Lots. Primarily I think the one game I could beat as a child but may struggle with as an adult has to be super Mario, mainly the third game. Don't laugh, the later stages are difficult. It's at the point where I have to use save States and modern emulators to beat the game.
I still have fun memories of playing it and it's one of my favorite games on the NES but, it's difficult for me now.
This is actually an inverse case where I couldn't beat it as a kid but I can do much better as an adult: The adventures of Batman and Robin for the Sega Genesis. When I was little I couldn't get past the first boss but now, I really enjoy the game. It's difficult but very fun and Jespyr kidd is rightfully praised for the awesome music he's able to pull off. Also a lot of the effects almost look 3D driven. You have to understand the Sega Genesis unlike the super Nintendo has to do everything in software. This is the equivalent of using an IBM PC to pull off the Sprite scaling and rotation of the c64. It's not possible that they did it anyway. Really if you haven't played the game I suggest you do so but be prepared for a difficult ride. For my birthday I got a Sega Genesis everdrive and put a whole bunch of games on it. I can't wait to play this game in the form it was meant to be played. #Segafan
Crash Bandicoot. I guess I’m so overstimulated that the thought of just moving the joystick slightly and pressing X the entire time is frustrating.. it’s so fucking tedious tho
I think mario 64 fits this for me, although it wasnt something i really bothered to beat.
It was the only game i had growing up on an old hand me down n64 so i got pretty good at it but as ive gotten older experiencing more games and getting used to modern control and gameplay styles going back to mario 64 with the all star collection was very tough because of how primitive the camera controls were.
Star fox 64. I kid you not, when I was a wee lad I could beat the entire game without getting it at all.
I tried it again, and I was able to magoo myself to the end but it was pitiful
Any of the older Mario Karts. This is probably me being used to how easy Mario Kart 8 is so going back to Double Dash or Super Circuit feels even tougher than playing on 200cc.
I played a lot of Gradius III on the Super Nintendo as a kid. I could beat it back then, but I'm almost positive it would kick my butt and have me wanting to start a game of catch with the wall and my controller today.
Sonic 2 for the Sega Genesis. I had no codes, no nothing. When you fight robot sonic and then Robotnik, you cannot get hit a single time or you die. I'm sure I could do it now if I had that much free time but that ship has sailed long ago.
Another would probably be Mike Tyson's punch out. I actually beat Mike Tyson as a 4 year old. Haven't tried it as an adult but I'm assuming it'd be ugly.
Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. I tried again after playing Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingsom, Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess but I had such a hard time managing the controls playing again after getting so used to the streamlined controls of the current games.
Alex the Kidd in Miracle world.
Just genuinely have absolutely no idea how I managed to play that game.
Honourable mentions to Lion king, and, some of the DK games.
One game? Rather a lot of games, actually.
Part of it is no longer having the manual dexterity of a teenager. And part of it is being no longer willing to put up with the same damn boss for hours and hours on end. I have better things to do and funner games to play.
Twisted Metal 2 - I fired it up with an old buddy and couldn’t tell what was what, all the cars screaming their powers on top of each other, plus I’m used to R2 trigger for acceleration in games now, was trying to remember the Freeze and Shield commands, switching weapons was hell…
Had more fun just watching the campy endings on youtube.
Aladdin on SNES. I used to be able to be the magic carpet lava level in one go. Me and my best friend tried beating it a couple years ago and died like 20 times apiece.
I've never really encountered this honestly. Any game that I played as a kid is seemingly significantly easier as an adult. One part due to just muscle memory and knowledge and secondly because my reaction times and game playing have yet to go to shit (28)
I'm mystified by how I used to clear consecutive The Binding of Isaac runs regularly. These days, I can barely eke out a win in a way easier roguelike like Hades.
Any NES game, honestly. I don’t have the time or patience for the dedication I had as a kid with games like Mario Bros 1-3, Who Framed Roger Rabbit(which I actually beat as a kid), Tiny Toons, Ducktales.
I waffle between thinking I’ve gotten worse at games or they’ve just gotten easier.
When I saw they were remastering MediEvil, I was excited. I played that game a ton when I was young. But after years of gaming on new systems, the controls and camera angles were too much for me. I didn't get very far in the game.
Spider-Man 64. I had to call it quits after the first stealth part. No indication for what I'm meant to do, and failure seems both arbitrary and severe- have to redo the entire stage again.
https://preview.redd.it/r2x8zfdw6t9d1.jpeg?width=474&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d85799e1a2d1859e9b4d9996ff9a9690616d6112
**Gunsmoke**
This game was tough and I managed to one-shot it after some time. Now, it's just freaking ragebait.
Goosebumps Horrorland for the Wii. I could play pretty decently as a kid because I wasn’t used to better controls. Now I’m not used to the jank and it’s pretty much impossible.
I used to play battle toads with a clicky clacky keyboard and I could make it so far in that game, now I can barely make it through the rappelling section
I don't remember having any difficulty finishing super mario deluxe on gameboy color (it has OG super mario bros and an unlockable SMB lost levels among other things).
As an adult, it surprised me when I learned that Lost Levels was notorious for its difficulty. Granted, the deluxe version starts you back to the first level of that chapter after a game over, but I can finish it with minimal problem, that I even tried not using the 1-up trick or warp pipes, and even managed to kill all Bowsers with fire flowers. I only had difficulty with ending up on those pesky warp pipe traps that forces you back to earlier levels, I had to memorize which ones are the bad warp pipes.
Now I can't even get to the half point in OG SMB on NSO and I refuse to use 1-Up and warp pipes. Maybe it's the screen size, or the subtle difference in the feel that I am not aware of, or the controller, but I just cannot muster the skills that I had back then where I can essentially speedrun through each level. Now even with careful platforming I still find myself dying.
Perfect Dark
Insanely difficult with its precise controls on Perfect Agent difficulty, despite the mission objectives being memorised still for the last 24 years
The older Resident Evils and the first Metal Gear Solid games (not the first two NES ones). I mean I can still beat them but it’s so hard getting used to those fixed cameras again. I was so good at it as a kid/teen and now I’m all wonky even though there isn’t a single new game I’ve played that I can’t beat lol. It’s pretty funny to me though.
Donkey Kong Country! I remember beating it in an afternoon as a kid and now, 30+ yrs old me get stuck in the mines (the level with the green/red barrels for the lights).
NES Ninja Gaiden. I have fond memories of finally... FINALLY beating it as a child after all the sweat and tears it took to conquer that game. Now I struggle to get through the first level.
