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Have you ever beaten a game years later that you couldn't beat previously?

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I've been downloading game music lately and I thought of this topic. Has there ever been a game that you had so much trouble beating that you put it down? Then months or years later, you picked the game up again and beat it? The times that I've done this felt so rewarding to me.

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When I was a little kid, I used to watch the dub of .hack//Sign. When I found out that there were games coming out, I was really excited. .hack//Infection came out in the US when I was 9 years old. Given how young I was, and how I had been as a kid, I really didn't read and just skipped through most text in the game that wasn't narrated by voice actors. Because of this, I was never able to finish the game.

Years later, in my junior year of high school, I finally picked the game up from my book shelf and tried again. I have since beaten the game, the next game (Mutation), and now I'm stuck on a boss in the third game (Gorre.) It's been a few years since I've picked the game up. Given the price of the fourth game (Quarantine) in English on ebay though, I'm in no rush to beat Outbreak.



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When SA2B came out, I just had to have it. My parents originally didn't want to get it, since we already had SA2 on dreamcast. I begged and begged till they gave in. Honestly, I got the game when it came out in 2002. I was never able to beat the stage "Final Rush" for Sonic. I decided in 2010 that I would beat it and I did. I also was able to finish the game's true end.
 
I played Rayman as a kid on our computer and I got so mad at the game and threw temper tantrums to the point my mom had to take it away. Years later I download it on an emulator and it felt so satisfying to beat. I think the ROM I downloaded actually was sped up or something which made it even more challenging.
 
Too many to remember honestly. One of the most memorable ones being Spongebob employee of the month lololol. I miss picking up random cds at garage sales and playing them.
 
I played Rayman as a kid on our computer and I got so mad at the game and threw temper tantrums to the point my mom had to take it away. Years later I download it on an emulator and it felt so satisfying to beat. I think the ROM I downloaded actually was sped up or something which made it even more challenging.

I still can't beat the first game, however I do have the GBA port.

But, Wario Land 3 maybe. Got it when I was 8-9, maybe, got stuck on some volcano map with the first boos (that russian doll throwing hammers) and I had no idea how to get there (you have to time rolling jump from one end of the map to the other basically) until a friend showed me how to do it. By that time I was 11, 12 maybe. Quite a facepalm though considered that game is pretty easy (not counting that ****ed cloud stage).
 
Luigi's Mansion. One of my favourite games of all time, but when I first got it I was too scared to play!
 
Kingdom Hearts.

When you realize that you spent 60 hours running in Traverse Town before meeting Donald and Goofy. ;-;
 
Most of the time I would just sit and bang my head against the wall until I finally beat the game since I only got new games occasionally...But now I go back to the games I found hard then and wonder how the hell I had so much trouble with them.



The ONE example I can think of though: Sonic 2. I had it on the Megadrive when I was like 3 and the furthest I ever got on it back then was Metropolis zone (I dunno what act. Probably just act 1, MAYBE 2...I doubt I got to act 3). I got there once and I could never get back to that level.

I finally beat it on the (I think) DS version around the age of 18 on the bus to Manchester.
 
Yes. Zelda minish cap. I tried to play it when I was like 6 or something then at like 11 picking it up it went fine.
 
Super Mario Kart was the game that took me nearly 7 years to place 1st on every single 100cc cup, which is considered as beaten since the credits rolled in as soon as I completed 100cc Special Cup. Why that much of struggle? Let me list the reasons why this particular is way more difficult than you'd think...

  • The very helpful drifting mechanic here is unorthodox; as soon as you hit the opposite direction of where you're drifting, you'd immediately begin drifting to the other side, meaning that it's impossible to fine-tune the drifting arc like you would in the other Mario Kart games
  • Every character but Toad and Koopa can lose their grip on the road for a brief while the moment you release the drifting button, causing them to slip away from a track
  • The AI racers will spam item after item whenever they're close enough to you, regardless they've hit an item panel or not
  • The AI racers would often race in the same line, which can render the already tricky tracks even more difficult to navigate at times
  • While some items can still turn the tide of any race, you'd have to be more considerate on how you'll use them; using items at a wrong time can not only make you miss a good opportunity to catch up, but can also be harmful to your success
  • The otherwise simplistic track design tends in general can be pretty tight and unforgiving at times, therefore staying on the road without losing too much speed is pretty much a challenge
  • You're pretty much required to practice often on every track before you could even stand a chance in 100cc and 150cc Grand Prix
  • With the flat tracks being displayed on the upper/lower half of low-resolution screen, figuring out when and how to turn on full speed can become a disorienting affair


In short, Super Mario Kart is a pretty demanding title in terms of skill for a game that was initially aimed at casual gamers. Fast-forward to today, and today's gamers would easily have a hard time finishing this installment. The game surely hasn't aged well, but definitely nowhere near "unplayable" as some would be inclined to believe.
 
