Trick to getting through less straightforward old school games?

[DarklordKyo]

There are a number of classics from the NES and Game Boy that I never really went out of my way to get through, or even tried for that matter. In particular, I was thinking of trying out the original Blaster Master before Zero (since Zero is more of a composite between Blaster Master and Metafight from what I heard).

The problem that kept me from doing so is that these old school games tend to not have maps, and I've been spoiled by modern games having map systems. Anyone have any tips on not getting too lost in some of the less straightforward NES-era classics? (outside of drawing a real life map, that seems a bit too tedious).

 

[ryan_cs]

I use Google to look up maps, that's what I did when I first played the original Zelda. Other than that I'll probably read a walkthrough if it gets too hard or confusing, and maybe use cheats.

 

[Marik2]

Just get your phone to display the maps and a walk through that helps cut out most of the grind

 

[Kyrian007]

Ahh, the good old days of drawing maps. In the days before games held your hand and told you exactly where to go and it was impossible to fail. In the days where you actually had to be good to finish a game.

I miss challenge sometimes. Some people lauded Dark Souls as a "challenge" and it had cocky idiots talking about "git gud." Please... I KO'd Tyson on the NES. As awesome as Dark Souls is, its combat maybe gets close to Punch Out level difficulty... maybe.

I wish games dared to be hard enough to make someone draw a map these days. Of course these days I don't have the free time a kid does to do things like draw maps and take notes playing games. And unfortunately that's where the "trick" is. The old school games required a commitment to get through. Of time and will. Of course young people have the time, but when you can just get a modern game and plow through it in about 5 or 6 hours for a semblance of a feeling of accomplishment... the necessary will is a rarer commodity.

Or, maybe I was just a nerd with too much time on his hands back then. Either way I can't find my game notes for the Ultima games or any of the SSI D&D games if those would have helped.

 

[pookie101]

alot of old rpgs were designed to be played with the player becoming very close friends with a pile of graph paper so you can either look them up online and keep them near by on a tablet or go old school and use those mystical things called pencils and paper

the only tip i would say is needed for any old school game is read the manual. you were screwed if you didnt and modern games have spoiled players with friendly tutorials and stuff that allows you to actually play without a university course beforehand.. SPOILT I SAY !