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[BananaBomb]

I don't know how old you are but I bet if you had to sit down and play Adventure you'd be bored as fuck. Old action games < new action games normally. Now maybe rpgs like haven't improved, but that's a different discussion I think.

EDIT: Oh and there's no reason for games to be any more difficult than they are now. Call of Duty on veteran is plenty challenging.

 

[Brandon F]

Guy should have spent a bit more time educating this kid as to why Contra is considered a classic. The actual discussion is pretty awful, its no wonder the kid just scoffs it off.

Battletoads is also too soon to jump in, its like this guy WANTS this kid to hate pre-200X gaming.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

One of my first thoughts, an 11 year olds favorite games are two M-rated shooters. Ah well, at least he didn't say GTAIV or some other games.

So what? Robocop was my favorite movie when I was 6.

Believe me when I say that if I was born around the days of Xbox 360 & PS3 I would not have given two shits about the NES, Genesis, and even Arcade games(as much as it pains me to say it). I've tried time and time again to get my little brother to try games like "insert popular old 2D game here" and after awhile I just gave up, popped in Saint's Row 2, and we both had a blast.

 

[PetriP-TNT]

I was watching the video and the kid said that Contras graphics "suck" and the music is "boring"

I want to kick that kid in the face.

 

[Yackie]

We still have Tetris. That game is ageless, a rare gem. If kids today hate on Tetris, they don't deserve to play any kind of game.

 

[Cow Mengde]

I don't know how old you are but I bet if you had to sit down and play Adventure you'd be bored as fuck. Old action games < new action games normally. Now maybe rpgs like haven't improved, but that's a different discussion I think.

There's a difference between boring and hard.

Today's games just don't feel satisfying after you beat it. It felt like as long as I played the game and not turn it off, I'll beat it. I mean, I can only think of two shooters with a last boss from recent days.

 

[Jangaroo]

We still have Tetris. That game is ageless, a rare gem. If kids today hate on Tetris, they don't deserve to play any kind of game.

I didn't even know it was possible for somebody to hate Tetris.

 

[Yaweee]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUzNcheoY6U

 

[Cow Mengde]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUzNcheoY6U

I want to adopt him as my own son.

 

[scobur]

It will be unfortunate if nail-bitingly challenging games completely disappear. I don't see that happening though, since there will always be at least a small niche of gamers ready to be destroyed by their games. However, on a personal level, I can't say I'm worried about this because I just don't like hard games much. Especially for a single player experience, I like to be able to lay back and just enjoy myself. There's a certain allowance I can give to multiplayer, since there's a different feel to competing with other real humans.

 

[mr_nothin]

I beat Metroid (NES) when I was 7

 

[out0v0rder]

Does anyone know what happened to old man murry?

 

[mr_nothin]

11-year olds shouldn't be playing Halo 3 or any other shooter, easy as that.

....
This is so stupid. It's a freaking game. Let the kids have some fun.
I've been brought up on games and have yet to be screened by anyone. I was 15 when GTA 3 came out and got it day 1. I dont have any urges to kill anyone or to go on any killing sprees.

You know what...i'll stop there.

 

[Shig]

Kid shouldn't be playing Halo or World at War.

They're less offensive than Mortal Kombat, which I'd wager most people here played as kids.

Halo in particular is actually really tame aside from some minor blood splatter. There's really no reason it shouldn't be a T-rated game.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

Kids are pussies nowadays. Not just with gaming either.

 

[Alucrid]

Who cares, it's their loss not ours.

edit: Also, it probably was his first time playing it.

 

[Opiate]

Today's kids think the games we played when we were young suck ass. It happens with every generation.

This isn't true at all. Or rather, it's extremely rare for this to be true.

Here's a question for anyone, not just Stoney: other than our generation, when has it ever been true that children felt the games their parents played sucked ass? It probably has happened at some point, but I honestly can't think of any example but our own.

 

[tadcalabash]

Today's games just don't feel satisfying after you beat it. It felt like as long as I played the game and not turn it off, I'll beat it. I mean, I can only think of two shooters with a last boss from recent days.

There are other ways for a game to be satisfying without it punishing you until you overcome it.

Just had a real frustrating time finishing a level in Star Wars Republic Commando (only came out in 2005, but still has some design elements I'm not sad to see gone), and I can think of two design improvements that you'd see in recent games that would keep the excitement and fun of the level without it devolving into a frustrating reload-fest.