I've been stuck on this same Ratchet & Clank level since I was 8.
The level where the room is slowly getting flooded and Ratchet needs to swim out with a stupid time limit.
I beat it LITERALLY two days ago but when I try restarting it to see if I mastered it, I can't do it again. So, technically, I beat it with sheer luck so I can't count it as beating the level. :(
 
It was some spongebob game.

I could never beat those stupid robots in the sunken ship level and it annoyed me. Now playing it I just need to ask my past self, how could I possibly have failed it?
 
My personal blight with The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker... I first got this game as a Christmas present around 7-ish years ago. I absolutely loved it. I got to the triforce shard quest, and everything seemed to be going fine, but then we moved. Ended up selling the wii and games to save space and make some extra cash to help moving exspenses. 5 years pass, I had a copy of The Wind Waker HD that I was selling at the time, when I decided, "let's see if I can't clear this before I send it out". I was going through that game as fast as I could. Got to the wind temple in one day of playing, sent it out the next day... So here I am, still haven't cleared it. I will, though, eventually!
 
Tales of Phantasia, I couldn't beat this rock golem for the life of me and didn't play for months! Then one summer I just...did. It was close but I did it. I couldn't shut up while I went grocery shopping with my mom I was so happy. I think I annoyed her because of it.
 
Yup, all the time! There was - and still is this game called Magical Starsign that I really struggled with when I was a kid. It was sort of a magical rpg game so naturally I struggled because it involved knowing what's weak to what, and team composition as well as a lot of level grinding. Obviously since I was so young and impatient, I absolutely refused to level grind, and just rushed into battles hoping i'd win. Years later, I bought the game again since I thought it was interesting enough and it was a goal of mine to complete it. Needless to say, I came very close to the end of the game until I did something that wouldn't allow me to play the after game so I had to delete it. But I almost completed it though!

Another one is this game modeled after the totally spies series, (cringe i know) there was this one level I couldn't get past for the longest time. I couldn't look for a walkthrough because there's absolutely NO walkthroughs for it anywhere. So I just gave up on the game until around about this year when I was bored. Since I knew there was no walkthrough I just started messing around on the game until I eventually figured it out.
 
oh my god twilight princess and skyward sword. i started tp last summer. around this december i finished twilight princess and it was soooooo good. probably my favorite zelda game i could never even get out of the first temple lmao. Skyward sword, i got as far as the beginning of Eldin and then i couldn't get across some bone bridge over lave without sinking. i started playing it like late march/april and finished around late april! i loved it so much too. have to say that made my number 2 favorite!
 
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Too many to count, honestly! I still believe I have some games I have still yet to beat! I just have forgotten them and I have to find them to even finish them. I can't remember all of the games that I beat years after but I know that I beat plenty recently since I've been finding them, remembering them and almost crying of nostalgia (Which is normal for crybaby me since I shouldn't even have much nostalgia for things as I'm 14). Many of the Pokemon games I used to own as a really young kid I beat again recently since I can't remember if I beat them in the first place.

I do vividly remember play HeartGold one night as a child (around when I got a bit older and understood games a bit more). I was at my grandparents house; it was pretty late and my grandparents were insisting I had to go to bed really soon. I was at the league for the umpteenth time since Lance always seemed to beat me down. My Dsi was blinking red but I did it. I did it. I beat Lance, quickly turned off my Dsi before it actually died and went to sleep feeling so fulfilled and happy. It felt amazing!!
 
I remember that I never did beat the Elite Four in Pokemon Black Version. I thought I did but years later I realized that in the game Team Plasma interrupted you while trying to beat the E4. That final battle was part of a cutscene so it didn't count as a win.
 
I could probably beat it if I put the time in, but Ninja Gaiden is like. Hard but not really fun hard for me. I've tried to get into that game several times, but every time I talk to people about how to play it or beat X it's always a bunch of cheese tactics... Is there really no way to play that game cleanly?

Any difficult to semi-difficult rhythm game I can't beat. I still play them for fun and to see if I can get better, but my sense of rhythm is absolutely abhorrent.

After being bored as hell, I decided to play it again and I managed to barely beat it.
 
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