Your hardest games ever list

[Himu]

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Top 10 Tuesday: Toughest Games to Beat
These games are guaranteed to kick your butt.

by News & Features Team

March 21, 2007 - Welcome to IGN's weekly countdown of the exceptional, fascinating, and absurd: something we like to call Top 10 Tuesday. Every week we'll feature the top ten games, characters, fashion statements or whatever else we can think of that in some way relates to gaming and its history. And just because it's called Top 10 Tuesday doesn't mean it's always going to be a list of the best -- we like to razz on stuff as much as we like to praise it. From counting down the best consoles ever to revealing the worst use of fish heads in a videogame, this is where it's at.

This week's topic: Toughest games to beat. Across the history of gaming there have been numerous titles that have knocked players on their collective butts. Narrowing down the ten most difficult was a tricky task in itself, since the challenge of a game can be very subjective. In gathering our top ten, we gave favor to titles widely considered difficult by both IGN editors and readers and that derived that challenge through game design. If you have the skill to topple all ten of the games below, give yourself 1000 IGN Achievement Points.

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Team Ninja's Tomonobu Itagaki http://pc.ign.com/articles/774/774907p1.html
IGN: Top 10 Tuesday: Toughest Games to Beatthinks gamers are a bunch of whiny wusses. He said as much the first time he demoed Ninja Gaiden at IGN. The incredibly challenging action title requires quick fingers and on-the-fly strategizing to defend against the constant attacks by the numerous villains lurking across Ninja Gaiden's large levels. As if the original Xbox version weren't hard enough, Team Ninja released an even tougher edition with Ninja Gaiden Black that added vicious cat-women and new challenge modes. While it is possible to master Ninja Gaiden Black, it is by no means for lightweights.

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This is one of those games that knows it's hard, and it just doesn't give a crap. It looks you straight in the eye and says, "Yeah, I'm hard. So what? If you can't take it, I'm sure there's a copy of TMNT lying around here somewhere." With so much retro gaming going on nowadays, longtime gamers are being reminded that games used to be hard. Devil May Cry 3 channels that legacy. Trust us: the devil won't be the only one crying…

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We're talking about the NES version here, not the pansy Genesis version. Battletoads took the side-scrolling beat-em-up nature of Double Dragon, but added a whole lot of variety in the level design. One area will find you repelling down a bottomless pit, while another will have you racing around on motorbikes. This variety actually augmented the difficulty of the game, as it required practice, skill, memorization, and lightning-fast reflexes to avoid the numerous obstacles and instant-kill traps scattered throughout the game. To this day, Battletoads is not-so-fondly remembered as being nearly impossible to beat, something that earns it a rightful spot on our list.

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Unlike many shooters where you can survive by memorizing the enemy's attack patterns, R-Type requires you to memorize the level layout (of course, you'll have to memorize the attack patterns, too). And the only way to do this is through a system of trial and error. Play a level, die, play again but take a different path, get a little farther, die… To make matters worse, your ship is the slowest, least maneuverable hunk of junk in the galaxy. Luckily, the clever level design and awesome boss fights made all the frustration worth it.

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Not many played MDK2 for Dreamcast and far fewer actually beat the game. Two of IGN's more esteemed editors consider it the most difficult game either had ever beaten. BioWare's inventive action game is merciless from beginning to end. In fact, the first major boss battle, against an enormous ship, may prove the furthest most gamers ever made it in MDK2. Yes, it's that tough. Fortunately for MDK2 the reward for persevering through numerous deaths is a colorful and humorous sci-fi story. MDK2 later came to PS2, but was tweaked to be a bit more forgiving. Don't settle for the easier version of MDK2! We dare you to dust off your Dreamcast and give this one a try.

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"Are you freaking serious? I have to go all the way back to the beginning of the level?! $#@%!!!" Wherever Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts is being played, these frustrated words can be heard. Unlike Mario, Sir Arthur, the hero of Ghouls, never learned how to control his momentum in the air. That means you're committed to your jump once your feet leave the ground. If you happen to land on a pile of zombies, so be it. Checkpoints are few and far between, too, so you can plan on playing through each of the game's levels over and over again until, by some miracle, you happen to make it the boss - only to be killed and have to do it all again. Of course, we're masochists, and we love it.

