Mega Man 2. I know that it's the easiest Mega Man, but I've been slowly chipping away at Contra 3 and Mega Man Zero and I eventually want to beat Mega Man X6 just to face the hardest Mega Man head on. I've also been wanting to beat Hagane, Super Turbo, and Thracia 776. (I've started Hagane and Super Turbo, but I feel like I should have some more experience with classic Fire Emblem before I get into Thracia 776)
I don’t usually brag, but I beat Snufkin: Melody of Moominvally all by myself.
In all seriousness, I think one of the hardest parts I’ve ever beaten is the Sans fight in Undertale. I wouldn’t consider Undertale the hardest game I’ve ever beaten, but I’m having a tough time thinking of game I couldn’t beat vs. I didn’t want to invest the time in practicing to beat it. Mega Man 2 is the only Mega Man game I’ve ever played, but it was a blast!
Easily Adventure Island(NES). Then I'd say Ninja Gaiden III: Ancient Ship of Doom(NES), and maybe Ghosts 'n Goblins(NES).
100%ing' Wario Land Shake It! on Wii was no easy feat either, then you've got mega man 10's Hard mode, and even Castlevania III & Rondo Of Blood which were challenging little buggers in their own right too.
Resident Evil 2Remake's Hardcore mode is no slouch either. Mr X is literally on you like a misquito, you have less inventory slots, limited saves, enemies are more aggressive, they take more damage and you take more damage. I beat the game on Standard with Leon's 'first run', but I'm currently stuck on the second battle against 'Sewer' William Birkin with Claire's 2nd Run on Hardcore.
If we're talking about my misspent youth in the 1980s, then the two that come to mind are Ninja Gaiden (NES), and Mike Tyson's Punch-Out (NES). At one point I could beat Ninja Gaiden without continuing and TKO every opponent in Punch-Out. Those days are long gone but I'll always have the memories haha.
Hollow Knight and Labyrinth of Galleria are my most modern "tough" games. I did both without guides, so I'm particularly proud of that.
Ikaruga is the one I wish I could beat. My reflexes just aren't what they used to be.
While I haven't really dabbled much in difficult games (I don't really have the patience for those types, but I've been trying them more and more over time.) I can say proudly that I have beaten the "Path of Pain" in Hollow Knight (In addition to the main game and a lot of the side stuff like the grubs, charms, pantheon fights, etc.)
Idealism and realism are only a few letters apart, it's a fine line between the two. One must be careful not
to step too far on one end, as it could very easily throw the other off balance.
My Current Games: (Taking a break and leaving my gamer dungeon before TTYD.)
Does Mario Odyssey trick-jumping count? I know Mario Odyssey is a fairly easy game on it's own, but when you try to do some of the level 7-10 trick-jumps it can become very challenging.
Level 9 of Celeste. I played that and felt like it was the exact limit of difficulty I would deal with, and only because of the sheer quality of the game.
I do play through the Mega Man series pretty often, and these games are usually added to "top hardest games" lists. Aside from Mega Man though, I think the game that gave me the most trouble was the original Castlevania.
I still need to give Castlevania 3 another go. Haven't beaten that one yet. I took Alucard's path and got stumped by the difficulty.
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels immediately comes to mind. It's a really difficult game, easily the hardest Mario platformer, but I've beaten it after many tries! I've finished the Super Mario All-Stars version, and I've also beaten the game with both Mario and Luigi.
I've also finished Shovel Knight, Celeste, and a good chunk of the Mega Man games. I beat the original F-Zero in master difficulty long ago, too.
Probably Sekiro... which was my first FromSoft game played. I'd actually set out to buy Ghost of Tsushima, and though Sekiro looked 'similar'... the rest is history lol.
Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels. In a world where we have Super Mario Maker this may not seem as difficult or as much of an accomplishment but back when it first came out here in the States, my friends and I saw it as pure evil. A new form of FunTorture. Oh the wind and those backwards pipes... Getting to and then beating World 9 (no warps) took patience, patience, and a little more patience on top. Beating World 9 was a contest in Nintendo Power around the same time I’d finally did it. So I remember beating it again once I had film in the camera (sounds archaic to say,)and I took the requisite shot of the end screen with the SNES balanced atop my TV. I still have the Nintendo Power with my name in it for beating The Lost Levels without warping.
Probably Celeste. I 100% completed it apart from the golden strawberries (which you get for beating each level without dying - I've managed it for level 1 but the later levels are so long and difficult this would be borderline impossible). Just checked and it took me 37 hours and 11700 deaths.
I wonder how we define toughest here. A lot of the classic nes games for example can be pretty frustrating but are also pretty short so if you persevere you win.
Number of deaths isn't a great metric either because there are games like Celeste you can beat by dying a zillion times and not losing much progress each time.
Personally I've beaten a lot of of retro games and a lot of precision Platformers and although they can be difficult, they are hard to rank.
I feel like the true metric of hardness should be some combination of expected number of deaths, how much progress you lose on each death, and technical difficulty. So a difficult game requires time, frustration, and technique. For example, let's think of a fairly long Mario Maker level with less than .1% clear rate and no checkpoints. An average player might die 1,000 times and have to restart from scratch each time but eventually beats it with medium skill and much time and patience. However, if that level also requires some crazy hand-contorting pixel perfect shell technique, the average player may not be able to beat it even after trying for 10 years and perhaps it takes the very best players hundreds of tries.
That said, most games are designed to be beaten relatively sanely, although 100%-ing games can of course be inconceivably harder.
Also, I am not counting multiplayer because the difficulty of those often goes to basically infinity based on the skill of the other players.
As a Kid/Teen: Kingdom Hearts (PS2). Weird answer, I know, but I honestly see more games to the end now than I ever did when I was young. Despite having an SNES, GB, & N64, it wasn't until KH on PS2 that I actually committed myself to seeing a game through to the end (other than Pokemon I guess). While I wouldn't say it's usually hard, that Riku fight at Hallow Bastion is the first time I really "hit a wall" in terms of boss difficulty, and it's really stuck with me ever since. It's been so long since then I can't remember how many tries it took me, but I remember it being over many different play sessions & I was so happy to be done with it once I won (luckily none of the other story bosses gave me that much trouble).
Otherwise, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (DS) would be a good shout from that era (well, it was recently after I had graduated high school, but I was still a teen, so I'm counting it). I remember it having some sort of spider-like boss in a pyramid/desert temple level that gave me so much trouble. I put the game down for months before going back (& somehow beating it my first try upon returning).
As an Adult: probably one of the character action games I've beaten, probably Ninja Gaiden Sigma (Switch).
Note: I usually play games on their equivalent of a "Normal" mode. Very rarely I play "Easy", and never "Hard", for what it's worth.
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
Just off the top of my head,
Megaman 1. I've beaten all of them, but I think the first is the hardest. That yellow devil boss, yikes.
Megaman X
Ninja Gaiden Black
Devil May Cry
Demon's Crest
A more recent tough game I beat was Cyber Shadow. Holy crap the final boss is ridiculous.
@FishyS
I actually had a conversation with my friend about a hypothetical rating for difficulty alongside an age rating. I argued that difficulty is about as subjective as quality so then you might as well force the metacritic score on the box as well, but even if there was a death-frequency system, it might scare players away from specific games that they could've liked
Ninja Gaiden seems to be a name that keeps popping up. I tried playing the first one on the NSO and Ninja Gaiden Shadow on the GB. I got like halfway through it, I wouldn't say it was tough, but more... chewy. Probably because it's a Gameboy game, the NES one was brutal
If I had to single one out, it'd be the classic PC game X-Com: Terror from the Deep. It is absurdly difficult, even compared to the rest of the games in the series, which aren't exactly easy.
The Shin Megami Tensei series also has a bit of a reputation, especially the third game. It's a lot easier on Switch though, thanks to some quality of life features.
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