[Lazortag]

Something I think is interesting is that a lot of older games are considered "hard" because most people bought them used at flea markets back in the day. When games like Illusion of Gaia, Earthbound, LOTR (snes) etc. were bought new, they came with manuals that were more like strategy guides because they told you everything you had to do for the majority of the game. Without them people were super lost and had no idea where to go most of the time, and so those games really rewarded kids who were clever and could figure things out on their own.

Nowadays you'll notice most games come with an annoying built-in tutorial or something to that effect. Where's the fun in that? As a kid I liked exploring the mechanics of a game on my own and only deferring to the manual (assuming I had one) once I'd spent about a week without showering failing to figure something out. There was even the option, if you were REALLY desperate, of calling a hotline to have certain puzzles solved for you. No joke. I called one of those when I was 7 to figure out how to get past that stupid ice cave in Mystic Quest. I still feel kind of silly for having not figured it out on my own.

I think I had something deeper to say, but I forget what it was.