The hardest games of all time!

[Akuza]

So I was just reading retro gamer the annual and this article is in there with some hard games in there! Here's a list of just a few!

Contra
Devil may cry3
Into oblivion
Super Mario bros the lost levels
Teenage mutant ninja turtles
Ninja gaiden black
Defender
Battletoads
Megaman
F-zero GX
Super meat boy
Rick dangerous
Ghosts n goblins
Dark souls
Ikaruga
And many many more that were listed!

This got me to thinking, are there any games you would consider to be in "the hardest games of all time" ?

[TrekMD]

That's a pretty decent list.  Ghost'n'Goblins is definitely a tough one!  I would add Stargate to the list.  It is not any easier than Defender.

[zapiy]

I would agree with most of them, Rick Dangerous is as hard as any game will get lol.. But thats how games back then were made i think..

[hamie96]

I'm pretty sure games like Superman 64 or Shinobi for the PS2 would classify as being much harder than Megaman or Battletoads. The only hard part in Battletoads is the bike section which you can beat if you memorize where the walls are.

[Akuza]

I'm pretty sure games like Superman 64 or Shinobi for the PS2 would classify as being much harder than Megaman or Battletoads. The only hard part in Battletoads is the bike section which you can beat if you memorize where the walls are.

Superman 64 is badly programmed and designed not hard =P haha

Shinobi is hard yeah!

[hamie96]

I'm pretty sure games like Superman 64 or Shinobi for the PS2 would classify as being much harder than Megaman or Battletoads. The only hard part in Battletoads is the bike section which you can beat if you memorize where the walls are.

Superman 64 is badly programmed and designed not hard =P haha

Shinobi is hard yeah!

It's hard because it's poorly programmed. When I generally think of hard games, I generally put them into two categories of broken hard and difficult hard.

[Optimouse]

I was just finishing an indie turn based RPG called Knights of the Chalice. The amount of rage quits in this game is too damn high! Probably after this, I will be more confident with other hard games. I found it much more insanely hard than other hard games. At least in some of the other hard games you can memorize how to play or take great attention in your environment, or some of them just let you play endlessly the same screen again and again.

But on KOTC it goes like this. Most of the time you are four against a quite bigger group with many mages/clerics that will cast all the debilitating spell onto you. Paralyze, confuse, dominate, death spells. So, even if you killed 80%, you might still loose the battle, because the last mage enemy cast a dominate on your strongest fighter which kills your cleric with 4 blows and then no way to resurrect or heal the others. Or, depending on the initiative rolls, maybe enemies start, and do their nasty moves and when you are finally ready to make your first move, your cleric is paralized, your mage dead, your fighter is either confused or dominated or with other ailment. So, I reload the game so that the battle gives me randomly initiative. Maybe I can cast fast a protection spell or a good fireball. But no, I try and I have concentration fail, or someone hits my mage with arrow before I cast, the arrow has death spell, I die with one blow.

The way the game plays (the AI is always too clever, hitting exactly your mage/cleric, avoid hitting your fighters with fire shields, pushing you into fire, it does exactly the most clever nasty moves), the amount of magic/skills, all that, so many choices. If you learn some secrets you can play better next time, but still some battles might need 10 replays, always dying till the odds are not against you.

Maybe it's the hardest game I have ever played, but I might try dark souls, I haven't played this one.

[Shadowrunner]

Dark Souls is definitely the hardest game I've ever finished, but it was also one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had in 30+ years of playing games! Honestly can't recommend it enough, and the sequel, and the original Demon's Souls too!

Despite that, I still think the hardest games ever made were back in the 8 and 16 bit days. Modern games just don't have that same level of frustration for me.

[wyldephang]

Despite that, I still think the hardest games ever made were back in the 8 and 16 bit days. Modern games just don't have that same level of frustration for me.

In modern games, the continue function has gone extinct. If you were playing a Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis game, you'd typically need to beat the game in one sitting and within the allotted number of continues, and if you fail, you start over from the beginning. Nowadays, almost every game has a generous checkpoint system or autosaves. No matter how much you die, you never need to play for more than five or so minutes to get back to where you were--well, generally speaking.

[Shadowrunner]

Despite that, I still think the hardest games ever made were back in the 8 and 16 bit days. Modern games just don't have that same level of frustration for me.

In modern games, the continue function has gone extinct. If you were playing a Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis game, you'd typically need to beat the game in one sitting and within the allotted number of continues, and if you fail, you start over from the beginning. Nowadays, almost every game has a generous checkpoint system or autosaves. No matter how much you die, you never need to play for more than five or so minutes to get back to where you were--well, generally speaking. :102:

[guest5475]

Home Improvement (Snes) - Timed levels and if you lose all your lives you have to start over from the very first stage. This is also the only game I know of where the enemies will literally follow you once you encounter them.

[zapiy]

Don't think i have ever played that..

Will have to check it out.

[Deckard]

I think the hardest games I ever played are probably for the commodore 64 because of the lack of continues
I managed to beat ghosts and goblins even though i left the NES on for days!A couple of really tough ones I can think of:

Haunted Castle (PS2,Arcade)
Mikie (C64,Arcade)
Holy Diver (Famicom)
Transformers (Famicom)
Green Beret (C64,Arcade)
Dragons Lair(NES)

[vandro]

Although not retro. I have played a couple of hours on Bloodborne I haven't manage to defeat a single monster. It's rather a challenge

[zapiy]

Some great shouts there and yes i hear Bloodborne is a pretty difficult game.