8 Most Difficult Games Ever Made

Not every video game is a piece of cake, sometimes they are hard, sometimes harder and sometimes the hardest. Difficult games come in multiple flavors, some games are ultra-hard but they respect the player and some games, they just plain hate you. For this list, we have chosen those games that are difficult even at lowest difficulty.

[faisalsheikh14]

Dark souls was one of the most difficult game i played.

[bouzebbal]

Batman & Robin on Megadrive (Genesis) is one of the most difficult games i have ever played and my all time favorite Batman game. If you don't trust me, finish level one without losing all your lives.

[Highlife]

Battle toads was the hardest game I have ever played. I remember throwing my controller and its the only game that I took out of the nes and threw it at wall.

[XBLSkull]

Was looking the whole time for Ninja Gaiden B/2, thought it was a BS list, until of course, it appeared as number 1.

[nirwanda]

Back to the future part 3 on the megadrive was near impossible not to die within 30 seconds

[nirwanda]

http://youtu.be/MCaHiAg5xng
link to megadrive back to the future part 3, I worked in a game shop during at the time and played nearly every game, but never met anyone who could last longer than a minute.

[bellome]

The hardest game i've ever played is maybe Rush 'n Attack on NES. One of my first games ever, still never finished it.

@Highlife

Battletoads was a great game, not so hard in my opinion but a lot of fun!

[nicksetzer1]

Idk, for me dark souls was not nearly the hardest game I've played, certainly not #2.

[blockcoc]

Your first souls game is always the hardest. Once you nail the mechanics in the first game you play will leave the other games feeling easier.

[gamehunter]

it was little bit hard...

[Nerdmaster]

Unfortunately Dark Souls is hard for the wrong reasons (e.g. your sword rebound on walls but the enemies attacks don't).

[The_Devil_Hunter]

I agree, this game isnt really all that difficult, its the frustrating mechanics that make the game feel difficult, but the reality is that I have played way harder games than this all from the Sega Genesis and SUper Nintendo times. Hell Mega Man is harder than Dark Souls.

[Dhampir]

Dark Souls difficulty is the exact same style as old 2d games, like megaman. A focus on pattern recognition and precision is all it is. But if your weapons are rebounding off walls, it's your own damn fault. Learn your weapons.

It's only frustrating for people who refuse to adapt and try to force their way.

[xabmol]

No.

It was only difficult for those with no patience or skill.

It was a game for those who don't need and do not want their hands held. Those that don't cry for their mommies and need night lights.

[DragonKnight]

Explain to me why you're trying to use a two-handed, horizontally swinging weapon in a narrow corridor and why that's a "wrong reason" the game is hard and not, rather, a reason you're playing the game wrong?

Did you know that if you swing a weapon against a wall in real life, the weapon will actually bounce off of it? I know, it sounds crazy but it's true.

[nitus10]

Well if you pick a long weapon such as a spear or halberd what do you expect. In narrow passages daggers, short swords, maces and don't forget your magic although the problem is deciding what magic to use, although any magic that takes over a second to cast is pretty useless unless you have a long corridor.

@DragonKnight
Pretty much all of "From Software" games required you to watch your stamina. This is probably off putting to gamers who are use to games that allowed you to have high speed slashing no matter what weapon you used.

Matching a weapon to your stamina and changing tactics in narrow spaces are much more true to life.

[Nerdmaster]

@DragonKnight
Emphasis on the "but the enemies attacks don't" part, please... People only listen to what it's convenient for them...
I'd have no problems with rebounding attacks if the same laws applied to the enemies. "Did you know that if you swing a weapon against a wall in real life, the weapon will actually bounce off of it?" - no, really?? But if in real life somebody tries to attack me swinging a weapon against a wall, because he's my enemy his attack will go through the wall?? If you're going to use "real life" to justify a game mechanic, then do it for every case, not just the ones you want to defend.
And why are you presuming that I was using a two handed sword? It happens with the freaking broken one handed sword in the beginning of the game.

@Dhampir
Mega Man has pixel perfect controls. If you missed an attack or a jump, you knew it was your fault. Dark Souls, with its strange physics and controls, not so much.

