Games aimed at children that are too hard for most children to beat

[jordandavid]

As a 14 year old.I fiund NSMB Wii to be pathetically easy. I finished the damn thing (without all the star coins) 3 days after I got it, with maybe 97 lives stockpiled and not even coming close to activating Super Guide. A week later, I got all the star coins and extra routes.

When I was in sixth grade I got that TMNT game for NES. The water level got me stumped for maybe a day but then I got all the way to the interior of the Technodrome (still haven't beat that part) by a week.

Super Mario Bros. Wii (including collecting all of the star coins) is really pretty easy, but nonetheless still a great solid addition to the smb platformers. When playing it I couldn't get over how similar the graphics were to super mario world for snes.

I'm talking about playing that TMNT when I was probably 4 or 5 years old and I haven't played it since. I know it's a common game, but it hasn't really showed up in any lots of NES games and I haven't felt like buying it individually. I'm sure now I could figure it out after a few tries.

[ryborg]

I had a bitch of a time with Rescue Rangers though, still do to this day.

For real? I'm absolutely not a video game master by any definition, but I remember CRUSHING that game as a kid. I can still beat it without dying in a pinch. I honestly think the first Chip N Dale game is one of the easiest I've ever played (not counting games in which you can't die, like Tigger's Honey Hunt).

[UnpluggedClone]

google 4 gaga

[j_factor]

and A Boy and His Blob. what kid has any idea what to do in that game???

I think it's the opposite actually. Most adults (who haven't played the game before) would either rush to GameFAQs or quickly give up on that game. The only way any of us ever figured that game out was by being a little kid with a lot of free time, and playing the game over and over where you just mess around until you figure things out. At least, that's what I did. If was playing that game for the first time today, I'd probably give up on it after about 10 minutes.

I think that goes for difficulty too. As a kid, I had a huge amount of patience for ridiculously difficult games. I would just keep trying for hours. Nowadays, I still enjoy hard games, but it had better have damn perfect controls and clear objectives. If something came out today that was like Castlevania 1, with its poor jump controls, slow response on switching directions, and inability to jump off stairs -- and many deaths resulting from these -- I wouldn't give it the time of day. But as a child I mastered that game.

[kupomogli]

Also, Duck Tales wasn't the easiest Nes game in the world either.

Cant speak on all of them, but I did beat Duck Tales with the giant pile of gold coins ending many, many times. I had a bitch of a time with Rescue Rangers though, still do to this day.

OT: To this day I still find Adventure Island to be a massive pain in the ass. I beat it using a emulator and like a 1000 quicksaves. Caveman kid with skateboard=definite kid aimed game.

Like ryborg I had absolutely no problem with these games. Infact as a kid I know for sure that I could beat Duck Tales in a single life. That's one of my favorite games on the NES. Rescue Rangers was easier than Duck Tales.

But Adventure Island. Even though I like the games. I've still never beaten any of them. I really haven't put too much time into them and eventually stop playing after dying once or twice. If they have passwords I don't remember, but never write passwords down anyways. Adventure Island 2 is my favorite. I actually beat the first boss.

[Berserker]

For real? I'm absolutely not a video game master by any definition, but I remember CRUSHING that game as a kid. I can still beat it without dying in a pinch. I honestly think the first Chip N Dale game is one of the easiest I've ever played (not counting games in which you can't die, like Tigger's Honey Hunt).

When I was younger, I had a pretty sweet deal worked out with my dad - if I "conquered" a game, he would buy me a new one. Keeping in mind that I was pretty young at the time (6-7), and the games I played tended to be fairly difficult, this averaged out to about a new game every month.

One weekend morning, I woke up to find that my dad had bought a new game for me: Rescue Rangers. I sat down in front of the TV and started into it. I liked the cartoon, and the game was pretty fun, so I kept playing it pretty much all day. Just around when it was time to go to bed, that same day, I beat it.

The deal was pretty much over after that.

[YoshiM]

When people are thinking "children", is the general thought "younger than 8"? A lot of those games that were mentioned as being hard I think are geared to those 8 and up. Can't say for sure (haven't looked at a package for kids games) but from what I've seen and experienced, that seems to be the case.

As someone mentioned: as a kid you can have a LOT of free time to play games. I used to get my butt handed to me in Spider Fighter when I was 7 years old or so. With practice, I got better. One's patience level was general higher as a kid because of that free time, so even if a game was hard you didn't feel the need to rush.

[c2000]

All the recent Sonic games, especially unleashed.

[jcalder8]

I'd say most games that are aimed at children can't be beaten by them. The reason for this, in my opinion, is that they are poorly made so there are aspects about them that make it too hard: poor hit detection, poor controls, unclear level design... you name it kid's games suffer from it. That's because 95% of them are rushed through development, what's new with kids changes so rapidly that they have to rush the games out the door or no one will buy them.

