Level up

Level up

Bouncing back

Game over, continue, go again.

Ninja Gaiden will kill you hundreds of times. You keep going anyway, because each death teaches you something and the next try is one button away. Games are one of the few places adults fail on purpose, over and over, and enjoy it.

That is not a small thing. Learning to treat failure as information instead of a verdict is one of the most useful habits a person can have.

Train it on purpose

  1. Count your deaths on a hard level, then beat your count next session. Make failure a score, not a shame.
  2. After each death, say one thing you will do differently. One. Then do it.
  3. Pick a game you quit years ago and go back. You are better than you were.

Off the couch

The rejected application, the knock-back at the bar, the gym session where you went backwards. Same loop: lose, learn, go again. People who can take a no without it wrecking their week end up asking more often, and the ones who ask more often get more yeses. In love and in work.

Sources

  1. Juul, J. (2013). The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games. MIT Press.
  2. Granic, I., Lobel, A., & Engels, R. C. M. E. (2014). The benefits of playing video games. American Psychologist, 69(1), 66-78. doi:10.1037/a0034857

Games that train it

ActRaiser 2 coverActRaiser 2
It's stiff and punishing, and the wings take a while to feel natural. Most players die a heap before the floaty jumps make sense.Adventure Island coverAdventure Island
One touch from a campfire, a rock or the sea kills Master Higgins, and you come back without your axe. The later areas earn their reputation.Batman: Return of the Joker coverBatman: Return of the Joker
Three lives, but unlimited continues and a password for every stage. The game wants you to go again.Batman: The Video Game coverBatman: The Video Game
Enemies knock you back into pits, some jumps want precision the stage never hints at, and the bell tower is a real wall. Expect to die a lot.Battletoads coverBattletoads
No passwords, no saves, three lives per continue. Clearing a stage that beat you twenty times is the reward.Bionic Commando coverBionic Commando
The first hour is rough. The arm takes real practice and the early stages don't teach it gently.Blaster Master coverBlaster Master
No passwords, no saves, a few continues for a long, hard game. Die deep in the late levels and you start over.Breath of Fire coverBreath of Fire
It's a slow, slightly old-fashioned journey with a bit of grind. Ryu's dragon forms are the reward for patience.Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse coverCastlevania III: Dracula's Curse
Trevor still can't adjust a jump once he leaves the ground, and the late stages are a grind. It's very hard.Clu Clu Land coverClu Clu Land
It's awkward for five minutes because your hands want Bubbles to turn and she won't. Then it clicks.Crystalis coverCrystalis
Some bosses can't be hurt until you reach a set level, so you grind before you're allowed to move on.Cybernator coverCybernator
The suit is heavy, the jets lift only a little, and it takes a mission or two to stop fighting the controls.Donkey Kong Country coverDonkey Kong Country
Take a hit and your partner Kong steps in; lose both and you lose a life. The late stages get properly tense.Double Dragon coverDouble Dragon
You start with basic attacks and earn experience for each enemy beaten, unlocking stronger moves across seven levels.Dragon Warrior II coverDragon Warrior II
The late game is brutal. Rhone is a long maze full of traps and the last boss can heal itself completely. You will lose, probably a few times.Duck Hunt coverDuck Hunt
Miss and the dog pops up and laughs at you. It stings, it costs nothing, and the next round is right there.Final Fantasy V coverFinal Fantasy V
Some bosses and optional fights demand you understand the system rather than out-level it. You'll lose to them at 11pm, more than once.Final Fantasy coverFinal Fantasy
There's a real thrill in scraping through a Fiend fight with one character standing, usually after a few goes that didn't.Final Fight Guy coverFinal Fight Guy
Four difficulty settings let you tune the fight. Losing on the top one is just information.Final Fight coverFinal Fight
Lose your last life and your hero's tied to a chair beside lit dynamite while ten seconds count down. Put in another credit and a knife cuts the fuse.Ghosts 'n Goblins coverGhosts 'n Goblins
One hit and Arthur's armour falls off; a second and he's a pile of bones, back to the checkpoint. Beat Astaroth and it sends you back to do the lot again.Gradius II coverGradius II
The boss rush is a stage made of nothing but bosses, one after another, and it's a wall. Lose a run and you're back at weapon select.Ice Climber coverIce Climber
Jumps are stiff and hard to steer, and a missed one drops you back down a layer. Let the screen push you off the bottom and you lose a life.Journey to Silius coverJourney to Silius
It's hard and a bit stiff, you can only shoot left or right, and finishing the fifth stage starts you over from the first.Kid Icarus coverKid Icarus
The first world is the hardest part. Pit starts weak, the climbing stages punish every missed jump as the screen scrolls away beneath you, and the enemies are relentless.Kirby Super Star coverKirby Super Star
