Have Video Games Gotten too Easy?

[@Robyn_007]

Whenever I play Retro Games, I am reminded that the greatest grace of modern gaming is checkpoints.

[@TheDarkThief692]

Or rewind features

[@monke1340]

Lol

[@YTKeepsDeletingAllMyComments]

Except for those few games where you get checkpoints at bad times that basically screw you over.

[@Robyn_007]

@@YTKeepsDeletingAllMyComments I feel like that's way more common with player controlled features like Save States and Rewind.

[@cheyguy1211]

I think there are 3 main reasons why games are easier nowadays. 1. Games, especially in arcades, weren't meant to be beaten. They were meant to take your quarters. 2. Games are more story driven now, and realistically you'd want people to at least be able to experience that story. Making a 20-50 hour story epic wouldn't matter as much if the game were damn near impossible. 3. With more people gaming now, games are made to be more accessible to everyone, and with that usually comes difficulty levels. You could argue games with 'Insanity" level difficulties can be just as hard as older games

[@Legend-of-Kai]

The point about story driven campaigns is great, I hadn't even really considered that!

[@ling8956]

​@@Legend-of-Kaiobviously many oldschool games are short. Beatable in 20 minutes. Due to limited storage space they could not make games longer of they wanted. So how do you make a game with only 20 months of content last months? Add difficulty which makes people repeat the same levels,over and over. If more levels could be added, that would be less necessary. And those retro games with only 6 levels? They cant have people beat the whole campaign in 12 minutes.

[@VenusFeuerFalle]

its simply that all people should be able to experience everything. It is simply the "all are equal"-mentality of our age.

[@NIMPAK1]

Sequels back in the day were made under the assumption that you've mastered the previous game. Now most games, even ones advertised as being difficult, are made under the assumption that it could be someone's first game. Even if it gets much harder later on, they have to really ease you in at first, punish you less for losing, make the controls easier and put in easier modes. Not necessarily "bad" design choices, but I'm admittedly annoyed by this mindset, even by indie devs, that more accessible automatically means better designed when there's nothing wrong with making something for a niche audience who wants more of the thing they like (which is also why romhacks exist).

[@ling8956]

No, sequels back in your *old* says were still 20-25 minute games. So cheap difficulty (often due to bad design) is nrcessary for a 20 minute game to last months. If you want retro difficulty, there are a bajillion Mario Maker levels or random steam games with that gimmick

[@ling8956]

Games are made as a business. "Sequels" back in your day still had the same space limitations so they had to make sure most players would not beat the new game in 20 minutes. Because upon replaying a retro game after completing it, its juat a 20 minute game. The length of a TV episode. Even Ninja Gaiden NES is just a 23 minute game if you replay from after memorizing it. Game developers were accomodating for limited content and limited levels. Now games can have as much content as a developer intends. So you dont have to replay the same difficult level 5 times... only to realize its just a 4 level game. The first time Sega made "Sonic 3 & Knuckles" and worked around Genesis space limitations with lock-on in 1994, you get an easier Sonic game but with more levels. Play Sonic 3 standalone and Sonic 3 gets more spikes and a the harder boss to keep you from clearing the 6 level game too fast. And that was removed in the longer "lock on" version

[@quickup7530]

​@@ling8956it should be noted that those ultra difficult retro games rarely sold well. Super Mario Bros popularized gaming. And it wasnt because only 1 out of 20 people ever passed the first level. There was an era when games were only played by nerds. And the business was nowhere as big. These days, a popular game sells 10 million or more in its first week. Beating most Hollywood movies. Yes its because of a wide variety of choice

[@JAMPLEYDEV]

I think super mario 1 or mario 3 would have been better picks. Mario 1 because is the first and was not deliberately made to be hard AF like mario 2 and and mario 3 because it's more similar to modern Mario formula while still very old.

[@hist150project5]

This video is like comparing Kirby's Adventure on the NES with Celeste and claiming that games have gotten harder

[@AngyHateJeff]

After Celeste (especially chapter 9) a lot of platformers seem way easier in comparison

[@hist150project5]

The Lost Levels was deliberately designed to be extremely difficult. You should have compared Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World to Super Mario Bros. Wonder

[@JAMPLEYDEV]

Exactly

[@majamystic256]

I think Super Mario World is one of the easier mario games personally

[@nonoliveleftgreen]

It's kinda silly to deliberately choose a mario game that's infamous for It's difficulty.

[@OneRandomVictory]

Yeah, he should have chosen SMB3 or SMW instead since those are more of the standard 2D Mario experiences.

[@JohnWolf2007]

I suffered with Mario the lost levels using rewind. I cannot IMAGINE how hard it must be without it

[@DarkestDion]

I remember i've beaten it as a kid, now I wonder how I had the patience to do it.

