Are young people these days so used to tutorials that they can't play old games?

[DragonmasterDan]

I just watched this video.

I'm appalled. Regardless of the fact that Contra isn't even that hard of a game. These kids are fucking terrible. Just jumping into enemy fire and complaining "In Call of Duty you can get shot like 10 times before you die".

Do kids these days really need tutorials to play something as simple as Contra?

[PCEngineHell]

Thats how it is these days. Games are more complex now, but also tend to start everyone off slowly and pick up difficulty as they go. Back when we grew up our games tended to throw everything at us at a consistent pace, regardless of it being the start of the game. Many kids these days simply cant handle the games we grew up with. My son can thank god, but also, I raised him on the stuff. Most kids do not have that luxury.

[esteban]

I just watched this video.

I'm appalled. Regardless of the fact that Contra isn't even that hard of a game. These kids are fucking terrible. Just jumping into enemy fire and complaining "In Call of Duty you can get shot like 10 times before you die".

Do kids these days really need tutorials to play something as simple as Contra?

I will watch video later

I'd say that kids have a different skill set these days...and, sadly, the common mechanics from yesteryear are often "foreign" to them. I am not too skilled at modern 3D games (since I rarely play them), so I probably look like a goofball playing any FPS.

The fact that you can't respawn many times (without the code) in Contra is probably akin to a newbie getting killed a few seconds into a FPS.

I do think the many older games were more challenging (ie. Requiring  precise platform skills, for example) and that modern games tend to be more forgiving, since they are far more mainstream now.

[jtucci31]

I feel like I oughta chime in here since I'm relatively around the same age as the kids shown in the video. I think Lukester is as well.

It's weird, the whole tutorial, DLC, pay-to-play, rip off, waiting for updates, bullshit, etc. is sort of what made me grow pretty tired of some modern games. Not all, I still enjoy it from time to time, but I really can't get into it the way I used to. I'm sort of that friend that is totally out of the loop with modern video games.

I grew up with the N64 and I went back to that first. I enjoyed it a lot, but primarily just the games I had when I was a kid. I wasn't really interested in many other games because even having played it a bunch as a youngster, I'm still not that big a fan of the N64. (Which is of course funny since other people my age grew up with the N64 and love it. Go figure). So with the N64 I went backwards and really took a liking to 8bit and 16bit games.

When I first went away to school though I packed my multitap, controllers, and Bomberman in hopes that maybe I'll one day actually play with 5 people. And surprisingly I did! A lot of my friends really enjoyed the simple but fun gameplay. We even branched out into others like Sonic Spike, Revival Chase, and Battle Lode Runner. So that was cool to know that they could get into it if they just tried, which they did.

A lot of those people, though, are PS4/Xbone owners. It's weird to me how owning at least one Call of Duty game, or any kind of FPS for that matter, is a necessity to them. I remember hearing some of them talk about how when they first got their respective systems, they needed to get at least one FPS. I just kept thinking, why? It's like they're severely hindering their experience with their machine that they chose. I've spent some time looking at the different games I might play or pick up if I had a PS4, really trying to see if it's a worthwhile purchase for me. But for them, as long as there is a Call of Duty then the $400 is perfectly alright.

Not to mention the fact that some of them call FPS games "Fighters/Fighting games". That was a confusing conversation when I first heard it.

I guess what I'm getting at is, they would like them if they gave them a fair shot. Like half the people in the video just kept saying "the graphics are so bad. blahlalbl". It's as if some people my age (I'm speaking off of what I've seen in my college dorm. So take it with a grain of salt) want very little to do with branching out and trying new things. Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, GTA, whatever, is good enough for them. And I guess that's alright in some aspects, but to me it just seems like a waste of time. Why bother buying a $400 gaming system to play a slightly updated sports game or FPS? I know people do it, it just boggles my mind.

[Arkhan Asylum]

The brunette girl was sort of competent, and the whiny Call of Duty kid kind of figured it out, but holy crap.

The game was not that hard when I first played it.

I think they're too busy acting stupid, flailing, and complaining, to actually PLAY the game.

Basically, they should just shut up and play it instead of going OMGFUCKGKINGWHAT

THERES AG UY

IS HE OUR FRIEND

OH GOD WHATS THAT

I DIED

OH HOW DO I
OH IF I FALL I DIE WHAT

HUUHHH

[xcrement5x]

I also had a hearty laugh when the voiceover called Contra one of the hardest games ever.  I mean, I'm not that great at it personally but I don't consider it one of the hardest games I've ever played.

[MNKyDeth]

I think I will agree with Esteban with the skill set idea.

The things I wonder about are people that grew up with early Gen games better problem solvers? Better eye hand coordination? etc... Or is it the opposite?

I like to think I was a pro when I first played a game but I know it takes time to memorize stages in a game. To remember where every enemy, bullet or whatever is going to kill me is coming from.

The reality is, when I was playing games like this I thought it was fun so I kept playing it to get good at it. Will these kids continue to do so or just throw their hands up and toss in the towel?

I find in a lot, and I mean a lot of modern day gamers people give up way to easily. A game I used to play a lot when it came out was Savage: The Battle for Newerth. I played it a lot and there were a lot of battles that looked like my team would lose. But after an hour or 4 of game play verses the other team we would pull that win out.

Nowadays I see people play games and at the first sign of defeat they just concede and not even bother trying to come from behind. It actually makes me mad when people don't try even if they are losing.

In the sense of first person shooters though. You are wasting you're time and money doing them with a controller. You need a keyboard and mouse and nothing else, period. It's my opinion so hey.....

