Games that require you to play a HARDER mode to complete

[ShinobiMan]

OK so I was literally just playing Ex-Mutants on the Sega Genesis for the first time (Not to shabby a game by the way. Gameplay is sort of addicting).

I was playing on the EASY mode, when about three or four levels in, after a boss battle, the game prompts me with a message along the lines of, "Sorry, if you wish to continue on past this point, you must play a HARDER difficulty."

Need less to say, this is an extremely annoying tactic programmers used to use, but at the same time, it always makes me laugh. It's almost like the game is communicating with you. It's saying, "Yeah, you THOUGHT you were hot stuff but in reality you're not! Why don't you play the REAL mode and stop being a wuss!"

This was a fun discovery, as I haven't had a game do this to me since the old days. It's even worse when the game throws this at you on the second to last stage of the game. I know Contra 3 was like that. And Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose did something to that effect as well if I remember.

So for this thread, what games have slapped you in the face, pulled the rug out from underneath your feet with such a dastardly trick? I'm curious if we can create a huge list of games that are jerks like that. LOL


http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/snes/a/contra3bad-7.png

[ColecoFan1981]

I know on the NES version of Double Dragon II: The Revenge, if you wanted to play all levels you had to choose the Supreme Master difficulty rating.

~Ben

[jperryss]

Contra 3 on the SNES and DD2 (already mentioned) are the two that come to mind. Magical Chase on the Turbo/PCE is the same way I think.

[bigbacon]

isn't Turtles in time like this?

[dementia_]

Streets of Rage 3

[Superman]

Most the of the Ghost n Goblins series makes you replay the game at a harder difficulty (and use a special weapon) to get the true ending.

I remember me and my friend were playing Super Ghoul's n Ghosts and we thought we had finally beat it, only to get the message that we had to do it over again.

[LaughingMAN.S9]

There was this Japanese import i remember playing back in the ps1 era that required you to beat the game 3 times, each time on a harder difficulty to reach a higher unlocked level.

Beating it on normal i think had 4 levels, hard was 5 levels, and hardest or whatever it was called was the final level 6


Edit: the game was deep freeze for ps1

[recorderdude]

A few games come to mind:

Puggsy, if you play the "Junior" mode, tells you happily to play the full game once you beat a few levels. The devs fiendishly used the same cap for pirated copies, but present a far more unsettling message with creepy music.

High Seas Havoc, a little-known sonic clone for genesis, only lets you play a few of the levels on "easy" mode then tells you to play the full game on at least normal once you've cleared them.

Castle Of Illusion Follows the same rule as Puggsy with its practice mode, but without the creepy antipiracy.

Rocket Knight Adventures follows that classic Konami bullroar where you can only see the true ending when you play on the hardest mode (which puts the entire ghouls series to shame in difficulty.)

[sloan]

Strange stuff here. I must have never played games on easy mode because I have never encountered such a situation. Does anyone know if this practice continues on modern gen games as well?

[Kiddo]

Rocket Knight Adventures follows that classic Konami bullroar where you can only see the true ending when you play on the hardest mode (which puts the entire ghouls series to shame in difficulty.)

I recall the Genesis version of Tournament Fighters was outright un-fucking-fair with this kind of setup.

EVERY difficulty level besides the hardest ended story mode with "Try a harder difficulty!" which is one thing - but the highest difficulty levels were impossible for reasons that were basically cheap as all heck, since your characters became one-hit-wonders (IN A FIGHTING GAME) and the only reliable damage you could do to an opponent was by forward-jabs (and if you were thrown yourself, ta ta!).

This is particularly frustrating wehn you realize the OTHER TF versions had more balanced difficulty levels.

[ColecoFan1981]

Another Genesis game that comes to mind regarding more levels on a different difficulty is: Goofy's Hysterical History Tour. However, it seems to work in reverse: a higher difficulty setting means less levels to complete.

~Ben

[Doonzmore]

A few games come to mind:

Puggsy, if you play the "Junior" mode, tells you happily to play the full game once you beat a few levels. The devs fiendishly used the same cap for pirated copies, but present a far more unsettling message with creepy music.


