Tuesday, September 24, 2013

The Console Slayer..!

Welcome to The Console Slayer!

This is a new feature about a subject a lot of us are passionate about: video games!

Today’s subject will be about old school versus modern games.


A lot of us video game nerds are familiar with modern games. Some of us might not have experience with “retro” games though. In a lot of cases this is due to age. Lets define “retro” though because it could be relative. By retro I mean anything from ancient systems like Magnavox Odyssey, Colecovision, Atari systems and NES through say the fifth generation consoles like the PS1 or N64.


For those of us that are familiar with retro games as well as modern games, let me pose this question: Are retro games more difficult than modern games? I'm of the opinion that they are.

Modern games are rife with multiple difficulty settings (standard these days), adaptive/on-the-fly difficulty scaling, automatic checkpoints and the ability to save your game. On the other hand, what about games like the Ninja Gaiden series (modern), MGS, Demon Souls/Dark Souls and Super Meat Boy though? These are some of the most widely acknowledged, most difficult of modern games.

What about old school games with the limited programming and hardware capabilities, lack of saving whenever one wants, unreliable physical mediums and more widespread glitches? Some examples of the most difficult retro games for reference: Ghosts 'N Goblins, Battletoads, (Mike Tyson's) Punch Out, Gradius series, TMNT, Contra (series) and Ninja Gaiden (original series).

What do you guys and gals think? (Discuss here or in the CBNAH Console Slayer Facebook Group Discussion) It doesn't really matter which is more difficult but its an interesting discussion both of gaming history and of gamers themselves.

I've also decided to always leave you with a little tidbit of my favorite game music/chiptunes with every post.
Labeled the 'Final Boss' it is actually the Shiar stage theme from X-Men on Sega Genesis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M35kFx0ETpA
(Best listened to in 720p)


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