Games that you didn't like at first

[mbd30]

Then they grew on you.

 

I recently got "Kabuki Quantum Fighter" for the NES. This game has an initial frustration factor that really turned me off. Stage 3 in particular is a platforming nightmare full of slippery ice physics, conveyor belts and nasty blowtorches.

 

With more practice I did overcome stage 3 and then the game. Then I was able to beat it without a game over. Now I think that it's a solid action platformer.

 

BTW, during boss battles, you can convert your health into chips and vice versa by pausing and pressing up or down. I had a much easier time after learning this.

 

[BassGuitari]

Super Alien (VIC-20) - I'm not real big on Panic-type games but I gave this one another whirl when I had my VIC-20 out over Christmas, and it really grew on me. Makes me wonder what I missed the first time around.

Tecmo Super Bowl (NES) - Growing up I couldn't have cared less about football, and for a 6- or 7-year-old who didn't even understand how the game worked, Tecmo seemed all that much more complicated and confusing, with its playbooks and depth charts and over two dozen teams with over two dozen players with their own stats and physical status and such. Fast forward 20 years and I'm making custom hacks (both roster and gameplay) of the damn game, and I own not one, but *two* Don Majkowski jerseys. I owe much of my current love of the game of football to Tecmo Super Bowl.

Resident Evil (PlayStation) - One of my best friends at school had this game when it came out and was obsessed with it. I got it for my birthday soon after...and was promptly frustrated and bummed out. The controls didn't make any sense to me and I couldn't figure out how you were supposed to kill that first zombie with the knife. Once I sorted out the controls and learned how you're actually supposed to play the game, it became a favorite, and began a love affair with the Resident Evil series that sadly ended with RE5.

[7800fan]

Then they grew on you.

 

I recently got "Kabuki Quantum Fighter" for the NES. This game has an initial frustration factor that really turned me off. Stage 3 in particular is a platforming nightmare full of slippery ice physics, conveyor belts and nasty blowtorches.

 

With more practice I did overcome stage 3 and then the game. Then I was able to beat it without a game over. Now I think that it's a solid action platformer.

 

BTW, during boss battles, you can convert your health into chips and vice versa by pausing and pressing up or down. I had a much easier time after learning this.

 

 

Quantum Fighter was also a turn off for me at first. The cover art strongly implied connection with Tron. One part looks like the map of game grid as seen on Sark's carrier ship. Other set of concentric rings are what one sees inside the laser as Flynn was on his way back to the real world. And the figure in red helmet looks a bit like Sark.

 

When I played, I realized the game had very little to do with Tron. Like someone stole images from Tron and tried to pass it off without permission from Disney.

 

One other game that soured me at first is Rygar for PS2. I knew it'd be in 3D but it still played so much differently from what I expected from either arcade version or NES version.

[Reaperman]

It took me at least three tries to get into Chrono Trigger, which eventually turned out to be a solid game. In the intro mission, they introduce your character to two people you really have no good reason to care about. I forget their names, because they don't matter, but generally they are introduced as "some girl" and "your nerdy best friend." Then the game expects you to be okay with jumping through some kind of dimensional gateway for no other reason than to help them. Why? If that's not bad enough, the game keeps doing it over and over. "Here's somebody that we're just telling you that you care about--now, do very difficult and horrible things for them."

 

Eventually I started to give a rip about the characters in my party (or maybe just the plot twists), and just 'went with' their overly helpful tendencies.

Edited January 24, 2016 by Reaperman

[jfitzenr]

Then the game expects you to be okay with jumping through some kind of dimensional gateway for no other reason than to help them. Why? If that's not bad enough, the game keeps doing it over and over. "Here's somebody that we're just telling you that you care about--now, do very difficult and horrible things for them."

 

Eventually I started to give a rip about the characters in my party (or maybe just the plot twists), and just 'went with' their overly helpful tendencies.

 

Heh I'm glad I'm not the only one. Not that I ever had any trouble getting into it; i rented it day one and begged my parents for it starting on day two, and it's honestly probably in my top 10 favorites...I think I like the idea that in basically the first act of the game it's kinda you just accidentally tripping over yourselves into new crazy situations through time until the first big plot reveal, but it always did seem like it was done slightly awkwardly. Hey look a blonde girl, she's pretty, time to jump into a science experiment gone wrong and hope I don't die!

