As I often do I was playing my NES a few days ago. The game of the day was The Legend of Kage. If you're not familiar, it's an arcade port in which you control a ninja running through some scrolling stages battling other ninjas and wizards to save a princess. All of that sounds great, but in reality it's a pretty bad game. The controls are not up to the standards of the time, it looks pretty generic, the sound is awful, enemy spawns are seemingly random, lots of cheap deaths, and there is no real depth to the game beyond the typical arcade fair of "play until you die". My wife watched for a few minutes and saw me reset the first level a dozen times as I just tried to learn how the game operated and made a comment that went something this "I'm frustrated just watching you play. I don't understand how you can find enjoyment in this." I've often thought there is some value in a person getting outside their comfort zone even in their hobbies, so I'm going to try and finally put that into words here.
