Games That Grew On You

[JackHandy]

Veknoid_Outcast said:

I’ve more often experienced the opposite: I love a game in my youth, but sort of sour on it upon replaying it years later.

But I’ve definitely warmed to games after disliking them at first. I really struggled with Viewtiful Joe when it first launched on GCN. I couldn’t keep up with it. Then, after a few stops and starts, I finally wrapped my head around the rhythm of combat.

Another one is Zelda II. As a kid I struggled mightily with it. It was too challenging and opaque for me. I replayed it a few years ago and finally “got” it. I still think it’s among the weakest Zelda games, but I now appreciate everything it does well.

Zelda 2 is sort of like Doki-Doki... er... US Mario 2. It says Zelda right there on the label. It's in a gold cart. It features Link and Zelda, the main theme, and even has Ganon laughing at your (constant) miserable deaths. 

But it doesn't feel like Zelda. It feels like a new, quality IP that they slapped the Zelda franchise on, ala SMB2. I think that, more than anything, is why it's the weakest link (yes; fully intended).