Very hard games that were intended for young children

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velcrozombie
Posts: 610
Joined: April 12th, 2015, 3:37 pm

Re: Very hard games that were intended for young children

Postby velcrozombie » June 7th, 2019, 3:48 pm

Taz-Mania for the Genesis is almost unbeatable on anything but Easy mode. You are constantly forced to make leap-of-faith jumps to platforms you can't see and bottomless pits are instant deaths on any difficult other than Easy (where you just take damage and are propelled back onto the air). There's also a mine-cart ride that almost rivals the third level of NES Battletoads in terms of quick reflexes and memorization (any mistake is death, even on Easy) and, like Battletoads, you have limited continues (although at least there are numerous 1-Ups and even extra continues scattered throughout the levels). You are invincible during your spin attack but Taz handles like he's wearing roller skates and it's almost a given that you will go sailing off a ledge while trying to defend yourself. It's still a great-looking game but an absolute nightmare to play.

Luigi & Peach
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Joined: August 19th, 2015, 9:30 pm

Re: Very hard games that were intended for young children

Postby Luigi & Peach » June 7th, 2019, 7:54 pm

velcrozombie wrote:Taz-Mania for the Genesis is almost unbeatable on anything but Easy mode. You are constantly forced to make leap-of-faith jumps to platforms you can't see and bottomless pits are instant deaths on any difficult other than Easy (where you just take damage and are propelled back onto the air). There's also a mine-cart ride that almost rivals the third level of NES Battletoads in terms of quick reflexes and memorization (any mistake is death, even on Easy) and, like Battletoads, you have limited continues (although at least there are numerous 1-Ups and even extra continues scattered throughout the levels). You are invincible during your spin attack but Taz handles like he's wearing roller skates and it's almost a given that you will go sailing off a ledge while trying to defend yourself. It's still a great-looking game but an absolute nightmare to play.


This seems to have occurred in more than one Looney Tunes game as Rabbit Rampage, despite having amazing graphics and the potential for awesomeness with so many characters and references to classic episodes, was made frustratingly unplayable with horrible controls and cheap hits.

CaptainCruch
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Joined: July 17th, 2015, 11:26 am

Re: Very hard games that were intended for young children

Postby CaptainCruch » June 9th, 2019, 3:49 am

The original The Smurfs on the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis was pretty hard too, too hard for children in my opinion...

goldenband
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Joined: April 8th, 2015, 10:29 pm

Re: Very hard games that were intended for young children

Postby goldenband » June 9th, 2019, 11:41 am

CaptainCruch wrote:The original The Smurfs on the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis was pretty hard too, too hard for children in my opinion...


I didn't think that one was so bad, but Smurfs 2 was quite difficult. More than anything, it was a hassle to play, and would be pretty tricky for a younger kid to figure out. Heck, it was tricky for me to figure out as an adult.

A lot of those PAL-exclusive licensed games for Genesis are nasty: Spirou, Tintin in Tibet, etc. I think it comes from European devs who originally wrote for computers, and tended to make their games tough as nails so that players would get a lot of playtime for their dollars -- and to help hide how short the games really were. Probably there was a macho thing in there as well, but a kids' game isn't the place to show that off!


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