At first I thought OP meant the recessions, 9/11, the school shootings, unattainable financial markers, the pandemic etc. but then I saw the games and yep those too
At least the NES version of TMNT could be beaten. I had the DOS version where one of the levels has a slight difference in platform height, making a jump that's possible on other versions to make and finish the level, impossible on the DOS version.
Zelda isn't really super hard, it just doesn't tell you were to go so you spend a lot of time doing shit until you hit a point where you need a tool you haven't yet found and have to go somewhere else.
I never really understood all the rage over the water level. I could get through it when I was a kid and I didn't even own the game, I would just play it at my friends house. Once you have the layout memorized it's pretty easy to get through, maybe swapping turtles a couple times to spread out the damage.
At least they have Super Mario Bros. The first NES games I owned were that and Ghosts 'n Goblins. I already liked the arcade game, so I knew what was in store. Years later, I learned it had an infamous reputation for being hard, but I never noticed at the time because pretty much all games were hard as balls back then.
It's not even that hard. Just gotta grind a bit and level up before you head to death mountain and the rest of it's a breeze. Those people would have fucking hated final fantasy.
Yeah I liked Zelda II. It was definitely different than what you were expecting from a sequel to the original in terms of gameplay. But I remember it had its charm and I seem to remember finishing it. Probably a lot of other kids didn’t like it.
Games are just short back there and the made we spend the an unhealthly amount of hours on loop over the same stages until we get the right timing or any other bullshit they use to inflate the game.
I tried so hard to beat Zelda 2 when I was a kid, and could never make it through the final castle. You had to do such a slog gathering hearts and battling through swamps to even get there. I made it to the fight with your shadow exactly one time and got my ass handed to me. I love Zelda 2, but damn.
I didn't even manage to win shadow link as an adult with save states. Finally gave up and resorted to the cheese tactic just so I could finally put this awesome game to rest after 25+ years.
The pain of playing amazing Nintendo games? So the water level is hard. I'd still give anything to go back to these times and play those games for the first time as a kid again.