Funny, I finished this game over the summer of 09 and when I read about this the song that instantly popped into my head was the one that played during the boss screen (the one that tells you which ones you have and haven't defeated yet). I looked up a video on youtube and sure enough, it was the same song.

[The 1 2 P]

I know on the NES version of Double Dragon II: The Revenge, if you wanted to play all levels you had to choose the Supreme Master difficulty rating.

~Ben

I've beaten that game several times and was never aware of this. But according to wiki the only level missing from the easier difficulties is the last level. I always thought the last level was when you fight your mirror image. As for other games, Mortal Kombat Mythology: Subzero also tells you around level 3 or 4 that you need to choose a higher difficulty in order to play thru the rest of the levels.

[Aussie2B]

I don't really mind when games pull this on easy mode, although I think developers should have the decency to cut the game short after just a few levels rather than right before the final stage, but it really annoys me when the standard difficulty isn't good enough to get an ending and you're forced to play on hard. Castlevania: Bloodlines does this, which is all the more annoying considering it's one of the few Castlevania games to not offer unlimited continues as well.

[Jorpho]

Taz Mania (Genesis) springs to mind. "Practice" mode provides a sharply abbreviated set of levels with no final boss.

To be fair, it did provide a means of practicing some of the trickier later levels – it's a friendlier alternative to playing through the game over and over again only to keep running out of lives and continues on the same level and never managing to actually take a decent shot at it.

[Gameguy]

I remember Golden Axe II was like this, if you're on easy mode you can't get to the last levels.

[Tron 2.0]

Just about any shoot'em up by psikyo such as gunbird.When you finish it the first time you get ending,but to get it's credits you must finish it a second time.Beside the game difficulty go's up......

[Alpha2099]

A lot of arcade shooters have second loops that must be beaten to get the "true" ending. I haven't seen it much in console games, but I know they're out there.

[bigbacon]

Taz Mania (Genesis) springs to mind. "Practice" mode provides a sharply abbreviated set of levels with no final boss.

To be fair, it did provide a means of practicing some of the trickier later levels – it's a friendlier alternative to playing through the game over and over again only to keep running out of lives and continues on the same level and never managing to actually take a decent shot at it.

castle of illusion on SMS is the same way.

[YoshiM]

I remember Golden Axe II was like this, if you're on easy mode you can't get to the last levels.

The original Golden Axe on the Genesis had that too. It's been a while but I think you had to go to the highest difficulty to get to the last stage, but I'm not sure.

[Gameguy]

The original Golden Axe on the Genesis had that too. It's been a while but I think you had to go to the highest difficulty to get to the last stage, but I'm not sure.
I had Golden Axe II when I was a kid but not the first game, I have the first one now but haven't spent as much time with it so I wasn't sure. I have Golden Axe III as well but haven't played it yet, maybe they're all like that. You could be right about needing the highest difficulty to get to the end, it's been years since I've played the second game so I wasn't sure if the normal setting was enough or if you needed hard mode. It sounds like all of the games in this series shared the same difficulty requirements.

[TonyTheTiger]

A lot of 16-bit fighting games require you play a certain difficulty before giving you an ending. Killer Instinct actually wouldn't even let you fight the last boss.

Castlevania on N64 cut short after stage 5 if you played on easy, which is particularly annoying since it's not exactly a short five levels. That was the most recent game I remember pulling this stunt. It was an uncommon tactic by then, for sure. But in the 16-bit days it seemed more like the rule than the exception.

Mortal Kombat Trilogy has a weird variant. If you beat the game you're presented with a list of rewards to pick from but your options will be restricted based on which "Choose Your Destiny" ladder you select. The character endings are always an available option, though.

[Graham Mitchell]

Gradius 2: gofer no yabaou on the pc engine does this as well. You can't get to the last boss on easy mode. The game is brutally hard, even on easy mode.

[goldenband]

There are definitely a bunch of games on the Genesis that do this. Beat-'em-ups and fighting games seem especially fond of the tactic, and/or giving a bad ending if you don't play on a high difficulty. Besides the games already mentioned, The Punisher, Shui Hu Feng Yun Zhuan, Primal Rage, and Double Dragon V all come to mind.

