Topic: Any older gamers feel like they've lost their edge?

I used to play the really hard kick your type games all the time. Stuff like Contra, Ninja Gaiden and Castlevania. Games that made you yell the most vulgar expletives known to man. All of these I mastered until my thumbs were sore with blisters. Even at the age of 7.
Now a days a game pisses me off and I just give up. I tend to flock more towards easy going games. This happening to anyone else?

Yea, my friends probably do, every time I come back from a few months long hiatus from Street Fighter, lol. I swear, their excuses. They probably think I'm the only guy to use Blanka.

I wouldn't say I flock towards easier games, but I definately don't play games as much as I used to. Now that I'm working, trying to finish college, and married, kinda hard to play games like I used to. Also, the Wii is my only this gen system, and you could argue that it is really a last gen system. I've kind of fallen behind the times. So in that sense, I guess I have lost my edge a little. I still buy games (mostly retro) on a weekly basis though. I suppose lately I've been more of a collector than a gamer lol.

Funny thing is I can still go back to the oldies and dominate them. My patience for difficult games really depends on how attached to the game I am. If it's something I've always loved or a new game that's interesting enough I'll stick with it til the end. Anything else it's 3 game overs and ahhhh screw this!

I'm the opposite. I used to play easy-peasy feel-good games like Super Smash Bros., Paper Mario, and Kirby. But now that stuff bores me. I need a real challenge. So I play hard games, like bullet-hell shmups, Fighting games that require 20 motions to pull off a single move, and games with limited continues.

As a result, I now never get further than stage 2 in any of my games and have a backlog a mile high.

Me too! The same thing happens to me...wait a sec, that's a bad thing. =(

I'm kind of an either-or gamer here. Sometimes I love to play really difficult games (Monster Hunter, Contra 4) and sometimes I'm in the mood for something easy (an adventure game or a simulation). I'd say may easy:hard ratio hasn't changed much since I was a kid.

But now I suck at 2D platformers. D: Totally out of practice. For shame!

@Mickeymac Bullet hell shooters are probably some of the easier shooters out there. The key to victory = memorisation, that's all. Truly hard shooters don't fill the screen with slow-moving bullets, but instead corner you with carefully organised, fast-moving enemies and shots. And awesome bosses. Try out Raiden 2 (I think it's a free download on the PC), you're sure to get a kick out of that. It's also an arcade game, so it's short - you'll finish it after 5 or 6 stages. (But good luck getting to the end without running out of continues... and then good luck with hard-mode new game+!)

That said, I still enjoy the hell out of bullet hells.

don't think I was ever really any good at games but over the years though have lost interest in playing games. I don't really play as often as I once did I think people take it to seriously I remember when was just a bit of fun alot of hardcore casual nonsense.

Far to many FPS's now in my view E3 was pretty much wall to wall with them so as gaming has gotten stale an stagnant I have lost a bit of interest. But on a brighter note as I slowly been priced out of the big games I have found the indie scene an thats where the gems are.

I beat Ninja Gaiden at the age of 7 on the NES. I can sill beat Battletoads, Contra, etc pretty easily as i know the patterns so well.

Now being married and working and having a good excess of cash for games i find i rather play more games than one over and over. I beat Mega Man 9 but 10 i just haven't felt like dealing with and its half finished.

Have i lost my edge... Yeah i have somewhat. I prefer to Chopper Gunner down fools with a smile on my face these days.

Oh I'm also finding myself playing on the Normal Difficulties instead oh Hard as well. You know what? I'm finding myself enjoying gaming more now more than ever instead of staying pissed!

When I was a kid, I only had so many games. The next game might not come till Christmas. There was no driving myself to Gamestop to sell the game if I didn't like it. There was no Ebay. I got a game, and I was stuck with it. I either had to play it or go outside, and Xenu help me if I had to go outside. Now if a game is absurdly hard, I can sell it and use that money to buy a game that's fair and fun. My tastes haven't changed, only my opportunities.

I do enjoy hard games, some very hard games actually, but only certain kinds. I like games like Jumper / Meat Boy / N where they give you this really demanding challenge, but it is one challenge. It isn't a level full of challenges, just a single screen, most of the time. And restarting the level is instant. The game acknowledges its difficulty jokingly with explosions, meat trails, or in Jumper's case, actually taunting you via text. There's no time to be frustrated because you restart instantly, and losing is actually entertaining. And there's no punishment for death: No lives system, no lost level progress, nothing.

