Games can be tough; so infuriatingly tough that you will throw a controller across a room. And in today’s generation of wireless controllers, that is a dangerous prospect. This list marks the moments in gaming that had you pulling out all the 1337 skill you could just to beat it. The requirements for the list are -
- It has to be a particular section not just the whole game
- It must be tough on purpose, not due to crap controls or glitches
- The difficulty must be set to normal
- It has to be part of the game and not an optional side quest
- One entry per franchise
10. Another World (‘Out of this World’ US) – The first 10 seconds
From the second you press start, you had best be moving, or you’re already dead. You land in water with tentacles reaching toward you, so you must swim up and head right. You had best have seen that slug, or you’re dead. Jump it and then try not to land on the other one. Guess what; now a giant beast is going to chase you. Time to avoid all those traps again but in a speed run. Hell of a way to start a game. The return rate for this would be nigh on 100% if this kind of an intro was released in a game today.
9. Professor Layton – The puzzle you can’t wrap your mind around
Now this isn’t one puzzle in particular, as it varies for the individual, but everyone had at least one of these puzzles that you simply couldn’t comprehend. Try as you may, your pictrats for this puzzle were definitely the minimum, and while you didn’t necessarily have to complete every puzzle, to leave one felt like blasphemy. So for days you would be stuck on the puzzle and eventually it would either come to you or some bastard would explain the answer to you within seconds of hearing it. Either way, this game had potentially the hardest “tough” moment.
8. Ocarina of Time – The Water Temple
Don’t make me remember this damn area; it still angers gamers to this day. If you don’t know about the water temple, you’re better off. If you do know of it, you understand and no more needs to be said. Screw you Miyamoto, I trusted you!
7. S.T.A.L.K.E.R – The raid on the bandit camp
Stalker was as buggy as it was awesome; considering it took a year to get it running properly, you can imagine just how buggy it was! One of the first possible missions is to meet up with a group of friends to force the bandits out of the farm land west of your base. You suddenly realise how badly equipped you are to be in ‘the zone’. Not one person I have spoken to survived their first encounter with this section, let alone the second. Stalker brought the harsh realisation of your predicament to light within minutes of your arrival. Many would say there are harder parts in the game and they may be right, but this is the one that let you know the others were coming.
6. Battle Toads – Rat Race
A well known game among the old school crowd for being tough as nails, but due to the list restrictions we need to pick one moment. Rat Race was hard enough to get, let alone to beat. You needed the relexes of a ninja cat on crack to win and even sometimes that wasn’t enough. People that finish this game deserve a very shiny badge.
5. Turtles in Time – Super Shredder
Say what you will about the recent remake, but the original is still a work of art, with a great set of levels and soundtrack all the way through. The problem with the remake was the broken mechanic when moved into the third dimension, not the fact these games have got old like many reviews suggest (If the style is old, then why is Castle Crashers so much fun?). Super Shredder at the end of the game however was ball breakingly hard, with the ability to instant kill you. You needed to be on your toes to avoid attacks and do damage to complete possibly the greatest arcade brawler of all time.
4. Contra 3 – The end boss
Contra 3 was hard as nails anyway, let alone the final boss whose attack pattern required so much concentration from the player that it could cause your brain to overload and shut down. The Overlord is so hard to get to that I can find no images of him anywhere, proving his spot on the list. The hardest part about including Conta on this list was choosing a moment, props to the DS master piece Contra 4 for just being damn well hard all the way through.
3. Fear Effect – Fighting Deke
Another game that was tough as Vinnie Jones covered in concrete on a bad day, Fear Effect was a uniquely designed game with stunning visuals and art style for the time. Late in this Ps1 title, Glas loses his arm, stopping him from pulling off dual wielding awesomeness, only to then be faced with the dead tortured soul of another previously playable character. Not only had you been literally handicapped but the boss was bad ass even for a full functional character. Complete this only to be presented with a very difficult choice at the end of the game, which I just discovered had a 3rd option!
