Earthworm Jim and several Sonic games also had really difficult underwater sections with traumatizing drowning music and timers. They really wanted our generation to stay out of the water, huh?
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Submitted 7 months ago by Jezebelley@lemmy.zip to retrogaming@lemmy.world
Comments
CodexArcanum@lemmy.world 7 months ago
RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 7 months ago
99% of the time, hard levels was to prevent people from beating the game when they rented it from a video rental store. The publisher wanted to basically “force” people to buy the game.
KnowledgeableNip@leminal.space 7 months ago
The Sonic drowning music pops in my head randomly during other stressful situations, like my brain has the worst possible soundtrack.
Rakonat@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Years ago when hldj worked on TF2 I had a soundboard I’d play on my main server. Drowining theme is something I’d toss up when I wanted to give people a heart attack
CodexArcanum@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Also, I learned to give up on games from the infamous Atari ET game, which was one of the like 3 games at grandma’s house. Even understanding what’s happening on screen is difficult, let alone figuring out what you’re supposed to do.
torknorggren@lemm.ee 7 months ago
I figured it out and it was still a huge disappointment. Only worse game was Journey: Escape.
Odo@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I was lucky enough to have the manual for ET lying around. It helps greatly in explaining the game’s bizarre logic (and how to escape the infamous pits). It’s not much weirder than most 2600 games once you read it, provided somebody didn’t throw it out thinking it was useless.
HoustonHenry@lemmy.world 7 months ago
You guys actually had the ET atari game?! I’ve only heard about it 😁
Sabin10@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Actual 80s kids grinded this level until they could make it through without taking damage. When you only owned a half dozen games you got pretty good at all of them.
Stupidmanager@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I only ever had 3 when I was young(11): Mario/duckhunt combo, contra and Zelda. Boy was I excited when I got my Nintendo magazine with the first and second quest walkthrough for Zelda. But around 14 I learned Hollywood video Rented games and I got to play a lot more. This was the only game I rented and never finished cause I couldn’t afford the rental late fee.
theangryseal@lemmy.world 7 months ago
My mom bought me this game when I was little. I got stuck on this level, she tried to help me, decided the game was broken and took it back. She traded it for Mario 3 and I was not disappointed.
Years later I went back and finished this game.
tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 7 months ago
Yeah, this level pops up all the time on “Nintendo hard” (read: unfair difficulty) level lists, but it really wasn’t much of a problem. You would often lose some of your health bar and at worst have to switch out one of the turtles because of low health, but that should’ve been mostly it. The game itself was pretty damn hard overall and there are plenty of unfair jumps, annoying respawning enemies, and mazes to complain about that are all designed to make you redo sections and sap your health, but the dam in particular never really felt like all that much of an issue.
littlecolt@lemm.ee 7 months ago
I didn’t learn that shit. I got incredibly good at this level. It only took a few months.
Skyline969@lemmy.ca 7 months ago
Oh, so that’s what it’s like to access trauma-blocked memories from ages ago. Thanks OP.
givesomefucks@lemmy.world 7 months ago
What?
I remember this game, and this wasn’t anything compared to the time I rented Battletoads for a weekend.
That game taught kids failure
NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 7 months ago
Battletoads is mostly about pattern matching. If you try to react to the speeder levels you literally cannot win because of the patterns and speed.
The bomb defusal levels in TMNT actually have fundamentally broken mechanics (there are plenty of youtubes out there). They are “fair” once you understand those, but it mostly results in a lot of deaths about 30 minutes into a run.
Two very different kinds of “Nintendo Hard” bullshit. Which is probably why I gravitated towards PC games at that age.
thingsiplay@kbin.social 7 months ago
Exactly. Battletoads isn't unfair, its just extremely hard (not different from Dark Souls). It's different kind of hard, compared to Turtles, which had bad controls in example.
dagronslayer@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I agree with your take, but none of these games are as frustrating as Bayou Billy. I wonder if some dev at Konami just hated Americans?
The NES version is harder than the Famicom version; enemies in the beat-'em-up stages are more aggressive and have more health, the player starts the shooting stages with less ammunition, and the driving stages have narrower roads. The driving stages in the Famicom version also give Billy’s jeep a health gauge, allowing it to withstand collision from enemy vehicles and road hazards, a benefit not available in the NES version.
KuroiKaze@lemmy.world 7 months ago
This level is 1,000% trivial compared to the work it takes to get deep into battle toads. I never considered this that hard as a kid compared to what comes later.
ZoopZeZoop@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Yes, the pattern matching is important. There was a sequel to Contra on PS2 (I think) that my friend and I found pretty hard. We learned the patterns of where to be and where/when to aim. Then, we kicked butt. We turned it up to the hardest setting and didn’t really need to adjust much. So, it ended up being really easy at that point. We loved playing that game after we learned the patterns.
teft@startrek.website 7 months ago
Lion King was ten times worse than Battletoads. The developers were told by Disney to make it impossible to beat during the rental period. That game was the first time I rage quit.
FollyDolly@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Oh god that Lion King game. That wildebeest sequence was the first time I experienced tunnel vison. What the godamned fuck Disney?
transientpunk@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
Were you playing it on Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis?
krellor@kbin.social 7 months ago
My favorite was ghosts and goblins, beating it just to find out you have to beat it twice to actually win. That was rough one.
Skyline969@lemmy.ca 7 months ago
And with a very specific weapon that has limited range, and other weapon pickups show up along the way. Grab one, you’re screwed.
SinningStromgald@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I distinctly remember my cousin and I beating Battletoads. The worst part was the boss where you had to throw the adds at the screen to hurt him. Otherwise I have very rosy recalls of the game.
