Easier = Better

[MathU]

As we're all aware, scrolling shooters in general are a very challenging video game genre. Certainly, that's part of the appeal. In a modern world where developers feel the constant pressure to make games easy cinematic experiences so that the unwashed masses can consume quickly and move onto the next experience, many of us were drawn to this genre precisely to recapture those tests of skill that so many other genres have lost.

But we've all felt it before. That feeling that some difficulty setting or region variant of a game is more interesting or enjoyable despite being easier than another one. Maybe we were afraid to admit it to ourselves. Maybe the pervasive machismo of the genre had us telling ourselves that beating only the harder difficulty of a game is the only way beating it "matters" for bragging rights and such (even if the only one we're bragging to is ourselves). And so we dismissed the easier difficulty and focused on the harder one. But sometimes it's just true. Sometimes, making a game easier makes it a better, deeper, more interesting experience.

This thread is for heresy. What are examples you would argue are better games for toning down the difficulty in some manner?

I'll start with a few. Image Fight has some very interesting differences between the Japan version and World version of the game. Enemy placement is different between the regions and some enemies themselves are different too. While the second loop is brutal on both versions, the Japan version of the game is sadistic to such a degree that recovery is practically hopeless without some autofire hack. If you die, that's game over. But not on the World version. The World version feels like IREM made a serious attempt to address the most unfair aspects of the first release, effectively making it Image Fight v2. Make a mistake on the World version and you can focus your mind, harden your resolve, and you might just come back from the brink. And it's a better game because of it.

Gradius III (arcade) is another game that wants the player to lose all hope after dying. Although it has a number more recoverable checkpoints than people typically give it credit for, it is for the most part outside of the cube rush a one-life game. Gradius III is a very hardcore game that's difficult to enjoy on a casual pick-up-and-play basis. At least on the Japan version. The World version, however, allows the player to retain a number of power-ups when they come back after dying. It's a small, subtle difference, but makes the World version a much more reasonable and interesting game to recover from a death on. The World version is the better game. There, I said it.

[Stanshall]

Mushihimesama Futari Black Label

[Special World]

Mushihimesama Futari Black Label

Seconded, but the mechanics are also better imo

Not sure I would like Star Parodier or Gate of Thunder as much if they were a gauntlet. But I also don't think that's necessarily what you're talking about itt.

Not that it's easier exactly, but i like playing the last level in Metal Slug 3 on Xbox as if it's an entire game.

[blossom]

In terms of scoring, I'm pretty sure to some extent that "easier = better" holds true for Mecha Ritz: Steel Rondo, because (unless this is incorrect) there is a hidden magnification bonus once you clear the TLB. According to yakamino, the formula is "(total rank / total time) * 1.66", which means for example in the highest score I can find for the game of 20.8 million, that you have this:

(2478 / 1188) * 1.6 = 3.33600

And yep, 6,936,210 * 3 = turns out to be 20,808,630 - what this means is you'll want to find some way to make the game shorter so you'll have a higher score in the end. This player's 20.8m run has a first rank of 484 while their 18.5m run has a first rank of 500. I have to wonder if a first rank of 400 might do anything useful, speeding through the game and possibly achieving a magnification of 4? I'm not good enough at this genre to test it myself, really.

[Special World]

I'm kind of bothered by how MASSIVE the clear bonus is in Mecha Ritz, but I also haven't played it a ton (love it, but eagerly awaiting Switch version)

[blossom]

I think it's potentially interesting if it were to allow you to choose A stages to speed through the game, but as far as I can tell, only B stages receive the bonus.

[CloudyMusic]

Some of the games I've had the most fun with were pretty easy clears. I probably wouldn't want to subsist solely on easy clears, but they're very easy to have a good time with and it's nice to play something that's enjoyable without constantly being under pressure every single moment of the game. If I were trying to become the best shmup player possible, that probably wouldn't be ideal, but that's not really a huge concern for me right now.

