Old NES games taught me patience that new games just don't build

I used to spend like 45 minutes on one level of Ninja Gaiden back in 1989, dying over and over until I memorized every pixel. Now I pick up a new game and if I die more than 3 times I'm on YouTube looking up a walkthrough or just quitting lol. The difference hit me when I tried to replay Mega Man 2 last weekend and my kid asked why I wasn't using a guide. Has anyone else noticed they lost that old stubborn streak with games? Does it matter or are we just older now?

2 comments

2 Comments

riverdavis13d ago

And honestly I've noticed it's not just games, it's like everything now. I used to sit and figure out how to fix my bike chain myself, now I just order a new part or take it to the shop if it takes more than 10 minutes. Same with cooking, I used to mess up recipes all the time and just eat the weird result, now I order takeout if the first step looks complicated. We got so used to instant answers and fast fixes that we forgot how to just sit with the frustration and figure stuff out. It's like our brains got rewired for immediate results and anything slower feels like a waste of time. But then I think about how satisfying it was to finally beat that Ninja Gaiden level and I wonder what we traded for all this convenience.

umar4913d agoMost Upvoted

That part about sitting with the frustration really hit me. I remember spending three hours trying to untangle a fishing line once and when I finally got it, I felt like I'd accomplished something real. Now I'd just cut it and buy new line without even thinking about it.