Wolfenstein 3D
I tried it. I got sort of “sea sick” and was gonna throw up because the game somehow gave me vertigo.
I never get sea sick. I’m fine on all types of transport. This has never happened with another game in my 28 years of life.
I can’t play Wolfenstein 3D for more than 15 minutes now. Used to do hours when I was a kid. Go figure.
Mario Kart super circuit had awful controls that made the steering a trainwreck. Every time I turn I go into a wall or off the track. Rainbow road felt impossible with that steering. I only ever beat rainbow road and the special cup once on the highest difficulty, and it's one of my proudest moments.
As a kid I really enjoyed the game, but as an adult it feels unplayable thanks to that horrid steering.
“Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories” (GBA version)
I don’t have the patience to go through the mechanics of a game like that anymore.
I thoroughly loved and enjoyed the game when I played it though.
I don't have that, I have the reverse. I struggled with a lot of games, like half life, and such,but years later I picked up those games and wondered why I had so much trouble with it back then.
StarCraft Broodwar campaigns
Must have been the faster APM and better practiced decision making skills that allowed me to do so much better then - now I get overwhelmed easily and struggle a lot more than I remember.
..none of them? As a child I had tons of time to play and it became muscle memory. For the first three stages of Super C, 30 some odd years later, I still have a bullet hitting every enemy right after it appears on screen.
I'm 34 now and I'm actually a lot better at most games now including fps. But God damn Mario 64 was so hard for kid me. But it's leagues harder for adult me. Most N64 games are honestly
This is gonna sound so stupid but I beat Zelda ocarina of time as a kid and I tried playing it as an adult, for the life of me I could not figure out how to access the women gerudo part for literal HOURS, but I refused to look it up. Finally, after a painstaking amount of hours, I found out I just had to break a barrier underwater that opened the way inside for me... I felt so, so, so so dumb.
Edit: Another commentor pointed out this was actually Majora's mask, not Oot. Lol
Diablo 2 LOD. Breezed thru that shit as a child, put in 1000hrs.
As an adult, I won't beat it because I know if I start playing it I'll put in another 1000hrs. So I leave that game alone now and play other things.
Sonic unleashed for whatever reason, i breezed as a kid. Come my replay of the game, i got stuck on every sonic day stage without fail. Every single time i would reset more than a few times on the day stages.
I figure maybe because as a kid, im thinking “high score? Who cares” but now adult me is starting to think that maybe that S rank would look kinda neat. And even sometimes id get stuck just trying to master one part of the stage when i could just skip past it.
i... what? none? if its just about finishing the game and i push aside my completionist brain, itd be easier now than it was back then, even with how spoiled i am by modern games.
The older you get, the more you play a video game with awareness and expect to progress. When you're young, you die, you may yell something inane, but then you just addictively do it again, and don't give a second thought to the idea that you're spending hours getting nowhere. Adults don't see it like that anymore. *wipes away tear*
Literally nothing. I was *awful* at games as a kid. I didn't have the skill to consistently beat games until high school and even then I honestly didn't have the perseverance to actually stick with a game until my late 20s. Now I love hard games (although I have limited time so I don't go too crazy and play Sekiro on NG+5 or whatever).
Einhander on PS1 I prided myself on beating that game several times without dying. I dusted it off a couple of weeks ago. I have no clue how I mastered that game.
Also, Super Star Wars. Can't even beat the sandstorm at the end of stage 1
Regular old Super Mario Bros was the most surprising. My timing is just off now.
My timing is likely off for Mortal Kombat, but that’s no surprise. Your reflexes fade after a week away from that game.
I don't think I have the patience to play the original Splinter Cell and even its sequel, Pandora Tomorrow. Chaos Theory is one of my favorite games of all time and I'm a huge fan of the entire franchise, but every time I try to replay the first two games I'm pretty quick to give up. When I was younger though? I knew every level and guard patrol route like the back of my hand.
Prince of Persia sands of time. I don't understand why that game is so hard for me as an adult. The controls are janky as hell but manageable and the enemies are somehow souls like level hard??
Donkey Kong Country. Tried to play it recently after picking up one those mini SNES consoles and holy crap its hard. I cant get past the mine cart level.
Metal Gear Solid on PS1... It's way intimidating today.
Yoshi's Island was the game that came with my SNES, aesthetically the most unique thing I played in Mario series. I own this bitch till today, tested and proven on an emulator. It's all in the egg-eye coordination.
Super Mario World was madness tho... Always been even back then. I tried, and discovered you have to be on adult party drugs to even attempt a run through, 25+ years later.
The Sims. I mean, it's not really "beating" the game but I tried playing it as an adult and the first Sims game is hella hard. You cannot do anything but eat, sleep, shit etc. There is no room for free time in a sims life. I used to be able to go to the magic world and master the spells and potions. But it seemed like no matter what I did my sims couldn't leave home without immediately having to come back for another shower or something.
I recently found my old PS2 memory and decided to dust off Star Ocean 3 and give it a nostalgic shot. I got curious where I left off in my save and IIRC it's the dungeon where you fight Freya. Well I tried a few normal fights and got absolutely dumped on. Not mention I had a really tough time controlling the cast. Team was Fayt, Knell, Maria. I couldn't do shit to save my life. After two game overs I sat there laughing and thinking "how the hell did I play this back then".
House of the dead 2. I had that on my wii and got extremely good at the game. Regularly beating it, could play both 1 and 2 player by myself. Last time I saw hotd 2 in an arcade I got wiped so fast it was embarrassing.
Shout out to guitar hero too
Ghouls n Ghosts on the SEGA Megadrive. One of my earliest gaming memories is beating it.
Tried Ghosts n Goblins Remake, not the same game but very similar and it took me like 6 hours to beat the first level which takes a few minutes in real time.
I got really good at Devil May Cry, beating the modes where you die in one hit but enemies don’t (Heaven and Hell mode) but now I’m struggling on Hard difficulty lol
I haven’t found a game I couldn’t beat as an adult. I have however replayed many games from childhood and thought “wow these are some intricate puzzles, how did I ever manage that as a 7 year old”
budokai tenkaichi 3, brother in christ it was hard revisiting this game on steamdeck. that could be related to input lag? but we beat every mission back in the day and it took everything i have not to die on easy mode today. the way ive survived, and probably how i did back then, is to run away and only fire supers at the enemy and wait for the timer to tick so the mission continues because most missions progress based on time, not damage taken.