As far as some examples of what I enjoy? Shmups with several distinct difficulty modes are a no-brainer for this, obviously: Touhou and many of the games inspired by it, for example. Some (most?) of the Darius games are pretty good about this as well, providing some routes that are much easier than others. Games with a ridiculously overpowered ship (Miclus/Fairy in Raiden Fighters, X-36 in Strikers 1999, Type-Z in Crimzon Clover, etc) can achieve this too, to a certain extent. You don't have to choose those ships, but they will make for a much more forgiving experience if you do.

[Austin]

many of us were drawn to this genre precisely to recapture those tests of skill that so many other genres have lost.

Many of us were drawn to the genre because its games are fun to play, just like many other video game genres, not necessarily because they were some extreme test of skill.

[bottino]

Sometimes easier is better because some games were never intended to be that hard in the first place. I feel like the console ports of Same!x3 (MD), Salamander (PCE) and Gradius III (SFC) are a good example of this.

Some enthusiasts tend to over-romanticize the extreme challenge of some of those games, unaware (or forgetting) the fact that they were mostly made by an overworked and underpaid staff, that had not only to deal with bullshit from management pundits, but arcade operators as well. As such, finding an ideal, or at least acceptable, balance between the game's design and it's intended difficulty (regardless of how hard it was meant to be in the first place) was not always possible.

This quote by veterans Yuge and Uemura from Toaplan, concerning the developing of Same!x3, serves as a good example:

There was a lot of pressure to make games that would bring in a lot of income for arcade operators. We fought about that a lot. We had to accomodate our work to this sales/business perspective, and we were forced to make a game that would, in the short term, build a lot of income. I regret it. I’m glad we were able to fix that for the Megadrive port.

------

The way I see it, a solid/excellent game isn't so because it's flawless, but because it manages to excel despite it's flaws. And I think you can apply this to pretty much everything created and executed by human beings.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

The quote above is from: http://shmuplations.com/toaplan-chronicleqa/
Great interview.

I think R-Type Leo's World version is better than the Japanese version. The special shot is now on its own dedicated button instead of having to hold shoot (which means you can keep firing your main gun while using the homing attack), and there's no more checkpoints, which aren't a fun mechanic ever in a shmup in my opinion.

[donluca]

"Difficulty" is very personal.

I'd rather speak about "healthy" mechanics (ie: how fast can you recover when you die if you lose part or all of your powerups?) and "accessibility".

The ideal shmup should give anyone, even the most inept player (such as myself) a shot (no pun intended) at clearing the game and then offer increasing difficulty.

I think that a mechanic similar to Garegga/mecha ritz which "understands" your skill while you're playing and adjusts the amount of enemies, bullets they fire and their health on the fly (again no pun intended) would be absolutely awesome.

But getting back with our feet on the earth, I'd be ok with "Novice" modes similar to Futari: you start with Novice Normal, then go to Maniac and Ultra and then play at arcade difficulty from Normal and go up from there.

For me, the gap between Novice Ultra and Arcade Normal was way too big. I eventually got the 1cc on the latter but it was quite an effort. I'd preferred to have another mode in between Novice and Arcade to help me hone my skills and prepare for "the real thing".

[BareKnuckleRoo]

For me, the gap between Novice Ultra and Arcade Normal was way too big. I eventually got the 1cc on the latter but it was quite an effort. I'd preferred to have another mode in between Novice and Arcade to help me hone my skills and prepare for "the real thing".

Yeah, the bullet speeds are too low and Original/Maniac Novice and the density too sparse to properly be a stepping stone to the arcade difficulties. Also, autobombing costs 1 bomb only and does full bomb damage instead of being a limited damage bomb or costing a full bomb stock. DFK, Mushihimesama, Rolling Gunner... there's lots of better examples of games with better Novice difficulties that act as a good stepping stone to prepare you for the "default" challenge.

[FRO]

Lightening Force is an improvement over Thunder Force IV, because it's slightly less difficult. It's still a difficult game, but it's just that tiny little bit less punishing, that makes it a little less of a struggle. After playing the Switch port last year, and realizing that the original game is that little bit more difficult, I'm glad Sega decided to tone it down, if only slightly, for the American market.

