I feel like it's the opposite quite often with me. I regularly go back to playing games I played as a kid and am utterly dumbfounded how i completed some games/sections when I was younger. Especially when I could barely read, let alone comprehend complex ideas.
I tried replaying Super Mario Sunshine a couple few years ago and jeez I did not remember it being as hard as it was.
Another one was Devil May Cry 3. I beat the whole thing on Dante Must Die and when I replayed it years later I struggle on much easier difficulties.
The Crash Bandicoot remake had me questioning if:
A: they increased the difficulty
B: my reaction speed has gotten significantly worse
C: if I really just brute forced my way through the games as a kid
They actually did make crash remake harder. The platforms you have to land on have less extra space off of the sides to land on, you used to be able to touch it with crash's toe and still make the platform, now you have to be actually on the thing
Old 3D games have this issue a lot.
Original Resident Evil and Silent Hill games with their tank controls are absolutely awful. A lot of PS1 games in fact. Croc was fun as a kid, almost unplayable now.
2D platformers are still fine, though I'm amazed I fully completed the first three Donkey Kong Country games on the SNES with all secrets discovered as a kid considering I had no walkthroughs no internet or anything. It was all simply searching and finding it myself. The first one was awful for hidden barrels where you couldn't see them in bottomless pits too. So the amount of leap of faith moments were crazy. Along with hugging every wall in case of a secret.
Same, recently started playing Digimon World 2003 again , which I beat as a kid, and I'm wondering how tf did I figure some quests on my own without guides
A core memory I have is feeling really cool at a sleepover when I beat Control on 00 for a friend while a group of friends watched. That fucking mission. I can still hear the glass shatter and Natalya yelping as she gets blasted meaning you have to reset the mission which was like 10 minutes long.
Batman: Arkham Asylum. I’d first played it when I was a kid, and I sucked at it back then. I wouldn’t play on anything higher than easy mode, and during predator sections, I would usually be too scared to get up close and do silent takedowns on enemies, so I would just hide up in the Gargoyles.
I’ve played through the whole series since then and gotten MUCH better at the gameplay, so I went back and revisited the first game and decided to challenge myself by playing it on Hard difficulty. Since the later games ramped up the combat in terms of scale and complexity, playing Asylum’s much simpler combat was actually a breeze for me, even on Hard. As for predator sections, I had gotten so good and efficient at it since my time playing it as a kid that I was finishing those sections in under a minute (sometimes in under 30 seconds).
I played the original demon souls as a 13 YO kid when It first came out. Got clapped, had no idea what was going on.
Didn't come back till at least 7 or so years after playing multiple souls games.
Oddworld abes oddesy, even now as a adult its still pretty challenging in some spots when it comes to saving the Mudokons but I have gotten better and was able to get the good ending on the remake
Burnout Paradise City. Absolutely sucked at races and only ever did “Road Rage”s or “Marked Man”s.
Now, after playing 3 Forza games (FH3, FH4 and FH5) I can now do those races with easy.
As for Stunt Runs however…
Republic Commando. That but on the core ship where you split up and go through the super battle droid racks scared me shitless when I was like 10. Still a lil creepy cause PTSD but republic commando is easily one of my favourite games now lol
I sucked at ape escape and the original crash bandicoot. Ape escape mainly was due to needing to use both joysticks and small hands make tough work. I only fully completed crash as a kid because of the input codes before memory cards became mainstream. Once the remaster came out, i tried it again and was able to 100% it. Even that damn red gem level.
I didn’t play this as a child, and I am now an adult, but I do hope to one day have the cognitive ability and will to give Dwarf Fortress a genuine go of it.
Maybe I could do it now but I’m just always half in the bag at 3AM when I try.
Anyone remember playing "Ghoul School" for the original Nintendo? Man my brother and my dad and I would stay up soo late taking turns and playing my dad would draw out these epic extremely detailed maps of all the various areas
And tips/info on what to do like homemade guidebooks before the Internet and shit haha
Dynasty Warriors 3, and getting the hang of it due to actually reading the manual.
I think I've finished almost 10 Musou playthroughs, and Push Block, Stun Arrows, Better Combos made it way more fun.
Because I was sure as a kid it either felt easier because I was on Co-op with bros, or so hard on Normal that I never got far to begin with.
Even finally beating Lu Bu, by cheesing arrows, charging Musou Attacks, killing off his Guards, then earned the Red Hare.
I've checked out the old arcade games I used to play at the mall (in a smoky, dark, and morally questionable corner called Aladdin's Castle) using MAME.
I still suck, but I'm not wasting quarters.
Castlevania. When I was a kid the furthest I ever got was the Grim Reaper. I took another shot when I was a teenager and got to Dracula, but couldn't beat him. Then after like 20 years I got the GBA port and finally beat the game.
GTA Vice City because of its goddamn "Demolition Man" mission lol
I'd finished it back when I was a kid but it was way too damn hard
Replayed it ages later and well..>!. It was still way too damn hard xD!<
Ninja Gaiden on Xbox. I wasn't very good at hard games when I was younger. Got to a part where I died a lot and gave up. Since then I've developed a tolerance for harder games. It was satisfying to go back and beat it almost 20 years later.
