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Everyone who grew up in the NES era can agree on one thing: Games were hard. Not hard as in, "Jeez, it took me five tries to beat that boss!" Hard as in, "This game is impossible to beat." If you have a collection of NES games, chances are you own a lot of titles that you never completed, unless you cheated your way through them, a la Konami code.

The NES wasn't the only system to feature a library of difficult games. Genesis, SNES, N64 and Playstation all had their fair share of enduring titles. Earthworm Jim wasn't exactly easy, and Mario Galaxy was a breeze compared to the likes of Super Mario World for the SNES. And let's face it, Goldeneye 64 makes Halo's campaign feel like you're out walking a puppy-dog.

Some of you may feel like interjecting at this point. "Mr. DirtySyko, this is why many games offer you the choice to raise difficulty. If it's too easy just change the difficulty settings in the options menu!" True, this is a good way to make a game more challenging, but it's not exactly the point I'm trying to get at. I won't deny that Call of Duty is a hard game when set on veteran, or that Halo still feels like you're walking a puppy-dog when you are on legendary mode, but the point I'm trying to make is that when compared with games today, overall older games were/are much more difficult to beat. Whether it's the default difficulty that is harder, or the lack of save/check points in the game, older games will show no mercy to anyone. Double Dragons is more brutal than Gears of War and MegaMan is tougher than Bioshock.

It's no secret why newer games are easier, though. Since gaming has become a much more widely accepted form of media, and more people are playing games than ever before, developers want to be able to cater to this vast audience. The problem is, some of us are being punished because of this. A lot of these games are built so even the newest and baddest of gamers can beat them. Almost anybody can chainsaw their way through Gears of War on the default difficulty settings. That leaves gamers who have been playing since the NES days with games that are relatively a cake walk in contrast to what we were raised on. I've never really struggled through beating any current generation game, unless the game offered difficulty settings and I cranked them up.

So, what should the solution be? I don't know if I can definitively give a reasonable solution to make both sides happy. How do you build a game that poses a challenge to a long time gamer, but is easy enough for a bad gamer to beat? The easiest method seems to be adding in a difficulty setting, but to be honest, I don't feel like that's the best answer. Even games played on the hardest difficulty can be easy, thanks to check points or the ability to save anywhere. How challenging is Bioshock on the hardest difficulty when you can save any time you want?

I don't believe there's a nice medium for what I believe is a problem with games today. Being an old school gamer, I want harder games. Call me selfish, but that's what I grew up on and that's what I like. I like to get pummeled, beat and abused, all in the name of a good challenge, because nothing feels better than investing time, practicing, and being able to overcome that challenge. I'd like to see the default setting for games become harder than what it's currently at. Games usually start on "normal" but today normal just feels like easy, and easy feels like it was made for the mentally handicapped. I'd also like to see better save/check point management in games. Being able to save anywhere, while nice for it's own reasons, can lead to a game being overly easy to complete, as do check points that you come across every 30 seconds. Remember when Resident Evil forced you to manage your game saves via ink ribbon? It's ideas like that that say to the gamer: If you're good enough to beat the game, then great. If not, tough shit, try again >:(

How do you guys feel about the state of game difficulty today?

Updated: 08/12/08 8:03 PM Log in to comment! | Share this!

The People Have Spoken

26 Comments

Aug. 12, 2008 | 7:58 PM darknessdweller says:

Z0MG we's gots teh same Rank! :D

Aug. 12, 2008 | 7:58 PM tacomaster95 says:

101010101010101010101010

Aug. 12, 2008 | 8:01 PM ShadowWest says:

Games back in the SNES era I grew up were hard at the time, as I was 4 years old, but they were fun as well. Today, they are sort of easy as I have a better memory, but hey, I can't remember everything about let's say, Super Metroid. But it's the exploration that I love and lovingly remember, and that no matter how hard a bit may seem, I will always love it as it is fun.

By today's standards, games are way easy. No thought or imagination needed (except maybe Portal), but they are also way short comapred to let's say, Resident Evil 1. No matter how many people you KO in Brawl, or how many tangos you kill in Call Of Duty 4, nothing will beat the satisfaction nailing a difficult jump in Super Mario Bros, or making a mockery of the AI in Street Fighter 2.

Basically, older games are better in every respect in terms of difficulty, playing time and whatnot.

This comment may be a confusing mess, but hey, you get my point.

Aug. 14, 2008 | 8:37 PM Rabid-Turtle says:

I've been blasted on various forums throughout the years for saying this same exact thing, but I agree completely.

A link to the past is still vastly superior to the latest installment, twilight princess, simply because it was much fucking harder and required some level of thinking.
Double Dragon, even. I couldn't beat the damn game without cheating, and even then, I made it half the time.

I've also played the new super mario 64 ds, and the time I had with it was nothing compared to the old super mario 64. The jump distance was greatly increased and I found myself almost never using a triple jump, lives are thrown at you left and right, and there's always an easy way out.

