Current Events > Remember when you couldn't play the full game on easy mode?

(+) Yeah! (+)

You play a few stages then the game ends and asks you to restart on a harder difficulty setting.

Or you could get to the end of the game and you dont see any ending, other than to try again on a harder setting,

I remember the latter but I dont know of any games that restart and have you play a harder difficulty

This happens on Super Mario Maker 100 Man mode but Normal is basically just as easy as easy so it doesnt really matter

Name even 3 games that do that

MarcoRubio posted...

Name even 3 games that do that

Touhou 6 sends you home after stage 5.
Contra 3 won't let you fight the last guy unless the difficulty is high enough.
Sonic Heroes only has you play half of each stage if you're on easy.

Damn I didn't know some games did that.

ViewtifulJoe posted...

Sonic Heroes only has you play half of each stage if you're on easy.

Team Rose isn't easy mode. They're a required part of 100%ing the game, and they just happen to have shorter and easier stages. Also while I've never tried it myself, you apparently do have the option of continuing their levels if you go past the goal ring.

pokedude900 posted...

Team Rose isn't easy mode. They're a required part of 100%ing the game, and they just happen to have shorter and easier stages. Also while I've never tried it myself, you apparently do have the option of continuing their levels if you go past the goal ring.

This sounds like a really unfun thing to argue about so I'll let you have it.

Here's a substitute.
-I'm pretty sure Cuphead doesn't give you what you need to play the fights if you're on simple mode.
-Also if you play Resident Evil 4 on easy, you don't have to do the hedge maze, the door's just open to begin with. They skip the King's Grail entirely too, there's no Armadura fight.

Twisted metal 2

Ratchetrockon posted...

Damn I didn't know some games did that.

It was common on the 8-bit and 16-bit era. Not so much now. Although not every game did so.

Dragon Spirit

PLOK was another game you couldn't fully play on Easy mode. It skipped some levels and you couldn't access the final area, giving you a message that you needed to play on Normal instead.

The SNES was notorious for that. That, and having to do a 100% collection to get the true ending.

Didn't Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox do this? Die a few times on normal difficulty and you unlock ninja dog setting.

Taz-Mania for Sega Genesis did this.

Superman 64: Playing it on easy removes the rings from the ride stages, and it will en before the second to last action stage. Normal mode ends before the last stage.
The first X-Men (1993) game for the Sega Genesis ends halfway through on 'Amateur' Mode (the easiest difficulty level) with a closeup of Magneto's sneering face and the text, "Amateurs can never defeat me! Try being a hero!" scrolling by.
Contra 4 not only ends at stage 7 on Easy mode but outright taunts you, telling you that you'll never see the ending on Easy. With that exact wording!
Contra III: The Alien Wars will only let you fight the True Final Boss on the hardest setting. The Easy and Normal mode will stop after the Final Boss reveals it is Not Quite Dead and you get a message telling you to play on the next difficulty level.
Castle of Illusion ends after you collect the third gem if you play on easy, with Mizrabel merely giving Minnie back to you. It encourages you to try Normal mode with the promise of "many new and exciting levels".
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers on the Sega CD will end on earlier levels when playing on lower difficulties. You can only play the entire game on hard mode.
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, Easy mode is "I've never played an adventure game before, I'm scared", and if you choose this mode, most of the puzzles are solved for you.
The Snes version of Bram Stoker's Dracula features this, if you beat it on Easy mode the game ends with Harker allowing Dracula to escape. Only on Normal or Hard mode will you be able to continue past the 3rd or 4th stage.
Cyborg Justice on Genesis. Players can experience the Arcade mode through 5 difficulties; however, "Relaxed" and "Easy" end the playthrough prematurely - at Level 3-3 and 4-3 respectively. Getting to the end is possible on "Normal" mode and above.
Double Dragon II: The Revenge for the NES gives it to you on this one in the American version. Playing the game on the "Practice" setting only takes you to the third stage, while "Warrior" takes you through the whole game except for the final stage. Fighting the True Final Boss to see the ending can only be achieved by playing the game on "Supreme Master", the hardest of the difficulty settings.
The Game Boy version of Double Dragon II ends after the first four (of ten) stages when played on the Easy setting.

