Playing games you bought when you were 12 and never finished, only to find they are easy

[NewGeekPhilosopher]

Ok, so I was playing Advance Wars (the original GBA version) and I beat a mission that stymied me for eight years, eight long years I never touched the game because I could never beat that mission... but now... I beat it with an S Rank. For years I have played Nintendo handheld games, and it feels natural to me now in a way that it didn't before. Maybe I might even beat Metroid Fusion without my twin brother's help this time.

I dunno, maybe my stamina's been up and I can play a game for longer if I really want to, it's just in the bad old days I spent more time fussing over giving up if a game was too hard and letting my two minutes older twin bro beat it for me. I know, it's as lame as it sounds. Let's just say I was a wussy gamer back then.

Eight years later I actually have staying power with games, and games I bought years ago still present a reasonable challenge but nonetheless I can still beat them a lot easier than I used to. I used to get excited that Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney was the first game I ever beat in full, but there's all these halfway finished games I never beat which I've been archiving since 2002. Has this ever happened to you? Maybe it's not just a 1990s born consumerism thing, but when you find yourself playing games you never finished but bought as a child, does it make you feel how far you've come as a gamer?

 

[NeedAUserName]

Well I was eight, but in GTAIII I couldn't do the sniper mission that resulted in being able to leave the first island. Then i retried it recently and it was so easy. Also in GTA San Andreas, the pilot training and one of Zeros last missions both had me stumped, then again recently, easy as hell.

 

[Chimney]

I got Mega Man X when I was 5 or 6 and played it for hours until finally getting to Sigma (the last boss for those of you who don't know) and instead of fighting him straight you first must fight his dog, then him, and finally him in a second stronger form. This was far too much for me as a kid so I simply gave up.

Recently though I went back and played through the entire game and find it easy now. Their are plenty other games like it that I will go back and beat at some point, but for now that's the only one ive actually beaten.

 

[shansta619]

half life 1, i couldnt beat it with cheats, now i beat it somewhat easily without cheats of course

 

[toxic_waster]

Medal of honor: rising sun had me stuck for so many years when i was young, i gave up a long time ago. only about late last year did i pop it in again and quickly finish the rest of it in about 2 hours... damn!

 

[Lios]

Tekken 2, Saga Frontier, Final Fantasy 8, and Ghost Recon.


However, quite in the opposite direction, all the Twisted Metal games seem to be harder to me now.

 

[Brotherofwill]

Doom, I was so afraid of that game and got my arse kicked so hard. Now I can beat it on the hardest setting.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Doom, I was so afraid of that game and got my arse kicked so hard. Now I can beat it on the hardest setting.

I've been playing this all day... god it's so much fun, and yep not as hard as I remember, but then again I'm only on the shores of hell chapter, it'll probably get much tougher... bring it on demon scum...

 

[Crystal Cuckoo]

Spyro: Season of Ice (GBA)
I had a LOT of trouble getting past the first few levels.
4 years later, I pick up the game again, and finish the whole thing in one day.
Good game, too.

 

[Altorin]

I got Mega Man X when I was 5 or 6 and played it for hours until finally getting to Sigma (the last boss for those of you who don't know) and instead of fighting him straight you first must fight his dog, then him, and finally him in a second stronger form. This was far too much for me as a kid so I simply gave up.

Recently though I went back and played through the entire game and find it easy now. Their are plenty other games like it that I will go back and beat at some point, but for now that's the only one ive actually beaten.

The first Mega Man X I managed to beat as a kid (although when I was that age, Mega Man 1 was the Mega Man I played, so I played X at about 12).. But Mega Man X2... I could not figure out Sigma's Final Form in X2, and I couldn't beat Sigma's first form in X3..

I did beat Uniracers Gold on every Circuit as a kid, but it was a HUGE endeavor took me weeks and weeks and weeks.. I picked it up recently for nostalgia sake and I cleared it in about 4 days.

Also, I managed to beat Mega Man 2-3 as a kid no problem, but I can't beat them now without state saving.

 

[Reep]

I have never, ever finished Super Mario 64, i got 115/120 stars and was so so close to full completion. Now really wish i could finish it because i sold my Nintendo 64 years ago.

 

[Yokomitsu]

Funny this thread was here i was just thinking about, how hard i thought zelda OOT was and now i can pass the whole thing in about 2 days. lol

 

[deletemeplease107]

I really really REALLY want to finish Harvest moon A Wonderful Life for the GC.
Its one of the few gamecube games ive saved. I havent played it for like 5 years..

Its just soo damn long...

 

[Meado]

An old Asterix and Obelix game on the Master System. I got rid of the thing years ago, but before I did, I beat that ***** of a game. So fraking easy.

 

[Beefcakes]

Funny this thread was here i was just thinking about, how hard i thought zelda OOT was and now i can pass the whole thing in about 2 days. lol

Yeah, I never found OOT hard, but then again I haven't played it recently to compare...
I remember not being patient enough to raise pokemon, but then a few years later it was a breeze!
Now it must be super-easy, what it being a few more years later on and all...

 

[Biek]

I had that with a couple of really old gameboy games I used to own. sweet nostalgia.

For example, when I was little I played Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening without understanding english very well. It was still a wonderful game when I picked it up later.

 

[rokudan]

the 2nd Zelda game.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Metroid Prime springs to mind, I was actually 12 at the time. I got stuck at the final boss, tried it dozens of times and kept failing. I ragequitted and didn't touch the game again untill 2 years later Metroid Prime 2 released. I bought that one, but before I fired it up I just HAD to finish the first Metroid Prime. I then killed the final boss in 1 go, and was shocked. I still wouldn't call that fight easy, since it wasn't, but I didn't even have to restart it once. Now, 5 years later, I still love both games to death and fire them up occasionally.