Games you had no idea what to do in as a kid
- Thread starter Phediuk
- Start date
Myth for the Spectrum. I always used to get stuck at a certain point and not know what to do. Also it didn't help that I didn't have a joystick, keyboard platforming sucks.
I don't know if I would call that fun. More like relief when the game you bought and wanted to play actually worked.
Rented Ocarina from Blockbuster when I was little, didn't even figure out how to get the sword lol
One of my favorite NES games. I musta beaten it a dozen times, but I can def see how you'd get stuck.
Maniac Mansion
I had not the slightest idea what to do back then. In MM I always ended up in the cell and that was basically game over for me.
I forget where I would get to but same boat - I played through a good chunk of the game quite a few times, but never figured out how to actually beat it.
I was joking ;) Figuring out that obtuse shit was a pain in the ass.
Nexus on C64
I knew it was a beat 'em up, but didn't expect that to be from the CPU POV. Preamble; a journalist is sent into the south american jungle to extract(!) a colleague who they believe has been kidnapped in some drug lord's secret underground bunker. You had to take photos and gather evidence, steal keycards to unlock doors and hack computers, speak to contacts (with real digitised faces!) and use all kinds of combat moves to progress. Of course, being 8, I didn't know any of that and was hopeless at it, but it didn't make the game any less fun.
I knew it was a beat 'em up, but didn't expect that to be from the CPU POV. Preamble; a journalist is sent into the south american jungle to extract(!) a colleague who they believe has been kidnapped in some drug lord's secret underground bunker. You had to take photos and gather evidence, steal keycards to unlock doors and hack computers, speak to contacts (with real digitised faces!) and use all kinds of combat moves to progress. Of course, being 8, I didn't know any of that and was hopeless at it, but it didn't make the game any less fun.
Nintendo Baseball for Gameboy
I never played Baseball or knew the rules and english (Germany so no one ever plays this here apart from Americans) as a kid so this made absolutely no sense for me.
I never played Baseball or knew the rules and english (Germany so no one ever plays this here apart from Americans) as a kid so this made absolutely no sense for me.
Last edited:
I bought Mission: Impossible for the N64 when we were on a family vacation in France in the year 2000. I was so excited to play it, and when I got home and popped it in... I found out that the game text was only available in French. I mean, come on. I figured that it would include all the major EU language options, like all other PAL N64 games bought elsewhere.
It didn't stop me from playing it, though. Although I never got past the first mission. Haha. I just couldn't figure out what the game wanted me to do. Oh, well.
It didn't stop me from playing it, though. Although I never got past the first mission. Haha. I just couldn't figure out what the game wanted me to do. Oh, well.
Sonic 3, got me at Carnival Night Zone. Didn't know what to do for weeks, until someone told me.
Same with Ocarina of Time in the Deku Tree, the web to get to the lower section.
Same with Ocarina of Time in the Deku Tree, the web to get to the lower section.
Oh remember another one was the original Tomb Raider on PS1. All my friends at school were trying to be the first to complete it and everyone got stuck on the same bit for a few days. There was some really obscure ledge that you needed to jump to in order to proceed in one of the tombs and nobody could find it for days and then I did by chance and managed to clear that bit and get further than everyone else. I was quite the hero at school for a day or two after that once I told everyone how to do it.
The first game was Batman the caped crusader on the C64. I spent hours, nay, weeks scanning and trying to interact with everything.
The second was also on the C64 and by far the most stress I've ever had with a game. Knightmare the game will forever haunt me!
I had absolutely no fucking clue and being a persistent one I keep playing but I never got out of jail.
The sentence, "your actions are fruitless." are burned into my conscious lol.
The second was also on the C64 and by far the most stress I've ever had with a game. Knightmare the game will forever haunt me!
I had absolutely no fucking clue and being a persistent one I keep playing but I never got out of jail.
The sentence, "your actions are fruitless." are burned into my conscious lol.
