Listing the hardest games we've beaten (no braggado)
Feb 8, 2023 16:24:56 GMT -5
Post by toei on Feb 8, 2023 16:24:56 GMT -5
Obviously inspired by Ex 's post I'm paraphrasing. Also "braggado" is how cool people say braggadocio starting from now.
I do believe this can be an interesting topic. Are said games as hard as people think? How did you overcome the challenge? Was it worth it? Etc. Save-states beats don't count, it has to be legit.
I'll have to think about this. I lost my list of games beaten when I accidentally destroyed my previous laptop, and since I haven't been gaming as much for a couple years, the game's aren't all fresh in my memory.
Off the top, some games I've beaten that had that reputation: Double Dragon 3 NES, Comix Zone, Vagrant Story, Brandish (SNES), Phantasy Star II. I'm sure there's plenty more.
For Phantasy Star II, I would systematically do two visits per dungeon. First one is just to explore as much as I can, second is to get to the end. You get a chunk of the level-grinding done that way, plus you get to stay alive.
For Vagrant Story, it was just learning the mechanics - mostly building the types of weapons (blunt, sharp, etc.) for each situation and using buff spells a lot. I didn't think the game was all that hard; I thought it put up a fair fight and I enjoyed it a lot. I never even got deep into comboing additional hits.
For Comix Zone, it was mostly just getting decent at the battle system - not just mindless bashing, as you're tempted to do in a beat-'em-up, but varying the height of attacks to catch enemies off-guard, using throws often against blockers, etc - and figuring out where to find and use the items and which paths were better. There are little things that help too, like letting certain enemies hit each other, or pushing them into each other to make it happen. You have to preserve your health carefully, since you only have 2-3 lives (IIRC you get an extra credit every two pages, something most people aren't aware of as the game doesn't tell you) to beat the game with and even hitting enemies causes chip damage. But it didn't take me that long to get good at the game once I went back to it as an adult (as a kid I never made it past halfway), and I beat it again right after just to prove to myself that I could.
For Brandish, just being very careful and perseverant. I remember the final boss completely overwhelmed me the first time I fought it - there's a ton going on - so I had to calm myself and take it methodically, and then all went well.
For DD3Nes, it was learning what worked where. Most people try to cheese it with cyclone kicks, but that doesn't work well against some enemies, and there are better and less tedious methods anyway. For each enemy and boss, there is an approach that works well. It's a harsh game because, again, I think you only get one extra life (plus you can switch between characters), but it's actually well-designed in that way. I'd written a whole strategy on a forum post at the time, I could probably find it.
I personally found Sunset Riders SNES extremely difficult to finish in single-player, even though most of the game's difficulty is reasonable, because you restart levels when you use a credit and the final boss is completely absurd. I ended up devising a weird chaotic method to beat him, but it took me forever.
I do believe this can be an interesting topic. Are said games as hard as people think? How did you overcome the challenge? Was it worth it? Etc. Save-states beats don't count, it has to be legit.
I'll have to think about this. I lost my list of games beaten when I accidentally destroyed my previous laptop, and since I haven't been gaming as much for a couple years, the game's aren't all fresh in my memory.
Off the top, some games I've beaten that had that reputation: Double Dragon 3 NES, Comix Zone, Vagrant Story, Brandish (SNES), Phantasy Star II. I'm sure there's plenty more.
For Phantasy Star II, I would systematically do two visits per dungeon. First one is just to explore as much as I can, second is to get to the end. You get a chunk of the level-grinding done that way, plus you get to stay alive.
For Vagrant Story, it was just learning the mechanics - mostly building the types of weapons (blunt, sharp, etc.) for each situation and using buff spells a lot. I didn't think the game was all that hard; I thought it put up a fair fight and I enjoyed it a lot. I never even got deep into comboing additional hits.
For Comix Zone, it was mostly just getting decent at the battle system - not just mindless bashing, as you're tempted to do in a beat-'em-up, but varying the height of attacks to catch enemies off-guard, using throws often against blockers, etc - and figuring out where to find and use the items and which paths were better. There are little things that help too, like letting certain enemies hit each other, or pushing them into each other to make it happen. You have to preserve your health carefully, since you only have 2-3 lives (IIRC you get an extra credit every two pages, something most people aren't aware of as the game doesn't tell you) to beat the game with and even hitting enemies causes chip damage. But it didn't take me that long to get good at the game once I went back to it as an adult (as a kid I never made it past halfway), and I beat it again right after just to prove to myself that I could.
For Brandish, just being very careful and perseverant. I remember the final boss completely overwhelmed me the first time I fought it - there's a ton going on - so I had to calm myself and take it methodically, and then all went well.
For DD3Nes, it was learning what worked where. Most people try to cheese it with cyclone kicks, but that doesn't work well against some enemies, and there are better and less tedious methods anyway. For each enemy and boss, there is an approach that works well. It's a harsh game because, again, I think you only get one extra life (plus you can switch between characters), but it's actually well-designed in that way. I'd written a whole strategy on a forum post at the time, I could probably find it.
I personally found Sunset Riders SNES extremely difficult to finish in single-player, even though most of the game's difficulty is reasonable, because you restart levels when you use a credit and the final boss is completely absurd. I ended up devising a weird chaotic method to beat him, but it took me forever.