Games That are Hard as Hell

[notorious]

List your greatest gaming feats!

I've been going through a list of retro games that people consider HARD.


I just finished Ghosts n' Goblins (both loops) on NES. JFC it's the most frustrating game I've ever played. The controls are not great, and there are constant cheap hits. By far the angriest and happiest I've ever been playing a game.

I've 1 death'd Contra on NES. (far easier than people think)

Beat Ghouls and Ghosts on Genesis (this game is by far the best in the series)

Beat Super Ghouls and Ghosts on SNES (slow as ****, and pure memorization)

Mind you, it's pure attrition to get through these games. I don't use save states, I play the games as they originally would be played with checkpoints and continues.

[lcarus]

Originally Posted by Mephistopheles Janx

Aladdin on Sega was damn near impossible. On a more recent note... Dark Souls.

This reminded me. The Adventures of Batman & Robin on Sega Genesis was pretty god damn hard. Not the Batman & Robin for SNES. That one was different. I liked that one too, but it wasn't as difficult. The one for Genesis was more of an arcade run and gun shooter type of game.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by Fish

This mother****er right here....



Rage quite this game more times than I care to remember. No saves, you play or die and start from beginning. ****ing ****.

Here's the download: https://www.retrogames.cz/play_677-NES.php?language=EN

This is the one game that auto fire actually hurts you. . It will shorten your weapon reach, and weakens the hit.

Level up on the robot stage. They will spawn quickly and are worth a lot of exp. You will be full power the rest of the game.

The final boss can be 90% killed with attack and assail.

The first boss is easily the hardest. The tiger headed guy.

[BigBeauford]

This ****ing game:



And this one:



Tough as nails action game.


FTL, Easy is hard in most games


And finally, the hardest game yet:

[notorious]

I really need to play Phantasy Star II and III.

2 is on my Genesis Mini. I’m currently playing Crusader of Centy (Zelda clone)

I saw the Ninja Gaiden Xbox game on a lot of lists. I’ve never played it, but I played the hell out of 1 and 2 on NES. Never beat either of them.

[Loneiguana]

Originally Posted by Frazod

Kingdom Come Deliverance was an absolute bitch. Even after I finally figured it out and got skilled, it was still a bitch. Even maxed out with the best armor, there's never a point when you can't get jumped and greased by three or four peasants if you let your guard down. No matter how long you play, you never become the Dragonborn; you're always just Hal.

Sort of like real life, I guess.

That was some of the best 140 hours of gaming I had last year. Great satisfaction from learning how to play that game. I never fast travelled, because like you said, getting ambushed from 3 or 4 people always sucked.

I loved and hated the monastery. Was able to get Johanka "better" story ending. Loved getting Drunk with the priest. And was able to beat the game.

[Loneiguana]

My proudest gaming moment in hard games was beating Alpha centauri on the hardest difficulty setting. Yes, I saved scummed. A lot.

[notorious]

The oldest memory I have of beating a hard game is Karateka on Apple II. I also remember “beating” Congo Bongo on Intellivision.

[Sofa King]

Originally Posted by Fish

This mother****er right here....



Rage quite this game more times than I care to remember. No saves, you play or die and start from beginning. ****ing ****.

Here's the download: https://www.retrogames.cz/play_677-NES.php?language=EN

Great soundtracks on that game.

[Sofa King]

Never played Dark Souls, but bloodborne had some frustrating moments.

Ghouls and Ghosts is right up there.

The unfair platformer is hilariously tough.

[Mennonite]

Originally Posted by Sofa King

Great soundtracks on that game.

Yep. Great game.



I haven't played any games in years, so these games may be easy for you guys.

My picks:

Ikaruga





Chakan: The Forever Man




Kid Niki Radical Ninja (later levels)


The Contra sequels. I can beat the first one easily. The later ones kick my ass.



P.S. As a kid I bought an Atari game called Swordquest (i think) at a yard sale. It was some sort of dungeon/puzzle game. You would make it through a laser maze and an item like a boot or a lamp would pop up in your inventory. No clues about what they were much less how to use them. I spent an entire summer trying to figure out WTF was going on in this game. I even bought a couple of funky controllers to see if that was the problem. 20 years later I looked the game up online - turns out it was game one in a series designed as part of a national competition and you needed a comic book published in ****ing 1982 to solve the damn thing.


P.P.S. I'm convinced that Top Gun on the NES was some sort of Cold War Ender's Game invented by the Reagan administration.

[Sassy Squatch]

Originally Posted by Sofa King

Never played Dark Souls, but bloodborne had some frustrating moments.

Ghouls and Ghosts is right up there.

The unfair platformer is hilariously tough.

Bloodborne and Dark Souls are brutal but fair once you've fully grasped the mechanics. Some of these games are just straight up unfair either by design or the flaws in technology at the time.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by notorious

The oldest memory I have of beating a hard game is Karateka on Apple II. I also remember “beating” Congo Bongo on Intellivision.

I finally beat Karteka after like 2 months of continuous trying. Loved that game, hated that game.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by BigBeauford

Tough as nails action game.

Man. Finally beating Alma on like the 20th attempt felt good.

That's the only boss I remember from that game, which I played like 17 years ago or something.

[Fishpicker]

Originally Posted by Mennonite

Yep. Great game.



I haven't played any games in years, so these games may be easy for you guys.

My picks:

Ikaruga





Chakan: The Forever Man




Kid Niki Radical Ninja (later levels)


The Contra sequels. I can beat the first one easily. The later ones kick my ass.



P.S. As a kid I bought an Atari game called Swordquest (i think) at a yard sale. It was some sort of dungeon/puzzle game. You would make it through a laser maze and an item like a boot or a lamp would pop up in your inventory. No clues about what they were much less how to use them. I spent an entire summer trying to figure out WTF was going on in this game. I even bought a couple of funky controllers to see if that was the problem. 20 years later I looked the game up online - turns out it was game one in a series designed as part of a national competition and you needed a comic book published in ****ing 1982 to solve the damn thing.


P.P.S. I'm convinced that Top Gun on the NES was some sort of Cold War Ender's Game invented by the Reagan administration.

a lot of atari games were complicated like that. I had the indiana Jones RoLA game and it was a 1 player game that required two controllers to play. one controller controlled the player. the other controlled the inventory. and there was no mention of that game mechanic in the instruction book.



the sword quest history is interesting

[Mennonite]

Originally Posted by Fishpicker

a lot of atari games were complicated like that. I had the indiana Jones RoLA game and it was a 1 player game that required two controllers to play. one controller controlled the player. the other controlled the inventory. and there was no mention of that game mechanic in the instruction book.

I think I owned that game. If I didn't, I played it at a friends house. I had no idea it took two joysticks. I remember having no clue what was going on on the screen. "Hey, is that a bullwhip?" " Nope, I'm a snake. You're dead. " I also remember Indy randomly falling Wile. E. Coyote style. It was just incomprehensible.

In fairness, I was very young and I was playing it on a tiny black and white tv.