The Hardest Video Games of All Time

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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Digital Trends has put together a list of what their editors feel are the hardest games to beat in the history of gaming. Well, seeing how most of these games are ancient, I would have to agree since gaming back in the 80’s and early 90’s was a challenge in itself. Poke holes in their list or agree and reminisce in the gaming days of the past.

There are a few exceptions, especially with indie games that put challenge above all else, but for the most part the days of controller-snappingly frustrating games as the rule are a thing of memory.
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Ahh, battletoads. Many wasted hours. It was hard, though I think part of it was because I was just a kid. I played it again recently and first try got 1 level further than I ever did as a kid. I'm sure if I'd remembered where all the warps were and all the little tricks that I used to know, I would be able to finish it now.
 
no hardest game list is credible without a shoot'em up like r-type on it. (it's the one that came to my mind first. certainly, there are harder shmups than r-type.)
 
No, hardest game is Desert Bus. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvsvpRZFh2Q

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...ours--inside-the-worst-game-ever-8708336.html
The game requires players to drive a bus along a desert road from Tucson to Las Vegas. The real time journey takes eight hours. If you go off the road, you need to start the journey from the beginning. The bus, which gently veers to the right as it drives at a comfortable (though frustratingly limited) 45mph, requires your constant attention. Each completed journey is awarded with one point. The only challenge is to stay conscious.
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Contra? Hard? I definitely don't agree with that one.

Battletoads, Ghosts n' Goblins, Punch Out (Mike Tyson level), and Ninja Gaiden 1 (2 was easy) all made me rage when I was younger. I'm surprised Blaster Master isn't on the list. That one was pretty hard too.
 
shade91 said:
Contra? Hard? I definitely don't agree with that one.

Battletoads, Ghosts n' Goblins, Punch Out (Mike Tyson level), and Ninja Gaiden 1 (2 was easy) all made me rage when I was younger. I'm surprised Blaster Master isn't on the list. That one was pretty hard too.
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+1

neither contra nor super contra was hard. took me about 20 or so tries to get to final level few times but after that i was able to clear them with no life loss.
 
Really?

I beat Battletoads, and I believe, I also beat Punch out as well, but I can't remember for sure.

Contra destroyed me. I only beat it with the Konami code.

Ninja Gaiden beat me too, those pitfalls... ugh.

And I never got a chance to play Ghost and Goblin's, back in the day, it would surely kill me these days.

Why is Oregon Trail on there? I don't think I've played the original, but was it harder than the later ones? As I thought it was pretty easy.
 
Can someone please release a new Battletoads game? But please, keep it in 2D and without retarded cel-shading, please.
 
I remember clearing half of Ghosts N Goblins when I was around 6 years old (beat the final boss, but the world resets so you have to clear it again which is soul-shattering). Only my brother, who's 2 years older than me (8 at the time) actually beat it. After firing it up again recently, I wonder how I managed to get past the 3rd level. :D

I learned very early that video games weren't always about having fun, it was all about getting to the god damned finish line no matter what it takes :p. The attitudes of gamers and the gaming industry these days sure have changed.
 
shade91 said:
Contra? Hard? I definitely don't agree with that one.

Battletoads, Ghosts n' Goblins, Punch Out (Mike Tyson level), and Ninja Gaiden 1 (2 was easy) all made me rage when I was younger. I'm surprised Blaster Master isn't on the list. That one was pretty hard too.
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+2

Though to be fair there's more games to add to that list, but they weren't hard good games. They were hard bad games, due to bad design.
 
Megalith said:
Can someone please release a new Battletoads game? But please, keep it in 2D and without retarded cel-shading, please.
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There exists "newer" versions of Battletoads on Sega Dreamcast as a Beats of Rage mod. Burn and play, baby! :)
 
It was nice to see that Nethack made the list but I agree that Oregon Trail doesn't belong on the list, it could be frustrating when half your party died or you lost most of your gear crossing a river but it has a save system and the game isn't even that long.
 
Good list, kids these days have no idea what hard is. Those games were so brutal and unforgiving, it was unreal. I think I beat half the games on that list as a kid, but some of them were just beyond the pale. I am proud to say I beat every single mega man all the way up through X2. Man I loved those games. I actually remember having nightmares about fighting mike Tyson in punch out. That was fucking traumatizing.
 
temujin987 said:
no hardest game list is credible without a shoot'em up like r-type on it. (it's the one that came to my mind first. certainly, there are harder shmups than r-type.)
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No, no, no, no, no.
You're right.
R-Type was the hardest shooter on NES, SNES and PC Engine.
Gate of Thunder and Lords of Thunder were pretty damn hard too (PC Engine).
It was easier to hit reset and restart gaining your upgrades on easier boards and playing through again than dying and trying to live long enough to get enough upgrades back to prevent yourself from dying repeatedly.
Guardian Legend on NES was insane hard too. The room exploration as a giant robotwasn't too bad, but the overhead shoot em up part you transformed into a jet was damn near impossible without a slow motion controller.
 
contra really?

i just dicked around on contra last week on an emulator for the first time in twenty years. beat it without losing a single life. surprised that it only took about 30 minutes to complete the game.
 
