/vr/ - Retro Games

I got to the last thread late, but I don't understand why it's controversial to call Plutonia trial-and-error. It's probably easy to forget because it's been out for 21 years and most long time players probably know every level back and forth. But as someone who tried and beat it for the first time a few months ago doing UV pistol start, it's obvious that it's full of ambushes that will certainly wipe you out if you have no idea they're coming.

In the first ten maps alone: MAP02's unmarked elevator lowers you right in the middle of a group of shotgunners and chaingunners with a baron right behind you. MAP04 starts with being lowered right into a mess of enemies with no immediate cover or clear path. MAP05's staircase brings down two archviles and spawns four chaingunners directly behind and above you. MAP06 surrounds you with revenants when you go up the elevator, brings in a teleporting archvile, and drops a hell knight right behind you at the yellow switch. MAP08 gets you DP'd by chaingunners not once, but twice, and the final fight is a sudden rush of two archviles and a mass of revenants. MAP09 teleports you into an ambush of knights, barons, cacos, and imps and has the mancubus/revenant/imp jamboree at the end. MAP10 is just nonstop ambushes. I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

I think the design of Plutonia is excellent because it felt like a series of just-tough-enough challenges that tested my situational awareness, tactical decision making, and even my resolve as I would restart a map over and over because some new shitshow took me by surprise and murked me on the spot. It's the kind of arcade-like "try, die, learn, repeat" that I came to love from Contra, Furi, and Bangai-O Spirits. Trial-and-error, like most mechanics, can be awful in the wrong contexts, but can fit perfectly in the right ones (and with the right mindsets).

Is Plutonia "hard for its time" or is it really just fuckin hard? I'm UV pistol starting it, and I don't know if it's a bitch for everyone, or if I'm just bad.