Nintendo games have become too easy according to Nintendo Enthusiast

[Kane99]

I may not be familiar with most Nintendo games releasing today, but I do feel that the newer games that I have played, tend to be a bit easier than the good old retro NES/SNES/N64 etc games. Nintendo Enthusiast wrote an article about how Nintendo games today are often too easy compared to how difficult games used to be. Do you agree? The last SMB game I played was Mario 3D Land on the 3DS, and honestly, it felt way easier than most Mario games. Alberit, there was some tough levels, but it just didn't feel up to the level of past Mario games and their difficulty. 

[killamch89]

I'd have to agree to some extent with this statement. I've noticed the dumbing down of the AI in the Smash Bros. games. For instance, on Smash Ultimate even on the highest difficulty, the opponents are still pretty easy to beat compared with the Smash Bros 64 and Melee for the Gamecube.

[The Blackangel]

As sad as it is, it's a fact. Games are becoming easier and easier. It seems that if you want an actual challenge from Nintendo, you're almost forced to become a classic gamer. That's no issue for me, as I already AM a classic gamer. Don't get me wrong, I have games such as Skyrim and Witcher 3 on my Switch. But the games Nintendo deals out such as Mario and Zelda, are sadly simple. Once I got the hang of how BOTW worked, it was so simple I got bored with it REALLY quick. I haven't played it in a few months now. I got to Kakariko village, and thought "This is it? This is the game? This is boring as hell." If Nintendo would simply put out a game that is a challenge from the beginning, and forgo the bullshit training then I would be more interested in their games and stop looking through indie titles. I've been thinking that the most challenging game currently has to be Mario Maker 2. At least there you can create your own levels to make an actual challenge. Just check the new Cinemassacre video.

 

 

[lludawg]

Anyone played any of the newer Pokemon games lately? I wonder how the difficulty has changed in those. Back in the day I remember defeating the gym leaders could be quite challenging and it would take hours and hours to train your Pokemon until they were strong enough. Although that was quite time-consuming, the satisfaction of completing the challenge made it all worth it.

[The Blackangel]

I think when a dev puts out a franchise that turns out successful (Elder Scrolls, GTA, Zelda, GoW, FF, Pokemon, etc.) they get lazy after a while. They think that since it's so popular and successful that the fans of the franchise will keep buying it. Take sports games. The only real difference (from what I read here) in each edition is an updated roster. FF13 was a total bomb. Virtually everyone I have talked to hated Zelda Wind Waker for one reason or another. If I remember correctly there was a GTA that was universally hated and almost killed the franchise. It's due to lazy writing.

Also if the fucking devs would make one Zelda that had the same god damn Hyrule, I would be rather happy. But each one shows that Hyrule has more incarnations than hairs on a baboons ass.

[skyfire]

I think to some extent that may be true but a lot of games are tough and also a lot of games are pretty much same in the name of churn. So yeah it has become the easy and boring on some points. 

[ZandraJoi]

Being hard or easy is individualized. Since the consensus says that most of the games are becoming too easy, I think the company should look into how to adapt for all levels. Most games I've played have different expertise levels. Beginner, Advanced, Intermediate. They should incorporate those so that a game can be enjoyed by all.

[Darth]

I think this is probably something the whole gaming industry suffers from. Games are just becoming a bit too easy to cater for the "bad" players so that they don't just give up on the game. This is especially true for those games with microtransactions. 

[Shortie]

I have to agree with this and the one game that springs to mind is Super Smash Bros for me. As much as the one on the Switch is still somewhat difficult, it's really not as difficult as many say it was before the Nintendo Switch. I remember as a kid I would sit and play games on my Super Nintendo and would get so frustrated with parts of the game that were difficult, I play a game now and it doesn't seem half as difficult as it used to be when I was younger. I think it's the same for everything now though, no matter what console you are on. One thing I noticed is how when I was younger you would have so many lives and once, they had gone, you started again. You don't see that as much anymore in games which I feel does make them easier than they used to be.

[Empire]

Games are more accessible than they have ever been, and the challenge has been shifted away from the old arcade mentality of killing the player often to collecting and exploring or having difficult content only for the dedicated players. MAking it easy makes people buy and they make money

[Ravenfreak]

Pokemon games have definitely become much easier these past two generations. I'm not just saying that because I've been playing since I was a kid and know the type matchups by heart, the last two generations automatically gave the player experience share and you can't even turn that feature off. In the older games, you'd have to train every single Pokemon in your party by switching them out until you obtained the experience share item. (Or experience all in the first generation games.) Not only that, but the old version of the experience share was a held item, meaning only one Pokemon could get extra experience and not you're entire party like in newer games. I get that I'm not the targeted audience of the games, they've always been targeted towards children but I remember struggling with the Gen 1, 2 and 3 games as a child. (I was 19 when I first played Gen 4 and I turned 20 the year Gen 5 came out so I was already a young adult during these generation releases...) Cynthia is a pain in the rear to beat, she's literally the only trainer I've struggled with recently while playing the Gen 4 remakes. I haven't played really much of the other Nintendo franchises, so I don't have much to say about them...

[killamch89]

On 4/9/2023 at 6:41 PM, Ravenfreak said:

Pokemon games have definitely become much easier these past two generations. I'm not just saying that because I've been playing since I was a kid and know the type matchups by heart, the last two generations automatically gave the player experience share and you can't even turn that feature off. In the older games, you'd have to train every single Pokemon in your party by switching them out until you obtained the experience share item. (Or experience all in the first generation games.) Not only that, but the old version of the experience share was a held item, meaning only one Pokemon could get extra experience and not you're entire party like in newer games. I get that I'm not the targeted audience of the games, they've always been targeted towards children but I remember struggling with the Gen 1, 2 and 3 games as a child. (I was 19 when I first played Gen 4 and I turned 20 the year Gen 5 came out so I was already a young adult during these generation releases...) Cynthia is a pain in the rear to beat, she's literally the only trainer I've struggled with recently while playing the Gen 4 remakes. I haven't played really much of the other Nintendo franchises, so I don't have much to say about them...

Have to agree, I bought Pokemon Sword the other day and comparing this with when I used to play Pokemon as a kid, it's absolute lightwork. I don't really feel challenged at all if I'm being honest.

[Lens]

I’m one of those who believed that the Nintendo games have become more accessible. The retro games were indeed tougher. So, a balance between difficulty and fun is an ideal approach as it will allow players to progress without any kind of frustration.