[General Discussion] Better at video games when you were younger?

Funny thing came up with Kairyu not but a few minutes or so again. There's a mini-game in Mega Man ZX Advent called Mega Man a (my avatar isn't helping this line of discussion... I swear it's coincidental?). It's basically like an old school Mega Man romp with ZXA themed sprites. It has the timed block jumps and what not. I can go through a level with generally no problems, my skills don't fail me there.

But the boss rooms are awful. I remember playing Mega Man games and being able to kill whatever Robot Master I wanted with just the Mega Buster. The entirety of fighting a boss in Mega Man a for me consists of the following:

1. Boss appears.

2. I attempt to establish an offense.

3. Boss establishes its fist in my mouth.

4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 until all lives gone.

Some Mega Man player I am. On the same token, if I went back in time, I'd totally school myself in Street Fighter, for reals. So, what did you all get better or worse at with age?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Sorry to say Roterblade that things are not gonna be the same as they used to be. Take Lost Odyssey. Some battles tend to occur during cinematic moments (which haven't been done before). And for me, it's during these trying moments that games really come alive smack dab at your face.

These changes are even evident on Nintendo's future systems; The Nintendo DS and obviously the Wii. And if you don't plan your gameplay accordingly, sure enemies will beat the heck outta ya. Though that's beside the point.

My interest didn't come til' like cinematic-type RPG games started appearing on the first PlayStation. With FFVII, FFIX, Legend of Dragoon etc... And it was these kind of games that really sparked my interest to continue these rpg-related games that featured on one side, cinematic scenes and the other; exploration and battle scenes.

Though, I can't really say I had any worst moments ^^; lol.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I don't think I'm better so much, but I just have a better understanding of WHY a part is challenging. Metal Slug for instance...It's a quarter-muncher. It's SUPPOSED to kill you. I personally find the slow jumping and occasionally stiff controls responsible for dying as much as my own mistakes, so I'm not going to keep replaying until I win without dying like I would (and did) with the NES Megamans. Ikaruga, on the other hand, if I sat and really set myself to the whole swapping thing, I'd do really good at it, but...Oh well, I still have fun with it, even in death. I know it's an incredibly well-made game, but I'm just a lazy player who's slow to learn the system. I think there are a few games I would have tolerated more as a kid (Megaman X8 comes to mind...I just gave up on it because it was hard AND fucking garbage, but if it were the only new game I had to pound away on for 3 months...maybe), but I'm still as bad at Super C now as I was then (although people think I'm god when I tell them I can beat Contra 1 without dying...It's not THAT hard, is it?) I imagine I'd have been grounded several times as a kid if Contra IV were around (although Hudson's Adventure Island and Dino Riki filled THAT void).

Although...I remember last year, I beat Castlevania III for the first time and I was fucking flying around the room. I still can't believe I found a way to kill that Doppleganger. That was just vengeance for all the pain and suffering that game put me through in my youth (all in good fun).

Edit: I don't know about fighters...When I was younger, I'd always rush in (Chun Li/Shoto player). I'm much more of a keepaway player than an attacker nowadays...I think I'd school my younger self, although I'd be on the look-up for surprises from myself (I'll never forget the look on that one guy's face when I did the spinning bird kick through the fireball and won with no health left...I was, like 10, and I did that in front of his girlfriend!)

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I'm actually better at games now than I was when I was younger. The main reason behind this is that I have much more patience for games like Ecco the Dolphin, which would just piss me off and be super frustrating when I was younger. I can comprehend situations better and be more cautious because of it, like most hard games require.

Then again I still take risks and die because of it, but that can just be brushed off as practice and the gaming continues. I'm also a lot more fussy when it comes to gaming, if there's something in the game which is a flaw, glitch, error, has bad controls, etc, I'll just give up. If they can't make a game hard without including a crap control system, forget it.

I've also noticed only a handful of games are "hard". They're either optionally hard or not hard at all, not like back in the 90's where yo uhad challenge regardless of what game you were playing. Or was that because I was younger and found things harder?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I remember when I'd plow through a Mega Man game in the span of 24 hours. And I'd finish any RPG within two weeks of starting it. Nowdays, I just don't seem to be able to do such things. Maybe its the lack of time I have now as opposed to my childhood days.

But hell, give me a chance at Super Mario Bros. now and I'll plow through it like a hot knife through butter. Let me have a chance at Castlevania IV and you'll hear me spouting blasphemy like you've never heard before. >_>

I was speaking idiomatically.

I'm a better player I was before, but I don't enjoy games that much. Back in the day, every new level in Sonic 2 I barely managed to reach was something completely magical, new, memorable. Now I just plow through all levels in a game, barely noticing any of the things that would've made them special for me 10 years ago.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I have lost some of my touch when it comes to games. People still ask me for help on tricky parts but it isn't like I can run circles around them. gone are the days like me beating my father 300+ to 0 in Tecmo Bowl (and that was after he wanted to restart at 150 + points to 7 in the first game) or whatever it was.

