Taken from a post on a discussion on Cuphead difficulty.
There are a lot of great ideas from the NES era of gaming which have been plain forgotten by not just developers but gamers as well.
When people remember difficulty in old school games, they remember jumping challenges, avoiding bullets, dying easily etc. What people don't talk about enough are the multiple paths and ways to beat the game.
Mario is a great example of letting the player choose their challenge. In Mario 3, within just world 1, there are a couple of levels you do not have to do at all. Most Mario worlds have branching paths which allow you to take the easier route or go for the hard one, and certain powerups give you h...
