I recently beat DK Country 1 on the Snes...

DAAAAAMNNNNNNNN so hard!

I don't understand why playing easy games is a bad thing. I'm an old gamer and don't have time for anything challenging. I'm more about the experience and not the challenge. there's always a hard mode in most every game,so what the problem is???

This is Psyvariar 2, the visuals were waay better on that than the original haha. Don't be fooled by the small hitzone, this is from a "perfect run" DVD so played by a god and the hook for Psyvariar is that you have to fly as close to the bullets as possible for your scores. Risk/Reward. Great games that you should check out. I'm sure Psyvariar 2 came out on Dreamcast, PS2 and GameCube.

That's kinda why I like CAVE's shumps. They are not easy by any means, but almost anyone can learn how to beat the games. Akai Katana or Deathsmiles, those are great.

Here, take this!

Play Axelay, it'll make you feel like a god! :D

People like being able to finish the games they paid good money to buy, especially when the story of the game is an important part of the experience and needs a conclusion.

Hard games still exist, but most of those are indie titles with less of a focus on narrative.

I don't agree with the bolded part. Why exactly most of these games must be "indie titles", and particulary "with less of a focus on narrative"?

They don't have to be at all, just look at Dark Souls.

But making your game too difficult risks alienating potential buyers, and big-budget titles can't afford to take that risk.

Just look for niche games or unpopular games, those are mostly hard and simply don't appeal to the masses because of either that or because they are not cinematic. Take a look at the real popular games nowadays and you get an idea of what the masses want, gaming is a pop thing by now, it's not a niche thing itself anymore.
Gamers who were all in for the "niche market" back in the days and going for high scores and crazy things on games that people like to label as repetitive, boring or bad (because too hard - "omg this game is uncontrollable" or "gosh this game sucks, it doesn't do what I want!! and no, it's not me who's doing it wrong!!") are not the audience publishers are looking for, they are a minority.
I don't get why people loved the last Tomb Raider and were going all crazy about it. I could understand it was well produced and pit together but it was more like an entertainment thing, nothing that defines a game to me.

So keep looking for niche and/or arcades and you will find what you loved in the past. Sure, there are games every now and then that break the rules and are still popular but why limit the fun to those when the world is full of great games as we know and love them? You can't expect to find them along big names like EA, Microsoft, Activision, Sony, Nintendo, ...