I really have lost the patience to go through things over AND OVER again. Case in point would be the New Super Mario Bros. CLassic action. Yet, if I don't get it after a few tries (and it being all the things from that stage) then I'll simpily turn the power off my NDS>

FELIPE NO

It's not that I lost my touch, is just that I had more dedication to a single game back then.

For example, as a kid I remember beating Robocop 3 for Snes (which is an awful and very difficult game) and I couldn't beat the second stage now. After a few tries I quit the game. That didn't happened back then. I kept trying and trying till I beat it. That's probably because it was much more difficult to find a game back then and since I didn't have any other game to play I put all my efforts to beat the ones I have (or the ones I can get from friends).

In contrast, I feel that I'm a much better player for fighting games today. As a kid I always kept doing hadokens and shoryukens in every single enemy and I didn't have any motivation to improve since it was effective. Today, I'm more interested in combos and mind games than just beat my friends.

Overall, I think I'm a much better player than before. It's just that I have so many games now and my interest to them is over as soon as I finish them (with few exeptions).

I'm still a freaking looser though. I can't beat the Bike stage in Battletoads

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by mortis

I have lost some of my touch when it comes to games. People still ask me for help on tricky parts but it isn't like I can run circles around them. gone are the days like me beating my father 300+ to 0 in Tecmo Bowl (and that was after he wanted to restart at 150 + points to 7 in the first game) or whatever it was.

I really have lost the patience to go through things over AND OVER again. Case in point would be the New Super Mario Bros. CLassic action. Yet, if I don't get it after a few tries (and it being all the things from that stage) then I'll simpily turn the power off my NDS>

That's because we don't have unlimited time to sit and replay the levels over and over and over again like we could when we were kids. ;_; Also then it was either memorize the levels to the point of being able to beat them blindfolded or sit around like a goon and wait 'til next week to rent a different game. I don't know if my skills have rotted away over the years, probably! I still can't beat Battletoads. Practically everything was hard on the NES because you were stuck with a few lives, a continue or two if you were lucky and away you went. Die on the last boss? Tough luck, back to the title screen with you! Man, I think Double Dragon 3 will forever haunt me with its whopping ONE LIFE NO CONTINUES thing. Now you can save your progress, and most games with lives are meaningless because they'll often have unlimited continues or.. you just reload your save.

Fun fact, I've been playing Chronos Twin on the DS over the past two months or so, it's one of the hardest platform games I think I've ever played. Oh my GOD it's hard. Even though it has a save function between each level, if you finish the last level with one bit of health left, you'll start the next level with that same amount of health. I might make a thread or something about it, the game really does need some word of mouth, the publisher sure as hell doesn't seem to give a shit about it existing!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Infernal Monkey

That's because we don't have unlimited time to sit and replay the levels over and over and over again like we could when we were kids. ;_; Also then it was either memorize the levels to the point of being able to beat them blindfolded or sit around like a goon and wait 'til next week to rent a different game. I don't know if my skills have rotted away over the years, probably! I still can't beat Battletoads. Practically everything was hard on the NES because you were stuck with a few lives, a continue or two if you were lucky and away you went. Die on the last boss? Tough luck, back to the title screen with you! Man, I think Double Dragon 3 will forever haunt me with its whopping ONE LIFE NO CONTINUES thing. Now you can save your progress, and most games with lives are meaningless because they'll often have unlimited continues or.. you just reload your save.

Fun fact, I've been playing Chronos Twin on the DS over the past two months or so, it's one of the hardest platform games I think I've ever played. Oh my GOD it's hard. Even though it has a save function between each level, if you finish the last level with one bit of health left, you'll start the next level with that same amount of health. I might make a thread or something about it, the game really does need some word of mouth, the publisher sure as hell doesn't seem to give a shit about it existing!

That's about it.

Quote:

I still can't beat Battletoads.

Never heard of anyone doing that.

And for me, I'm much more better... however, I just don't have the time/patience.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I'm much better now. When I first started playing video games I'd never finish any because I lacked patience and I would tend to like the beginning parts only. Now I can finish them , but the problem is that I don't have as much time.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I've become better through diverse experience, and fortunately won't have to say "Dang it, how come this was so much easier a decade ago" just yet.


Fighters: A long time has passed from when I first thought "How do you do that thing where E. Honda raises his arms and doesn't take damage? I read the manual... (apparently not thoroughly enough)". With the wonderful world of priority, autoguard, supers, overheads, mixups, etc. exposed to me, I laugh at my old self.

RPGs: First playing Final Fantasy VI, the quote I remember stating repeatedly was "it's really really hard to get used to, but it's very fun when you do". Of course, I was mindlessly going to "attack" without having the experience of taking advantage of and memorizing elemental weaknesses, knowing what everyone's skill did, and such.