Goofy's Hysterical History Tour is a weird one indeed. It's got more levels on Normal than Easy, but then Hard cuts a few level segments. Since the game becomes kind of a chore on Hard (thanks to the "let's make all the enemies take way too many hits" tactic), it works out.

Sylvester & Tweety is another Genesis game that only gives you partial access, but it uses a sliding 0-100% difficulty slider that tells you exactly how many levels you'll be allowed to play. IIRC for every 10% of difficulty, you gain access to one level, up to 70+% when you can play all of them. It's a noble idea, but the game is so easy that it doesn't really matter.

[Jorpho]

There are definitely a bunch of games on the Genesis that do this.Kind of makes you wonder if there was someone doing QC at Sega who mandated this feature.

[Koa Zo]

I'm pretty sure the instruction manual for Ex Mutants states that "Easy" is only a practice run of the first three levels.

[Little Miss Gloom]

Solitare.

[MidnightRider]

I'm pretty sure the instruction manual for Ex Mutants states that "Easy" is only a practice run of the first three levels.

Yeah, am I alone on this? I was never really into reading, but the first thing I'd do with a new video game is read the instruction manual. Well, 2nd, first thing would be reading the back of the box.

For the topic, 2 come to mind:
"Batman Returns" on the SNES. The endings get better the higher the difficulty. I'm not sure that's what the topic is looking for, but it's similar anyway.

A lot of the collectors here might not play this one, but for emulaters, there's a fan translation for "Shin Nekketsu Kouha: Kunio-tachi no Banka," a Technos beat 'em up. The easy mode cuts you off, I think maybe 3 stages toward the end. On the bright side, the highest difficulty is normal, and the game has 4 digit passwords. There's a new password every new screen, so you could even continue on boss battles.

[Rickstilwell1]

X-Men for Sega Genesis is also this way in "Beginner" mode. You have to play intermediate or expert to play all the levels.

Also there are some games that won't let you see the credits roll unless you beat them on hardest mode. Tuff E Nuff for SNES is an example of that.

[BlastProcessing402]

With something like Castle of Illusion it doesn't bug me so much, that game's easy mode is beyond easy. Hell, I once beat that mode playing with my feet. But in general, I always thought it was a real dick move on the part of the devs. If I want to play easy, let me play easy, it's not my fault if I suck too much for normal or hard.

[Koa Zo]

it's not my fault if I suck too much for normal or hard.
Actually it is.

It's not the developers fault that you choose not to rise to the challenge presented by a particular game.

[Gameguy]

Actually it is.

It's not the developers fault that you choose not to rise to the challenge presented by a particular game.
It depends on the quality of the game, some games aren't designed that well and the hard mode is basically impossible for anyone to complete. A high challenge is one thing, poor programming is another.

[MidnightRider]

Another thing to keep in mind is that there's no inherent skill level (I don't know if people generally think there is, or what), but whether the game holds your interest enough to get better at it, or not.

[bigbacon]

Actually it is.

It's not the developers fault that you choose not to rise to the challenge presented by a particular game.

sometime the challenge is just to much though. Some games are just ridiculous to the point they aren't even fun.

[MidnightRider]

It should be fun just to try though. Beating a game is something that should happen organically, as you're having fun with it. It shouldn't be the only goal as to why you're playing. Though to be fair, I forget that far too often myself...

[AceAerosmith]

Demolition Man for the SNES was this way. The hardest setting was the complete game but even set on Easy it was a tough game.

Star Trek: Invasion for PS1 was only the first 8 levels or so on Easy. The whole game had to be played on Difficult to get through all of it. I didn't care enough to play through the whole thing after shitty escort/defend missions. Fucking boring.

[Lictalon]

Do multiple end paths count, when some are harder than the others?

I'm thinking about Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Like how you can kill Richter without getting to Dracula.

[BlastProcessing402]

Actually it is.

It's not the developers fault that you choose not to rise to the challenge presented by a particular game.

Not everyone has the reflexes, hand eye coordination, etc to "rise to the challenge" some games need on hard mode.