Games that are challenging, but with minimal penalty

The title is probably a bit unclear sorry, but i was just wondering if my fellow tropers could recommend me a game that is hard, but has a mid/low death penalty. It doesn't necessarily have to mean Death is a slap on the wrist, but just that you aren't forced to repeat large parts of the game, because that's when i normally get frustrated :(.

The reason i asked is becuase i was just replaying Super Meat Boy, and I was reminded of one of the things I really loved about it. I really didn't think it would be my kind of game seeming as I've barely plated any 2D platformers. Anyways, I love how the levels are both short and tough, meaning that i never get frustrated by having to repeat large chunks of gameplay.

Games like; VVVVVV, Vanquish and Bayonetta I found pretty challenging at times, but they never annoyed me to to the frequent checkpoints (though Bayonetta would rank you pretty harshly if you died to much). Thanks in advance.

edited 8th Apr '11 2:48:04 AM by Chaosut27

I Wanna Be The Guy and I Wanna Be the Fangame throws a lot of save points at you on Medium Mode.

edited 8th Apr '11 7:27:49 AM by Barrylocke

Within A Deep Forest. Check out the page for more details. You only truly save at the menu, which is accessed outside the major hub-like area and easy enough to get to, but there are loads of checkpoints inside the game. Considering you'll die a lot, it's for the best. You lose like a minute tops most of the time.

Tomb Raider Anniversary. There's a checkpoint every 4 minutes, so it doesn't matter if you die or not. Resident Evil 4 and Silent Hill Homecoming also don't punish you for dying.

This is why I liked the 2008 Prince Of Persia so much. You fall or die, you immediately go back to your checkpoint.

Yoshis Island. I'm serious. (for 100% completion anyway. Damn monkeys....) Probably the DS one as well, but I haven't played it.

Demons Souls.

edited 8th Apr '11 8:12:34 AM by Pyroninja42

Sonic And The Secret Rings. As a whole, the game is pretty challenging, especially in some of the optional missions. However, you have infinite lives and, if you do die, you'll just wind up back at the latest checkpoint crossed with no fuss.

Jumper is a very tricky platformer, but the levels are short and you don't have to redo an incredibly large amount of platforming to get back to where you were. Same with another game by the same guy (and one of my favorite platformers), fLail.

The First Battlefield: Bad Company's singleplayer campaign. It had some rough spots (that one sequence where you had to destroy two bridges before some friendly tanks cross them comes to mind), but what made it tough was the console version's aiming mechanism was very poorly implemented, meaning that most of you bullets in a magazine of 50 would miss. However there was never any "true" death: as soon as you died you spawned not so far away from your last position, and absolutely nothing would be reset including any enemies you killed.

No wait, maybe that was a bad choice... I guess ME 2 on insanity difficulty then?

Doom on the second-hardest difficulty could be this. You make your own save points so you don't have to deal with any of that checkpoint crap.

Quake is another example, but it and Quake 2 are not particularly hard. Marathon forced you to save in certain areas, but it lets you save whenever you want.

edited 8th Apr '11 9:36:10 AM by Barcode711

BioShock:When you die, you just go to the last (can't remember the name of it so I'll just call it the) Revival Tank. You have the same amount of ammo as you did when you died and your enemies health is the same as when you died.

Borderlands is kinda the same except the villains health regenerates.

The later levels of A Boy And His Blob (2009 Wii version). The early levels are quite easy, but the later ones, in addition to involving some tricky platforming, also have a fair bit of puzzle solving too. But there's plenty of checkpoints, so your frequent death will not pose too much of a problem.

There are Challenge Levels with some downright devious challenges and no checkpoints, but those don't tend to be too long, presumably to save your sanity.

Most shmups without Checkpoints qualify, if you're playing purely for survival. If you die, you continue on using your next life. The only problem is that many games power you down for dying or taking damage. Some games that either don't power you down or simply do not have powerups include:

• Crimzon Clover
• DeathSmiles
• DoDonPachi Resurrection
• Espgaluda II
• Ikaruga
• Mushihime-sama Futari

(If you plan on using continues, I'm fine with that, but I don't take kindly to people abusing continues and then calling the game beaten or worse, too easy.)

edited 8th Apr '11 6:32:36 PM by TsundeRay

Prey? When you die, you play a shooting minigame to determine how much health and ammo you get when you respawn.

I can't think of anything that fits this description better than Shoot the Bullet and its sequel.

Gods Eater Burst. You will get smacked around a lot, but the NPC allies are pretty helpful and it's pretty hard to actually stay down long enough for you to lose a mission.

Meat Boy is the first thing that comes to mind. Second is, as Clarste mentioned, Shoot The Bullet and Double Spoiler

Actually, Hot Pursuit would fit, since you can always retry an event.

Every Zelda game ever. Really there's no penalty for dying, just a game over screen and then you go right back on your merry little way.

Really, Super Mario Bros wasn't you first answer? From Super Mario World Onward, where you're allowed to save your progress anyway, Super Mario 3 did not forgive failure.

Mirrors Edge on the hardest difficulty without using a single gun can be incredibly difficult but it checkpoints before pretty much every room.

I disqualify Super Mario World for not allowing you to simply save on the overworld at will.

Touhou...Bullet Hell, on the other hand, the entire game is so short that you can easily go back to whereever you died even if it's the last boss.

Double Spoiler and Shoot the Bullet are much better examples. You get unlimited retries for each scene and you can do them in any order as long as you've unlocked that level. The former is better about this with less strict requirements for unlocking the next stage.

There is a ghost house that is very easy to get through. You can save after every completion of it.