Retro ain't all it's cracked up to be.

[One Classy Bloke]

So recently i went onto a new project at work. It's another collection of old games, only it actually looked good. Lots of games which i've heard loads about. I was looking forward to playing them. First day was pretty cool. Basicly spent the day browsing the games, checking them out and all that. Next day, i tried to complete one of them.

Never have i had such an incredible desire to quit. At the end of each game, the focus is to make sure the player doesn't stand a chance. Enemy hit boxes are tiny, they make sure there's no extra lives or health packs, there are endless pits everywhere, normal enemies can attack you 10 times in the time it takes for you to hit it once.

Sure, maybe i'm not good enough at the games. But i kinda expect to kill or damage an enemy when i've clearly hit it.

Even the sonic games i don't really enjoy. Granted, they are some of the best games on the collection and of the time, but they still suffer from that same tedium towards the end.

It doesn't help matters that over half these games have already been release on other collections as well.

[Rlan]

Sounds like that PSP Megadrive Retro Collection :P

I recenly went back to try some of the Alex Kidd games, currently only Enchanted Castle on the Megadrive. I had fond memories of this game and Miracle World.

I went back because some of his game mechanics [Going to stores & trying to get weapons], made me think that a new Alex Kidd game in the style of New Super Mario Bros could work.

Unfortunately, AKIEC is shit. Slow as buggery, glitchy, ugly, and just lame all around. The one-hit-kill mechanic is terrible and should be abolished, I've only had one boss fight and it was a simple Janken Match - That needs to go. The design of the levels is uninspired [Mostly made up of floating blocks which don't look nearly as 'cool' as Mario-based platform blocks]. It's just bad.

I'll get to Miracle World soonish. Though Sega pretty much sealed his fate back in Segagaga:



:P

[(...)]

Never have i had such an incredible desire to quit. At the end of each game, the focus is to make sure the player doesn't stand a chance. Enemy hit boxes are tiny, they make sure there's no extra lives or health packs, there are endless pits everywhere, normal enemies can attack you 10 times in the time it takes for you to hit it once.

No offense, but that's how REAL games are. None of this pussy "save point" nonsense or non-linear gameplay stuff. Just bastard-hard final levels where you have to fight all the end bosses all at once and WORK for that end sequence.

God I miss retro games. :)

[Light Speed]

Yeah, but there is a distinct difference between hard and cheap. Some of the old games were just lame. A guy could knock you down, then hit you as you are getting up over and over.

[BlazeHedgehog]

It's the arcade game mentality. Especially if this was a port of an arcade game. They are designed to suck quarters. The only way you'll see the ending to a Metal Slug game, for example, is if:

A) You have the hand-eye coordination of a Ninja.

B) You're willing to plunk $80 worth of quarters in the machine to buy enough credits to stick it out through the carnage.

It's also a testament that, back then, we didn't play games for the plot. Now almost every game you play nowadays has a story mode - even games that don't actually need one. Sports games, racing games, all of them have "story modes" as a standard feature.

Back then, you played a game because it challenged you. Now, you play the game because you want to see the hero save the world. You gotta know how the story ends. And because you gotta know how the story ends, and there was a designer who wrote a story, the game is easy enough to let you do that. Because, shit, what's the point of giving a game a storyline if nobody can see how it ends because it's too hard?

Hell, lots of games nowadays don't even give you lives anymore. You just keep trying again until you get too bored to continue or you've beaten the game.

[gr4yJ4Y]

A part of me misses the days when you had to beat a game in one sitting and it was tough to fight bosses over and over. It was truely painful to lose that last life when you were far into the game. It ment the next day when you would try again, you had to start over from the begining of the game to give it a try.

It couldn't really work like that nowadays, with how lengthy games tend to be. But back then the harder levels and bosses would add length to the game by being so difficult that it took you more tries.

The other part of me is thankful for save files.

[Tsuyoshi-kun]

I don't miss the days of cheap, difficult games with no save features or passwords (*coughcoughMEGAMAN1cough*). I didn't beat High Seas Havoc, for example, until I freeze saved the final levels over and over again on a Genesis emulator. How I ever passed the Genesis version of Sparker on its hardest difficulty is still a mystery to me (yeah, it had passwords, but it didn't help gameplay wise).