People talk about "focus on pattern recognition and precision", "requires you to watch your stamina", like Id Software invented all this. You know another game that uses all this and still have solid controls and physics, and gets difficult for the right reasons? Monster Hunter.

[XanderZane]

The Super Star Wars games on the SNES were a pain in the rear. I know I never completed those games. I went back and tried them again years later and they were still impossible. Battletoads was a nightmare. Ninja Gaiden Black was pretty difficult as well. The first Megaman game was also pretty hard. Watch this. Too funny. I beat both Megaman and Megaman 2. The 2nd game was a lot easier.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[Kevlar009]

Episode 5 is brutal. I remember playing it with some friends and we couldn't make it past the 3rd level, inside the bar.

[easternbalboa]

Ghost n goblins

[nitus10]

IMHO the Sega version of Ghost n goblins was harder than the SNES one but no matter which platform that game was brutal.

[JsonHenry]

I feel this list should have contained nothing but NES games on it, lol.

[TheSaint]

Eh, Demons Souls was harder.

[cyberblackdeals]

nah i think dark souls was not that difficult

[Mikefizzled]

Dark Souls is a 3rd person strategy game.

[xabmol]

I can see why you would say that, but respectfully disagree. (although I did click agree)

To label this a "strategy game," you would need to relabel entire generas. I mean everything could be a strategy game by your definition. Because they all require, at least, some strategy.

[Bimkoblerutso]

Well, strictly speaking I have to say that the other games on that list are probably harder than the Souls games. But the Souls games have always had the RIGHT type of difficulty in my opinion. It's the kind that lays out it's mechanics and lets you gradually get better and better at it. There's little to no "cheap" difficulty tactics in the Souls games. It's just you're good at it, or you need to get better.

Old-school games like Battletoads and Contra are much more trial-and-error by comparison.

[slayer254]

I played contra in my childhood and remember I was never ever able to complete it...

[cyberblackdeals]

You were newbie and i think you still are

[slayer254]

lol...you try for yourself once and see.....

[pkb79]

I was never able to beat it without the old Konami code

[SpitFireAce85]

I remember playing contra with my dad..Great times..

[turab]

may he rest in peace.

[Vanfernal]

Ninja Gaiden Black? Pfffft. Ninja Gaiden 1 for the NES says hello. Also Ghosts N Goblins should be on than list. The thing is games like Demon's Souls and Dark Souls are quite beatable. You just need patience. Old school NES games you needed to have the skill to pull off near flawless playthroughs or there was no way to beat them. Kudos for including Battletoads in that list Altough it should be higher.

[xabmol]

Yeah, you can't go back to Battle Toads and Contra, then pull out some recent games to make a list of most difficult games. A true list would be filled by the NES generation alone.

[morganfell]

Ninja Gaiden Black was easy (and enjoyable). Real ninja difficulty belongs to Shinobi on the PS2.

[morganfell]

Ha ha disagrees from people that never tried to play Shinobi. Look it up. The difficulty on that game easily trumps most titles.

[matt139]

Mile high club on veteran ;)

[DarkOcelet]

I got that from my 6th try. I cant believe that some people consider that achievement impossible lol. Once you learn the pattern of the enemies, that it, you will easily pass it but it was one of the best spec ops missions in the whole series.

[destroyerz1]

Devil May Cry 3? This game is so easy.

[gamehunter]

totally agreed with for me this was an open cake to cut.

[Scrivlar]

I loved Dark Souls 1 so damn much, and thankfully it was my first Demon/Dark Souls games so it all felt new and challenging, by the time I played Demon Souls though I'd already mastered the combat and how to exploit the game so I didn't get the fullest experience of difficulty from that one. I think whichever Souls game you play first is your favourite.

[OrangePowerz]

Dark Souls and co have nothing on games from NES, SNES and Mega Drive era when it comes to difficulty. Don't get me wrong I live the Souls series and they aren't easy.

[Loadedklip]

Zelda II and other NES games were definitely harder than most of these games.

