Whenever modern console "Gamers" balk at my "In my day" talks about the difficulty of old school games, I refer them to Battletoads. None have been able to beat it.
Nintendo CEO: 90% of New Gamers Unable to Finish Level 1-1 in Original Super Mario Bros - HotHardware
......
“It may come as a shock to some of you that most gamers today cannot finish the original Super Mario Brothers game on the Famicom,” he said. “We have conducted this test over the past few years to see how difficult we should make our games and have found that the number of people unable to finish the first level is steadily increasing.”
At this point, a whopping 90% of participants couldn’t finish the level.
They couldn't beat the first world of SMB? Crazy. That's easymode.
Wanna know a true gamer from my day? Metroid with the best ending (Samus Aran bikini-chick ending), Contra without the up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A-start cheat for 30 lives, and the granddaddy - beating Ninja Gaiden 1.
Nintendo CEO: 90% of New Gamers Unable to Finish Level 1-1 in Original Super Mario Bros - HotHardware
......
“It may come as a shock to some of you that most gamers today cannot finish the original Super Mario Brothers game on the Famicom,” he said. “We have conducted this test over the past few years to see how difficult we should make our games and have found that the number of people unable to finish the first level is steadily increasing.”
At this point, a whopping 90% of participants couldn’t finish the level.
There's already another thread about this. Apparently the initial source is probably an Onion-style (i.e. fake) article.
There's already another thread about this. Apparently the initial source is probably an Onion-style (i.e. fake) article.
Duplicate:
http://www.debatepolitics.com/apps-...-level-1-super-mario-bros.html#post1062010458
Here was my comment:
Frankly, even if it were a legitimate study, it wouldn't prove much of anything. Side scrolling platform games require a very particular skillset, which is applicable to basically nothing else in a person's day-to-day life, let alone the products turned out by the contemporary gaming industry.
Why would anyone expect unpracticed modern gamers be to be any good at them?
I think the issue the article is getting at is that modern gamers have gotten used to having their gaming experience spoon fed to them (i.e. not bothering to read the manual, no need to save the game frequently or really be cautious at all, etc). Sure, sidescrollers require a fairly specific skill set; but c'mon, that first level of Mario was easy as hell. The whole thing kinda reminds me of this article:
5 Crucial Lessons Learned by Watching Kids Play Video Games | Cracked.com
No argument there. I still can't fathom how the modern industry has managed to brainwash people into buying titles that contain all of about 2 hours of gameplay, no challenge, and no replay value for $60 or more. :doh
I simply think that old school RPGs and "point and click" adventure titles like Myst would probably make the "dumbing down of the gaming industry" point better than comparatively brainless twitchfests like Supermario Brothers. Some of those games went all out, and actually require a significant amount of critical thinking to beat.
They don't take the "well'p... here's the answer" approach taken by more modern games like Skyrim, or Dragon Age 2.
Agreed. Although I think there's probably a balance to be found somewhere in the middle. A good rpg (pretty much all I play aside from strategy games like Civ or the Total War series) should be challenging, but it shouldn't be challenging for bull**** reasons. For example, I remember in the old school Ultima games, it wasn't uncommon to be completely screwed now and again because you've just discovered that you absolutely positively need such and such key in order to get to such and such treasure/boss/waypoint, but as it turns out, you got the key 15 hours ago (in a totally unrelated location), and dropped it somewhere because you thought it was useless at the time, or because it looked just like the key you just used to unlock something else entirely. That kind of thing is far more "pointlessly, aribitrarily frustrating" than it is "challenging."
So I'm glad that modern RPG's do a better job of identifying quest items and generally making it clearer what's important and what's not. However, it does take some of the fun out of a game when you can literally ignore all of the backstory and just follow the white arrow to the objective you're supposed to get. I though Mass Effect 3 struck a pretty good balance with such things by generally having a pretty easy to follow map, but occasionally shutting it off and forcing you to hunt around for your objectives and engage in some problem solving (e.g. how do I get up to that next level with the elevator out of operation? Which combination of items in this room will provide the clues I need to find X?).
This was my post from the other thread:
I think one of the problems with Super Mario Brothers is because, if I remember correctly, there's no way to save the game. Games now have save points all over the place. That makes it hard to beat a game if you have to sit there for hours until you finish it. Don't think I'm lame, but the hardest game I ever played was "Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland." Now laugh all you want, because it sounds like a kid's game, but that game was freaking impossible to beat. Hell, I never once got past level 3 without using a Game Genie. Once I used the Game Genie and finished level 3, I went through all 7 levels. Before the Game Genie, I thought that, because level 3 was so hard, it was the final level. *buzzer* Nope. Not even close.
Other than Nemo, every single game I've ever played, I've beaten. I won't give up on a game until I finish it. I even beat Doctor Mario (remember that game with the pills? Kind of like Tetris?) I beat Dr. Mario on level 3, speed high. My friend called bull**** until I showed him. He'd never seen anybody beat it in high speed. Back then, I had pretty good hand/eye coordination.
Adding to this thread: I can't play a lot of current games, especially anything first person. I get motion-sickness really bad, and I can't even really walk by somebody playing it, because it'll make me all swimmy-headed and I'll get sick.I would be so into some of these newer games if I could.
Some of those games went all out, and actually require a significant amount of critical thinking to beat.
They didn't take the "well'p... here's the answer" approach taken by more modern games like Skyrim, or Dragon Age 2.
Except not every person who plays a game wants to be challenged mentally. Many of us turn a game on to turn off our brain, to get away from life and using our brain all the time. When I play a game, I want to play, I don't want to work. Playing a game for me is when I turn my brain off.Totally. I'm not asking that all games turn into Dark Souls all of the sudden, but not being treated like a total mental invalid at every turn would be nice. :lol:
it gives me a chance to keep connected with daddy's baby girl.
I wonder how many of them could figure out when to jump on the turtle at the end of 3-1. Infinite lives, mother****ers.
Even if you missed it the first time, there were 3 turtles at the end. Just make sure you get the last turtle right and skip the first two if you're good on timing. Don't let the first turtle get into it and let the 2nd come down to interfere. When that happens, they'll cancel each other out...and you'll either die or lose your shroom/fireflower power-up in the process.
it felt so good to get that trick right for the first time. there was no internet then, so i think i either heard about the trick from a friend or from Nintendo Power. i remember that as you approached infinite lives, the icon for lives left turned into odd symbols like playing cards or something.
I still play my NES/SNES emulators from time to time, mostly for the Dragon Warrior series (1-4), the Final Fantasy series (1-5), and Romance of the Three Kingdoms (1-4).
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