Games were definitely more unforgiving back in those days ... winning some of the classic games at higher skill levels should count for something too ... I remember the first (and only) time I won a science victory in Civilization 2 at the Diety difficulty ... the dang game took me about 2 months to finish at that level ... it was taking hours just to complete a single turn since I had over 100 cities by the end of the game

As an aside, it was amusing to see the differences in AI when I was a Superpower ... my strategy involved taking the computer AI down to a single city when we went to war (I was nice and didn't like to wipe them out) ... the nice AIs (Gandhi, Elizabeth, etc) would give me spontaneous gifts every few turns (the "here, take this gold so you won't wipe me out" effect) but the really warlike ones continued to attack (even against overwhelming superiority :eek: ) ... the Zulus would attack me with spearmen every few turns (I was up to combat soldiers and tanks by then) even though they had a single small city ... I finally got tired of their nonsense and took over their last city ... but it was nice to clock in with that maximum score on the Civ scale when the game finally ended :D
 
Ghost n Goblins made me rage like no other. What was worse was sometimes it wasn't you dying that made you rage. If you accidentally picked up the fireball crap and lost the knife, game was over.

That game truly tested the durability of the NES controller from all of the throwing. It is surprisingly durable.
 
I have to agree with Ghost and Goblins. I never beat that game in the arcade or on the NES. Ninja Gaiden was very difficult but I did beat it multiple times. Battletoads was frustrating, but only on certain levels. I completed it as well. Mike Tyson did manage to really piss me off. I used to love the Mega Man series but I did not play the one that they have listed. In all honesty, I never plated Contra without the cheat code. I did try to play Life Force with out the Konami cheat but I had to use it to beat the game.
I have to agree with previous posters that Master Blaster should have been on the list. That was a great game that I felt should have had a save system because it was so long.
 
Stupid lists.

BattleToads, Mega Man 9, and Punch-Out should not be on that list.

Sure they were hard, but nowhere near the hardest.

Can't say for the rest of the list, but from the posts I have already seen, they shouldn't be on the list either.

Ever try playing Dungeon Explorer 1 or 2 on the TG-16? That game just about requires you to have 5 people playing or else you will die extremely fast. 1 player - you might as well not even try playing. 2 players - sure you can get a little ways, but you are still totally screwed.

If a game is not that level of difficulty, it doesn't belong on the list, because there are a ton of games out there that are just about as hard.
 
ET

Hard as crap

Because it was so broken and busted and terrible, you would never get to the end.
 
tbonepat11 said:
Ghost n Goblins made me rage like no other. What was worse was sometimes it wasn't you dying that made you rage. If you accidentally picked up the fireball crap and lost the knife, game was over.

That game truly tested the durability of the NES controller from all of the throwing. It is surprisingly durable.
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Holy crap, I know, right? The knife was the only thing I think you could beat the game with. I remember them tossing the fireball out on the cemetery level all the time at the start; that and the spear, ugh. I ended up beating that game when i was younger, but not without much persistence. If I recall Battletoads came out several years after it and right as the SNES was coming out so I didn't dwell on it much, what with the frustration of trying to beat it.

I did beat Ghosts N Goblins though, once (with the whole twice through aspect). I never picked that game up again after beating it again though. It was too draining. Also, one of the really sorry parts is they made you use the fireball to beat Satan didn't they? It was one of the worst video game weapons ever too.
 
cyclone3d said:
Stupid lists.

BattleToads, Mega Man 9, and Punch-Out should not be on that list.

Sure they were hard, but nowhere near the hardest.

Can't say for the rest of the list, but from the posts I have already seen, they shouldn't be on the list either..
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What?!? Are you saying those 3 shouldn't be on the list. Did you ever play Battletoads as a kid on the NES? Yes, it was one of the hardest games ever due to it's length, lack of lives and reflexes required to beat it. Punch-Out was easy enough till you got to Tyson. I knew few friends who beat him. In fact I can only recall two who ever did. I can't speak directly to Mega Man 9 but in looking at it's reviews it was fashioned after the first several releases. If that's the case, then yes, it was difficult because I recall, as a boy, Mega Man being difficult.
 
Any of those shooter games where you're a tiny spaceship and the whole screen is covered in little round bullets that kill you in one hit. Gradius, R-Type, Life Force, Thunderforce, etc.
For that matter, pretty much any game where you die in one hit would have to count.
Contra is the same idea only you're a guy instead of a spaceship...although Super Contra/Super C was fairly easy even with only 3 lives.
 
laxie16 said:
Paperboy, hands down.
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There are Youtube videos of people straight owning that game. My aim in games at times was impeccable but good god you'd think the people in these videos were robots with their newspaper-throwing skills.
 
Agree with the NES Titles.

I had all three of Contra, Gost's 'n Goblins and Mike Tyson's Punch Out, and played them for years without ever beating any of them.
 
BattleToads was tough, but so much fun. And the music rocked.

I remember having trouble with castlevania and dragon warrior, but in my defense I did beat those at a young age when that style of game play was not my forte... at all.
 
Decent list. I wouldn't remove any of the titles (maybe Contra), but it should be expanded upon.
 
Original TMNT for NES was difficult, as was the original Mega Man. Both beatable, but you really had to try.

Who didn't play Contra with the Konami code, really? :p
 
Ninja Gaiden on the NES was hard as f*ck. Beat it though.. the only way to beat the last guy is to razor spin through him. Took me a while to figure it out.
 
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