Sidescolling/topdown shooters: Charging gung-ho forward and pressing the shoot button repeatedly isn't always the best thing to do, especially when I didn't even try to dodge anything. Twitching ever so slightly and laying back is.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

RPG- Better when I was younger. I ended up grinding since I sucked at puzzle crap.

Side Shooters- Way better when I was younger. I think everyone can agree to this. When you are older, you think "harder" over simple little things.

Shooters- Better now... I used to panic when I ever I see a guy face up close.

Rythem Based games- better now, but PIU... kicked ass when I was younger.

How ya doing, buddy?

Looking at my NES games, I only have about 20 of them. So when I was a little kid, there was a period of time where I maybe only owned 10 games. And when I played games, it was always those ten games. Now, I own something like 150 games? Some games I'll go a few years without touching. It helped that when I was a kid, I would be playing the same games all the time, so I got very skilled at those few games.

But I do think I am a better gamer now than I was as a kid. My understanding of game mechanics and design in general is a lot better, so even in games I haven't played before, I can usually figure out which path to take or how enemies will respond quickly.

Most amazing jew boots

I should mention that I still have some of my ability for Video Games. My wife brought over PRincess peach or whatever it was called for help with a boss and then one of the levels. I had no problems with either.

I have really found that it takes games like Zelda Minish Cap (again, a 2D game) or Phoenix Wright to keep my interest and have me actually want to beat it.

FELIPE NO

I'll just say that I had the time, patience and more or less concentration back in the day to actually sit in front of the TV until either I got sick of it or I beat it. I didn't own a lot of games so renting and borrowing from friends game me not a whole lot of time to mess around.

Now a days I start a lot of games and looking back I didn't do much with them and are now unfinished.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I think I'm a lot better at games as I've gotten older, but I definitely lack the patience I once had. I'm not sure which is better. =P I guess that single minded focus just came from being younger. Either way, I'm still quite happy to be playing games and throughly enjoy them.

For example, I was pretty awful when I tried to play Megaman games, so I skipped out on a lot of fun 'cause I sucked so much. I've been playing Megaman X recently and I uh can actually playing it without dying all the time. I'm still pretty bad at action games, but I get frustrated too easily to get any better. >.>

Jam it back in, in the dark.

When I was young I used to be able to kill a Mewtwo with my Pidgey. Contrarily, now I can't even kill a Pidgey with my Mewtwo.

Other than the mind blowing learning curve of teh Pokemon games, I think I've gotten better at games as I've gotten older. Well, at least I have with RPGs. I still find some platformers just as challenging as I did when I was a kid...

There's nowhere I can't reach.

As I read of us having all these unfinished games, I do wonder if any of us will seriously sit down one day/week/month/year and just go through our collections. As mentioned by me and others, patience seems to decrease as we grow older but the size of our game collection (and the number of games we get within a period of time) increases.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I tried once, and actually got within 20 or so games from being done, but then I got lazy and that number got right back to where it started originally. Sometimes I wonder why I even buy so many games when I don't even play through a third of them.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I've gotten both better and worse at videogames. I mean, I'm a million times better at RPGs, for example, because I can do the puzzles and whatnot, and can get through stuff without walkthroughs or power leveling. But, at the same time, I'm horrible at platformers now. I guess it's my dismal reaction time... but, I can't even beat Super Mario anymore...

So, it's kinda both ways for me.

As for going through the collection thing... that's kinda what I'm doing now, since I have no money to buy games and I still have plenty of games I need to beat.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Personally, I think it depends on the genre. When I was younger, I didn't take the time to memorize patterns or find out the elemental weaknesses of each enemy. I was more of a one trick pony kind of gamer. If I found something that worked, then I would use it no matter what.

While I have improved at fighting games, I'm horrible with games like Mario. I just don't have the paitence that I used to. I used to be willing to try to get past a stage over and over, mainly because I didn't know when I would get a new game. I had to stretch the experience out as far as I could.

I'm just happy that games still interest me after all of these years.

-Pb

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I am too important to use the default text color.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Tube

I am too important to use the default text color.

You forgot to sign the note. Which is very important. Even though your avatar and name are large and clearly visible to the left of your post.


-Denicalis


What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Well when I was younger, I used to be good at platformer's and fighting games. Now I just suck at it, for example I was trying to play street fighter the other day and I sucked at it. Now if this was back when I was little, I'd be beasting in the game. Back then if I played a fighting game I'd memorize the moves like instantly, now I can't really memorize it that well so thats why I can't use a special move and die like 999 times.

I guess it has to do with the type of games that are being made these days. Ever since I got my PS2 I was playing the type of games that I never played before or would want to and thats because I was a Nintendo fanboy. So I pretty much went from platformers and fighting games to RPG, shooters, action and adventure games.

So I've been playing these genres for a while no so when I go to play an old game, I'll play them at a much faster speed than I would before which will result in me falling down in a damn ocean or lake and dying.


Damn I've even forgotten how to do a damn haduken or w/e that fire blast of Ryu's was called.

Jam it back in, in the dark.