Top 10 Hardest Games of All Time

Alex S. from Link-Cable writes: "Some people play games to relax. Others to test their skills against their friends, family and other players around the world. Other gamers just like put themselves through the must punishing gauntlets imaginable. Why? Why not! Playing challenging games and eventually besting them is one of the best accomplishments a gamer can have in their repertoire and is often cited as a badge of honor for years to come. So for this week's installment of our Top 10 countdown, we're taking a look at the most brutal, difficult and challenging games we can think of. Are you good enough to beat these 10 beasts?"

[chaos-emeralds]

Completed 2 of those. Nothings as hard as that sonic the hedgehog reboot.

[Last_Boss]

Not hard, just really poor mechanics.

[michellelynn0976]

I beat all except FTL and God's Hand (never played em).

[TheRealHeisenberg]

I only played NG2, MTP, Contra and G&G from that list. All were hard but G&G gave me the biggest fit, I don't even remember finishing that one.

[LoveSpuds]

Ghost n Goblins was never designed to be completed in my opinion, it was designed to take all your money in the arcades.

I loved that game ever since playing it on Commodore 64 as a kid but I have never completed it either, despite attempts on different platforms over the years, its so damn hard. I went on to adore Ghouls n Ghosts, particularly on my Amiga but especially whenever I happened across it in an arcade machine.

I see some claims here of people beating that game, but I would be pretty sure that it wasn't done without continues etching.

[TheRealHeisenberg]

I never played G&G in the arcades but spent many frustrating hours playing on home consoles using continue after continue. I don't remember there being any save points either.

[nitus10]

The only way I completed the Ghost n Goblins game was to play it on an emulator, that way you could save prior to fighting a boss. In the purest sense, I suppose you could consider that a cheat although I did not use any cheat codes.

One game I completely gave up on was Battletoads although around that time I became much more interested in games that had RPG elements and those genres I still prefer today.

[bigmalky]

I never beat G&G either, but did beat Super Ghouls and Ghosts on Snes years later.

Patience and learning got me through, same with most difficult games.

C64 era arcade games were mostly unbeatable without cheats. Midnight Resistance, Renegade, Bad Dudes... Jeez, kids have no idea.

[Muigi]

Ninja gaiden 1&2 were hard as hell!

[mocaak]

I played NG Sigma 2, I don't know if it's any different in terms of difficulty from NG 2, but to me it was much easier than the first one.

[Cyborgg]

A few of the Megaman games was hard back in the day

[deno]

Great list. Shinobi was difficult.

[AnnaDea]

Only game that can be considered as hard is Battletoads. But then again the title is "Hardest of all time" which only says how inexperienced the author is when it comes to video games.

The whole library of Neo Geo fighters are all harder.

The whole library of PC Engine Shmups are all harder.

3 nes games that are way harder are: Arkanoid, Star Force and Q*Bert.

Rant away...

[Last_Boss]

Never played FTL.
Played a bit of NG II & Ikaruga.
The hardest thing about Shinobi was the Golden Castle & Last Boss.
Battletoads the most consistent difficulty cause of the stages. Same as Ghost N Goblins.
Punch-Out is only hard cause Super Macho Man & Balrog.
Contra & F-Zero arecomplete cake walks. Lol
I beat God Hand but I dont remember it being difficult at all.

[Tetsujin]

TMNT on the NES
Mario Lost Levels
Hyper Street Fighter 2 (not SF2 Turbo)

[Last_Boss]

I would have put TMNT & Ironsword on here.

[Protagonist]

Completed Ghost N Goblins: Ultimate on PSP only to realize the game wanted me go through it again... yeah that did not happen...

[AKS]

Battletoads, Bayou Billy, Ghosts 'n Goblins series, and several shooters and ninja-themed games were very tough. Shadow of the Beast 1 and 2 were just brutal though. Shadow 1 had the most beautiful graphics and music I'd experienced back in the Amiga days, but it was savagely difficult, and 2 was worse.