KindredFlare@lemmy.world 7 months ago
That level’s song lives rent-free in my mind. Usually with the “low health” beeping.
jballs@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
Had to go and watch a video of the level. Yep, that music still haunts me.
recapitated@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Every 10 years I think “huh I wonder why I never finished that game”. This was thoroughly blocked from my memory until today.
Aggravationstation@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Ah yes, the NES version of the Kobayashi Maru
ashok36@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Game Genie is a valid battle strategy.
QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I see what you did.
Poppa_Mo@lemmy.world 7 months ago
This entire game had moments that felt impossibly hard. Just seeing this screenshot made me frustratingly angry lol.
TangledHyphae@lemmy.world 7 months ago
That was the first level as a child that I learned true patience, few things can compare.
flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 7 months ago
That level is what teaches you that sometimes things are not built to be fair and are in fact built to frustrate you and make you fail.
xyzzy@lemm.ee 7 months ago
This stage was tough, but it wasn’t unfair. I beat it many times. The next stage, the one with the Turtle Van—that one was tough, mostly because I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Watching long plays of it later, it’s really obvious why I only beat it a few times. The Mechaturtle boss was brutal!
I never did make it past the airport.
krellor@kbin.social 7 months ago
I remember the first time beating the dam level, only to get to the van and be absolutely confused about what to do next. Good times!
KuroiKaze@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Yeah, I am always surprised by people complaining about the damn when it’s so much easier than what comes afterwards.
kill_dash_nine@lemm.ee 7 months ago
The biggest challenge I feel is actually knowing where to go to diffuse the bombs. As a kid, I could pretty much beat dam level on the first try after I knew where I was going.
abfarid@startrek.website 7 months ago
Displaced Gamers channel on YouTube has several technical videos on this game. Including the [water level in question] (youtu.be/PHiFNWJXWgI?si=oVyckm7Qz7FuPH4k) and why it’s so broken.
goombakid808@artemis.camp 7 months ago
Never gave up. I learned to have all 4 turtles at full health before I dive in. In "that area" (you know which one), I'd switch through all 4 turtles to survive with just enough life in the last turtle to not have the beepies.
bilb@lem.monster 7 months ago
The MS-DOS version of this game was actually not winnable without cheats because the jumping physics changed and they didn’t update the level layouts for that.
HooPhuckenKarez@kbin.social 7 months ago
I tried to make stupid jump for years. Got the game on NES and was amazed at how easy it was. Many years later I found out it was impossible on PC.
dis_honestfamiliar@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I enjoyed it way too much on my emulator with infinite life.
protokaiser@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Me, an adult pushing 40, still can’t beat that section.
zib@kbin.social 7 months ago
Late 30s here and I beat that level for the first time very recently. My mind was blown when I learned that was not the final level of the game.
Telodzrum@lemmy.world 7 months ago
There’s so much more game after it.
Kolanaki@yiffit.net 7 months ago
I had the stupid PC version with the bug in one of the sewer levels that made the game impossible to actually beat due to a platform being just out of the range of a jump. :(
Rakonat@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I think I know what platform you are talking about, a gap right at the ceiling you needed to cross to get missiles for the battlewagon. You just needed ro walk across.
Kolanaki@yiffit.net 7 months ago
It wasn’t that it was hard; the DOS version literally could not be beaten because of the bug. Other platforms, like the NES, it was super difficult but not impossible.
Mediocre_Bard@lemmy.world 7 months ago
That fucking drowning music.
rasterweb@kbin.social 7 months ago
The 1983 film War Games is what taught me it was okay to give up...
RealM@kbin.social 7 months ago
This game is probably the reason I never got into TMNT. Super unforgiving lifr system which throws you back at the start of the game, and very wonky hitboxes
Shepy@feddit.uk 7 months ago
invidious.private.coffee/watch?v=PQP31Fk30hM
Some dopamine for you all
lanolinoil@lemmy.world 7 months ago
No! The coins must FLOW!
– 80s evil game dev
bilb@lem.monster 7 months ago
This game was actually never coin-op. I think they designers may have been similarly motivated though- you can make a game last a lot longer if it’s extremely difficult to beat.
lanolinoil@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Is this not it?
Sage1918@lemmy.world 7 months ago
What’s the name of this game ?
axellenium@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Sage1918@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Aah… Thanks
Zarxrax@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Once you learn the layout of the map it’s not really that tough. As a kid it was pretty common to just play over and over again, so it doesn’t really take all that long to learn where the bombs are. It was the following level that I couldn’t ever beat…
cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 months ago
this and mine cart carnage
Sabin10@lemmy.world 7 months ago
The timing on those jumps is tight enough that it is substantially hard with the 2-3 frames of input latency that many modern controllers and displays add.
Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Ooh. Good one. I’m using that from now on.
Underwaterbob@lemm.ee 7 months ago
I could reliably get through this level by switching out turtles when they got low on health. My problem was that then I was in the next level with a bunch of nearly-dead turtles. I never did beat the whole game until years later when I could use an emulator and save states.
be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social 7 months ago
Come now, how had they not learned it already from this?
i_am_not_a_robot@feddit.uk 7 months ago
For me it was the second screen of Airwolf on the ZX Spectrum.
agent_flounder@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Mine was Bruce Lee on C64
thesprongler@lemmy.world 7 months ago
This level explains my 30+ year fear of being strangled by seaweed.
The very few times I was able to clear this level (with a low-health Don), I immediately died in the van level. Yet I kept coming back…
DrPop@lemmy.one 7 months ago
Ahh the joy of having no other games.