It was the lack of a save system that made the old games so damn hard. You had to play start to finish in one sitting. Ninja Gaiden, Contra (w/o cheat), ghosts n goblins, etc. Brutal, just brutal. Imagine playing destiny campaign and dying on the black garden and having to start back on the first campaign mission. And if you got bored or had to stop playing, your progress restarted on the first campaign mission. That was what was impressive about finishing those old games. You know that whoever did was glued to their seat for hours on end and basically never died