Ever Handicap Yourself Just to Make an Easy Game Tougher?

[Ascending Wordsmith]

Have you ever mastered a game to the point that you had to handicap yourself to make the game more challenging? I find myself doing this to quite a few games that I've easily conquered. I guess it's the fact that the games are still fun, just lack any difficulty.

One game I've truly dominated is Tiny Toons: Acme All Stars. No matter what characters I pick, I will always dominate the game's AI on the hardest possible difficulty. This is especially true when playing basketball against the computer. One day I beat the AI 146-14. I handicapped myself the next game by only shooting half court shots. I still won... but only by 20 points :D

What games do you purposely handicap yourself on to create more challenge, and how do you handicap yourself on them?

[NoahsMyBro]

Minesweeper.

A long time ago I decided to stop marking flags, in order to increase the difficulty. It was so long ago I don't even remember how to play the game marking the flags.

And, without marking flags, I've managed to successfully finish the Intermediate level in 23 seconds once. I consistently finish in the mid-30's.

[Raedon]

Yea, everytime I play Gyromite I use ROB :D

[rbudrick]

I beat Thunder Spirits for SNES with a standard controller using only one hand...I think I continued once on the last level.

I beat almost every gun game I've played with one eye closed (j/k)!

-Rob

[Kroogah]

After conquering Super Punch-Out (getting insane times on all 16 opponents, maxing out the win counter 255-0) I started a new game and tried to play it blindfolded. I got all the way to Dragon Chan.

[IGotTheDot]

I used to play Air Sea Battle with my feet. I could beat all my friends.

[rbudrick]

Captain Yashiro- You. Are. Insane.

The captain wins this discussion hands down (or eyes closed).

Not that it was a contest, but Damn...

-Rob

[DDCecil]

If I go over 19 minutes on Ninja Gaiden 2, I press reset. Right now, I'm trying to beat the game without using the sword (except on bosses). I can only get to 5-2. I guess I could try to beat it without looking at the screen ala that one Nintendo Game Counselor on Ninja Gaiden.

[davidbrit2]

I would do ironman mode on Kirby's Dreamland: one life, and one hit point. It's not terribly hard, but it does make things much more interesting.

And most of the Bemani games don't beat me up very badly on anything but the highest of difficulty levels. If anybody has any tips for The Least 100 Seconds on Guitar Freaks, spill 'em. :-)

[WiseSalesman]

If someone I'm playing with on DDR picks a fairly easy song, even on heavy (like a seven or eight or so), I'll turn on 1.5, reverse, sudden, dark and play it that way.

Or, if it's a song I know pretty well, I'll try to play it facing away from the screen.

[Kroogah]

Captain Yashiro- You. Are. Insane.

The captain wins this discussion hands down (or eyes closed).

Not that it was a contest, but Damn...

-Rob

Thanks... ^^;


I would do ironman mode on Kirby's Dreamland: one life, and one hit point. It's not terribly hard, but it does make things much more interesting.

And most of the Bemani games don't beat me up very badly on anything but the highest of difficulty levels. If anybody has any tips for The Least 100 Seconds on Guitar Freaks, spill 'em. :-)

I just reopened this thread to add a reply about Bemani games. If I feel like a challenge I usually apply the proper DDR speed mod to make a song about 400 or 500 BPM.....

As for The Least 100 Seconds....if you can beat that on Drum Mania I will name my firstborn son after you. ^_^

[o2william]

Back when I had more time than games, I would handicap myself often. My favorite technique is to play The Legend of Zelda all the way through to Ganon without a sword. It's possible to do it in both quests.

In many games I would simply avoid power-ups. Another technique I sometimes use in games like Contra or Ghouls'n Ghosts that have multiple weapons is to automatically collect any new weapon that appears. That keeps me from breezing through the game by just using my favorite weapon. Adds some nice variety too.

Another handicap for NES games is to try using the U-Force controller, but I doubt it's worth the frustration. :)

[coleco_chris]

When I originally had a Coleco "back in the day", I always played all the games on Skill Level #1 because I liked to get high scores. It also made me feel like I was better than I was, especially on the arcade conversions. Now, I find selecting Skill Level #3 or #4 is more of a challenge, even though it seems like my video game skills have diminished. It definitely breathes new life into the classics, though!

[Tetsu]

I've upped the difficulty in all the Ace Combat games to the highest level right from the get-go. They are still too easy that way (AI is just too dumb, and will never compare to a human opponent), so I use crappy planes and try to finish missions using only guns or bombs.

[scooterb23]

o2william talked about my favorite handicap...Super Mario Bros. on the NES with the U-force. I finally got to the point where I could beat it in one life, even with that "controller" !!

Anymore, I don't play games long enough to master them to that level...

[Cheese]

Gone are the days I would fly through Tekken 2 using only the punch button.