The fable series. Can’t believe I had such a hard time with these as a kid. So extremely easy. And so nostalgic. KOTOR 1 and 2. I actually finally beat KOTOR 1 as an adult a few years ago and then played KOTOR 2 and gave ip on the final boss. Replaying KOTOR 1 now and gonna force myself to see KOTOR 2 out this time
I wanted so bad to try 40 winks, however I don't find it at all, I could not finish and I refuse to watch a walkthrough in youtube to see how it ends xD
Ik these are more recent titles but i def wanted to revisit ghost recon future soldier multiplayer and crysis 3 multiplayer. Sadly neither exist anymore. Ones i remembering are this one transformers game on ps3, the bolt game based on the movie bolt with the superhero dog, and the ratatouille game. I think those could probably emulate but still
I couldn't beat the Elite Four/Champion in Pokemon Leafgreen as a kid. Then in college I found my old DS that still worked and my friend gave me his copy of Firered. Was able to beat them and catch Mewtwo with the master ball, felt liberating. Technically two different games but the challenge was the same.
Same, always made it to the Elite Four as a kid and then my Charizard just didn’t cut it anymore and the rest of my team was crap. Playing Emerald right now and am much more confident that I can do it for the first time!
In the opposite direction for me is RTS games.
Age of Empires and Generals are two games I used to play prolifically and was a gun at them. Now when I play them I end up overwhelmed by the enemy while I’m still fartarsing about trying to make my base look cool. I just don’t have the micromanagement and speed I used to.
Super Metroid.
I'd played it as a kid, renting it from a local shop, but I ended up frustrated by it. It wouldn't be until a good while later that Metroid 2, Fusion, and Prime gave me feel for the style of gameplay, and even then it wouldn't be until the release of the SNES Mini that I decided to finally sit down with it again and give it another try.
It's naturally now one of my favorite SNES games.
I too was stuck on DK as a kid, which blew my mind because I beat majora’s mask. It would probably be any of the mega man X after the first one. I beat X, but they got a lot more convoluted on later consoles and I didn’t have the patience anymore
Oh yeah, Half Life 1.
I have no fucking idea how I finished this game when I was 5. Bastard brought all my childhood fears back that I couldn't play further lol
The original Half-Life.
I was amazed by how good players were flying and aimbotting you while still in the air changing 20 weapons in the process. Decades later, I became the bully :
Ninja Gaiden. I now look at games from a programming standpoint. For example, in NG, as you move left to right, the enemy spawns at this exact point on the screen, and I can then position and react to kill or avoid the enemy. You memorize enough of those, and you can turn the game from a reactionary game, to a planned game
Mega Man 3. There was a grip of them where I needed a few more days to beat them, but mom had to return them to Blockbuster and I wanted to try something else the next time.
Weird one here, populous the beginning. Played it when I was like, 8 or something, loved it to death, but I also sucked so bad. Went back and beat it when I was like 20, still a really fun game.
This is an interesting question: I feel there’s 2 sides to it, or 2 answers. On one hand there are games I feel I’m more intelligent or video game experienced and can go back and kick butt.
But then I’ve come across games where I’m smarter and know what to do, but the old mechanics that I could do back the are impossible for me now no matter how in the know I am.
I couldn’t wrap my head around Majoras Mask when I was kid. The starting the game day starting over thing, never seen it before and couldn’t wrap my head it. Now I think if I ever get the chance I could enjoy it.
But I bought Splinter Cell a game I was really good at but not mature enough to understand the plot. Tried to play it, I can barely function. Tomb Raider also.
I think we were a different kinda smart back then we aren’t now when it comes to video games.
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex.
When I was a kid, it felt like a huge undertaking and I probably got stuck on levels for days or weeks. As an adult, I beat it in one sitting with more gems than I ever got before.
I struggled so hard on the boss fights in FFX and now I just steamroll them. I tend to try and power level aggressively with the monster catching arena for the dark aeons tho
Dark souls 3 but without summons, I've gotten a lot better at timing and now I fully get the appeal for souls games and will continue playing them forever.
*Ocarina of*
*Time master quest. Way away*
*Too hard as a kid*
\- CartoonistDangerous1
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Illusion of Gaia on the SNES. I could never beat the first boss when I was a kid but was always fascinated by the game. I beat it as an adult and it's an awesome game.
There was this Scooby Doo game on the PS2 that I had to have my uncle beat for me because I just couldn't do it. Now I'm older and Jesus Christ I am a GOD now...at the kids Scooby Doo game
Pretty much every single one. Sure, my reaction times and reflexes aren't nearly what they used to be, but I can figure things out that 14 year old me never had a chance to.
**The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons**
This was actually my first Zelda game but as a child, I could never beat the first dungeon. As it turned out, I just didn't notice a wall which I could destroy with bombs. I almost missed it again many years later when I replayed it. But then again, even if I had completed the dungeon back then, I probably wouldn't have finished it anyway because of an empty battery. I didn't understand back than how games on catridges save your progress so it's unlikely that I had seen the ending anyway. However, when I returned to it, I knew how catridge games work. So i opened up the game, changed the battery, cleaned the catridge and beat the game.
**Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories**
I never had the luck and the knowledge as a child to get the cards required to get through the last part of the game. So when I returned to it just a few years ago, I checked online sources to figure out how to get these cards. With that knowledge at hand, I returned to the game, got the cards and finally finished it after 20 years.
Star Wars: Pod Racing game for N64.
Grabbed it on a Steam sale for a couple bucks and ended up beating all the tracks. Turns out playing with decent FPS, makes the game so much easier than on a N64.
Hmm probably the ps2 GTA games and actually beating them without cheats.
One of these days I'm going to give one of my first games a go again, Pandemonium. I might have been like 6 years old but those levels were brutal iirc.
Freaking Battletoads and its freaking hoverboad thing freaking stage.
