I've played both and love both, but I would say normal on those games is much easier than normal on Sam. Not sure how the higher difficulties match up.
Fascinating article, thank you for posting this. Very different from the style of monks I'm used to seeing - the idea of being a monk for anything less than the rest of your life is unusual to me. Seems like it could definitely have an impact on many 20 year olds.
It always fascinates me how much games on a given system can improve without getting better hardware. I've played a decent amount of 2600 games and its hard to believe those California Games screenshots. Comparing to other games likes Yars Revenge, Adventure, or River Raid it looks much more true to life. Well as true to life as a system that can't do circles can get!
Definitely PS2. My cousin had God of War and I was insanely jealous. I remember thinking that it looked just like real life. Funny to see it now and compare it to the PS5 games.
Awesome post and site! Excited to read your other articles.