 Remember those dull summer weekdays when you drag your parents to the video store, Mr. Movies or Video Update if you're from Minnesota like me, to make the all-important decision as to what Super Nintendo game to rent, based on what was still available, of course. The pertinent RPGs of the time were always out, Mega Man was always out, and I was kind of sick of Contra and Castlevania and the like, so occasionally I felt the need to branch out a bit and try something new. Sometimes however, this backfired, and I'd pick a game either that flat out sucked, or I'd pick a game way too hard to get into, to understand, or to even get past the first level in some cases. So this is a video dedicated to those games that were just way too effing hard to make any progress on a simple two or three day rental. Games that deserve another chance despite its bad initial first impression. The inspiration for a list of this nature is the game Super Ghouls and Ghosts. I loved the look, feel, and sound of this game, but it was just too freaking hard. I couldn't even get to the first checkpoint of the first level, after trying over and over and over and over again. So freaking frustrating. So for the longest time, I really hated this game and ragged on it any chance I got. But I was in the wrong. I had been approaching this game the wrong way. Super Ghouls and Ghosts appears to be a run and gun style platformer, but it's way more of a puzzle platformer that requires a lot of memorization. You gotta know what enemy appears where and when. You gotta know when to attack, and what weapon works best in whatever area. You gotta know when to jump, and when to double jump, and how to double jump. And most importantly, you gotta know where the hidden power-ups are. Those are crucial to your progress in this game. If you approach this game like Mario or Contra, you get what you deserve. Super Ghouls and Ghosts is a different breed altogether, and if you dismissed it back in the day, it deserves a second chance. Another game that comes to mind is East 3, Wanderers from East. The trouble here is that you get killed immediately by the first monsters you encounter outside the first dungeon. As a result, this game was seen as a big disappointment at the time by many. Really, if you want to play East 3, you have to grind in this cave, for at least a few levels, or at least 15 or 20 minutes or so. Yeah, obviously that's kind of a glaring flaw and by no means is this game a classic. But it's a cheap cartridge, a much better alternative to games like Lagoon, and it's a worthwhile playthrough. I certainly don't blame anyone for blowing this game off if you don't plan on killing bugs in a cave for 20 minutes, but you'd be missing out on a great soundtrack and a unique adventure style Super Nintendo game. I did a video on this game a few months ago, so if you're interested, go check it out. A similar situation to this involves the Breath of Fire series, in particular Breath of Fire 2. Now, if you go into these games expecting a similar experience that you might have with classic Squaresoft RPGs like Final Fantasy 6 and Chrono Trigger, you might be disappointed because these games by nature are very grindy. I mean, that's why they include an auto battle button after all. In Breath of Fire 2, as soon as you leave your village with your friend Bo, the encounter rate is just nuts. It's literally every 5 or 6 steps, and the battles are time consuming. They force you to go all out and use potions, healing spells, the whole shebang. God help you if you wander off to a wrong part of the map, or you are toast. That's not to slag on the game at all, it's up to you the player to weather the storm and survive all the early bumps and bruises, level up and move on to the better parts of the game. It's worth it. The story is well done, and you'll eventually come across other gameplay aspects that make the Breath of Fire series stand out among its RPG peers, so if you dismissed it because it's too grindy at first, go check it out. Shadowrun is another RPG that's hard to get into at first. I remember my childhood friend down the road from me renting this, and we both just kinda gocked at the TV as the intro played. What the hell is this? What do we do? It can be pretty intimidating, just because it's so different from what you're used to. This is a game where I recommend checking out a Let's Play or a FAC to get your feet wet before diving in. I'll just say that for starters, that Shadowrun is a game where you gotta be thorough. It's up to you to talk to everyone, unlock keywords, and discover clues to figure out what you're supposed to do and where you're supposed to go. And believe me, this game is worth it. Dim the lights when you play this one, and just hang out in the game's universe for a while. The graphic design, atmosphere, and music are all top notch, and unlike any other Super Nintendo game. Speaking of intimidating, it doesn't get much more intimidating than Ogre Battle, March of the Black Queen. You start out with this wizard that evidently wants you to play 20 questions. 12 year old me was totally baffled by this, I'd never seen anything like it. After all that, the game finally starts, and uh, what the hell do I do? What is all this? I don't even get to control my own battles, would a rip off. But yeah, obviously this game is a strategy role playing game. It was way too advanced for my primitive brain back then. Maybe it wasn't for yours, I don't want to generalize or anything, but I do recommend like Shadowrun, checking out a Let's Play or reading a fact before digging into this game so you know what you're getting into. This is a game that kind of assumes you already know what you're getting into with a strategy RPG. That's not a good or a bad thing, that's just how it is. There's complex character classes, managing terrain, planning attacks, it's deep as hell. So while Ogre Battle might not be for everyone, it's absolutely worth trying out to see if it's your kind of thing. Because of it is, you will love it, it is easily the best of its genre on the Super Nintendo. I also want to mention Earthbound very quickly. As this game gets written off by some people at just one glance, look at the graphics some people say. What is this, an NES game? Don't let the art design fool you. Earthbound is way more than the sum of its parts. You won't find another story like it. The dialogue is laugh out loud funny. Earthbound is like one of those bands that you can't put into a genre, like Tom Waits. Like how do you describe Tom Waits' music to somebody? That's how I feel about Earthbound. It's just so hard to describe. You just have to play it for yourself. One day I hope to do a full review of this game, so I'll just leave it at that for now. Last I will mention a category as a whole. Every single decent Super Nintendo shoot-'em-up. I don't know about you, but I absolutely sucked at these games as a kid. I still tried to get into them, so I had occasionally rent Axelay or borrow Gradius III from a friend or whatever, but I'd rarely get past the first level. I just didn't know how to play games like this, so I gave up too quickly. Look, if you're not into shoot-'em-ups, I get it. Every game seems the same and they all seem to blend together, or maybe they're just too hard. I'm not gonna be that guy and preach about the Schmup Master Race or whatever, but you gotta at least try out Axelay or Space Megaforce or UN Squadron. Space Megaforce in particular, because it's a little easier for beginners and because it's arguably the best of the bunch. Even try out Gradius III on easy difficulty because you're quick to get really overpowered right away and that allows you to progress a bit further in the game. All I can say is that I seriously regret dismissing this genre when I was younger, so I'm making up for lost time today. Anyway, that's all I got for now. Thanks for watching and have a great rest of your day.