[Suit_Girl]

Oh geez. I have a name for this. Revenge of Shinobi, the 6-Pac edition.
I've had that thing for YEARS and still haven't reached the end. I could beat Golden Axe, I could get through most of Streets of Rage, I could get through Columns, I could get through the original Sonic (of course), but I'll be damned if I can ever get through Revenge of Shinobi without dying ten-thousand times. If I ever find a replacement R/F connector for my Genesis, I'll try to complete that game.

[One Classy Bloke]

No offense, but that's how REAL games are. None of this pussy "save point" nonsense or non-linear gameplay stuff. Just bastard-hard final levels where you have to fight all the end bosses all at once and WORK for that end sequence.

God I miss retro games. :)

I don't give a shit. I recognise them as good games (sans Altered Beast), but they simply mind burningly annoying. Besides, i've always had the mindset of just completing games.

[gr4yJ4Y]

Revenge of Shinobi was greatness back in the day. I beat it once somewhere around 1998, I think. The only time too.

[G.Silver]

What part of Revenge are you stuck on? The levels on the docks above the water were the parts I remember gaving me trouble, though I am pretty sure I still know my way through well enough..

[Ritz]

I never managed to beat Revenge myself back in the day, though I did make it to the final boss twice. Nowadays, I'm more than capable of finishing the game (I've made several attempts, both consuming less than 2 continues), but each and every time I get up to the labyrinth stage just before Zeed, I wind up running around for about 2 minutes before completely losing interest, at which point, I would run through Alien Soldier for the nth time.

It's quite a sexually appealing game, though.

[smiths32]

I've had that thing for YEARS and still haven't reached the end. I could beat Golden Axe, I could get through most of Streets of Rage, I could get through Columns, I could get through the original Sonic (of course), but I'll be damned if I can ever get through Revenge of Shinobi without dying ten-thousand times. If I ever find a replacement R/F connector for my Genesis, I'll try to complete that game.

Does Columns have an ending of some sort? I always just assumed it kept on going till you lost.

[Arcade]

So recently i went onto a new project at work. It's another collection of old games, only it actually looked good. Lots of games which i've heard loads about. I was looking forward to playing them. First day was pretty cool. Basicly spent the day browsing the games, checking them out and all that. Next day, i tried to complete one of them.

Never have i had such an incredible desire to quit. At the end of each game, the focus is to make sure the player doesn't stand a chance. Enemy hit boxes are tiny, they make sure there's no extra lives or health packs, there are endless pits everywhere, normal enemies can attack you 10 times in the time it takes for you to hit it once.

Sure, maybe i'm not good enough at the games. But i kinda expect to kill or damage an enemy when i've clearly hit it.

Even the sonic games i don't really enjoy. Granted, they are some of the best games on the collection and of the time, but they still suffer from that same tedium towards the end.

It doesn't help matters that over half these games have already been release on other collections as well.

Old games where hard because they didn’t last long, some only had like 10 levels (like Aztec Adventure, hardest game I still cant beat without cheating) other just keep going and going, you got bored after resetting the score 3 times and playing the same levels over and over again. Twin Bee was a especial case, not only it didn’t have a ending but it keep and keep getting harder until it was unplayable. Besides cool but easy games get you bored after a few months, like with that Dog emulation game, “P.A.W.Sâ€￾ or the Felix the cat game for the Nes.

IF you play a old game in a emulator dont use "Save state" it makes the games too easy.

[Keith Stack]

I miss the days of no save states. It gave you a sense of accomplishment whenever you beat something, and forced you to play the game over and over until you were a real pro at it.

In my honest opinion, the save state feature in Sonic 3 & Knuckles is the only thing preventing it from being the greatest videogame of all time.

[Locit]

You could play a "no save" game, you know.

[Keith Stack]

Yeah, but temptation always got the best of me, and I'd decide to use one of the save states. :[

[FlashTHD]

When it gets to the point where you can beat S3&K in one sitting no matter what, you won't mind the save feature anymore. I mean, your save slot turns into a level select when the game is cleared, what's wrong with that?

Hey OCB, is Ecco the Dolphin on this collection? Don't touch that mean bastard, it's brutal beyond words.

[Segaholic2]

Yeah, but temptation always got the best of me, and I'd decide to use one of the save states. :[

There's a difference between "saves" and "save states".

[Light Speed]

Who gives a shit.

[One Classy Bloke]

Hey OCB, is Ecco the Dolphin on this collection? Don't touch that mean bastard, it's brutal beyond words.

Very much so, all three of them.

[Segaholic2]

Very much so, all three of them.

What's the third? Ecco Jr.?