The "How the hell did I do this?" thread.

[Shoryuken]

Ever play a game to death as a kid? Unlock everything (or at least almost everything) and know it like the back of your hand? Then new games come along, you stop playing it and eventually over the years, you find it again and play it for some good old nostalgic feelings... only to find out that you suck at it now or can't pull something off?

I recently found my old Sonic 3 & Knuckles and I started a new game. I got all the chaos emeralds and then went to get super emeralds... only to find out that I can't do their special stages for jack sh*t. I actually had to look up how to beat one of them and reset the game countless times to try to get it. I finally did after a dozen tries.

The whole time I'm thinking "How in the hell did I do this?"

[Nijihamu-chan]

Games that make me think that are definatly the Sonic Series games.

ESPECIALLY Sonic Heroes I played it almost all the time, I usually discover tons of glitches. and well, I haven't unlocked everything, in fact I'm stuck!

I can't get past the Jungle Level with Team Dark, because when I swing on the vines to get past the Gaint Aligator (spelled it wrong I'm sorry ^^; ) I get to a point where there's a Vine I keep missing and I'm like "How do I keep doing that?!"

Not to mention that the Special Levels are just HECK to try and beat (I'm missing like I dunno, 2-3 Chaos Emeralds because they're too hard to get)

Why must the Emerald levels be so hard? :(

[Shoryuken]

because they make you invincible (save for crushing and botomless pits).

And I meant games you beat already a long time ago but you don't understand how.

[Phoenix Wright]

That ain't no joke. My six-year-old self would kick my ass any day. It's a simple explaination, of course. All games had back in the old days to extend their playtime was the fact that you couldn't beat them. Battletoads comes to mind. I remember playing that as a kid, and getting past the bike level at least. Last time I played that, I couldn't beat the second level. It's one of the gifts and curses of better technology.

[Grave_Digger]

I remember gettting 100% on Sonic 2. I even got the Gold Sonic (fraking awesome). Years later I tried playing the game again before we sold it at the upcoming garage sale and I couldn't even get past the Chemical World Act 2. How I accomplished all that when I was six is beyond me.

[Crazy Jamie]

Playing New Super Mario Bros on the DS brought up these feelings. There were certain sections that I really struggled with, whereas when I was less than half the age I am now I could blitz through a 2-D Mario game with no fear of dying.

[Shoryuken]

Playing New Super Mario Bros on the DS brought up these feelings. There were certain sections that I really struggled with, whereas when I was less than half the age I am now I could blitz through a 2-D Mario game with no fear of dying.

You need thems blue shell powerups, friend.

[Crazy Jamie]

I fear so. I was actually quite disappointed with myself with the amount that I was dying otherwise.

[Shoryuken]

I never got a game over in that game. I actually find it quite easy.

Jamie, step your game up.

[Grave_Digger]

Playing New Super Mario Bros on the DS brought up these feelings. There were certain sections that I really struggled with, whereas when I was less than half the age I am now I could blitz through a 2-D Mario game with no fear of dying.

Same with me. When I first started playing it I thought they had jacked up the difficulty.

[sidewinder]

Got through DMD on Devil May Cry about 6 years ago. Tried it last summer and got my a** handed to me. Time can really rust you up.

[Woozie]

I always feel dumb when I play a multiplayer game the first month and I'm always at the top of the scoreboard (1st or 2nd), and then three months later I can't get a single kill.

[Fool's Requiem]

I always feel dumb when I play a multiplayer game the first month and I'm always at the top of the scoreboard (1st or 2nd), and then three months later I can't get a single kill.

That's because everyone else has gotten used to the game and has spent there time perfected their gameplay while you moved on to play something else.

I have a similar issue in terms of multiplayer but instead of changes after a matter or months, mine is more of a matter of day-to-day.
One day I'll be kicking major butt in something. I'd be the hero of the game and sometimes I'd get a "good job" or "nicely played" and a couple friend requests., and the next day I'll feel like the most useless being to ever play multiplayer games. No matter how hard I try, I just can't seem consistent and I wonder every day what I did to preform so well and why I can't do it now.

[Gorge]

Animal Crossing comes to mind for me. When I got the game around the time it first came out, I played it a lot and got really into it. I amassed quite a bit of stuff, then one day I just stopped playing. Occasionally I would load the game up again like 3 or 6 or a year later to see what it was like. Since the game detects the passage of time, my town looked like a mess, no one remembered me and there were weeds all over the place.

That game got really boring after a couple months of straight play.

[Conscience]

Pokemon comes to mind here. My first Pokemon game, Silver, was my Messiah (well, when I was six). I knew all the Pokemon back to front, knew every secret item on the ground, knew the best wild Pokemon to battle for experience, I even knew the damn pokedex numbers.
Then I played Emerald when I was 12. I struggled, and eventually needed a walkthrough to beat the game.
And several months later, when I see how far I've come in Silver and decided to play it, I find I don't know what the hell to do.