Not really. There are some things I don't really have patience for anymore, like collecting a whole bunch of crap or 100%ing every game, but I haven't revisited an old game I could beat as a kid and found it too hard as an adult.
I don't think I ever beat it, but I could at least play it and got pretty far in jaws on PS2. Idk how TF I ever played it. There's no chance that I could play that game now. Open world ocean game where you can basically swim near the surface or go down basically as deep as the ocean floor from what I can remember? Absolutely not. There was even one part of the map that was the "deepest" and it was basically pitch black from what I remember
Also harry Potter chamber of secrets. It was cake when I was a kid but I tried it once a couple years ago or something and I sucked ass at basically everything
**Maui Mallard**(the Genesis and SNES Donald Duck Game.)
I thought that this game was amazing back in the 90's, now every time I try to play it I get bored in less than an hour. I don't know why, but it doesn't feel satisfying.
I also have a hard time avoiding damage, not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I find the game so boring that I don't have enough of a desire to get better.
BTW, I say this as someone that goes through dozens of SNES games a year. It's my favorite console.
Body Harvest on N64. I LOVED that game as a kid and still enjoy watching Let's Play vids of it. I tried playing it once a few years ago and again recently; Both times I lasted about 5 minutes and said NOPE. The controls, especially the aiming, are God awful.
Generally, I have gotten better at certain types of games (rpgs and strategy) and got significantly worse at others (shooters). So, It's not specifically that I can't complete the game today, but I was much better as a child.
Halo on Legendary, I struggle on normal nowadays. This is probably due to not playing it almost daily with friends anymore. We used to play for hours after school.
All of them. I absolutely can't do what I could as a kid. Ninja Gaiden for the original nes comes to mind. I could even beat Contra without putting in the 30 lives code. I'd actually come out at the end of it with more lives and never lose a single life. I'd never be able to do that today.
Super Mario brothers lol. I could smoke it as a kid. Now I have to use the switch online and rewind when I die or I end up losing all my Mario’s by like world 4 or 6
first Rayman, the music level make me cry from anger and pure spite when I was young, but I insisted. Now, if I come back to that level, I simply unistall the ubisoft launcher forever.
Jk, great game, but THAT level, jeez.
I forget if I even uploaded it... but I remember my last run of Kabuki Quantum Fighter being HELLISH. I don't think my recording even caught all my errors, I forget if my save state scumming affected footage.
Not an entire game, but the flying missions in San Andreas. I cannot for the life of me get any altitude, and remain stuck on the very first flying mission every time I try to replay it. The plane just drops like a rock no matter what technique I try.
I’ve heard it may be an issue with the Xbox port, but I originally played it on 360, and use the same version on my series x not the god awful “remaster”.
I have never revisited a game that I could finish as a kid but not as an adult. I have, though, revisited a ton of games I couldn't finish as a kid and conquered as an adult!
Mario kart rainbow road. I had the best ghost ever. No one in my neigborhood could beat me. Now, its impossible for me to ever reach that level. Too old now.
Not sure, there was never a game I couldn’t beat as a child and same goes with being an adult.
Then again, this is coming from someone who enjoys playing Dark Souls and League of Legends, which both games bring a massive amount of masochist and toxic people alike.
As a kid I beat Twisted Metal:Black, FF:10, and Sly Cooper: Honor Amongst Thieves
Not necessarily games but playing games on hardest difficulties. All my favorite games back in the day (CoD, Gears of War) I got all collectibles and beat them on hardest difficulty. I probably died 100 times replaying Gears 1 on insane and I’m still stuck on Raam
Its mostly a matter of hardware. We are used to physics in games, where physics before kind of didnt exist.
Like gta san andreas? After playing V and onward and coming back to it during covid, I realized I just couldnt deal.
Lack of effort really. Never feel like relearning "Old" game physics. So I cant really faithfully answer this question as it is a vague selection of choices really
Going through a lot of these answers it seems like they are all or mostly massive games. As an adult we try to do things “correctly” but in wanting to be a completionist we get overwhelmed or bogged down by unfun things. Seems like as children we just want fun and ignore the tedium of doing things efficiently.
Take Skyrim for example. A younger person would just go off into the world and adventure where the wind takes them. I know as an adult when I start a new play through, one of the first things I do is find the lovers stone, complete the quest to increase blacksmithing xp rate, and get married early to maximize xp gain and profit.
Need for Speed V-Rally and Tekken 3 on PS. Mostly won Tekken by button mashing and as for NFS Idk how the fuck I ever managed some of those turns in V-Rally with the D-pad.
Honestly, probably most games that I beat from the NES and SNES era I wouldn't have the chops to beat as an adult. I just don't think I have the same determination or focus that I had back when I was a kid. Plus, playing the same section over and over again until I master it, just isn't important to me anymore. As a kid, that's pretty much all I had going on. Now as an adult, I'm always thinking about the stuff I should be doing instead of what I'm doing now so it's more difficult to give 100% focus on the task at hand.
The original sonic trilogy on Mega Drive (or Genesis if you're American) -- dunno how but as a kid I played them so much I could get super sonic almost as fast as possible, these days I just can't dedicate myself to it enough (and the emerald mini games are way harder than I remember them being lol)
Not a kid but when I was in HS (03-07) I somehow managed to beat mushihime sama on an arcade cab with a single credit. My friends left me downstairs and I was just playing, when they came back they asked how I added more credits and when I explained I hadn't died yet it just turned into a spectacle. Watched the credits roll on a single life.
To this day with all sorts of mods and credit feeding bullshit I cannot clear that last boss.
I replayed the Jak series recently. I loved those games as a kid and replayed them a dozen times.
Jak 2 kicked my butt in my 30s and I had to put it down several times due to rage.
Elder Scrolls Oblivion. Kid me was a force of nature, while adult me gave up after the 3rd hour of getting smacked by a mud crab cause I'm minmaxing too hard
I played a decent amount of Toy Story 2 on the PlayStation back in the day, since my aunt had it. Now that I can stream it, I gave it a shot but the outdated controls are atrocious by modern standards.
Mario Kart Wii. I remember placing 1st constantly as a kid and clearing all the tracks. Now? I can't control the cars at all yet I can win drift races in Forza lol. Something about the unnatural handling of the Karts just throws me off so bad now that I know how to drive irl and play arcade racers with more realistic physics. My brain just can't compute 😂
The original 3 Mortal Kombats. I used to know all the special attacks and how to do the fatalities. I understood how to skillfully button mash and dodge attacks. Now if I try to play it, it feels rigid and much harder to control.