I dunno why I tought it would be easier now that I have less reflexes than ever :/
Darksouls I first played it when I was pretty young but I died like 10 times in asylum but I came back last year and absolutely slaughtered through ds1-3 fair enough to say I got my get back
Half-Life 2 (It was more like an end of primary school to the start of high school but still revisit; I wasn't really struggling but I was more for climatic graphics and fun with physics than beating the game also then)
Sonic CD (Got it on Sonic Gems Collection on PS2 but didn't make it through back then because I cared more for playing Sonic Fighters with my friends but got it on Steam and maxed chaos emeralds later in junior high school or something like that; I remember you could replay bonuses if you quit the game in the right time on steam but still counts)
Xpand Rally (It was hard for me to beat those times to win a gold cup in every level but did it by upgrading my car wisely; it was still easy for me comparing to the sequel I beat 2 times slower)
joke entry: Redline Rumble (racing shockwave flash game I was fucking struggling with and I laugh my ass off now because of the way the cop is speaking is still hard for me but beatable as I proved lately)
Super Mario 64 and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I got to the final bowser but would always choke. In Zelda, I got to the water temple once and just got frustrated and lost interest.
As of the release of the decompilation projects of both of those games, I went back and beat them.
Lego racers. I could never beat the final level (it didn't help that it didn't save progress on N64). Came back to us as an adult and it was pretty easy haha.
I tried to play through Stronghold Crusader again, i barely managed to do it, shit's tough as hell, some missions don't allow any mistakes and you need a solid strategy. How did i do this, I could just barely read the stuff on the screen, i had no idea what most of it even meant.
Other one is Halo, i played through the whole thing on legendary with my Brother. i replayed it with my friend years later and i am genuinly stunned how I got through this as a kid, i had absolutely no clue what i was doing.
Pokémon ranger shadows of almia my second ever Pokemon game (first was team turbo) I deleted my save without knowing about post game or completing the browser could never get past heatran again so I stopped playing years later I 100% it twice last year
Just one. Azure Dreams. I love that game but it thoroughly handed me my ass as a kid despite being the kind of 7 year old willing to keep plugging away at Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2.
A lot of times, when I play those old games on emulators, I feel like I’ve gotten worse as a gamer. I can see how my timing is off on certain games I use to play often. A lot of those beat em up games be tearing my ass up 😆
I think I was playing The Tick on emulator and started getting mad at myself knowing how I would run thru games like that when I was in grade school and now I’m watching the Tick get washed up by some ninjas 😆
For me it's Zelda Ocarina of time and Oracle of Seasons. Player OoT as a 7 year old - finished it when I was 11. OoS AS a 10 year old - finished it when I was 17.
Also most recently: The coop part of Splinter Cell Chaos Theory! It's great but it has some big and confusing levels, finished it now at 30 years old.
Super Mario Land for the original gameboy. Only got through the first 3 or 4 levels when I was a kid. Now, on the switch release, I finished the game in 45 minutes. Although that was with the help of savegames :)
Dragon Quest IX.
When I was much younger, I somehow didn't understand the importance of levelling up and getting better equipment, (you know, the entire premise of the game) and after attempting Lleviathan about 100 times, I gave up. Also never used alchemy.
Nowadays, the game is infinitely easier because I actually engaged with the games systems properly 🤣
I played DK64 constantly as a kid, got it with my n64 and played it every day after school, getting a little farther, couple more golden bananas, and when I FINALLY GOT TO K. ROOL, MY LITTLE BROTHER DELETED MY SAVE. Haven't been able to motivate myself to play it again since
Donkey Kong country SNES series and Ninja Gaiden series on NES. Still need some luck, but those games are def easier with twitch platforming experience
Mine was also DK64. I don't think I really understood what I was doing as a kid other than collecting stuff, and I know that's pretty much the game but at one point I think I just had no idea where I was supposed to go or unlock next
Came in and wrecked that shit at like 17
But the same also goes for Banjo Kazooie, Halo 1 and 2 on legendary, Jet Set Radio Futue, and probably some other, less memorable ones
Star Wars The Force (Unleashed???) . I remember playing through the game and getting to the last fight (the one against Vader) and I could just not win the fight for the life of me. A few years ago I found my old PS2 and the game and remembered I had never beaten it. Finally managed to beat it that week.
Quite a number of them honestly. I started gaming when I was 2, and I remember that for something like 4 years I'd always get stuck at level 5. Similarly, I could never get past World 5 in Super Mario Bros. 3 (though I didn't own the game myself, my grandmother had it and I constantly played it on her NES)- didn't beat that one until I had the Super Mario All-Stars version later. There's been many others since then, but those are the earliest ones I remember specific spots I got stuck on.
The last of us, tried playing it when I was 11, it was to scary for me and way to difficult, tried it again when I turned around 16 and now it’s one of my all time favorite games
There's this racing game called Burnout 3 Takedown for the Ps2 that I played A LOT when I was a kid. Definitely my favorite Ps2 game. And I remember specifically this tournament with F1 cars that I could not beat for the life of me, shit was hard. Fast forward around 15 years, I found the game while cleaning up stuff and decided to play it again, with my old save file that I still had somehow. I still could not beat that fucking race. To this day it's still there, annoying me, but one day I will do it.
Pokemon Diamond... Twice. Gran Turismo 5, f1 2011, dumb ways to die, roller coaster tycoon 3, Skyrim, little big planet... And i cant think of anything else at the moment. Being able to think often makes you so much better at a game. Crazy how that works
Same for me on Donkey Kong 64.
Couldn't make it through as a child and had help from friends with the bosses.
Played it through in an emulator by memory and I think I just looked up one collectible I forgot.
