Why were we more skilled at more difficult games when we were younger?

[QUOTE=Josh]I'm talking about playing the same game, revisiting one you've already played from the past, and not generational gaps.[/QUOTE]
hmm i don't see any challenge in beating a game you have already beat. i have found the opposite true myself, no arthritis yet so my gaming skills have trended upward the older i get. although i do have less time to game now as i work 7 days a week.

[QUOTE=El Gato Negro]hmm i don't see any challenge in beating a game you have already beat. i have found the opposite true myself, no arthritis yet so my gaming skills have trended upward the older i get. although i do have less time to game now as i work 7 days a week.[/QUOTE]

What career/occupation do you have now that you're working 7 days a week?

[QUOTE=Josh]What career/occupation do you have now that you're working 7 days a week?[/QUOTE]
i work in a metal fab shop running and programming lasers and robots. which isnt nearly as interesting as it might sound.

[QUOTE=El Gato Negro]i work in a metal fab shop running and programming lasers and robots. which isnt nearly as interesting as it might sound.[/QUOTE]

I'm using this at the bar tonight

[QUOTE=Josh]Done. Finished Outrageous and Funky. You'd expect Funky to be a bit more challenging being the final stage of the area and all, but it wasn't too bad. Lost of couple lives in the process. Outrageous however didn't disappoint. Shit was difficult as hell if you're playing a "little man" no fire-power or cape/leaf flying ability Mario, which is what I did, and it was mega frustrating at parts. Tubular was mos def the most challenging and it was only the second of the eight.

Over the years I've grown to love and appreciate the simple yet classic level designs that is collectively the Super Mario Brothers franchise. Super Mario 3 on the NES and Super Mario World on SNES are without question the best releases. I have yet to play the Wii Super Mario game that is supposed to be the next in the platform series, and not like Mario Galaxy that is 3D.

Don't get me wrong, I liked Mario 64 and the 3D world of Mario and all, but nothing will ever replace or be better than the original. Side scrolling platforming Mario changed the history of gaming and still to this day one of the most entertaining of them all.

_____

Outside of Star Road and this *SPECIAL* section of the game, what are some of the more challenging and difficult stages/levels? List them. While you're at it, tell me some of your favorite stages; where you really liked the design for some reason or another, some boss or enemy you hated or enjoyed going up against. Ghost Houses, Castles whatever muthafu[COLOR="Black"]c[/COLOR]ka, tell this ATM Super Mario fan that you 'bout it 'bout it when it comes to them gumpas, them turtles, tell me that Yoshi is your nig[COLOR="Black"]g[/COLOR]a and that you [I]got his back[/I] ... get it, 'cause you're riding on his, you know, back.

OK that was gay.

:facepalm[/QUOTE]

Had to go back and watch videos of the levels because I have not played in a while. My favorite stages weremYoshi's Island 2 Vanilla Dome 1, Forest of Illusion 1, Chocolate Island 5, Valley Of Bowser 3 . My least favorite are Larry's Castle, Butter Bridge 2, Soda Lake, Sunken Ghost Ship, Tubular.
The enemies I hated were

Rip Van Fish they keep chasing you
Grinders the could be hard to avoid
MagiKoopa keep trying to hit you with the spell and would disappear and appear

[QUOTE=GoSpursGo1984]Had to go back and watch videos of the levels because I have not played in a while. My favorite stages weremYoshi's Island 2 Vanilla Dome 1, Forest of Illusion 1, Chocolate Island 5, Valley Of Bowser 3 . My least favorite are Larry's Castle, Butter Bridge 2, [B]Soda Lake[/B], Sunken Ghost Ship, Tubular.
The enemies I hated were

Rip Van Fish they keep chasing you
Grinders the could be hard to avoid
MagiKoopa keep trying to hit you with the spell and would disappear and appear[/QUOTE]

Yeah, Sunken Ghost Ship was lame. Too easy and just so random why they even had it in the game to begin with. But [U]Soda Lake[/U], you got that as one of your least favorites? E-ga is you crazy? One of the better stages and placed/positioned at the perfect location on the world map. Happy Meals and Soda Lake. Dutta dut dah duh, I'm lovin' it ... and you hatin' it? Shame brugh.