Strictly based on skill, I could definitely beat this game still, but physically it hurts my hands too much. Super Meat Boy. The last time that I completely finished it was mayyyybe like 5/6/7 years ago or so. I'm in my early 30s now, and I just couldn't finish it this most recent time, which was a year or so ago.
Not really "beat" but Mario maker for sure. I made insanely hard levels that would take me hours upon hours to upload (just for them to get banned within a day because the win rate was too low and there weren't enough stars🥲). I would beat super difficult levels because what else do you have to do as a kid.
Then a couple years ago I was at a friend's house and he brought up playing Mario maker 2. We ended up playing and I was so. Bad.
Super Mario world is fucking brutal and I need to finish it as an adult because it's literally the game that made me a fan of video games and the first game I ever played. I have to do it, both for my childhood and myself today. It's a matter of personal pride lol. Seriously though, it's harder than I remember and also the SNES still goes REALLY fucking hard for such an old console so I'm glad they brought the games to the Switch because even if you have an SNES, the games can be insanely expensive and not worth it lol.
So many games, mostly due to the fact that my motion sickness spiked up about 10 years ago. I used to be able to play third-person & first person games for hours when I was younger. Now, I’m instantly nauseous. I can only play isometric games. Incredible three dimensional games will be released, and I’ll always think, “Maybe this one won’t make me sick…” Then boom! Instant nausea and headaches that lasts all day. I’m looking at you, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice.
Twisted Metal Black. Picked it up with memories of unlocking all the characters endings, and getting utterly destroyed over and over. I have no idea how I beat this game over and over back in the day.
With a lot of games I played as a kid (Ghosts n' Goblins, Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Battletoads, Contra, etc.) Playing it the first time was just way more fun, but without the freshness and exploration I can't overlook the unfair and weird design decisions anymore.
I just don't have the time to be dealing with the devs taking shortcuts in making parts more difficult like with coin-eaters and early consoles. Tbh Elden ring is like that for me these days. I don't have the patience to deal with input-reads and infinite stamina bosses.
I'm actually better at games in my 30s than I was as a kid/teen because I have more patience. Back in the day if I couldn't beat a game I'd give up & play something else. Nowadays I'll take breaks but go back to games that I'm stuck on.
It’s not that I can’t beat it now I definitely still can it’s just I remember breezing through Doom 3 on the hardest difficulty back in the day, I tried it recently on game pass and I cannot breeze through like before lmao
Lots. Primarily I think the one game I could beat as a child but may struggle with as an adult has to be super Mario, mainly the third game. Don't laugh, the later stages are difficult. It's at the point where I have to use save States and modern emulators to beat the game. I still have fun memories of playing it and it's one of my favorite games on the NES but, it's difficult for me now. This is actually an inverse case where I couldn't beat it as a kid but I can do much better as an adult: The adventures of Batman and Robin for the Sega Genesis. When I was little I couldn't get past the first boss but now, I really enjoy the game. It's difficult but very fun and Jespyr kidd is rightfully praised for the awesome music he's able to pull off. Also a lot of the effects almost look 3D driven. You have to understand the Sega Genesis unlike the super Nintendo has to do everything in software. This is the equivalent of using an IBM PC to pull off the Sprite scaling and rotation of the c64. It's not possible that they did it anyway. Really if you haven't played the game I suggest you do so but be prepared for a difficult ride. For my birthday I got a Sega Genesis everdrive and put a whole bunch of games on it. I can't wait to play this game in the form it was meant to be played. #Segafan
Not necessarily "beat" but I used to know where every crystal was in kirby 64 by heart. Now I couldn't hit 100/100 to save my life
Bionicle: Quest for the Toa for the GBA
Metroid Prime. I’ve been playing it on my Switch for months and it’s not going well at all.
Crash Bandicoot. I guess I’m so overstimulated that the thought of just moving the joystick slightly and pressing X the entire time is frustrating.. it’s so fucking tedious tho
I think mario 64 fits this for me, although it wasnt something i really bothered to beat. It was the only game i had growing up on an old hand me down n64 so i got pretty good at it but as ive gotten older experiencing more games and getting used to modern control and gameplay styles going back to mario 64 with the all star collection was very tough because of how primitive the camera controls were.
Myst I tried the remake when it popped up on game pass. No, just No I can’t play that shit today, even with an update
Star fox 64. I kid you not, when I was a wee lad I could beat the entire game without getting it at all. I tried it again, and I was able to magoo myself to the end but it was pitiful
Any of the older Mario Karts. This is probably me being used to how easy Mario Kart 8 is so going back to Double Dash or Super Circuit feels even tougher than playing on 200cc.
I played a lot of Gradius III on the Super Nintendo as a kid. I could beat it back then, but I'm almost positive it would kick my butt and have me wanting to start a game of catch with the wall and my controller today.
A lot of the older Sega platformers. Hell even Sonic the Hedgehog is surprisingly difficult for me these days.
Lion King. How did I beat it as a child? I couldn't tell you.
Gradius 3 for the SNES. Can't do that super fast autoscroll level anymore. Unrelated, Star Fox was much easier?
Robin Hood The Legend of Sherwood. It was so easy back then, now it's hard af
Home Alone 2. I could beat it if I wanted to, but I can't imagine putting myself through that today
Chakan: The Forever Man, Comix Zone, Contra: Hard Corps, Batman (NES).
Sonic 2 for the Sega Genesis. I had no codes, no nothing. When you fight robot sonic and then Robotnik, you cannot get hit a single time or you die. I'm sure I could do it now if I had that much free time but that ship has sailed long ago. Another would probably be Mike Tyson's punch out. I actually beat Mike Tyson as a 4 year old. Haven't tried it as an adult but I'm assuming it'd be ugly.
Because its unexplicably hard suddenly, or because it sucks so much now i get bored before completing it?
Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. I tried again after playing Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingsom, Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess but I had such a hard time managing the controls playing again after getting so used to the streamlined controls of the current games.
Alex the Kidd in Miracle world. Just genuinely have absolutely no idea how I managed to play that game. Honourable mentions to Lion king, and, some of the DK games.
Super Ghouls and Ghosts. I used to do really well as a child. Played as an adult and can’t get out of the first world.
One game? Rather a lot of games, actually. Part of it is no longer having the manual dexterity of a teenager. And part of it is being no longer willing to put up with the same damn boss for hours and hours on end. I have better things to do and funner games to play.
