Retro platform advice

[RCBH928]

I know this might be considered a blasphemy in a retro forum
but I never finished 1 retro platform game, I do not think I even got to level 3 or 4, ever.

I just don't accept that fact that I spend 30 min try to get through the levels and on the beginning of level 4, a flying insect/rock/turtle comes dashing up from the ground or across the screen to hit me, kill me, and take the last life I had. Now I have to go through all the levels again just to get to that one part, so I would be surprised by a boss that I have to face 3 to 4 times just to figure out a strategy to beat him.

I don't work well with out saves or a password system.
I also do not work well if I do not know how many levels are there, because I don't know how long should I be going on. Are there 100 levels or just 10?

Any advice is appreciated on completing such games, because I really would like to finish NES mario , Sonic, adventure island and the like.

How many levels to expect?
Any strategies to follow?
any tips?

btw, if any one can give me a site where I can find full maps of platformers levels it would be cool. Because on games like Sonic, you can play it 100 years and still miss a secret place.

[kgcarini]

Go to www.google.com and type

Super Mario Brothers Walkthrough
Super Mario Brothers 2 Walkthrough
Super Mario Brothers 3 Walkthrough
Sonic Walkthrough
Sonic 1 Walkthrough
Sonic 2 Walkthrough
Sonic 3 Walkthrough
Sonic & Knuckles Walkthrough
Adventure Island Walkthrough

You will be surprised what you will find!

[UBERTRON777]

I like searching all around in games where you are able to scroll back because you usually build up a large cache of lives. If you wish that there was a save feature than you can probably find a level select code for the game. Besides being able to let you select which level you want to play from the get go, you can usually see how many levels there are.

[Limewater]

As previously mentioned, you can answer any of these questions in just a couple of minutes on Google.

But, for the record, Super Mario Bros. has 32 levels (unless you count the minus world, which you will never encounter in a normal game).

Also, I wouldn't bother to try to beat Adventure Island. I don't see why it's considered a classic.

[Luke]

Walkthroughs on a platformer won't help if you can't play the game. It almost sounds like you just give up too easily.

If I were you, I'd pick up one game that you enjoy, and solely play it until you complete it. Sonic would be a great one to start with. I wouldn't stress about the chaos emeralds, but you should be able to beat Sonic by the third or fourth time you play it, it's fairly simple.

Don't cheat, and don't start with Castlevania (NES).

[Hatta]

Practice. Remember, back in the day the sheer novelty of these games demanded our attention. Video games were new and amazing, and since they were so amazing they could get away with a lot of crap we won't put up with now.

They were also expensive, and you weren't going to get your parents to buy you another game anytime soon. From that perspective, difficulty is good, it kept you coming back. It would worse to beat a $50 video game in a couple hours than it would be to have your ass kicked and get 40 hours of entertainment practicing.

So you have to be willing to put in the kind of effort a 10 year old kid in 1989 would have put into it. Considering that kid thinks video games are the best thing in the world, and literally has nothing else to do, that's a lot of effort.

[Luke]

Practice. Remember, back in the day the sheer novelty of these games demanded our attention. Video games were new and amazing, and since they were so amazing they could get away with a lot of crap we won't put up with now.

They were also expensive, and you weren't going to get your parents to buy you another game anytime soon. From that perspective, difficulty is good, it kept you coming back. It would worse to beat a $50 video game in a couple hours than it would be to have your ass kicked and get 40 hours of entertainment practicing.

So you have to be willing to put in the kind of effort a 10 year old kid in 1989 would have put into it. Considering that kid thinks video games are the best thing in the world, and literally has nothing else to do, that's a lot of effort.

Damned solid advice.

And I'll say it again, focus on one game. Forget you have other games. If you got a Genesis when it was brand new all you had was Altered Beast, and at the time, it was the greatest thing ever, and you would play it countless times until you beat it.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Practice. Remember, back in the day the sheer novelty of these games demanded our attention. Video games were new and amazing, and since they were so amazing they could get away with a lot of crap we won't put up with now.

They were also expensive, and you weren't going to get your parents to buy you another game anytime soon. From that perspective, difficulty is good, it kept you coming back. It would worse to beat a $50 video game in a couple hours than it would be to have your ass kicked and get 40 hours of entertainment practicing.

So you have to be willing to put in the kind of effort a 10 year old kid in 1989 would have put into it. Considering that kid thinks video games are the best thing in the world, and literally has nothing else to do, that's a lot of effort.

Damned solid advice.

And I'll say it again, focus on one game. Forget you have other games. If you got a Genesis when it was brand new all you had was Altered Beast, and at the time, it was the greatest thing ever, and you would play it countless times until you beat it.

Ditto.

I can honestly say that repetition and memorization are your best friends in this situation. After all that's how I can run through the original Super Mario Bros. in under five minutes on a consistent basis.

[corn619]

As previously mentioned, you can answer any of these questions in just a couple of minutes on Google.

But, for the record, Super Mario Bros. has 32 levels (unless you count the minus world, which you will never encounter in a normal game).

Also, I wouldn't bother to try to beat Adventure Island. I don't see why it's considered a classic.

I don't know if your talking about just the first Adventure Island game or the series as a whole but, sounds like someones never tried Adenture Island 4. That game is a true classic. Shame it never made it outside Japan.

[Limewater]

I don't know if your talking about just the first Adventure Island game or the series as a whole but, sounds like someones never tried Adenture Island 4. That game is a true classic. Shame it never made it outside Japan.

Yeah, I was just referring to the original.

Both Adventure Island on the NES and Wonderboy on the SMS spawned sequels that are leagues better than the original, in my opinion.