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"Was I a 9-year old gaming master?"

As I'm short one DS at the moment, I've taken to borrowing my brother's and playing Mario 64 for hours on end. I remember playing this 7 years ago, when I was 9. Good times. Most of it's easier than it used to be, and I've been getting the 100 coin stars much earlier than I used to. The new stars were easy to collect, and the only difficulty near the beginning is unlocking the new characters. Not the boss fights, they suck (except Wario's), but the new hardcore platforming levels.

When I got to Hazy Maze Cave, the stars were easily obtained, but I got stuck on the coin collecting. It took a few days to conquer, but when I discovered the blue coins (5 coin value) in the poisonous maze, the rest were easy. By this point, I'd conquered the wall jump, something which I found really hard in the original.

Lethal Lava Land was easy, as in the original, while Shifting Sand Land posed a few problems. But it was all in good fun, and I conquered the quicksand sooner or later. Soon, I made it to the upper levels. Wet-Dry world was easy. Seriously, were there this many coins in the original? However, that's where I met a problem. Tall, Tall Mountain. Are there even 100 coins in this? Sheesh... There's not even any blue coins or anything, and I can't use that slide thing because you get stuck at the end in a small room with the star.

Anyway, I decided to put it aside for now, and set off to the later levels. Tiny-Huge Island? Easy. Tick Tock Clock? (Insert easy clock joke here). But Rainbow Ride brought back painful memories. I remember the shortcut at the start, but seriously... HOW THE HELL DID I DO THIS WHEN I WAS 9?!?!? It's not the new star that causes problems, but those magic carpet rides. This is why I love videogames. But seriously, I'm wondering how a 9 year old could negotiate those magic carpets, swinging platforms and the dreaded donut blocks.

I remember a long night, spent trying to get the 100 coins on this level. Then, the absolute greatness I felt when I fired myself onto the roof, and met Yoshi. At the age of 9, that was a feat I hadn't thought would have been possible. Now, I've completed all the worlds (including coin stars) except for the coin star on Tall, Tall Mountain, two mission stars on Rainbow Ride and the coin star on said hell. Then there's the red coins and secret stars in the character saving levels, that switch star in Bowser in the Fire Sea....

I love this game. Plus, I'm sure many of you do as well. Remember any childhood videogaming nightmares, which you wouldn't have thought were possible, when you look back?

yeah that is a good point, it doesnt seem to transend to multiplayer, i could never beat people older than me.
Just the actual games then, ortho not all kids are good at games, the countless kiddies in computer game shops that pick up the joypad and just run around the area they are in, thinking they are playing the game.

You're all gonna laugh when you read this. When my brother was 5(and I was about 9) he got far more pokemon than I did(to my knowledge). He also beats me in most/all battles. It's just, I've never met someone so young that caught so many pokemon. The names were quite humourous(at the time). A lot of them are just random letters typed in- in the same way that a 3 year-old would probably do. Others didn't have a name at all! THIS was a kid that has bettered me in proper pokemon games since the very beginning(with every single GB, GBC and GBA game. We were kind of equal on the Stadiums)! Despite his lack of general(or any) strategies. He must be hiding something.

When it comes to Super Smash Bros(both), on the other hand, he doesn't stand a chance.

i remember completing starwing on the harder mode, when i mustve been very young, which i realise now was a major feat....although i do remember finding it exteamily hard

maybe, its like going back to a skill thats program'd into us, i mean yes i found for example LTTP easier second+ time round, i was older, but i think it was because i had done it before not because of my age, but after doing certain bits that were rarther challenging, i would think how the hell i did i do that.

I don't know.

I remember laying Super Metroid when I was 8 and it taking aaaaages to complete.

ow I'm 17 and can complete it in about 3-4 hours without trying very hard.

I remember that Halo kid. Man he was good. It's because the younger you are, the faster you learn. As we get older we find it harder to adapt and learn new skills, so whereas a 9 year old kid might only take 20 minutes to become a demon on Soul Calibur, it would take people over 18 quite a bit longer than that.

For me, though, I've got much better at games as time's gone on. I remember getting horribly stuck on Link to the Past on the SNES, in a room with flying tiles. I didn't have a clue what to do for god knows how many months. I got to th dark world and I just found it impossible, I don't know why. But now that I have all these years of experience behind me I can just figure stuff like that out pretty quick.

Children are easier to manipulate than adults when it comes to games, thus they are submersed further into the game than an adult and probably would perform better.
I was watching Child of our time and this little 5 year old kiddy, normal kiddy, was absolutely kicky a** on Halo. And i remember a similar thing with myself.
I do not know how the hell i beat games like Secret of Mana, Link to the Past etc when my usual reading was Kipper the dog.
I used to absolutley wipe the floor with games such as Sonic and Mario (2d) but now as i go back and play via emulators this is'nt often the case.

I always used to think, wow i'm good at games now, imagine when i'm older, i never imagined I would decline.

Yup, one of my all time favourite games. Nothing beats the pleasure of kicking the s**t out of so many random enemies, and finally beating Dr X on Mania mode - so hard, but so rewarding.

And the music makes me feel so nostalgic. It actually wants to make me cry, and I'm not kidding.

Ah, Streets of Rage, good, good times were had with that series :D

lol, cheers Bullett ;)

Yeah, I gotta agree with Bullett there, although I do still play games, I really don't have tthe time or patience to sit there and fully commit myself to it anymore. I still can with a decent RPG, but with a game like Ninja Gaiden - not anymore. However I did get up to Chapter 12 on it ;)

I remember back to my very youthful days - countless days on playing the Mega Drive and Nes, constantly beating the same games over and over again. Streets Of Rage? I mean, I beat that game like 100 times (I'm probably not joking, if not more) and I just had the patience to incessantly play it. Will I now? Hell, no.

I have too many things to do instead of playing games, now. It's a shame, but yeah.