Dad wouldn’t buy me an NES when I was a kid. My next door neighbor had one and we played Top Gun and legacy of the wizard. Got an NES 20 years ago and still have it though my game collection is pretty small. Also have an old crt to play it on. Still bust out SMB3 every once in awhile for the nostalgia.
A few years ago I went back to see if I could even put a dent in Legacy of the Wizard. I couldn’t, it’s just brutal.
I would say more than half of all NES games are insanely hard to beat. Way harder than modern games honestly.
It’s easier to create incredibly difficult games than it is to create games that are only moderately difficult. That’s something that technology and the honing of the craft have brought to modern gaming.
Thank you for reminding me of my age. That is all.
Nice read, thanks for sharing! The NES will always be the epicenter of my lifelong love for gaming. I will always remember receiving Megaman 2 for my bday. We had other games, but as the youngest of three boys, it was the first game that was truly mine. And I will never forget the weird ass cover art it had lol.
I didn’t play MegaMan until later in the 90s. How was it playing on the NES when it was current? Was it brutal?
NES Mega Man 2 is one of the few NES games that was actually made easier for the American release, in that you could play the game recklessly and still win. The original (more difficult) difficulty was made into an optional “hard” mode, which forced players to play more defensively.
Wow, I had no idea. They really didn’t think much of American audiences back then did they?
This is really the tip of the iceberg. I remember my math grades suffered because I’d play Final Fantasy instead of doing my homework. That game was groundbreaking.
But most of all, I miss how kids would just randomly get together to “play Nintendo” and bring whatever cartridges they had. It was like a party, and there was always that one kid who had all of the games.
It still boggles my mind that Super Mario movie is a thing that exists. Cinema peaked with that, and it’s been all downhill since then.
Final Fantasy 1 was so fun! I didn’t have it as a kid, but I bought it on the Wii virtual shop back when that was a thing.
It was rough to get through because I didn’t know what I was doing (had a bad party comp, I think), but I somehow managed to beat it. Still one of my favorite gaming experiences.
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It was a good time, and I’m glad I played it that way rather than the DS remake. It was HARD.
Just think of how hard it seemed in 1990. We’d never played a game like that before!
it was huge, endless. impossible to understand. I played Dragon Warrior as well, and felt similar. “omg a new town!” “ahhh a wyvern?! whats that??”
I still have mine from Christmas of 1988. Dang kids these days don’t know how good they have it, with their shields and their saves…