2. Shin Megemi Tensi Lucifer’s Call (UK), Nocturne (US) – Dante
The first in the Shin Megemi Tensi series to grab my attention with siren calls of ‘Dante is in this’ slapped over the front, this JRPG introduced me to a series I would fall in love with, only to be rewarded with the re-emergence of the Persona series. Dante was the line that hooked me; he was also the obstacle that had me level grinding away just to beat the git. When Dante appears, smiles adorn the loving fans faces, only to be wiped clean as he humiliated and destroyed your party within seconds. While it was cool to watch all this signature moves played out in turn based style, it was less fun to watch what they did. Dante forced you to reconsider playing the game – he was that hard.
1. Ninja Gaiden Black/Sigma/Whatever – Alma
We all know Ninja Gaiden is hard; most people didn’t even manage to get past the punishing first boss. What awaited them should they weather the storm was a game worthy of any collection, and bosses that were slightly easier once you had some upgraded weapons and move lists. However there is one boss that stands in the way of even the most experienced Ninja Gaiden pro – Alma. This purple demon of hellish power would whoop you around the room within seconds, making all that skill and hard earned respect worthless. Today I can speed run Ninja Gaiden, but I still fear facing this woman every time, with her ability to change out of an attack pattern at the drop of a hat, a ninja hat at that.
Now these are some of the hardest moments in gaming, but there are others out there. Some people breezed through the games mentioned above. Others like myself found them challenging in the extreme. It depends on your generation of gaming, so we’d like to hear: What were your toughest moments in gaming?
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Am I the only one who beat Alma on their first try in Ninja Gaiden? She wasn’t that hard. Fire Ninpo ftw.
i wonder if anyone ever had the same trouble as me with the chicken fight on family guy
also, god of war 2 on titan mode playing your first time through, i know its not on normal
but thats hard as hell, im on 35 hours and still havent beaten it
get100% Learning to fly mission in San andreas
Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance-Moloch! Most frustrating sub-boss in the series!!
xmen origins wolverine sentinal fight and prince of persia the two thrones…where you had to do the quick button presses…yeah hard in my opinion…
Anyone that found Alma easy is either a genius or frikkin lucky, the fire Ninpo does no damage to her at all (at least in the original and black versions). Moloch in MK:DA did have an explotible attack pattern but was F***ing hard the first few times.
For me I’d have to say FFX, one of the hardest games for me because I completely screwed up my stats on all my characters and now im still very low leveled and it takes me over a half hour to defeat whatever the really basic enemies are called, lol, all I know is that im 30 hours into the game and haven’t played it in almost a year cause its so hard for me.
The game that should be at number 1. Mike Tysons: Punch Out – Mike Tyson Fight.
You forgot Dragon’s Lair on NES. The whole game is a frustrating piece of shit
Has anyone forgotten any of the Discworld games, they are exceedingly difficult, particularly because none of the puzzles make any obvious sense
Boost ball guardian on Metroid prime 2.
Vagrant Story… the whole game. O_O
No Ghost N Goblins?! Fail!
The only problem is that I don’t recall it having a specific moment that was harder than all the rest. Overall, though, that game was mind-bogglingly difficult.
I hate games that are as hard as my cock at a kids sports day.
I’ve played Dragons Lair (v. hard), Ghost n Goblins (v. hard), Ninja Gaiden (vv. hard) and of course “Mile High Club” on COD4 on Veteran. So hard I almost gave up but the young kid with me gave me a spurt on. Or was it the other way round LOL !!!!!!
destroyed alma first try. then on master ninja, and all the online content. then ninja gaiden 2 on master ninja. was ranked 35th in the world in the first one for 4 months, which wasnt easy. but all my friends have had HUGE issues with that game in general and most def alma being the hardest for some. BUT mike tyson from punch out is hands down 10000 times harder if you were put one momment on that list instead and even slide it into first.
I don’t know if anyone else has played it, but the last boss of Rengoku on the PSP is F’ing impossible!…I even went back through the game a 4th time, because it makes you play the tower 3 times to get to the boss to level up, and he could still instant kill with a practically unforseen/undodgeable attack. Have not beaten it to this day.
Doom on Nightmare Level!
Alma really isn’t that difficult, and definitely not deserving of the number 1 spot. I can defeat her without taking any hits if I want to. Just run to avoid the purple orbs. Dodge at the moment she throws the pillars. Dodge out of the way of her dash attack. And don’t go underneath her or you will get grabbed.