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F-Zero games have always been hard, and F-Zero GX on the GameCube raised the stakes in every regard. GX took the blisteringly fast races from previous entries in the series, and added merciless enemy AI and excruciating track designs. Furthermore, GX saw the introduction of Story Mode, which upped the ante even further with its utterly impossible challenges and multiple difficulty levels. The game's difficulty ramped up at a rate where players always felt like the next challenge was surmountable, if only they spent some time practicing. This game serves up a hefty helping of ass-whooping, but we just can't keep ourselves from coming back for more. Seasoned gamers complaining about the lack of difficulty in recent games obviously missed out on F-Zero GX.

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Shinobi on PS2 ushered in a new era of challenging games, just when gamers were starting to grow soft. Purposefully difficult, the new 3D Shinobi adventure had classic gaming sensibilities and was just as unforgiving as the toughest old-school sidescroller. Hotsuma is cursed, requiring his blade to constantly feed on the blood of enemies. Every second the blade goes without blood costs Hotsuma a little more life, making it imperative that players be aggressive and move as quickly as possible through each level in Shinobi. And that's the easy part. The true challenges are the numerous platforming elements that require impeccable timing. One mistimed jump and Hotsuma fell to his death. Featuring no in-level checkpoints, every life lost puts Hotsuma at the start of the level. Ouch.

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The Mega Man franchise is widely known for its difficulty, and its prolific nature made choosing the most difficult game in the series pretty daunting. If we had to choose, we would nominate the original game, simply because it lacked the later refinements that made the games "easier" (we use that term loosely). In original, you can neither slide nor charge your Mega Buster. The energy tanks that appeared in later games were also lacking, making for frequent deaths. Add to that nigh impossible platforming sequences, lack of a save feature, and ruthless bosses -- all of whom must be defeated twice -- and you have one of the hardest games ever made. This game barely edges out Mega Man Zero as the toughest title in the series to date.

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The Contra series is known for separating the Spartans from the Persians. And while gamers will debate which game in the series is actually the hardest (a very strong case can be made for Contra Hard Corps), we went with the original since it's basically responsible for introducing cheat codes. Contra is virtually impossible to beat without entering the Konami code -- and even then, there's a good chance Mad Dog and Scorpion won't make it to their showdown with Red Falcon. As if one-hit kills weren't enough, your friends can even end you if they don't wait up while scaling that waterfall. Any way you slice it, Contra is hardcore.
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Contra is not harder than Ghouls N' Ghosts but whatever. It's a decent list. I still don't see why people say DMC3 is so hard to beat. The game is very easy to beat. The fact that normal mode is the Japanese version's Hard mode, and Easy mode is Japanese normal makes it even more hilarious. DMC1 is harder than 3.

Would anyone really say Battletoads is hard? It's always been "broken game" hard to me.

What's your own personal list? Here's mine:




   
10. Ghouls N' Ghosts
9. Ninja Gaiden (xbox)
8. Gunstar Heroes
7. Panzer Dragoon series
6. Gaires
5. Shinobi (ps2)
4. R-type series
3. Contra Shattered Soldier
2. Megaman Zero 2
1. Animal Crossing

Animal Crossing is the hardest game I've played. Yep.

[demi]

yakuza, because it was so awful i had to force myself to beat it, that was hard
shadow of the colossus, because it was so awful i had to force myslf to beat it, that was hard
psychonauts, because it was so awful i had to force mysel to beat it, that was hard


that was the top three, the rest dont matter

[Himu]

Demi you suck.

[TakingBackSunday]

I don't think Contra or NGB are that hard, honestly.  SGnG?  Holy fuck yeah.

Also, the original NES TMNT.  My god.

[Vizzys]

rtype is indeed hard as balls, as is most games like it, say ikaruga.

looking back yeah the classic megaman games were hard and are very unplayable today now that I have been spoiled by wall jump and dashing. Zero series was pretty unforgiving yep.

Ninja gaiden is hard near the end, had no problems til those fucking floaty fish. FUCK THEM.

[Himu]

TMNT on NES isn't even *hard* but more like "Holy shit the designers of this game sucked ass and now I have to suffer for it."

