Easy or at least fair Retro Games

[Graw]

The difficulty/unfairness of retro games is overblown. The majority of them, even a lot of nes games, really aren't that bad. The 'difficulty' in the majority of those games comes down to a lack of save functions/limited continues. If you play them on an emulator with save states they basically become the equivalent of any challenging modern game with autosaves and checkpoints. Outside of those games notorious for being cheap/unfair, the rest really aren't so bad.

 

[DanCalibur]

Duck Tales 2 and most of the old Capcom/Disney games on the NES are very fun and easy. On the SNES, Super Metroid's difficulty is just right and Goof Troop is a very relaxing two players breeze.

 

[Cardboardtubeknight Cardboardtubeknight]

Once you figure out the cape Super Mario World is nothing.

 

[Nelson2001 Nelson2001]

The difficulty/unfairness of retro games is overblown. The majority of them, even a lot of nes games, really aren't that bad. The 'difficulty' in the majority of those games comes down to a lack of save functions/limited continues. If you play them on an emulator with save states they basically become the equivalent of any challenging modern game with autosaves and checkpoints. Outside of those games notorious for being cheap/unfair, the rest really aren't so bad.

Honestly, I don't really like playing a game that has limited credits/continues (2, 3, 4 typically, 5 or sometimes 6) because it limits a lot in trying to pass the game although there are some games although it has limited credits/continues that are possible to complete them as The Super Shinobi II ~ Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master for example.

 

[Graw]

Honestly, I don't really like playing a game that has limited credits/continues (2, 3, 4 typically, 5 or sometimes 6) because it limits a lot in trying to pass the game although there are some games although it has limited credits/continues that are possible to complete them as The Super Shinobi II ~ Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master for example.

Blaster Master is the one I always disliked for that as a kid. It's a decently large game that requires some metroid style roaming around and back tracking but it has no save feature and limited continues. I could never make it past Area 3 as a kid. Even when I made it to the boss I'd end up running out of continues. I remember one time leaving it turned on overnight and while I was at school because I actually got to area 3 with all my continues but someone turned it off while I was at school. I was pretty choked. That nes ninja turtles game is another one. I remember the first time I got past the dam level. I was so excited and then I died pretty quickly to one of those steam roller things in the next level and had no more continues.

 

[DanCalibur]

Seems easy enough

 

[FrootyLoopsSamurai]

I recently played Castlevania Rondo of Blood all the way through with all the prisoners rescued. It's the only classicvania I've ever beaten legitimately. It does require some practice to beat, but the difficulty feels fair. I had a hard time at first, but then something just clicked, and I found myself dying a lot less.

 

[DanCalibur]

I'm saving that beauty Rondo of Blood for last, but I did finish the SNES version and it's not as bad as people say

 

[Deleted member 560402]

Ristar on Sega Genesis is easy once you get the hang of it. There's also Kirby's Adventure on NES. Both were made for kids so you can play them to the end without much trouble. They also push the limit when it comes to gameplay, music, graphics, and overall fun. I even finished Ristar on GameCube in the Sonic Mega Collection. The control sticks had 8 direction points which made it easy to aim the direction of Ristar's arms to grab onto stuff.

 

[Badseed Badseed]

Popolocrois Monogatari PSX (Engrish patched). Once I actually figured out how things worked I found it a somewhat easy (surprising considering the usual Japanese tough-as-nails difficulty), but very rewarding experience.

 

[Giggling Tilly]

I remember The Disney Afternoon NES games being quite easy. Things like DuckTales, Rescue Rangers, and Darkwing Duck were perfect for kids who had just gotten their first console.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

Final Fantasy 7 is pretty easy going same for Final Fantasy 8 both never go overboard with difficulty sometimes they do (FF7 final zone) but it's too few.

Compared to 1-6 the PS1 FF games are pretty forgiving , in FF4 you had to almost beg on baron streets for money


Chrono trigger also isn't hard i died like 2-5 times

Same for parasite eve 1/2 if you die it's on you tbh just a legitimate skill issue unless it's the final boss fight other than that yeah it should be pretty hard to die

Noticing a pattern? Most square games from 94 onwards aren't some very hard? Yeah....probably to appeal more to casuals.

If you want real MANLY game XD just hear me out on this....REAL MANLY difficulty play age of mythology the TITANS on titan difficulty

 

[Nelson2001 Nelson2001]

For me:

Rockman X ~ Mega Man X (1993) (Somewhat Challenging but Fair except in the Last Bosses (Especialmente Sigma That is hard to beat even with lightning weakness that only deals the same amount of damage as the charge shot you know 2 pts. damage, 3 pts. damage with charge damage which is 16, 11 times with charge in total) which are somewhat difficult so you are forced to have all 4 parts of the armor (Especially the Body) to reduce the damage level per contact to 5, 6 against sigma instead of 8 in the sub-bosses, 10 for sigma).
Any Hoshi no Kirby ~ Kirby's Dream Land Games and even if related to the formula That they are not Dream Land)
Sonic the Hedgehog CD (1993)
The Super Shinobi II ~ Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (1993) (Somewhat Challenging but fair).
Super Mario World: Super Mario Bros. 4 ~ Super Mario World (1990) and also the Prequel Which Is Supposedly the Sequel Super Mario: Yoshi Island ~ Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995).
Any LEGO Games license based.