[MX7]

I'd love to play a hack of Ketsui that just nerfed the final stage a little.

It's telling that CAVE bemoan AMI's insistence on not allowing an every extend in their games. Gets unweildly with such huge scoring potential in later games I guess.

Even more telling and absolutely eye opening that in every arcade I went to in Tokyo apart from HEY, every STGs default settings had been tweaked. Have five lives! Why not! Really shat on this notion as Japan as an unassailable wall of arcade conservatism. Dip switches are there for a reason.

[finisherr]

I don't believe easer == better or harder == better. There is a sweet spot where enjoyment is maximized by significant challenge and the reward of steady progress.

[finisherr]

I'd love to play a hack of Ketsui that just nerfed the final stage a little.

It's telling that CAVE bemoan AMI's insistence on not allowing an every extend in their games. Gets unweildly with such huge scoring potential in later games I guess.

Even more telling and absolutely eye opening that in every arcade I went to in Tokyo apart from HEY, every STGs default settings had been tweaked. Have five lives! Why not! Really shat on this notion as Japan as an unassailable wall of arcade conservatism. Dip switches are there for a reason.

Are you talking abou 1-5 or 2-5?

[TransatlanticFoe]

many of us were drawn to this genre precisely to recapture those tests of skill that so many other genres have lost.

Many of us were drawn to the genre because its games are fun to play, just like many other video game genres, not necessarily because they were some extreme test of skill.

And for this reason, heresy incoming....

Dodonpachi Saturn mode

Lets you face the true final boss without having to make it hrough the 2nd loop and the requirements to access the 2nd loop - when you get to strict routing mastery just to get further in the game, it loses the fun for me. Drops the default difficulty down a notch too, roughly equal to easy on the regular arcade version. Exactly the sort of casual/n00b friendly affair a console port should offer a concession to, withot being offensively easy like many modern "novice" modes.

[donluca]

And for this reason, heresy incoming....

Dodonpachi Saturn mode

I have yet to try it, will definitely give it a shot.

Oh, and one bad example of "making the game easier" is the international version of Futari Black Label: the bosses just melt, you don't even get to see all their patterns while the rest of the game still retains most of its difficulty.

[blossom]

In general, I think I prefer the idea of a game that's fairly easy for survival so that if I choose to focus on scoring, the mere act of playing the game won't lead to multitasking between "should I do this for survival or score", and instead everything I do is for score. I suppose part of this equation is the fact I'm trash at shoot em ups, so maybe this sliding scale will change one day.

[BulletMagnet]

Gradius III (arcade) [...] World version

Pfft. You want to commit challenge heresy when it comes to Gradius III, you better bring the SNES version along, or else stay home.

As far as other easier versions that I like better than the originals, Pink Sweets Arrange is the first one to come to mind.

[opt2not]

Dragon Blaze could use a difficulty reduction. Probably the hardest shmup I've played. I'm not into Cave games, so I don't even try to play them, that's too much pink my eyes can't really adjust to.

But DB is a Psikyo shmupper on crack. No, scratch that, it's on meth.

[Mortificator]

Gradius III (arcade) [...] World version

Pfft. You want to commit challenge heresy when it comes to Gradius III, you better bring the SNES version along, or else stay home.

Down with both of those, PS2 port is king.

* adjustable difficulty
* eliminable slowdown
* start at any stage or checkpoint
* added power-ups from the SNES version

And unlike the SNES version, it doesn't cut big swaths of content: the Moai spawners, the Moai miniboss, the Ghidorah miniboss, the cube stage, the mini crabs, the rotating lasers...

[XoPachi]

Generally speaking, I'm not really a fan of easier modes in hard, fun shooters. 3:
Like I cannot play a lower difficulty than Unlimited in Crimzon Clover and I max out Gradius V every time I play it. Even if I die, the intensity is...exhilarating for me. It's just not quite there for me even for arranges balanced for a lower difficulty.

