Quote:
Originally Posted by boo boo
Contra 3 is not easier than Contra. Why? Because it didn't have the code, duh.
I mean c'mon, sure it's good for games to be challenging, but it's not like the code makes Contra a walk in the park, and even so, we're talking about an 8 level game that's hard as crap even with a stock full of lives, let alone just 3, if you're one of the hardcore that dosen't use the code then fine, that dosen't excuse not having ANYTHING to help gamers that are not quite as skilled. If the first game did it and was famous for doing so, then it dosen't matter if they indended it or not, as greatly assoiiated with the series as it is it should be available for every game, Contra 4 has the code, they all should have had it.
And yes I use emulators. And no, Master System was not very popular even when it came out, especially in North America.
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as a test don't bother with the code and try both. you'll get further in part 3... because it's an easier game.
the code DID make the original a walk through the park you had to be drunk or disabled to not be able to make it through contra with 90 lives.
the master system might not have sold as much as the NES in its day but it was not obscure or hard to find.
spot on about the combos and currency.
the idea of games absolutely 'needing' endings only really started around the end of the 80s. it was most likely a reaction to the increased PC crap being forced onto anything relating to kids at the time. it was 'detrimental' to their self esteem to actually lose at the game. now the biggest risk of 'losing' at a game is having to reload your last save. it's less like a game and more like an interactive movie the idea of playing with friends for fun seems lost on most developers. at least guitar hero and rockband bucked that current trend.
the generation gap really shows itself with your comment on SMB. i flipped out when i beat that one for the first time. same as all my friends. because it took us weeks or months to finally be good enough at the game to beat it. there was no gamefaqs.com to tell us how to get to the warp zones or which pipes to take in the final castle, no frameskip to slow down the action or save state to never have to restart. there was a sense of accomplishment that is typically lost on most titles that put as much development time and money into a closing cinematic as the actual 'game'.
the original metroid ending wasn't really much more spectacular once you go back to thinking with the head on your shoulders either. it's just the difference of 4 sprites depending on how fast you beat the game.
another big reason those old games didn't have endings was technological limitations. there just wasn't enough memory on the cartridges to handle that. all the other examples you list are from the 16bit generation and up which was a big tech jump from the 8bit days.