 

[Esidemoken]

I think the NES was the console with the most unfair difficulty in certain games but because they were still learning to make them and there was not so much attention to detail, from the SNES onwards I think the difficulty was already fairer.

 

[Yousef Yousef]

Oh I forgot
Both Ducktales on the NES are really easy

 

[Giggling Tilly]

Compared to 1-6 the PS1 FF games are pretty forgiving

You think? I always considered the first one to be, like, the easiest one out there. Maybe it's just me being seriously bad with all of those "advanced" mechanics (Materia and stuff), but still, I totally remember VII and VIII giving me a much harder time. The first one, though, I can beat with my eyes closed (original Famicom version, not the ports). The second one too, but that one was always a bit broken.

I think the NES was the console with the most unfair difficulty

Personal computers had it much worse, IMO. Those Mega Man games by Stephen J. Rozner still give me shivers

 

[Hourai]

Wait. What happened when PS3 came out? Was there some magical ramp in difficulty?

The PS3 was the start of when games became drastically easier, owing in part due to the emphasis on "gameplay does not matter, and is actually detrimental to the narrative" mindset of people who were ashamed they weren't making movies, at the time. It was also the start of the more widespread adoption of normal mode joining easy in making mechanics not actually matter. There's a pretty noticable difference between the PS2 and 3 in what developers (especially western ones) wanted video games to be. This obviously isn't universal, but it's a trend of the era that's had some effects that persist to this day.

 

[Konkaluu]

Rock' n roll racing, easy and also a fun game if you like racing.

 

[bjork]

The PS3 was the start of when games became drastically easier, owing in part due to the emphasis on "gameplay does not matter, and is actually detrimental to the narrative" mindset of people who were ashamed they weren't making movies, at the time. It was also the start of the more widespread adoption of normal mode joining easy in making mechanics not actually matter. There's a pretty noticable difference between the PS2 and 3 in what developers (especially western ones) wanted video games to be. This obviously isn't universal, but it's a trend of the era that's had some effects that persist to this day.

It's also the era of Dark Souls coming out and people coining the "this is the Dark Souls of [blank]" so I don't know that I agree, though I'm not saying I disagree either. By the time PS3 hit you had such a wider spectrum of stuff available that even without in-game settings, you could seek out games that were either really hard or really easy, depending on what you were after? But I think that's true of any era of gaming outside of really early computer gaming where the programming sometimes got in the way of something being even playable, heh.

 

[Nelson2001 Nelson2001]

Rockman X ~ Mega Man X (1993) (Somewhat Challenging but Fair except in the Last Bosses (Especialmente Sigma That is hard to beat even with lightning weakness that only deals the same amount of damage as the charge shot you know 2 pts. damage, 3 pts. damage with charge damage which is 16, 11 times with charge in total) which are somewhat difficult so you are forced to have all 4 parts of the armor (Especially the Body) to reduce the damage level per contact to 5, 6 against sigma instead of 8 in the sub-bosses, 10 for sigma).

I forgot to mention the Remake of this same game that you know exactly the same thing you know the Irregular Hunter X ~ Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X (2005).

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

You think? I always considered the first one to be, like, the easiest one out there. Maybe it's just me being seriously bad with all of those "advanced" mechanics (Materia and stuff), but still, I totally remember VII and VIII giving me a much harder time. The first one, though, I can beat with my eyes closed (original Famicom version, not the ports). The second one too, but that one was always a bit broken.

I actually found FF1 to be the toughest FF game up there with FF5 when it comes to difficulty

I played FF1 PS1 version on normal difficulty which claimed to be literally original game but slight tweaks , was Hella tough early on i had to go up to the chaos shrine then retreat after few fights just to buy couple potions , money was hard to get even with the ship giving me a chance to encounter pirates each one killed gives 120 gold.....along with limited healing and potions randomly heal instead of a fixed amount of healing.

 

[silver9000]

Very fair. Feels designed to introduce younger players to the Capcom platformer style without insulting their intelligence or being boring.
View attachment 77300

Love that game and both sequels, the entire series has the same idea of being fun and chill.

 

[Bakuma1997]

Emerald Dragon

You has noted most AI controlled parties on RPG tend to be glue inhaling wanderers? Not here, the AI can and in fact WILL hold your back, the battle system is relatively easy, to put it simple, i realized very late i barely upgraded my party's equipment until i noticed the sudden jumps in stats

 

[Xdqwerty Xdqwerty]

Most Mario games (not counting the Lost levels)

 

[Michael Frank]

Castlevania 3 on japan, honestly it's so much better than USA that it hurts, if i were to make an example...ok here it goes:
-The USA version of Castlevania 3 is that guy that doesn't pay even the drinks in a friend's dinner

-The Japanese version of Castlevania 3 not only pays for the drinks, it also buys food for everyone AND gives free ice cream as a sign of gratitude for hanging out with him.