However, that's how I feel for *modes*. I do like easier shooters where there is no super hard mode to compare it's lighter base difficulty to. Infinos Gaiden, Satazius, Darius Burst, and NES Gradius 2 are quite fun. c:

[copy-paster]

I always select Gradius V to "Easy" difficulty setting because the game includes suicide bullets as EARLY as first loop. I don't like suicide bullets in general and easy mode in GV feels very much like how console difficulty should be. Still hard and challenging but not going full cheap by spawning tons of suicide bullets early on.

Sorcer Striker is better game because the game is very accessible to beginners than the japanese Mahou Daisakusen. The latter relies heavily on RNG while spewing fast bullets on you, for example stage 5 boss turret spam is near impossible to dodge without bombing (this also leads to NMNB until this boss, for bombspam until it stops), SS with slower bullets make this boss fun to fight and no longer doing bombspam again.

[donluca]

Dragon Blaze could use a difficulty reduction. Probably the hardest shmup I've played.

Thank you so much for this. Really. I remember I played it years ago and no matter what, I could barely get to stage 2 and get slaughtered at the middle of the stage.

I swear I thought "I couldn't be that bad, am I?" because I didn't ever see DB being addressed as a "hard shmup".

Thankfully I just decided to give up on that and get onto other shmups which I enjoyed way more and replenished a bit of my shmup self-esteem.

[Lags]

Dragon Blaze could use a difficulty reduction. Probably the hardest shmup I've played.

Thank you so much for this. Really. I remember I played it years ago and no matter what, I could barely get to stage 2 and get slaughtered at the middle of the stage.

I swear I thought "I couldn't be that bad, am I?" because I didn't ever see DB being addressed as a "hard shmup".

Thankfully I just decided to give up on that and get onto other shmups which I enjoyed way more and replenished a bit of my shmup self-esteem.

Just look at the difficulty List. DB is listed pretty high up there. That being said stage 1-3 are basically free and don't need routing besides being aware of enemy spawns. Stage 4+ is where you'll need to start thinking more carefully. I'm new to shmups and I understand that some are made for more experienced players. Reducing the difficulty on DB is kind of pointless, just play Gunbird 1 instead, if you like melee style use Yuan Nang.

[NegativeElectron]

I've been trying to loop DoDonPachi, but stage 5 is just too much imo. Every time I do well on that stage, I never feel like I "beat" it, it just feels like I got lucky.

[mikejmoffitt]

I think we need to categorize sources of difficulty, and place some above others. STGs are short-form games that get their depth from repeated play and familiarity from the player, not just memorization but also an improvement of intuition and "Feel". Consequently, the game must offer challenges that are built around this depth, without making the player feel shut out of the experience by an overwhelming obstacle.

Difficulty that tortures a new player will turn them off of the game, but a lack of difficulty can make the game empty. Difficulty doesn't have to mean "the player is drowned in bullets" - it can mean that there are levels of scoring mechanics that require finesse, without making a new player feel suffocated by the base game mechanics. If there's nothing there, then the game will feel like a long slog that didn't engage the player much - this can apply to many games outside of STGs, and when the early stages are "free" and yet still time consuming, I think it damages a player's willingness to play it again. Unfortunately, I think this can be said of a lot of direct-to-console home STGs (sorry, Battle Mania Daiginjou)

I tried to write about some of this below, but I think I've gone off on a bit of a tangent, so I apologize for the divergence in subject matter.

Let's look at the classic DoDonPachi from a few perspectives.

For the new player
I think for an STG, to draw a new player in and have them want to continue playing, the approachability of Stage 1 is very important. With that in mind, let's focus solely on Stage 1 for this discussion.

At a glance, this is a game that will toss a lot of bullets at you in the first stage, but even fairly new players can discover pretty quickly that the stage can be rendered much easier by not holding still too much and shooting without a lot of discretion. I've sat friends down at this cab who have never played an STG, and within a few credits they can get much further than they did on their first try. The midboss and stage 1 boss might provide a challenge, as they introduce bullet patterns to the player, but the large tanks that deliver pink blobs of bullets give players a taste of exhilaration when they realize they've survived such a (seemingly) strong attack. Once they get the hang of it, it feels good to blaze through the level!

