Von Richter's response to the sudden rash of noobs throwing a hissy fit over Megaman 9's perfectly do-able difficulty level.

Megaman 2.

My how general gamer skill has atrophied over the years. It's SHOCKING to see people considering the piece-o-cake Megaman 2 (the easiest of the NES megamans) difficult or frustrating. Megaman 2, for it's time, is an easy game. The kind of thing even mediocre players could finish with a little practice. Nowadays it looks like people just want to watch cut scenes and mindlessly hammer buttons while being fed by a tube. Anything else sends them into spoiled whining crybaby antics.

C'mon people, stop being such lazy wimpy gamers.

Megaman 9.

Megaman 9 isn't even that tough. It's really scary that any game that is moderately challenging these days is "controversial". It's just plain absurd. If you are too chicken to play something that doesn't treat you like a little baby and requires a bit of effort and skill, then don't buy it. It's that simple.

Don't ruin it for the rest of us who have been waiting for this day to come for so long. Don't flip out at Capcom until they decide to never release a challenging game again. For the love of all that's gaming, REJOICE that SOMEWHERE, SOMEONE at these companies still cares about true hardcore gamers.

I got out of gaming as the difficulty levels descended to something your 120 year old grandma can beat on the first try. Games like Megaman 9 offer that tiny sliver of hope for well-hewn gamers like me... they give us something to care about again, a challenge, something to feel good about conquering.

It's not just the 8-bit-style of Megaman 9. It's about precision control and reflexes. When you die it's your fault. 92% of modern games are sloppy affairs lacking this kind of precision and 1:1 ratio of player interaction. Instead they are 80+ hours of repetitive fetch quests and cutscenes. Forget it. I just want to PLAY games, not act like a wimpy vegetable being force fed lazy filler. Give me tight level design over 20 hours of rendered CG cutscenes any day.

One last thing: If you can't beat Megaman 9, take up a hobby more your pace, like stamp collecting, or perhaps bird watching.

(Not that there is anything wrong with stamp collectors or bird watchers. Please, bird watchers and stamp collectors, no hate mail!)

Love,
-Von @#$%^&* Richter