Old School vs. New School Difficulty
When I was a kid, games were rooted in the arcade tradition of trying to steal quarters from you, designed to get you to pump more money into the coin slot. The developer did not want you to win. They wanted to tease you with the possibility of victory before slamming your face into the dirt and taking more of your money.
One hit deaths, enemies on the edge of platforms, Battletoads, crippling slowdown; these were all designed to kill you. Repeatedly. And without mercy.
Games from the old school era are ludicrously difficult compared to most modern games. For a fun little test, I offered a prize to any kid that could beat the first level of Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts. Dozens of kids took their shot. That prize remains unclaimed. Many complained that the game was unfair. Others didn’t understand why the game was so mean. I don’t want to sound like the old man who doesn’t like kids on his lawn, but kids today were brought up when the center of the gaming universe had shifted from the arcade to the console.
With this shift, developers were no longer in the business of getting you to pump in more quarters. The business model had shifted and the design philosophy shifted with it. Developers began looking to movies for their inspiration. They have a story to tell and they actually want you to see it. Do you think Blaster Master cared if you were reunited with your pet frog? You were lucky to have that cheeseburger with the President in Bad Dudes. More often than not, your reward for surviving incredibly cheap enemies and unfairly placed spike pits was a single screen with the message, “A winner is you! Game Over. Would you like to Play Again?” If you think the ending of Halo 2 sucked, try beating Karnov and seeing, “Congratulations!! The End.”
Even cutesy looking games like Little Nemo would slam your face into the ground repeatedly. It was as if no one understood how to make games for kids that didn’t feature death around every turn. Kids’ games from yesteryear are often tougher than a lot of grown up modern games. It’s a little embarrassing when Chip and Dale’s Rescue Rangers are pummeling your platforming skills into a fine powder that the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game snorts right up.
These days, developers are not nearly as cruel. For the most part, they want you to win. However, there are still difficult games out there: the Call of Duty series on veteran, Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry 3, and God of War 2 on Titan. These games bring the pain like Method Man (youtube it), they can be controller throwingly difficult, and if throwingly wasn’t already a word, it is now.
I have gotten so frustrated at the cheating, Nazi sharpshooters in Call of Duty World at War that I have literally punched myself. Hard. This self flagellation is made all the worse by the fact that I chose this level of difficulty, I had to be a macho idiot, and instead of enjoying my game, I hate every second I spend getting shot in the face from a mile away. My only fun with these unbelievably tough games comes from victory.
There are still tough games out there, but the overall level of difficulty has taken a plunge. The average modern game is much, much easier than just about any old school game. Most kids just rock through their games on easy and never know the punishment that we old timers were subjected to. On the other hand, they don’t get that glorious feeling that only comes from defeating a ridiculously unfair boss battle. They won’t have the searing memories of making it to the end of Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts and being told, “Hey, go back to the beginning and start all over so we can pad the length of this game a bit.”
In the end, it is probably better now that developers let us choose if we want to get our faces annihilated or if we want to walk through the park picking daisies.
Tags: Battletoads, difficulty, old games, retro games, retro gaming, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts
This entry was posted on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 5:00 am and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 26th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Jesse "Main Finger" Gregory says:interestingly we just happen to get on a slight Super Ghouls n Ghosts tangent on episode 37 of barrel roll (will be posted tomorrow)
October 26th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Jonah "spambot" Gregory says:As much as I like a lot of old school games, I do like how most modern games give you a choice in the matter.
If I’ve rented something, or am just playing for the story, I don’t want to have to replay a level a billion times, or run out of lives/continues and have to start the whole game over.
Like you mentioned in the article, this is often the old arcade game mindset that doesn’t really translate to the home experience.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Michelle says:I think the main difference between older hard games, and newer ones is that my budge for games when I was young was small so christ if I bought the hardest game in the world god it was mine and I was going to master it.
I just plain don’t have the time for that anymore. I’ll buckle at the first sign of difficulty these days if its not a genre I enjoy - or I’ll plain turn off and play something else, life’s too short to play a game that punishes me!
Most recent case in point - Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, I was loving that game until I reached Tigrex, now I am stuck there, and I my desire to play died along with my patience on my 100th-something death.
12 year old me, would still be out there trying…
October 26th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Rhythmroo says:It’s funny when I look back at my pre-teen years compared to my early twenties.
When I was younger, I used to play games no matter how many times I die and do it until I won. I would be patient and deal with it.
Today, If I can’t beat something that maybe should have taken be 15 minutes within half an hour, I just dump the game.
It’s not that I’m more critical with the games of today and dislike them or get bored, no not all. It was my lack of time I had to play a game. I don’t want to play a game that’s going to hand my butt back to me on a rusty platter and ask me to try again. I don’t have the time to take another whack at something, I’m either busy with school…or school! Music is a pretty demanding field with time, so I have to submit to it.
If a[n RPG] game requires level grinding, or is a rouge type, screw it! I wish I could play them, but I don’t have the time.
Call me a wuss, but I’ll play a game on easy so I can get through it. I play games more than 50% of the time for the music anyways, other half is story and/or gameplay.
In other words: Time is always against you/me.
October 28th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Anigmal says:I know this feeling all to well. Games today are just getting easier and easier. As time ticks by the next big game is going to be Push the Button, Win the Game! It will involve a giant red button that says push me in a big open room. Sure, you can walk around and enjoy the nice texture mapping on the walls and the delicious character designs, but in the the end all you must do is walk up, press the button, and then a sign will pop up and say “Congratulations! A winner is you! Now please go back and try again on the super hard level where we have placed rounded speed bumps for an even harder challenge!”
On a side note: This is why I tend to play games, as soon as I get them (for the most part), on the hardest difficulty it will allow me to. I have very little time and patience to play through a game twice or more to enjoy all the different difficulties. I would rather the game be a challenge to me as I play through it then a tiptoe through the tulips. The enjoyment and proud feeling I get from playing through a game on its hardest difficulty is only comparable to that of beating something on one of the old school consoles. And I find it fun and nostalgic to have my face slapped by a depth charge by a game. That’s what I grew up on and that’s how I like it.
October 28th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Jesse "Main Finger" Gregory says:I always play games on Normal the very first time, but there have been a few games that I really wished I had bumped it up to hard.
November 30th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Jeffrey L. Wilson says:This is going to sound pretty insane, but I -miss- the slowdown that old games had. As a longtime shooter fan, the slowdown saved my ass on many an occasion; it was the bullet time of my youth. I think aI would’ve chewed through Mars Matrix with some slowdown.