Nintendo SNES Mini

[Satanist]

I am loving this wee machine. 87 exits found on Mario world. So close to that magical 96 score.
Once complete I need to decide whether to start Zelda or Metroid. I've completed Zelda many times but never really given Metroid a fair go so think I'll start with that.

When I get round to hacking it I've already compiled a list of 122 games to add.

Regards the next mini I would much rather a Gameboy than N64. As stated above without Rare there's not a lot to choose from and as its the start of 3D most of them are real fugly.

[Keef Monkey]

I decided to do a playthrough of Mario World recently on my RetroPie (because I've never finished it!), and wound up really stuck in a ghost house. Couldn't figure out how to get out of that place at all! Old games are hard.

[Link Prime]

Once complete I need to decide whether to start Zelda or Metroid.

I'm gonna have to go for Super Metroid myself, following on nicely from my recent completion of Samus Returns.

Naturally I'll be picking up whatever Nintendo does next year with these 'Mini' systems, but I doubt there are many Gameboy games I haven't repurchased already via the 3DS Virtual Console.

[radiator]

Super Metroid is great, but imo it isn't as perfect as people like to remember. I played it for the first time a couple of years ago, and honestly there are parts that are so difficult they border on obtuse. I hit a brick wall on several occasions, and on eventually giving up and reading an FAQ to figure out what to do next, had the reaction of 'I would never have figured that out on my own'.

Zelda LttP is also great, but again I think is tougher and much less forgiving than people remember. I despise the mountain area at the north of the map with every fibre of my being.

[Link Prime]

Super Metroid is great, but imo it isn't as perfect as people like to remember. I played it for the first time a couple of years ago, and honestly there are parts that are so difficult they border on obtuse. I hit a brick wall on several occasions, and on eventually giving up and reading an FAQ to figure out what to do next, had the reaction of 'I would never have figured that out on my own'.

Conversely, that's what made Samus Returns a little bit too easy for my taste- the map radar system means there are no hidden nooks or crannies.

[radiator]

Super Metroid is great, but imo it isn't as perfect as people like to remember. I played it for the first time a couple of years ago, and honestly there are parts that are so difficult they border on obtuse. I hit a brick wall on several occasions, and on eventually giving up and reading an FAQ to figure out what to do next, had the reaction of 'I would never have figured that out on my own'.

Conversely, that's what made Samus Returns a little bit too easy for my taste- the map radar system means there are no hidden nooks or crannies.

Hidden stuff isn't what I'm talking about though - I'm talking about things like having to use the big bomb to blow up the glass tunnel. There's really nothing in the game up to that point that hint or suggest that this might be something worth trying. No weapon in the game does any damage to scenery other than the soft blocks that dissolve. I can't imagine anyone figuring that out with anything other than blind luck.

I remember also getting really stuck early on by a collapsing bridge. Yeah, you just have to run across it - but iirc, you're not required to use - or even told or reminded that there is - a run button up to that point in the game, so you just assume an upgrade is required to pass that section.

Nintendo games generally excel at teaching the player basic skills, then escalating the challenge and getting the player to use those skills in clever new ways. Usually when you get stuck in a typical Zelda or Metroid game, when you do eventually figure out how to progress, you kick yourself and don't feel cheated. Super Metroid, while still a great game, imo feels a bit cheap from time to time in this regard - throwing an occasional roadblock at the player with zero suggestion of how it might be tackled. Fans of the game don't see it because of the rose tinted spectacles, but it's a little jarring for someone coming to it fresh.

Old games are hard.

[Link Prime]

Fans of the game don't see it because of the rose tinted spectacles

You may have me there Rad.

[Tiplodocus]

There's a bit in Ocarina of Time that had me stumped because you had to do a spin attack on a swift h on the other side of some bars.  I had to look up a guide because that option made no sense and never occurred to me.

[Keef Monkey]

I got similarly stuck a couple of times revisiting Flashback recently - you encounter locked doors in the game as a matter of course, and they're only ever opened by a switch elsewhere or a key you need to get from an enemy. Except for one door, which looks exactly the same (to my eyes) as every other locked door in the game, but which opens when you shoot it. Didn't think to try that as the game had already taught me it didn't work! Likewise there's another part where you have to shoot a window to get through it, it's a fair chunk into the game, it just looks like background art and no other scenery has been destructible at that point so shooting it never even occurred to me.

That kind of thing, and the Radiator's Metroid example seems really common in old games when you go back to them, I've no idea how we managed to get through some of those games without the internet. I'm pretty sure in most cases I just didn't, and must have been happy to play the first stages of things over and over again.

[JamesC]

Oh yeah, this kind of think happens loads in old games. Of course most of them had a premium rate phone line you could call if you got stuck!
My example is from The Dig - one of LucasArts old point and click adventures. At one point you have to call a monorail - I don't know how many times I clicked the 'call monorail' button without anything happening. I thought I must have to do something else first in order to progress and for the monorail switch to become active. It turned out you just had to hold the left mouse button down on the button until the monorail arrived (literally the only time in the game where you don't just activate something with a single click). 

[radiator]

Yeah, old games are full of this kind of thing. One of the most famous examples being the bit with the goat in Broken Sword.

I've no idea how we managed to get through some of those games without the internet

Tbh I think it stems from a time when kids would swap videogame tactics, strategies and secrets and stuff in the playground, and many games were designed with this in mind.

[radiator]

This is great:

https://kotaku.com/hi-super-nintendo-chalmers-1820868115

[GrudgeJohnDeed]

That is one gorgeous SNES, radiator  .

Anybody getting one of these? -

https://www.analogue.co/pages/super-nt/

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

That is one gorgeous SNES, radiator  .

Anybody getting one of these? -

https://www.analogue.co/pages/super-nt/

My guess would be no one. That looks like a "cease and desist" action right there.

[GrudgeJohnDeed]

It's entirely legal, all the patents on the hardware have lapsed. It plays real cartridges too, not roms (except for Super Turrican Directors Cut and Super Turrican 2 which are in-built in a deal with the Turrican owners, Factor 5). The NES clone they did was super sexy as well, but too expensive for my taste even if it does have a machined aluminium body   There is a cheaper alternative in that case though, the AVS by RetroUSB