[QUOTE=Josh]Yeah, Sunken Ghost Ship was lame. Too easy and just so random why they even had it in the game to begin with. But [U]Soda Lake[/U], you got that as one of your least favorites? E-ga is you crazy? One of the better stages and placed/positioned at the perfect location on the world map. Happy Meals and Soda Lake. Dutta dut dah duh, I'm lovin' it ... and you hatin' it? Shame brugh.[/QUOTE]

I have never been a fan of underwater levels in Mario they just are not as fun as levels where you can jump around.

I used to think it was your skills "diminishing" before, but now I think it's more tied to you just being mentally far removed from certain games that you used to play, versus the more "modern" ones that you enjoy now.

It's kinda like learning to solve math problems using only paper all over again, and not using a calculator. Sure, you can still solve those math questions, it just takes a while to get readjusted to doing it without any cheats or crutches like you can nowadays.

Even with the newer games, you'll find yourself failing a lot. It's just that for most of them, you're not forced into a "game over" screen and then kicked back to the first level like before.

As much love as I have for the old school games, I find myself enjoying the "modern era" of games (PS2 and on...) a lot more.

after 20 years I finally finished contra. :rockon:

(well havent played the game in 20 years)

I think it's just lack of practice, I've gone back many times and played games I used to play as a kid and sucked. If i keep at it for long enough I get back in the groove. One thing I put it down to is that as a kid if i got a new game I'd play that one game for hours on end until I'd mastered it, these days I'll get a new game and play it for a half hour before I'm bored and move onto the next one.

[QUOTE=Josh]No, because games like Mario Kart, Star Fox, etc I've already played through and completed no problems. Hand and eye coordination is same. It's the side scrolling games that are giving me issues. Not sure if you guys remember a SNES game called Gradius III, but it's a side scrolling aircraft shooter and it was hard then, shit is hard now.

[B]Long term use of opiates isn't anything like doing meth or dropping LSD/ecstasy.[/B] I've never been heavy into the brain cell killing ones. At one time I was big into coke, but that was very short lived. Opiates have always been my thing, and there's no evidence it's really bad on the brain like a lot of other substances.

There's no doubt it impacts and affects the brain, but I'm just as dumb now as I was with or without popping pills.

:oldlol:[/QUOTE]LSD doesn't kill brain cells.

Starcraft is like hardest game to play competetively. There is 0 pro players in their 30s that still compete. Reaction and stuff is just not there anymore. Also you learn faster the younger you are. There is 0 pro players who started playing rts in their 20s.

Game are definitely easier now as an adult. I think what's happening with the OP is that back then people didn't have an infinite amount of games to play, so as a kid you would play your games over and over again, becoming a sort of an expert on them, after struggling to beat them the first time.

What you're remembering is you being good at games that you were very familiar with, and comparing them the struggle that people have when first playing again.

[QUOTE=El Gato Negro]i work in a metal fab shop running and programming lasers and robots. which isnt nearly as interesting as it might sound.[/QUOTE]

I do some of that. I also work in a metal fab shop, do a lot of QC, purchasing, cost analysis. Occasionally I have to program, although not much.



Anyway,

In the past year I've used an emulator to beat Metroid and Zelda. Neither is a terribly twitchy game. But I've also taken a stab at a few other classics and haven't faired well. The Mario games I haven't been great at. Contra, Mike Tyson's Punchout, Ghosts and Goblins, I've been even worse at.

I'm sure my twitch skills aren't what they used to be, and those games were never my thing even when I was beating them as a kid. But I also think the quick twitch stuff doesn't translate to the emulators as well either. I've played some levels of newer Mario games on my nephews' DXs' and haven't found them as hard as the emulator stuff.

I think it's less your physical reaction time and more after not playing for a long time you lose your skill.

You are undoubtedly slower than you once were. But I don't think that's the fine line between you not being able to handle an older game. It may compound it, but I think after not having played those type of games for a while you just lost the skill to play it. Remember as a kid you were playing that game a lot more.

I also think there is a tendency for modern games to always give you some way to progress. We are so conditioned now for challenges in video games to be tall hurdles, but not walls. As a kid all the games had potential walls so we were more used to it and it didn't stand out as much.

If that makes sense.