The Arena is every boss in a row on one life. You will lose a long run to a dumb mistake near the end.Kung Fu coverKung Fu
Five floors, a time limit on each, and a second loop that's faster. Losing is quick, and so is starting again.Little Nemo: The Dream Master coverLittle Nemo: The Dream Master
Miss a key and you can be sent back through a whole level. The late stages ask a lot.Lufia & the Fortress of Doom coverLufia & the Fortress of Doom
The dungeons are harsh and the random fights blur together. Plenty of players bail halfway.Mega Man 3 coverMega Man 3
Four Doc Robot stages come back harder after the eight bosses, right when you think you're nearly done.Mega Man 5 coverMega Man 5
It's the easiest of the NES six to finish, and the best first Mega Man for a nervous player. A hit before release throws your charge away, so you'll still fumble.Mega Man 7 coverMega Man 7
The final fight is meant to be brutal, and the team said so. You'll lose it more than once.Mega Man coverMega Man
Some jumps feel unfair, a few bosses are brutal, and dying in the fortress sends you back without the energy you spent.Metroid coverMetroid
The early difficulty is steep enough that the first hour mostly teaches you how little you can take.Mother coverMother
Random battles come often, many enemies hit hard, and the game expects a lot of grinding.Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos coverNinja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
It's very hard, especially once wind, rain and darkness lit only by lightning shove you off platforms. Losing all your lives sends you back to the start of the level.Ninja Gaiden coverNinja Gaiden
Act 6 is infamous: lose to any of the last three bosses and you go back to the start of the Act. The ending is a test of nerve.Paperboy coverPaperboy
Losing customers one by one is a gentle, clear way to fail, and you will hit fences you thought were behind you.Parodius coverParodius
The tone tells you it's fine to die, laugh and go again. It's a good first shooter for someone who finds Gradius grim.R.C. Pro-Am coverR.C. Pro-Am
Finish fourth and it's over. There's no ending, you just keep going until you can't.Silver Surfer coverSilver Surfer
Lose a life and you lose every upgrade, so one mistake turns into several. Getting going again with nothing is the real skill.Snake Rattle 'n' Roll coverSnake Rattle 'n' Roll
Spikes and long falls kill you outright, and the difficulty climbs steeply. You'll fall off a lot.Soul Blazer coverSoul Blazer
Dungeons can drag and you go back and forth between town and lair over and over. Progress comes in small steps, one freed soul at a time.Sparkster coverSparkster
Only Hard runs to the true final stage. The short game you finished on Easy isn't the whole thing.Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti coverSplatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti
Beat enough enemies and Rick's health bar grows, with a counter showing how many more you need. Every death still banks a bit of progress.StarTropics coverStarTropics
It's stricter than it looks: movement in the dungeons is exacting and a misstep costs you. Stick with it past the first couple of chapters and it opens up.Stunt Race FX coverStunt Race FX
The cars are heavy and clumsy on purpose, so you'll wrestle a truck over a hump and roll it more than once.Super C coverSuper C
Ten lives from the code make it a good place to learn the series, and you'll use them.Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts coverSuper Ghouls 'n Ghosts
One hit strips Arthur to his underpants, the next costs a life, and six continues with no save makes a full run one sitting. Each attempt you get a little further.Super Mario All-Stars coverSuper Mario All-Stars
Every game saves, with four files each, so The Lost Levels becomes something you can actually finish rather than a wall.Super Mario Bros. coverSuper Mario Bros.
Beat it once and a harder second quest swaps Goombas for Buzzy Beetles that shrug off fireballs. The finish line is a new start.Super Mario Bros. coverSuper Mario Bros.
Run out of lives and you start again at 1-1, unless you know to hold A on the game over screen. Then it's straight back in.Super Mario World coverSuper Mario World
The main route is easy by Mario standards. The Special World isn't, and that's where you'll die on the same jump over and over.Super R-Type coverSuper R-Type
No checkpoints. Die anywhere and you start the stage again, and losing ten minutes to one stray shot tests your temper more than your skill.Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles coverTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Enemies respawn the moment you step back, some late jumps are close to impossible, and the dam stops heaps of players cold. It earned its cruel reputation.Tennis coverTennis
The hardest computer level is properly hard, and you'll drop game after game before you take one.TwinBee 3: Poko Poko Daimaō coverTwinBee 3: Poko Poko Daimaō
When your ship goes down it leaves a ghost, and touching it gives every power-up back. One mistake no longer ends the run.Wild Guns coverWild Guns
It's hard even on easy, but every death is clearly your fault and you get better fast. A run takes an evening, and you want another the next night.