Remove rigid time limit - rather than failing because I was 5 seconds too slow killing an enemy 4 minutes ago, you can still keep the indended tension with mere threats of time running out

Add recharging health - what part of engaging in a losing war of attrition is fun? It's unnecessarily frustrating to struggle past an encounter and realize you didn't succeed well enough to survive the next

I understand the thrill of beating a tough game... but the game doesn't have to punish the player to make it exciting.

 

[Alucrid]

There are other ways for a game to be satisfying without it punishing you until you overcome it.

Just had a real frustrating time finishing a level in Star Wars Republic Commando (only came out in 2005, but still has some design elements I'm not sad to see gone), and I can think of two design improvements that you'd see in recent games that would keep the excitement and fun of the level without it devolving into a frustrating reload-fest.

Remove rigid time limit - rather than failing because I was 5 seconds too slow killing an enemy 4 minutes ago, you can still keep the indended tension with mere threats of time running out

Add recharging health - what part of engaging in a losing war of attrition is fun? It's unnecessarily frustrating to struggle past an encounter and realize you didn't succeed well enough to survive the next

I understand the thrill of beating a tough game... but the game doesn't have to punish the player to make it exciting.

I loved that game. I was sad to see that it didn't work with the 360, maybe I'll get it on steam now...

 

[Hylian7]

My cousin is very much like the kid in that video. He doesn't appreciate many old games unless they're Mario, and the Mario games he has played were the Game Boy Advance remakes, and he didn't even know they were remakes. The only slightly old game he could appreciate was the older Pokemon games, and I mean R/B/Y and G/S/C. He did play those after he played the more recent Pokemon games, but at least he won't completely shun older games. Most of today's kids are even scared off by the though of a "black and white Pokemon game from the old days" While Pokemon has only been around in America for slightly over 10 years, the fact that some kids are scared off from the older games in the series is appalling.

 

[Blast Processing]

You never got past the bike stage in Battletoads? What are you, some kind of pantywaist? Who let this guy on GAF without checking his credentials?

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

While Pokemon has only been around in America for slightly over 10 years, the fact that some kids are scared off from the older games in the series is appalling.

I don't blame them. It'd be like going back to Madden 2001 after Madden 2010 or something.

 

[NIN90]

Add recharging health - what part of engaging in a losing war of attrition is fun? It's unnecessarily frustrating to struggle past an encounter and realize you didn't succeed well enough to survive the next

That's why you place medipaks after/before every major encounter.. And if that's not enough for you, well, then you will just have to step up your game.

I don't recall anyone complaining about HL2's health system. Maybe that's because it's well balanced! Health Regen is just a mechanic for lazy devs, imo.


And I don't think Contra is a very good for something like this. I, a reasonable young gamer (19), didn't have much fun with Contra when I played it about a year ago. It just didn't age terrible well.
I think Contra 4 (loved that one) would've been a better choice for that kid because it merges the challenging gameplay with modern graphics.

 

[Calcaneus]

I don't blame them. It'd be like going back to Madden 2001 after Madden 2010 or something.

But they have to play old crap games because I played old crap games and they were awesome!

 

[Core407]

That's why you place medipaks after/before every major encounter.. And if that's not enough for you, well, then you will just have to step up your game.

I don't recall anyone complaining about HL2 health system. Maybe that's because it's well balanced! Health Regen is just a mechanic for lazy devs, imo.


And I don't think Contra is a very good for something like this. I, a reasonable young gamer (19), didn't have much fun with Contra when I played it about a year ago. It just didn't age terrible well.
I think Contra 4 (loved that one) would've been a better choice because it merged the challenging gameplay with modern graphics.

I like the notion of carrying some kind of medkit and using it when you feel it's needed.

 

[Hylian7]

There's a difference between boring and hard.

Today's games just don't feel satisfying after you beat it. It felt like as long as I played the game and not turn it off, I'll beat it. I mean, I can only think of two shooters with a last boss from recent days.

This brings me to another point. Kids play FPS games all the time today, but you ask them about the classic FPS games like Doom, Quake, Half-Life, or even the very first, Wolfenstein, and they give you this very puzzled look. A majority of them don't even know about Half-Life 2, and that only came out in 2004. They expect in shooters to have the game divided up into levels, where you go into a room/area, shoot a bunch of guys that look the same, rinse, and repeat. If you try to get them to play Half-Life or Half-Life 2, they don't get it. They get to those sections that have a heavy amount of Grav Gun puzzles and they ask why there are no guys to shoot. The next sentence contains a spoiler for the original Half-Life:

Spoiler

They probably will just try to open fire on the 3 tentacles in the hole, no matter how many times it kills them, until you slap them upside the head and tell them they have to sneak past it.