Either way ... I am sure the absolute hardest games of all time are probably games no one likes and/or were legitimately terrible.

Thus all these "hardest games of all time" list usually are really "Hardest Good game I actually managed to beat" list.

[nitus10]

Zelda 2 had side scrolling in the dungeons, however you could save the game in the overland so in some respects it was easier to beat the game since you only had to go back to your last save (similarly for all Zelda games).

What made some of the NES, Snes, Megadrive etc games hard or very frustrating was you normally had limited lives and if you lost all them you had to start the game again.

If you look at the Souls or even King's Field games you have unlimited saves so even though you died you could always come back at a save point although with the Demon's Souls you were penalised with the game becoming slightly harder.

[Loadedklip]

Save or no save ... if you died in the great palace ... you had to get all the way back over there which meant dealing with all unskippable areas before the Great Palace. Zelda II was really difficult for a lot of people. Without a save system ... it probably would have been close to impossible for the average gamer.

[SilentNegotiator]

In b4 people start talking about how games used to be harder and bettererer in the era when the developers cared more about getting your quarters or making you forget that your $100+ game cartridge had about a half of an hour of content if you didn't die every 3 seconds. The games in that time that were designed with ridiculous unhuman response times and a complete lack of balance weren't created that way for your benefit.

That said, there were SOME well designed hard games back then, just as there are SOME today.

[Bobby Kotex]

Do you have a point? The title of this lazy article was the most difficult games ever made.

[waleed125]

dark souls was pretty hard didnt play any most of the other games in the list so dont know about them

[waleed125]

f-zero gx was pretty fun game too dont know about hard.

[slayer254]

it is...your car is just like a missile ....too hard to control

[jholden3249]

No, it's got awesome controls. Best there ever was for a futuristic racer. The issue wasn't difficulty controlling the cars, it was just a really really really difficult game to win in the harder modes.

Other F Zero games I could beat, but GX was BRUTAL. The easy difficulty mode was even harder than most games. But any other difficulty mode required absolute perfection and even then the slightest mistake would cost you. Add to that the fact it was 30 player races and every opponent would try to spin attack or side bash you off the track.

F Zero GX is the most difficult video game known to man. The only reason most people in this thread don't acknowledge that fact is because they haven't played the game for themselves.

[Loadedklip]

Did you unlock the AX Cup?

If not ... then it is clear why you didn't think it was hard.

Beating Master Difficultly to unlock this cup was one of the most difficult and satisfying things I have ever accomplished in gaming.

[WeAreLegion]

I Wanna Be The Guy is much harder than these games. Cloudberry Kingdom on the higher difficulty settings is impossible, as well.

[MattKocher94]

Ya'll don't know about that Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix Critical Mode level 1 on THE PS2. Hell is not even close on describing this.

[DarkOcelet]

Been there, done that. Terra was a ****ed up boss fight though.

[funfame]

its dark souls

[TheLastColossus]

DMC3 is so easy when you're playing as Virgil, but its not hard anyway.

[lfc_4eva]

That list is mere child's play next to Jet Set Willy.

[Angeljuice]

Jet Set Willie was hard anyway but the bug that made it impossible to finish makes it the hardest game ever (0% completion rate).

[Slayer_xXx]

i remember playing demon souls for the 1st time & was quite frustrated at times bt it was a welcomed breath of fresh air at the time...by the time i gt around to dark souls it didn't felt quite as hard as d previous initially that is till i lost my net 4 awhile had 2 finish it solo which was a pain in d ass especially in anor londo, duke's archives/crystal cave, tomb of the giants...ppl saying tht oh it wasn't difficult tend to ignorant to d fact tht d co-op factor makes d souls experience tht much more accessible

[SSmoke]

Castlevania 1&2 for NES, a lot of Nintendo power for those sob's...

[Imalwaysright]

Wings of Wor.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[Psychotica]

Chess programs like Stockfish, Houdini etc. Even the world champion won't play them on even terms.

[Pennywise138]

Ghost and goblins for NES was the one game that made me throw a tantrum and controllers when I was a kid. Can't believe it didn't make the list.

