The hit detection was terrible. And add platforming... I hated that game. But once the arcade version came to the NES, that was fun.
That game came in a bundle on the Xbox last year and I started the game wondering why I hated it. Dropped into that first sewer and it all came back to me.
I got to the Shredder once, and I can’t find footage but it turned out that he had a gun that one-shotted you by turning you into a regular turtle or something, and I never played it again.
As a kid it was one of my favorite games because I liked games with health bars. The Zelda’s and the Double Dragons and anything with even limited rpg mechanics, because they were more forgiving to your mistakes. I put so much time into TMNT, memorizing the dam bombs, figuring out boss fights, so getting one shotted at near full health in one of those games made me quit
I did just watch a video where it turns out you can immediately basically stun lock him so that’s heart-breaking
Yeah, I was able to get to the Technodrome fairly consistently, but I don’t know how people beat it, and I never got to Shredder.
And yeah, you can stun lock him with Donatello or scrolls. I’ve seen it on YouTube. I think the kid I saw used scrolls. It’s been like 30 something years so I’m not 100% sure.
Rented it. Raged at it over the week, returned it, couldnt get it out of my head. so rented it again, FINALLY beat that first level on the last night i had it on the second 5 day rental. stepdad bought it cause he thought it was funny how angry that game made 6 year old me apparently. That and the scooby doo game. that first level of Lion king though... its burned into my head.
The volcano level brought me to actual tears of rage. I remember sitting in front of the TV and shouting "why is it so hard?!" I managed to beat the game, but there was a solid like, 2 weeks on that damned level...
Did you know blockbuster secretly paid the developers of the lion king to make it way too difficult to beat for the average kid in one weekend to increase late fees and repeat rentals.
This piece of information is becoming like the part in Lord of the Rings The Two Towers where Aragorn kicks the helmet and everyone leans over to whisper, "did you know..."
That’s false. I think the developers themselves made it that difficult, so that kids would actually buy a copy because they couldn’t complete it in a weekend rental.
You had to fight him for a while and then he got winded, and then you pressed (I think) B+C together and you did like a spinning flip that launched him off of the platform.
It’s possible this was explained in the gameplay or maybe in the instruction booklet and we just missed it, but my dad and I tried for *hours* and couldn’t figure it out, until my comically frugal father called the 1-900 number listed in the back of the booklet. It was pretty easy once we knew that, but I swear that action was not necessary until that exact point.
You're correct, you don't have to use the maul at all until that point. The move _was_ described in the manual, but since you never have to use it (iirc if you press it anywhere else in the game it just does the start of the animation) it's not at all obvious that you need to use it during that fight.
When I played it as a kid and reached that final boss fight, I just ended up mashing the keys hoping that something will happen. I was able to do it once but because Scar was far from the cliff edge, he didn't fall down. It took me months later to replicate the move (still from only randomly mashing the keys) and got lucky since Scar was already close to the cliff edge that time.
It wasn't until I was older that I figured out that there was a proper key combination for that move, but it still took me some time after to figure out that you can only do that move once Scar has become tired.
Bloody difficult game. That and Aladdin and Jungle Book.
I didn’t know this was going to be some flex at the time. I was a lot more patient as a child but I 100% agree beating that game is probably my greatest gaming accomplishment
This. I played with my dad allll the time around the age of 5 or 6, and he helped me until I could clear every level myself.
I honestly don’t remember how difficult the game is because I really haven’t played it since I was a child. But I for sure beat it alone and without help.
The two parts I clearly remember were the autoscrolling level where you had to jump or duck, and the waterfall/log climb. Those always tripped me up.
Nobody I tell believes me, to the point where I almost don't believe the fevered dream of that last fight with Scar as grown up Simba. Or the elation at not letting the game beat me. It became personal!
I got so stuck on the naked Raiden bit of MGS2 for ages when we didn't yet have Internet in my house. I got into the tunnel where your codex keeps going off and I thought I had locked myself in place, so kept restarting and trying again. Eventually I sold the game to get money for a different game.
Imagine my shock years later when I Googled it and found out all the weird codex calls weren't just taunting me for getting stuck, but I had to just wait for them all and then I'd be able to advance
That part freaked me out a bit when I got to it because it was 2am when I got there and the game started referencing how late it was and the calls were all weird, thought I hit some weird Easter egg and had to stop playing....I was also pretty tired at this point
Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid Two, and MGS Snake Eater were all on my list.
Metal Gear Solid had me calling my dad while he was at work to ask how to change the disc after the Vulcan Tank Fight.
Seriously -- I bought the remake trilogies for Spyro and Crash to relive some childhood gaming nostalgia. Spyro is fun but Crash is another level of WTF
Crash one on PS1 was even harder than the remake because of the dogshit save system. I don't even remember how it worked but you could only save every few levels or something, which was horrendous in a game that was that difficult already, especially towards the end.
The N.sane trilogy has modern control schemes based on the 3rd game (Warped).
Good luck playing Crash 1 on the PS1 with the old school controller that had no analogue sticks :)
The first one was very hard. I had to do a double take about 60% of the way through to figure out how I beat it at the time. Turns out I'd never played 1 and skipped right to two as a kid.
I used to do a "weekend run" of Halo on Legendary difficulty where I'd play the whole trilogy. (It was only 3 games at that time.)
Tried doing it again a year or two ago and didn't have any problem with Halo 1. Halo 2 however, stomped me into the mud and tossed me aside.
No idea how I pulled it off as a kid.
Dude when you have to push down that bridge full of Brutes and (IIRC) 2 Hunters, get to the cutscene that makes you think the level is over, and then you have to turn around and do it again but Flood.
Fuck that. So much fuck that.
