I suck at gaming. (SNES Super Mario World)

[Artlover]

So the recent favorite Mario games poll got me a hankerin to play Super Mario World again.

 

Many many moons ago, when I was a kid, I finsihed the game, by that I mean I beat Bowser. Tho I never finsihed the game 100%. Heck, I used the star road to get to Bowser well sooner then I would have otherwise. Didn't finish any special stages, didn't find or finish most of the secret stages other then the ones needed for the switch palaces.

 

 

This time around, many years later, I'm finding myself in a very annoying situation. I have finished the game 99.99%. EVERY special star road stage, ever secret stage, every fortress. Have both the front & back doors to Bowser avaialble. EVERYTHING. The only thing left to do is beat Bowser. And for some ironicly unamusing reason, I can't do it. I can get past the 1st of the 3 stages. But I can't get past the 2nd. I know "what" to do, I just can't seem to do it anymore, which makes no sense since. I seem to remember Bowser being easier then some of those special star road stages I could never finish before.

 

Anyone else ever find themselves in a simmilar situation with an old favorite game?

[Atariman]

I know the feeling exactly. I remember being able to run circles around the Atari 2600 version of Donkey Kong. I could run through level after level without dying and even managed to annoy my older sisters with my ability to do so. I wasn't playing it on any "super easy" mode (I'm not even sure if one exists on DK), but I was pretty good at it.

 

Nowadays I consider myself lucky to make it through 3 or 4 stages before I finally run out of lives. It's funny how bad you get at games after you haven't played them for so long. (Nothing like riding a bike! )

[8th lutz]

Don't feel bad.

 

I suck at Super Mario games including Super Mario World. I couldn't beat a super Mario game without game genie. I suck at Super Mario 1, Super Mario 2 and Super Mario 3.

 

What you are describing is happening to me in Double Dragon for the 7800. I have beaten the game over 12 times in the past and now I have a difficult time in that game.

 

I am now lousy at Donkey Kong. When I was younger, I was able to beat 3 or 4 stages and now I am not able to beat a stage.

Edited October 9, 2007 by 8th lutz

[ls650]

See, I usually experience exactly the opposite. Several times I've sat down to play a game that I found difficult years ago - and now I find it easier. It's as if the half-completed game sat in the back of my mind all these years and my brain finally figured out the way to play after such a lengthy pause.

[NE146]

Yeah I guess I do. I remember it wasn't anything to sit down and finish a game like NES Blaster Master & Bionic Commando, or R-type on the sms in one sitting. Now I wonder how the heck did I ever even kill one boss in Blaster Master???

 

Although some games that are supposedly difficult, like NES Ninja Gaiden I still can do. Blaster Master.. how in the heck did I ever do that easily??

[Atarifever]

Blaster Master.. how in the heck did I ever do that easily??

Perhaps you used the pausing trick and nowadays you try to play without cheating?

 

I'm better at games than I used to be. When I was a kid, I just couldn't finish anything. In a little string of victories last summer I played some of the games I had found hard when I was younger and beat World Heroes (Genesis, which turned out to be incredibly, incredibly easy), Sonic 2, and Revenge of Shinobi. I'm always struck by how easy many games are that I found impossible as a kid.

[bretthorror]

Blaster Master.. how in the heck did I ever do that easily??

Perhaps you used the pausing trick and nowadays you try to play without cheating?

 

I'm better at games than I used to be. When I was a kid, I just couldn't finish anything. In a little string of victories last summer I played some of the games I had found hard when I was younger and beat World Heroes (Genesis, which turned out to be incredibly, incredibly easy), Sonic 2, and Revenge of Shinobi. I'm always struck by how easy many games are that I found impossible as a kid.

 

I second this, I never finished a damn thing as a kid, I don't think I even finished Super Mario Bros. until I got it on All-Stars when I was like 12. I beat Streets of Rage 2 and that's about it, that I can recall.

[2600Lives]

I'm nowhere near as good now as I used to be. 10 broken fingers will do that. I've lost a lot of the dexterity in my hands, so whereas I used to be able to kick the ever lovin' hell out of Mike Tyson, now, I'm lucky if I get past the first 30 seconds. Just one of the things about getting older, I suppose.

[NE146]

Blaster Master.. how in the heck did I ever do that easily??

Perhaps you used the pausing trick and nowadays you try to play without cheating?

 

Nope.. that pausing trick wasn't found out until much later (I didn't know about it until I read it in a magazine) but by then I had finished the game tenfold

 

One thing I neglected to mention.. in many pure reflex games I'm defintely better than ever. I couldn't score a million in Robotron as a kid. Nor could I finish Scramble. The list goes on and on, and now those things are trivial.

 

But Blaster Master.. how in the heck did I finish it

[jboypacman]

I find that the older i have gotten certain games are now easier and i enjoy them more but there are a few which i loved and played quite well in my youth that am just terrible at now.