Return to Zork
Was one of my very first games, right after five years old me discovered that Link's Awakening, another one I had no idea what to do, and which was my first isometric game with three spacial axles, is actually not a 2D game where you run from left to right (which was the only thing I knew before then). I needed a few minutes to realise that I don't fall down in that house at the beginning because I was not watching it from the side but from above.
Was one of my very first games, right after five years old me discovered that Link's Awakening, another one I had no idea what to do, and which was my first isometric game with three spacial axles, is actually not a 2D game where you run from left to right (which was the only thing I knew before then). I needed a few minutes to realise that I don't fall down in that house at the beginning because I was not watching it from the side but from above.
Driver for ps1 tutorial at the beginning of the game.. I didn't know what the hell a Slalom was. I passed the tutorial by luck.
That whole series was a slalom. I've never driven cars in a video game with so little traction in my life. I really enjoyed Driver2 even though I felt like all the roads were coated with oil slicks.
For me it was Ocarina of Time. When I first got it I had next to no idea what to do once I got to Jabu Jabu. I hit another roadblock when I got to the Water and Spirit temples.
It's funny. I can play that game with my eyes closed now but beforehand I that game was brutal for my seven-eight year old self.
I was 6 at the time, and I mean I kinda knew what I had to do, but zero damn idea on how to do it or in what order or where to go. So frustrating. Never finished it and I don't think I went back to it years later to do so, unlike with this gem :
This one drove me mad as a kid because I REALLY loved playing it, but was completely unable to finish it because of difficulty , and also I don't remember clearly but there was at least one point where you had to do something really obscure and not clearly hinted at to advance(something like kneeling in Castlevania 2). This one however I came back to years later and unlock myself thanks to the power of internet, and managed to finish the game :)
I wish I could find a way to replay Fester's quest, I really want to finish this game once and not watch it on youtube :(
Haha I had Jaws on the C64. All I can remember is starting in a weird submarine and getting eaten 10 seconds later lol.
Another for me was F-16 Combat Pilot on the 64. Mostly because the authentication system required you to type in a word from the manual and it never seemed to work lol
😂 You weren't alone at this time. 🤣Driver for ps1 tutorial at the beginning of the game.. I didn't know what the hell a Slalom was. I passed the tutorial by luck.
Deuteros: The Next Millennium
(Amiga)
gamesnostalgia.com
I got to a point in the solar system where I was fighting the foes, but near the end of the battle, they'd retreat with just two units and that was it. I was unable to figure out what I was to do next to either further the game or finish it off.
(Amiga)
Deuteros: The Next Millennium (Amiga) Game Download
Download the original Deuteros: The Next Millennium for Amiga, a retro game ready to play, packed for Windows and Mac with the proper emulator.
gamesnostalgia.com
I got to a point in the solar system where I was fighting the foes, but near the end of the battle, they'd retreat with just two units and that was it. I was unable to figure out what I was to do next to either further the game or finish it off.
I came to post this. I love the original game but would always get stuck in the middle. I'd love to replay it now. Idk what the easiest way to do that is.EDIT: WAIT, NVM, MUCH BETTER ANSWER...
-image.jpg)
WHY DID YOU KEEP TURNING INTO A LITERAL, GIANT PIECE OF SHIT DIGIMON (Sukamon)!?
I remember owning Syndicate, and I could not for the life of me figure out how to play it. Which is a shame because I was convinced it was right up my alley.
Had no idea how to navigate the fucking mazes or what to do. I just gave up and put Doom back in the cd tray.
I thought there was a game called Populocrisis or something like that, but can't find it. That game.
I actually owned Mario is Missing for the SNES, wound up being one of the first games I ever finished by myself. To this day I enjoy it for how chill it is and the music, though as an adult a lot of the "Historical and Geographic Trivia" that makes up the edutainment part seems sus.
Mission Impossible on N64 is one I rented a lot as a kid and couldn't make heads nor tails of.
