hard nes games

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goku4eternity

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Apr 13, 2013
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Castlevania for the NES. I mean really this game has hearts in it but the hearts don't heal you, the only thing that heals you is a porkchop which their is only one of these in the 1st level. Why does simon jump backwards when he gets hit by any of the enemies? Than their are hunchbacks that jump all over the place. Than you have medusa heads and bats that fly across the screen which I don't think you can duck or jump over these enemies, so you can only attack them. And 1 level has medusa heads coming at you from the right direction and the left direction. Why do both enemies have to attack you from both the left and the right? And why do the knights take 9 hits to kill? And to kill Dracula you need to have as many hearts as you can get or he is going to be not easy to kill. And than they give you an invincibility potion that lasts for maybe only 3 seconds. You have to duck under enemy fireballs. And their are no passwords in this game. No way to save the game. And if you fall into a pit you instantly die. And when you fight Dracula you have to jump over 3 moving fireballs. You can't move while jumping. Some of the enemies will get rid of half your life if they hit you. Take a look at the way each level is laid out ? perfectly so, as if to ensure that every single touch of your controller is perfectly timed. The whip has a delay. This is a game that takes TIMING and SKILL that is LEARNED through trial and error. That is what made the game so great. Every level and boss has a pattern. This is a frustrating game.
 

PFCboom

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Sep 20, 2012
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...
dot dot dot
wut?
Okay, I'm not sure if...
Wait.
Wait.
Wait wait.

Alright, I think I got it. But I'm still confused.
See, what you described is technically true, but not entirely accurate. Learning how to progress through a game through trial and error isn't really hard, just time-consuming, and the only way you can truly fail is through attrition.
It's like the Dragon's Lair game, or any number of (air-quote) impossible (air-quote) games that only require brute force repetition and memorizing where the hazards are.
So it's true that Castlevania was hard, but only because it was deliberately designed to basically require that the player walk a very specific path to the end of the level. It's artificial difficulty, as exhibited by Dracula having such a wide-spread attack, knights being such damage sponges, some mobs taking off half your life, and so on. And the restricted movements? Huge knockback from every little tap? That's bad game design, because Mario had absolutely no problem jumping at an angle. Jumpman from Donkey Kong had no problem jumping at an angle.

So... Not hard. Just cheap, and bad. Castlevania was not a very good game. And no, I don't think I ever played it, personally, I'm pretty sure my very first Castlevania game was the third one.

You want a hard NES game? One that's actually good? Gargoyle's Quest II. Ye flipping gods, that was a good game. Tight NES platforming and action at its very best. And every time I died, I knew it was because I messed up, and I needed to play better. I bet there's only a handful of people who've played Gargoyle's Quest II, but maybe know its successor for the SNES: Demon's Crest. Just as good.