Back in the day I completed most of timesplitters 2 on hard. I whipped it out of storage recently and I struggle with normal mode now 😅
Resident Evil 4. Beat the original, but couldn’t handle the remake, and I don’t think it’s the remake’s fault.
Twisted Metal 2 - I fired it up with an old buddy and couldn’t tell what was what, all the cars screaming their powers on top of each other, plus I’m used to R2 trigger for acceleration in games now, was trying to remember the Freeze and Shield commands, switching weapons was hell… Had more fun just watching the campy endings on youtube.
Aladdin on SNES. I used to be able to be the magic carpet lava level in one go. Me and my best friend tried beating it a couple years ago and died like 20 times apiece.
Original Mario Bros for NES. I just can’t do it anymore.
Mickey Mouse Castle of illusion
I was real good at donkey kong country as a good but struggle mightily as an adult
I gotta try some of these games now to see if my hand eye coordination is shot.
I've never really encountered this honestly. Any game that I played as a kid is seemingly significantly easier as an adult. One part due to just muscle memory and knowledge and secondly because my reaction times and game playing have yet to go to shit (28)
I'm mystified by how I used to clear consecutive The Binding of Isaac runs regularly. These days, I can barely eke out a win in a way easier roguelike like Hades.
Battletoads Battlemaniacs on SNES. Those snake and and rocket levels would ruin me now, if I could get anywhere close to them.
ConSumo arcade game in Bully
Mega Man 2
Any NES game, honestly. I don’t have the time or patience for the dedication I had as a kid with games like Mario Bros 1-3, Who Framed Roger Rabbit(which I actually beat as a kid), Tiny Toons, Ducktales. I waffle between thinking I’ve gotten worse at games or they’ve just gotten easier.
Contra on SNES (without the Konami code). I tried again the other day and I'm just not up to it anymore.
When I saw they were remastering MediEvil, I was excited. I played that game a ton when I was young. But after years of gaming on new systems, the controls and camera angles were too much for me. I didn't get very far in the game.
Spider-Man 64. I had to call it quits after the first stealth part. No indication for what I'm meant to do, and failure seems both arbitrary and severe- have to redo the entire stage again.
Timeshift.
https://preview.redd.it/r2x8zfdw6t9d1.jpeg?width=474&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d85799e1a2d1859e9b4d9996ff9a9690616d6112 **Gunsmoke** This game was tough and I managed to one-shot it after some time. Now, it's just freaking ragebait.
Goosebumps Horrorland for the Wii. I could play pretty decently as a kid because I wasn’t used to better controls. Now I’m not used to the jank and it’s pretty much impossible.
I can't think of any, I must of been pretty stupid as a child lol
I used to play battle toads with a clicky clacky keyboard and I could make it so far in that game, now I can barely make it through the rappelling section
I beat super Star Wars trilogy on snes when I was in high school and RayStorm for Ps1 in college. No way I’m gonna be able to do that again.
I don't remember having any difficulty finishing super mario deluxe on gameboy color (it has OG super mario bros and an unlockable SMB lost levels among other things). As an adult, it surprised me when I learned that Lost Levels was notorious for its difficulty. Granted, the deluxe version starts you back to the first level of that chapter after a game over, but I can finish it with minimal problem, that I even tried not using the 1-up trick or warp pipes, and even managed to kill all Bowsers with fire flowers. I only had difficulty with ending up on those pesky warp pipe traps that forces you back to earlier levels, I had to memorize which ones are the bad warp pipes. Now I can't even get to the half point in OG SMB on NSO and I refuse to use 1-Up and warp pipes. Maybe it's the screen size, or the subtle difference in the feel that I am not aware of, or the controller, but I just cannot muster the skills that I had back then where I can essentially speedrun through each level. Now even with careful platforming I still find myself dying.
Donkey Kong Junior on my Colecovision. I was an ace at that game. Now I probably couldn’t get past the first level.
Road rash, I was so good at that game when I was a kid. Recently, I tried playing it again for the nostalgia but how bad I am at it now pissed me off.
Anything old school mario. I just don’t think I have the patience for some of the harder levels anymore.
ngl there’s more than one
Contra.
Perfect Dark Insanely difficult with its precise controls on Perfect Agent difficulty, despite the mission objectives being memorised still for the last 24 years
The older Resident Evils and the first Metal Gear Solid games (not the first two NES ones). I mean I can still beat them but it’s so hard getting used to those fixed cameras again. I was so good at it as a kid/teen and now I’m all wonky even though there isn’t a single new game I’ve played that I can’t beat lol. It’s pretty funny to me though.
Hide and seek, too big to fit in the good hiding spots :(
Donkey Kong Country! I remember beating it in an afternoon as a kid and now, 30+ yrs old me get stuck in the mines (the level with the green/red barrels for the lights).
Pretty much any 2D platformer (except the SNES Lion King one)
Perfect Dark. I'm BETTER at fps games as a whole but cannot deal with those controls.
I’m not even talking beating but just playing it well… NES Top Gun. I was good as a kid. Tried it once as an adult. Couldn’t do a thing.
No such examples. I’m much better at games as an adult than as a kid.
NES Ninja Gaiden. I have fond memories of finally... FINALLY beating it as a child after all the sweat and tears it took to conquer that game. Now I struggle to get through the first level.
Rocket Knight on Sega Genesis. Some of those flight levels are rough.
The lion king, loved that game to death. Lost the cartridge unfortunately.
Final fantasy 7,8,9. Thousand arms... pretty much any JRPG. I don't have the patience anymore.
Wolfenstein 3D I tried it. I got sort of “sea sick” and was gonna throw up because the game somehow gave me vertigo. I never get sea sick. I’m fine on all types of transport. This has never happened with another game in my 28 years of life. I can’t play Wolfenstein 3D for more than 15 minutes now. Used to do hours when I was a kid. Go figure.
Mario Kart super circuit had awful controls that made the steering a trainwreck. Every time I turn I go into a wall or off the track. Rainbow road felt impossible with that steering. I only ever beat rainbow road and the special cup once on the highest difficulty, and it's one of my proudest moments. As a kid I really enjoyed the game, but as an adult it feels unplayable thanks to that horrid steering.
Nes ninja gaiden 2. How the hell did I have the patience & timing for this man. Still has awesome music though.