[The_Noid]

QWERTY was no walk in the park.

[Gamesgbkiller]

None of the new games are difficult.

[Donnywho]

Ghosts N Goblins (NES) The Devil helped program that game. Ask the team who made it. No one knows how he got the job, no one argued with his work and when he was finished he calmly asked that no one change any of his code and he vanished never to be seen again.

[Pennywise138]

Donnywho gets it!

[Reefskye]

Going back to late 80's basically every game on the Sinclair Spectrum, No save's very few extra lives, die 3 times game over start from first level. I download an emulator and Spectrum ROM's about a year ago, I couldn't even complete the first level on He-man.

[Raider69]

Wow he forgot IKARUGA!

[Bobby Kotex]

The majority of 80s console games and arcade games were more difficult than this list. Contra wasn't even close to the hardest game in the arcade or the NES. The author should look up the manic shooter/bullet hell genre.

[silvacrest]

play borderlands 2 on ultimate vault hunter mode, not only are the enemies hard with tons of regenerating health, you also need good gear at the right level just to progress

[All_Consoles]

Very meh list. Most of these games aren't even that hard. Contra? Not really. Where is ghosts and goblins, silver surfer, super Mario bros 2 (Japan), etc

[modelgod]

Super Mario 2 wasn't too hard and ghost and goblins was bearable. Resonance of fate is pretty hard.

[ShiranaiJittai]

You are objecting to Contra being on a difficult game list? That one is quite legit. Go ahead and post a gameplay video of you speedrunning it without using the Konami code or reloading save states to prevent from dying. Then I will believe you. Before you ask no I can't do it myself I am not the one saying the game is easy.

People had so much difficulty completing the game that Konami themselves RELEASED the contra code out into the wild. They didn't hide it.

[metalgod88]

I would put Demon's Souls higher up on the list, maybe 2nd and my top most difficult game ever, the very first Megaman. The ending of that game was nearly impossible, but I loved every minute of it.

[mark_parch]

battletoads and halo 2 legedary

[modelgod]

It's so funny. ..I was just playing contra yesterday and it took me 14 lives to compete the game. Back in the day I was able to beat it without the code. Ninja gaiden black was easy, I guess because it's probably in my top ten. It's obviously not one of the top ten games every made, it's in my favorite top ten list. Has anyone ever beaten kid icarus or bionic commando? Those games were hard,games now are too easy! !

[FrostyZipper]

I'm not seeing I Wanna Be The Guy, Battletoads or God Hand on that list

[ShiranaiJittai]

Considering your list only has 8 games and you have both Demon's Souls and Dark Souls on the list I must object to the redundancy

Where is Megaman 2?
the Original Castlevania?
Spelunky?
Super Meat Boy?
VVVVVV?
QWOP?
Mega Man 9
Anything in the Ghosts and Goblins series like Super Ghoul's and Ghosts.
Any of the other hundreds of insanely difficult indie games (I only list them because you have FTL in the list)
I wanna be the guy
Irritating Stick
Catherine

There are hundreds more but I am trying to just list off games that are difficult by design not due to poor programming. Hence why the likes of Bubsy 3D for PS1 and Sonic the Hedgehog for Xb360 are not included crappy game design and painstakingly crafted difficult scenarios ala Contra are not the same.

[fanboysmackdown]

Mr. author, your English needs a shitload of improvement. That was painful to read.

[PickAShoe]

I finish contra back in the days; it wasn't difficult at all. Popeye was one of many classic game I never finish.

[make72]

Well Souls games are hard(i have all platin trophys from souls games) and i been playing since pong,ghost'n goblins is also hard .But the hardest game ever made is Amigas Capital punishment(game is like mortal kombat)me and my friends been trying like ages to beat first opponent and never beat that guy:).almost for get nes dragons lair is also pain in the ass:)

[rhap]

Funny to see Souls games there. Overrated as hell, not to mention the fights are all clunky, movement is horrible and it's all about "die a few times in every transition then you can do it blindfold".

SO HARD.

[usman3144]

Ninja Gaiden Black was difficult and yes dark Souls is also difficult game made