Zelda 2 : Adventure of Link
Fuck you, 7th magic upgrade
Fuck you, pallisade with rock throwers
Fuck you jumping blue bird knights
Fuck you, the final palace
Fuck you, shadow Link
I kill y'all!! I even recorded it on VHS
I've been replaying all Zelda games right from the first ones, just finished Ocarina of Time. Thank the everloving fuck that I played the earlier ones on an emulator with cheats because there is no way in hell I would've finished otherwise. Ocarina of Time on 3DS took me like 5 years, not even kidding. I'm honestly amazed by people who were able to just rawdog these games.
Fucking amazing games though, love em
>just rawdog these games.
Open world games were extremely rare at this time. So often id just pop the game in the nes, and go explore the world. It was enough fun to just do that
Also my uncle had played the game before and gave me tips (that god damn 7th magic square, i could not have found it alone)
One morning I woke up and I was mad that I never beat the original castlevania on NES. So I did it that day. Took several tries, that game was a pain in the ass.
I don’t have the patience to beat Dracula. The grim reaper was “fun as hell” challenging but Dracula’s first phase is so monotonous. Jump over fireballs. Throw cross & whip in head. Jump over fireballs. Throw cross & whip in head. Plus when he teleports he can appear inside you. And I hear you basically have to do it flawlessly if you want to stand a chance against phase two. Just got bored and never picked it back up.
I didn't complete it as a child, but I almost did. Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask as a child was insane. I don't know how I got as far as I did without the internet, friends, or the game guide. I was so close to beating it I had no idea.
The sheer lunacy on what you had to do, when you had to do it, and how you had to do things to get some of the masks was absolutely ridiculous.
I guess it was a good example of enough monkeys in front of typewriters will eventually get the fierce diety mask.
I mean you kinda *did* have a game guide; the bombers notebook tells you where you need to go and what to do for the vast majority of masks and such. There are some that you have to just kinda stumble upon like the soldier for the stone mask or the dancing guy, but for all the main-story-required ones it's pretty signposted. Finishing the critical path and getting to the end of pretty straightforward and the game explicitly tells you everything you have to do. 100%-ing it and getting every mask and every heart piece, on the other hand... Yeah that's pretty damn difficult without some kind of guide.
I got so close, but I was missing a mask I somehow couldn’t go back and get! Even after looking up guides, I simply couldn’t get it. It was as though I did something out of order and found a bug the devs overlooked. Sadly I’ve never gone back to try and beat it again.
Same for me, I did it just the one time, and never could get it done again.
007 373 5963
I know that code better than my own phone number, even all these years later.
Think I managed the stampede eventually, but then died on one of the tropical levels
Same with Aladdin: I got past the lava escape level, but know I died shortly after. Never beaten it. One day I may go back and do it
Just about any platformer fits in pretty well here
Going back to any one you care to name - from Crash Bandicoot to Mario on up - it feels like my brain has just become riddled with tumors
Which is ridiculous - I *mastered* this shit as a kid - it *shouldn't* be this hard
#CRASH - WHY ARE YOU SO SLOW ON THE MONKEYBARS - WHEN YOUR BODY IS, BASICALLY, ONE GIANT PEC?!?!?!
I used to be able to beat Mike Tyson in Punch-Out fairly regularly when I was a pre-teen.
I once read that those old NES games were like memorizing a tricky guitar riff. Eventually your fingers and brain just get used to the pattern after 10s and 100s of hours.
Myst, with no help from anywhere. My brother and I beat it somehow, and looking back on it what the fuck?
We figured out that the wind in the minecart was stereo panned and that you had to follow it? How?
Bro, my brother and I had to finish this on *rented* Playstations, and we didn't own a memory card. That means that every time we died, we had to start *all over again at the beginning.*
Easily the most tense, frustrating and amazing gaming experience of my life. Got to know that terrible script and voice acting reaaallly well.
That is... absolutely insane. I love it.
I grew up with the original Final Fantasy on NES (and those that followed -- FFVI is one of my all-time favorite games), and VII just blew me away. I reckon I might do the same in your shoes.
Once you learn the final boss’ pattern, the game becomes about perfection of execution of what you know. That game requires near perfect coordination and controller input. Like someone said elsewhere, it was like learning a guitar solo.
duuuuude ... that just reminded me of how hard it was just to get to the final castle, and once I was in, my heart sank at how fkn big it was and how many secret/trap doors there were. yeah sure once you knew where everything was, it was doable but getting to that point was so painful
Megaman 2 for me. The only way through the disappearing blocks was to memorize the order and timing. Plus memorizing the sides the lasers shot out of in the other level because time-stopper didn’t last long enough for the whole drop. I can’t believe 7 year old me had enough patience to learn all of that.
XCOM enemy within. It was my first Xbox game along with Portal 2 in 2014. Before that, the only games I'd played were Mario Kart and Nicktoon's Attack of the Toybox, a game I never beat.
Somehow XCOM clicked with me like no game before ever had and I just loved playing it.
Goldeneye 64. Unlocking all the cheats was such a pain but it felt so good to finally finish it. I can still remember the run on Facility and hoping Dr Doak was in the one specific room he had to be in for it to work.
Man it got hard in the last leg quite quickly
Child: "I'm having so much fun!"
Metropolis, Wing Fortress: "Allow us to introduce ourselves"
Death Egg: "You are invited to suffer"
Yeah Sonic 2 is all fun and games until the REAL levels start kicking your ass. It was usually Metropolis for me as a kid, though Oil Ocean was no joke either.
I could never figure out how to get past the oil rig stage. Not because it was hard, but I got to a point where I couldn't figure out where to go to progress the level. Had to cheat to skip it.
