It was Donkey Kong Country (SNES) for me

This is why I couldn't take the Ready Player One movie seriously. Gamers would've figured that shit out in a few hours

Few hours? More like few seconds. I know it's a movie made for 13 year olds but if there were actually an MMO that basically every young adult was playing 24/7, they would figure out all the secrets in an instant. Have you SEEN how quickly people solve ARGs? Usually developers have to slowly drip information or else everyone will crack the extremely difficult hidden code within an hour or something.
- Seriously, we have people beating Dark Souls with a guitar hero controller and running a game for over a month to make it crash, hard to believe people hadn't figured out how to clip through the course entirely.
- Over the last several years, WoW has been getting some secrets that have taken months, sometimes over a year to be completely solved. There is a Discord server dedicated to solving them, and it's hit the max member limit a few times.
  Although, most of the secrets have just the slightest hint that they even exist.
Oasis as a game kinda discouraged this thought process because the stakes were real-world, not purely virtual.
- But almost everyone died when doing that race. Not one person thought "forwards isn't working for the thousand time. Maybe backwards?"
The movie was disappointing garbage.
The book was alright.

Yep. Also gotta check under every stairwell and waterfall. And if a NPC is telling you to hurry, it means it's time to check every nook and cranny to make sure you haven't missed some loot.

- I believe it was Deus Ex where you could fail the first mission if you took too long exploring.
  As anxiety inducing as it would be, I think it would be nice if occasionally a game would come out where the entire thing was timed. Take too long and the bad guy will complete their evil plan and win.
if there isn't a giant red flashing countdown, take your time. but even when there is, look everywhere.
I'm always blown away by time to complete times. I will easily spend twice as long simply for this reason. It's usually not even loot worth grabbing!
Screams in trunic

This mentality has mutated into a principle of doing anything other than main quest in open world games for me. In the latest zelda game I spent way too long trying to figure out how to unlock the map by traveling to different vantage points, climbing towers etc, before deciding to do a little bit of the main quest and the map is almost the first thing you do.

I used to do this too, but now I’ve realized that today’s games have way too much unnecessary crap and I end up way over powered. I’ve reverted to beelining the main story until it gets too hard and then exploring. This has it’s own pitfalls, like some games including key items in those side areas, but usually I would have had to explore the areas twice anyway due to needing a late game skill.
- I'm sure it works for a lot of people, but for me it's kind of ruined pacing in games. Either you end up overpowered for the main game by doing too much side content, or you end up finishing the main game too early and end up unable to experience the side content in the way it was meant to be enjoyed. Side content tends to be more fun if it is interspersed with the main game, so that there is a steady progression for both, and so that any time-gated side stuff doesn't pile up and end up feeling tedious. But when it's left to the player to manage that balance, they are unlikely to hit a sweet spot. At least, I usually fail to do so. Can't plan an optimal route through the game without reading through a bunch of spoiler-packed guides ahead of time, which destroys organic exploration and feels like work anyway.
- I've just stopped caring about main quests. The exploration is what I like, so why care about my lost kid or whatever
- I guess I should try to learn that as well. I got a bit underwhelmed by the main quest bosses in the last zelda game because of that.
It has honestly made open world games very difficult for me to focus on.
I'm like 100 hours deep in RDR2 because of this shit. I spent like 3 real life days trying to find a god damn badger. Now it wants me to win 3 hands of blackjack by hitting 3 times? Aghhhh!!
- badger badger badger badger badger badger!
  mushroom mushroom!
I do the same, but I just like exploring and wandering around. That's where the fun lies in for me in open-world games: unlocking the full map, interacting with NPCs, doing random sidequests, finding hidden stuff, seeing cool locations. Going through dungeons and fighting bosses usually feel like a stressful chore that I have to get through if I want to advance the story.
- Yeah, it's the same for me, but I don't mind the bosses and dungeons. It's just that as soon as something is defined as the main quest I stay away. I had the full overworld and sky in Tears of the kingdom before fighting the first main boss just because of that. I also had close to maxed out gear. It made the main quest bosses quite underwhelming.
When BotW first released, as soon as I got the paraglider, I thought to myself "If this game is truly fully open world, I'm going to try to get the Master Sword before doing anymore of the main quest".
The forest was literally the last area of the map that I went, haha.
That’s why I’m playing it twice!

That secret entrance behind a waterfall in the original Legend of Zelda meant that I've been checking every waterfall in every game I've ever played since 1986.

It's just so disappointing when there's NO secret behind the waterfall
- I have been playing the new game sea of stars and its an old school rpg. I check all the places and several have had chests behind waterfalls and it always puts a smile on my face when I find them there.
- Don't go chasing waterfalls
There's a secret behind the Zora waterfall in TotK too.
- I think I remember there being one in A Link to the Past on SNES also
- But not in any of the other 60 waterfalls in TOTK
- It can't be too secret, I'm mean I haven't even played TOTK and even I know about it.
  Joking aside, I have been playing BOTW and I check every body of water and mountain peak I come across because theres usually something, but that's also because there's so many things to find. SNES games though, 99% of the time there's nothing, but everytime I see dark spot in the ground, I'm smacking the shit out of it in hopes i get a fat stack of bananas.
It's a common trope. I won't link it but I'm sure there's a TVTropes page for that.

Thats not OCD. OCD is a debilitating condition.

You think Tim "I wrote loss" Buckley cares about using a mental illness wrong?
Sure, but a person with OCD could also do this as part of their OCD. I've struggled with what I am pretty sure is OCD, and I relate a lot to this. I can't even enjoy big open world games anymore because I feel like I need to explore every corner, find everything, talk to everyone. It becomes stressful.

Same with smashing against the back wall of every waterfall in every game ever.

And then along comes Tunic, where I'm surprised when there isn't anything behind a waterfall.