[@scikoolaid]

@@DarkestDion I beat it too back then, mostly through friend and I taking turns after we each died. We kept thinking the game was over when we beat the 4th level of the sets, but it kept going up to D-4 and finally it was over. I think my friend had basically given up, but I was able to keep at it until we finished. I still remember that castle opening, here, make this impossible jump with no running room. Had to learn there was a way to build up momentum in the air and then repeatedly jump your way out and over. Pretty crazy, still great memory

[@ling8956]

*Oldheads* should point out difficulty also relates to game length. Those 1980s and 1990s retro NES games generally can be beaten in 20-30 minutes. So yes, some sort of "difficulty" for a game to last months is necessary. Due to lack of content.

[@Jporiey]

watching you mess up so terribly on lost levels really gave off vibes of that one game journalist who couldnt get past the cuphead tutorial

[@QueenFondue]

Are modern games easier than older games? To test this, I've decided to play Super Duper Impossible Hard Mario Bros from the 1980s and Regular Mario Game from just last year.

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Okay that's fair, I deserved to be called out on that

[@jennasloan396]

technically the All Stars variant of the Lost Levels is slightly easier than the original, featuring a different continue system and slightly different physics

[@Gaming_Garo]

The original SMB2 being too hard for Western markets is just an urban myth. The problem with it was, when Nintendo of America finally received SMB2 and played it, it just felt too old. Of course it felt that way. It reuses all the assets from the launch game Super Mario Bros. two to three years after its release. At this time many other NES games were ahead in terms of graphics and NoA thought releasing a Super Mario Bros. 2 at this state would hurt the Mario brand and therefore asked Japan to give them something more modern, which resulted in the Super Mario Bros. 2 we know today.

[@samolbe6845]

Hi Kai! This comment will probably not reach you but if you read this please consider reviewing Devil May Cry series 1-5 and perhaps compare it to other difficult hack and slash games such as Nier Automata or Ninja Gaiden. Love your vids you silly Aussie

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Oh stop it you! I have actually considered making videos on the DMC games. I've only played 3 and 4 though so it'll be a while before anything like that comes out unfortunately.

[@samolbe6845]

@@Legend-of-Kai yes quite challenging DMC 3 isn’t it? Dante Must Die is kind of like going to high school you just have to survive it lol. But it teaches you there is no such thing as a free lunch

[@samolbe6845]

@@Legend-of-Kai Beware of DMC 2 and DmC

[@HarukoPlease]

You're so underrated

[@Ogonh1]

By the way you can stomp on enemies in the water in SMBW, you no longer need a power-up

[@spectrumbots4268]

The difficulty in video games hasn't changed much throughout the years. The Souls games are tame compared to DonPachi, Beatmania, Gradius, Celeste, Thumper, Shadow Tactics, or Ghost n' Goblins. Not every game back then is as difficult as the internet makes it out to be. Many old games had checkpoints, infinite continues, save features, level skips, passwords, etc.

[@YTKeepsDeletingAllMyComments]

I would argue it has, especially in the AAA space. None of the games you mentioned are games that were really advertised to the public, games like Celeste were basically made for people who love difficult sidescrollers. Yeah, there's plenty of hard games now a days but games in general have gotten easier.

[@spectrumbots4268]

@@YTKeepsDeletingAllMyComments Though a few games I mentioned were Arcade games, You bring up a solid point about advertising, since most of these were and still are niche.

[@NIMPAK1]

Celeste is pretty easy compared to all those other game though.

[@YTKeepsDeletingAllMyComments]

@@NIMPAK1 How much of Celeste have you played ?

[@ling8956]

Oldheads that want "retro difficulty" can play Mario Maker levels.

[@WonkyWater-YT]

18:14 Thing is with LL's extra levels is that on the whole they are easier than the main game whereas Wonder's are much harder

[@dave9515]

To be fair the advance version of mario bros 1 messed up the physics so you were playing an even harder version but at the same time the level design is toned down compared to og lost levels. I do think a vast amount of games have gotten easier because of accessibility i mean sometimes you don't even get hard difficulty options in games nowadays. Another reason games have gotten easier is to do with data and how if you did struggle you can find info online and most of all a lot of devs have been expecting players to tweak their own experiences with a game like how miyazaki was with darksouls and souls games. Its not as satisfying playing a game and having to restrict your options to have an semblance of a challenge because the devs didn't value player experiences more. Games nowadays are too worried about the next big thing, reinventing the wheel and chasing trends. I think FF7 rebirth is an example of one of the hardest game challenges in an rpg period. Its so hard some are still complaining asking for nerfs instead of adapting and changing builds. We need more challenging stuff like the combat sim stuff and gilgamesh island in gaming. Another great challenging game is celeste. I wish there was more variety in gaming in general like how it was in the 2000s but i don't think we will ever enter another golden age of gaming at this point.

[@EWOODJ]

Advance? You mean Deluxe?

[@edgee7665]

I thought it was fairly objective that the vast majority of games these days are easier. Games are often remembered more highly because of their difficulty. If no challenge is presented, then they're forgotten quickly, and we see the era today of an endless stream of unremarkable games that fade in and out, unable to compete with the legacy of those earlier challenges despite better graphics, story telling, higher budgets, etc. Clearly nobody cares about that - they want difficulty, to allow the player to create their own story, memories of triumph, which adds a lot to its replayability as we see with the speedrunning community. Even this video itself is exactly that kind of story.