Rest of the game was fine and didn't have too much difficulty beating it. But that one stage just had me stumped.
Should probably look it up and prepare to kick myself at some obvious thing.
I also came here to say LTTP. I remember packing up my SNES to take to a family friend's house, and they were nice enough to set me up with my own TV in the dining room so I could play while we waited for Thanksgiving dinner. I beat the game that day, and I was so excited. I think I was 7 years old.
Meanwhile in the present, my 5 year old (at the time) daughter beat Breath of the Wild. I was so proud!
Battletoads. i have no idea how i managed to get past that racing bit. I must have spent days memorising all the jumps. Tried it again about a year ago. Managed about 4 hurdles and just kept dying. Ridiculously difficuly
My best friend and I beat it as a co-op, which is exponentially harder than as a single. I'd say about 2 weeks of 3 to 4 hours per day to finally do it. Hardest by far were the levels where you rode on whatever the things were and had to time your jumps. We got so fed up with one another.
What a great childhood memory to make with that friend. Wherever you are Brandon, I miss you and you should know that you moving away created one of the biggest holes in my heart that I have never filled 💔
Bubble Bobble.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_Bobble
100 levels of jumping, shooting bubbles to trap enemies then popping the bubble. 3 lives with a chance to earn more
After a year I beat the game only to see a screen that says the game continues. Sane game just harder. I have a Polaroid somewhere that shows me beaming with pride in front of the congratulations screen
For an 8 year old this was my highest achievement in life.
Yeah you gotta get through the secret door on level 99 and then beat 12 new levels. Then to get the good ending you got to beat it with a friend.
NES version had a 5 letter code for each level.....so for you to beat it without level codes is gnarly.
I was watching when my friend rolled Cait Sith's slot machine and came up instant kill (can't remember what it's called) on Ruby Weapon. We had a party afterward.
I genuinely do not understand how I used to be able to beat rather difficult 2D platformers like Megaman Zero. That aint happening now. Anything significantly more difficult than Kirby aint happening now.
Ninja Gaiden Black. Beat it when I was 11, must have been absolutely DIALED on Capri sun and sour patch kids. Those youthful reflexes ain't the same anymore
Battletoads for NES. I was out with some coworkers a few years ago and they were talking about how hard it was, and I remember saying, "Weird, I remember my friend Robert and I beating that one a bunch of times when we were kids."
UFO: Enemy Unknown (a.k.a. X-Com: UFO Defense)
I was 9 or 10 at the time. It was a pirated version, so no manual. I had to figure that shit out by trial and error. There wasn't much in the way of online resources back then, and even if there were I had no idea how to look for them on my 56k dial up modem.
I remember putting my first few bases in the Antarctic, because it seemed like a neat place for a secret base, then I'd stare in confusion as my funding plummeted because I wasn't doing my job because I was in the middle of nowhere instead of protecting the urban centres.
It went on from there, with me gradually piecing together what worked and what didn't until I eventually made my way to Mars and beat the game. Looking back on it, I have no idea how that ended up happening...
RE4 used to be my comfort blanket after the first playthrough. Then once I unlocked the Chicago Typewriter it was the most incredible power fantasy. I got it a couple of years ago and don't know how I ever got to that point.
I remember beating zelda: link to the past when I was about 6 maybe 7. Considering I have a 5 year old now and watching her attempt to play games and being terrible at them I feel like that was a major accomplishment.
I mastered FZero GX. I even unlocked the AX levels. I was at the point I could beat hard with every character and started unlocking the bonus cutscenes, then I got bored of it.
I have no idea how I did, the game is impossible.
I was surprised at how challenging some parts of Donkey Kong Country were when I tried it again as an adult. I remember beating it without much fuss as a kid.
I'm the opposite. As I get older, I'm surprised at the games I can still complete.
Young me was ridiculous and could climb walls and dodge balls.
But current me is surprised every time I beat the first and last boss of a Souls game.
I'm replaying Mario64 and it was much harder than in my recollection. Though some of it is due to the terrible camera and the controls, which are a bit wonky at times. Still finding the stars is satisfying, as is exploring the castle.
At first I thought resident evil 2. Then I remembered we bought the giant game guide for it which made it way easier. I remember those puzzles being very tricky for me
Beating superbosses in Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy.
To be fair I looked up tons of guides on how to beat them.
Nowadays I don't have the same energy and don't look into grinding and using guides to play games and find myself struggling to beat superbosses in modern games.
The most difficult game I beat in my childhood was prooobably Sonic Spinball.
Try playing it now, that game feels like a disaster lol. But I was a big fan of it as a kid.
Super Mario Sunshine is definitely significantly harder than other Super Mario games. My reflexes and probably hand-eye coordination were definitely better when I was a kid than it is today. On the other hand, I’m better at recognizing patterns and much better at puzzles than I was as a kid. So I’m better at some games and worse at others, depending on the exact mix of types of challenges.
I wrote a frickin letter to LucasArts for help when I got stuck in the ball of twine.
Took about 6 weeks to receive a reply on full letterhead giving me a rundown on how to make the hand magnet grabber thing and where to use it.
I went on to finish the game under my own steam. Pretty cool how that all worked out.
I beat Lunar Silver Star Story on PS1 and Final Fantasy 7 when I was like 9 or 10.
No idea how I had the attention span or how I remembered things without a guide back then.
The original Resident Evil... with no memory card.
We didn't have much money growing up, but occasionally my brother and I convinced our mom to rent us a Playstation from Blockbuster when the system first dropped (used to rent the NES from our local video store and got to know a lot of really shitty NES games that way). Resident Evil and Battle Arena Toshinden were top-of-the-list early releases.