You go left to find a secret. I go left because games can't tell me what to do.

We're not the same

The beginning of every Far Cry game I have to sit there and not do anything and see if I "beat" the game.

You wanna know the definition of insanity?
- The definition of insanity.. is

Image Transcription:

A 3-panel CTRL+ALT+DEL comic by Tim Buckley.

The first panel shows a blond man wearing a green sleeveless shirt, long brown pants, sturdy brown boots, brown bracers, and a belt and sash, standing against a forested backdrop with a signpost to his right reading "START".

The second panel shows the START signpost is far to the right edge of the panel and the blond man has turned and walked directly into a rock wall with an onomatopoeic WHUMP!

The last panel shows a brown-haired, bearded man in green shirt, blue pants and glasses, sitting on a cream-coloured couch next to a blond-haired boy wearing a blue shirt and black shorts. The man is holding a controller for a video game console. The boy says "Why do you always start every level in every game by turning around and running backwards?". The man replies "because one time a game hid a secret behind the start position and my OCD decided I have to suffer for the rest of my life."

[I am a human, if I’ve made a mistake please let me know. Please consider providing alt-text for ease of use. Thank you. 💜]

Good bot
- Beep boop

Super Mario Bros 2 World 6-3

This is incredibly relevant to me. I just finished playing through it last week.
- What a coincidence, same here!

Morrowind made me jump and look into every tree stump in every elder scrolls game because of one god damn axe.

The Chainsaw in Doom 2

Chainsaw go BRRRRRR 😁

B^ U

Some Rayman levels are like this

Not just that - I'm pretty sure you can't beat Rayman 2 without re-visiting a level and going left!
Oh god this was my first thought seeing this meme. My last collectible for Rayman Origins turned out to be behind the start. It took me hours of searching before giving up and watching a walkthrough.
- I feel you on this!

Important distinction is that you needed to travel both left and right to get through Metroid, while DKC was a strictly to the right affair (with some up and down as well.
Limbo

In Another World/Out of This World you needed to go left from start to escape the black panther-like thing iirc

I had no idea that Tim Buckley was still alive

I'm amazed that his reputation is still intact, and that he still gets a loyal following. I would've thought he'd take the money he's made and find a corporate art job somewhere by now.
- Did he do/say something that should have trashed his reputation? I used to read Ctrl+alt+del like 15 years ago (I recent found my signed copies of the first two hardcover collections) but I haven't followed in forever.
- Why, I'd rather be beloved for my angry alcoholic blender.

Original Metroid.

Original armored core had one of the best weapons hidden like this

That's one of my favorite things about the older games. I'm glad AC6 brought back hidden weapons, I just wish there were more parts to find overall.
- I've been overwhelmed by how many weapon options there are anyway. It's crazy!

Crash Bandicoot

You're the 2nd person who has mentioned this, and I had no idea until now!

Donkey Kong Country (GBC) and Abe’s Oddysee/Exoddus (PS1) for me! It’s a habit that carries through and helps even in modern games though.

That’s the same as the SNES game, FYI

DK Country on SNES is one of my all-time favorite games that I continually go back and play. I remember the bliss I felt when I finally beat it, which seemed impossible to 4yo me.

I'm pretty sure I can farm lives on the first level with my eyes closed with how many times I've ran it

Does everyone else remember that one long snow barrel level as much as I do? Beating that level specifically for the first time gave me such dopamine.
It's one of the best for sure. Every sound effect in that game is nostalgic for me.

The only other game besides DKC I know of with something like that is in 1-1 on Demon's Souls. Turn around from where the Archstone takes you, and there is an item behind some rubble toward the wall/gate. It's not as cool as a secret as the banana hoard tho.

I bet it's much more common in newer 2D platformer games just because of that, though. I don't really play those myself.

It occurred in 1 level in every chapter of Sackboy.

Aladdin.

That one serious Sam level where you'd actually have to just hold S because there wasn't even time to turn around. The level would start and you'd immediately hear a big stone door closing.

A CAD comic that's not terrible?

still fit in a dumb "ocd" comment
- Is that a common thing in his comics? I know most people misuse the term ocd.
  Also, somehow his art style got even more boring over the years. It looks like wikihow art.
Next you'll be telling me he's not a nonce any more.
- People don't even remember that anymore. He's infamous for loss to zoomers, his noncing blew over.
The reason why it was ever popular was that it always wasn't just Loss or "us gamers, amirite" or "don't fuck with us we train hours on dumb shit" edgy shit. I distinctly remember there being a few good ones in the past when I used to read webcomics regularly.
- I use to read webcomics when CAD was probably at it's peak. At least back when Little Gamers and VG Cats were at their peak. CAD always came across as try hard or something. The comics reminded me of the sort of people I avoided at LAN parties.

One time my friend was playing some shitty 3D platformer made for kids that was distributed with cornflakes or some other shit and when he turned around and gone forward he just fell through the floor to limbo, lol.

Chex Quest!
- Hey now, that wasn't a shit 3D platformer, it was just a silly Doom mod 😀
- No, not that one :) It was in Poland and it was some newer game, I think from late 00's or early 10's.
  As for Chex Quest, it is actually on my backlog, as I have lately began to play all kind of old first person shooters and related games :)

Final Fantasy III/6: Always wait until the very last second to complete a timed escape objective.

The child looks 30

I'm looking at you donkey Kong !

Limbo

It's even an achievement

This will also yield benefits in Dead Cells iirc.

James pond does it to

Riddle of the Sphinx on the Atari 2600 for me. 1982.

Mega Man X6, Inifnity Mijinion's second part of the stage, also hid an armor piece and the heart tank by "going left" instead of right. Found that by complete accident one day, rubbing a cloth on the controller and dashing left