Top 20 Hardest Video Games of all Time

The top 20 hardest games of all time in this precise albeit unpredictable list.

[Stoneroses6300]

Top Gun should've been higher.

[Jinxstar]

Wolverine: Adamantium rage should have been on there as #1...

[RKRigney]

never played top gun...

[Bubble Buddy]

Haha. Angry Video Game Nerd :P.

[gunnerforlife]

devil may cry 1 on DMDM:/ nightmare was a bxxxx :'( spend 7 hours tryin 2 beat him died so many times:( but all worth it at the end:D

[ThatArtGuy]

Top Gun had an easy way to exploit the game. All you had to do was point your nose to the top left by holding the joystick to the bottom right and you could fly all the way to the boss.

[Prototype]

1 should be Mario Lost levels, an Bionic Commando wasnt that hard

[lsujester]

Yeah, the Top Gun exploit works pretty well. However, the carrier landings area a different story.

However, oddly enough, I was really good in my younger days at landing on those things. I'm not going to lie and say I went through any other of these games, as on most I couldn't clear the first level... but I used to pwn on Top Gun.

[jtucker78]

They missed Shadow of the Beast 2 on the Amiga.
Try beating that without the cheat. It was tough enough to beat even with invincibility as there were irreversible sections that you could c0ck up if you weren't lucky.

And "Die Alien Slime" on the ZX Spectrum. That game was actually impossible.

[Stoneroses6300]

what's FF3 doing on there?

[RKRigney]

I thought it was easy too.

[Son of Odin]

yeah probaly the one game that doesnt belong...

[nonAsianDroid]

Metal gear solid 4 sould be on the list somewhere I mean its hard to beat after falling asleep or puting a real game in, oh well

[MountainMaverick]

Cool article. I like how FF3 was on there. I'm I the only one who thought that game was difficult?

[Tonys Creed]

I don't know if you're the only one, but I was young when I finished FF3 and I didn't had major problem... The magic tower was challenging but kefka was a walk in the park.

[MountainMaverick]

Good list. FF3 was hard as hell!

[OldWizard]

FF3 is tough for sure.

[Son of Odin]

it was kinda tough...but not THAT hard

[Samus2080]

FF3 WAS hard. beating kefka took me forever.

[shawnsl65]

i don't know about that, it was OK not hard not easy.

on another note: "16. Street Fighter (when playing with Zangief)" how dare he diss zangief!

hard game to me would be Batman 1 from nintendo.. i don't think i've ever beaten that game at all if memory serves me right.

[kevnb]

it was even neutered for Western Audiences. Have you played any Dragon Quest games?

[Lord Shuhei Yoshida]

I agree with number 3.Contra was brutally tough

[Volvobug]

#1 too...battletoads...ouf

[Pain]

that game broke MANY controllers.....well the Raw hatred that Made me SMASH Them..

[RKRigney]

should I go back and play battletoads?

[Bob Dole]

Battle Toads was the shizNITE. Go back and play it!!

[RKRigney]

I despise contra...

[Lord Shuhei Yoshida]

rofl expected really

[Stoneroses6300]

contra rulez!

[Raoh]

thats a pretty good list

man i forgot how much i used to love the silver surfer game

[Son of Odin]

this IS a GREAT LIST. excellent job here...

[Stoneroses6300]

loved silver surfer? are u nutz?

[PS3_360RROD]

Hey how about Viewful Joe i think that game was pian in the ass...I stop playing after a while never beat it...

[Peter Griffin]

i loved VJ. i stopped playin after i couldnt beat the last master on the hardest mode. (u had to beat the game on every difficulty to get to that difficulty...unimaginably hard)

[Timesplitter14]

This christmas, it'll be me, a friend (hardcore gamer), big supplies of chips, candies, red bull, a NES and.... Battletoads! And we're not giving up until we beat the final boss

[Stoneroses6300]

that sounds fun as hell. (i'm actually serious)

[OldWizard]

dude, that DOES sound fun. me and my buddy did that with mega mans 1-4 one weekend 2 months ago.

[Volvobug]

need mountain dew for that mission!

[NOTORIOUSzeke]

Man I wish my best friend and I were in the same state so we could do the same.

[lsujester]

And your present for NEXT Christmas will be the Battletoads end screen. LOL

[OldWizard]

yeah man

[Volvobug]

EPIC LIST!!!!