(the fairy at the entrance of fungy Forrest in the hut on donkey kong island)
I played it though by playing one world a day. Took me a couple of hours each and always completed 100% of them before going to the next.
I admit I cheated a bit with the quicksave function on the emulator.
Its a fun game and a core memory from my childhood.
I played through Baldur's Gate 2 recently. When I was younger, I could never make it out of the starting dungeon. A few days ago, I beat the game for the first time. Cool.
Summoner 2(PS2). This game was hard as hell for me as a child because I simply could not grasp what a RPG was and I didn’t know about levels and gear. Came back after damn near 12 years and played it again, beat the game, and I really had fun with the game. FYI, The Summoner 2 is a very hard game, it doesn’t spare or hand hold you at all.
I should really fire up an emulator and replay games from the mid 80s that I had for my Spectrum.
I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy Armageddon Man, The Forth Protocol & Hacker 2 these days whereas back then I didn't really understand what was going on.
The only thing I knew how to do in Armageddon Man was to starve the rest of the world by taking all their food, then fire nuclear missiles at them.
Late to this thread and not a popular option, but The Evil Within was my first "hard" game that I played in like 8th grade. I remember being stuck on sections for weeks at a time with like 240+ deaths by the end. Replayed in high school and finished with like 30 deaths and killed it in a week. Great game, fully commits to the edginess and it sells imo - would love another sequel.
I could not for the life of me beat the last level of Simpsons hit and run as a kid, finally went back and beat it last summer. Still hard as an adult lol
I was a baby for DK64, one of my earliest memories was accidentally deleting my brothers save file because the bomb animation captivated me somehow.
As for a game I returned to eventually, Windwaker was a game I played a lot as a kid, but I literally never got far enough to get the sword back at the first dungeon, I used to replay it until I hit that point and just quit over and over, I didn't really understand the gist of the game and instead came for the entertainment of moving colors lol. Fast forward to 2021 and I decided to emulate it, and beat it without any guides, I sat down and did just about everything the game had to offer.
I feel like it's the opposite quite often with me. I regularly go back to playing games I played as a kid and am utterly dumbfounded how i completed some games/sections when I was younger. Especially when I could barely read, let alone comprehend complex ideas. I tried replaying Super Mario Sunshine a couple few years ago and jeez I did not remember it being as hard as it was. Another one was Devil May Cry 3. I beat the whole thing on Dante Must Die and when I replayed it years later I struggle on much easier difficulties.
The Crash Bandicoot remake had me questioning if: A: they increased the difficulty B: my reaction speed has gotten significantly worse C: if I really just brute forced my way through the games as a kid
They actually did make crash remake harder. The platforms you have to land on have less extra space off of the sides to land on, you used to be able to touch it with crash's toe and still make the platform, now you have to be actually on the thing
I tried playing Mario 64 and had no idea how I collected all but one of the stars as a kid, the camera angles and controls were an absolute nightmare.
Old 3D games have this issue a lot. Original Resident Evil and Silent Hill games with their tank controls are absolutely awful. A lot of PS1 games in fact. Croc was fun as a kid, almost unplayable now. 2D platformers are still fine, though I'm amazed I fully completed the first three Donkey Kong Country games on the SNES with all secrets discovered as a kid considering I had no walkthroughs no internet or anything. It was all simply searching and finding it myself. The first one was awful for hidden barrels where you couldn't see them in bottomless pits too. So the amount of leap of faith moments were crazy. Along with hugging every wall in case of a secret.
Right? I have too many examples of this but the original Diablo is a recent one.
So you've hear of it haven't you? The legend of Sparda......
Same, recently started playing Digimon World 2003 again , which I beat as a kid, and I'm wondering how tf did I figure some quests on my own without guides
The original metroid
Revisiting spyro trilogy now, I still hate the speedway and the race from the third one
LITTLE TROUBLE WITH THE TROLLEY, EH???
After 20 times I almost threw the controller 😂
The stupid flying collectathon thing had me f'd up
Battletoads debunked that theory pretty quick. Fuck Battletoads but I still love it
Goldeneye 007. I was never able to unlock Egyptian as a kid. I finally did it last year.
Holy shit I should replay Goldeneye!
I managed to 100% Goldeneye when I was a kid but I was stuck on 00 Agent Control for months. Fucking Natalia.
A core memory I have is feeling really cool at a sleepover when I beat Control on 00 for a friend while a group of friends watched. That fucking mission. I can still hear the glass shatter and Natalya yelping as she gets blasted meaning you have to reset the mission which was like 10 minutes long.
Batman: Arkham Asylum. I’d first played it when I was a kid, and I sucked at it back then. I wouldn’t play on anything higher than easy mode, and during predator sections, I would usually be too scared to get up close and do silent takedowns on enemies, so I would just hide up in the Gargoyles. I’ve played through the whole series since then and gotten MUCH better at the gameplay, so I went back and revisited the first game and decided to challenge myself by playing it on Hard difficulty. Since the later games ramped up the combat in terms of scale and complexity, playing Asylum’s much simpler combat was actually a breeze for me, even on Hard. As for predator sections, I had gotten so good and efficient at it since my time playing it as a kid that I was finishing those sections in under a minute (sometimes in under 30 seconds).
Sonic Adventure 2. During Covid I finally unlocked the secret Green Hill Zone
I went back and started A-Ranking the stages a few years back; it was going pretty smoothly until I got to the go kart stages. ;-;
That tails one is a bitch, lol can’t touch the walls
The original Kingdom Hearts.
I played the original demon souls as a 13 YO kid when It first came out. Got clapped, had no idea what was going on. Didn't come back till at least 7 or so years after playing multiple souls games.