In the Genesis version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters, if you beat Karai in easier and normal difficulty, you couldn't rescue Splinter but Karai taunts you by saying that you only succeeded in destroying her clone, and she's still waiting for your challenge, followed by her evil laugh before the staff roll. After that, the text appears says "Challenge Next Level!!" and you were booted back to the title screen of the game. To rescue Splinter and get the true ending, you need to beat the game at hardest difficulty.
The SNES port of Doom, the only way to access the second and third episodes is to play on a highest difficulty. If you pick "I'm too young to die", you will get brutally murdered and chucked back to the title screen with no explanation at all after beating the boss of "Phobos Anomaly", and won't get to continue on to the later episodes until you run through it again on higher difficulties.
The NES and Game Boy versions of The Lion King end early if you play them on "Cub" mode (as Scar puts it on the ending screen, "Well done, my little cub, but that was Easy"). The Game Boy version, being longer than the NES version in a twisted form of logic, ends at The Stampede on Cub mode; the NES version ends after the Elephant Graveyard.
Mega Man X8 stops you just before the final boss if you play on easy.
The Disney Hercules computer game, when played on the Easy setting, ends on the Mount Olympus level with Hercules freeing Zeus. It ends with a nice little still image and the usual "now try a higher difficulty" message.
The Genesis version of Toki has four difficulty levels. Easy mode only allows you to play up to level 8; after you beat that, the game ends with a screen full of hopping apes and the text "Congratulations...but true peace will not come until you play and defeat the harder modes". All other difficulty levels allow you to play the 9th and final level, as well as see the proper credit sequence.
If one beats the Special Edition CD version of the original Earthworm Jim on Practice Mode, you do not get the "UR'E THE BEST" screen after beating the Queen, and the ending cutscene is gone. Instead, you see a still shot of the ending's location, with the voice of series creator Doug TenNapel saying "What a worm! Playing on practice, eh?" Feeling bad, he decides to explain (in a non-serious manner) everything (and he means EVERYTHING) he knows about worms.
Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose! has the game skip parts of the levels, one whole level, and even the ending if you happen to play the easiest mode.
Sylvester And Tweety In Cagey Capers takes the "fewer levels on easy mode" idea to the extremeit has a difficulty slider, and the lower it's set, the fewer levels you can play, down to just the first level at anything below 11%. If you want the whole game, you'll have to set it to at least 81%.
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels features a variation of this: If you use any warp zones (even the ones that send you back to an earlier level) while playing this game, then you cannot unlock World 9.
In Jurassic Park 2: The Chaos Continues for the SNES, you can only unlock the last 2 levels (which give you the true ending) if you play through the game on Hard.
Bonk's Revenge ends after the first boss on Easy difficulty, and after the fourth boss on Medium.
In Little Samson, Easy mode cuts out the final level.
Super R-Type gives an ending message on the lines of "Congratulations... and yet this was only training. You cannot know what your next encounter will bring" and then on the next screen, "Let's try the next difficulty level!"
The Flintstones on Genesis skips the last levels on Easy. Normal got all levels, but skips the ending.
Playing and beating the first stage in Smash TV on the SNES gives you the message "That was Easy! Now try Normal" before taking you to the high score screen.
Gunstar Super Heroes does this in a surprisingly subtle way. If you play the game on easy mode, the game progresses as normal, but the plot basically becomes a Saturday-Morning Cartoon, with characters robbed of all depth to become two-dimensional, one-liner-spewing heroes and villains instead. Conversely, playing on hard mode adds more complexity to the plot, with villains being given sympathetic motives, more details on the game's backstory being divulged.
Body Harvest has two difficulty settings (Hero and Zero) but the easier one will end the game after the third level/time period.
The Genesis version of Golden Axe has a Beginner mode consists of only three stages, ending the game with a battle against Death Adder Jr., a weaker version of the real Death Adder.
In Kamen Rider for the Super Famicom, the game ends before the final level if you're playing it on easy mode.
In the first Sailor Moon (1993) game for the Super Famicom, a sidescroller released only in Japan and France, you can only complete the first two levels in easy mode before the game ends.
Streets of Rage 3 on Easy difficulty in the International version will end after defeating Robot X on stage 5 (the game has 7 stages), who will say, "You play this game like a beginner."
In the SNES version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, the ending on Easy or Normal mode merely consists of Splinter telling you to hone your skills more, followed by Shredder laughing at you before resulting in Game Over. In true Konami fashion at the time, you have to beat it on Hard mode to see the real ending.
In the Game Boy Advance version of the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) game, you wouldn't able to access the final stages that take place in the Foot Headquarters building and the Turtles' final battle with Shredder in the game if you play Easy Mode.
Twisted Metal 2: When played on Easy, the game ends just after the first boss with a big stop sign featuring the message "No losers allowed beyond this point".
Rock n' Roll Racing limits what planets you could race on (and thus what cars you have access to), depending on the difficulty setting. The last planet is only playable on the highest setting.
Super Mario Kart doesn't allow you to race in the Special Cup on 50cc. You have to play on at least 100cc to see it.
The Game Boy version of the original Killer Instinct just rolls the credits after the fight against Fulgore on the easier difficulties, so you can't see the ending or even the final boss.
The Nintendo 64 version of Killer Instinct Gold also features this. If you play through the game on Very Easy, you won't even get to the end boss; you instead get some saditty message about not being worthy, then the credits roll. At Easy, you fight him but will not get an ending after winning.
In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters, in the NES version, if you beat Shredder in easy mode, Splinter won't congratulates the turtles but there's a message that's encourages you to challenge the normal mode next time. If you beat normal mode, Splinter does congratulates the turtles and have them celebrate their victory, but there's no staff roll and a message will shows up and encourages you to challenge the hard mode next time.

HylianFox posted...

Dragon Spirit

To be fair this is not really a difficulty you "select", its more if you die in the opening stage, it puts you in an easier game. I guess it still pertains, I just took the topic as a difficulty selection.