[DDP]

yeah

[Volvobug]

damn i loved this list! nice job!!

[Panthers]

Im surprised these games are older ones. Anyone play Colony Wars Vengence? That game was ridiculously hard. Even with god mode on I could not beat it.

I had the TMNT game and I got past the part where you had to de-tangle the bombs, but I never beat the game. It was very hard.

[DDP]

games these days are so much easier than they were back in the day.

[poeo]

hah, i still got Colony Wars Vengeance, but i dont remember if i ever beat it!

i dont remember it being too hard though.. hmm maybe i should try it now.

[Theoneneo81]

Ghostbusters II for NES

[Volvobug]

wow that brings back memories.

[DevastationEve]

remember captain america and the avengers? i couldn't get past the section with this phrase:

"Where's the laser?!"

"ASK THE POLICE"

by the time i got there i had already used up the health of the other three fighters and all i had was mothman. hawkeye was badass. and of course the cap'n was cool, with his shield! i'm forgetting someone though, who is it?

anyway, an EPIC co-op game!

[DDP]

yeah i agree...100%!

[Volvobug]

yeah man.

[solar]

id rather play a hard game then the push overs we have now.

[DDP]

Couldn't agree more!

[Stoneroses6300]

yeah i agree too. today's games are easy as hell. mario 1 is harder than any game this decade...

[OldWizard]

Great comment. couldn't agree more!

[OldWizard]

you're the kind of person who should be reading Old-Wizard.

[nirwanda]

try back to the future part 3 on the megadrive that's the hardest game I ever played(has to be the megadrive version the others or really easy) and airwolf on the spectum was impossible literally the game wasn't finished and they had run out of money so the made a room that was impossible to beat so they could release the game

[Peter Griffin]

try back to the future part 1!!!!

HARDEST GAME EVER CREATED!!!

[DevastationEve]

oh, and alien storm was tough too. i couldn't get too far in that one either. my friend had to beat it for me.

[Stoneroses6300]

agreed.

[OldWizard]

yeah

[jerethdagryphon]

good times

tmnt after water was city, only place you could recover a lost turtle.... beyond that...... i never made it

what is a good game was disneys magic kingdom :)
as for contra.. uuddlrlrabselect start.
need we say more
seen it beat though awesome game. thesedays the emphasis is on graphics not gameplay. and there easy

[OldWizard]

ever seen it beat without the code though?

[jerethdagryphon]

you could beat it....

i got quite far but just got run down

sewer shark :)
anyone reember that game which require engagine nagivation al system for each dierection change. :)
i beat it though......after who knows how many atempts
ending was very camp and lame though.

[OldWizard]

YES!

[Volvobug]

yeah

[Drano]

Well... is that because I always power-leveled like crazy? Never met any resistance in that game, ever.

Jump Beyond.

[Son of Odin]

Kefka is tough...

[NOTORIOUSzeke]

FF3 was very difficult when I was a kid. When I went to play it again I power leveled like it was WoW to avoid being killed a bunch of times.

[big shadow]

good list

[MountainMaverick]

God I remember how difficult TMNT was. That water level was such a pain in the ass

[DevastationEve]

I have a whole list of my own! Like:

Aladdin (couldn't get past the cave)
Gargoyles (inSANE, the levels were just incredible)
Iron Man and XO Man of War (great co-op game)
Sonic 2 (i beat it, but metropolis zone...those friggin grasshoppers!)

[MountainMaverick]

this comment is fail.

[OldWizard]

sonic 2? really i agree with ur other ones...but sonic 2 was easy... i thought...

[DevastationEve]

yeah, it was easy. but those friggin grasshoppers got me every time! let me put it this way: do you remember what it was that you would show off the most about that game (as with all Sonic games)? not just the rings, but the lives you had. well, those things ALWAYS brought me down a few numbers, because of their friggin boomerang claws.

[MountainMaverick]

TMNT was impossible

[DevastationEve]

High Seas Havoc (great game)
Awesome Possum (weird game)
Road Runner vs Wiley Coyote (hopping from rocket to rocket was fun in that one level)

[Samus2080]

I think I beat TMNT once. If I remember correctly, I didnt use codes either. Not sure though...

[Samus2080]

I thoguht Sonic 2 was the easiest out of all the sonics.

