Ridiculously hard old games

Remembering the games of yesteryear.

Re: Ridiculously hard old games

Postby MrKite » Fri Jan 16, '15, 1:31 am

The Adventures of Bayou Billy. The game had a lot of potential. It had great graphics and sound, and it was cool how it blended so many different genres, but it was ruined by the frustrating difficulty!
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Re: Ridiculously hard old games

Postby Snorb » Fri Jan 16, '15, 4:52 am

Okay, it's been about a year or so since I complained in this thread about just how utterly difficult Mad Max for the NES was, and how absolutely not-worth-it it was to go through all that crap just for a single badly-recolored picture of Mad Max's car and a single question for your ending, but it could be worse. It could have been Mel Gibson ranting about how you were responsible for all the wars in the world.

(Topical humor is topical.)

Anyway, I have another ludicrously difficult video game for you guys, and it was actually made in a year that starts with "Two thousand!"

Five Nights at Freddy's 2: The Ultimate Exercise in Grueling Jump-Scare Horror

In June of 2014, Scott Cawthon released an indie horror game called Five Nights at Freddy's. It was essentially Red Light/Green Light TO THE DEATH against four murderous animatronic mascots at a crappy Chuck-E-Cheese knockoff. Don't even BEGIN to consider just what in the blue hell Golden Freddy is. It is probably the single most horrifying game I have ever seen. Five Nights at Freddy's is Good (tm).

So, Scott makes filthy filthy $$$ from this pants-crapping nightmare-inducing horror game, and he does what any sane person would do; he makes a sequel.

So, here's Five Nights at Freddy's 2 for you: Freddy Fazbear's Pizza has reopened following a period of bankruptcy a couple years back. You are the new night watchman for the restaurant; apparently the previous guy only lasted about a week before he complained to the manager that the animatronics were trying to kill him, so they put him on the day shift. Your job is to basically make sure nothing happens to the animatronic mascots overnights, just like in the first game.

Just like in the first game, they wander around to where people would be so they can entertain them. (Considering you're the only human being in the restaurant from midnight to 6 am, that would be your office.) Unfortunately for you, your shift supervisor doesn't think the animatronics have a proper night mode, so they might not see you as a human being; they might see you as an animatronic skeleton without a Freddy Fazbear costume, so if they get in your office, they're going to REMEDY that. (Also considering animatronic suits are full of wiring, crossbeams, and animatronic supports, all that would be left of your head once they're done are your eyes and maybe some teeth. So, probably best to not get caught.)

Now, in the first game, you only had the four animatronics to deal with: Freddy Fazbear himself, his bandmates Bonnie the Rabbit and Chica the Chicken, and that stupid speedster Warp Factor One fox Foxy the Pirate Fox. If they get too close for comfort (read: ARE PEERING THROUGH YOUR OFFICE DOORS HOLY JESUS) you just close the doors and wait for them to go away. (Close both doors when Bonnie and Chica are nowhere near you, and Freddy TUNNELS INTO YOUR OFFICE TO KILL YOU.)

This game, the restaurant's been renovated. Your office does not have any doors for you to close. All you have to defend yourself in the un EXTREMELY LIKELY event one of the mascots gets into your office is an empty Freddy head to fool them.

Oh, and need we forget, everything about Freddy Fazbear's has been renovated. Including the mascots. The redesigned for FNAF2 mascots are cutesy versions of the old gang. The old guys are still around in varying stages of disrepair. They are most certainly eager to kill you just like the new guys.

Your shift supervisor mentions during the second night of the game that Foxy the Pirate might not be fooled by your Freddy mask (SPOILER: He isn't!) so the only way you'd be able to get him to go away is to shine your flashlight down the main hallway repeatedly. (Your flashlight has limited battery power, just so you don't get too complacent.)

If WHEN a mascot gets in your office, you have a VERY limited amount of time to put your Freddy mask on. If they go away, you might think you've fooled them. Problem is, as I said, it's a limited window that gets narrower as the week goes on. And the hope spot that you DID fool them gets wider, so you put the mask on, Old Bonnie disappears, you remove the mask, pull up your camera monitor and the last thing you see is Old Bonnie pushing the monitor aside and lunging for you, making a hellish scream that transliterates best as "RYAAAAAAAAGH~!"

Fortunately, the mascots don't move when you're looking at them on your camera. Just to keep you on your toes, the mascots don't all start in the same room (and thus, not all on the same camera, so you get to keep switching cameras and keeping track of eight nine of these freaks.) Also, Phone Guy the supervisor mentions that another animatronic, which we'll call The Marionette, is placated by a music box you have to wind up periodically in its own camera view (that, not surprisingly, no other mascot visits.) If you let this music box run out, the last things you get to hear are a couple loops of Pop Goes the Weasel followed by "RYAAAAAAAAGH~!" as that damn Marionette leaps out of the darkness at you.

Oh, and you WILL be beset by at least two mascots at the same time while the music box is running dangerously close to its end, especially near the weekend. Prioritize!

The most horrifying thing about this game is the backstory: Essentially, between both games, eleven children were murdered: five at the FNAF1 restaurant in 1993, five at the FNAF2 restaurant in 1987, and one in front of Fredbear's Family Diner before either game. There is a lot of evidence in the second game that the Phone Guy, your shift supervisor in both games, is a serial child murderer.