[@vianabdullah2837]

I can't believe Souls games invented difficulty. Sasuga Miyazaki!

[@renzomussi5640]

hi, what do you use to edit your videos?

[@ling8956]

Sonic 3 & Knuckles is the lock on combination of 2 Sonic games. The longest 2D Sonic game of the 90s but easiest one. Playing Sonic 3 separately, you get only a 6 level game. To keep players from beating the shorter version too quickly, levels have more traps, plus an extra boss. Combine Sonic 3 & Knuckles and the extra traps,in levels are removed. The extra boss in level 6 is also removed. Retro games had higher difficulty to accomodate for how short they were due to space limitations. As games got longer, there is less necessity to make players repeat the same level 20 times. A Game Gear game with even more limitations would try to let you get a Game Over quite fast to accomodate for it being just a 4 level game. Thats what happens when retro games lack content due to limitations. Because if you beat level 1 you are 20% complete most retro games

[@ling8956]

In any case, you have the CHOICE to play difficult or easy games these days. Or Mario Maker levels. But short retro games (due to space limitations) need to be difficult else people would clear the campaign in 15-20 minutes. Thats how long those "retro" games are after replaying them

[@averypatrick5279]

Video games have only really gotten "easier" because game design has gotten better.

[@saltboyanimates]

I think it really depends on what game it is

[@mastergame1311]

Games used to be bullshit-difficult. I greatly enjoy hard games, but I'd say the more recent ones are much less frustrating due to, usually, better controls and readability.

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

Lost Levels vs Wonder? Choosing the game never on the NES to represent "NES hard", and carefully avoiding any part of any modern Mario game that might complicate things... Congratulations on proving how much contempt you have for the subject matter, I suppose.

[@jacealbine]

Lost levels is awesome.

[@monke1340]

Nice new vid

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Love you

[@monke1340]

@@Legend-of-KaiThx!

[@EWOODJ]

1:34 *Too difficult for Howard Lincoln.

[@jennasloan396]

When you say difficult games, I think of Gradius

[@stormtalksgames]

MVP has to be the cheep cheep from the Lost Levels. Pretty cheap if you ask me

[@artistlegend17]

I would say it’s a Mitch match. Some games are easy. Some games are hard as nails some are mix of both

[@retrogamer9362]

Super mario lost level is actually easy because there unlimited continues and you always start the level you died on and the game doesn't make you go back to world 1 and i beat it many times

[@EWOODJ]

That doesn’t make something easy, just less tedious.

[@Tal12075]

Why you didn't do super mario bros 2 instead of super mario bros 1 it's not fair because super mario bros 2 meant to be difficult but super mario bros 1 wasn't made to be difficult it was made to be a fun game. and why you didn't do super mario bros wonder 100% i understand not having the special world because you didn't do it in super mario bros 2 but don't all the levels is like using the Warp Zone.

[@JamSparing]

But he ... didn't he do that? He specifically picked SMB2....

[@Tal12075]

he didn't know about the fact that nintendo maked that game specifically to make it difficult. Nintendo can do it today but it's still not count because it not allowed to represent the actually make a game to be the standard difficulty of a mario game

[@JamSparing]

@@Tal12075 What did you think Lost Levels is, exactly? Also, please, speak English.

[@Tal12075]

I'm speaking english what are you talking about.

[@awsomedude12345678]

I dont think souls when you say difficulty i think donkey kong country

[@pipeframe]

Mario Wonder was a huge disappointment to me. Completing the levels are pretty easy, and there are so many missing powerups from the New Super Mario Bros. Series. I also wasn't a fan of the new art style, but call me old-fashioned. The worst part is you have to complete most levels with the Wonder Flower, not for the fun of the game, but in order to simply progress. It was... frustrating to go through the same boring gimmicks over and over again. I much preferred the unending ideas from the New Super Mario Bros. Series. Most platformer brands seem to be following this pattern, but Sonic Superstars seems to be much better, taking the older style of 2D Sonic gameplay and modernizing it with interesting level design and brilliant physics replication. More studios should take note of SEGA's newest platformer.

[@IHATEFLORIDAALOT]

Bro really said sonic superstars was better than Mario wonder 💀💀💀

[@pipeframe]

@@IHATEFLORIDAALOT I did have more fun with it. It was a more authentic sequel than Wonder.

[@IHATEFLORIDAALOT]

@@pipeframe ​​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠ I guess you are entitled to your own opinion but Idk how you found the wonder flowers boring. Some of them did repeat like the goo transformation but there were a lot of great ones too. If you didn’t enjoy the piranha plant song number in level 2 even the slightest bit then you probably aren’t fun at parties. Idk why you think the nsmb had better gameplay ideas from what I’ve played I’d say they’re on the same levels. As for sonic superstars studios SHOULDNT take not of the mixed soundtrack where half of it is tee lope bangers and half is Sonic 4 sounding midis and the crappy bosses (wonders bosses were underwhelming too but at least they weren’t waiting games)

[@bossbrozork3022]

"Modern games are easier" Indie games: are we a joke to you?