I think everyone should play and beat TMNT on the Nes, the first one. I think everyone should play old 3D games like Dungeons of Daggorath, or how about an amazing shooter on the TG-16, just pick one.

But I digress. I am in my late 30's and enjoy gaming as I spend at least 4hrs a day playing some sort of game. If it's single player I learn and memorize and beat the game. If it's competitive multiplayer I learn how to be the best or I never stop trying to get better if I am losing or not. I'm that a$$hole that even if losing makes you kill me even if I know I am going to lose just so I can learn more during my death throws.

Sorry for the rant... but young people nowadays frustrate me so much from a gaming perspective.

[BigusSchmuck]

I also had a hearty laugh when the voiceover called Contra one of the hardest games ever.  I mean, I'm not that great at it personally but I don't consider it one of the hardest games I've ever played.

They probably would cry if they played Wonderboy in Monsterland. That game is much harder than Contra. lol
Or even better: Super Ghouls N Ghosts. Still to this day I have yet to finish that one.

[Mzo]

Well, it's staged.  They exaggerate their reactions and probably don't get any quiet time to put in some serious attempts.  They want them to mess up because it's funnier than teaching someone how to actually play a game.

It's not the game and it might not even be kids today.  It's just the video.  I would recommend not watching reaction videos.

[cr8zykuban0]

i understand its their first time ever playing it but i died at the comment when one of the guys said, the graphics look like popcorn hahah

[DragonmasterDan]

I also had a hearty laugh when the voiceover called Contra one of the hardest games ever.  I mean, I'm not that great at it personally but I don't consider it one of the hardest games I've ever played.

I promise you as a 6-7 year old when I first played it, I was much much better at it than these kids were and they're all like twice the age I was.

[DragonmasterDan]

I'd say that kids have a different skill set these days...and, sadly, the common mechanics from yesteryear are often "foreign" to them. I am not too skilled at modern 3D games (since I rarely play them), so I probably look like a goofball playing any FPS.

Fair enough but the simplicity of old 2D games probably made them a bit more accessible. Using modern FPS games for comparison, knowing that an enemy holding a gun then an object coming from the gun will kill you seems pretty self explanatory compared to learning different types of strafing controls, aiming mechanics, and HUD navigation to change between weapon types

The fact that you can't respawn many times (without the code) in Contra is probably akin to a newbie getting killed a few seconds into a FPS.

I would think they would know the idea is not to get killed regardless of the game. Struggling with control mechanics is one thing, but the game is pretty f'ing simple.

I do think the many older games were more challenging (ie. Requiring  precise platform skills, for example) and that modern games tend to be more forgiving, since they are far more mainstream now.

Well everyone can win modern games, they almost all have unlimited continues, you can pick up right where you last died and you just repeat until you win. Everyone gets a gold star in most modern games whereas to beat most 8-16 bit games you had to either have a lot of skill or work hard at memorizing and developing those skills.

[CrackTiger]

These videos are always staged for the exact same reactions. How many views would they get if each time kids simply casually learned the mechanics while playing through and had unenthusiastic comments like "2D games sure  haven't changed much in 20 - 30 years"?

It can't just be millions of adults buying modern 2D sidescrollers like New Mario Bros and Virtual Console releases of early big name Nintendo games.

NES Contra has always had a reputation as a hard game and if you sat down some random 35 - 40 year olds who aren't hardcore gamers or retro enthusiasts, but played lots of NES as kids, you'd see them struggle just as they did the first time they tried Contra as a child.

[Arkhan Asylum]

I hope these kids really aren't this dumb in real life.   Some of the derpery is like holyshit, do you not know how anything works.

ARE THESE GUYS ON OUR TEAM.

no.  they literally just killed you.

[NecroPhile]

I think they're too busy acting stupid, flailing, and complaining, to actually PLAY the game.

Exactly; these videos are about hamming it up and feigned ignorance not honest reactions.

[Flare65]

Now if they ported Contra to the iPhone and dumbed down the controls and cut the enemies down to about four or five total, add a health bar, the kids might have a chance....

I saw that video on the gamebreaker site this morning and had the same reaction you did, Dan.  Something wrong with that generation of kids...

[crazydean]

Back in the day, video game developers didn't have the memory available to make a game take 40 hours to complete. So, they were made more difficult to compensate for the length. Also, these kids aren't necessarily gamers. I bet if you took a group random 40yr-olds, the gameplay wouldn't be much better.

I remember seeing a react video on Mega Man for the NES, and one guy did pretty well against Bombman. He would have beaten the level on the next try. Even though he had never played a Mega Man game before, he was a gamer, and I think that's the big difference here.

[esteban]

I remember seeing a react video on Mega Man for the NES, and one guy did pretty well against Bombman. He would have beaten the level on the next try. Even though he had never played a Mega Man game before, he was a gamer, and I think that's the big difference here.

That's true.

[wildfruit]

Where's the passion? Are they all on diazepam or something? No one launched a controller across the room.
Lightweights.

[TR0N]

I also had a hearty laugh when the voiceover called Contra one of the hardest games ever.  I mean, I'm not that great at it personally but I don't consider it one of the hardest games I've ever played.

That i didn't agree with,in the video as well i find contra to be a walk in the park.I guess playing it so many times since it's release has gotten me use to the game.I find the likes of battletoads,mr.gimmick and ghost'n'goblins to be the most difficult nes titles.

[CrackTiger]

I don't find GnG NES too hard, but that doesn't keep me from judging it as hard for the average person. Contra, even more than GnG, requires memorization to play through without continuing/dying, after you get your skills up first. Regular people can't just pick up and play the games without having trouble.