So, what's your plan B for old age and reflexes?

[BIL]

I out Contra III on hard when I got the SNES Mini and cried. Mind, the fact that that 8 used to play alone in perfect solitude helped. Now it's either around noisy kids, or half tanked when they're asleep.

Don't feel too bad about that one, Contra III's hard mode is a second loop in all but name (like the ending messages imply). It demands sharp reactions in places, but most of the challenge is in cranking an already fairly tough course into borderline unfair territory and forcing the player to adapt - starting with those opening snipers and extending to most of its bosses. If you don't have a Normal clear in recent memory, it'll trip you up constantly. Even if you do, there's a couple nasty surprises you probably won't see coming (don't take out the second boss's laser cannon if he's got pods remaining, unless random undodgeable death by pancake sounds good).

As for me, I dunno. Are these games really so solely dependent on reaction speed? Ala Contra III Hard, there usually seems to be a healthy degree of rehearsed strategy and general experience involved. Compare SYO's beautiful, painterly Dragon Blaze 2-ALL to the hilarious/horrific tool-assisted World of Longplays equivalent (pictured below):

Spoiler

^ human beings don't play like this. Observe.

I'm sure there are some games out there so bleeding-edge, any slight degradation of reflex could knock a once-competitive player out of the running, as it might in the field of drag racing or Olympic target shooting. But that's life, son! Some things are for the young folk! You think your grandpa can still fuck like he did when he was whoring it up in the Nam? Not without a friendly visit from Dr. Amphetamine Sulphate directly to his ailing crank, he can't!

Start a Senior's Division for over-sixties members, maybe. TBH, our high score forums are already in bad enough shape we could just call it the "Westerner's Division." I don't think old age is the chief culprit there.

[Sinful]

I've been feeling it for a while now. When I first got the SNES, I was 14, and doing 2 paper rounds that made me a tenner a week. Took me four/five weeks to save for a cart, and that shit got slapped or hard straight away, because I had to make it last. I out Contra III on hard when I got the SNES Mini and cried. Mind, the fact that that 8 used to play alone in perfect solitude helped. Now it's either around noisy kids, or half tanked when they're asleep.

Loud kids are no excuse when speedrunners on twitch like Aquas can speedrun Contra III, read chat, talk and laugh at the same time.

[Udderdude]

Mind, the fact that that 8 used to play alone in perfect solitude helped. Now it's either around noisy kids, or half tanked when they're asleep.

Loud kids are no excuse when speedrunners on twitch like Aquas can speedrun Contra III, read chat, talk and laugh at the same time.

This is the dumbest comparison I've ever read on here.

[Ex_Mosquito]

I don’t think reflexes count for much in 2D shooters, experience and a creative gameplan are far more important imo. Saying that though, playing vs fighting games against a human then reflexes can get you an advantage.

[qmish]

I still dont understand those superhuman reflexes in fighting games where player instantly read attack (like, high punch) and counter it with throw or whatever. I mean, 14-20 frames or something - 1/3 of a second - and youre supposed to recognize move and make your own accordingly THAT FAST - wtf?

[Ex_Mosquito]

I don’t think they’re reacting purely from a random attack. People have tendencies in certain situations and with experience you can almost predict what another player is about to do.

[qmish]

This is more believable - and especially how i heard that fighting play on high level is really "mind games".

[jugemscloud]

currently 31, my eyes are my trade as is my hand-eye coordination so I'm keeping particular attention to this over the next decade. my plan is to see whats happening with stem cells and probably start getting 2-3 or 5 year injections (dependant on what the research is saying) starting at age 40-45 maybe dependant on natural degradation but probably even if there is no perceptual change on my part, and definitely going for stem cells over major surgery if its a viable option for any ailments/injuries that do crop up unexpectedly.

currently I'm looking at changing up diet in a big way, not had any alcohol in 6 months and no tobacco or cannabis in about 6-7 weeks. of those cannabis is the only one i derive any real enjoyment but that is going to be limited to very sporadic or ceremonial usage going forward (I've smoked that for half my life and it serves no real purpose in daily usage other than to waste time, this isn't true for all people but I'm not very structured in my day to day so it definitely doesn't help and tobacco for about 6 years went from 20+ superkings a day and 5-8 joints to 0). i guess what I'm trying to say is the accumulative effects of poisons (alcohol) and psychoactives (recreational drugs) probably play a bigger part if one partakes regularly than natural degradation so proactive measure are probably more effective than reactive.

i don't really plan on being about much longer after 60 also, unless i am stuff functioning at about 80%+ of what i would be at 40

[quash]

I still dont understand those superhuman reflexes in fighting games where player instantly read attack (like, high punch) and counter it with throw or whatever. I mean, 14-20 frames or something - 1/3 of a second - and youre supposed to recognize move and make your own accordingly THAT FAST - wtf?

Twitch reaction, which is to say, reacting to seeing something as opposed to reacting to seeing a specific thing, can be that fast. For things that are faster than that as well as situations where twitch reaction may not be the best idea, a certain level of cognizance is required to know what's coming.

As a basic example, one thing you sometimes see in Street Fighter is when a player that's throwing fireballs suddenly does a standing punch instead. That's designed to throw off the other player and goad them into doing something that would be an appropriate response for a fireball but too much of a commitment for a punch.

[Ed Oscuro]

spend platinum on cosmetics and call it gameplay

[Marc]

Mind, the fact that that 8 used to play alone in perfect solitude helped. Now it's either around noisy kids, or half tanked when they're asleep.

Loud kids are no excuse when speedrunners on twitch like Aquas can speedrun Contra III, read chat, talk and laugh at the same time.

This is the dumbest comparison I've ever read on here.

Ha I'm glad I wasn't alone in thinking that.