 

I think it was slightly helped by the silent protagonist thing, because you don't have to deal with any heroic nonsensical banter, it's almost as if the game tries to make you feel like YOU'RE the one deciding to dive in headfirst, but still.

 

 

Anyway as for the original topic, Oblivion took me a good five or six attempts before I could even tolerate the damned gates and start having fun with the game.

 

All the Gold Box era games too... I always thought Pool of Radiance was 'cool,' but it took an awful long time before I had the patience to deal with the interface and really dive in.

 

Gain Ground is probably the most drastic switch for me... I thought the game was awful. A friend had it for either Gen or SMS when I was a kid and I was like "what is this painfully slow mess of garbage." Fast forward to today and I love it.

[Eltigro]

This has really only happened with me with modern games. For example, I played Fallout 3 for a couple of days, then it just sat on the shelf for probably a couple of years before I tried it again. Same with Bioshock.

[+cvga]

I hate to admit this but I didn't really like Kaboom! as a kid. I love it now though.

[+madman]

Windjammers on the Neo Geo, takes awhile to understand, but it's a great game.

[Gabriel]

I didn't like Panzer Dragoon Orta at all the first time I played it. Then I picked it up again a few years later, and while I didn't think it was that great of a game, I did have some fun with it unlike the first time around.

 

I hated NES Double Dragon back in the day, but nowadays I've made my peace with it, mostly by accepting the fact that it isn't related to the arcade game at all. As a port of the arcade game, it's awful in every respect. As a standalone game, it's playable and slightly entertaining.

 

I can't think of any others right now, but I'm sure there are a couple more.

[CatPix]

I don't recall having a hard time with retro games. Aside from 8/16 bits RPG, there isn't much complexity in them IMO. I would be more of the opposite, that is, liking a game at first, then slowly getting bored by a lack of fun in the game.

 

One retro game I had this tho was RealSport Volley Ball on the Atari 2600. I picked up that game with a lot of other so I had little expectations from a sport game on the 2600.

 

But after playing it for some minutes, I found it to be simple, and fun, so... There is that, I suppose.

 

One game I had this change of mind was "Road Trip Adventure" on PS2.

 

 

At first, it looks like a silly racing game made for little kids. The graphics are lackluster, even for an early PS2 game. The first races are very dissapointing, with your car being bad in all points; slow, cant turn, it's a dissapointing experience. And at the end of the race you're greeted with another car that tell you that "you'll do better next time".

 

In fact, I stopped playing that game, but my brother didn't. And some days after, I watched him playing, and I picked it again.

Because there is more in Road Trip Adventure than the race, as the game is a mixture of racing, adventure, and a bit of RPG as you have quests that give you upgrades.

And the "adventure" is no exxageration. You can move around 7 (if I recall right) themed towns, that goes from ordinary Euro/US town to traditionnal Japanese, Northen style (and meet Santa Car here!) to Tropical and Las Vegas settlements. With lots of terrain between them... mostly empty... but there are some hidden stuff in there as well.

 

It's light and fun, and the fact that you are the car, and not a driver make it feels like this game is "Cars, the game", but made 10 years before the movie came out.

It's no Zelda or Elder Scrolls either, but there is more in this game than what the first gameplay minutes shows.

Edited January 25, 2016 by CatPix

[Skippy B. Coyote]

For me the biggest one that comes to mind is R-Type DX on the Game Boy Color. I'm one of those odd shoot 'em up fans who loves 8 and 16-bit shmups, but I don't like them to be too difficult. I like to just sit down and take a leisurely stroll through the game, and R-Type is one game that is anything but leisurely. Between the diabolically difficult corridor navigation sequences and the complete lack of any kind of autofire the game frustrated me beyond measure for weeks before I finally tossed it in the game drawer, cursing it's name and swearing to never play it again.

 

Then, last year, a funny thing happened. I decided that I wanted to beat every quality shmup title for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, so I dug it out of the game drawer and started playing at again. What followed was several hours of hand sweating and moderately rage inducing gameplay, but I did finally manage to beat the entire DX game; which is comprised of both R-Type 1 and 2 back to back.