I also like a game with permanent death, which seems odd since I just listed games I like for their lack of punishment. But if you only have one death and the game is built randomly, as all games I know of with permanent death are, then it just seems like "Oh, that's how the game ends, the hero dies right here." And then you begin a new journey.

Any difficult game that doesn't fall into one of those categories is liable to have me cursing at the TV and restraining myself from throwing the remote. Maybe it doesn't make sense, but that's how it goes.

I'm not as competitive or as good as I once way, but that is more a factor of limited time available than age. (Unless you consider those two factors to be related, of course.)

Also find myself playing far more "easy" games now than I once did, but am not sure if this has anything to do with losing an edge over time; it's more about the way games have evolved. The focus of gaming has largely changed from offering a challenge to overcome to presenting a narrative that will engage players. Of course, a story isn't much good if you can't see how it ends... so difficulty levels are lowered to make the game more accessible and concepts like scores or rankings are often removed since they don't fit well within a narrative structure. Personally I find shorter and more challenging games to be more rewarding than games that only require time (not skill) to complete, but both types of game can be worth playing.

Wow. Much respect given if you ever beat that game, even moreso if you still can.

For Me I was really good at PS2 games back in the day but am awful at Nintendo Stuff which I think is weird Seens how PS is HARDCORE

@ejamer... i actually picked it up last week and got through to the level past the jet skis without dying and turned out off lol. I was very much like Adam. I got very few games or systems as a child, most i got through family and i played the few i had to death. I beat quite a few hardcore games before i even knew what that meant.

Oh... i know one thing. Coming from my gaming background, when Nintendo went casual with Galaxy, Stafy, etc i was enraged :0 I'm really glad they was there mistake because the challenges presented in NSMBWii and Galaxy 2 are perfect.

Me too.

Seriously. I couldn't beat it with Game Genie as a kid.

Lost their edge? I doubt it. Most of them moved on to Call of Duty.

I just don't have as much time or patience as I used to. Plus my taste of games is different now, I still play all kinds of games but I play more FPS, fighters and sandbox style games instead of 2d platformers, RPG's and races which I used to play more in the past. I also play more games online, which brings me to this; If anyone is interested in playing online with other adults check out 2old2play, it's a great community, google it. I know i get tired of playing against random 12 to 16 year old "Timmys" and "Jimmys".

Yep I can tell I have lost my edge, especially when it comes to games like Super Mario World on the VC and stuff like that. I use to be able to blast through Mario World without dieing hardly. The other day I tried to get through Soda Lake and after dieing like 30 times I finally gave up. I can also see it when I play Super Punch Out!! It use to be that only the last division would give me problems now I cant even get to the last division lol.

Also I agree with BrazCana Man my taste for games have changed too I have been playing alot more games on my PC mainly MMOs like World of Warcraft, RPGS like Starwars: Knights of the Old Republic and sandbox style games like Fallout 3. The only time I play the 360 is with my son, same with the Wii or I have an itch to play a retro game like Super Mario World or something like that.

So many levels in that game had different gimmicks and vehicles. It was so exciting to finish a level because you never knew what would be coming next: rappelling, surfing, snakes...

Sadly, I could never get past the "Clinger Winger" level - which GameFaqs now informs me was extremely close to the end of the game. Unless it's released on Virtual Console that'll probably as much as I ever see from Battletoads.

I could never beat Battletoads heck even with a Game Genie I couldnt beat the darn game. LOL

In some ways yes. I find a lot of games I played as a kid a bit easier now but I also give up way quicker. I don't like constantly dieing. I find a lot of oldschool 2D platformers just tedious. Contra annoys me once I hit the ice world. I've been playing through Super Mario World for the first time in probably a decade and I have 46 extra lives and am well over halfway through (making sure to unlock all the level exits). It's still frustrating though and I do often die stupid deaths.

In some ways I like where modern games are going. There's a lot less stress involved. I still find a lot of oldschool RPG's quite playable and interesting. I think I game more for the meditation aspect rather than the skill these days I have enough stress in real life.