THIS!!!

[scott]

However, to this day I haven't beaten Castlevania

The biggest secret of Castlevania 1 is Holy Water and enemy memorization. If you can remember where the baddies are and how they move you're golden. The bosses, you just spam holy water on. Of course, keeping the holy water on hand is a challenge, especially if you die and need to relocate it. It doesn't help that some baddies drop sub weapons and if you pick it up you're boned.

It's gotten to the point now, that I have every holy water candle memorized, ha.

[shoryuken4u]

Dark Souls & Demon's Souls are arguably the most difficult games this generation IMO.

I had to give up on Demon's Souls because I wasn't making any progress past a certain point. Dark Souls seems to be slightly less difficult than it's predecessor though. I love both these games--the punishing, hostile environment is really unlike any other game out there.

[blipcs76]

However, to this day I haven't beaten Castlevania

The biggest secret of Castlevania 1 is Holy Water and enemy memorization. If you can remember where the baddies are and how they move you're golden. The bosses, you just spam holy water on. Of course, keeping the holy water on hand is a challenge, especially if you die and need to relocate it. It doesn't help that some baddies drop sub weapons and if you pick it up you're boned.

It's gotten to the point now, that I have every holy water candle memorized, ha.

I need to give it another try. I don't think I've played it in at least 5 years.  Death is as far as I've made it, and if I remember right Holy Water doesn't really work on him since he flies around.

[scott]

I need to give it another try. I don't think I've played it in at least 5 years.  Death is as far as I've made it, and if I remember right Holy Water doesn't really work on him since he flies around.

Ya , you need to catch him near the platform that he starts by. If you don't, it's  a matter of doing it the hard way.

[agsabbott]

 I don't know if anyone has played Nightshade for the NES, but that game is frustratingly hard due to the controls. I find the classic games to be a lot harder then todays, like OP i was playing Diddy Kongs quest today and was getting destroyed in world 2.

[jobocan]

I don't know if anyone has played Nightshade for the NES, but that game is frustratingly hard due to the controls. I find the classic games to be a lot harder then todays, like OP i was playing Diddy Kongs quest today and was getting destroyed in world 2.

I haven't played Nightshade, but it looks like a really fascinating game for its time, with a really surprising amount of depth. But what I've seen of the controls seems pretty... hard to handle.

[thecollector0o7]

I don't know if anyone has played Nightshade for the NES, but that game is frustratingly hard due to the controls. I find the classic games to be a lot harder then todays, like OP i was playing Diddy Kongs quest today and was getting destroyed in world 2.

God reminds me of Donkey Kong Country the level on the carts >_> I got so pissed at that level

[phlegeth]

It's been mentioned a couple of times and I agree.  I think one of the things "killing" the difficulty is checkpoints.  A lot of games nowadays auto-save everytime you do anything, like open a door.  Alot of old RPGs you could only save in the Inn or a tent and when you go into a dungeon, you're in there until you beat the boss and walk out.  That's another thing, a lot of things are done in cutscenes. 

I think one of the hardest games I've played is Yggdra Union.  This game punishes bad decisions.  You can only heal between fights and there's no stores, so you have to use items you found, usually right in the previous map.  And the damage sticks, if you level, you're still damaged.

[kimimi]

It's been mentioned a couple of times and I agree.  I think one of the things "killing" the difficulty is checkpoints.  A lot of games nowadays auto-save everytime you do anything, like open a door.  Alot of old RPGs you could only save in the Inn or a tent and when you go into a dungeon, you're in there until you beat the boss and walk out.

I really disagree with checkpoints making games less difficult - the only "skill" involved in an RPG that only lets you save once every few hours is finding the time to play it. An FPS isn't harder if I restart at the beginning of the level when I die it's just giving me more tedious busywork to get through - I'm not a better player just because I can repeat actions I've already done (assuming I have the time in the first place).

I'm actually all for hard games - I love arcade games and shmups - but I don't feel that convenience is a bad thing either

[jobocan]

A big difference today is that you can quickly find a walkthrough of nearly every game ever made.  If you were stuck on a game in 1986, you had to figure it out yourself or give up.

I think one thing that needs to be added here is... Back in the day there WERE things you had to figure out yourself. Nowadays that's just not true because devs feel they need to hold your hands so much that you'll almost never be in danger of having to think.

[agsabbott]

Calling the controls for nightshade "hard to handle" is a bit of an understatement. It is a really good game, and has some funny moments. If you can manage to get to the over world, theres this guy with a huge head fighting this old lady, if you save her you become more popluar.

 

I don't know if anyone has played Nightshade for the NES, but that game is frustratingly hard due to the controls. I find the classic games to be a lot harder then todays, like OP i was playing Diddy Kongs quest today and was getting destroyed in world 2.

God reminds me of Donkey Kong Country the level on the carts >_> I got so pissed at that level

DEM CARTS
the new donkey kong country for Wii has to have the hardest level with the carts 0_0
DKQ jumping is getting me, in world 3 and it took me almost an hour to get past level 3 -_-

[thecollector0o7]

Calling the controls for nightshade "hard to handle" is a bit of an understatement. It is a really good game, and has some funny moments. If you can manage to get to the over world, theres this guy with a huge head fighting this old lady, if you save her you become more popluar.

 

I don't know if anyone has played Nightshade for the NES, but that game is frustratingly hard due to the controls. I find the classic games to be a lot harder then todays, like OP i was playing Diddy Kongs quest today and was getting destroyed in world 2.

God reminds me of Donkey Kong Country the level on the carts >_> I got so pissed at that level

DEM CARTS
the new donkey kong country for Wii has to have the hardest level with the carts 0_0
DKQ jumping is getting me, in world 3 and it took me almost an hour to get past level 3 -_-

damn, yeah those cart levels no matter what donkey kong they always get me hard >_>

[moonstarraven]

in a word, Yes! There was no hand holding or online walkthroughs and we didn't have any trouble with our attention spans. We spent months systematically burning bushes and bombing walls looking for that one dungeon in Legend of Zelda. And when we finally beat the game, there was a sense of accomplishment!

Unlike today where most players if they manage to get stuck last a whopping 2 minutes before they run to the internet to look up the answer. (my nephews) And when you beat a game there's no feeling of wow I finally beat it! its more like eh is that all there is to the game.

And there are exceptions, But I think most modern games are aimed at casual gamers, so they have to be easier.

[darko]

What I find humorous is that some of the biggest games this generation are big because of their online multiplayer (competitive and usually difficult to master).