What gaming moments made you question your intelligence?

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What gaming moments made you question your intelligence?

A talking point, features, gaming, intelligence, moments, question

Head of intelligence services
Image: Nintendo Life

Human beings are smart. Really smart.

We are the only species on earth that has the brain power to understand our own existence. We’ve landed on the moon, built great engineering feats, built giant buildings that pierce the clouds in the sky, and made great strides in science and medicine. So yeah, we’re a smart bunch, all in all.

This makes it even more embarrassing when we have moments where we really question our own intelligence. Moments that induce impostor syndrome and make us think “huh, maybe I’m not that smart after all”. When we have such moments, it’s good to talk about them. Admitting your own minor failures and laughing about them in the company of your peers can be extremely liberating. It makes us realize that we are all in the same boat, just trying to navigate life as best we can.

With that in mind, we thought we’d share our own embarrassing gaming moments that made us question our intelligence; seemingly simple tasks or mechanics that should, in theoryit turned out to be no problem, and yet it kept us in suspense for far longer than we’d usually like to admit, and the final revelation came as both an incredible relief and an utter embarrassment.

did I really stuck here? God…

Ollie Reynolds, Ball Dropper

Metroid Prime
Image: Nintendo Life

Playing Metroid Prime Remastered over 20 years after I originally picked up the original on the GameCube reminded me of a rather awkward moment during the intro tutorial section of Space Pirate Frigate.

Frustrated, I turned off the GameCube. “Obviously I’m not cut out for this experience,” I meant.

You see, at this point in the game, Samus has many of her core abilities intact; it’s not until you escape the Frigate and land on the nearby planet Tallon IV that she loses them all. So missiles? Check. Grab beam? Check. Morph Ball? Check. I knew I had the Morph Ball, because I tested it right after jumping off the ship. And yet…

About ten minutes into the game there is a moment where you come across a locked door. By scanning the monitor in front, it says that to open said door it is necessary to “insert a metal ball” into a recess on the ground. Of course, this refers to Samus’ Morph Ball ability, but for reasons I still can’t quite fathom to this day, I must have spent a good two hours scouring the rooms I’d already visited for some kind of spherical object. Again and again and over... Obviously, I didn’t find it.

No joke, when I finally realized the game was about the Morph Ball ability, I turned off the GameCube in frustration. “Obviously I’m not cut out for this experience,” I meant. I went back to it a few hours later when I calmed down, and I’m very thankful I did, because the trip after that was mainly ordinary sailing, and it resulted in one of the most exciting gaming experiences of my life.

A metal ball… Hahaha. If you can’t laugh, you’ll cry.

Alana Hagues, Ninja Neglecter

FF6
Image: Nintendo Life

Shame on me, but Final Fantasy VI was one of the last Final Fantasy games I beat. Still, more than 20 years after the game first came out, I did huge a mistake, which shocked many people. I know others have done this, but look, the game pretty clearly hints at what you should do. So it’s recognition time. Final Fantasy VI spoilers ahead…

About halfway through the game you find yourself on the Floating Continent. You rescue a former ally, Shadow, who you learn is secretly working for the Empire, and he decides to join the Returners until you confront Kefka and Emperor Gestahl in the Warring Triad, where Shadow departs. A lots of happens, and you are forced to escape the Floating Continent in a limited time.

when I told my friends, they were shocked. I was declared a ninja assassin

When there’s a time limit in the corner of the screen, I always panic, so I see this clock ticking while I’m running around the Floating Continent, trying to save the lives of the party, and I think “I’ve got to get out of here quickly“. I got to the end, and below me, Blackjack was hovering, waiting for me. Then the game gave me a choice – jump or wait. Without even thinking, I chose “Jump”. And we ran away. It didn’t” t once twig that hey , Alana, there’s a timer and it’s playing I suggest you wait. Why? If I said ‘Wait’ and tried to jump again, the game would specifically suggest “I have to wait for Shadow…”. Literally, the game put flashing warning signs in front of me, and I completely ignored them.

