Hardest video game you've ever played?

[Graywords]

Hard fighting games: Art of Fighting, Art of Fighting 2 (*wince*) I know the system, I know how to play, but even Yuri turns me into a bruised mass of crying, quivering flesh.

Hard "RPG": Hydlide. I HATED Hydlide. Hold one button to assrape enemies, and another to be assraped by enemies... also, what was with your awesome lifebar? Nothing instills more confidence than your max lifebar being a millimeter sliver...

Hard adventure games: Legacy of the Wizard was a pain, very confusing. Milon's Secret Castle was the king of random inane things that you wouldn't guess to do...

Hard action games: Someone already mentioned Bayou Billy. I also had a hell of a time with Double Dragon 3... no matter what I did, I'd always get hit. I think I got to some mummies one time... thanks to a second player helping. Alone, I was only ever able to get the fat chinese guy in my party.

Hard games that I am ashamed to admit to playing: Did anybody else ever play Street Fighter 2010? WTF was that? Also... if you ever get the chance to play the Captain Planet NES game... don't. Just trust me. Ass hard... and awful, to boot... yes, I rented it once. :/ At the same time I rented Total Recall... just as hard and shitty as Captain Planet, but even uglier and more pointless. I believe that two-day rental period was known as "winner weekend" thereon after.

 

[Walter]

Hard games that I am ashamed to admit to playing: Did anybody else ever play Street Fighter 2010? WTF was that? Also... if you ever get the chance to play the Captain Planet NES game... don't. Just trust me. Ass hard... and awful, to boot... yes, I rented it once. :/ At the same time I rented Total Recall... just as hard and shitty as Captain Planet, but even uglier and more pointless. I believe that two-day rental period was known as "winner weekend" thereon after.

That whole era was a dark age for Nintendo. There was such an explosion of shit in the early 90s... Those movie/cartoon/TV spin-off games were some of the worst to bear the "Nintendo Seal of Approval" (which didn't mean much by that point). I probably rented about 2-3 games a week when I was a kid, and out of those there were maybe 1/50 I actually enjoyed playing.

And while I do honestly understand your pain, some of your examples are just poorly designed games, not genuinely challenging.

 

[kaophyre]

Vagrant Story on the PSX was both challenging and well-designed. But I'm biased since it's one of my favorite games.

For older games, Battletoads and Ninja Gaiden were legendary in their ability to piss you off and make you throw things.

 

[fuxberg]

One of the hardest RTS that i've played..
Behold the MIGHTY Starcraft! I love that game

 

[Aazealh]

Vagrant Story on the PSX was both challenging and well-designed. But I'm biased since it's one of my favorite games.

Behold the MIGHTY Starcraft! I love that game

Guys... These games aren't all that hard, really.

 

[kaophyre]

hence the modifier "challenging".

 

[Aazealh]

hence the modifier "challenging".

The fact you call it "challenging" doesn't change the topic of the thread.

 

[Griffith]

Tetris.

Still haven't beaten yet.

 

[Sparnage]

Tetris.

Still haven't beaten yet.

Second, although I swear a few times I came close.

 

[TheBeast43105]

Second, although I swear a few times I came close.

Doesnt it just go on forever?

 

[SaiyajinNoOuji]

Doesn't it just go on forever?

Nope, it definitely ends! I heard about a guy on the internet who beat it! He had an emulator though.

I'm thinking Blaster Master was a big pain in the ass but I think that goes more towards its design with no save feature... also most of the bosses you could beat with the grenade pause trick.

It was still a pain in the ass, also Fester Quest (Addams Family).

 

[Scorpio]

Lots of people mentioned Battletoads, and someone mentioned Double Dragon, but what about Battletoads/Double Dragon for SNES? I know I've had it for years and still cant get past the 3rd level. And dont even try playing it with a friend, one of you will always accidentally punch the other and the whole thing turns into a back and forth battle for vengence. Fun game though.

I also found the original F-Zero to be immensly frustrating on the later courses. Taking sharp corners on boost while swapping paint with fellow racers to hit a shitty jump exactly at the right angle or die a horrible death was not pleasent.

What are some other tough ones that nobodys mentioned yet...

Oh yea, Jet Force Gemini was damn near impossible thanks to that INCREDIBLY frustrating revelation that you had to collect every last one of those damn little tribals to go the final boss. I attempted it, but it was just too much to handle, so I eventually tossed the game aside to collect dust. Which is a real shame cause it was a quality title.

More if I think of any (which Im sure there are a few)

 

[Black_Devil]

Well all games that I initially thought hard I was able to eventually beat as long as they held my interest. But one game I can definantely say is genuinely hard is Weaponlord >_<. You HAVE to be very good at that game just to even beat the comp. Hell, I still get my face beat in on the lowest difficulty setting (adventurer) and good luck on the default setting(barbarian). You'll be blocked, parried, possibly weapon broken, juggled, combo-citied, and most likely ripped apart(literally) after the match is over and the CPU initiates its fatality sequence >_<. It's not shoddy programming, the programming is a lil too good. In the genesis version, holes and patterns were implemented to make the SNES's brutal ai easier, but they still beat your face in after the 5th round or so on adventurer.

Finally the characters(intentionally) move slow so it's hard to accurately get parrying down unless you have reflexes of a god, but is absolutely neccessary lest you be guard crushed when trying to turtle.

brutal, brutal game

 

[Oltobaz]

Well all games that I initially thought hard I was able to eventually beat as long as they held my interest. But one game I can definantely say is genuinely hard is Weaponlord >_<. You HAVE to be very good at that game just to even beat the comp. Hell, I still get my face beat in on the lowest difficulty setting (adventurer) and good luck on the default setting(barbarian). You'll be blocked, parried, possibly weapon broken, juggled, combo-citied, and most likely ripped apart(literally) after the match is over and the CPU initiates its fatality sequence >_<. It's not shoddy programming, the programming is a lil too good. In the genesis version, holes and patterns were implemented to make the SNES's brutal ai easier, but they still beat your face in after the 5th round or so on adventurer.

Finally the characters(intentionally) move slow so it's hard to accurately get parrying down unless you have reflexes of a god, but is absolutely neccessary lest you be guard crushed when trying to turtle.

brutal, brutal game

One of my favorite fighters of all time!! But I honestly didn't find it so tough. There was this code feature, I never figured out what it was there for, I thought it might let you play as Korn's brother (they mention his existence in the instruction manual...), but it doesn't seem very likely... also, there's this Bane character who looks A LOT like Rock from the Soul Calibur series, both games being from Namco... Awesome game.

 

[Malachai]

bleh.

I don't have all this "Olde SKoole" experience that most of you have...


I am a simple man...i liked duck hunt.
that gun was bitchin'....
...damn dog.


but recently, among the harder games i've played, the final boss in Shinobi(ps2) (and i've heard, night shade as well) is a pain in the ass.

of course...then there are games with insane difficulties (for me) like DMC3 on DMD mode...:x

 

[Death Can Wait]

To be honest I just a game's difficulty by my interest in it. There are tons of old school games I've played and "never beat because of their difficulty", some being the very games mentioned here. Yet for the most part, its simple discouragement and "fuck this, its not worth it" *toss controller* not a "this is insane!" There are also games so atrociously bad the very game prevents you from beating it. Then counting modes like Dante Must Die and extreme modes, its not actually the main game. Ever since Street Fighter 2 and the SNK boss syndrome, fighters have been mixed for me as to whether they were just fucking cheap or actually "difficult".

