Your 5 hardest games EVER

[nakamura]

Zelda on the NES is the hardest game I have ever completed. I would never have done it without save states.

[rmoxon]

It's ok saying "The souls games are only hard until you get good at them", but isn't that the case for all well made games that present a fair challenge?

The only games that everyone are going to find hard are the ones that are badly made, cheap and unfair.

[fuse]

The only games that everyone are going to find hard are the ones that are badly made, cheap and unfair.

Nope, afraid I don't agree with that at all.

[dataDave]

I'm learning to keep my mouth shut.

[Party boy]

Would agree wholeheartedly on the vert shooters. To those saying Super Hexagon, it doesn't even compare. I use a simple rule of thumb: if I can do it, it can't be that hard.

It doesn't compare because it's a lot harder than any vertical shooter I've ever played! I've never played a vertical shooter where I reached game over in under 2 seconds, which happened to me in one of the hyper modes in Super Hexagon.

Super Hexagon is a lot more addictive, but I bet you reached a lot more game overs in Super Hexagon than in any vertical shooter, and your average go was a lot shorter. Vertical shooters are just more boring and tiresome.

[fuse]

It doesn't compare because it's a lot harder than any vertical shooter I've ever played! I've never played a vertical shooter where I reached game over in under 2 seconds, which happened to me in one of the hyper modes in Super Hexagon.

Super Hexagon is a lot more addictive, but I bet you reached a lot more game overs in Super Hexagon than in any vertical shooter, and your average go was a lot shorter. Vertical shooters are just more boring and tiresome.

I don't think 'how quickly can you potentially die' or 'average game time per credit' are good metrics for difficulty though. Super Hexagon's a wonderful, wonderful game, but it's about pattern recognition and response speed - two skills that develop very naturally through repeated play, which the game encourages by its very design. It's all good and well saying you've died in two seconds (as have I), but you've got to take into consideration that a 'clear' is only sixty seconds long as well.

As ExMosquito very eloquently put it earlier on though, shooters often require a large array of skills by the bucketload to fully understand what's going on, let alone to finish them. Not to say that other games don't have this, but shooters (bullet hell types in particular) are pretty much the most relentlessly difficult genre around.

Fighters are incredibly deep and tough to learn as well, but I don't really consider them 'hard' as the challenge is dependent on your adversary rather than one fixed finishing line that people are going for.

PS. get posting in here

[ozzzy189]

Magician lord on the neo geo. God that was bloody evil.

[Party boy]

I don't think 'how quickly can you potentially die' or 'average game time per credit' are good metrics for difficulty though. Super Hexagon's a wonderful, wonderful game, but it's about pattern recognition and response speed - two skills that develop very naturally through repeated play, which the game encourages by its very design. It's all good and well saying you've died in two seconds (as have I), but you've got to take into consideration that a 'clear' is only sixty seconds long as well.

As ExMosquito very eloquently put it earlier on though, shooters often require a large array of skills by the bucketload to fully understand what's going on, let alone to finish them. Not to say that other games don't have this, but shooters (bullet hell types in particular) are pretty much the most relentlessly difficult genre around.

Fighters are incredibly deep and tough to learn as well, but I don't really consider them 'hard' as the challenge is dependent on your adversary rather than one fixed finishing line that people are going for.

PS. get posting in here

That's just two of the metrics I mentioned though, it took me a lot more attempts to clear the first stage than it's ever taken me in a shmup, and I'm sure it took me a lot more time overall as well. And the fact that you can die so quickly on the harder stages makes it a lot harder as well since you can't ease your self into it in the harder stages. I keep making mistakes that I wouldn't make on the easier stages because I haven't picked up the rhythm, then bang, game over.

Then you have the no lives or continues putting more pressure on you, the fact that the game's much faster, and the controls much more sensitive than any shmup, the fact that rotating around something is so alien, the fact that the screen rotates at high speed, and changes direction, the fact that the sequences can combine in ways that catch you out and the screen ratio means you often don't realise what's coming up until it's too late... Plus I'm increasingly finding the virtual buttons are a bit too small so I end up pressing the wrong part of the screen and dying almost instantly!

Data Dave struggled with it despite doing everything in F-Zero GX I see, I'm sure the controls are no less sensitive on a tablet, I've had the exact same problems as him, but I persevered with it... But I can't see me ever unlocking the hardest stage, or getting more than 15-20 seconds on the three preceding difficulties, I think I'll stick to replaying the first two stages.

I think you underestimate the skills required in it, and your achievement in beating it, I don't know how you did it in all honesty.

Everyone should check it out though, it is awesome, if extremely frustrating at times. I would say it's unlike anything else, but it's like a much purer bullet hell shooter in many ways, except you rotate around a central hexagon.

[Party boy]

Actually, it's not that the virtual buttons are too small, it's that I keep pressing the little thing on the right that brings up the Kindle Fire menu I just realised.

[killy]

Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts on SNES isn't THAT hard... I've beaten it on one credit before.

I completed it although it took much more than one credit to complete. I don't think I would have the patience required to do it again though.

[Kit]

Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts on SNES isn't THAT hard... I've beaten it on one credit before.

Missed this.

Pff...!

The guy moves like a god damn leper and for every 2 feet of in-game land there's about 2000 things trying to take your head off. Plus you lose your armour after 1 hit - 1 friggin hit! you also can't do **** to control yourself when you make a jump - it's proper all or nothing stuff from the get-go.

Hats off to you Mayhem if you've actually completed this beast but to say Ghouls 'n Ghosts isn't hard is craziness!

[Charlie]

Regarding the Souls games, I'd say they're incredibly unforgiving but not hard in the truest sense because it's easy to farm souls cheaply and level up to the point where nothing is particularly challenging. Just takes a lot of time, patience, and an incredible tolerance to tedium. Truly hard games don't allow for stuff like that.

[bash]

I think one of the hardest games ever was the original SF2 for the SNES. Upon the billionth time my mate tried to enter the famous capcom screen cheat code (quickly press Down, R, Up, L, Y, B) and failing he screamed, ripped out the cart and punched it only to break a finger.

That game was well'ard!

[dataDave]

Then you have the no lives or continues putting more pressure on you, the fact that the game's much faster, and the controls much more sensitive than any shmup

In most cases if you don't 1up a shmup you are unlikely to 1cc it.

Data Dave struggled with it despite doing everything in F-Zero GX I see, I'm sure the controls are no less sensitive on a tablet, I've had the exact same problems as him, but I persevered with it... But I can't see me ever unlocking the hardest stage, or getting more than 15-20 seconds on the three preceding difficulties, I think I'll stick to replaying the first two stages.

To be fair, I gave it literally 15 seconds of my time. I didn't find the concept of navigating a rotating arrow through gaps in hexagons particularly engaging.

Put a gun to my head and give me 16 hours and I'm sure I'll clear it.

[wonderboy]

How about...

Xenon (Atari ST/Amiga). (did anyone ever finish it ?)
Shadow of the Beast 1/2 (Amiga)
Paperboy (Arcade)
Dragon's Liar (All formats !!!)
Syndicate Wars (PC)

Also, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out ! (hehe).