[Stoneroses6300]

FF7 was harder than FF3. FF3 was still hard

[OldWizard]

maybe not the easiest...

[Stoneroses6300]

Sonic 2 was easy as hell! That should be on an easiest list!

[Volvobug]

i agree

[OldWizard]

FF7 was hard as hell...

[Bob Dole]

All the final fantasy's are relatively hard until you get to the mega-impossible last boss that takes like three effing hours to beat if you get lucky enough. Couldn't ever beat the last boss on 8. Bob Dole finally just gave up and started playing Chrono Cross... speaking of hard games that game was ridiculous all the way through.

[ngg12345]

There is no way battletoads was harder (sorry). Punchout wasn't hard at all too. Contra is impossible to beat with 3 lives and 3 continues

[theEnemy]

Menu

up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, b, a, start

:)

[shawnsl65]

wasn't it up up down down left right left right A B A select start?

[Bob Dole]

Ahh the code that made the game possible to beat. Good times.

[frey]

I'm surprised about some of the games on there, like TMNT and FFIII, I beat those games when I was around 8.(Yes I was the kid who only talked and played games when I was younger.)Top gun was hard and I sort of hated it but I persevered and beat it. I gotta say, the game I would have the most trouble on that list would be battle toads due to the hover bike.

[Son of Odin]

TMNT was hard as HELL!!! what are u talking about!!

[poet215]

I was about 12, games were hard but they just took a lil' practice & good timing.

[Son of Odin]

what a GREAT list!!!! this brought back so many memories...not all of them good :)

[DevastationEve]

I remember quite a few 16bit games that really pushed you. Like:

Alien Storm
Gargoyles
Alladin
Ristar
Captain America and the Avengers
High Seas Havoc

On the 32bit side, I'd say things got WAY more interesting

Crash (the dark levels were great)
...do I really need to list them all? 32Bit was inSANE!

I was out of gaming for the 128bit era, but I did play a few of more notable titles. Mostly casual games. Now, I'm back to the hardcore.

[Son of Odin]

what a great list...

[pumpkinpunker]

the original Metal Gear and Golgo 13 for the NES should have made that list instead.

[poet215]

I remember Metal Gear having me stumped sometimes over what to do next......and when I was wondering around in the wannabe woods that keep repeating, I still remember the way out left, left, up, left.....those were the days!

[BWS1982]

I got very far, but one of the later "ski-doo" levels (I think it was one in the picture, maybe not) that was mega quick pissed my 10 year old ego off too much to keep trying, haven't touched it since, but I still have fond memories of it.

I have to say, some games that are buggy now can be considered "hard", I quit trying to beat the last level in the campaign for Battlefield 2 on xbox 1, it was so glitchy my rockets were going through tanks, etc...I gave up and sold it. The rest was great though...

Anyone remember certain difficult, later levels in Donkey Country 2 or 3 in the 16 bit days after NES? Some of those had me swearing all day

Btw, I think they forgot to put the "2" in "Street Fighter", you could only play as Ryu and Ken in the real "Street Fighter", the second was the tournament fighter that redeemed the series and the one it's famous for. 1 was a crappy game.

[Aclay]

@ BWS1982,

Yeah, I remember those harder levels in Donkey Kong Country 2 and 3 on the SNES. I remember playing some levels for hours and dying tons of times.

I remember there was that one level with the moving Barrels in one of the Donkey Kong Country games, and nearly the entire level consisted of shooting yourself out of barrels... to me that was just one of the tough levels in those games.

[DevastationEve]

my friend had starfox 64 and mario 64, and i think those two hold the crown for the ENTIRE 32/64bit era. i would even put mario kart 64 in there too. something about n64's controller made these games pristine in their presentation, and yet still challenging enough to be TRULY hard.

i don't think difficulty just means tough AI. i think it should mean the time it takes for you to get "in the zone", since we all (as hardcore gamers) share that one trait: we're unbeatable when we get there. when a game beats us, it's because we're pushing to the bleeding edge. not because a fireball hits us or because a spike trap popped up out of nowhere.

[BWS1982]

Starfox 64 was challenging, but not unbeatable like some NES games....I played through it a few different times just to take different planets and see different routes, but I always ended up beating it. I dunno....

I have to state, I think the reason these 2D games were so difficult was because of timing and memorization, it was about lightning quick reactions and memorizing entire levels WITHOUT checkpoints or saves. And when you died too much, you start all ******* over!!!! Unless the game was giving enough to lend you a password. The days without game saves or memory cards (well, RPG's had them but most didn't)

[DevastationEve]

I think unbeatable DEFINED the 8/16bit experience. And it did so because programming was still very rudimentary. The developers didn't have much "cranial capacity" to work with back then, so to speak. So, yes timing was everything and memorization of level layout and AI paths was a must.

[Bob Dole]

Mario 64 was ridiculous hard to get 120 stars. Bob Dole gave up at 118.

[Son of Odin]

great list.

[Aclay]

Old School games were some of the hardest games EVER to me.

I downloaded the NES Emulator for PS3 and downloaded the Contra Rom, and I could barely even get through the first level... I didn't try to play it too many times anyways and it was the first time I had really played Contra and if I practiced more I'm sure I would have had more luck, but I just gave up.

...I can remember throwing my SNES controller at the wall as a kid while playing through a tough stage in Donkey Kong Country 2 just now...

You really had a sense of accomplishment once you got past a tough level in those old school games, and I usually don't get that sense of accomplishment now-a-days in a game unless I'm playing a game on the hardest difficulty level or something. A lot of those old school games to me were already difficult even without increasing the difficulty.

[BWS1982]

you remember the DKC 2 level or not, but a couple hard ones were Animal Antics (last one in the Lost world) or Toxic Tower, what was even harder was trying to get some of the secrets etc...

I think a lot of games these days focus more on telling a story, how are they going to do that with someone spending 4 months mastering a level and forgetting about the whole plot meanwhile? They also may just put it down and say it's not worth it, then the story never gets told either. Games are more like Movies these days. That, and they have to make them accessible to the mainstream. Imagine a soccer mom trying to pick up Contra and enjoying it.

[MountainMaverick]

Contra was even hard with the code if I can remember

[DDP]

LOL

[MountainMaverick]

Yeah, you need the code for Contra or you have no chance....of even getting by the first level

[Samus2080]

I could get by the first level in contra without the code..that was about it

[Samus2080]

Super Contra was hard too

[Stoneroses6300]

High Seas Havok was ridiculously hard. That should have been on this list.

[Serjikal_Strike]

When games lasted longer than 3-4 days to beat(playing 3-4 hrs a day)!

[SlyGuy]

GameGenie

[OldWizard]

yeah man

[Son of Odin]

new games are easy.

[Son of Odin]

agreed.

[Volvobug]

yup

[Volvobug]

i agree. i beat halo 1 on legendary in a week.

[DDP]

new games are easy

[DDP]

high sea havok...lol

[Ldubbz]

Games were impossibly hard back then. I used to think maybe it was because I was younger at the time...not so. Though I loved my NES, I also HATED it at the same time...many games and controllers were thrown against the wall.

And even worse...remember being far in a hard game, with no saves or passwords no less, and all of a sudden...BEWWWWWW...your game was stuck and the last midi tone would just ceaselessly play out. I no longer want to relive the trauma...

[Samus2080]

agree 100%

[40cal]

I still have it for NES. Yes it was one hard game though I did beat it at the age of 11 or something?

[Bob Dole]

2 was better. The first was a classic though. Everybody had that game.

[Samus2080]

Top Gun was IMPOSSIBLE

[DDP]

yeah that game bothered me.

[Samus2080]

yeah i have yet to find a challenging new game

[Ldubbz]

Ninja Gaiden 2...f'n hard as hell, but not unfairly so. Halo 3 on legendary (solo campaign...no Co-op!) WipEout HD is another one

[kevnb]

it isn't really that hard, Ninja Gaiden 2 can kick your backside though.

[Samus2080]

high sea havok sucked.

[MountainMaverick]

agreed.

[MountainMaverick]

Game Genie was irritating to use. Emulators kick their ass. Save states. Oh yeah

[MountainMaverick]

DCK2 was def a hard game

[DDP]

DK2 was easy. so was 1.

[DDP]

never heard of it

[xdragonelite]

i absolutely hated the underwater time-bomb disarming level in TMNT. even when i finished it i never got the satisfaction of beating it as i did when i beat the surfboard level in battletoads. when i finally finished that level i screamed victory like johnny drama on entourage.