Given the above, how brutally difficult the second Five Nights at Freddy's is, along with how scary the first one is, there's still some humor to be found in the games. Even though it's a classic case of what happens to retiring mentors, the phone call from Phone Guy in FNAF1's fourth night still kinda makes me laugh (especially given the above spoilered bit.)

[Reveal] Spoiler: Night 4 Phone Call
Phone Guy: Uh, hello, hello! Wow, night four! I knew you'd make it! (banging sound) Hey, uh, I might not be around tomorrow to... to leave you a message. (Foxy banging on door) It hasn't been a, a great night for me. Listen, can you do me a favor? (banging continues) When you get a chance, can you check the costumes in the back? I'll... (bang bang bang) I'll try to hold out as long as I can. Maybe it won't be so bad. (more banging) I've always wondered what was inside one of those suits.

Freddy: (Les Toreadores playing)

Phone Guy: Y'know, I..... oh no

Golden Freddy: RAAAAAAAAAGH

(static)
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Re: Ridiculously hard old games

Postby Aeroprism » Fri Jan 16, '15, 1:12 pm

Zio_Falz wrote:I lay claim to beating Ironsword for NES back in 1990, before the save-state was invented. Impressive lists, people.


I bow to your magnificence. I never made it past the elementals and God knows I tried.

As for my own feat? The 7th Saga for SNES. Alone in my first appartment, before internet, no strat guides, no magazines. This RPG was coded by people who hate gamers. The bosses level every time you do but their power rises faster than yours so if you level too much, they become unbeatable. The game is huge, confusing, convoluted and full of deception.

I -hate- hard games but I LOVE hard RPGs.
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Re: Ridiculously hard old games

Postby R-90-2 » Fri Jan 16, '15, 1:14 pm

MrKite wrote:The Adventures of Bayou Billy. The game had a lot of potential. It had great graphics and sound, and it was cool how it blended so many different genres, but it was ruined by the frustrating difficulty!


Funny story about that- the Bayou Billy we got was made much harder for the North American release. The original Japanese version (Mad City) was more reasonable.
Do not say: How is it that former times were better than these? For it is not out of wisdom that you ask about this. Ecclesiastes 7:10
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Re: Ridiculously hard old games

Postby Snorb » Fri Jan 16, '15, 3:17 pm

Aeroprism wrote:
Zio_Falz wrote:I lay claim to beating Ironsword for NES back in 1990, before the save-state was invented. Impressive lists, people.


I bow to your magnificence. I never made it past the elementals and God knows I tried.

As for my own feat? The 7th Saga for SNES. Alone in my first appartment, before internet, no strat guides, no magazines. This RPG was coded by people who hate gamers. The bosses level every time you do but their power rises faster than yours so if you level too much, they become unbeatable. The game is huge, confusing, convoluted and full of deception.

I -hate- hard games but I LOVE hard RPGs.


The Japanese version was (allegedly) much easier, with the obnoxious difficulty being added on for us North Americans. (That doesn't change the fact that one of the seven playable characters gets a full HP/MP healing spell that he can basically use at-will.)
Read my social stuff!
The ramblings of an oldish geezer on Facebook.
@SnorbESnorb on Twitter. The "E" stands for "Everything."

Play my games!
The ArrrPG - A game I made about being a pirate. This be a first draft, matey! Though it plays just fine, clap yer eyes on th' eventual Revised an' Expanded Edition and you'll be pleased, by thunder!

Nakama: A Card Game of Magical Girls - A completely un-playtested card game about being a magical girl.

Well, excuse me while I defy all laws of logic and common sense and do it anyway.
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Re: Ridiculously hard old games

Postby Aeroprism » Fri Jan 16, '15, 4:18 pm

Now, consider that the hardest bosses in that game ARE the other characters you're not playing. Imagine having to defeat that guy.

That guy's name is Valsu. Since I was playing Lejes Rimul, the demon, Valsu was THE apprentice that always got in my way. HARD!
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Re: Ridiculously hard old games

Postby Solar » Fri Jan 16, '15, 5:49 pm

There was this relatively obscure game called Titus the Fox that I played when I was a kid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8zM1v0piSs

My goodness, that game was awful. Instant death traps all over the place, labyrinthine levels with cryptic shortcuts (9:24 is one of the most egregious ones) and places that frequently require you to carry objects elsewhere from the level so you can reach high enough. The insane knockback from getting hit by an enemy and the complete lack of mercy invincibility. Don't even get me started on the sound effects and the way the screen scrolls.
Last edited by Solar on Fri Jan 16, '15, 5:49 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: Ridiculously hard old games

Postby Wolf Bird » Thu Jun 11, '15, 5:09 am

I, apparently having gone insane sometime recently due to an octopus deity that lives in my dresser drawer that speaks to me telepathically every day at 3:27 pm about the planet Neptune, am going to attempt Ghost n Goblins on NES.

Wish me luck.
Last edited by Wolf Bird on Thu Jun 11, '15, 5:09 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Ridiculously hard old games

Postby myau56 » Thu Jun 11, '15, 11:59 am

SOLAR : Ah Titus the fox ! A french editor and I know the game that is REALLY very hard :(
Phantasy Star Forever

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Re: Ridiculously hard old games

Postby Silver_Surfer1 » Sat Feb 24, '18, 7:13 pm

Has anyone run into any other very hard games lately?

A lot of them above I have never played, and appreciate all the comments everyone gave above on their experience playing the games!!
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