I remember a Commander Keen fangame where levels were generally split into several sub-levels. You recovered health between them, and I think if you died you'd restart from the beginning of the current sublevel, but you couldn't save and exit until you'd beaten the whole level. The hardest difficulty would often add an entire extra sublevel.

The game also had a level editor but to use most enemies, you first had to beat a level that contained them, and some enemies were exclusive to these extra Hard difficulty sublevels so you'd only unlock them if you played on Hard.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/8/3/AAOGRhAAE2M3.png

In the Sega Genesis games Rocket Knight Adventures and its sequel Sparkster you didn't get to do the final boss fight on Easy mode, nor did you see the ending cut scene.

FL81 posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/8/3/AAOGRhAAE2M3.png

I have dishonored my ancestors

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EasyModeMockery

Only encountered a few games with this stupidity and always laughed at them for trying to insult a player who just wanted to relax and enjoy a game. When developers try to force you to play on hard difficulties it tells me they are the kind of losers who feel its not fun unless you are getting bent over a barrel by the game.

To those saying they dont believe this, go play some random sega and snes games on the switch and you will run into it a lot.

That's the reason I was never able to finish Streets of Rage 3.

Any games made after 2009 do this?

I feel as though there is a game or two where they fon't throw certain monsters into the game unless on a harder difficulty.

So many 90s shmups did this

TimeSplitters 2 missions were shorter if you didnt play on hard.

RiKuToTheMiGhtY posted...

Only encountered a few games with this stupidity and always laughed at them for trying to insult a player who just wanted to relax and enjoy a game. When developers try to force you to play on hard difficulties it tells me they are the kind of losers who feel its not fun unless you are getting bent over a barrel by the game.

To be fair, most of the time there was no big difference in difficulty between Normal and Hard.

Foppe posted...

Double Dragon II: The Revenge for the NES gives it to you on this one in the American version. Playing the game on the "Practice" setting only takes you to the third stage, while "Warrior" takes you through the whole game except for the final stage. Fighting the True Final Boss to see the ending can only be achieved by playing the game on "Supreme Master", the hardest of the difficulty settings.

I only remember this game

MarcoRubio posted...

Name even 3 games that do that

I believe one of the TMNT games for SNES/Genesis was like this, where you got a different/longer ending depending on the difficulty level.

That was common during the 8 and 16-bit days, to artificially increase game length. People forget most games back then were short.

I never played any games that didn't let you finish the game at a lower difficulty, but I did play Star Wars Rogue Squadron on N64 which didn't let you see the full ending unless you were on hard or higher.

The difference between Easy and Normal in Tiny Toon Adventures: Busters Busts Loose:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=q7mir8xALLA&si=izTYw36tG4QJ8ngW
https://youtube.com/watch?v=cwGrag0bCEI&si=VIx7s8X4suh7JZdY

I remember like one game

Foppe covered most I was thinking of. Mega Turrican was another. If you were on a lower difficulty, the game would just end at a certain point and tell you to play a higher difficulty in order to progress.

Back when games had balls.

Castlevania 64. And what's worse is it ends right after the part where you had to carry the nitro glycerine, which I was absolutely not doing again. It's like they actively wanted me to never replay it again.

Alteres posted...

To those saying they dont believe this, go play some random sega and snes games on the switch and you will run into it a lot.

Those comments aged well.

I came in here to say Jamestown does that, too, you have to play on harder difficulties to reach all the levels

I remember long ago that Street Fighter 2 (not sure about the updates) on the SNES did the same thing.
I forget how it treated you on the easiest difficulty, but anything under Very Hard (8 stars) gave you the character ending and game ends.
To see the fancy end credits, you had to beat it on that last difficulty level.

Eliminator Boat Duel on Nes was the opposite.
You raced the same opponent a handful of races for points and money.
The harder difficulties skipped the first couple of opponents, thus giving you less money to upgrade your boat.

BombermanGold posted...

I remember long ago that Street Fighter 2 (not sure about the updates) on the SNES did the same thing.
I forget how it treated you on the easiest difficulty, but anything under Very Hard (8 stars) gave you the character ending and game ends.
To see the fancy end credits, you had to beat it on that last difficulty level.

I want to remember that 4 stars and below pretty much only gave you a black screen, then each new star added something new to the endings.

MarcoRubio posted...

Name even 3 games that do that

Golden Axe
Streets of Rage 3
Double Dragon 2

Karovorak posted...

That's the reason I was never able to finish Streets of Rage 3.

For some reason they made it much much harder in the US version than the Japanese version

Usually it's the other way round

UnfairRepresent posted...

For some reason they made it much much harder in the US version than the Japanese version
Usually it's the other way round

The rental market in the US was much larger than in Japan. They didn't want people renting the game and beating it over the weekend instead of purchasing it. Many US versions of games were harder during this period like Contra 3.

Yeah, I'm not the biggest fan. I was playing the Metal Slug Collection on Wii, and the sixth game cuts off if you use infinite credits or whatever.