How did I do this as a kid?!

[scnj]

Robocop vs Terminator

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

I downloaded the ROM for Earthworm Jim 2 and realized that I used to be a masochist. Same with the original Battletoads. Good Lord those games kick my butt. Earthworm Jim wasn't as bad once I started to remember the patterns and level layouts.

 

[gigastrike]

I swear I was better at PC shooters when I was younger. Might just be because I'm out of practice, though. I did go back and totally destroy Super Mario 64 recently, after all.

 

[ShotgunShaman]

Dude Glover for me too.

 

[SantoUno]

One time I actually beat Rollerblades on the NES. Today I probably couldn't achieve that again. Also once I actually came CLOSE to beating Silver Surfer, beat all the 5 bosses and got to the first stage of the final boss and lost . Today I wouldn't have bothered.

 

[riskroWe]

I did play Jazz Jackrabbit not too long ago, but I think the reason I was so good at it before was because our computer was slow, giving me a much faster reaction time. Also I'd memorised the levels and knew all the shortcuts.

Yes! I indeed have. Glover. I played it and mastered it as a kid, and I picked it up a couple days ago and killed myself 29 times, then put it down and went outside.

I was great at Glover! Super Smash Bros and Iggy's Reckin' Balls too. If only I still had my n64, I could put these to the test.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Only once. I don't have a clue as to how I beat the Ahh! Real Monsters game for the Genesis when I was nine or so years old. I downloaded the game as a ROM a short while back, and the thing felt damn near impossible.

That's an extremely unusual case, though. With pretty much everything else nostalgic I've picked up, the reaction has been "what did I find so difficult about this?"

 

[Ishnuvalok]

Mario Kart 64, Super Smash Bros, Star Fox 64. I suck at them now but back in the day I ruled at them. To the point when friends wouldn't want to play with me. Now, I get beaten by my little sister :\

 

[The Moose Wrangler]

stuff on the sega master system... i used to rock at wonder boy and alex the kidd... not so much now. damn forest with the leaf throwing monkeys...

 

[Canadamus Prime]

No.... not that I can think of.

 

[metalmmaniac]

Ninja Gaiden and pretty much any MegaMan game, i used to be alot better at them then i am now

 

[saruto]

Weird, the thought occurred to me to make this same thread earlier today.

Anyways, I got a ROM for Sonic 2 on my computer and it's so freaking hard. Even with a controller, I can't get nearly as far as I should have been able to. Maybe it's because I've been out of the platformer mindset for a decade I'm not sure

Hah, looks like I'm still one step ahead.
I've always wanted to get a controller for the few ROM's that I've obtained. Playing Mario/Sonic without one is terrible.

Yeah man, I actually managed to find drivers for a PS3 controller on my mac, but it's not the same because the buttons are a lot looser on the dualshock 3 it's hard to explain but it doesn't feel the same.

I was looking into getting a 360 controller for my PC...
Don't really want to shell out $50 though. Would much rather just get a cheap one.

 

[Weaver]

Back to the oringinal point, games today are too easy, they've made you soft! I realized when I put mega man 4 back in my NES that the game was damn hard. I had to sit up straight and focus like crazy to really get back into it. It was still fun and rewarding!

 

[Lothae]

Sim City and a bunch of old 64 classics like Mario Kart 64/Super Smash Bros I was great at back when I was 6-12 years old, if I try them now I get destroyed .

 

[SimuLord]

One word: Contra.

In 1989, my brother and I beat it in co-op without losing a life between us. In 2009, I try it in singleplayer and the Konami Code is hardly sufficient to get me through the first level.

 

[grimsprice]

Croc, for the love of god Croc.
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped.

I know I lost my gifted childness sometime during secondary school but COME ON. It's only Crash 3!

Croc, my god, i remember that game. Yeah, balls to the walls hard now. And Gex enter the gecko. I picked that up for the first time in like... 10 years. OMG i can't do anything in it. I think its because those old 3d platformers are all laggy, and we aren't used to the movement lag anymore.

 

[saruto]

Back to the oringinal point, games today are too easy, they've made you soft! I realized when I put mega man 4 back in my NES that the game was damn hard. I had to sit up straight and focus like crazy to really get back into it. It was still fun and rewarding!

I agree! I remember back when lives were all important, as well as health packs!
Nowadays it's all about checkpoints and regenerating health.

The pains of seeing that 'game over screen... That's what drove you to play harder, hah.

 

[manaman]

All of them? I still pick up older games often. I have loads of them. What I don't have anymore is the time I used to put into them. See the games where hard then, and we didn't have the internet, cheat codes, or well much of anything to get us through them - or even tell us what where bad and good games. So when we got a game we damn well had to play it. Which we did, until we where so good at the game that we could nearly play it with out eyes closed.

 

[4fromK]

Nope never, for me its always been the other way around

yeah, I think I grew up just after the whole arcade mindset of making games as hard as possible to keep people paying had finally passed, so all I can do is reflect on what a noob I was.