It wasn’t until I was about five hours into the World of Ruins and re-collecting the rest of the Returners that I thought, wait, where’s my favorite ninja? As it turns out… I couldn’t. He’s dead forever and there’s nothing I can do about it. oops I still saved the world and ended Kefka’s reign as a God, but with a little blood on my hands…

I’m glad I’m not the only one who did this, but when I told my friends, they were shocked. I was declared a ninja assassin despite the signs given to me by Final Fantasy VI. It’s not as obvious as “fire magic heals a fire enemy” — maybe I’d feel a little better if I’d done this as a kid. But I was in my 20s. The Internet was right there.

Or I could just, you know, read.

Jim Norman, Arrow Avoider

Lego Star Wars
Image: Eidos Interactive

The year was 2005. The game was LEGO Star Wars on the GBA. Yes, this title may not match up with the others on this ‘best games eva’ list, but it was still enough to blow little old me away.

I got lost. In a Lego game.

As anyone who has ever played a Lego game will be able to tell you, these levels are pretty simple. You move from a clearly defined point A to an equally clear point B, solving some not-too-scratching puzzles along the way and engaging in very simple one-button combat. True, the 100% collectathon that comes after can be challenging, but my problem came with the first item on the aforementioned list: I got lost. In a Lego game.

There was a level (I forget which episode) where you roll like R2-D2, drop mines and use your soar the ability to cross gaps. I emphasize soar in this case because, well, it was pretty important. Having made it this far, I was faced with a large gap with a row of studs across it. Unlike the other gaps I had encountered up to this point, I couldn’t see the other side. “I guess it’s just a hole that leads nowhere,” I concluded, after using R2’s limited hovering ability to fly out, pick up the studs and then fly back to my side. The safe page.

Then I found myself at a dead end. With nowhere left unexplored but this giant hole in front of me, where was I even supposed to go? I kept shutting down my GBA and restarting the level — this must be a hardware issue, right? What I forgot to think about was the floating void plugs I had collected so many times were lying in the shape of – you guessed it – an arrow. All you had to do was follow the direction of the arrow and the scrolling screen would move with you, showing you the other side of the pit.

Whether it’s the embarrassment of blaming the hardware or my complete carelessness about massive arrow ahead of me (note that the GBA version was from an isometric perspective, making the direction even clearer) I’ll never know. But one thing I am sure of is how that gap still haunts me. If a Lego game — or any game, for that matter — presents you with a giant arrow, kids, you should probably follow it.

Liam Doolan, Pokémon Master

Pokemon
Image: Nintendo Life

Not long after getting Pokémon Blue on the Game Boy, I decided to use my first Master Ball on Jigglypuff.

I even saved the game file… d’oh!

Gavin Lane, pipe blocker

Sonic 3
Image: Sega

This is something that millions of us have encountered, but I can’t think of something so simple that stopped me for so long: Sonic 3’s ‘barrel’.

For those who don’t know, this was a rotating moving cylinder that blocked your path in the carnival night zone. The key to overcoming this is realizing that you can affect the barrel’s elastic y bounce by alternately pushing up and down on the D-pad, thus pushing the platform down far enough to access the next part of the level and turn on your merry way.

Keeping in mind how rudimentary Sonic 3’s controls are (D-pad and one button), stick to this until time runs out Multiple times made me question my sanity when I finally found out how to skip it. Former NL contributor and Retronaut Stuart Gipp wrote about it few years ago, rightfully admonishing anyone dim-witted enough to be outwitted by a bloody barrel. No excuses, here. I mistake.

silly me

Ah… We feel better now that that’s off our chest. Now we would like to hear your stories too. Do you have moments in gaming that made you question your own intelligence? Moments you were simply too embarrassed to tell anyone about until today?

Don’t worry, we’re all friends here. Share your story in the comments section below.

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