[MrAngryFace]

Umm, I LOVE Shinobi, but its not harder than Ninja Gaiden, not by a long shot. Sure the mid-air tate's at the fire moth boss guy are hard, but really the ONLY thing you need to be good at in Shinobi are the mid-air tates, in Ninja Gaiden you have to be good at A LOT of different things.

[TakingBackSunday]

TMNT on NES isn't even *hard* but more like "Holy shit the designers of this game sucked ass and now I have to suffer for it."

Well at least the music was sorta catchy!

[Himu]

Umm, I LOVE Shinobi, but its not harder than Ninja Gaiden, not by a long shot. Sure the mid-air tate's at the fire moth boss guy are hard, but really the ONLY thing you need to be good at in Shinobi are the mid-air tates, in Ninja Gaiden you have to be good at A LOT of different things.

the final boss dude!

[Junpei the Tracer!]

Ninja gaiden is hard near the end, had no problems til those fucking floaty fish. FUCK THEM.

Yeah and they bite SO much....so many..i used the lunar for them.

Umm, I LOVE Shinobi, but its not harder than Ninja Gaiden, not by a long shot. Sure the mid-air tate's at the fire moth boss guy are hard, but really the ONLY thing you need to be good at in Shinobi are the mid-air tates, in Ninja Gaiden you have to be good at A LOT of different things.

the final boss dude!

Ya know....He isn't THAT hard but he certainly was very hard,he just takes patience.

[ToxicAdam]

Wow, no Super Monkey Ball?

[Catz]

Ikaruga
Gladius IV
any side scrolling shooters, really

[Madrun Badrun]

Ikaruga
Gladius IV
any side scrolling shooters, really

Catz is a real gamer? 

hot. 

[MrAngryFace]

Catz: Gradius III is way harder than IV!

[Catz]

Catz: Gradius III is way harder than IV!

O RLY. Hmm, I may have to check it out. Is it also 2 players?

[MrAngryFace]

Get the gradius collection for PSP if you havent, its awesome. III kicks my ass so bad....so so bad.

[Catz]

O wait, I think I remember Prost playing the rom for it. It's an SNES game right?

[MrAngryFace]

dont recall, never owned gradius games on SNES. If you like gradius games tho the psp collection is a really good value

[littlemathletics]

It was a SNES game, yeah.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

I was so proud of myself for beating Dreamcast MDK2.
so very proud.

[Van Cruncheon]

gradius 3 snes is stupid easy. gradius 3 arcade is stupid brutal.

[tiesto]

Any of the Ghouls and Ghosts games
Ninja Gaiden
Ninja Gaiden 3 NES (limited continues? WTF!!!!!!)
Ninja Gaiden (Xbox)
Dodonpachi Daioujou
Dangun Feveron (too fast!)
Transformers:Convoy no Nazo (glitchy Famicom Transformers game with really poor controls)
Gradius III Arcade

[Bloodwake]

I can agree with this list.

The Contra series is a bitch.

[Prost]

pssssh, I recently beat Contra and died once, the game is like 10 seconds long.
I used to think Ninja Gaiden was tough, but that was when I was younger, I've had no trouble beating it (and the only part that's actually kinda hard is the part right before the end boss, and then the end boss is cake).

Ikaruga.... on Hard mode... that that's practically fucking impossible.  You deal with situations that you've been through like 20 times and you STILL don't know how to survive some parts...

Gradius 3 IS FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE on arcade, I've only ever beaten it with save state.

I was going to put 1943 as a tough game, but I just fuckin beat that one recently too! lol

TMNT, never beat it, but never played it past the age of maybe 8.

I need to try these megamans "zero" games...  X6 was somewhat challenging, and I'm not having much trouble with zx on the DS... just don't play it much really.  plus it's annoying to find that right button for dash....  just because you can't holy y, press a and then b, and having dash as x is just weird..., so i use top r.  and there's too much god damn storyline and searching for missions and shit, buggin the hell out of me.


and the game I don't know if I ever past the first few parts of, which I think is definitely the hardest game ever (besides something like populous or some fucked up weirdo nobody puzzle game where there's like 1 billion levels)...



which I haven't played past the age of like 6-7 either... but I remember it was just fuckin impossible