Nintendo Hard: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}} |
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[[File:iwbtgscreen 1962.png|link=I Wanna Be the Guy|frame|Be prepared to see this a lot. And this is one of the ''easier'' screens.]] |
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{{quote|''"WE ARE NINTENDO. WE CHALLENGE ALL PLAYERS. '''YOU CANNOT BEAT US."'''''|''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta0DlcxyY5M '80s Australian NES commercial]''}} |
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The first [[Nintendo Entertainment System]] was known for two things: [[The Great Video Game Crash of 1983|reviving home console gaming]] and having ridiculously difficult games. |
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Back in the '80s, video games didn't have the advanced storylines of today; [[Excuse Plot]]s were the norm. So much of the feeling of accomplishment one could derive was from overcoming the insane difficulty that the games provided, if only so one could [[Bragging Rights Reward]] to one's friends. [[Goddamned Bats|A plethora of enemies]] and impossible jumps were not just the name of the game, they ''were'' the game. These games weren't just hard; they were Nintendo Hard! |
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{{hardline}} |
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'''The difficulty of these games usually stems from a combination of factors:''' |
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* [[Goddamned Bats|Lots of enemies]] ([[Bullet Hell|or lots of bullets]]) that are [[Denial of Diagonal Attack|hard to hit or dodge]]. |
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* Surprise attacks that can only be avoided by sheerest luck or [[Trial and Error Gameplay|memorizing their locations]]. |
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* [[Malevolent Architecture]] that poses a [[Everything Trying to Kill You|constant danger of death]] even when the player proceeds as cautiously as possible. |
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* A hero [[Glass Cannon|who can survive very few hits]]—often dying from even the [[One-Hit-Point Wonder|slightest scratch]]. |
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* [[Check Point Starvation|Lack of, or very few Check Points or Save Points]]. |
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* A limited number of [[Video Game Lives|lives]] and/or continues. |
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* No way to [[Difficulty Levels|adjust the difficulty]], or doing so is pretty much superficial. |
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* [[Continuing Is Painful|Losing all or most of your weapons/powerups when you die]] |
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* Stiff, clunky, and perhaps somewhat unresponsive controls (but ''only'' when applied to the original 8-bit, 16-bit, and (to a small extent) 32-bit generations: in more modern games, it ceases to be expected and veers right into [[Fake Difficulty]].) |
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** Inflexible [[Jump Physics]] render it impossible to accurately dodge attacks in midair, especially if your character's jump height is less than half that of Mario's. |
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For further building blocks of Nintendo Hard, see [[Classic Video Game "Screw You"s]]. |
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The game mechanics that make a game "Nintendo Hard" were often transported from arcade games that required the player to [[Attract Mode|spend more money]] to keep playing after his character was killed. Except that when they got ported over to the console, there was no coin slot, leaving you stuck with a fixed number of lives and highly limited or non-existent continues. |
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The concept has recently been satirized on the Internet, most famously by the [[The Angry Video Game Nerd]], who pointed out that via [[Sturgeon's Law]], most examples of Nintendo Hard games are often a result of sloppy or bad design. |
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A lot of these are simply rookie mistakes. For a company, establishing an identity and building the fanbase takes priority over finding the proper challenge level. Often the designers will go for something highly distinctive, take a lot of time designing and making it look right, and not spend enough time on the actual gameplay and level mechanics, then realize too late that they've (completely unintentionally) made a monster. Ghosts 'n Goblins is a good example of this. |
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When Nintendo Hard is taken to its most sadistic extremes by deliberately adding cheap deaths and [[Trial and Error Gameplay]], you get [[Masocore]] or [[Platform Hell]]. |
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When only one or few levels or areas of the game are Nintendo Hard, you're probably dealing with [[That One Level]]. If the game reaches an obscene difficulty at a certain point and never looks back, look for [[Disappointing Last Level]]. Examples of '''Nintendo Hard''' head-to-head fighters generally go under [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard]], since crazy-hard opponent AI is nigh-universally the culprit. |
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Nintendo products themselves are physically ''very hard'' (to break), but that's [[Tonka Tough]], not Nintendo Hard. |
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Apparently several classic Nintendo games are, in general, [http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.1895 NP-hard], which is also not the same, but interesting. |
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'''Some caution in adding examples may be wise.''' If you feel inclined to add the words "for This Troper" or "could be considered" and cannot make a strong statement on the universal difficulty of the game in question, '''please reconsider.''' |
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'''If you know where an example filed under "Uncategorised" goes, then please sort it.''' |
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'''For [[Fighting Game]] examples, see [[SNK Boss]].''' |
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{{examples}} |
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* [[Nintendo Hard/Adventure Games|Adventure Games]] |
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* [[Nintendo Hard/Beat Em Ups|Beat Em Ups]] |
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* [[Nintendo Hard/First Person Shooters|First Person Shooters]] |
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* [[Nintendo Hard/Game Mods|Game Mods]] |
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* [[Nintendo Hard/Hack N Slash Games|Hack N Slash Games]] |
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* [[Nintendo Hard/Non Video Game Examples|Non Video Game Examples]] |
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* [[Nintendo Hard/Platform Games|Platform Games]] |
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* [[Nintendo Hard/Puzzle Games|Puzzle Games]] |
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* [[Nintendo Hard/Racing Games|Racing Games]] |
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* [[Nintendo Hard/Rhythm Games|Rhythm Games]] |
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* [[Nintendo Hard/Rogue-like Games|Rogue-like Games]] |
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* [[Nintendo Hard/Role-playing Games|Role-playing Games]] |
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* [[Nintendo Hard/Simulation Games|Simulation Games]] |
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* [[Nintendo Hard/Shoot Em Ups|Shoot Em Ups]] |
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* [[Nintendo Hard/Sports Games|Sports Games]] |
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* [[Nintendo Hard/Turn-Based Strategy|Turn-based Strategy Games]] |
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* [[Nintendo Hard/Uncategorised|Uncategorised]] |
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* [[Nintendo Hard/Video Game Publishers|Video Game Publishers]] |
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{{quote|''"Why do they make it so that you can't fucking win, why am I even playing?" [drops the [[PlayStation 2]] controller]''|'''Evan''', ''[[Superbad]]''}} |
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{{reflist}} |
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[[Category:Tropes of Legend]] |
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[[Category:Fighting Game]] |
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[[Category:Older Than the NES]] |
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[[Category:Video Game Difficulty Tropes]] |
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[[Category:Index]] |
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[[Category:CRPG Tropes]] |
Revision as of 03:13, 5 March 2015
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