Really Hard Videogames

[Spokavriel]

You have to beat it normal before they flip it on you.

[CRBWildcat]

Right when I thought it couldn't get any harder... oh, well. Guess I'll just have to try not to lose my cool from now on.

[Spokavriel]

I think they've included reversing the courses on all the Super Mario Kart games. I know I saw it on the N64 and SNES at least.

[CRBWildcat]

Glad I never had to try any of those. Probably would've irritated me and my friend to no end.

[Crescent Pulsar]

I don't think that's much of a bother. I think the biggest drawback of these games is the time-saving advantage the AI has. No matter what you do to send them reeling back, they zoom right back to where they were.

[Spokavriel]

That's why you have to make use of every advantage you can find.

[CRBWildcat]

In the later parts of the game, the AI already knows all the tricks that human players would have to figure out on their own. I've had at least one AI opponent pull the old "jet stream" trick on me---hang around behind the racer in front of you, then blow past them when the speed boost kicks in. If you're using a heavier character (ex. Wario or Bowser) it's possible to knock them right off the track, but that's assuming you're able to catch up to them.

Advantage-wise, I don't have too many of those. Even at my best, I've only managed 7th place on the aforementioned R.R. despite finishing in the top 3 in the Cup's previous races.

[Spokavriel]

When that's done in real racing I think it's called drafting. Riding in the lead's wake your car uses fewer resources and there is less resistance to your own acceleration. It can even save on fuel.

[CRBWildcat]

Ah, so that's what it's called. I'll have to remember that.

On a side note, I finally did well enough on R. R. last night to warrant a 4th place finish, but I have the feeling that's about as high as I'm going to get at that difficulty setting. Using the game's slowest character actually helped me compensate for that.

Now for the so-called Retro Cups, where they pull stages out of previous incarnations of M.K. An example of this is N64's Frappe Snowland. On first glance it doesn't seem very difficult, but the sheer amount of whiteness can make it a little hard to judge distances when turning and boosting. Plus, some areas where it would be possible to cut across via a Star or what have you aren't really what they look like...

[CRBWildcat]

I reread this thread earlier, and it got me thinking about my own problems with the TMNT game for the NES. I've never had any real problems with the dam stage (even though I've never been able to finish it unscathed). It wasn't the spiked walls near the end of the airbase stages, either. No, it was the entire reekin' Technodrome. Of all the times that I've attempted the final stage unaided, both during my childhood (which I can't remember if I ever managed) and during the past decade, I have never managed to reach the Shredder. Dealing with that makes the second level look easy.

Except for the Super Mario games and several assorted sports titles, I've had my fair share of problems with almost all of the video games I've played as a kid. Even after watching one of my brother's friends beat The Goonies II, I could never reach the end of it without help until within the past decade. I remember losing my last guy and having Ma Fratelli appear on-screen to give me the password. Having to write it down and having that face just stare at me the whole time has been the source of at least one or two of my nightmares.

[Not-Going-to-Tell]

Well, this may be coming a little late, but I've just discovered the difficulty of Drone Tactics for the DS. It's an SRPG with a focus on the strategy. Screw up on weapon layouts and the enemy will laugh off your attacks. Screw up on unit placement and you say hello to mister OHKO. That triple power attack you used to wipe the floor with the boss? It misses. Oh look, they have the same ability. Say bye-bye to your best attacker.

Considering I'm on easy, and pretty much all these things have happened to me, I'ld say it's pretty tough.

[Sky]

Well, this may be coming a little late, but I've just discovered the difficulty of Drone Tactics for the DS. It's an SRPG with a focus on the strategy. Screw up on weapon layouts and the enemy will laugh off your attacks. Screw up on unit placement and you say hello to mister OHKO. That triple power attack you used to wipe the floor with the boss? It misses. Oh look, they have the same ability. Say bye-bye to your best attacker.

Considering I'm on easy, and pretty much all these things have happened to me, I'ld say it's pretty tough.

If you like hard strategy, you should consider Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. I frequently get shown up on this game, or wins come out of attrition than anything else. I think I have one S ranked level, and that was the intro.

I personally can't beat some of the mods for FreeSpace 2 on a difficulty level above Easy, and I've never been able to defeat Descent 1 through 3.

[CRBWildcat]

On the Descent games---or more specifically, games I and II---which skill level have you been trying on them?

[Sky]

The second one (Rookie?). I will admit to never being able to master trichording on a keyboard.

It's been a while since I last played D1 or 2. I should check out the open source versions of them to play on my new computers. If they're half as good as FreeSpace Open is to FreeSpace 2, it'll be worthwhile.

[CRBWildcat]

Except for one time, all the occasions that I've beaten the first two games were on the Trainee level. Even on D1's Rookie level, the Vulcan robots kept tearing my ship to shreds. I kept on jumping whenever I heard that 'bot's screech. Those and the purple fusion-cannon "mini-bosses" kept giving me fits.

And don't even get me started on D2; on one occasion just two years ago, I kept on hitting one of the bosses with the wrong type of weaponry (at least I think it was the wrong type)...and it just plain disappeared, never giving me the chance to finish the level. And, of course, there's the Earthshaker-packing final boss and the ever-annoying Thief bot.

I thought I heard something about D2 being available on GameTap, but I don't remember how long ago that's been. I still have both games thanks to the Definitive Collection, so I'd never bothered to see for myself. As for D3, I didn't have the right hardware requirements at the time it was released.

One question, if I may ask. What's it mean to trichord?