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The Dark Souls of the 8 and 16 bit eras?

wafflebrain

wafflebrain

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,238
Is there an equivalent in terms of not only difficulty but similar themes and arpg/melee focused gameplay similar to Souls from this period in gaming? I'm curious if anything comes close to a similar vibe with the dark atmosphere and tough as nails encounter design. There's been a few solid indies that have adapted Soulslike gameplay for 2d sidescrollers like Blasphemous but I'd be interested if anything is out there that's older which has similar vibes.

Alternatively just share the hardest games from these eras for the sake of thread longevity :P
 
Magneto

Magneto

Prophet of Truth
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,449
Everything was Dark Souls back in the days in terms of difficulty lol.

But something with the same vibe... mmh
 
Kanhir

Kanhir

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,891
For 8-bit, probably the Castlevania trilogy. Tough as nails with a gothic atmosphere.

ARPG/melee games didn't really exist as we know them before the 3D era, so this kind of action platformer is probably the closest you'll get, at least in 8-bit.
 
Gio

Gio

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
837
Manila
Personally I think it's Ghosts n Goblins, but those games are a lot more unfair than the Souls games.
 
Grassy

Grassy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,052
Zelda 2 on NES was hard as fuck. I managed to beat it when I was 10, there's no way I could do it now.
 
Dphex

Dphex

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,811
Cologne, Germany
Chakan_Coverart.png


also up there but not 8 or 16bit:

crsword.jpg
 
IvanSlavkov

IvanSlavkov

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,907
Bulgaria
Back when EA was a good publisher this game comes to my mind.


It was hard at the begining but just like DS, the more you play the better you get.
 
Hayeya

Hayeya

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,810
Canada
Dark souls was the norm during the 8-16 bit consoles.

Ninja turtles on NES was brutal.
Lion king on Megadrive was also very hard.
 
jimboton

jimboton

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,421
Maze of Galious maybe. Also, though not sidescrollers, the Dungeon Master games had a similar atmosphere and reputation.
 
pagrab

pagrab

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,005
I don't recall anything similar, at least from the gameplay perspective. For me, the essence of souls games boils down to difficult, strategic combat that forces you to plan and memorize parts of the game in order to get to a shortcut that restarts the process. Maybe Ghost and Goblins with unlimited continues comes close, but the differentiating part is the respawning enemies.
 
Sargerus

Sargerus

â–˛ Legend â–˛
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
20,842
8 bit is either Castlevania 3 or Ninja Gaiden
16 bit is Super Empire Strikes Back
 
GamerJM

GamerJM

Member
Nov 8, 2017
15,634
The original Japanese PS1 King's Field release came out in 1994, in the SNES/Genesis heyday.
 
Sanctuary

Sanctuary

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,225
Aadiboy said:
Super Castlevania IV, not an RPG though
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

What? That game was on the easier side of the Castlevania games. The "Dark Souls" of the 16-bit era might go to Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts. That was one of the hardest games during that period that I can remember.

GamerJM said:
The original Japanese PS1 King's Field release came out in 1994, in the SNES/Genesis heyday.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

"Kings Field" was the first RPG available in the US on the PSX I think, or at least it was the first one I saw in any of the stores around here, and the first one I bought in '96. That was actually the Japanese KF2 though. When I saw the trailer for Demon's Souls for the first time, it looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't place why. Then when I saw the gameplay, it looked even more familiar, and I still didn't know why, but it reminded me a lot of a third-person King's Field. I actually forgot that FromSoftware made that game, and only ever remembered seeing the big, ASCII Entertainment logo.
 
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Phediuk

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,326
Ultima Underworld (1992), the game from which spawned King's Field and hence Dark Souls

 
Bitch Pudding

Bitch Pudding

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,202
Zelda II came to my mind at first.

But frankly, while Souls is hard but (mostly) fair, that can't be said about Zelda II...
 
retroman

retroman

Member
Oct 31, 2017
3,056
The G 'n G games where the first to come to mind. It seems a lot of people share this opinion.

Here's an obscure C64 game I always struggled with.



I never got very far, but apparently it's possible to complete the game in less than ten minutes!
 
Gelf

Gelf

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,308
In terms of difficulty Dark Souls is pretty middle of the road by that eras standards. I can actually beat Souls, I can't say the same for a lot of games of those generations.

I'm drawing a blank in terms of gameplay and/or structure. I have this vague sense there where games from the Amiga era with similar vibes at least because I felt the same with Blasphemous. Names aren't coming to me though.
 

VG Aficionado

Member
Nov 6, 2017
1,385



It's quite the stretch, but "Fortress Of Fear" (Wizards & Warriors saga, developed by Rare!) on Gameboy had a number of elements that are found in Dark Souls. I know that they are common in many more games now, but bear with me.

The game takes place inside and outside the castle. There are secrets, double secrets, leaps of faith, chests require keys, environmental hazards (bottomless pits, arrows, cannonballs), fall damage, etc. You can get an upgrade (jump higher). The enemies are varied and they have different and erratic patterns, and of course there are bosses. Oh, and it's got skeletons and skulls. Lots of them.

Regarding difficulty, it may not be considered so today, but it sure was kinda tough to me as a little boy. Just remember that there was no saving or second chances when you failed.

EDIT: I just found out these games were developed by Rare and there are three more titles on NES. I never had it, so I didn't know!
 
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apocat

apocat

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,056
Both the first Zeldas come to mind, especially the second one in regards to the higher difficulty level. Those are also the two games I was most strongly reminded of when playing through Demons Souls and the first Dark Souls back when they first came out.
 
Soul Lab

Soul Lab

Member
Nov 17, 2017
2,726
Not similar vibes, but Dynamite Headdy was very difficult to beat. At least from what I remembered
 
Virtua Sanus

Virtua Sanus

Member
Nov 24, 2017
6,492
There are a lot of games that have ton of shared ideas from back then, but nothing is fully identical. Ys Books I and II give me a similar sense of completion and progression, but the vibe is totally different.

The game balance, player precision and difficulty of Dark Souls all really reminded me of The Revenge of Shinobi even if the style and execution of the games are absolutely unrelated.
 
Poimandres

Poimandres

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,869
Zelda 2 is not a bad comparison. Lot's of games people are posting were just hard, but that's all. I mean there were stacks of bloody hard games back then, so that's not enough.

Zelda has RPG elements, mostly melee based combat, and oddly depressing feel (likely unintentional), esoteric elements/puzzles that aren't well explained (again, likely unintentional!). When I first played Dark Souls, it definitely came to mind. I didn't spend as much time with games like Faxanadu that might also fit.
 
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