Fellow Gamers: Why is failing 'simple' jumps over and over so infuriating?

[Naruzeldamaster]

To be perfectly clear, I am not talking about complex jumping maneuvers such as the one wall wall-jump in the 2D metroid games.
I am talking about jumps that would otherwise be 'simple' but one tiny slip-up and you have to loop back to the starting point in order to try again.
Happens most commonly in metroid vanias but can also happen in stuff like mario and even the most recent pokemon game.

 

[pmmg]

Because its an artificial reason the game is not advancing.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

Because its an artificial reason the game is not advancing.

I think the problem might also lie in assuming it's 'simple' to begin with. False difficulty/peril included.
Seeing something in a video guide and doing it are two totally different things.

 

[Prince of Spires]

I think it's because in real life jumping is fairly straightforward (though if you've seen a kid learning how to jump, you realize it's not easy). But we know how to jump and can usually assess if we can make a certain jump or not fairly confidently. No one is going to fail a regular jump over a small gap. Which makes it frustrating when you do because it should have been straightforward.

Of course, the frustration isn't as bad as it used to be. Imagine failing the same jump a couple of times 30 years ago. You then would have simply had to restart the whole game after losing your last life. Now that's frustration...

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

I think it's because in real life jumping is fairly straightforward (though if you've seen a kid learning how to jump, you realize it's not easy). But we know how to jump and can usually assess if we can make a certain jump or not fairly confidently. No one is going to fail a regular jump over a small gap. Which makes it frustrating when you do because it should have been straightforward.

Of course, the frustration isn't as bad as it used to be. Imagine failing the same jump a couple of times 30 years ago. You then would have simply had to restart the whole game after losing your last life. Now that's frustration...

Although most of those times (at least up until the Gamecube) messing up a jump felt like your own mistake (Unless it was an LJN game)
In Modern games that aren't purely 'platformers' it feels like the developers make the platforming janky on purpose. I'm not talking games where they are designed from the ground up to be X Genre + Platformer. I Mean games that are absolutely NOT built for platforming, not labeled as a 'platformer' but include segments which require navigating platform-y challenges for almost no reason other than to infuriate you. Most often these games like to throw bottomless pits at you and you get sent back to a checkpoint and/or get a game over if you fail too much. They aren't there for 'fun' and they certainly aren't challenging, just obnoxious.

Why I don't know, maybe to artificially pad game time, especially when rolling off the wrong edge leads to death or at least starting back earlier in the stage.

Take a Metroid vania: Even the easiest games expect you to do a bit of platforming, they're built around that and their movement systems are also built around that.

Now look at Dark Souls: A game that shouldn't really have ANY platforming (at least, nothing requiring skill) but those games and eldin ring tend to have a few annoying segments tossed in there for the sake of torturing the player. Most of the time you just have to bite a bite block and power through it.

 

[SamazonE]

Some games like Celeste are impossible, but Megaman can be clocked with no damage. I remember my Gameboy being fraught with this difficulty. The tiny screen, not to mention no backlight? Impossible. The games weren’t showy but varied in difficulty. I am always practicing but DKL2 is still my favourite.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

Some games like Celeste are impossible, but Megaman can be clocked with no damage. I remember my Gameboy being fraught with this difficulty. The tiny screen, not to mention no backlight? Impossible. The games weren’t showy but varied in difficulty. I am always practicing but DKL2 is still my favourite.

Celeste is only impossible if you try to get all the strawberries, I was able to complete the main game without assist mode on. Had to turn a few assist mode things on for B side and C side though.

Things like I want to Be The Guy and Super Meat Boy are the truly impossible ones. Though that is their gimmick, overcoming the challenge.