Mission Impossible on N64 is one I rented a lot as a kid and couldn't make heads nor tails of.
Jurassic Park on SNES. That game broke me, I never, ever, could figure it out. I just wandered left and right, up and down and nothing.
Other offender was MGS on the PS1: not being an English speaking kid made somewhat troublesome not only to follow the story, but also understand shit you were supposed to do. It was a though ride, but I managed in the end due to sheer stuborness and a bit of spoilers from friends at school. To this day, it's the only MGS that I like and sits on my all time top 5 games list.
Other offender was MGS on the PS1: not being an English speaking kid made somewhat troublesome not only to follow the story, but also understand shit you were supposed to do. It was a though ride, but I managed in the end due to sheer stuborness and a bit of spoilers from friends at school. To this day, it's the only MGS that I like and sits on my all time top 5 games list.
Last edited:
Yeah, the Zork text series is another, mostly because it just drops you into fields with no real idea of what's even going on.
Oh, this takes me back. I'd tried everything I could think of, and then finally had to call the friend I'd borrowed the game from in order to figure out which weapon I needed to use. But at least I beat Mega Man 2 right after that."I keep shooting at him but nothing is happening" lol
I was less successful with this little title that I'd received as a gift:
I'd gotten at least somewhere in other Infocom-style text adventures, but that Star Trek one was so obtuse and buggy that I never made any sort of progress at all.
There's plenty.
Zelda II: got stuck after completing the second palace. I knew I needed the raft to advance and I wondered around the map looking for something. Unfortunately I didn't knew English back then so I could get the clues about how to arrive to the island palace.
TNMT on the NES: fucking underwater bombs.
American baseball on Master system: I had no idea what to do, not that I didn't know the rules, but I never figured out how to quickly pass the ball to the basemen.
Ghostbuster on the master system: WTF is goin on?
Omikron: I don't even remember his I ended up having that game. I just remember I booted up and had no idea of what to do.
Beneath a steel sky: first time I played a graphic adventure, never went past the very beginning.
Zelda II: got stuck after completing the second palace. I knew I needed the raft to advance and I wondered around the map looking for something. Unfortunately I didn't knew English back then so I could get the clues about how to arrive to the island palace.
TNMT on the NES: fucking underwater bombs.
American baseball on Master system: I had no idea what to do, not that I didn't know the rules, but I never figured out how to quickly pass the ball to the basemen.
Ghostbuster on the master system: WTF is goin on?
Omikron: I don't even remember his I ended up having that game. I just remember I booted up and had no idea of what to do.
Beneath a steel sky: first time I played a graphic adventure, never went past the very beginning.
The legend of Zelda on NES at 5 or 6. Didn't know where to go / what to do at some point.
Pokémon Red. Wasn't that young, probably 10. I think it was about the boat ticket. Sure it was something with the boat.
Pokémon Red. Wasn't that young, probably 10. I think it was about the boat ticket. Sure it was something with the boat.
I was probably 8, on my cousin game gear. No idea what to do too.
Anyway, my pick:
Like, how the fuck do you land the plane? I never got past the first level.
I'm glad you asked. When I did it at a local Nintendo tournament I got put in the newspaper.
I got BASIC Programming for Atari 2600 back in '79 or '80.
Unfortunately I was a couple/few years too young to really wrap my head around learning rudimentary BASIC language. The tools are legit robust for the platform as it came with two keypads with various overlays along with a thick af instruction book.
It's a shame, 'cause even back then I was a tech-head and I imagine getting an early start in programming could have catapulted my career interests & talents in a completely different direction.
I remember renting Landstalker (GEN) back in the day from a video store in my hometown. Got to the underground crypt riddle part and got absolutely stumped. To be fair several of those "riddles" are cryptic and non-obvious as hell. Years later was able to figure out what to do in each room and eventually continue. Turns out the game after that is ROUGH. I still really like the game though.
