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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Little Miss Gloom]

Solitare.

[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.

[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.