Play this videogame without looking at the screen? Challenge Accepted
December 10, 2015 4:12 PM   Subscribe

The People Who MacGyvered The Most Difficult Video Game Levels [slcracked] (The French lady who plays without looking at the screen only made it to #2.)
posted by marienbad (19 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Isn't Zelda without a sword (#4) kind of a standard thing to do?
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 6:02 PM on December 10, 2015


Now that I think about it, Battletoads is a self-MacGyvered game.
posted by Cash4Lead at 7:14 PM on December 10, 2015


"standard"
posted by Earthtopus at 7:40 PM on December 10, 2015


There should be a special category of MacArthur Fellowships for these people.
posted by echocollate at 7:48 PM on December 10, 2015 [2 favorites]


I used to do a thing at house parties where I'd beat the 8 Robot masters from Megaman 2 in the order of the party's choosing, in under a half-hour. But that seems less impressive now.
posted by Navelgazer at 8:33 PM on December 10, 2015 [5 favorites]


The article mentions Runnerguy playing Ocarina of Time blindfolded at AGDQ 2015, but doesn't explain that he only did the beginning parts of the game -- the Child Dungeons. He later went on to blindfold the game in its entirety -- here's the video of the final three hours.
posted by rifflesby at 9:16 PM on December 10, 2015 [3 favorites]


You might also be interested in this Let's Play of Ocarina of Time in which the runner does it "Super Wrong" -- that is, he gets everything you're supposed to get as Child Link as an adult, and vice-versa. Which if you're familiar with the game should strike you as worse than impossible.
posted by rifflesby at 9:20 PM on December 10, 2015 [4 favorites]


One of my favorite games of all time to watch is Mario 64. Here's a video of someone doing a respectable 16-star speedrun one handed.
posted by WCWedin at 9:35 PM on December 10, 2015 [2 favorites]


My ex's younger brother could beat the first stage of Einhander with his eyes closed, while maintaining a conversation about a different subject. It struck me that getting to that point required a level of dedication that I knew that I was unlikely to ever possess about anything, and that I didn't particularly want.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 10:08 PM on December 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


I felt somewhat hardcore for beating Dark Souls at Soul Level 1, but articles like this remind me of just how casual I am. Never did finish the Shields only run, either.
posted by dragoon at 11:22 PM on December 10, 2015


Nah, I would say SL1 Dark Souls is pretty hardcore. It's just that these other players are off the chart.
posted by rifflesby at 11:29 PM on December 10, 2015


I beat Fallout:New Vegas with just a shovel, and Skyrim with just a fork. It was fun, it just takes a long time.

"Subpar Mario Brothers" - nice
posted by sidereal at 3:34 AM on December 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


Sometimes I wonder why I ever stopped reading Cracked. Their content is excellent. I also wonder why I stopped playing video games. Then I remember I had kids and I cry (silently, for fear of waking them).
posted by Literaryhero at 3:35 AM on December 11, 2015 [5 favorites]


Am I the only one who questions the usage of "MacGyver" here? In my mind, MacGyvering is the art of using applied chemistry and physics to improvise useful tools out of whatever was immediately on hand. Whereas most of these are people going to extraordinary lengths (and in some cases procuring non-standard/tough-to-find game controllers) to make games artificially harder.

For instance, If I put on a pair of oven mitts before practicing my origami, am I MacGyvering papercraft? No, I'm just making it unnecessarily tough to do. Trying to win Soul Calibur with a fishing rod that you probably had to shell out $60 for on eBay, when the normal Dreamcast controller is right there in the box strikes me in much the same way.
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:06 AM on December 11, 2015 [3 favorites]


Zelda without a sword is pretty impressive. So much so that I myself posted it to Metfilter some years back for ahem Zelda Day. But note, as the person who wrote the article does not, you actually can't beat Zelda without a sword. You can get all the way up to the last boss, but unless you have a sword you cannot make him vulnerable to your silver arrows. You can get right to the brink of rescuing Zelda, but without your big phallic implement, cannot enter her chamber. Ahem.

(I once finished, if memory serves, Mario 64 with all stars on one life. I know I've finished Ocarina of Time with only three hearts.)
posted by JHarris at 6:25 AM on December 11, 2015


Isn't Zelda without a sword (#4) kind of a standard thing to do?

So is doing it without collecting any additional hearts. What's uncommon is doing both of those things.

There were a couple of blindfolded Punch Out (NES and SNES) runs during the last Awesome Games Done Quickly, but I couldn't begin to imagine taking on the task of an adventure game like Ocarina of Time.

And this line made me laugh harder than it should have:
Instead, she watched the crowd and played based on their collective screaming. It seems a person can play Soul Calibur the same way a confused husband plays The Price Is Right.
posted by dances with hamsters at 7:18 AM on December 11, 2015


I used to do a thing at house parties where I'd beat the 8 Robot masters from Megaman 2 in the order of the party's choosing, in under a half-hour.

honestly tho this sounds like my kind of party
posted by suddenly, and without warning, at 7:50 AM on December 11, 2015 [6 favorites]


Impressive. The best I ever did was throw strikes in Wii Bowling from a different room in the house.
posted by zakur at 11:35 AM on December 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


Pssstt... It's only impressive if someone can do all five of these at the same time (different controller, underpowered weapons, lowest score, blind folded, and dual games). Then will I be impressed.
posted by JiffyQ at 9:20 PM on December 11, 2015


« Older There are Other Forces at Work   |   Autism's Lost Generation Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments