Losing your gaming skills?

J

JamMasterJ

CAG Veteran
I just finished playing Mega-Man 2 on the original NES and I SUCKED at it. Took me forever to beat it. I used to blaze thru it without any real problems. Has anyone else found that games that you were awesome at when you were a kid are all of a sudden a lot more difficult?
:wall:
 
It actually took me forever to get through Mega Man 2 as a kid. It wasn't until like 5 years after I got it that I was able to beat it. Nowadays, I play through the whole game in about an hour every once in a while just for fun.
 
Games back in the day didn't hold your hand all the way through like games today. While there are still difficult games, I think the classic games were more about trial and error and less guidance along the way to completion.
 
old games are memory patterns. Forget the patterns and you lose all your skill in them.
 
[quote name='Paco']old games are memory patterns. Forget the patterns and you lose all your skill in them.[/QUOTE]

I don't know about that. Or at least it's not exclusive to old games. I was playing Stunt Race FX to complete the 12-race championship mode for fun a couple weeks ago, and I did it no problem. It took me months, maybe over a year to do that back in the 90s. There's nothing really old-school exclusive to that game. It could come out today with better graphics.
 
I have the same issue with the trial-and-error gameplay of many of the older games, which all but require that you fail repeatedly until you memorize the proper way to make it through the game. Also, many of these games don't have infinite lives/continues, so it requires a larger time commitment to start the game from scratch.

However, I have the opposite experience with things like top-down action games and racing games. It's probably because I've spent so much time with 3D games over the past decade or so, but I've found that my skills have actually improved in these games. I've gone back and replayed some of these, and I've actually gotten further along on my first attempt than I was ever able to do when I was younger.
 
I've actually gotten better, or I should say I have more patience. As a little kid I'd give up on games all the time. Rarely would I actually ever beat a game. Because of this I make it a point to play games from my childhood that I never beat.

And also as a kid I wasn't smart enough to look for patterns. I would just play.

I will say I was much better at fighters 10 years ago. I was obsessed with being the best at every fighter. I would piss off my friends so much that they stopped playing me. I've since lost that passion.
 
My kids still laugh at me every time they catch me playing the Legend of Zelda,and i know i was lots better at Space Invaders and Missle Command a long time back.
 
I was losing my skills for a while, but in the last year or so, I've played a lot more arcade-y stuff... and my reflexes are razor sharp again. I don't want to let them dull.
 
I used to get frustrated with a number of games as child, but nowadays I don't have too much trouble as long as the controls and pacing are in the right place. Years ago I had Einhander just about mastered, and even now I can get up to that level four hell region without breaking too much of a sweat. However right now I'm getting my ass kicked in Metal Slug Anthology--there's something not quite right being attached to the ground while having to dodge and weave, dying to delayed jumps and your man just refusing to turn around in midair to shoot.
 
[quote name='Indigo_Streetlight']I used to get frustrated with a number of games as child, but nowadays I don't have too much trouble as long as the controls and pacing are in the right place. Years ago I had Einhander just about mastered, and even now I can get up to that level four hell region without breaking too much of a sweat. However right now I'm getting my ass kicked in Metal Slug Anthology--there's something not quite right being attached to the ground while having to dodge and weave, dying to delayed jumps and your man just refusing to turn around in midair to shoot.[/QUOTE]

Stupid ass Metal Slug Anthology lag. I'd love a revised compilation for 360/PS3.

My skills have dropped off somewhat in stuff like Ghouls N' Ghosts. I dominated Mega Man 2 a couple weeks ago so that's still intact.
 
I find myself getting better at games that I played 7-8 years ago. Any game that used to seem hard isn't anymore.
 
[quote name='Halo05']Stupid ass Metal Slug Anthology lag. I'd love a revised compilation for 360/PS3.

My skills have dropped off somewhat in stuff like Ghouls N' Ghosts. I dominated Mega Man 2 a couple weeks ago so that's still intact.[/QUOTE]

I think I managed to get fairly far in Super Ghouls in Ghosts; however my romp in the original one was probably limited to the initial graveyard with the offscreen zombie and coffin spawning. At least in most kiddie platformers you can land on the enemy's head and kill them, not this stupid stuff where you're forced to jump and there's 50 things on the ground to stub your toe on.
 
In some cases I am, and in others I'm not. A couple of months ago I played StarFox64 (I was never able to beat it when I was younger) for the first time in like 4 years, and I beat it without losing a life.
 
A majority of the classic games i didn't lose my touch with the exception of probably Zelda LTTP, and some Super NES RPGs. I use to speed run those games in a matter or a couple of hours. Legend of Zelda (first one) i can still speed run it in an hour.
 
I'm just the opposite as rodimus. I have less patience the older I get (for games, anyway)

We also didn't have access to as many games as we do now, so we spent more time with fewer games.
 
[quote name='2DMention']I'm just the opposite as rodimus. I have less patience the older I get (for games, anyway)
.[/QUOTE]

I'm in the same boat patience wise. I use to be able to sit on a Dragon Warrior or Final Fantasy (NES) and grind for hours. Now I maybe can grind for 20-30 minutes at max, then I get bored and turn it off.
 
[quote name='Gutterbanger']My kids still laugh at me every time they catch me playing the Legend of Zelda,and i know i was lots better at Space Invaders and Missle Command a long time back.[/QUOTE]

Oh great. That'll be me when I have kids and I'm playing my Sega Genesis. Pesky kids!:roll:
 
Yeah I've had this happen several times although on the other hand I've actually beat certain games that I was unable to as a kid except I sort of cheated as I used save slots which were unavailable to me then...

Super Meat Boy did a great job at getting me back on my feet though.
 
That's me with the Sega Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog games. I used to be so good at those, never losing my lives. Now I can't even get through the game without having to burn a few continues or more. I guess I just don't have the patience like I did before.
 
I really have no idea. Perhaps I'll go fire up Streets of Rage 2-player and see if I can still play it with my toes like I used to (What? I wanted to get the bad endings!)
 
I start sucking at games more now than I did when I was a kid, but Mega man 2 I play on a weekly basis from start to finish... That's my shit right there!
 
I've noticed that I suck at video games now and think I'm a little too old now.
Metal Slug X isn't too old, but I saw it on a local arcade and decided to give it a go. I use to be able to run the whole game with 1 coin and it took me exactly $3 to finish it. I decided to call my cousin and tell him that we should go play it again and we were able to finish with just one coin each and it took us around $5 dollars for both to finish. And to think I was able to put up a "show" back then on the arcade while I played the Metal Slug games. Now, I can't even get to the 3rd level without losing 1 credit. :(
 
Age hinders your reflexes, which is why a lot of older guys are bad at shooters. Of course, it doesn't affect everyone's reflexes, but most. I hear of pro gamers saying that at 23 they weren't as quick as they were when they were 20. :shock:
 
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