[Lord Shuhei Yoshida]

I thought Battleship on the Genesis was a tough one.I always got flanked and blown up

[QQcrybaby]

I don't think Tyson is all that hard. Once I got the timing down I could beat him 100% of the time with no chance of failure. Super Macho Man was by far the hardest character to beat in that game.

[SteveSmith]

These games definatly don't deserve to be on the top 20 list :

-Top Gun : This game was really easy. All you needed to do is fly the plane at the highest altitude possible, and you can do the entire level without fighting a single enemy. The landing was not that hard. With some practice, I could land 90% of the time. The game only had 3 or 4 levels.

-Final Fantasy 3 : Lol? Is this a joke? This is easily one of the easiest RPG ever made. It's much easier than Final Fantasy 2. While playing this game, I constantly used weak attacks and bad tactics just to see what kind of attacks the bosses would use. If I used all my weapon correctly, I would kill every boss in a matter of seconds.

-Doom 2 : Seriously, this game is not hard at all. The last boss is not that hard, once you figure the correct timing. I have no idea why this is in this list.

[poet215]

I was able to beat some of these games as a 13yr old, back in 1990. I remember finishing TMNT. That game was easier than than TMNT arcade game, that later released. Bionic Commando, on the other hand...I only beat it by not leaving the intro stage & constantly leveling up my experience until I had at least 8 energy squares. Rygar was another tough game that required mad leveling up experience & energy. Blaster Master definitely belongs on that list & Renegade also. As far as Top Gun goes, I landed on the carrier, but had mad trouble trying to fuel in the sky. Rush 'N Attack was kinda tough too.

[Bathyj]

Popeye Game & Watch and Kaboom on Atari 2600. That how I got my Jedi reflexes.

[Horny]

Devil May Cry 1 and 3 on hardest difficulty is hard. especially 3 that is why they released a second easier edition.
Mario Lost Levels could be on the list as well, I agree with most of the list since I only played like half of them.

[IntelligentAj]

I find it interesting that no new games were on this list. What does that say about the difficulty of games as time has flowed?(DMC 3 not included because that game was hard as hell)

[Bob Dole]

That's because back in the day most games only had one difficulty: IMPOSSIBLE!

[omodis420]

No MGS4? or Mario Sunshine, What about Devil May Cry 3?

[Agent Orange]

robocop on nes was stupendously hard as hell too

[robotnik]

Sonic 1 the water level was a bit hard, but Contra wins..

[InMyOpinion]

How about Trojan(NES) and Ecco The Dolphin(Dreamcast)? Both of them could top that list.

[Lowlife]

Trojan wasn't so hard? I finished that game a couple of times even though I just borrowed it from a friend.

I regret not having played Battletoads though =)

[InMyOpinion]

I was very young when I played Trojan , but at the same time I was a grinder. I probably wouldn't do any better today. Never got past the second level.

[dylz]

I NEVER TRUST OLD WIZARD THEY ARE GAY

[Lowlife]

Anyone played Project IGI? That was a real tough nut to crack.

The lack of quick saves in an FPS (only save between levels) raised the frustration level enormously, but when I finally finished the game I really had a sense of accomplishment as well.

Kind of when I finally beat "I wanna be the guy".

[MastaBlasta222]

For anybody that says there are no new hard games.... Go play Ninja Gaiden 2 on master ninja then come back and say that again. I couldn't get past the second level no matter how hard I tried. I bet most gamers couldn't even finish the first level.

[Bob Dole]

Or Sigma. Those games are just too much.

[kevnb]

It was even made easier for western audiences. It was pretty easy, and so was FF7. I could always get to the last level in battletoads, but the last level would whoop me in minutes. The same thing would happen to me in Earthworm Jim.

[xionpunk]

The Dante Must Die modes in the Devil May Cry series are insane. I don't think I'll ever beat em.

[shawnsl65]

don't forget how hard BATMAN 1 for nintendo was.. couldn't beat it no matter how many times i try. oh and for this generation.. ninja gaiden sigma is a b1tch. it even made it on Fox News as hardest YET this gen.

[IVYvsTAKI]

no one plays R-Type. Any of them. That sh!t is tough.
Can't believe none of those made the list...

[cpuchess]

I am not sure if it really counts as a video game but the top Chess programs you can buy for your PC are extemely difficult to beat. Even the very best players in the world have trouble winning.

[BUKKAKALYPSE]

DONKEY KONG is way harder than any game listed on this