[PressureCooker2600]

I don't know if I've gotten better or if I am about the same.

 

But like NE146 said....I never understood why Ninja Gaiden was supposed to be difficult. I can fly through that game any day of the week.

Then and now.

 

I think my twitch reflexes are a little better, but not by a whole lot. I can't get very far in one of the masterpieces of twitch gaming, Kaboom!

 

I think patience is a big part, too. Back then, oddly enough, it seems I had more patience to play through.

Nowadays, I'm low on patience.......very low.

[Bucket]

I think it has something to do with the fact that you just don't have the bandwidth for them anymore. Back then, mastering games took a certain kind of patience and dedication.

[AussieAtari]

See, I usually experience exactly the opposite. Several times I've sat down to play a game that I found difficult years ago - and now I find it easier. It's as if the half-completed game sat in the back of my mind all these years and my brain finally figured out the way to play after such a lengthy pause.

 

I agree entirely, that and now I have (a lot) more patience than I ever had when I was younger and I also find I enjoy gaming more, it is less frustrating and I don't like to use any form of cheat and therefore get more satisfaction when I finally master the game.

 

Having said that, I still generally suck at games, a good example is I'm still struggling through James Pond on the GBA after over a year of on again - off again playing, it is not a difficult game but the level codes are too spread out for my capabilities (and time).

[+atari2600land]

For the longest time, I have had 95 on Super Mario World on GBA. Then, I discovered pressing select shows you the levels you haven't beaten. As it turns out, it was a really easy fix and now I have a 96 and Spring turned to Fall. I have fun playing SMW, but the same cannot be said for Super Mario Bros. 2. I can't beat level 5-1 of Super Mario Sunshine if my life depended on it. And the only reason I have every level of Super Mario 64 open is because I cheated and had a friend do it for me.

[Video]

I'm split myself. I find a lot of games I was good at back then, I totally suck at now. But there are many that I suck at, that I just breeze through.

 

It doesn't have to be that long either. I remember my gamecube duying (probably something to do with stomping, kicking, and running over with a car) because I just sucked totall ass at Super Smash bros (which I was good at on the 64..right? O and years later, I had a new one (if only for the GBPlayer, and I got that game again, and just blew through all those stages that I had such a problem with. What's with that?

 

For the longest time, I have had 95 on Super Mario World on GBA. Then, I discovered pressing select shows you the levels you haven't beaten. As it turns out, it was a really easy fix and now I have a 96 and Spring turned to Fall. I have fun playing SMW, but the same cannot be said for Super Mario Bros. 2. I can't beat level 5-1 of Super Mario Sunshine if my life depended on it. And the only reason I have every level of Super Mario 64 open is because I cheated and had a friend do it for me.

 

Yeah, you can also get all the Yoshi coins, it plays it's own cinimatic at the end and changes them all to peach coins.

 

And it's cool that you can now revisit castles once you beat them

[Ryanw]

I'm the same way with Mario Kart 64. I do relatively well in all the other Mario Kart games, even the one on the SNES, but when it comes to the one on the N64 I just can't do well in it like I used to. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I used to really stink at Wave Race 64 but I started playing it again today and have been doing a lot better with it

[Atarifever]

And it's cool that you can now revisit castles once you beat them

You could always do that on the SNES. You just pressed the two shoulder buttons while standing on the castle IIRC.

[Atariboy]

Is this the part where Bowser's clown faced thing flips over and drops two balls that try to crush you?

 

If so, just do the spin attack by hitting X or whatever button it is after getting Bowser to stop in the center of the screen with you to one side of him, and you'll safely bounce on the rolling balls and even the bottom of Bowser if he starts moving before you reach the ground.

 

Really easy to do, after you beat him a couple times you'll be able to do it everytime with ease and probably will wonder why you ever found it difficult.

 

You can't revisit castles and fortresses in the GBA release until after you beat the game (Or get all the exits, I forget), so it's really a downside, not an advantage when compared to the SNES original and the L&R secret.

Edited October 10, 2007 by Atariboy

[Artlover]

Is this the part where Bowser's clown faced thing flips over and drops two balls that try to crush you?

 

If so, just do the spin attack by hitting X or whatever button it is after getting Bowser to stop in the center of the screen with you to one side of him, and you'll safely bounce on the rolling balls and even the bottom of Bowser if he starts moving before you reach the ground.

Yes, I know. Like I said, I know "what to do", I'm just incapable of doing it now. I'm like old or something.

[Classic Pac]

With me what drove me nuts was the face puzzle in Beyond the Beyond. When I first played that game those puzzles came very easy to me. But after not playing those types of puzzles in many many years it took me over 100 tries over a 40 day period just to beat it. Which I finally did....and I kept a save with that puzzle already beaten. I aint doing that again.