As a kid, there was one NES game that I completely sucked at but loved to play nonetheless: Bionic Commando. Sure, I had most of the other classic NES games (Mario 1-3, Zelda, Rad Racer, Duck Hunt, Contra), but the controls for Bionic Commando were just so fun to play with, that even though I couldn't make it past the first few levels, I always enjoyed what I could do. And up until this recent generation of consoles, I used to bust out the NES while at home over the holidays and play some of those classics from my childhood. So, when I heard about Rearmed and the 3D sequel, I got pretty amped up. Just knowing that for just a few bucks I would be getting HD graphics, retooled music/levels, challenge rooms, twoplayer co-op, and a chance to actually save my progress excited the hell out of me, because with as many hours as I have put into the NES version of the game, I still haven't beaten it. Since I didn't have a 360 at the time, I got it for the PS3 and didn't think twice about the lack of trophies since they were so new to the system. I bought it the day it was released (after checking the PS Store about 20 times throughout the afternoon for their update), played through it to completion once or twice in the days that followed, and didn't really think about replaying the whole thing again until I heard trophy support had just been added. But, with that patch came some side-effects which some might say ruin the retro experience... they made the game easier.



But is that really a mixed bag? Does it make PS3 owners girlymen? I don't think so. I beat the game on medium without much effort last summer, completed all the challenge rooms (getting at least 3 stars on them all), and had replayed most if not all of it on Hard just for the hell of it. So the decision to delete or move my data off the PS3 was one I wasn't looking forward to; but knowing that I'd have unlimited lives on the medium playthrough reassured me that it wouldn't be a hellacious journey through frustration, bouts of anger, and a sickening self-loathing. Of course, this does mean that there will be many players who either didn't beat it because it was too hard (which I can't imagine, because Easy was insanely simple) or haven't bought it until after the update... and that is sort of a shame, but playing it on the hard difficulty really brings the "retro challenge" to the plate in the same sense that MegaMan 9 did, so it's still there for those who want it.

This did bring to light an issue over what we expect from a retro title, however. Should it really have to recapture all of that anger and frustration, where, you can't play the game for more than a few minutes before wanting to break your controller, TV, or someone's arm/face/body? Is there something essentially wrong with updating a classic title and making it so more people can not only stand a chance at finishing it, but enjoy the experience as well? MegaMan 9 caught a lot of flack from some gamers for being harder than the original 8-bit MegaMan games, yet won over a lot of other gamers who were trained on that repeat and slowly learn the level/movements sort of gaming. The original release of Rearmed was the same way (but with difficulty levels so you could crank up/down the difficulty if needed).



So, does this patch really take away the Bionic Commando experience just because you don't have to constantly watch how many lives you have left or restart a level when they're gone? You still die as often as you would have before the update; and that is frustrating in and of itself. The enemies seem to be just as hard/medium/easy as they were before. Challenge room difficulties are exactly the same. And except for limiting the effect of hitting a wall while swinging (on the lower two difficulties), the game feels pretty much the same. All the patch really did was save us from breaking a Dualshock3 by eliminating the need to restart the level after you run out of lives; which is probably a good thing, because I still haven't finished MegaMan 9 thanks to an uncontrollable rage that about gave me a brain aneurysm last time I played it.

As much as I love the new "retro" games, I'd much rather finish a game on a slightly easier setting than leave it unfinished forever because it's too damn frustrating. Maybe that's my completionist/perfectionist nature showing through, or maybe its because I just have a limited attention span and lack of patience. Hell, maybe its just the fact that I'd much rather play something that I enjoy as opposed to something that irritates me to a peak of insatiable rage. Does that mean I'm not a retro gamer, even though I play and enjoy retro games? Hell, I dunno... maybe it does.