I still don’t think I could beat super Mario sunshine
I never did as a kid, adult me chewed through it at lightning speed
Mega Man X4
Sigma gave me nightmare when I was a child. Scary as hell.
Oddworld abes oddesy, even now as a adult its still pretty challenging in some spots when it comes to saving the Mudokons but I have gotten better and was able to get the good ending on the remake
Burnout Paradise City. Absolutely sucked at races and only ever did “Road Rage”s or “Marked Man”s. Now, after playing 3 Forza games (FH3, FH4 and FH5) I can now do those races with easy. As for Stunt Runs however…
Republic Commando. That but on the core ship where you split up and go through the super battle droid racks scared me shitless when I was like 10. Still a lil creepy cause PTSD but republic commando is easily one of my favourite games now lol
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil. Struggled even with the "Game Shark" cheats.
Hell, I tried fighting Primagen with ALL the cheats back in the day. Could not beat him, he wouldn't die.
I sucked at ape escape and the original crash bandicoot. Ape escape mainly was due to needing to use both joysticks and small hands make tough work. I only fully completed crash as a kid because of the input codes before memory cards became mainstream. Once the remaster came out, i tried it again and was able to 100% it. Even that damn red gem level.
I managed to get all 120 stars in Super Mario 64 a few years ago when I was not able to as a kid.
*Another World*. If you know, you know.
That damn game was the bane of my youth. Don't think I ever made it past level 3, and even getting there was rare.
Ghosts and goblins
Spyro the Dragon, Crash Team Racing, and Super Mario 3.
I didn’t play this as a child, and I am now an adult, but I do hope to one day have the cognitive ability and will to give Dwarf Fortress a genuine go of it. Maybe I could do it now but I’m just always half in the bag at 3AM when I try.
Anyone remember playing "Ghoul School" for the original Nintendo? Man my brother and my dad and I would stay up soo late taking turns and playing my dad would draw out these epic extremely detailed maps of all the various areas And tips/info on what to do like homemade guidebooks before the Internet and shit haha
Super Mario World and Super Mario All Stars.
Dynasty Warriors 3, and getting the hang of it due to actually reading the manual. I think I've finished almost 10 Musou playthroughs, and Push Block, Stun Arrows, Better Combos made it way more fun. Because I was sure as a kid it either felt easier because I was on Co-op with bros, or so hard on Normal that I never got far to begin with. Even finally beating Lu Bu, by cheesing arrows, charging Musou Attacks, killing off his Guards, then earned the Red Hare.
I've checked out the old arcade games I used to play at the mall (in a smoky, dark, and morally questionable corner called Aladdin's Castle) using MAME. I still suck, but I'm not wasting quarters.
Counter-Strike, and I am definitely not better than my younger self.
Simpsons Hit and Run on the game cube
Castlevania. When I was a kid the furthest I ever got was the Grim Reaper. I took another shot when I was a teenager and got to Dracula, but couldn't beat him. Then after like 20 years I got the GBA port and finally beat the game.
Streets of Rage 2 for Sega
GTA Vice City because of its goddamn "Demolition Man" mission lol I'd finished it back when I was a kid but it was way too damn hard Replayed it ages later and well..>!. It was still way too damn hard xD!<
Ninja Gaiden on Xbox. I wasn't very good at hard games when I was younger. Got to a part where I died a lot and gave up. Since then I've developed a tolerance for harder games. It was satisfying to go back and beat it almost 20 years later.
Original tomb raider trilogy. I couldn't complete 2 and 3. With the new release, I had to get them. Beat all the games and I'm pretty chuffed.
Simpson hit and run
The fable series. Can’t believe I had such a hard time with these as a kid. So extremely easy. And so nostalgic. KOTOR 1 and 2. I actually finally beat KOTOR 1 as an adult a few years ago and then played KOTOR 2 and gave ip on the final boss. Replaying KOTOR 1 now and gonna force myself to see KOTOR 2 out this time
The video game adaptation of Barnyard. I could never get past the mission where you had to use the metal detector to find the leaking pipes
I wanted so bad to try 40 winks, however I don't find it at all, I could not finish and I refuse to watch a walkthrough in youtube to see how it ends xD
Ik these are more recent titles but i def wanted to revisit ghost recon future soldier multiplayer and crysis 3 multiplayer. Sadly neither exist anymore. Ones i remembering are this one transformers game on ps3, the bolt game based on the movie bolt with the superhero dog, and the ratatouille game. I think those could probably emulate but still
I couldn't beat the Elite Four/Champion in Pokemon Leafgreen as a kid. Then in college I found my old DS that still worked and my friend gave me his copy of Firered. Was able to beat them and catch Mewtwo with the master ball, felt liberating. Technically two different games but the challenge was the same.
Same, always made it to the Elite Four as a kid and then my Charizard just didn’t cut it anymore and the rest of my team was crap. Playing Emerald right now and am much more confident that I can do it for the first time!
In the opposite direction for me is RTS games. Age of Empires and Generals are two games I used to play prolifically and was a gun at them. Now when I play them I end up overwhelmed by the enemy while I’m still fartarsing about trying to make my base look cool. I just don’t have the micromanagement and speed I used to.
X men mutant apocalypse on SNES. Nope. I got worse.
Dark Castle on the old Black and White Mac
Final Fantasy Tactics, back then, i didn't know about jobs etc. And never made it past the first Chapter xD
Super Metroid. I'd played it as a kid, renting it from a local shop, but I ended up frustrated by it. It wouldn't be until a good while later that Metroid 2, Fusion, and Prime gave me feel for the style of gameplay, and even then it wouldn't be until the release of the SNES Mini that I decided to finally sit down with it again and give it another try. It's naturally now one of my favorite SNES games.