Challenges for the player include:

• Basics of movement, and control of the laser
• Recognizing the bomb weapon as an SOS button
• Keeping moving to avoid aimed bullets
• Simple dodging of more obvious patterns

For its other faults, DDP is a game that can give a player a great "feel" as they approach it for the first time, and the combination of thrill and high-powered shots can act as a hook to keep the player involved. There are rough patches for the new player, but through a few plays the Player will become familiar with the common pitfalls and can defeat them without a lot of trouble. Arguably, this learning process is "difficult", but the reward to the player is strong, and by not slapping the player with what feels like an unscalable wall, this difficulty has merit. I think this game's stage 1 difficulty is very well adjusted for new players.

For the player who hasn't achieved a 1CC in any game yet
I think this is a very relatable player group, and many people who get into STGs spend a year or more trying different games, feeling better and better about their stage runs in various games, but maybe getting roasted by risky dodges or difficult boss patterns (and the lovely combination of both). By now, they probably have a strong Stage 1 performance.

At this point, the player's repeated play has led to continued improvement of the earlier sections, while they inch forwards to unknown territory. It is a similar learning progression when compared to a new player on the first stage, but the breadth of what is being learned is much greater since the later stages offer greater exposure.

Challenges for the player include:

• Grouping aimed bullets consciously, to leave space open for the future
• Figuring out strategies to get around some tricky patterns
• Overcoming patterns that may have previously been skipped by bombing
• Gaining consistency with boss battles
• Getting in the habit of using the bomb when needed!

To keep this player hooked, the difficulty is seen in the obstacles the player faces. This might be something concrete, like a difficult later boss pattern, or something more abstract, like a player's tendency to do micro-dodges when macro-dodging a bullet cloud would be a much safer choice. It could be the classic reluctance for a player to use their precious bomb stock.

At this stage, maybe the player's become aware of the scoring mechanics, which adds a whole layer of difficulty to DDP, where earlier strategies and solutions for bosses may have to be thrown out the window when such a high risk is associated with bombs and misses.

Here, the difficulty has gone up, but doesn't pose a massive obstacle for a player who is still getting exposed to more and slowly improving. It could be argued that the difficulty is a bit too high, if only because a player must go through a rather long trial to reach the later stages they are struggling with, but these days a lot of people practice using hacked ROMs or emulation save states to overcome this factor.

For the chain gang member who consistently can 1CC the game
Once the player has ascended to a level of consistency for clears, the scoring mechanics of the game in question transition from the background to the focus of the game. The difficulty suddenly shoots through the roof! At this stage, I think the difficulty might be a little higher than necessary. However, the only people exposed to this extreme difficulty are those who have already played this game so much, and they're coming back for more for a reason. While I could appreciate some changes to the scoring mechanics to reduce the brutality associated with mistakes, I expect this difficulty doesn't turn away a lot of new players, because they are unlikely to even be exposed to it.

Challenges for the player include:

• Extreme consistency not just for pattern clearing, but for chain maintenance
• Crossing gaps
• Full mastery of boss patterns
• Narrowing bomb usage to an extreme degree, or saving them for late stage usage
• Controlling frustration when a slip of the hand has broken an entire run

------------

With DDP as an example, I think it can be shown that difficulty matters on multiple levels of play, and it is something that must be finely tuned to accommodate the potentially wide audience of players that might approach a title.

[davyK]

Difficulty settings or arrange modes can deal with difficulty while keeping the skilled happy.

Psikyo's console ports are a case in point. Something like Gunbird 2 can be tamed quite a bit by dialling the level down. The DC port has a wide spectrum of difficulty levels. I've been able to 1-ALL it with 1 credit at lower levels though I don't personally count that as a 1CC. However it lets me enjoy the game while giving me the choice to learn the game a bit and up the challenge when I'm ready.

[BulletMagnet]

Psikyo's console ports are a case in point.

Another thing many of Psikyo's ports do that a lot of others unfortunately don't is keep separate scoreboards for each difficulty level, so you can more accurately gauge how you're doing as you increase the challenge for yourself and move up the ranking.