Then it’s just a matter of how to attack. Flying Swallow to knock her out of the air. Then she is crouching on the ground. Go up and use Blade of Nirrti(XYXXXX, or []Triangle[][][][]). That’s like 1/3rd of her health gone.
i dont agree on no.1
because the skull guy on level 15 was much harder
i mean the giant that when you beat him he turns into a skull throwing monster
Alma was hard, but I gave up later from the Ghost Fish and subsequent boss … sixth months later I came back to the game to beat it. What a hard game!
Quote ‘Alma was hard, but I gave up later from the Ghost Fish ‘
1.Use flail
2.Don’t stop mashing buttons
3.??????????
4.PROFIT!
I generally just used the electric ninpo on the ghost fish. Worked like a charm.
Alma has frustrated many gamers, but the more ridiculous ninja gaiden moment (and the one more in line with the criteria for this article’s selection) is stage 6-2 from the original game on NES. That destroyed LEGIONS of 80′s gamers. Extremely difficult, suddenly cheap, harder than 6-3, and if you died on any of the 3 final bosses (2 you had to kill without ninpo) you were thrust back to 6-1 to make it through all over again. Brutal.
Alma is hard but like most bosses, she sticks to a pattern. The only Ninja Gaiden boss I have not been able to defeat is Ishtaros. Now THAT is hard.
Stone Tower Temple in Majoras Mask… One of the hardest for me
i haven’t played any of these games but street fighter IV is really hard IMO. Oh, and how about beating dr robotnik in mean bean machine? Now that was hard!
mike tyson punch out and mgs
Wow. Anyone else as disturbed as me after reading A dirty old perv’s comment?
what about metroid primes end boss of the same name?
The level in star wars the force unleashed where you had to bring do the huge ship with the force.it wasnt really hard but more of an annoyance than anything
@ Mike B.
I am def. disturb after reading that and made me kind of giggle.
I’ve never told anyone this, but the Water Temple was a walkthrough moment for me. I am full of shame and regret.
I have played alot of games in the last couple of years but i gotta agree with the 2nd comment. I never even actually finished the game because of the chicken fight in family guy. It was hard as shit! I have a hard time believing that it is possible
O_O..the Water Temple…
I…still have flashbacks….@_@
X-Wing, Mission 8 of the first TOD. Smashed a controller over that one, even after buying the strat guide.
One of the hardest things in video games for me, and I have 100% on every single game I own for every system (i get my money’s worth). anyway, the hardest thing I found was to get the box gem on Cold Hard Crash in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back for the PS1. 1st off you couldn’t die until you got to the skull and crossbones platform then you had to go through that icey area and then get all the way back through the level in reverse WITHOUT dying. that one gem took me the longest time in any game i have ever played.
cod 4 mile high club veteran
Indiana jones fate of Aftlantis, with that bloody architecture/mathematics thing. Took me about 2 years of sporadic timewasting. Also, Flintstones on the Amstrad/Spectrum. Fred (you) had to paint the wall while Pebbles drew all over it before Wilma came home and cock-dropped you, if you did this then you had the privelege of trying to win at bowling with clunky controls. Finally you had to climb scaffold to reach Pebbles while random birds, cranes or wrecking balls tried their level best to hammer you.
I am surprised Police Quest: SWAT did not make the list.
I only got to the 2nd screen (Yes, screen, not even level) in the game where the old woman peeps around the corner and blasts you with a gun.
That was one hard game!
The Helicopter at the end of RSV2. Not exceeding difficult, but takes time to learn the patterns and wtf to do about them. Got my blood boiling a few times. Also, I remember having a shitty time trying to beat Ganon on Legend of Zelda:A Link To the Past. Granted, I was maybe 7 years old. Still one of the most fun games to play tho.
Everyone you talked to found the first fight in STALKER frustratingly tough? Who did you talk to?!
