10 Video Game Mechanics That Make No Sense

9. Damage Just From Touching An Enemy

Super Mario Bros This is another carryover from the 8-bit era, where animation wasn't exactly in its prime, and instead it made sense to convey damage in the most simplistic means - by mere contact with enemies. This is true in games like Super Mario Bros, where the Goombas are incapable of physically attacking you, but can deal out damage if you so much as touch on pixel on their body. Though this is less of a problem in our world of 3D shooters and action games, it's still a staple of platform games, whereby merely bumping into an enemy who doesn't appear to be on fire or have any means to instantly damage you, will still cause you to lose valuable life. Developers are getting better at this one, turning that instant damage into attack animations, but it's still not completely fixed, which is stupid. The newer Super Mario Galaxy games still rely on the same old tricks, perhaps as an homage to where they began, but it's really time to move on.
 
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Frequently sleep-deprived film addict and video game obsessive who spends more time than is healthy in darkened London screening rooms. Follow his twitter on @ShaunMunroFilm or e-mail him at shaneo632 [at] gmail.com.