nesdev.com

I just finished level 6 today and let me tell you, that was hard! Just to get to the level, you had to know the pattern, up, left, down, left! How was anybody supposed to figure that out in the eighties when you didn't have internet! What also sucked were those things with robes. They had absolutely no pattern to them at all! It was just pure luck. I especially hated when I was locked in a room with them and I had to kill them to get out. The level had two freakin' bosses!

There's an NPC in the game that tells you the pattern.

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I agree ! Personally I've never got past the first 2 dungeons. The controls are just too frustrating, and the enemies AI is incredibly unpredictable. However Zelda 2 is much worse, your sword is so short than fighting is very difficult and most dungeons are dark so you can't see your enemies. The item to see them lies in a dark dungeon...

When you restart you don't even have full health. That idea was awful, basically giving you full health would have been replacing a LDA #imm by some LDA absolute. Would have it been that hard to implement ?

Someone else who goes to the same school was supposed to randomly stumble upon it and tell someone else who tells you.

There's a health-filling fairy not too far from the spawn point. I think having to walk there is a fair punishment for death.

It's much more annoying in Metroid, where the only way to get your health back is to grind it from enemies (which can take ages, especially after you have acquired some energy tanks).

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Download STREEMERZ for NES from fauxgame.com! — Some other stuff I've done: fo.aspekt.fi

I don't really like those kinds of games. Where you endlessly run around in circles and are supposed to do some random thing to advance.
"Metroid" is even worse in this regard.

In my opinion, it must be possible to finish a game by skill alone, not by using a guide, doing random stuff or tediously bombing every single wall in the game.

Actually hidden things that you can only encounter by chance should always be optional.

That's probably one of the reasons why "Super Mario Bros." still stands the test of time while "The Legend of Zelda" looks outdated.

I don't know whether "A Link to the Past" has those impossible-to-solve riddles as well, but still, the gap between "Zelda 1" and "Zelda 3" is much, much wider than the one between "Super Mario Bros." and "Super Mario World".

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Zelda also came with a manual, and a Maps and Strategies booklet.

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I also can't stand this kind of repetitive gameplay, where you endlessly walk around the same places blindly looking for a way to advance. Another thing I hate to death are repetitive battles, specially if they're needed to level up, so I find most RPGs unplayable.


Booooring!!!

It's fine when you die on the overworld, but when you die in a dungeon you're screwed. I don't mind restarting the dungeon, but I want to restart with full health.
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I fully agree. However you should know about the context of the 80s, there was much fewer games out there and they were quite expensive so people didn't have so much other things to play if they didn't like a game.

Most NES-era RPGs yes and I fully agree. This was, for the most part, changed in the SNES era though.

I played Zelda extensively in the 80s. And there was a power up, that I didn't know existed until 15 years later, when I looked the map up on the internet.

I believe it was the 'power bracelet'. I guess you can beat the game without it, because I did.

I also spent ages bombing random walls, hoping to find a secret.

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nesdoug.com -- blog/tutorial on programming for the NES

Then my new game might be for you. Gameplay similar to "Zelda", with a relatively open world, also with screen-by-screen scrolling.

But without those kinds of riddles.
If you don't know where to go next, just make sure you enter every screen you haven't seen yet, and you will find the way.

Without experience points and grinding.

And, as a bonus, with an actual advancing in-game storyline.
Your next goals are dictated by the storyline, like in "Final Fantasy Adventure".

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Available now: My game "City Trouble".
Website: https://megacatstudios.com/products/city-trouble
Trailer: https://youtu.be/IYXpP59qSxA
Gameplay: https://youtu.be/Eee0yurkIW4
German Retro Gamer article: http://i67.tinypic.com/345o108.jpg

One thing that sucked for me was when I was finally at the final boss, my cat came wanting me to pet him. I was busy fighting the boss so I ignored him. After a couple of minutes, my cat was fed up so jumped up onto the NES, which made the cartridge pop up which lead to me losing my save file.

And that annoying as crap beeping! If you're low on health, it won't let you forget. It will beep non-stop until you get some more hearts.

Yeah, who wants to pet a pussy when you can pound Ganon?

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Ruling the World One Bean™ at a Time...