Topic: Why does ever single Nintendo game.

Seriously, you're complaining about a feature that is completely optional? Also FYI, DKC Tropical Freeze and LOZ A Link Between Worlds don't have a guide feature. [I'll just be ignoring these kind of threads from now on due to the high quantity of these since the past few days]

So, in theory every game is ruined for you, because there is always the option of having a friend helping you out with difficult parts of the game, or because there is the option to look up a guide online.

A Link Between Worlds has that spy glass thing.

I personally forgot about that thing since it never did give me useful info on times I really need help on.

That's an intresting example since you had to pay (with Street Pass coins) for it.

Yeah, screw Nintendo for allowing more casual gamers a slightly easier ride. How dare they. Come on dude, stop complaining about such trivial things. It's there if you need it.

Where exactly did I say it shouldn't exist ? My only comment is that it does. (Hence meaning it does have a guide feature).

The only issue I have with that game is that I couldn't start on the second quest. (First one was far too easy and having played the game once I have no desire to play it again. The best time is the first and it is now spoilt). All I want is the same as what somebody who the normal difficulty is reasonable gets.

3 heart run?

I agree with OP. Here's a few examples why.

Metroid: Other M. Instead of defeating enemies to gain energy refill balls (as in every previous entry), all the gamer has to do is simply stand still for a few seconds, hold the Wii Mote straight up, and smile as your energy bar is COMPLETELY refilled!!!!

The same thing happens in A Link Between Worlds. You never have to worry about Link running out of bombs or arrows or ANY OTHER ITEM because the game refills these inventory necessities automatically. How convenient, right?

Nintendo games are easier nowadays because of these adjustments.

I can understand wanting the difficulty options from the start. That's not unreasonable, and Nintendo only uses the "harder quest for second time through" to force more replay value since the main quest actually isn't that long compared to other recent Zelda games.

Also, I'm not a difficulty guy, and I suck at platformers, but I never use those features, since I'd rather just play the game like everyone else. I do find it kind of insulting when the game keeps offering me these auto-win power-ups when I die too much, though. It's bad enough I suck without the game telling me I suck. I mean, why not just rip the controller away from me and autoplay the section if you don't trust me enough to figure it out? Why not just play yourself the entire time?! Stupid game...

@bezerker99 Granted, the refill feature in Other M takes a few seconds to work, which makes it useless to less experienced players (especially during boss fights), but one thing's clear: the refill feature does NOT regenerate your entire health, it only refills all missiles, but leaves you with exactly 100 Energy.
I don't know anything about A Link between Worlds, though, so no comment on that.

But keep one thing in mind: games used to be hard back in the day because they couldn't create long games (except for RPG's), so they had to accomodate for a lack of content with high difficulty, resulting in slow progress for all but the best players. Nowadays, games have much more content, which means high difficulty would turn them into a tedious slog.

@Kaze_Memaryu - I rarely needed to refill my energy in Other M due to the fact that all I had to do was spam the D-pad and avoid ever getting hit.

High Difficulty wouldn't turn them into a tedious slog at least not for me I would just play it over a longer period of time. (Just a small amount at once).

Yes, how convenient that I can only lay two bombs at any one time instead of spamming them willy nilly like I used to. How convenient that I can only fire 7 arrows before I have to run around the place like an idiot waiting for the bar to recharge. How convenient that all of these items use the same bar, which happens to be the same bar used by your new Flattening ability, which you need to use quite often.

Honestly, that feature is very balanced. Its only convenience is that now you don't have to be constantly grinding for items. I never felt much want for items in any game from A Link to the Past on, so if anything, this streamlining made the game more focused and allowed the designers to go all out with the bosses, which they did.

I find it more satisfying in that if I ran out of bombs or arrows, I would have to kill some enemies and replenish that way......... or backtrack to a cave and buy some. Just to have it replenish automatically seems cheap.

...I'm not even gonna try to comprehend how that could possibly be satisfying, but okay...

@bezerker99 That's quite true for the most part. Even I found myself quickly abandoning any sense of timing in favor of rapidly pressing the D-Pad to dodge. If it had at least a certain degree of timing required, Other M would be at least a bit more challenging.

@unrandomsam Depends on the game. Games which use a variety of challenges work well enough, but others simply have only one aspect that is truly difficult (like the combat in Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, or Bayonetta), and simply keeping on fighting without seeing an end to it would make it feel like an unbalanced marathon.
Difficult games are mostly based on quick, short instances of hard challenges, and making too many will build up repetition soon. But to each his own, I guess.

This is the sort of thing I was talking about, they should be doing more of this sort of thing not less. How is it any "less of a challenge" if I have to run back and smash pots in order to collect my 20 bombs and arrows before a boss fight? In a lot of Zeldas they'll even make a point of giving you some awesome pots just before a boss. Having to collect arrows/bombs is at most a minor annoyance that takes you away from carrying on with the game. A Link Between Worlds was a fantastic game because of the way they managed this sort of thing not in spite of the fact.

Same deal with checkpoints or lives. If they build it in a way that it's more about me not having to needlessly backtrack? Why is that a bad thing? I'm playing the game so I can enjoy playing the game not so that I can repeat easy sections or do mundane tasks over and over again. In the same way I play a Pokemon game to get through the E4 and then go online to battle. I don't play Pokemon for the pacing in a cave fighting Golbats. I don't think developers making games "easier" in that way is a bad thing at all.

Now there are reasons that games might want to stick with the "hard way". Some genres benefit from it especially because of the way that it can change the mood (eg Survival Horror and limited ammo). But frankly I don't see why a game that is about something else can't change things up in an effort to improve the pace. Especially in games where it's more about the story or some other aspect of the game and not bragging rights.

I use cheats in The Sims 2 so I can torture them without the confines of money give them the lives they deserve without the risk of ruining it.