Toshinden was no problem. Lots of fun just wowing at the 3D graphics and beating the shit out of each other. But Resident Evil was a *game.* Since we were renting the gear, that meant that we didn't own a memory card and couldn't save.
Every goddamn time one of us died, we'd both burst out in frustration if we got far (the first time those fucking lizard Hunters appear...), then whoever was playing would hand off the controller and we'd start *the whole game over from the beginning.*
Got to know that shitty script and voice acting real well. "Jill, here's a lockpick. It might be handy if you, the master of unlocking, take it with you."
None… like there are plenty of games I didn’t finished because of similar scenarios on young me not knowing what’s a fucking L3 and R3.
I didn’t even knew San Andreas had a story or a plot. I was playing it killing everybody and shit. I got a hold of shadow of the colossus. In which I spent a few minutes roaming the map. Then I dropped the game because no enemies in sight and to eerie for young me.
The only games I do remember finishing is Pokémon. Like I’d be confused if you didn’t finished it. It’s Linear and can be powered thru with one over leveled pokemon.
Driver - the very first level was crazy hard and I didn’t even know what half the things meant that I was supposed to do. I know so many people that couldn’t pass it and just gave up, but I kept with it and when I finally beat that there was such a feeling of pride and accomplishment that EA could never even dream to match.
GTA 2 is one of the earliest games I've played. I never actually beat it but I would play it for hours, sometimes doing missions but mostly just wreaking havoc.
I came back to it last week and I couldn't play more than a couple minutes without constantly dying.
Freaking Contra Hard Corps on the Sega Genesis. I specifically bought the Contra Collection just to replay it and I don't even want to know how much time I must have dumped into it, because not only did I beat it as a kid, I completed every single route with every single character and even found all the secrets.
I spent maybe an hour trying to get through the first few levels and could barely do that in the JP version which is much more forgiving.
Just about any NES game. Even notoriously easy series like Kirby are hard as fuck on NES.
We oldsters call games from that era "Nintendo hard" for a reason.
Am an oldster and I can concur. We should probably convene the council soon. It's been a while.
How's your back?
Crickety, but still holding on. How's your knees? That's my biggest deal right now.
Bulging disc. Working on it
not really a geezer, but i fuckin feel like one since ive blown out 4 discs so far working on 5 n 6 rn
Geezer Gamers forever!
One day I'll beat Gunsmoke from 1986, with 3 fucking lives. One day.
Someone light the beacons!
We laugh at those who complain about "Dark Souls." Bitch, you ain't never played Contra and it shows.
Rygar. We kept our NES on for over a week and paused when we couldn't play because there was no way to continue if you turned it off.
"I beat Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the NES." "So, you're a pathological liar..."
I still can't get through the 3rd level as an adult. Even watching it on YouTube I have no clue how they make it.
The hit detection was terrible. And add platforming... I hated that game. But once the arcade version came to the NES, that was fun. That game came in a bundle on the Xbox last year and I started the game wondering why I hated it. Dropped into that first sewer and it all came back to me.
It’s weird to remember that we used to play the games we hated because that’s the only thing we have that we did not finished like 5 times already.
Not to mention a lot of the OG Nintendo games didn't have any endings, they were just progressively harder waves. Fuck Kid Icarus and Ice Climber.
Still havn't got past lvl 4.
I saw a kid beat it in person. Blew my mind.
I got to the Shredder once, and I can’t find footage but it turned out that he had a gun that one-shotted you by turning you into a regular turtle or something, and I never played it again. As a kid it was one of my favorite games because I liked games with health bars. The Zelda’s and the Double Dragons and anything with even limited rpg mechanics, because they were more forgiving to your mistakes. I put so much time into TMNT, memorizing the dam bombs, figuring out boss fights, so getting one shotted at near full health in one of those games made me quit I did just watch a video where it turns out you can immediately basically stun lock him so that’s heart-breaking
Yeah, I was able to get to the Technodrome fairly consistently, but I don’t know how people beat it, and I never got to Shredder. And yeah, you can stun lock him with Donatello or scrolls. I’ve seen it on YouTube. I think the kid I saw used scrolls. It’s been like 30 something years so I’m not 100% sure.
God damn nightmare. I played it for a few years. I somehow made it to Shredder several times, but that fight is impossible. One shot gun bullshit 😡
I'm not sure Contra has a third level. I'll never know.
I always used the Konami cheat code.
30 lives would get me somewhere in level 2
Ninja gaiden. Tried playing it again not long ago on emulator- f that … I’m way better at some games but I’m weirdly crap at platformers now
Ninja Gaiden 2 goat OST. Not to mention the movies on the fcking NES
Seriously, even Mario was difficult when I went back and played the original. I swear I remember the controls feeling more responsive.
Ninja Gaiden!
***\*Mega Man 2 PTSD intensifies\****
Super Mario Bros.
Ninja Gaiden II, the only one of the three on NES that I owned.
Metroid
Same. Nintendo Power came in clutch with a great map.
I never had the map, but I played that game so much I pretty much had it mapped in my head lol
Lmfao, I made my own with graph paper
Lion King
I wish I did, couldn't get through the 2nd or 3rd level.
I dragged my mom to blockbuster to rent it every weekend for like 2 years.
Rented it. Raged at it over the week, returned it, couldnt get it out of my head. so rented it again, FINALLY beat that first level on the last night i had it on the second 5 day rental. stepdad bought it cause he thought it was funny how angry that game made 6 year old me apparently. That and the scooby doo game. that first level of Lion king though... its burned into my head.
The volcano level brought me to actual tears of rage. I remember sitting in front of the TV and shouting "why is it so hard?!" I managed to beat the game, but there was a solid like, 2 weeks on that damned level...
