Big time. They were also really well designed to allow progression if you came back and started again. They really knew how to design them to extract maximum cash.
There was a very popular game in our local arcade called “Toki”. I once made it to the last level on one credit (unfortunately didn’t complete it). The entire arcade gathered around to cheer me on.
Another time myself and a good friend finished “Time Crisis” on a single credit in two player mode on a machine that was in our college. Again, massive crowd. People really got joy from watching. It was great. :)
I think you’re right. I’ve played the arcade version too, and it’s truly brutal, but most of my attempts have been on my NES. I don’t know how similar the port is.
The arcade version was brutally difficult. Brutally! They took that difficulty to some of the 8 bit ports of it (friend of mine had it on an Amstrad CPC 464) so I never really got much fun out of that game unfortunately.
Don’t you have to beat it a second time with some dogshit weapon too? And if you lose the weapon or die it’s over because you can’t get it back or something. Or am I mixing that up with super ghouls n ghosts?
Man, I remember my best friend and I got pretty good at reaching the first ending, but we never managed to get the secret ending. Trying to beat the latter levels with that weapon was hell
It’s funny, I generally hate hard games, but I’m very fond of Ghosts 'n Goblins (both the arcade and NES versions) and Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts due to playing them so much in my childhood.
I love that Fallout is now thought of as a first-person game, but it started as a turn-based isometric team RPG in 1997 which was, itself, a near-remake of a 1988 game, which I spent hours playing as a kid.
They’re amazing. I highly recommend it if you like games in that style. The first two Baldur’s Gates were also like that (I haven’t played the latest).
I mean, they're useful instructions. How often at the time did you need to take a photo of the tv? And you were likely not going to know how the photo looked until you got it developed, so it's important that you get the photo right the first time, because there may not be a second chance, since you'll have to run down to the pharmacy, grocery store, or wherever you get your photos developed, and wait for them to come back to see that you messed it up or not, and by then, your parents may have turned the console off.
I was well into adulthood when that came out. If you want to make me feel old, remind me that the Atari 5200 came out 42 years ago. And almost no one bought it. And the people who did regretted it. And now it’s only old people like me who remember it even existed.
Don’t think that’s actually true, though. Edit: top selling games of 2023. Pretty sure the idea that “old games were higher quality” is a example of a cognitive bias, too. I say this as someone that’s been gaming since the 80s.
Agreed. I loved and still love Megaman X. Just replayed it recently and it’s remarkably short. I recall it costing near $70 when we got it. People would be rioting if such a short linear game came out at that price point today, which is why it’s bundled with 3 other games for $20 now.
The people who are vocal and discuss games on the internet are a small fraction of the population that actually buys games. Doesn’t mean there isn’t a market for that stuff. Gaming market is bigger than it’s ever been. Direct delivery makes it incredibly easy for small indie devs to get their games out there. But that’s not the stuff that’s making the most money
Those are new games, right? Okay I actually looked. That article is probably bullshit.
They’re only counting triple-A games and they’re including sports games. Who the hell is actually buying sports games? It’s the same game every year with nothing new really.
I don’t believe that games like Elden ring, mario kart or Jedi survivor aren’t on the top of every chart either.
I just kinds skimmed the article, did they count steam sales? mom-and-pop game stores that sell older games?
I think it’s like old songs, you remember the good ones, discuss them with people, and preserve them. The crap from then is mostly forgotten, so it only appears that they were all great.
Forget Shadow, I was there when ICO was first released. Probably even within a month (if not week) of it’s official release. At the time it looked like no other game. Very atmospheric and contemplative.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Portal 3 is released at some point. I’m skeptical, but I’m not outruling it. The game is whacky enough that there are probably a lot of interesting and cool things that can be implemented into a worthy successor.
I am, on the other hand, utterly convinced that HL3 is not going to happen. The previous two were groundbreaking, stretching limits of what one can do with a physics engine. I’m having a hard time imagining that it can be pulled off a 3rd time, simply because I am unable to imagine any sory of content that would all: a) fit with the series so that it still feels like a HL game
b) interesting enough to allow for the innovation that the previous two games had
c) good enough to justify a new game rather than just a tech demo
I sincerely hope that my opinion on the matter is simply a matter of failure of imagine, and that a good HL successor is released at some point, but sadly I think I’m right on this one.
Half-Life: Alyx is mostly what I hoped we’d get from HL3, inasmuch as it hits your points a & b for sure, and IMHO c (though I know that’s not agreed on by everyone). It had great action and expository setpieces (avoiding spoilers), and the (albeit relatively simple) puzzles definitely added something to Half-Life that really worked for me.
Unfortunately it didn’t solve all VR issues (melee being an obvious one), and not least of which the cost. I played it on a cheap (~$100), janky old WMR headset, but not everyone can do that without vomiting, so a great PC and good headset are a hefty price, which is probably the biggest hurdle for a full-scale 3 in VR. Especially considering there just aren’t many other games worth making that investment in, IMHO. I played the hell out of Alyx, a little of a few other games…but Alyx was the pinnacle of what VR could do for me.
Alyx did what most Valve games do, it advanced the industry. It is absolutely a half life game and it fits but it isn’t HL3. It isn’t that grandiose.
For people who accuse it of being a glorified tech demo, well, that’s exactly what Half Life 1 and 2 are. The sole reason for the existence of HL2 is just to sell the source engine to devs and to push Steam forward. It is a tech demo. Its puzzles are tech demos.
What Alyx did is implement proper gunplay and looting mechanics and really showcased how possible it is to tell a story in VR without taking your POV from you. I’d argue that there still isn’t a single VR game that nails one of the foundational pillars of Alyx as much as Valve did.
IIRC, Valve pretty much admitted that they really have no interest in making games anymore, unless they have a interesting technology to play with and learn, and the game is an excuse for that.
Thats why Alyx got made, cause they wanted to play with VR.
I only ever beat it back in the day by using the game guide lol! That was long enough ago that the game guide was an actual paper book I had to find at a store and pay real money for! Well, my mom paid for it anyway lol
My mom liked playing Nintendo games as much as I did so if there was a game she wanted to see the end of we would end up getting a Nintendo Power or a standalone game guide that was supposedly purchased for me lol
I didn’t have a guide, but got stuck for days at the part where you have to super bomb the glass tube. I just did it out of desperation and couldn’t believe it worked! A similar thing happened 5 years earlier in Simon’s Quest when you have to hold crouch while holding the blue crystal. Come to think of it, Super Metroid might just be the last game in which I got stuck like that before I had access to the internet to look these things up.
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