Stiq Figures, December 2 - 8: Games that broke us edition
Welcome to Stiq Figures, where the sales data is after the break and the posts don't matter.
There's a sense of accomplishment that floods from besting a game's challenge after weeks, months, maybe even years of watching your avatar crumple in its death. Sticking with a game to champion its toughest gauntlets is a test of determination and patience, especially when there's a smug antagonist pouring salt in the wounds they're continually reopening.
This post isn't about those well-deserved moments of glory, though. This is more of a confession booth, where we share the challenges we were unable to conquer and have gracefully admitted defeat by. Well, maybe gracefully isn't the right word - "walked away from for the sake of our sanity while seething" sounds closer to reality.
Personally, I'm not sure I've ever experienced frustration that rivaled what I felt while trying to clear the dark worlds of Super Meat Boy. Swearing while playing SMB can be therapeutic at times, but taking on the dark world version of The End reduced me to a silent, shaking, sweaty-palmed chamber of interal fury. Beyond the pitter-patter of Meat Boy, there was a solid 30 minutes of silence in the dorm room as my friends watched me fail to save Bandage Girl again and again, presumably waiting for me to snap and send something out the window. When I finally won, I went back to Chapter 5's dark world and realized how incapable I was of dealing with its gravity orbs. I promptly quit. I will never be a Golden God.
Unlike some gaming challenges, I've got no one to blame. SMB controls perfectly and I'm fully aware that being unable to finish it rests solely on me. It's your turn now, though - is there something as fair as SMB that has you beat? Perhaps you've been wronged by a more glitchy or unrealistic challenge? Vent about the victories that got away in the comments, right after you check this week's Japanese hardware sales after the jump!
3DS LL: 92,375 [UP] 9,966
Wii U: 48,762 [UP] 20,244
3DS: 32,894 [UP] 6,930
Vita: 25,594 [UP] 5,392
PS3: 24,085 [UP] 10,774
PSP: 4,416 [UP] 184
Vita TV: 3,772 [DOWN] 1,619
Wii: 767 [UP] 179
Xbox 360: 473 [UP] 164
