Games you've basically "Memorized"

[Monsoon]

When I was a youngun I had Wizards and Warriors down pat and could beat it w/out dying. Now? Can't clear level 1 without cursing my maker.

I feel so ashamed when I "level down" in gaming skill, especially a particular title.  I wonder wtf I did right then.

I hear ya.  When I was maybe 7 years old I could beat Super Castlevania IV on the SNES in about 80 minutes.  Now I don't think I could beat it without using savestates.

[Yoda]

When I was a youngun I had Wizards and Warriors down pat and could beat it w/out dying. Now? Can't clear level 1 without cursing my maker.

I feel so ashamed when I "level down" in gaming skill, especially a particular title.  I wonder wtf I did right then.

Aeolus is spot on. I only had a handful of games and I basically memorized them. Though there were still some games that were totally unfair and hard. Usually they were shitty licensed games but The Guardian Legend comes to mind. I could only beat some of the bosses by using the slowmo on my NES® Advantage® joystick.

[Darklight]

Not exactly hard to remember, Was playing a friends Arcade machine and I seem to remember all of the warps, hard hats, balloons and extra lives in PacLand.

[Raziel]

I think the one I can recall off the top of my head (with dialogue to boot) anywhere anytime is Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. I first played it when I couldn't even speak English and didn't understand a single part of the story, yet I still remembered the dialogue and with that kind of quality voice acting, I could even somewhat understand what they were talking about. Also, since I didn't have a memory card I always had to restart and with me not figuring out how to defeat Dumah for 7 years, I often played the game up to that point. When I finally had access to internet, then I realized how obvious it had been.

So yeah, I can close my eyes and pretty much go through the game in my head by now.

[Alhizzy]

I think the one I'd brag about the most is Tomb Raider 2.  I think I could still manage to find most of the secret statue thingies in it if I picked it up and played it again.

And Raziel, Soul Reaver was a puzzling mess for me the one time I played through it, so mad props to you on that one!  The playstation sure did have some quality action adventure games.

[Mickeymac92]

Dragon Warrior I. I don't know why, I even found Loto's/Edrick's Seal on my my first try this time.

[OrsonFury]

Vandal Hearts 1 - Short SRPG from PS1 era. The game doesn't have a lot of dialog, but the little parts that it does are very effective in setting the gritty tone of the game. Did all the side-quests and mastered the ending. If there was any remake I'd play in a heartbeat it would be this gem. My favorite character with whitty one-liners is Ash's archer buddy, Diego Renault.

[Agent D.]

Does it sort of count that after not playing it for a year and change, I went back to ffxi and remember most of the areas and locations.