DEBUNKED: Nintendo's Iwata on games getting easier

The issue to me is that games are focusing more on being pleasing instead of being interesting. They don't respect themselves. When you first meet Red Arremer in Ghost'n Goblins and try to get a cheap shot on him, he suddenly flies vertically and you die. "Who do you think you are? I'm worth more than that!", the game says.

Of course, that's "unfair". It's "unfun" because I'm losing. I'm supposed to feel like a pro and get the chicks and be a complete winner. The average modern game is so afraid to hurt its player's ego that they end up being completely undesirable. Where's the fun in winning? There's nothing interesting in it. It's not fun to get a crit in Team Fortress and killing someone without aiming, pointing and dogding their shots.

In that sense what modern design philosophy is doing is exchanging the inititally cold but real fun with fake smiles and shallow warmth. It's not about really about difficulty per se.


Because the problem is not with Contra and The Tower of Druaga, the problem is that now you can't make Myst without players complaining.


@Sagrilagus

I'm sure that game is Xevious. You don't need to find any secrets to complete it.

Bogus or not, what was said is pretty much true.

Now, it is time for you to plug the listed game into your Barnes-a-compute-a-tron and give me some good recommendations.

Right on.

Have you played any Treasure games? Specifically, you really should take a look at Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun, both on XBLA. They're masterclass top-down scrolling shooters, and both are hard as balls. Definitely rewarding, however, and I think you would really like them. Probably Ikaruga more than Radiant Silvergun in your case. Bangai-O: Missile Fury would be another one for you, sort of a bizzare puzzle shooter...thing. Really unusual mechanics, hundreds of levels, hundreds of missiles on the screen at once that you are expected to dodge.

Since you liked Bayonetta, there's no reason not to go for Vanquish especially since it can be had for under $10 now. It's kind of like what would happen if the people that made Gears of War were less concerned with macho bullshit and more concerned with snorting mountains of cocaine and watching early '80s Japanimation. Probably the best third person shooter I've ever played, and it has plenty of Platinum/Sega ludicrousness going on. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is actually pretty skill-based and very Platinum/Sega even though it's from the MGS franchise...there are definitely some Bayonetta-class moments of sheer insanity. I can't beat the last boss on the hardest setting. Definitely a challenge.

I think you'd dig Super Meat Boy if you want a really tough platformer. The level designs are impeccable, and I like that it doesn't waste your time- you die, and immediately start again...then you get to see ghost replays of all your fuckups while you try again.

Kind of surprised you didn't pick up Dark Souls yet...I think you would get a couple of years of play out of that. I think it's like $10 or so now too.

Wasn't Ikaruga the one where the hail of bullets coming at you were white or black and you could flip your ship around to be immune to one but not the other? If so, I had that on the gamecube...it was nuts! I couldn't beat it, no way.

I had a lot of fun getting into the zone with my headphones and trying though. Great game!

Yeah that's it...there's only five levels. I've seen three.

There have been quite a few games that have taken on the polarity-switching mechanic- Outland, from a couple of years ago, was one of the best.

Super Ghouls and Ghosts...I always wanted to see it kick my ass back to the beginning of the game. Unfortunatley, I wasn't good enough to get to the end the first time.

UN Squadron, Axelay, and SF II. Those were my games. No telling how many hours I sunk into them. Well worth the money I spent. I'd play them over and over and over...

When I finish a game, I often feel like I've cheated because there is a sense that the victory was unearned. That guilt impels me toward endless trophy and collectable quests. Batman: Arkham City is a weird example of this. I've finished the game*, but every once in a while I will go back to it to solve more Riddler puzzles. There are 400 of them. 440, if you count the Catwoman ones. I've collected about 360 of them so far. The problem is that the city is pretty much depopulated now. Some thugs respawn forever, so there's always somebody to fight, but the fights aren't memorable or interesting anymore; they're just nuisance obstacles to go through or around on my way to the next question mark. The city doesn't feel like an open world or a sandbox anymore. And the narrative is broken, too: wouldn't Gotham Police have evacuated Arkham City after Hugo Strange's motivation for creating the open-air prison was revealed? Why is anybody still there other than Batman and the Riddler?

I think game designers need to find more interesting ways to make their games difficult. OCD-motivated Easter egg hunts are an OK way to add challenge for players that want it, but they don't quite work narratively or aesthetically.

* and all of the side-missions other than the Riddler one.

Jeff White wrote: Wasn't Ikaruga the one where the hail of bullets coming at you were white or black and you could flip your ship around to be immune to one but not the other? If so, I had that on the gamecube...it was nuts! I couldn't beat it, no way.

I had a lot of fun getting into the zone with my headphones and trying though. Great game!

The bad guys are timed in IKARUGA--you can beat the game without ever firing a bullet. I got a cheevo on the 360 version for pulling this off on the first level. THAT is fucking tough.

I was just thinking about retro gaming and the whole "One Mistake - You Die" thing and how it has vanished, just because my daughter is addicted to Subway Surfer on the iPad and has gotten very good at it. I was watching her play the other day when she was in the zone and achieved her best score and the speed of the moves and reaction time was something I haven't seen for 30 years. I was thinking it was because one mistake kills you and you go back to the start (possibly because my 2 girls developed a weird attitude that the one object you can buy to preserve your life was 'cheating' thus developing a tough culture that rewarded practice).

Thus to some extent these old style games are reappearing on the iOS devices, so all is not lost.

It is funny to read some of the compilations of comments from Miiverse posts. People playing Super Mario World, or Super Metroid, and getting completely stuck.

y cant metroid crawl?

Space Ghost wrote:
Pinball FX2 (actually challenging to get all the rewards and complete all the modes)

I finally got the achievement for defeating Sabertooth on he Wolverine table. That was pretty satisfying. I'm still way below Ghost's high score but I'll strip him of that table eventually.

Can you feel me breathing down your neck Ghost? Huh? Can you?.

You know what I thought was a difficult but fun game? Spyro. I really enjoyed that one.