Kids of Today Struggling with Super Metroid

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest.

'Nuff said.

[Techie413]

It's not just gamers these days.  It's society as a whole that wants a quick solution, and rightfully so.  Lives have gotten so much more complicated than generations past, and this has been reported on many times.  I guess you can't blame the kids for adopting this mentality.  But then companies have catered to the quick fix.  News organizations with 30 second reports, 15 minute insurance quotes, and game creators with their checkpoints and go-this-way arrows.  Skylanders allows you to buy a key to unlock a puzzle without solving it.  This is what new gamers are used to.

Although I'm part of the NES/SNES generation and want to feel that "kids today have it so good", I tend to feel a little pity that they don't get to experience the struggles, the constant re-attempts to pass a level, and then the satisfaction of finally being able to beat a game.  Remember when your NES stayed turned-on for days at a time, because there was no save?  Memories.  These days most games only get a single play through, and then they are forgotten on the shelf or traded-in for another.

I tend to agree with Crabby.  We aren't better gamers, the old bastards that we are, but enjoyed what we had the best that we could.  And current gen gamers are not used to the differences, just like I have to remember the auto-save feature exists now. 

[techwizard]

just like I have to remember the auto-save feature exists now. 

i still don't trust auto-save, most of the time i re-load my file after quitting to make sure i didn't lose anything.

[Fleach]

I agree with Techie's comment. Today's world is so fast paced and unnecessarily complicated. Moreover, the younger generation just isn't reading as much; so forcing them to read a manual to understand gameplay and mechanics just isn't going to happen. An extention of fewer readers is a weaker imagination that would allow out of the box thinking and experimentation.

The older games worked on a paradigm of trial and error, challenge and reward. Modern games aren't too different. It's just that the players give up after not accomplishing something on the first attempt. No instantaneous rewards turn people off.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

Definitely with you on the imagination portion of it. I grew up on text-based adventures and MUDs, and the quests required a lot of imagination and thought because most of them were written at the beginning of the game's lifespan. Many younger players had no clue where to go, and often times would give up on the quests and gripe because they were too hard when all you had to do was type "search" - not even searching particular keywords!

[Leynos]

Anyone ever draw their own maps as a kid when playing certain games? I also remember when playing Zelda OoT having a notebook and writing down every song as I learned them. Think I still have it.

Heck on Master System Miracle Warriors I think came with a figure and a big fold out map. Was an RPG and the world was so large it needed a physical map and figure so you place your figure where you are in the game. Skyrim of it's day.

[Crabmaster2000]

Anyone ever draw their own maps as a kid when playing certain games? I also remember when playing Zelda OoT having a notebook and writing down every song as I learned them. Think I still have it.

Heck on Master System Miracle Warriors I think came with a figure and a big fold out map. Was an RPG and the world was so large it needed a physical map and figure so you place your figure where you are in the game. Skyrim of it's day.

I still draw the occasional map as an adult, lol. Last one I remember doing was for Section Z last year.

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

Anyone ever draw their own maps as a kid when playing certain games? I also remember when playing Zelda OoT having a notebook and writing down every song as I learned them. Think I still have it.

Heck on Master System Miracle Warriors I think came with a figure and a big fold out map. Was an RPG and the world was so large it needed a physical map and figure so you place your figure where you are in the game. Skyrim of it's day.

I did for the original Zelda.

[SirPsycho]

I still draw the occasional map as an adult, lol. Last one I remember doing was for Section Z last year.

I think I'm too young to be in the map drawing generation but I have done it for older games like first person RPGs. Somewhere, in a box at home, I have maps drawn out for the first two Shin Megami Tensei games that I can remember, who knows what I've forgotten. If I didn't have the internet I would definitely need to draw Phantasy Star maps as well.

EDIT: I have a grid map for Shining in the Darkness somewhere.

[Leynos]

The cool kids in the 80's had Nintendo Power. Rest of us had to figure it out lol

[Am4zingGam3r]

Time to call the Nintendo Power hotline....oh....wait.

This had me ROFL

[Necrosaro]

I can remember writing a letter to Sierra On-Line's hint department back in the day to help me out with King's Quest I and King's Quest IV, back before hint books started becoming a niche business for retailers. Of course, that's PC, not console, but same principle.

Is it bad that I STILL can't beat the Mega Man games? Like, ANY of them? Or Castlevania and Castlevania 3 US?

[Raidou]

Is it bad that I STILL can't beat the Mega Man games? Like, ANY of them? Or Castlevania and Castlevania 3 US?

I hope not- I think I beat MM2 and MM6 without rampant cheating but that's it.

[JSoup]

Maybe I'm just too forgiving of this, but I don't see the issue. I've played through Super Metroid a few times and I still have "I have no memory of this place" moments where I completely brick on what to do.

[wildbil52]

Maybe I'm just too forgiving of this, but I don't see the issue. I've played through Super Metroid a few times and I still have "I have no memory of this place" moments where I completely brick on what to do.

I don't have any issue with getting stuck either, I get stuck all the time.  It's just an interesting by product of the instantly accessible solution on the internet that younger gamers are less prone to use their own problem solving skills instead of looking online for the answer as soon as they hit a roadblock.