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Post by Ex on Nov 21, 2019 13:42:01 GMT -5
Speaking of somber and morose, this is the song I heard in my head when I saw those screenshots Man... I can hear that song in my head without even listening to the video. It's a masterful dirge that devastatingly captures the "not in Nottingham" feel of that first town. Sets the stage so well for the rest of the game. I'm wayyy overdue a replay of SoV. I wish more retro enthusiasts would play the game. I remember thinking some games were bad or confusing but intimidation was rarely what I felt toward video games as a kid. What about dread though? As in dreading a particular stage that you knew was difficult, that you had failed on many times before. Where it took thirty minutes of skillful playing to get to that stage every time. So when you got there, you had the "fear" that you would die once again - costing you all that progress. That kind of wager on the table, high stakes gameplay is rare these days. Modern games are very generous with checkpoints, auto-saving, or are just outright pieces of cake the whole time. This level is absent from the SNES port I had no idea that stage existed, interesting. Granted I've never been an Earthworm Jim fan. I did play some of the original Genesis game, and of course found its sprite work and animation impressive. I just hated the level designs of Earthworm Jim though, so I never got far in it. I did launch that cow though! Blaster Master gets scary because you have to make it all happen in one run! Yes, this is more to what my original point was supposed to be. I didn't really mean to make a topic about "games that literally frightened you as a child". I'm talking more towards feelings of trepidation when you reached certain known roadblocks or difficulties. That freaking hawk in Ninja Gaiden, you know?
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Post by Sarge on Nov 21, 2019 13:54:11 GMT -5
Ninja Gaiden definitely saw me get nervous once I hit Jacquio. I never did take him down back when I was younger, and having to go all the way back to 6-1 usually meant my play session was over. I didn't actually own the game until much later, so I always played it at a friend's house. Same deal with Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, actually.
These days, Jacquio is a cinch. Funny how figuring out a pattern will do that. I just never figured out quite how to handle it back in the day (and never got there with the Jump-and-Slash to cheese him). It's the Demon that now gives me the heebie jeebies. The last time I made a legit run, I somehow died to him several times, coming close but always getting popped by some random piece of junk he spews. I finally got an almost perfect run on him, but still, you gotta pay attention!
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 21, 2019 17:59:03 GMT -5
Oh yeah, I figured the topic was a mix of being freaked or hitting a roadblock. Blaster Master's Area 8 is the perfect mix of both, as Sarge said with the games finite lives, then by Area 8 and its deceptive level design the tank automatically going up walls and ceilings actually makes a lot of this level an absolute nightmare to navigate, as this world is filled with spike pits that kill you fast. It's easy to master your way through Blaster Master, only to see all your lives disappear in a blink in the final area if you don't know what you're doing. 8bit Hell. Metroid is another good one, with Norfair. I played this game for years as a kid at my dad's parents house during holidays and then it was a rare rental at times. But as a child, I never ever once figured out how to get through Norfair. I love how this pops up at the top of DuckDuckGo images for "Metroid NES Norfair", because this is exactly what I never dug up as a kid.
Probably didn't officially beat Metroid until my early teen / emulation days.
I still kind of get... emotions. Anger and comfort at the same time. I have beaten Metroid NES probably a dozen times now and it's still one of my top favorites, regardless of Norfair laughing at me all through my early years.
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Post by anayo on Nov 21, 2019 20:27:28 GMT -5
I remember thinking some games were bad or confusing but intimidation was rarely what I felt toward video games as a kid. What about dread though? As in dreading a particular stage that you knew was difficult, that you had failed on many times before. Where it took thirty minutes of skillful playing to get to that stage every time. So when you got there, you had the "fear" that you would die once again - costing you all that progress. That kind of wager on the table, high stakes gameplay is rare these days. Modern games are very generous with checkpoints, auto-saving, or are just outright pieces of cake the whole time. I think the closest I came to that was becoming enraged with Donkey Kong Land for the Gameboy as a 5 year old and repeatedly headbutting my Gameboy. I completely shattered the screen and ran to my Mom in tears. Miraculously, she got me a new one. Probably because this was 1995 and they were something like $50 retail by then.
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Post by Moulinoski on Nov 21, 2019 21:40:28 GMT -5
It's a bit embarrassing, but Phantom Ganon gave me the spooks when I was young. It was the first time a video game truly creeped me out. True to the Zelda series' theme, however, I plucked up the courage to beat him on my second try. I was in fifth or sixth grade back then. Mind you, the games I played prior were stuff like the Mario series and by then, Pokemon. Not a whole lot of scary stuff to haunt me yet and my mom sheltered me a lot as well (I wasn't allowed to watch The Simpsons... and now there's too many seasons to go back and catch up).
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Post by Ex on Nov 21, 2019 22:01:25 GMT -5
It's a bit embarrassing, but Phantom Ganon gave me the spooks when I was young. This was a bit unsettling when I was eight...
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Post by Sarge on Nov 21, 2019 22:17:07 GMT -5
That laugh, man. And seriously, read the story for Zelda II sometime. It's dire! Killing Link and sprinkling his blood on Ganon's ashes? Nope, not dark at all.
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 21, 2019 22:18:59 GMT -5
Zelda II is the definition of a gaming road block. Did anyone here beat that legitimately back in the day without Nintendo Power / guides? I bet it would have taken months and months of willpower. Godly game.
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Post by Sarge on Nov 21, 2019 22:34:06 GMT -5
I wish I could say that I did, but nope. I got stuck trying to find the hidden town, forgetting the Hammer's secondary function. If I'd still had the manual, I would have known that.
Since I was a Nintendo Power kid from the jump, the mere concept of a blind playthrough often went out the door. I generally had access to hints for the most obtuse puzzles in games... but obviously not for Zelda II, since I didn't have those issues. It was Jeff Rovin's How to Win at Nintendo Games, Vol. 4, that pulled me out of that particular rut.
(Funny thing is, I knew there had to be something in that forest, and I walked over every tile, and it never took me to a town. The rule for that town is completely inconsistent with every other hidden tile in the game.)
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 21, 2019 22:49:57 GMT -5
I love how even if you can get through the obtuse puzzles and sections in Zelda II, you still better have the jumping foot stab move down stat and S rank skills in general to actually beat the enemies, bosses, and insane final dungeon! The first game can be pretty tough too, but you can at least get some equipment upgrades (swords) and items along the way to ease things. You need brute force skill to best Zelda II.
I definitely never got too far in the original Zelda as a kid, but it was cool how I could get at least midway into it and even figured out some of the repeating mazes on the world map on my own. Must have been the dungeon under the bush where I would get clueless back then... level 5-7?
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