 

[Cynar]

why was this kid playing cod or halo? :lol

 

[jufonuk]

kid needs to play some bangai-o and ketsui on the DS sort him right out

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

The next sentence contains a spoiler for the original Half-Life:

Spoiler

They probably will just try to open fire on the 3 tentacles in the hole, no matter how many times it kills them, until you slap them upside the head and tell them they have to sneak past it.

There are similar sections in games like

Spoiler

Gears of War

and

Spoiler

Call of Duty

. Those ten-year-olds managed to figure those games out.

 

[NIN90]

There are similar sections in games like

Spoiler

Gears of War

and

Spoiler

Call of Duty

. Those ten-year-olds managed to figure those games out.

Because those games hit you over the head what you have to do.

 

[jufonuk]

hmm it makes sense in 2d games like SFIV and the original mario I can excel at them compared to my 13y/o brother but coming onto COD4 and Halo he or some other 3d game like fifa he seems to have mastered them better

he cant get his head around doing the hadokne quarter circle and such and in the end just gts frustrated and wants to play a game usually 3D

maybe kids just dont get the idea of 2d games as such as they have a major diet of 3d based games, i dunno??

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Because those games hit you over the head what you have to do.

And Half-Life doesn't?

Meanwhile, if you had never played Pokemon Gold or Silver and started out with Ruby or Sapphire, you will definitely want to go back and play G/S because it's such a wonderful experience.

Which is probably why Nintendo is planning on releasing remakes of G/S in the near future. Kids don't have a reason to go back.

 

[Hylian7]

I don't blame them. It'd be like going back to Madden 2001 after Madden 2010 or something.

I understand your analogy, but Pokemon and Madden operate differently as franchises. Madden goes with the philosophy of making each game have updated features, current player names and teams, etc. To make a comparison, it's like Chrono Trigger on the DS vs. Chrono Trigger on the PlayStation. You wouldn't want to go back to the PS version because of the load times, and lack of portability. Let me make this clear, I am not trying to slam on Madden here. I may not enjoy the Madden games myself, but I'm not going to insult them for the people that do.

Meanwhile, if you had never played Pokemon Gold or Silver and started out with Ruby or Sapphire, you will definitely want to go back and play G/S because it's such a wonderful experience.

 

[quinntendopower]

i just played through ultimate ghosts n goblins on ultimate mode a bit ago....

Ultimate mode proved to me I still have what it takes and I could probably beat my 13 year old self at videogames when thats all that mattered, Capcom Power Stick and all. Whenever I have kids, they will be forced to beat this game if they want anything. "Sorry son, you still need 30 more rings before you get that new hover bike!" Then I'll tease them with my youtube videos of years past and they will whimper, watching their friends ride a holographic hover bike while their stuck playing an archaic videogame that the old man is forcing them to beat. They will hate me vicariously through that game, but they will respect me for it, eventually... Maybe I'll take them out for space ice cream when they finish level 1-1.... On second thought, its much better watching them fail over and over again, realizing they got the wifes genes

 

[Hylian7]

And Half-Life doesn't?

Not in the same way. Gears and CoD usually have breakaway cut-scenes to show you those kinds of things, while the HL series does not. When you run past the scientist, he tells you what to do, but if you don't pay attention to him, you won't know.

 

[NIN90]

And Half-Life doesn't?

Well, HL2 didn't tell me that I had put all those bottles under the ramp.
Or that i had to build a path across the sand.
Or that I had to roll a grenade under the turrets in the museum.
Or that I had to pull the plug at the energy wall.
Or...

 

[tadcalabash]

That's why you place medipaks after/before every major encounter.. And if that's not enough for you, well, then you will just have to step up your game.

I don't recall anyone complaining about HL2's health system. Maybe that's because it's well balanced! Health Regen is just a mechanic for lazy devs, imo.

Yeah, I wasn't trying to say non-regen health systems were inherently bad. You're right, HL2's system is really great and balanced... where they provide health when you need it.

The problem with Republic Commando specifically is that the health stations take about 5-10 seconds to heal you, and in this particular section of the game the only available one was at the beginning of the timed gauntlet.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Well, HL2 didn't tell me that I had put all those bottles under the ramp.
Or that i had to build a path across the sand.
Or that I had to roll a grenade under the turrets in the museum.
Or that I had to pull the plug at the energy wall.
Or...

