Contra (NES)
For many, Contra was the first run and gun shooter they played. In this NES classic you played one of two near-shirtless dudes with guns who ran across screens blasting suckas with all they’ve got. There was nothing forgiving about this legendary shooter. Projectiles littered the screen at all times, often in erratic patterns with few pauses or windows left available for you to make your break for safety. At first, this just sounds tricky to maneuver but manageable, but when you learn that it only takes one hit to kill you, things go from tricky to sadistic.
Come to think of it, maybe our scantly clad heroes would have fared better if they actually put on some gear appropriate for their adventure. But then again there are those who can beat the entirety of the game without using the infamous Konami code or the help of a second player. Just be sure not to let your greed kill you while chasing those weapon upgrades as they tempestuously wave across the screen, enticing players to forgo all common sense in the hopes that they can get that sweet “S” to dish out some shirtless justice. But hey, at least the music you suffered along to was wicked.
Megaman (NES)
His games are beloved by millions of fans. They were also hard as hell. Back when the blue bomber debuted on the NES there was no save feature or password mechanic to retain your progress. You had to sit down and beat the whole game. And what a tall order that amounted to. The levels were brutal and the enemies and bosses populating them were nothing to scoff at either.
Jumps had to be pin-point accurate. The game would throw projectile, dashing, and aerial enemies at you, often all at once, while simultaneously tasking you with clearing a tricky jump. And if you should make it to the boss you better hope you had the weapon they are vulnerable to or you were in for a drawn out game of dodgeball with foes who hit like a truck. Good luck.
Ninja Gaiden (NES)
Ninja Gaiden. We could just leave it at that, to be honest. This NES classic gave players nothing more than a blade and some shurikens to take on the hordes of foes it threw at you, and with such underwhelming equipment and defenses that was not going to be easy. Even the birds wanted Ryu dead, swooping in at the most annoying angles to chip away at your health bar while escaping the short reach of your blade’s slashes. Games don’t get much tougher than the ones that belong to this masochistic series.
You had to be nimble, precise, and fearless to finish this adventure. Hesitating in the face of projectiles and dashing foes, or doubting your ninja senses will leave you staring at the game over screen pretty quickly. If you ever feel like pulling your hair out, you should give this gem a run.
Ghosts N’ Goblins (NES)
Ghosts N’ Goblins for the NES was a side scrolling platformer that decimated players with an absurd difficulty and hit point system. Your knight, Sir Arthur, had to traverse the lands in search of his beloved Princess Prin Prin, who had been kidnapped by the Devil himself, Satan. Along the way Arthur is bound to take a beating, but not much of one, apparently, as the first hit would leave his armor in tatters on the 8-bit ground. Arthur is then left to run around in his tighty-whiteys where a subsequent hit would result in an ugly and painful death.
If you manage to survive the ordeal and beat the final stage, Satan will quickly inform you that it was all for naught, an illusion, and that you must finish the whole game all over again on a tougher difficulty this time. Yea. Sadistic doesn’t even begin to describe this beast of a game.
Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening (PS2)
Rushing us into the modern era Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening relished in destroying egos and humbling fools who thought they could just pick up and play this brutal action-adventure, hack-and-slash, metal music fueled, demon slaying nightmare of a game. The very first boss, appearing less than half an hour into the game, will put you in your place time and time again, leaving some players stuck at the very beginning of the game unless they accept their inferiority and turn down the difficulty.
We’re not kidding, this game was so infamously hard that the Devs opted to re-release it in the form of Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition which came with a significant nerf to the difficulty. But for those who managed to weather the demonic storm start to finish on the hardest iteration of the game left the experience feeling god-like, and rightly so. A word of caution to all those who commit to accomplishing this feat: you will die, often. Just try to keep the game’s central theme song in mind while you’re staring at the game over screen for the centillionth time: Devils Never Cry.
Demon’s Souls (PS3)
Ushering in an age of brutally difficult RPG games for the western world, Demon’s Souls introduced a new generation of gamers to the joys of the “game over” screen. Yes, this Japanese masterpiece of masochistic suffering punished those who dared to answer it’s call to arms with giant bosses who could easily decimate you with one fell swoop and relentless enemies who always seemed to manage to bait out your attacks, leaving you vulnerable to punishing counter blows.
This game is not for the weak of will. You must commit yourself to this dark and dingy fantasy world. Scouring every corner for any advantage you could find no matter how meager it is, in the hopes that you can raise your stats just enough to survive the punishment the enemies were so eager to dole out. If you manage to endure this nightmare, you can hold your head high and stand among the very few elites who have conquered this beast. If you can retain your sanity through it all, that is.
Battletoads (NES)
While this list may not be in any particular order, Battletoads would easily place first on any list of this kind. Few games can be called difficult when contrasted with this one. Rare’s NES legend scarred many a gamer in its day. In the days of the NES, many games figured they could extend their life and replayability by being stupidly difficult. Much like Ninja Gaiden, Megaman, Contra, and every other NES nightmare out there, enemies were difficult to contend with, and levels were meant to be memorized and handled with incredible precision and nerves of steel.
The dastardly tunnel level challenged players to dodge obstacles and threats at break-neck speeds; think of TMNT’s sewer surfing level but much, much harder. No matter your approach, this game gave you no quarter. Playing alone you felt like there was no way you could finish it solo. But bringing in a friend meant you had to be careful for friendly fire. Just another layer of challenge to deal with. Oh, and if one of you dies you both have to restart the level. Yea you really weren’t meant to finish this game. The obsessive completionists of the time may have made short work of all their other games but this one wasn’t going down without a fight.
What are your toughest gaming memories? Did any of these games give you a hard time? Maybe we missed the demons from your past, so let us know in the comments below.
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This post was originally authored by Ahmed Khattab.
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