“You kids wouldn’t last two minutes in a real game!” says Cranky Kong. How true are these foreshadowing words of the old-age individual.
We all know Nintendo’s first hit was Super Mario Brothers for the NES. A classic and perfect game in every aspect. But when you think about it, this game was not easy by any means whatsoever. I mean, as a 6 year old when I first acquired this masterpiece, it took me many MONTHS to even get to the 8th-world, and even longer to actually beat the game. Although there were instructions in the manual, not many people read them. They figured it out themselves without any fancy bylines telling them every move to make in the early stages of the game, while dishing out hints and tips along the way. If you didn’t make it across the big gap in the first level you thought, “Hm..maybe if I get a running start?”. This is something that most games try to avoid, making the gamer THINK.”
Let’s shift gears (no pun intended) to discuss the Mario Kart series. Recently Nintendo released “Mario Kart Wii”. This features an actual steering wheel instead of an analog stick, and most everything about the game is wonderful, but I wonder, Could a kid who plays this game and can win all the cups do the same in Super Mario Kart for the SNES? In the original SNES version didn’t the computer DODGE your attacks often and besides the red shell wasn’t it VERY hard to hit a racer? And don’t even get me started on the original Rainbow Road track. Boy, was that a doozy to win in 150cc, even now!
Has anyone played a recent Mario Party game? In MP1 you would burn fat playing some of the mini-games in there. Now, in the Mario Party 9 era, you don’t see as many of these “Skateboard Scamper” or “Balloon Burst”-type games that were actually difficult to beat the computer at!
And has anybody compared Super Mario Galaxy to Super Mario 64? In Galaxy they practically told you where everything was whilst 64 gave you a 5 or 6 word phrase to hint you how to obtain a star in a massive level. It seems as if games these days contain way too much information in them. Why can’t they let the gamer play, figure it out himself, and then let him feel the satisfaction from doing so? I spent WEEKS trying to figure out the “Make Wiggler Squirm!” star in SM64. Once I discovered that you had to ground-pound the pool of water at the top of mountain and then shrink to go down the hole beneath the water, I had this amazing rush of “OOHHHH!!!”. You just don’t get those moments anymore with Nintendo games.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go watch my 6-year old sister win a cup in Mario Kart Wii.
July 11th, 2010 at 11:21 pm
So true. I totally think that Galaxy guides you along a path with never-go-back launch stars, while 64 had huge worlds that were almost the same with each star. I mean, I beat Galaxy 2 in about a month or two but I still haven’t beaten 64 or the longer 64 DS for that matter.
July 18th, 2010 at 5:23 am
Ever hear of Nintendo Hard? It refers to how bloody hard the old NES games are. It’s on TVTropes, check it out sometime.
October 6th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
Nintendo has always been a family-friendly, let’s-appeal-to-a-common-denominator, the-Wii-was-meant-for-everyone sort of organization — they just have lost some of the facade that kept that fact somewhat hidden, I believe. I definitely agree with the basic point here (some NES games were rather difficult, many modern games are easier, and Mario games in particular seemed to have gotten easier), but I also wonder: Could someone who had mastered Super Mario Kart transfer those skills to easily to a Wii Kart title?
… okay, yeah, they probably could. Meh.
October 22nd, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Any body think about the fact that nintendo might still have that itch about the video game crash of ’83 and trying to make their games easier so they don’t lose their spot in the market.
January 17th, 2011 at 1:54 pm
I don’t think Nintendo is getting too easy at all. New SMB Wii is killer, especially in the sercet areas. SMG2 isn’t as hard as Nintendo Hard, but it’s definitely better than SMG1 in difficulty! I think over the past 2 years, since after Punch-Out Wii, Ninty’s been stepping up their game to address this. IMO at least.
March 22nd, 2011 at 4:52 pm
Games have to be hard to be fun really, if you play a game and complete in the first hour then that was no fun.
But i do think that more recent games are much easier.
April 2nd, 2011 at 1:54 pm
I do agree with you that games are getting easier, but don’t you ever get it that when you’re struggling with a game that you just stop playing it? I think that’s what nintendo have realised so they’ve made it easier. Also, some of the games they publish are hard, like Donkey Kong country returns or New super Mario Bros. wii. They still make it suitable for youngsters though as there’s a help box for when you die about 7 times in a row.
September 24th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
I literally jumped out of my chair and danced after rdeinag this!
June 3rd, 2012 at 9:11 am
I only own a NES and SNES and PS2. Most of my gaming collection is for the NES. I don’t own a Wii but have played it a few times. I agree that the old NES games can be more of a challenge. I’m so lucky that I grew up in the NES era. I wouldn’t want it any other way. At age 26 I’m still lurking around looking for new games to add to my NES collection. I don’t think it’ll ever get old. I’m in it for life.