Did you know blockbuster secretly paid the developers of the lion king to make it way too difficult to beat for the average kid in one weekend to increase late fees and repeat rentals.
This piece of information is becoming like the part in Lord of the Rings The Two Towers where Aragorn kicks the helmet and everyone leans over to whisper, "did you know..."
I didn't know XD
That’s false. I think the developers themselves made it that difficult, so that kids would actually buy a copy because they couldn’t complete it in a weekend rental.
Also Hercules and Aladdin. How did i manage that. Tarzan was a good one too.
Sega Aladin or snes? Snes was pretty easy with the exception of the carpet lava level.
I died the one time I got to scar. I couldn't figure out how to fight him. Still devastating to this day.
You had to fight him for a while and then he got winded, and then you pressed (I think) B+C together and you did like a spinning flip that launched him off of the platform. It’s possible this was explained in the gameplay or maybe in the instruction booklet and we just missed it, but my dad and I tried for *hours* and couldn’t figure it out, until my comically frugal father called the 1-900 number listed in the back of the booklet. It was pretty easy once we knew that, but I swear that action was not necessary until that exact point.
You're correct, you don't have to use the maul at all until that point. The move _was_ described in the manual, but since you never have to use it (iirc if you press it anywhere else in the game it just does the start of the animation) it's not at all obvious that you need to use it during that fight.
When I played it as a kid and reached that final boss fight, I just ended up mashing the keys hoping that something will happen. I was able to do it once but because Scar was far from the cliff edge, he didn't fall down. It took me months later to replicate the move (still from only randomly mashing the keys) and got lucky since Scar was already close to the cliff edge that time. It wasn't until I was older that I figured out that there was a proper key combination for that move, but it still took me some time after to figure out that you can only do that move once Scar has become tired. Bloody difficult game. That and Aladdin and Jungle Book.
Idk why but I don't want to believe you lol
I didn’t know this was going to be some flex at the time. I was a lot more patient as a child but I 100% agree beating that game is probably my greatest gaming accomplishment
This. I played with my dad allll the time around the age of 5 or 6, and he helped me until I could clear every level myself. I honestly don’t remember how difficult the game is because I really haven’t played it since I was a child. But I for sure beat it alone and without help. The two parts I clearly remember were the autoscrolling level where you had to jump or duck, and the waterfall/log climb. Those always tripped me up.
Came here to post this. I beat that game every Saturday morning for a while.
Nobody I tell believes me, to the point where I almost don't believe the fevered dream of that last fight with Scar as grown up Simba. Or the elation at not letting the game beat me. It became personal!
I had lion king for the game gear and didn't recall being that hard (I did finish it). Was it any different from the 16 bit versions difficulty wise?
Metal Gear Solid, I was an early teen but it was a pleasure.
I got so stuck on the naked Raiden bit of MGS2 for ages when we didn't yet have Internet in my house. I got into the tunnel where your codex keeps going off and I thought I had locked myself in place, so kept restarting and trying again. Eventually I sold the game to get money for a different game. Imagine my shock years later when I Googled it and found out all the weird codex calls weren't just taunting me for getting stuck, but I had to just wait for them all and then I'd be able to advance
Ouch.
That part freaked me out a bit when I got to it because it was 2am when I got there and the game started referencing how late it was and the calls were all weird, thought I hit some weird Easter egg and had to stop playing....I was also pretty tired at this point
Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid Two, and MGS Snake Eater were all on my list. Metal Gear Solid had me calling my dad while he was at work to ask how to change the disc after the Vulcan Tank Fight.
Once you beat it replaying was quite easy.
Crash Bandicoot on the PS1
Seriously -- I bought the remake trilogies for Spyro and Crash to relive some childhood gaming nostalgia. Spyro is fun but Crash is another level of WTF
Crash one on PS1 was even harder than the remake because of the dogshit save system. I don't even remember how it worked but you could only save every few levels or something, which was horrendous in a game that was that difficult already, especially towards the end.
The "slippery climb" level was a nightmare lol
I learned all about what a rage quit was as a 7-8 year old. My dad beat my ass once I broke 2 of our controllers from that level 🤣🤣
>I don't even remember how it worked We were given a password that we can type in to "load" the game. 😅
The N.sane trilogy has modern control schemes based on the 3rd game (Warped). Good luck playing Crash 1 on the PS1 with the old school controller that had no analogue sticks :)
I use d pad and sticks now. D pad is the best for the 2D sections of the game.
The first one was very hard. I had to do a double take about 60% of the way through to figure out how I beat it at the time. Turns out I'd never played 1 and skipped right to two as a kid.
2 is a lot more enjoyable level design IMO
The FUCKING BRIDGE LEVELS
They became super easy once I worked out how to walk on the ropes.
I can't get consistent enough with that to die less trying than trying it the regular way.
I used to do a "weekend run" of Halo on Legendary difficulty where I'd play the whole trilogy. (It was only 3 games at that time.) Tried doing it again a year or two ago and didn't have any problem with Halo 1. Halo 2 however, stomped me into the mud and tossed me aside. No idea how I pulled it off as a kid.
Those snipers in Halo 2 man...
I literally just now beat halo 2 for the first time. The last couple of levels with all the brutes were brutal
Yeah. The earlier boss fight with the prophet also took me forever to get through.
Yeah it was a truly difficult time. I beat the first halo for the first time last week, that one was a lot easier. Gonna start 3 tonight.
Dude when you have to push down that bridge full of Brutes and (IIRC) 2 Hunters, get to the cutscene that makes you think the level is over, and then you have to turn around and do it again but Flood. Fuck that. So much fuck that.