Ikaruga tends to be the general consensus of a "hard" game but to be honest its only such for me because I'm a bitch about getting good scores. I haven't beaten it yet, (4th stage at best) but that's all with 3-4 hours of gameplay, I never got obsessed with it. Then there are mmorpgs and games like X-2 which take hours and hours of perfection and following exact-o guides to "succeed". Not to mention a specific final fantasy (XI) where your difficulty is completely subject to those you play with (as with any mmorpg for the most part). Then there are the numerous multiplayer FPS and finally you can just go tell every unathletic gamer to go play challenge and heavy mode at DDR arcades and end it right there.

But if I had to be honest, fighters are by far and wide the most challenging games that the difficulty isn't coming from a game annoyance (and it can also come from your human opponent) and even the computer can kick your ass severely (again, even they too can be cheap yet in ways that only spur you on, me at least). I grew up on Capcom and SNK fights and remember the feverish attempts at perfects to fight Akuma, and to be honest maybe that's why a lot of current gen games just simply aren't that hard to me.

 

[TheBeast43105]

But if I had to be honest, fighters are by far and wide the most challenging games that the difficulty isn't coming from a game annoyance (and it can also come from your human opponent) and even the computer can kick your ass severely (again, even they too can be cheap yet in ways that only spur you on, me at least).

Yes games that are hard like the fighting games you describe are fun because even though they're hard, its not because of ultra-cheap hits or pure luck, its all on you if you're sucking, which is why games like Ninja Gaiden are ball-busters, but i subject myself to the pain all the same

 

[Malachai]

Yes games that are hard like the fighting games you describe are fun because even though they're hard, its not because of ultra-cheap hits or pure luck, its all on you if you're sucking, which is why games like Ninja Gaiden are ball-busters, but i subject myself to the pain all the same

Masochist!

 

[BiQ_]

From the modern manic 2D shooter genre, I would like to mention Dodonpachi Dai-Ou-Jou and the Ultra mode on Mushihime-sama. I am thinking of Ikaruga too, which I consider to be a quite hard game.

Then there's Recca: Summer Carnival '92...

Little bit of obscurity is always good, isn't it? Of course, Ninja Gaiden series for NES was a real hard, too.

 

[Refelian]

One of the hardest RTS that i've played..
Behold the MIGHTY Starcraft! I love that game

Guys... These games aren't all that hard, really.

Well I also found Starcraft a hard RTS, if I compare it with most of the other aditions to the RTS genre which has been pretty lackluster and easy (build base and attack with large army, gee how original), with the exception being Perimeter of course.

But if you mean that Starcraft is hard in comparison with games like Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, then your right, it isn't really that hard.

 

[Ramen4ever]

I thought Starcraft was more on the easy side.
try Dune 2000 (I like the Soundtrack) that game was quite hard for a RTS
Battle Realms was the hardest RTS I ever played.
As for a game that will break you try Kung Fu for Nes :-X
That game encourages midget Genocide

 

[Walter]

As for a game that will break you try Kung Fu for Nes :-X
That game encourages midget Genocide

I beat that when I was 8... I think it was the first video game I was actually able to beat. And I suck at games, generally; especially back then.

Not trying to brag, I'm just curious as to what aspect of the game you found difficult. I mean, guys ran towards you occasionally throwing knives and you had to punch, kick or duck. That's about it

 

[Aazealh]

As for a game that will break you try Kung Fu for Nes :-X

I second Walter's post. I beat that game on my first run, as a kid, in like 15 minutes. I had borrowed it from a friend and returned it to him 30 minutes later. The reason it took me so long to beat it is the 4th boss, the wizard dude whose head keeps growing back, I only got the trick after a while. I think you're talking about another game because honestly I consider this one to be the shortest and easiest I've ever played.

 

[vlad]

I'm going for Undying. I finished it on "normal" first (which is not that difficult) then gave it a go on "hard" and it was a real pain. Though all this may be attributed to the fact I'm not that good in FPS.

 

[SaiyajinNoOuji]

This looks like this could be very hard

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1940781722688043082&q=portals+valve