Every platformer and/or action adventure game ever made
I beat every MegaMan, and Battle toads games. Those things are ridiculous now.
none, im like 40 times better then how i was when i was 6/7
“Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories” (GBA version) I don’t have the patience to go through the mechanics of a game like that anymore. I thoroughly loved and enjoyed the game when I played it though.
Original Metroid
Landstalker on Sega Genesis. I can't believe I had the time to trial & error those isometric jumps onto moving platforms.
I don't have that, I have the reverse. I struggled with a lot of games, like half life, and such,but years later I picked up those games and wondered why I had so much trouble with it back then.
StarCraft Broodwar campaigns Must have been the faster APM and better practiced decision making skills that allowed me to do so much better then - now I get overwhelmed easily and struggle a lot more than I remember.
..none of them? As a child I had tons of time to play and it became muscle memory. For the first three stages of Super C, 30 some odd years later, I still have a bullet hitting every enemy right after it appears on screen.
My timing in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out! was much better as a child.
Jet Grind Radio
Pretty much any racing games. I feel like irl driving ruined me
I'm 34 now and I'm actually a lot better at most games now including fps. But God damn Mario 64 was so hard for kid me. But it's leagues harder for adult me. Most N64 games are honestly
This is gonna sound so stupid but I beat Zelda ocarina of time as a kid and I tried playing it as an adult, for the life of me I could not figure out how to access the women gerudo part for literal HOURS, but I refused to look it up. Finally, after a painstaking amount of hours, I found out I just had to break a barrier underwater that opened the way inside for me... I felt so, so, so so dumb. Edit: Another commentor pointed out this was actually Majora's mask, not Oot. Lol
Call of duty
Bionic Commando. A lot of the muscle memory is still there but the patience is gone.
Diablo 2 LOD. Breezed thru that shit as a child, put in 1000hrs. As an adult, I won't beat it because I know if I start playing it I'll put in another 1000hrs. So I leave that game alone now and play other things.
I was good at Megaman as a kid. Now I just nope any and every Megaman.
Sonic unleashed for whatever reason, i breezed as a kid. Come my replay of the game, i got stuck on every sonic day stage without fail. Every single time i would reset more than a few times on the day stages. I figure maybe because as a kid, im thinking “high score? Who cares” but now adult me is starting to think that maybe that S rank would look kinda neat. And even sometimes id get stuck just trying to master one part of the stage when i could just skip past it.
i... what? none? if its just about finishing the game and i push aside my completionist brain, itd be easier now than it was back then, even with how spoiled i am by modern games.
The older you get, the more you play a video game with awareness and expect to progress. When you're young, you die, you may yell something inane, but then you just addictively do it again, and don't give a second thought to the idea that you're spending hours getting nowhere. Adults don't see it like that anymore. *wipes away tear*
Armored core games, i could s rank some missions as a teenager.
Literally nothing. I was *awful* at games as a kid. I didn't have the skill to consistently beat games until high school and even then I honestly didn't have the perseverance to actually stick with a game until my late 20s. Now I love hard games (although I have limited time so I don't go too crazy and play Sekiro on NG+5 or whatever).
Donkey Kong Country 1 and Returns. Idk how they’re so hard, and I didn’t ever even use Super Kong in Returns as a kid!!
rayman
Einhander on PS1 I prided myself on beating that game several times without dying. I dusted it off a couple of weeks ago. I have no clue how I mastered that game. Also, Super Star Wars. Can't even beat the sandstorm at the end of stage 1
Its more the converse for me
Golden axe
Regular old Super Mario Bros was the most surprising. My timing is just off now. My timing is likely off for Mortal Kombat, but that’s no surprise. Your reflexes fade after a week away from that game.
Justice league task force. When I was a kid I could ever fight and not lose. Now if I play as an adult i get absolutely thrashed 🤣
I don't think I have the patience to play the original Splinter Cell and even its sequel, Pandora Tomorrow. Chaos Theory is one of my favorite games of all time and I'm a huge fan of the entire franchise, but every time I try to replay the first two games I'm pretty quick to give up. When I was younger though? I knew every level and guard patrol route like the back of my hand.
Prince of Persia sands of time. I don't understand why that game is so hard for me as an adult. The controls are janky as hell but manageable and the enemies are somehow souls like level hard??
Donkey Kong Country. Tried to play it recently after picking up one those mini SNES consoles and holy crap its hard. I cant get past the mine cart level.
Not beat but get WAY further as a kid… Astrosmash on Intellivision. Holy crap you had to be fast.
Metal Gear Solid on PS1... It's way intimidating today. Yoshi's Island was the game that came with my SNES, aesthetically the most unique thing I played in Mario series. I own this bitch till today, tested and proven on an emulator. It's all in the egg-eye coordination. Super Mario World was madness tho... Always been even back then. I tried, and discovered you have to be on adult party drugs to even attempt a run through, 25+ years later.
Punchout, Ghosts n Goblins and Super Ghouls n Ghosts.
The Sims. I mean, it's not really "beating" the game but I tried playing it as an adult and the first Sims game is hella hard. You cannot do anything but eat, sleep, shit etc. There is no room for free time in a sims life. I used to be able to go to the magic world and master the spells and potions. But it seemed like no matter what I did my sims couldn't leave home without immediately having to come back for another shower or something.
Not really beat it, but TF2. I used to be quite good at it. My reaction times have plummeted.
I haven't tested it for proof, but I can basically guarantee I can't still beat Through the Fire and Flames
Rampage on the NES. I had time as a kid, but I can’t justify finishing that game as an adult.
Opposite for me, lots of games I couldn’t be at as a kid that I can demolish now. Maybe not guitar hero tho since I haven’t played it in so long.
Monopoly. Now I realize the bank always wins
I recently found my old PS2 memory and decided to dust off Star Ocean 3 and give it a nostalgic shot. I got curious where I left off in my save and IIRC it's the dungeon where you fight Freya. Well I tried a few normal fights and got absolutely dumped on. Not mention I had a really tough time controlling the cast. Team was Fayt, Knell, Maria. I couldn't do shit to save my life. After two game overs I sat there laughing and thinking "how the hell did I play this back then".
Super Mario 64. I loved it as a kid. Got all the power stars. Now I’m struggling with the lava painting. I fell off
Original God of War. O-mashing got me like, welp I guess I got arthritis
Sonic Adventure 2
House of the dead 2. I had that on my wii and got extremely good at the game. Regularly beating it, could play both 1 and 2 player by myself. Last time I saw hotd 2 in an arcade I got wiped so fast it was embarrassing. Shout out to guitar hero too
Used to be able to play through Splatterhouse on a single life, and now I'm struggling with the church boss, halfway through the game.
