From almost my first days on the Internet, I’ve heard a lot about how incredibly difficult NES games were, how the bar was set incredibly high, and (of course) how easy today’s gamers have it.
How many of you actually believe this? I owned an NES for many years, and in my experience, there was a huge gamut from super-easy to nearly impossible. I was a gawky, moody, picky high school kid when I first got my system. Believe me, if the games were nothing but monsters, I would’ve noticed. And remember, video games were still largely considered kids’ stuff at the time.
Because the NES was such a huge technological leap from anything that came before, a lot of companies were in unfamiliar territory, and many simply could not find the middle ground. Sometimes a game intented to be a decent challenge would have one or two unfortunate oversight that made it torturously difficult (checkpoints were one of the huge ones). Sometimes a game intended to be difficult just didn’t punish mistakes enough, or just didn’t have enough foes, or just gave the player too much power, etc., and it became ridiculously easy. And then you have numerous either-you-got-it-or-you-don’t titles like Contra.
Anyway, let’s discuss. I’ll start with some well-known titles.
Super Mario Bros. was the one that started it all, and fittingly, it’s pretty easy. What’s great about it is that there’s no such thing as a hopeless situation. You can be the small, weak, unpowered Mario at the the start of the final, massive castle, which has no powerups, and prevail (I’ve done this numerous times). Even the “new quest” (enemies sped up and Goombas turned into Buzzy Beetles) is only a little tougher.
Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out (gratuitous exclamation points) is all about patterns, reflexes, and knowing what works. You got that, you got the game. The easier enemies are a romp, but it ramps up quite a bit on the World Circuit, and Mr. Sandman is a complete pain (harder than Super Macho Man, in fact). This is one of the games where you won’t win every contest, but if you’re persistent and do just enough right one time, you’ll eventually prevail. In fact, this is the perfect game for someone who just got an NES. Have fun and cut your teeth wiping out the easy early opponents, gradually improve your skills, and work your way toward Tyson when you’re ready.
The Legend of Zelda is a sprawling adventure with tons of secrets; probably the hardest thing about it is finding out where everything is. Other than that, the keys to success are persistence, remembering where things are, finding out what works against whom, and plain ‘ol good luck. Most players won’t have a problem finishing eventually (like most action RPGs of this ilk, there’s no way to “lose” other than giving up), but finishing without continuing is a lofty goal. Then there’s the little issue of the second quest, and I leave it to you whether to include it in the difficulty equation.
I played Contra and Super Contra as a kid and had a lot of fun seeing how far I could go with the lives codes. The thing is that while there are very few “safe” parts of the game, neither are there any life-burning monstrosities. One death in the corridors, one death to a sniper, one death to the flamethrowers. Going the distance with 3 lives is a serious challenge (as it was in the arcade), but even a novice should be able to get to the third level without much trouble. This is one of those games where you can always go further as long as you have the lives (hence the codes!). I guess difficulty is a matter of perspective in this case. I will say that these are absolute milk runs compared to the PS2 offerings.
Battletoads is the one game that comes up all the time in these discussions. The truly amazing thing about this game is that not only is it ridiculously, crazily, stupidly hard, it’s like this for most of the game. The levels have…brr…checkpoints as well, and even the places that don’t have insanely tough enemies that can run down your lives like nothing. It says something that the MAJORITY of enemies can take you out with one attack.
Double Dragon isn’t difficult so much as sneaky and dirty. The vast majority of the enemies are no trouble, and even the final bosses are managable with the right strategy. What’ll really throw you for a loop are the hazards…water, spikes, inconvenient gaps. And of course the sliding blocks, which have killed more of my games than everything else put together. Also, unlike the arcade version, you can waste a lot of time on the third mission if you don’t go where you should. As long as you pick your shots wisely (hint: kicks are easy, punches are what get you experience points) and have a little luck with the sliding blocks, you can finish this without any tricks or glitches. The fact that you only get 3 lives (and can’t earn any more) contribute to the difficulty in finishing it more than anything else.
The Adventures of Bayou Billy can get really frustrating, mainly because the vast majority of the time, you cannot get aggressive. In the fighting stages, since you can only hit one enemy at a time, you’ll be spending at least as much time maneuvering, dodging, positioning, and just plain running like hell as you do breaking jaws, and survival often hinges on obtaining a healing item before you get beaten to a pulp. The two driving stages are just plain brutal, and you pretty much have no choice but to take it slow and be very careful to avoid all those rocks and posts, losing a life to time if need be. (A total of 2 lives lost is a fantastic result any day.) Get aggressive, get impatient…get the continue screen. It’s that simple. Additionally, level 7, the final shooting one, is very much make-or-break. If you die here even once, you have to start level 8 without a whip and bulletproof vest, which reduce your chances to a shade better than “no”. And don’t even pretend that you’re going to take out Rocky and Rocco without a whip. In all, not impossible but really difficult. I think I was able to finish it twice without help.
[I got a whole bunch more, including Xenophobe, Rush 'n Attack, Blaster Master, Rolling Thunder, Kid Icarus, and Castlevania 2; I’ll put them up if this thread goes anywhere. Anything you want to add, go ahead.]