Now that I think of it, I don't think I've ever played Ninja Gaiden one time. I would have assumed now would not be the time to start; considering what I've read of its perils in my near decade of internet and that I can't even complete easy levels in ActRaiser anymore, a game I could once best in its 'hard' mode, but you have given me hope. Hope isn't enough, of course, especially not with 4000 other roms within clicking distance, but it's always nice while it lasts.
Yeah. The whole "nine year old on summer vacation" thing; if we had a virtually unlimited amount of video gaming at our disposal, for free, back then as we do now, none of us would have truly appreciated and become proficient at any game so actively hostile to your blood pressure and psychological well-being. Hunger is the best spice, as they say.
Still, as I get older, I suppose I'm not the, uh, 'swinger' I once was as far as video games are concerned. I'm perfectly content to settle down with one for a long-term/three week relationship. I'm finding increasingly that skill at video games isn't about the clarity of youth or inherent coordination, but a dogged and seemingly autistic determination to absorb all of the game's possible patterns into sense memory. If only I could transfer that inclination to something less ridiculous, like playing guitar or art or maybe something that would get me paid for once.
Ninja Gaiden is not as hard as I thought it would be, but I see where it might be infuriating to someone who had to commit to beating it then and there, lest have to start over next time. If it had passwords I think its reputation would be different. However, I tried to complete Castlevania, just regular dumb old Castlevania, sans-cheat-saving, about a year ago and that made me mad. Even giving myself unlimited lives/loads from the last door in level 5 it still made me mad. I didn't feel like the failure was my fault as much as when that ninja ended a jump on a rogue toothpick or something and comically stumbled backwards in blind search of recovery ground which was not there.
You're basically right about Ninja Gaiden - it's a game of endurance. A marathon, where a lot of newer hard games are collections of short sprints. One of the things I noticed about my performance in the game before I had it down was that I would become progressively worse at it as I kept dying, sloppier, less aware, making more simple mistakes, until I was basically completely useless for that run. The later levels are especially designed break down your will, and dying at the stage 6 boss gauntlet and then getting kicked back to 6-1 is just one last clothespin to your testicles. Having to go through the whole game again to get to that point with your spirits unbroken is, understandably, unpleasant for a lot of players.
Now Castlevania - I'm seriously considering ordering a copy off of eBay so I can do that one next. That would be bragging rights.
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Still, as I get older, I suppose I'm not the, uh, 'swinger' I once was as far as video games are concerned. I'm perfectly content to settle down with one for a long-term/three week relationship. I'm finding increasingly that skill at video games isn't about the clarity of youth or inherent coordination, but a dogged and seemingly autistic determination to absorb all of the game's possible patterns into sense memory. If only I could transfer that inclination to something less ridiculous, like playing guitar or art or maybe something that would get me paid for once.
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Now Castlevania - I'm seriously considering ordering a copy off of eBay so I can do that one next. That would be bragging rights.
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