I know it isn't traditional to do so, but you did read the articles and look at the pictures, right?
You mean did I read the article with TWO pictures (neither of them are good) and the body of text that just had a bunch of "we want it to do x" in it?
Yeah, I read it. Didn't find it terribly informative.
A lack of network access is a sure fire way to ensure you pick a game that's not reasonably completable without a faq. So many games during the NES and SNES era just didn't give you enough information, so you'd have to buy the guide or subscribe to Nintendo Power. These days it's GameFaqs.
Yes, it's cheating. But I play games to have fun, and looking around for hours and hours without making progress is no fun at all. I do always give myself a couple hours to really make sure I'm stuck.
I would agree with that for most of the NES games that required thought, but most SNES games could be completed without them. Sure, you may not have gotten all of the special easter eggs and whatnot (and yes - there ARE some outliers that are baffling without some sort of guide -- the latter Lufia 2 puzzles used to piss me off).
There's got to be more to life than compile-and-go.