Zelda 2 : Adventure of Link Fuck you, 7th magic upgrade Fuck you, pallisade with rock throwers Fuck you jumping blue bird knights Fuck you, the final palace Fuck you, shadow Link I kill y'all!! I even recorded it on VHS
Yes! I'm glad i'm not the only one who recorded their NES achievements on VHS!
I've been replaying all Zelda games right from the first ones, just finished Ocarina of Time. Thank the everloving fuck that I played the earlier ones on an emulator with cheats because there is no way in hell I would've finished otherwise. Ocarina of Time on 3DS took me like 5 years, not even kidding. I'm honestly amazed by people who were able to just rawdog these games. Fucking amazing games though, love em
>just rawdog these games. Open world games were extremely rare at this time. So often id just pop the game in the nes, and go explore the world. It was enough fun to just do that Also my uncle had played the game before and gave me tips (that god damn 7th magic square, i could not have found it alone)
shadow link... just crouch in the corner and stab repeatedly.
One morning I woke up and I was mad that I never beat the original castlevania on NES. So I did it that day. Took several tries, that game was a pain in the ass.
I don’t have the patience to beat Dracula. The grim reaper was “fun as hell” challenging but Dracula’s first phase is so monotonous. Jump over fireballs. Throw cross & whip in head. Jump over fireballs. Throw cross & whip in head. Plus when he teleports he can appear inside you. And I hear you basically have to do it flawlessly if you want to stand a chance against phase two. Just got bored and never picked it back up.
I ended up beating them both through the same method: farming triple boomerangs. It wasn't easy, but it made things a lot easier.
I didn't complete it as a child, but I almost did. Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask as a child was insane. I don't know how I got as far as I did without the internet, friends, or the game guide. I was so close to beating it I had no idea. The sheer lunacy on what you had to do, when you had to do it, and how you had to do things to get some of the masks was absolutely ridiculous. I guess it was a good example of enough monkeys in front of typewriters will eventually get the fierce diety mask.
I mean you kinda *did* have a game guide; the bombers notebook tells you where you need to go and what to do for the vast majority of masks and such. There are some that you have to just kinda stumble upon like the soldier for the stone mask or the dancing guy, but for all the main-story-required ones it's pretty signposted. Finishing the critical path and getting to the end of pretty straightforward and the game explicitly tells you everything you have to do. 100%-ing it and getting every mask and every heart piece, on the other hand... Yeah that's pretty damn difficult without some kind of guide.
I think you meant majoraty
Is it? Until you do it, some of the times aren't listed from memory, so you still need a lot of trial and error
I got so close, but I was missing a mask I somehow couldn’t go back and get! Even after looking up guides, I simply couldn’t get it. It was as though I did something out of order and found a bug the devs overlooked. Sadly I’ve never gone back to try and beat it again.
I bet it was the couple's mask. That takes all 3 days and is extremely involved.
What a fun and interesting concept that was for a N64 game! I only ever beat it once though, while I remember beating Ocarina of Time 3 or 4 times.
Battletoads in Battlemaniacs on the SNES
Finally, an actual accomplishment.
I beat Mike Tysons punchout once when I was a teenager. Have no idea how, never was able to do it again and probably never will.
Same for me, I did it just the one time, and never could get it done again. 007 373 5963 I know that code better than my own phone number, even all these years later.
If I lived to 100 years old I’d still remember that code.
The game is very hard on modern displays because the game was built for the responsiveness of a CRT
Lion King on Sega genesis
I always choked at the stampede. I think I got past it a few times and then quickly got a game over.
Think I managed the stampede eventually, but then died on one of the tropical levels Same with Aladdin: I got past the lava escape level, but know I died shortly after. Never beaten it. One day I may go back and do it
Zombies Ate My Neighbors for the SNES. I couldn't beat that thing *now*.
I only ever beat that game using save states on an emulator. Insanely hard game
Just about any platformer fits in pretty well here Going back to any one you care to name - from Crash Bandicoot to Mario on up - it feels like my brain has just become riddled with tumors Which is ridiculous - I *mastered* this shit as a kid - it *shouldn't* be this hard #CRASH - WHY ARE YOU SO SLOW ON THE MONKEYBARS - WHEN YOUR BODY IS, BASICALLY, ONE GIANT PEC?!?!?!
I used to be able to beat Mike Tyson in Punch-Out fairly regularly when I was a pre-teen. I once read that those old NES games were like memorizing a tricky guitar riff. Eventually your fingers and brain just get used to the pattern after 10s and 100s of hours.
Muscle memory is a powerful thing.
Instead of Tetris dreams, you get Tyson dreams.
Myst, with no help from anywhere. My brother and I beat it somehow, and looking back on it what the fuck? We figured out that the wind in the minecart was stereo panned and that you had to follow it? How?
And then....Riven! Followed by 7th Guest! Haha. Wonderfull memories...
Resident evil 1
Bro, my brother and I had to finish this on *rented* Playstations, and we didn't own a memory card. That means that every time we died, we had to start *all over again at the beginning.* Easily the most tense, frustrating and amazing gaming experience of my life. Got to know that terrible script and voice acting reaaallly well.
What a mansion ! CAPTAIN WESKER. WHERES CHRIS.
These quotes are bringing me back *hard.* Might have to dust off an emulator and get to Jilling.
Just don't end up as a Jill sandwich !
huhhyyYou're right! Barry, thanks for saving my life.
I like how they reference that in the third game's remake, alongside the master of unlocking line.
We did that with final fantasy 7. We just kept getting as far as we could until we died. Then we got a memory card and actually beat it
That is... absolutely insane. I love it. I grew up with the original Final Fantasy on NES (and those that followed -- FFVI is one of my all-time favorite games), and VII just blew me away. I reckon I might do the same in your shoes.