 

 

 

After blowing through 27 continues and hammering the fire button over 10,000 times I felt like my right thumb was about ready to fall off, but the feeling in my hand paled in comparison to the immense feeling of satisfaction that I felt from finally having conquered R-Type DX. I don't think I've ever felt as satisfied to have beaten a game, and I don't know if any game will ever give me that same kind of feeling again. Since that day last spring I have gone back and played through R-Type DX another three times, and it always feels a little easier every time. It's still an incredibly challenging game, but now that I've beaten it several times over I don't really mind the challenge; and I consider it to be one of the best shmups on the Game Boy Color.

 

Maybe one day I'll feel the same way about Ikaruga on the GameCube, but for now that one is still way too difficult for me.

Edited January 25, 2016 by Jin

[NE146]

Stampede! As a kid I couldn't imagine a duller idea than roping cows. But now I like the challenge of it as a 2600 game

[mbd30]

I don't recall having a hard time with retro games. Aside from 8/16 bits RPG, there isn't much complexity in them IMO. I would be more of the opposite, that is, liking a game at first, then slowly getting bored by a lack of fun in the game.

 

I'd say that 8 and 16-bit games are usually simple to learn, but complex to master. Look at the speed running community and how they're always figuring out new tricks for beating 20 or 30 year old games.

Edited January 25, 2016 by mbd30

[CatPix]

I meant that unlike modern games that can have a steep curve to get into it, a large majority of our beloved (or hated) retro games are easy to figure out and play.

To master it is another story, but you can tell usually after playing 10 minutes of Castlevania if you wanna continue the game or not.

But with modern games, playing 1 hour is sometime not enough to decide if the game is good or bad.

[+Cafeman]

Stampede, Golf.

[+Black_Tiger]

I didn't like Phantasy Star the first time a friend rented it and we tried playing in short sessions on his 9" b&w TV. As soon as I got my own SMS I rented and not long after bought it and it has remained one of my favorite games.

[teh_lurv]

Morrowind. I picked it up at a whim at an EB shortly after it was released. I had no knowledge of the prior Elder Scrolls games, so I went into the game with complete ignorance. It took me several tries over the course of a year before I got hooked into the game.

[+GoldenWheels]

Swing Away Golf (What seems like an awful early PS2 golf game is actually great fun once you get into career mode and power up your guy to an INSANE degree).

 

Resident Evil and Tomb Raider....it took me a quite while to learn to tolerate the controls.

[Reaperman]

I still haven't managed to get into an elder scrolls game--bravo to those who stuck with it long enough.

 

On my last attempt I don't think I actually made it through the tutorial. I accidentally joined the wrong side when some dragon attacked, was led to a room featuring a lengthy and boring book on politics, then led to a blacksmith who also wanted to drone on about politics some more. (don't blame me, I voted for Kodos) After dubbing him the 'final boss' I "completed" the game in record time.

Edited January 25, 2016 by Reaperman

[CatPix]

The beauty of the TES games is that there is no "wrong side". However, if you aren't up to get involved into a storyline, why do you play a RPG game?

(nice reference )

[Cynicaster]

I remember thinking I got the bum end of a trade back in the NES days when I felt sorry for this neighborhood kid and gave him one of my games for the only one he had in his collection aside from the pack-ins; the game was the original Metal Gear. I thought it was pretty dreadful at first but once I started making progress in it I loved it, and ended up completing the game before trading it back.

 

Another one that comes to mind for me is arcade Donkey Kong. I was too young to play it back in its heyday, and in more recent times when I got heavy into MAME I initially snubbed it because I became so sick of the game getting so much attention due to the King of Kong movie. Then, I decided to give it an honest go and quickly became addicted. It really is a brilliant game. Now, it’s probably near the top of the list of my all-time favorite games.

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

Pressure Cooker for the 2600. I didn't like it at first as I thought it was too fast paced and I am not good at multitasking (Like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time). After playing it for a while, I have really became very good at it and can exceed 100,000 points. Also one of my top favorite 2600 games. It keeps you on your toes and is very addicting.

[+Cafeman]

I thought coin-op Bubbles was stupid at first. But after trying it on my Saturn Williams Arcade collection, I reversed my opinion and love to play a few rounds now.

 

With Nights into Dreams, although it was pretty neat, I didn't find its game play all that rewarding at first. But then I realized the Links Attack game play, and was forever addicted to getting an Infinite chain going in each level. Too bad the sequel discarded that aspect of Nights game play.