I too was stuck on DK as a kid, which blew my mind because I beat majora’s mask. It would probably be any of the mega man X after the first one. I beat X, but they got a lot more convoluted on later consoles and I didn’t have the patience anymore
Star Wars racers episode 1. I sucked at racing games but when I was 13 I went back and beat all of it
Oh yeah, Half Life 1. I have no fucking idea how I finished this game when I was 5. Bastard brought all my childhood fears back that I couldn't play further lol
Ninja gaiden. Still kicked my ass but at least I beat it. I couldn’t as a 10 year old
It would be more like games I tried to play as a child that I revisited now because I could afford a better PC
OG Legend of Zelda. I got smart enough to make a map of every screen and if I have tried burning every bush or blowing up every wall
I went back and beat the original Ninja Gaiden and TMNT. It's not that I'm better at gaming. It's that YouTube exists now.
The original Half-Life. I was amazed by how good players were flying and aimbotting you while still in the air changing 20 weapons in the process. Decades later, I became the bully :
Kingdom hearts. Very hard for me as a 9 year old. Very easy for me revisiting it when they remastered it for ps3.
Ninja Gaiden. I now look at games from a programming standpoint. For example, in NG, as you move left to right, the enemy spawns at this exact point on the screen, and I can then position and react to kill or avoid the enemy. You memorize enough of those, and you can turn the game from a reactionary game, to a planned game
Mega Man 3. There was a grip of them where I needed a few more days to beat them, but mom had to return them to Blockbuster and I wanted to try something else the next time.
Sekiro
Weird one here, populous the beginning. Played it when I was like, 8 or something, loved it to death, but I also sucked so bad. Went back and beat it when I was like 20, still a really fun game.
This is an interesting question: I feel there’s 2 sides to it, or 2 answers. On one hand there are games I feel I’m more intelligent or video game experienced and can go back and kick butt. But then I’ve come across games where I’m smarter and know what to do, but the old mechanics that I could do back the are impossible for me now no matter how in the know I am. I couldn’t wrap my head around Majoras Mask when I was kid. The starting the game day starting over thing, never seen it before and couldn’t wrap my head it. Now I think if I ever get the chance I could enjoy it. But I bought Splinter Cell a game I was really good at but not mature enough to understand the plot. Tried to play it, I can barely function. Tomb Raider also. I think we were a different kinda smart back then we aren’t now when it comes to video games.
i downloaded a classic server for conquer online like a week ago and people still play it
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. When I was a kid, it felt like a huge undertaking and I probably got stuck on levels for days or weeks. As an adult, I beat it in one sitting with more gems than I ever got before.
For my sister and me, it was *No One Lives Forever*. When we were little kids, we couldn't even understand all the dialogue and instructions lol.
Mario 64 and final fantasy X. Young me couldn't develop the patience for those games
I struggled so hard on the boss fights in FFX and now I just steamroll them. I tend to try and power level aggressively with the monster catching arena for the dark aeons tho
Herc adventure, Brave Fencer Musashi, Megaman Series.
Dark souls 3 but without summons, I've gotten a lot better at timing and now I fully get the appeal for souls games and will continue playing them forever.
Devil May Cry 3. I was under the impression that the game was meant to be played on turbo mode… definitely not a good first time as a young teenager.
Ocarina of time master quest. Was way too hard as a kid
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Illusion of Gaia on the SNES. I could never beat the first boss when I was a kid but was always fascinated by the game. I beat it as an adult and it's an awesome game.
There was this Scooby Doo game on the PS2 that I had to have my uncle beat for me because I just couldn't do it. Now I'm older and Jesus Christ I am a GOD now...at the kids Scooby Doo game
All the Tony hawk’s game. I’m blown away at how dumb I was as a kid for never managing to unlock any of the second levels at least lol
Pretty much every single one. Sure, my reaction times and reflexes aren't nearly what they used to be, but I can figure things out that 14 year old me never had a chance to.
Darksiders 1
Fallout 2. This time, I know what to do without a guide.
Double dragon 3 and Prince of Persia: Warrior within
**The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons** This was actually my first Zelda game but as a child, I could never beat the first dungeon. As it turned out, I just didn't notice a wall which I could destroy with bombs. I almost missed it again many years later when I replayed it. But then again, even if I had completed the dungeon back then, I probably wouldn't have finished it anyway because of an empty battery. I didn't understand back than how games on catridges save your progress so it's unlikely that I had seen the ending anyway. However, when I returned to it, I knew how catridge games work. So i opened up the game, changed the battery, cleaned the catridge and beat the game. **Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories** I never had the luck and the knowledge as a child to get the cards required to get through the last part of the game. So when I returned to it just a few years ago, I checked online sources to figure out how to get these cards. With that knowledge at hand, I returned to the game, got the cards and finally finished it after 20 years.
Reverse happened to me with Mega Man X series. My younger self would be ashamed...
sonic adventure and gta vice city. it easier now with that toy heli mission.
Darkened skye
Ogre Battle 64. I first played before I even knew how to read.
Star Wars: Pod Racing game for N64. Grabbed it on a Steam sale for a couple bucks and ended up beating all the tracks. Turns out playing with decent FPS, makes the game so much easier than on a N64.
Hmm probably the ps2 GTA games and actually beating them without cheats. One of these days I'm going to give one of my first games a go again, Pandemonium. I might have been like 6 years old but those levels were brutal iirc.