Ghouls n Ghosts on the SEGA Megadrive. One of my earliest gaming memories is beating it. Tried Ghosts n Goblins Remake, not the same game but very similar and it took me like 6 hours to beat the first level which takes a few minutes in real time.
I got really good at Devil May Cry, beating the modes where you die in one hit but enemies don’t (Heaven and Hell mode) but now I’m struggling on Hard difficulty lol
I haven’t found a game I couldn’t beat as an adult. I have however replayed many games from childhood and thought “wow these are some intricate puzzles, how did I ever manage that as a 7 year old”
Majoras mask.
budokai tenkaichi 3, brother in christ it was hard revisiting this game on steamdeck. that could be related to input lag? but we beat every mission back in the day and it took everything i have not to die on easy mode today. the way ive survived, and probably how i did back then, is to run away and only fire supers at the enemy and wait for the timer to tick so the mission continues because most missions progress based on time, not damage taken.
Like almost any mega man game haha.
Not really. There are some things I don't really have patience for anymore, like collecting a whole bunch of crap or 100%ing every game, but I haven't revisited an old game I could beat as a kid and found it too hard as an adult.
I don't think I ever beat it, but I could at least play it and got pretty far in jaws on PS2. Idk how TF I ever played it. There's no chance that I could play that game now. Open world ocean game where you can basically swim near the surface or go down basically as deep as the ocean floor from what I can remember? Absolutely not. There was even one part of the map that was the "deepest" and it was basically pitch black from what I remember Also harry Potter chamber of secrets. It was cake when I was a kid but I tried it once a couple years ago or something and I sucked ass at basically everything
Tag. I dont play tag as an adult.
Ghouls N Ghosts
**Maui Mallard**(the Genesis and SNES Donald Duck Game.) I thought that this game was amazing back in the 90's, now every time I try to play it I get bored in less than an hour. I don't know why, but it doesn't feel satisfying. I also have a hard time avoiding damage, not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I find the game so boring that I don't have enough of a desire to get better. BTW, I say this as someone that goes through dozens of SNES games a year. It's my favorite console.
None, I only got better. Molded by fire and blood by From Software games
Body Harvest on N64. I LOVED that game as a kid and still enjoy watching Let's Play vids of it. I tried playing it once a few years ago and again recently; Both times I lasted about 5 minutes and said NOPE. The controls, especially the aiming, are God awful.
Life. It was great as a child. Nothing to worry about. Played and had fun. Parents took care of everything. Now. It's all on my wife and me. It sucks.
The original nintendo super mario bros.
Life.... as a child you're winning it with ease. As an adult, you got all the handicaps & none of the bonuses.
Generally, I have gotten better at certain types of games (rpgs and strategy) and got significantly worse at others (shooters). So, It's not specifically that I can't complete the game today, but I was much better as a child. Halo on Legendary, I struggle on normal nowadays. This is probably due to not playing it almost daily with friends anymore. We used to play for hours after school.
Blast Corps, I guess maybe I had more patience as a kid but those Backlash levels just give me the fits!
Echo the Dolphin... Jk I couldn't even beat that as a kid.
2D Sonic games are the bane of my existence nowadays. I used to cook so hard in those when I was like 8 on the Gamecube.
All of them. I absolutely can't do what I could as a kid. Ninja Gaiden for the original nes comes to mind. I could even beat Contra without putting in the 30 lives code. I'd actually come out at the end of it with more lives and never lose a single life. I'd never be able to do that today.
Super Mario World 2 Yoshi's Island. The later levels are so difficult, I struggle so much when I replay it now.
Super Mario brothers lol. I could smoke it as a kid. Now I have to use the switch online and rewind when I die or I end up losing all my Mario’s by like world 4 or 6
Ninja Gaiden NES
first Rayman, the music level make me cry from anger and pure spite when I was young, but I insisted. Now, if I come back to that level, I simply unistall the ubisoft launcher forever. Jk, great game, but THAT level, jeez.
I forget if I even uploaded it... but I remember my last run of Kabuki Quantum Fighter being HELLISH. I don't think my recording even caught all my errors, I forget if my save state scumming affected footage.
Not an entire game, but the flying missions in San Andreas. I cannot for the life of me get any altitude, and remain stuck on the very first flying mission every time I try to replay it. The plane just drops like a rock no matter what technique I try. I’ve heard it may be an issue with the Xbox port, but I originally played it on 360, and use the same version on my series x not the god awful “remaster”.
Contra 3 for SNES
Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link Mike Tyson's Punchout These were my jams and I could run through each in an afternoon.
I have never revisited a game that I could finish as a kid but not as an adult. I have, though, revisited a ton of games I couldn't finish as a kid and conquered as an adult!
Mike Tyson's Punchout. I beat him dozens of times as a kid. Can't do it today.
Rescue Rangers. I was so proud of myself when I beat it. Doubt I could get past the first level now.
Mario kart rainbow road. I had the best ghost ever. No one in my neigborhood could beat me. Now, its impossible for me to ever reach that level. Too old now.
Sonic all-star racing transform.
I had a lot more patience for Crash Bandicoot when I was younger. Can’t get into it as an adult
Subterrania. That game is hard af now, I used to breeze through it on Genesis before but can't get past level 5 now
Lethal Skies 1 and 2.
Not sure, there was never a game I couldn’t beat as a child and same goes with being an adult. Then again, this is coming from someone who enjoys playing Dark Souls and League of Legends, which both games bring a massive amount of masochist and toxic people alike. As a kid I beat Twisted Metal:Black, FF:10, and Sly Cooper: Honor Amongst Thieves
Jet moto 2, I used to have some crazy battles but I can barely get thru a turn now
Not necessarily games but playing games on hardest difficulties. All my favorite games back in the day (CoD, Gears of War) I got all collectibles and beat them on hardest difficulty. I probably died 100 times replaying Gears 1 on insane and I’m still stuck on Raam
Its mostly a matter of hardware. We are used to physics in games, where physics before kind of didnt exist. Like gta san andreas? After playing V and onward and coming back to it during covid, I realized I just couldnt deal. Lack of effort really. Never feel like relearning "Old" game physics. So I cant really faithfully answer this question as it is a vague selection of choices really
Going through a lot of these answers it seems like they are all or mostly massive games. As an adult we try to do things “correctly” but in wanting to be a completionist we get overwhelmed or bogged down by unfun things. Seems like as children we just want fun and ignore the tedium of doing things efficiently. Take Skyrim for example. A younger person would just go off into the world and adventure where the wind takes them. I know as an adult when I start a new play through, one of the first things I do is find the lovers stone, complete the quest to increase blacksmithing xp rate, and get married early to maximize xp gain and profit.