Up to that point with the bottles and the ramp you've established that:
-bottles float
-ramps can be used for progress

By the time you reach a ramp half-submerged in water you've hopefully already put together that by some usage of the floating bottles the ramp can be lifted out of the water...but how? Oh look there's a net.

Same with the sand. You can't walk on the sand cause the bugs will get you, you can walk on objects though..so oh look here's some objects lying nearby this patch of sand.

That energy wall plug? One of the first things you do in HL2 is plug something in to make it work. So it's reasonable to assume that one can unplug something to make it not work.

Only reason some games decide to throw out big glowing arrows or make important things extra shiny is cause they've figured that everyone playing their games is capable of basic logic and figured out the solution long before the problem became apparent.

 

[mjolnirsbane]

It's the same old watered down "everyone's a winner" mentality that makes us soft as a society. You know why they called the WWII guys "the Greatest Generation"? because they had a sense of duty and honor that wouldn't allow them to fail. If you fell down, you got back up, pulled yourself up by your bootstraps and moved on.

We are teaching our children a dangerous lesson if we allow no losers and winners or if we make things so easy that anyone could do it. First off for those of us of average to above average intelligence we will be bored to tears for lack of challenge. Secondly if things come to easy to us we will become mentally lazy and have no sense of self pride.

If a kid isn't smart enough or determined enough to finish a few levels of Contra then heavens help us when a 3 million man Chinese army crosses the ocean into Alaska.

 

[Sohter.Nura]

Why is that some people think video games HAVE to be difficult and that they if they're not, there's no acchievement in it?
Video-games have to be fun. You know why video games are not as hard as Contra? Because people would play the game for 10 minutes and go "****, this is too hard for me. I'll go out and do something else."
I think one the reason videogames are so mainstream nowadays has to be that they are more accessible to their audience. If you want hard games, you still have Ninja Gaiden and Ikaruga :b

 

[Fimbulvetr]

Not to mention that a good number of games back then were only difficult because of bad/cheap/asshole-ish design choices.

 

[todahawk]

Kids are pussies nowadays. Not just with gaming either.

.

 

[Tain]

the home version of a quarter muncher

Rewarding skill or rewarding timing memorization

Old action games < new action games normally

man oh man, it's like a broken record

Like I've said elsewhere, there's no way in hell that Devil May Cry, MadWorld, or Ninja Gaiden can come close to giving me the feeling I got when I 1cc'd Fantasy Zone or Battle Bakraid. Fair, completable games that are balls hard and have more content packed into a twenty second span than most modern games have in an hour.

If these games stop getting developed (which would be when Japanese arcades entirely die out), single-player video games can fuck right off. I've got enough to last me for the rest of my life already.

 

[Camwi]

I'm actually amazed by what kids can do these days with video games. I mean we started off with games that had like two buttons. I think my brain would've turned to mush if I had attempted to play something with the complexity of MGS4.

 

[Opiate]

It's the same old watered down "everyone's a winner" mentality that makes us soft as a society. You know why they called the WWII guys "the Greatest Generation"? because they had a sense of duty and honor that wouldn't allow them to fail. If you fell down, you got back up, pulled yourself up by your bootstraps and moved on.

We are teaching our children a dangerous lesson if we allow no losers and winners or if we make things so easy that anyone could do it. First off for those of us of average to above average intelligence we will be bored to tears for lack of challenge. Secondly if things come to easy to us we will become mentally lazy and have no sense of self pride.

If a kid isn't smart enough or determined enough to finish a few levels of Contra then heavens help us when a 3 million man Chinese army crosses the ocean into Alaska.

 

[hyduK]

I thought Ninja Gaiden 3 fucked it up though. That game was just plain cheap. Ninja Gaiden 2 was awesome.

There's a Ninja Gaiden 3?

:lol

Seriously though, I don't see why it matters that some 11 year old can't beat Contra. He's 11, that means he was 3 when Halo came out (holy shit). I doubt he's had much experience with 2d games. Most people that post on GAF, myself included, probably steadily played games both before and after the transition from 2d > 3d so it's easy for us to go back. Try to imagine having stopped playing games after the SNES and coming back and trying to play CoD right now. It takes a completely different mindset.

And of course this guy starts the kid off with fucking Contra. Try SMB3 or something.

 

[hyduK]

Not to mention that a good number of games back then were only difficult because of bad/cheap/asshole-ish design choices.

This too. Half the games were only hard till you memorized the whole thing.