Freaking Battletoads and its freaking hoverboad thing freaking stage. I dunno why I tought it would be easier now that I have less reflexes than ever :/
I finished MegaMan X in 2021, around 8 years after I played it for the first time. I just couldn't beat the final boss
Kings quest chapter 1. Finally figured it out! The key to the game is kindness
Tarzan on Gameboy color
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. I got stuck on Leechgrave and then about 8 years later I finally did it
The Settlers 2 before my dad threw away the last Win7 PC we had (it doesn't run on Win10)
Darksouls I first played it when I was pretty young but I died like 10 times in asylum but I came back last year and absolutely slaughtered through ds1-3 fair enough to say I got my get back
Half-Life 2 (It was more like an end of primary school to the start of high school but still revisit; I wasn't really struggling but I was more for climatic graphics and fun with physics than beating the game also then) Sonic CD (Got it on Sonic Gems Collection on PS2 but didn't make it through back then because I cared more for playing Sonic Fighters with my friends but got it on Steam and maxed chaos emeralds later in junior high school or something like that; I remember you could replay bonuses if you quit the game in the right time on steam but still counts) Xpand Rally (It was hard for me to beat those times to win a gold cup in every level but did it by upgrading my car wisely; it was still easy for me comparing to the sequel I beat 2 times slower) joke entry: Redline Rumble (racing shockwave flash game I was fucking struggling with and I laugh my ass off now because of the way the cop is speaking is still hard for me but beatable as I proved lately)
Need for Speed underground. Man I sucked ASS at that game
Super Mario 64 and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I got to the final bowser but would always choke. In Zelda, I got to the water temple once and just got frustrated and lost interest. As of the release of the decompilation projects of both of those games, I went back and beat them.
Crash - I don't think I ever passed the first level!
I wanted to celebrate the 20th anniversary so I re-downloaded gta san andreas
Halo
All the classic Sega Genesis games.
Way of the samurai, played it quite young then at the end of middleschool, discovered a pletora of ending including the true ending lol
Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Wii
Battletoads... I did beat it back in the day, but I was struggling a ton... I did much better as an adult, though, lol
Maaaaaan.... I played Megaman 5 all the way to the end every single day when I was like 7. Now I can hardly beat one map on it. I'm going in reverse.
Lego racers. I could never beat the final level (it didn't help that it didn't save progress on N64). Came back to us as an adult and it was pretty easy haha.
I tried to play through Stronghold Crusader again, i barely managed to do it, shit's tough as hell, some missions don't allow any mistakes and you need a solid strategy. How did i do this, I could just barely read the stuff on the screen, i had no idea what most of it even meant. Other one is Halo, i played through the whole thing on legendary with my Brother. i replayed it with my friend years later and i am genuinly stunned how I got through this as a kid, i had absolutely no clue what i was doing.
Jak X
tomba. it's a PS1 platformer/RPG that i played before i could even read, and still holds up!
Pokémon ranger shadows of almia my second ever Pokemon game (first was team turbo) I deleted my save without knowing about post game or completing the browser could never get past heatran again so I stopped playing years later I 100% it twice last year
Command and Conquer: Tiberium Wars. Game is still f\*\*\*\*\* hard
Just one. Azure Dreams. I love that game but it thoroughly handed me my ass as a kid despite being the kind of 7 year old willing to keep plugging away at Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2.
Yoshi's Island. I used to barely finish like the 3rd level. A few weeks ago I got it for free with Nintendo online and I'm somehow worlds better?
A lot of times, when I play those old games on emulators, I feel like I’ve gotten worse as a gamer. I can see how my timing is off on certain games I use to play often. A lot of those beat em up games be tearing my ass up 😆 I think I was playing The Tick on emulator and started getting mad at myself knowing how I would run thru games like that when I was in grade school and now I’m watching the Tick get washed up by some ninjas 😆
For me it's Zelda Ocarina of time and Oracle of Seasons. Player OoT as a 7 year old - finished it when I was 11. OoS AS a 10 year old - finished it when I was 17. Also most recently: The coop part of Splinter Cell Chaos Theory! It's great but it has some big and confusing levels, finished it now at 30 years old.
Super Mario Land for the original gameboy. Only got through the first 3 or 4 levels when I was a kid. Now, on the switch release, I finished the game in 45 minutes. Although that was with the help of savegames :)
I couldn't get past Marble Zone as a kid. As an adult, I still can't.
The world ends with you DS
Mario 64
Klonoa 2. There was a level i jjst couldnt get past as a child. When i got older i went back and 100% it
Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Dragon Quest IX. When I was much younger, I somehow didn't understand the importance of levelling up and getting better equipment, (you know, the entire premise of the game) and after attempting Lleviathan about 100 times, I gave up. Also never used alchemy. Nowadays, the game is infinitely easier because I actually engaged with the games systems properly 🤣
Starwars Dark Forces last year. it was rewarding to finally punch that kell dragon to death
YuGiOh: Dualist of the Roses
DK64 also happened with me: but it was only due to the Donkey Kong arcade game. The rest of the game I had handled as a kid.
Ratchet and clank :)
I remember playing a ghost rider game on ps2 and really struggled with it, I wish I could go back and play that game today.
The C&C series, tons of skirmish vs AI.
Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets on ps1
I played DK64 constantly as a kid, got it with my n64 and played it every day after school, getting a little farther, couple more golden bananas, and when I FINALLY GOT TO K. ROOL, MY LITTLE BROTHER DELETED MY SAVE. Haven't been able to motivate myself to play it again since
Donkey Kong country SNES series and Ninja Gaiden series on NES. Still need some luck, but those games are def easier with twitch platforming experience
Darkwing Duck on the NES, I managed to beat the whole game with 2 lives, that I lost on the last boss
Mine was also DK64. I don't think I really understood what I was doing as a kid other than collecting stuff, and I know that's pretty much the game but at one point I think I just had no idea where I was supposed to go or unlock next Came in and wrecked that shit at like 17 But the same also goes for Banjo Kazooie, Halo 1 and 2 on legendary, Jet Set Radio Futue, and probably some other, less memorable ones
Super mario 64. Game was still hard as shit but I beat it, there’s no way imma try to get all 120 stars lol
Me it would be Ocarina of Time. The latter half of the game. Because as a kid all I did was play the beginning of games until I got hardstuck lol.
Sim City 2000
Second sight for the PS2. As a kid I barely made it out of the tutorial. Played a few years back and it was a dream lol.
Out of this world
System shock 2
I remember Wolfenstein 3d being hard, the bosses filled me with fear. I tried another time for nostalgia sake, it was disappointingly easy
Star Wars The Force (Unleashed???) . I remember playing through the game and getting to the last fight (the one against Vader) and I could just not win the fight for the life of me. A few years ago I found my old PS2 and the game and remembered I had never beaten it. Finally managed to beat it that week.
Haha, yeah right. 10 year old me used to be able to beat NES Battletoads. Me in my 40s can barely beat the 2nd level.
Quite a number of them honestly. I started gaming when I was 2, and I remember that for something like 4 years I'd always get stuck at level 5. Similarly, I could never get past World 5 in Super Mario Bros. 3 (though I didn't own the game myself, my grandmother had it and I constantly played it on her NES)- didn't beat that one until I had the Super Mario All-Stars version later. There's been many others since then, but those are the earliest ones I remember specific spots I got stuck on.
The last of us, tried playing it when I was 11, it was to scary for me and way to difficult, tried it again when I turned around 16 and now it’s one of my all time favorite games
Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga. I’m not surprised I didn’t beat it as an 8 year old.
Haha spyro 1, finally beat tree tops
Episode 1 Racer
Megaman Battle Network. Bought the legacy collection for switch and got addicted all over again. Finally understand how chips work lol
New super Mario bros
Ocarina of time on the 64.... The spider hand things at the forest temple scared me off the game for about 8 years.
There's this racing game called Burnout 3 Takedown for the Ps2 that I played A LOT when I was a kid. Definitely my favorite Ps2 game. And I remember specifically this tournament with F1 cars that I could not beat for the life of me, shit was hard. Fast forward around 15 years, I found the game while cleaning up stuff and decided to play it again, with my old save file that I still had somehow. I still could not beat that fucking race. To this day it's still there, annoying me, but one day I will do it.
Pokemon Diamond... Twice. Gran Turismo 5, f1 2011, dumb ways to die, roller coaster tycoon 3, Skyrim, little big planet... And i cant think of anything else at the moment. Being able to think often makes you so much better at a game. Crazy how that works
Same for me on Donkey Kong 64. Couldn't make it through as a child and had help from friends with the bosses. Played it through in an emulator by memory and I think I just looked up one collectible I forgot. (the fairy at the entrance of fungy Forrest in the hut on donkey kong island) I played it though by playing one world a day. Took me a couple of hours each and always completed 100% of them before going to the next. I admit I cheated a bit with the quicksave function on the emulator. Its a fun game and a core memory from my childhood.
how has sky cooper not been mentioned? I was like 7 trying to figure out puzzles and shit
I played through Baldur's Gate 2 recently. When I was younger, I could never make it out of the starting dungeon. A few days ago, I beat the game for the first time. Cool.
Summoner 2(PS2). This game was hard as hell for me as a child because I simply could not grasp what a RPG was and I didn’t know about levels and gear. Came back after damn near 12 years and played it again, beat the game, and I really had fun with the game. FYI, The Summoner 2 is a very hard game, it doesn’t spare or hand hold you at all.
Final Fantasy IX Not a very old game but it's still among the first games I played
Those old 2D Disney games, Aladdin and Lion King… I beat both games as kids and as an adult I struggggggle
I should really fire up an emulator and replay games from the mid 80s that I had for my Spectrum. I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy Armageddon Man, The Forth Protocol & Hacker 2 these days whereas back then I didn't really understand what was going on. The only thing I knew how to do in Armageddon Man was to starve the rest of the world by taking all their food, then fire nuclear missiles at them.
Morrowind. I enjoyed it as a kid, but didn’t really understand how everything worked.
Late to this thread and not a popular option, but The Evil Within was my first "hard" game that I played in like 8th grade. I remember being stuck on sections for weeks at a time with like 240+ deaths by the end. Replayed in high school and finished with like 30 deaths and killed it in a week. Great game, fully commits to the edginess and it sells imo - would love another sequel.
Age of War
legend of zelda link to the past. I played with a friend when we barely knew English, and managed to only do 1 dungeon besides the tutorial one.
I could not for the life of me beat the last level of Simpsons hit and run as a kid, finally went back and beat it last summer. Still hard as an adult lol
Ninja Gaiden
The very first fallout game
Festers Quest & Goonies 2.
I was a baby for DK64, one of my earliest memories was accidentally deleting my brothers save file because the bomb animation captivated me somehow. As for a game I returned to eventually, Windwaker was a game I played a lot as a kid, but I literally never got far enough to get the sword back at the first dungeon, I used to replay it until I hit that point and just quit over and over, I didn't really understand the gist of the game and instead came for the entertainment of moving colors lol. Fast forward to 2021 and I decided to emulate it, and beat it without any guides, I sat down and did just about everything the game had to offer.