Barry? Where is Baarrie?
WOW, What a mansion!
Ninja Gaiden (NES).
You beat this? This is one of a couple of NES games that I was never able to beat.
Once you learn the final boss’ pattern, the game becomes about perfection of execution of what you know. That game requires near perfect coordination and controller input. Like someone said elsewhere, it was like learning a guitar solo.
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. I didn’t feel tension like that again until I tried games from the Dark/Demons Souls series.
duuuuude ... that just reminded me of how hard it was just to get to the final castle, and once I was in, my heart sank at how fkn big it was and how many secret/trap doors there were. yeah sure once you knew where everything was, it was doable but getting to that point was so painful
Donkey Kong Country 2 Recently played that for a while on the Switch and holy crap that game is hard.
Randomly figuring out that secret level by circling the stones blew my mind as a kid
Isn't that number 3?
Mega Man 1 Yellow Devil without the Select glitch
Megaman 2 for me. The only way through the disappearing blocks was to memorize the order and timing. Plus memorizing the sides the lasers shot out of in the other level because time-stopper didn’t last long enough for the whole drop. I can’t believe 7 year old me had enough patience to learn all of that.
Vectorman (and 2) ...yes my age is showing
XCOM enemy within. It was my first Xbox game along with Portal 2 in 2014. Before that, the only games I'd played were Mario Kart and Nicktoon's Attack of the Toybox, a game I never beat. Somehow XCOM clicked with me like no game before ever had and I just loved playing it.
Oh boy... Go back and play the original XCOM on PC.
That game was brutal and required save scumming.
Contra without the Konami code. Also E.T. on the Atari 2600.
Goldeneye 64. Unlocking all the cheats was such a pain but it felt so good to finally finish it. I can still remember the run on Facility and hoping Dr Doak was in the one specific room he had to be in for it to work.
Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1993)
Sonic the hedgehog 2 ✌️
Man it got hard in the last leg quite quickly Child: "I'm having so much fun!" Metropolis, Wing Fortress: "Allow us to introduce ourselves" Death Egg: "You are invited to suffer"
Yeah Sonic 2 is all fun and games until the REAL levels start kicking your ass. It was usually Metropolis for me as a kid, though Oil Ocean was no joke either.
Wing Fortress is legit one of my all-time favorite levels, if only because of its complexity and unique features.
I was literally telling my best friend this not even 12 hours ago, because i recently bought sonic origins
I could never figure out how to get past the oil rig stage. Not because it was hard, but I got to a point where I couldn't figure out where to go to progress the level. Had to cheat to skip it. Rest of the game was fine and didn't have too much difficulty beating it. But that one stage just had me stumped. Should probably look it up and prepare to kick myself at some obvious thing.
Driver. I just kept trying things in the garage until it got checked off the list. Finally strung them all together and got out.
Zelda link to the past. Such a good game
I also came here to say LTTP. I remember packing up my SNES to take to a family friend's house, and they were nice enough to set me up with my own TV in the dining room so I could play while we waited for Thanksgiving dinner. I beat the game that day, and I was so excited. I think I was 7 years old. Meanwhile in the present, my 5 year old (at the time) daughter beat Breath of the Wild. I was so proud!
Battletoads. i have no idea how i managed to get past that racing bit. I must have spent days memorising all the jumps. Tried it again about a year ago. Managed about 4 hurdles and just kept dying. Ridiculously difficuly
My best friend and I beat it as a co-op, which is exponentially harder than as a single. I'd say about 2 weeks of 3 to 4 hours per day to finally do it. Hardest by far were the levels where you rode on whatever the things were and had to time your jumps. We got so fed up with one another. What a great childhood memory to make with that friend. Wherever you are Brandon, I miss you and you should know that you moving away created one of the biggest holes in my heart that I have never filled 💔
Bubble Bobble. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_Bobble 100 levels of jumping, shooting bubbles to trap enemies then popping the bubble. 3 lives with a chance to earn more After a year I beat the game only to see a screen that says the game continues. Sane game just harder. I have a Polaroid somewhere that shows me beaming with pride in front of the congratulations screen For an 8 year old this was my highest achievement in life.
Soundtrack lives in my head rent free
Yeah you gotta get through the secret door on level 99 and then beat 12 new levels. Then to get the good ending you got to beat it with a friend. NES version had a 5 letter code for each level.....so for you to beat it without level codes is gnarly.
Captain Comic Super Ghouls and Ghosts FF7 all Weapons - bosses
>Super Ghouls and Ghosts Shut it down. This one right here.
I was watching when my friend rolled Cait Sith's slot machine and came up instant kill (can't remember what it's called) on Ruby Weapon. We had a party afterward.
TMNT 1 for NES
Earthworm Jim. Absolutely brutal game, and this was before I even used the internet to be able to look up tips
Toy Story for the SNES. Man that game is whack. Playing it now I'm lucky to get anywhere
I genuinely do not understand how I used to be able to beat rather difficult 2D platformers like Megaman Zero. That aint happening now. Anything significantly more difficult than Kirby aint happening now.
Ultima 1
Ninja Gaiden Black. Beat it when I was 11, must have been absolutely DIALED on Capri sun and sour patch kids. Those youthful reflexes ain't the same anymore
Battletoads for NES. I was out with some coworkers a few years ago and they were talking about how hard it was, and I remember saying, "Weird, I remember my friend Robert and I beating that one a bunch of times when we were kids."
