A games easier than they used to be?

nikebee

nikebee

nikebee

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Are games easier than they used to be?

Was playing a couple of Megadrive games the other day, some old SNES/NES games, and even some old arcade games through emulation and by-jeebs I don't remember these games being this tough.

Games I used to be brilliant at as a kid, games I could do with one hand behind my back... I struggle at now.

Is it because games have been dumbed down somewhat, or is it lack of playing these classic games?

Certain old wrestling games and old sports games seem very tough now even though I found them pretty darn easy as a kid.

Are we given so many options on a controller these day that there isn't as much skill as there used to be?

Wrestling games on the Megadrive for example, different combinations of A,B and C do your moves - compare that to SvR where you've got analogue control, triggers, bumpers, four buttons etc...etc...

I often play my old games and old consoles, I guess this is the first time I've ever wondered if anyone else has experienced this?

On the flip side, there are games I used to be awful at as a kid (Double Dragon) which I can play really well these days :o
 
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Yeah sure there are a few exceptions to the rule, but generally speaking are we playing easier games than we used to?
 
nikebee said:
Yeah sure there are a few exceptions to the rule, but generally speaking are we playing easier games than we used to?
Click to expand...

Yes. There are more and more movie type games where they have to make it easier for you to be able to finish it and love the story.

The hardest game i've played this gen tho is Spiderman 3.

Got to some mission in the museum and just gave up it was so hard.
 
Yes defiantly easier, now we are led by the hand through most games even the "hardcore" ones. You get told at every point in most games that youve done well or need to put this there type thing.
 
Games are easier now, yes. There are exceptions, though they are few and far between.

The reason for this is that games have to be much more accessible to a much wider market. It's all about the money.
 
Yeah games are easier now. Plus all the save systems and things like that make it a hell of a lot easier too.
 
Yeah, saves didn't exist on the megadrive for the most part. I still prefer Super Hang-On's career type mode to modern bike sims :)
 
I will bow to anyone that actually completed Dynamite Headdy... that was just painful hard.

Oh and hard doesn't mean good either, especially when its as hard as DH.
 
I wouldn't say so really, I've played a lot of old games recently and none of them are particularly difficult except the arcade versions of Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat...etc which were purposefully designed to be overly difficult so you'd waste lots of money.

Also a lot of games these days have difficulty settings, and I can't remember any that are actually easy on the hardest setting.
 
Try completing Jet Set Willy without cheat codes :D (edit- there is always someone that claims they did, for the record, I don't believe you before you even say it)

A lot has to be down to the style of modern games and the need for save points, Imagine starting a game from the beginning everytime, you'd get sick of it and give up as was often the case in the past, now we die, go back to the point we were at 5 mins ago and retry it . Obviously there are exceptions, Ikaruga for one (if you still count that as modern).
 
Yes, games in general are definitely easier than the early days.

Things started to get easier around the 16bit MD/SNES era, and since then even more so IMO.
 
I think it had something to do with giving the player hours of gameplay in a cost-effective fashion - hours of twitch-based puzzles and button bashing.

Nowadays, we are given hours of gameplay with 'real' content
 
Generally speaking, I find games are now more about telling a story, So the person creating the game, Is aiming to get you from A to B to C, making it fantastic, but not overly difficult. As they want to get a complete picture across to you without making it frustrating.

Although the higher difficulties in games are there for a reason. And that's when games become less about the story and more about the challenge. I never play games on easy, And sometimes when its a game i know I love, I don't even play them on normal/Medium. I like to bump up the difficulty right away
 
i was playing battletoads on the snes last christmas (multiplayer with my brother-in-law) to re-live old times...

we completed it but good GOD i realise why i could never complete it when i was a kid that game is SOLID :D
 
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