Need for Speed V-Rally and Tekken 3 on PS. Mostly won Tekken by button mashing and as for NFS Idk how the fuck I ever managed some of those turns in V-Rally with the D-pad.
Honestly, probably most games that I beat from the NES and SNES era I wouldn't have the chops to beat as an adult. I just don't think I have the same determination or focus that I had back when I was a kid. Plus, playing the same section over and over again until I master it, just isn't important to me anymore. As a kid, that's pretty much all I had going on. Now as an adult, I'm always thinking about the stuff I should be doing instead of what I'm doing now so it's more difficult to give 100% focus on the task at hand.
The original sonic trilogy on Mega Drive (or Genesis if you're American) -- dunno how but as a kid I played them so much I could get super sonic almost as fast as possible, these days I just can't dedicate myself to it enough (and the emerald mini games are way harder than I remember them being lol)
Not a kid but when I was in HS (03-07) I somehow managed to beat mushihime sama on an arcade cab with a single credit. My friends left me downstairs and I was just playing, when they came back they asked how I added more credits and when I explained I hadn't died yet it just turned into a spectacle. Watched the credits roll on a single life. To this day with all sorts of mods and credit feeding bullshit I cannot clear that last boss.
Almost any older gen platformer, honestly. The input delay is killer.
Castlevania bloodlines. Do not know whyyyyyyy
I replayed the Jak series recently. I loved those games as a kid and replayed them a dozen times. Jak 2 kicked my butt in my 30s and I had to put it down several times due to rage.
Call of duty on veteran or even get into the online at all.
Any N64 game. How the hell did I hold the controller?!
Elder Scrolls Oblivion. Kid me was a force of nature, while adult me gave up after the 3rd hour of getting smacked by a mud crab cause I'm minmaxing too hard
Ff7
The Legend of Zelda a Link to the Past
Earthworm Jim 1 and 2. 1 for its difficulty and length and 2 just for the length
I played a decent amount of Toy Story 2 on the PlayStation back in the day, since my aunt had it. Now that I can stream it, I gave it a shot but the outdated controls are atrocious by modern standards.
Mario Kart Wii. I remember placing 1st constantly as a kid and clearing all the tracks. Now? I can't control the cars at all yet I can win drift races in Forza lol. Something about the unnatural handling of the Karts just throws me off so bad now that I know how to drive irl and play arcade racers with more realistic physics. My brain just can't compute 😂
The original 3 Mortal Kombats. I used to know all the special attacks and how to do the fatalities. I understood how to skillfully button mash and dodge attacks. Now if I try to play it, it feels rigid and much harder to control.
Call of Duty Multuplayer. I’m all out of sweat.
Candyland 😎 One of my young grandsons beats me everytime.
Super Mario 2. Love the game and beat it numerous times as a kid. Now I’m lucky if I make it to stage 2.
Tarzan on GC. Wife loves that game and I beat it when I was young but now we can barely play it it's soooo difficult
Strictly based on skill, I could definitely beat this game still, but physically it hurts my hands too much. Super Meat Boy. The last time that I completely finished it was mayyyybe like 5/6/7 years ago or so. I'm in my early 30s now, and I just couldn't finish it this most recent time, which was a year or so ago.
Contra. Idk how I did it
BattleToads, there's no chance nowadays.
South Park on n64. I guess my little child brain was plastic enough to map those outrageous controls. But my adult brain can’t manage it.
Star Wars.
Rayman games
The SNES Star Wars games. Beat em as a kid but trying to play them these days is brutal.
Not really "beat" but Mario maker for sure. I made insanely hard levels that would take me hours upon hours to upload (just for them to get banned within a day because the win rate was too low and there weren't enough stars🥲). I would beat super difficult levels because what else do you have to do as a kid. Then a couple years ago I was at a friend's house and he brought up playing Mario maker 2. We ended up playing and I was so. Bad.
All ya'll are overreacting. Try playing frogger on atari again. I dare ya. 🤣🤣🤣
Super Mario world is fucking brutal and I need to finish it as an adult because it's literally the game that made me a fan of video games and the first game I ever played. I have to do it, both for my childhood and myself today. It's a matter of personal pride lol. Seriously though, it's harder than I remember and also the SNES still goes REALLY fucking hard for such an old console so I'm glad they brought the games to the Switch because even if you have an SNES, the games can be insanely expensive and not worth it lol.
Blue dragon
So many games, mostly due to the fact that my motion sickness spiked up about 10 years ago. I used to be able to play third-person & first person games for hours when I was younger. Now, I’m instantly nauseous. I can only play isometric games. Incredible three dimensional games will be released, and I’ll always think, “Maybe this one won’t make me sick…” Then boom! Instant nausea and headaches that lasts all day. I’m looking at you, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice.
It wasn't when I was a kid, but Ninja Gaiden Black in my mid 20s. I just don't have the patience for that anymore.
Mortal Kombat
R Type Delta
getting to the last level of dr mario. don't have the reflexes for that anymore
Not exactly what you're asking, but my fighting game skills have eroded.
Twisted Metal Black. Picked it up with memories of unlocking all the characters endings, and getting utterly destroyed over and over. I have no idea how I beat this game over and over back in the day.
With a lot of games I played as a kid (Ghosts n' Goblins, Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Battletoads, Contra, etc.) Playing it the first time was just way more fun, but without the freshness and exploration I can't overlook the unfair and weird design decisions anymore. I just don't have the time to be dealing with the devs taking shortcuts in making parts more difficult like with coin-eaters and early consoles. Tbh Elden ring is like that for me these days. I don't have the patience to deal with input-reads and infinite stamina bosses.
Mario kart DS. I don't know why I find it so difficult now.
I'm actually better at games in my 30s than I was as a kid/teen because I have more patience. Back in the day if I couldn't beat a game I'd give up & play something else. Nowadays I'll take breaks but go back to games that I'm stuck on.
It’s not that I can’t beat it now I definitely still can it’s just I remember breezing through Doom 3 on the hardest difficulty back in the day, I tried it recently on game pass and I cannot breeze through like before lmao