I mean, I could go on and on forever, but I mainly came here to say kudos, and I feel your pain.

Aug. 15, 2008 | 1:45 AM DragonWraithRage says:

I'd Have to agree with you, they aren't as fun as they used to be. The Diffuculty is half the fun.

Aug. 15, 2008 | 7:42 PM puddinN64 says:

I think you're absolutely right for the most part but what about games like Alien Hominid and Megaman 9?

Aug. 16, 2008 | 4:05 AM Kevin says:

I agree so much with that.

Has anyone here ever played Contra all the way through with out the konami code?

i think not.

Aug. 16, 2008 | 10:20 PM Purpin says:

I like your favorite flash. :D

Aug. 25, 2008 | 12:48 AM CuteAndFuzzy says:

Yeah totally. My brother still has an NES and sometimes we play river city ransom now that its on the wii. its one of my favorite games ever.

Aug. 27, 2008 | 9:48 PM Maverick-Alex says:

Try some Capcom games like Viewtiful Joe or DMC3.

Maybe even some R-Type action :3 Ikagura.

Aug. 28, 2008 | 4:22 PM Goonie says:

depends who creates the game

Aug. 29, 2008 | 1:40 PM DrugMan3 says:

I left you a comment.

NOW LEAVE ME ONE!

Aug. 31, 2008 | 6:56 PM kiljoy96 says:

its cause they spend to much freakin time doing the 3-d graphics and adding in dodge systems and all that crap
at least some newer games are hard
like alien hominid
that games a bitch to beat

Sep. 1, 2008 | 11:24 PM Superperpel says:

FUCK NO I GET OWNED IN COMMAND AND CONQUER 3 ON LEIK EESY LOL

Sep. 11, 2008 | 1:25 AM AniMetal says:

I believe all games should have a choice in difficulty;

Easy as FUCK.
Easy
Normal
Hard
Hard as FUCK.
Insanity
Impossible

^Problem solved.^

Sep. 11, 2008 | 10:34 PM seahawk95 says:

i believe that choosing the game dificulty ruins the overall fun and strategy it takes to beat a game. and to answer your question yes games are to easy

Sep. 12, 2008 | 10:57 PM kirbykiller4 says:

Well besides the obvious ninja gaiden 2, there are other more recent games that can be pretty damn brutal,i could never get through trauma center: second opinion,and Advanced wars days of ruin was unforgivingly difficult to the point that it wasn't even fun to play.

But simply stating that games are easier nowadays isn't the right way to go,games of the past were hard because they were all about having fast reflexes and that was it,if you took someone out of the early 90's and let them play gears of war,they probably would think that it was too hard and complicated.

Sep. 15, 2008 | 12:53 AM MissingNYC says:

agreed.... any game i start to play, i always set it at hard or w/e

Sep. 19, 2008 | 4:35 AM Jamoke says:

There just aren't enough words readily available to express how much I concur.

Sep. 21, 2008 | 1:12 AM Metal-Therapy says:

It is true. I remember playing A Link To The Past (Zelda) for the SNES when I was a kid, and the last two dungeons were the hardest fucking things ever. As I got older and OoT, MM, etc came out beating the games just seemed to get easier. I attributed it to the fact that I was older and figuring out puzzles wasn't as hard as it was when I was a kid. But it really wasn't that as much as it is the games getting easier. Games these days seem to be more about having fun watching the dazzling graphics and such, and less about the feeling of finally beating that tough-ass level you've been stuck on for the last week. :P

Sep. 24, 2008 | 6:31 AM LordZeebmork says:

Get I Wanna Be The Guy. It's one of the hardest PC games I have ever seen, and, of course, it doesn't cost anything, otherwise I wouldn't have it.

http://kayin.pyoko.org/iwbtg/

And, for some reason, Alien Hominid wasn't that hard for me, but that could just be because I got bored and stopped after the Russia levels or whatever they were.

Sep. 29, 2008 | 10:39 PM ps3isdabomb says:

ps3 is da bi=om my n***a luv dat nion bisd revew sun da motin sensing son nintndo steels dat from sony.

Oct. 12, 2008 | 6:41 PM Hybrid-Of-Souls says:

I was thinking a bit of the same.
Sure, they're longer, but not as hard.

Back in the days of the NES, games like Battletoads and Megaman were where it was at.

As for how I feel, a sense of accomplishment feels nice, but the hardest you can get in terms of difficulty these days is with legendary difficulty in the Halo series or Expert mode on songs like Raining Blood in GH3.

Oct. 14, 2008 | 10:05 AM DankSkunk25 says:

George Carlins dead...? I liked that old fucker...He was funny!

Oct. 26, 2008 | 3:58 AM RedStripedd says:

Old games are definitely harder. Mega Man 9 is a breath of fresh air.

Oct. 29, 2008 | 10:32 AM solardave says:

Games are way too easy. I don't consider BioShock a challenge when I am 2/3 through the game on normal mode and haven't even died once. Same with pretty much any game today, the only way to get a challenge is on the highest difficulty.