I see what you're getting at MrMarc. One is testing your intelligence and the other is testing your memory. Rather like comparing learning string theory to memorizing a phone book. They're both difficult, and the person who's capable of grasping all the abstract concepts of string theory probably wouldn't be able to memorize a phone book, and vice versa.

Also, I'm willing to bet that the majority of people would rather learn string theory (Zelda), than memorize a phone book (Contra).

I have to ask is this the original Ninja Gaiden than yes it started out very easy but made you want to break the controller once you got to the temple.

If you are talking about NG:Black than maybe it is just me but that was a fairly easy game that I beat in one weekend and to me also didn't quite have the feel of the original as well.

Someone mentioned A Link to the Past as hard I guess maybe it was but that was another game I sat down and beat over the course of one sleepless weekend(fun game though did find myself cnfused as where to go once or twice).

 To me the Ghost and Goblins series has always been insanely hard as was the Contra series(without cheat codes). I thought Rush'n Attack was hard at first but I played a bit ago and was amazed how easy it was.

As for difficulty in games they have always been easy for the most part but they were still fun Castlevania was fun but nothing outstandingly hard Final Fantasy is fun and a little drawn out but not hard. SMB has never been difficult.

Of course some older games were hard because crap controls(Milons Secret Castle cough cough)

Heh, never could Contra sound more mundane than being compared to a phone book :D But no you did pretty much sum up what I meant.

I wouldn't mean it as a negative to those games either, I love some old school style non stop action but at the same time I don't like losing an entire life every 5 seconds just so I can add another moment to the memory!

I have more of a problem with this that none of the Nintendo fans think it is even remotely possible that this could be a problem.

I completely agree with Ckmlb, I prefer single player experiences to multiplayer ones and I shouldn't have to play a multiplayer game in order to play a difficult games.

Maybe one solution is to just include different difficult levels (Easy, Medium, Hard, etc.). Nintendo games don't typically do this, except the sports games, so I don't know if we will see easy/hard modes on Super Mario Galaxy.

Did the Metroid Prime games have different difficulty levels? I honestly don't know, I played very few Gamecube games.

@ckmlb

Phantom Hourglass has already been simplified. From what I have read, it is the best Zelda game yet, because it re-invents the controls. The game is more accessible, and it is a fresh take on the franchise.

Even the controls for MP3 make the game more accessible to the casual(read: not non-gamers, yet).

NSMB already did it. Super Mario Galaxy has simplified the camera issues.

The day the lack difficulty takes away from the fun is the day I point the finger at Nintendo.

@akuma,

Once you beat the game, you unlock Hard Mode.

I really don't know but I don't think htere has been a really difficult game since the 16 bit era of course I may have mised some..the closest I have come to choking on the game was the escort mission in Goldeneye in 007 mode where you had to defend the women hacking the computer while enemies were shooting through the windows.

@redspear,

Same here. Though I have heard that the Ninja Gaiden game on Xbox/PS3 are pretty hard; never played them.

Once again, obviously, complex multiplayer games will always, always be more difficult than similar single player experiences, simply because playing against intelligent and experienced humans is more difficult than playing against computer AI. That's why every single major game played in the professional arena is multiplayer -- Starcraft, Warcraft, Unreal Tournament, Counter Strike, Team Fortress: all of them focus on playing other people. Even Ck agreed that this was true, implicitly: he said he didn't want to have to practice for a long time to compete with other high end players. 

Unless you mean you want games to be reasonably hard, but not too hard? That's a totally reasonable position, I think, and I highly doubt that all games will suddenly become polarized, with incredibly easy games and professional-grade multiplayer ones. There will be a full spectrum, with very easy games (probably mostly on Nintendo platforms, I agree) and very challenging ones (almost exclusively multiplayer ones) and everything in between. 

If you like that "in between," then the PS3 or 360 is for you, and that's what you apparently own. That's great! Again, I definitely hope you enjoy your games, Akuma, I'm not trying to suggest otherwise. I just hope you can accept that some people want easier games, and some people want more challenge than any single player game could ever provide, and those people have reasonable positions too. 

Why cant games just have difficulty levels like most games.. is it that hard to do.. Resistance had 4 difficulty levels, Unreal Tournament has 15. A Mario game with a very hard difficulty would be fun. Mario has been easy since Mario Sunshine. I'm just going to hate to see how much easier Star Fox is going to be on the Wii... Star Fox on the GC was pathetically easy, it pissed me off the Nintendo would do that to such a great franchise.

Oh, and I'd love someone to try to beat Godlike in Unreal without dying, I managed it once. Lightning fast reflexes is the key to all headshots =]

Is that to difficult to do? maybe for a grandmother but for the hardcore and most younger casuals its not hard to accomplish by training in the easier difficulties to get better.

Why Nintendo cant put in multi-difficulties like they used to is beyond me...