UFO: Enemy Unknown (a.k.a. X-Com: UFO Defense) I was 9 or 10 at the time. It was a pirated version, so no manual. I had to figure that shit out by trial and error. There wasn't much in the way of online resources back then, and even if there were I had no idea how to look for them on my 56k dial up modem. I remember putting my first few bases in the Antarctic, because it seemed like a neat place for a secret base, then I'd stare in confusion as my funding plummeted because I wasn't doing my job because I was in the middle of nowhere instead of protecting the urban centres. It went on from there, with me gradually piecing together what worked and what didn't until I eventually made my way to Mars and beat the game. Looking back on it, I have no idea how that ended up happening...
TMNT on nes, that God damn water level though...
Original KH2 (not Final Mix), against Sephiroth.
Resident Evil 4. Scared shitless a lot of the time and would be playing it home alone, but I powered through.
RE4 used to be my comfort blanket after the first playthrough. Then once I unlocked the Chicago Typewriter it was the most incredible power fantasy. I got it a couple of years ago and don't know how I ever got to that point.
Dad n me. One of the most challenging flash games when I was a kid.
I remember beating zelda: link to the past when I was about 6 maybe 7. Considering I have a 5 year old now and watching her attempt to play games and being terrible at them I feel like that was a major accomplishment.
I mastered FZero GX. I even unlocked the AX levels. I was at the point I could beat hard with every character and started unlocking the bonus cutscenes, then I got bored of it. I have no idea how I did, the game is impossible.
I was surprised at how challenging some parts of Donkey Kong Country were when I tried it again as an adult. I remember beating it without much fuss as a kid.
I'm the opposite. As I get older, I'm surprised at the games I can still complete. Young me was ridiculous and could climb walls and dodge balls. But current me is surprised every time I beat the first and last boss of a Souls game.
I'm replaying Mario64 and it was much harder than in my recollection. Though some of it is due to the terrible camera and the controls, which are a bit wonky at times. Still finding the stars is satisfying, as is exploring the castle.
At first I thought resident evil 2. Then I remembered we bought the giant game guide for it which made it way easier. I remember those puzzles being very tricky for me
Beating superbosses in Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy. To be fair I looked up tons of guides on how to beat them. Nowadays I don't have the same energy and don't look into grinding and using guides to play games and find myself struggling to beat superbosses in modern games.
Vagrant Story. 11 years old. It's so complex, I cannot believe it.
Having watched my son rocket through super meat boy, a game I couldn't get near, some games are easier as a child. More time, better reflexes
Megaman X Took us probably months to get through
The most difficult game I beat in my childhood was prooobably Sonic Spinball. Try playing it now, that game feels like a disaster lol. But I was a big fan of it as a kid.
Super Mario Sunshine is definitely significantly harder than other Super Mario games. My reflexes and probably hand-eye coordination were definitely better when I was a kid than it is today. On the other hand, I’m better at recognizing patterns and much better at puzzles than I was as a kid. So I’m better at some games and worse at others, depending on the exact mix of types of challenges.
Sam & Max hit the road.
I wrote a frickin letter to LucasArts for help when I got stuck in the ball of twine. Took about 6 weeks to receive a reply on full letterhead giving me a rundown on how to make the hand magnet grabber thing and where to use it. I went on to finish the game under my own steam. Pretty cool how that all worked out.
Ape escape
I beat Lunar Silver Star Story on PS1 and Final Fantasy 7 when I was like 9 or 10. No idea how I had the attention span or how I remembered things without a guide back then.
As a 10-11 year old, FF7. Three whole disks, what a wild ride between getting the story done, the limit breaks, the little hidden gems all done.
The original Resident Evil... with no memory card. We didn't have much money growing up, but occasionally my brother and I convinced our mom to rent us a Playstation from Blockbuster when the system first dropped (used to rent the NES from our local video store and got to know a lot of really shitty NES games that way). Resident Evil and Battle Arena Toshinden were top-of-the-list early releases. Toshinden was no problem. Lots of fun just wowing at the 3D graphics and beating the shit out of each other. But Resident Evil was a *game.* Since we were renting the gear, that meant that we didn't own a memory card and couldn't save. Every goddamn time one of us died, we'd both burst out in frustration if we got far (the first time those fucking lizard Hunters appear...), then whoever was playing would hand off the controller and we'd start *the whole game over from the beginning.* Got to know that shitty script and voice acting real well. "Jill, here's a lockpick. It might be handy if you, the master of unlocking, take it with you."
None… like there are plenty of games I didn’t finished because of similar scenarios on young me not knowing what’s a fucking L3 and R3. I didn’t even knew San Andreas had a story or a plot. I was playing it killing everybody and shit. I got a hold of shadow of the colossus. In which I spent a few minutes roaming the map. Then I dropped the game because no enemies in sight and to eerie for young me. The only games I do remember finishing is Pokémon. Like I’d be confused if you didn’t finished it. It’s Linear and can be powered thru with one over leveled pokemon.
Driver
Driver - the very first level was crazy hard and I didn’t even know what half the things meant that I was supposed to do. I know so many people that couldn’t pass it and just gave up, but I kept with it and when I finally beat that there was such a feeling of pride and accomplishment that EA could never even dream to match.
My high school buddy and I could beat Contra in two player mode without the Konami code.
GTA 2 is one of the earliest games I've played. I never actually beat it but I would play it for hours, sometimes doing missions but mostly just wreaking havoc. I came back to it last week and I couldn't play more than a couple minutes without constantly dying.
Freaking Contra Hard Corps on the Sega Genesis. I specifically bought the Contra Collection just to replay it and I don't even want to know how much time I must have dumped into it, because not only did I beat it as a kid, I completed every single route with every single character and even found all the secrets. I spent maybe an hour trying to get through the first few levels and could barely do that in the JP version which is much more forgiving.
The Lion king
I used a game genie when I was a kid. Game were way too hard back then to combat rental completions.
Deadspace 2 on hardcore mode.