[shopkins]

Finally beat that damn Scooby Doo game. It got even more frustrating towards the end. I'm going to go cool off with something more relaxing and easygoing, like Demon's Souls

jcalder8 is definitely right in this case. The Scooby Doo game could have been made much easier with a little more playtesting and tweaking. The biggest difficulty is just getting Scooby Doo to correctly land in some of the more ridiculous jumps you do. Because the game has locked camera angles sometimes you're looking at 3D platforms from angles where you can barely see the top of them, so it's easy to just jump to either side and to your doom. The locked down angle also makes a door near the end that you need to go in to win so hard to see it might as well be invisible.

[PentiumMMX]

I'd have to mention Bomberman Hero, on the N64.

While not aimed toward kids in the same sense as Spongebob or The Lion King, it caught my attention as a kid because it looked cool. I played it, and loved every minute...up to the first fight against Nitros; a reoccurring boss in the game. I simply couldn't beat him; he'd effortlessly dodge any of my attacks while pounding away at me. It was so bad, that I literally had nightmares over not being able to beat him.

It wasn't until 2008 (Nearly 10 years after it came out), when I decided to give it a try again. I finally figured out his weakness (He's left vulnerable when he's charging his attacks), and proceeded to rip him a new one; so satisfying, getting back at that one boss after all those years...

[kedawa]

I'm not sure if I would consider it a kid's game, but Fantasia for Genesis is absurd, especially when compared to the other Mickey Mouse games for the system.

[allyourblood]

I think it's the opposite actually. Most adults (who haven't played the game before) would either rush to GameFAQs or quickly give up on that game. The only way any of us ever figured that game out was by being a little kid with a lot of free time, and playing the game over and over where you just mess around until you figure things out. At least, that's what I did. If was playing that game for the first time today, I'd probably give up on it after about 10 minutes.

I think that goes for difficulty too. As a kid, I had a huge amount of patience for ridiculously difficult games. I would just keep trying for hours. Nowadays, I still enjoy hard games, but it had better have damn perfect controls and clear objectives. If something came out today that was like Castlevania 1, with its poor jump controls, slow response on switching directions, and inability to jump off stairs -- and many deaths resulting from these -- I wouldn't give it the time of day. But as a child I mastered that game.

Exactly this.

I beat several games as a kid (8-11 years old or so) that I haven't had the patience to beat since. I used to be great at Fester's Quest, RoboCop, TMNT, Rygar, Ninja Gaiden I & II and completed all of them in my youth (and dozens more). Hand me any of those today, and while I remember all the patterns and tricks, my timing and execution is absolutely not what it used to be.

My nephew is 9 years old, and he's really good at pretty much any game he plays. His brain seems to be firing on a completely different level than mine today. Sitting quietly and watching him play for an hour or so, I find that when he does get to a part that he can't pass quickly, he will try again, and again, and again, and again!, until he finds the correct timing and solution to succeed. I confess that I don't have that kind of patience today, but you can bet I did when I was 9.

As for giving up, no way. When I was a kid, my mom couldn't afford to buy me games very often, so they only came home on birthdays and Christmas. Anything else I had to save up for. Saving up $50-$60 for one game when you're 9 or 10 years old (back in the late eighties) in a low income family was a brutal exercise. Once it came home, it didn't matter how hard it was; I never gave up and completed every game I owned, period. When game rentals became popular, I applied that same mentality and spent hours on hours making sure I finished a game before returning it a few days later (not always successful on this one, but the majority of the time).

Now I've got less time and too many games, so I often have to force myself to complete stuff; even the newer titles that aren't nearly as difficult as the older games.

[Baloo]

I'm not sure if I would consider it a kid's game, but Fantasia for Genesis is absurd, especially when compared to the other Mickey Mouse games for the system.

This is though, that game is HORRIBLY made. One of the worst Genesis games, hands down. Total POS.

That's like saying Silver Surfer, or Who Framed Roger Rabbit, or X-men on NES are too hard for children to beat. Well yeah, because they're shitty games.

I think that really is the problem as someone mentioned above. A lot of Children's games just suck hard. Capcom did some excellent ones on the NES though, as did Sega. Disney licensed games are almost always good. Fantastia and Lion King are really the only exceptions here.

[kupomogli]

How about Battletoads. Definitely aimed for kids.



The GI Joe games are fairly difficult. Also Batman, though the time it came out it really wasn't aimed at kids.

[j_factor]

This is though, that game is HORRIBLY made. One of the worst Genesis games, hands down. Total POS.

That's like saying Silver Surfer, or Who Framed Roger Rabbit, or X-men on NES are too hard for children to beat. Well yeah, because they're shitty games.

I think that really is the problem as someone mentioned above. A lot of Children's games just suck hard. Capcom did some excellent ones on the NES though, as did Sega. Disney licensed games are almost always good. Fantastia and Lion King are really the only exceptions here.

Adventures in the Magic Kingdom (NES) is pretty shitty and way too hard.

[megasdkirby]

Rayman, IMO.

The game is great, but WAY to hard for a little kid.