[Eternal Champion]

PLay Streets of Rage 3 using a 3-button controller. You can't use the special moves unless you earn enough points to get stars. It not much compared to playing Zelda with no sword--yeesh!! But I find SoR 3 hard enough anyway.
SoR 2, on the other hand, using the code to access the hardest difficulty--I think it's "mania". Yeah boyee.
How about beating the original Contra without using the UpUpDownDownLeftRightLeftRightBAStart ?

[davidbrit2]

I've done that, and I've also beaten Super C on one life. Mwa ha ha ha! :-)

[davidbrit2]

As for The Least 100 Seconds....if you can beat that on Drum Mania I will name my firstborn son after you. ^_^

Make sure you send me a photo of little Dave. ;-) That song is way too easy to be an 89. Sure, it would be really hard to SS, but I passed it twice with a B. Now, Children's Sketch Book, on the other hand...

[GENESISNES]

i cut of my left arm to play all my fav nes games with the power glove does that count??

[autobotracing]

I like playing insane ddr songs like max 300 ect using the controller with only one hand and still getting a c or better

[Kroogah]

Make sure you send me a photo of little Dave. ;-) That song is way too easy to be an 89. Sure, it would be really hard to SS, but I passed it twice with a B. Now, Children's Sketch Book, on the other hand...

Dayum. Stopped by the DDRfreak forum's "Other Bemani" section to mock the DM crowd yet? 1/2 the threads I read there say "THE LEAST 100 SECONDS IS THE HARDEST SONG EVER!" I found like 1 person that disagreed, and his vote went to Daydream.

I play Guitar Freaks with an awful Topway controller that can't do rapid fire picking. I'd call that a serious handicap. ^^

[davidbrit2]

Wow. It's definitely crazy hard on Guitar Freaks, even on Basic, but I don't think it's anywhere near being the hardest DM song at that same skill level. I didn't dare try it on Advanced or Extreme yet though. :-) Maybe I'll give it a shot sometime, since I did manage a B, after all.

[Kroogah]

I didn't dare try it on Advanced or Extreme yet though. :-)

Ohhh, OK. I think that's the difficulty level they're referring to. ^_^

[Dahne]

Try playing Panzer Dragoon with only Kyle's gun, no lock-on weapon.

Of course, I didn't do this on purpose...Once I realized that there was a lock-on weapon, the game got a lot easier.

[ashbourn]

Minesweeper.

A long time ago I decided to stop marking flags, in order to increase the difficulty. It was so long ago I don't even remember how to play the game marking the flags.

And, without marking flags, I've managed to successfully finish the Intermediate level in 23 seconds once. I consistently finish in the mid-30's.

damn 23 sec that is sick I can only get 34 sec.

But for me NFL 2k-2k2, starcraft, goldeneye, ncw vs nwo world tour and revenge, nfl blitz, tetris, there are a bunch of old first person shooters, and X-wing alliance. Thats all i can think of.

[Sashanan]

- I wrote a Basic program that would form a random party for me in Shining Force, and forced myself to play with that. It was intended as a handicap but it actually made me discover some very powerful characters I'd never tried.

- I've done plenty of handicapping in Super Punch Out, such as not using super punches, not hitting Narcis Prince in the face, that kind of thing.

- I used to play the last level of Altered Beast with 1 life and 1 hit point and see how far I'd get.

- I've played the original Double Dragon and Golden Axe with two characters simultaneously, which really requires a lot of concentration. You end up doing worse than with one.

- In the near future I intend to try Blue Max 2001 (C64) without using my cannon and with only a single bomb. On paper it's possible.

[Ze_ro]

I played through Super Mario World once without hitting any of the switch palaces, mostly just to see if it was possible... turns out it's completely possible (and easier than I had expected) to beat every single level in the game without... even the Star Road and Special Zone levels. Yoshi with a blue shell in his mouth will get you just about anywhere it seems.

--Zero

[Kejoriv]

I do that with Tetris, I let all the shapes stack up, to like 75% of the screen and try to beat the stage. In SMB AND SMB3, I play avoiding all the powerups and other things and still kick the game's ass.

[gamergary]

I play some games with the controller upside down to try and make it harder but I still beat anybody's ass at the game.

[rbudrick]

I played through Super Mario World once without hitting any of the switch palaces, mostly just to see if it was possible... turns out it's completely possible (and easier than I had expected) to beat every single level in the game without... even the Star Road and Special Zone levels. Yoshi with a blue shell in his mouth will get you just about anywhere it seems.

--Zero


Yes, but try it w/o Yoshi! Some tricky cape flying indeed.

-Rob

[hu6800]

I had to play against my friends with one hand while drinking ice tea
in streetfighter II .... im nice with the hands but better with the asciipad lol.

[rick weis]

i've done this on many games, mostly on HALO and almost all the resident evil games.

things like on HALO only using human or alien guns not picking up any health. and on resident evil not using first aid cans, only using handgun.

Rick