I can say with complete conviction that playing pretty much any chapter in any Call of Duty game on Veteran is harder than the first fight in STALKER on normal difficulty. The carpark fight in STALKER is you *with backup* against several bandits who are, at worst, equipped with a sawn-off, or at best equipped with the same pea-shooter you are. (Okay, you’re outnumbered, name me one game in which you’re not. Here, you’re outnumbered maybe 2 to 1, in most games it’s more like 5 to 1)
They’re never all in one place at one time, there’s cover all around, and you can come at the objective from any direction you please. There’s no time limit, so you can take however long you please. It’s not one shot kill. If you get surrounded, it’s because you were careless. How, pray tell, is this even hard, let alone ‘frustratingly tough’?
I can’t help but think all of the people you talked to were only on their second first person shooter, and the first one was Halo.
alma was easy just like the rest of ninja gaiden … alma was nothing compared to the final boss and and as for the second one … allow me to say i am the true ninja master
Megan Man X3 for the Super Nintendo: Final Boss
After you “beat” Sigma, he turns into this freakish hologram head that is nigh unstoppable unless you use a certain weapon which quickly runs out of munition. To this day, I still have never beaten this boss, and even compared to Ghosts N Goblins, and Kung Fu for the Nes has been one of my most infuriating moments in gaming.
I am still finding, after wasting days of my life, that the Level 17, ‘Adolt Edumacation’ Boss, ‘Uka Uka’in ‘Clash of the Titans’ is impossible to get past!
Not only do you have to keep battling an infinite number of multiple ‘Titan’ attacks, but the Boss keeps searching out your weak points and attacking you with majorly damaging attacks, which, once you are down from those then enables the Titans to target you until you die, again!
Not only do you have to evade these attacks, you then have to ‘jack’ the boss after hitting him 30 odd times successfully, and then continue to fight off the Titans while destroying power generators that powwer the Boss.
You can only do this one generator at a time, so you have to go back and do it all again 3 times in a row! And not run out of Health to do it!
Sheesh!
Getting the invincibility cheat on Goldeneye took me an entire week. The worst part of it was this: even when I had the level memorized and blizted through it with blinding speed, the f*cking doctor guy could spawn in 10 places. Only two of those places could result in you beating the time challenge.
Getting invicibility cheat in Golden Eye on the N64, took me weeks if not months!
Dead Rising – Save Every Survivor without the Strategy guide
The final mission on Driver for PS1, “The President’s Run.” I broke several PS1 Controllers doing this. Listen to the guy who wrote the FAQ:
“Up to this point Driver has been a reasonably challenging, but
typically fair game. Now prepare for the most unbelievably difficult
and ridiculously unfair level of probably any game ever. The
objective of the mission is to drive the President to the underground
parking lot at the end of the level. However, you have the entire
NYPD after you as well as sinister black FBI cars. Just in case you
somehow managed to evade all of them, the road surface has been
turned into an ice rink by constant rain and snow.”
the final bosses on Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie (N64 versions), i am ashamed to admit that to this day i have never beaten Grunty without invincibility, unlimited eggs/feathers, and levitation. i got 100% completion on everything else though.
Super shredder in turtles in time was way easy. now the super shredder in Manhattan project now that’s hard. also the final boss in viewtiful joe
remember those king’s quest games for the computer? i couldnt pick a moment but some of those puzzles were ludicrous. complete nonsensical solutions and no internet at the time to cheat with. what a great time waster
Honarable mentions???? MGS series on extreme, Onimusha 1,2,&3, and devil May Cry on hardcore, and contra for the ps2
@Bunit
Has to be on normal difficulty. That’s why some of the above posters stating that CoD on Veteran is harder actually don’t apply.
Admitedly there is no boss in this game. But trying to beat the final level of Black on Hard mode. Spend nearly a week trying and couldn’t even get to the first checkpoint. Quit for six months then gave it another go, nearly 8 hrs later I was finally able to beat that damn level.
The Biomechs in Bionic Commando for PS3. Arrrrrgh!!!!!
Donkey Kong 64, getting 101%. Sounds simple, but you are faced with a minigame called “beaver bother.” The thing is that I tried at least 50 times before I got it once. Then I find out you have to do it again for 101%. Pain in the butt.
final fantasy X, the dark aeon bosses.
Forget beating them, if you figure out how to survive one turn, you deserve a medal. It takes about 50 successful turns to beat the weakesr one.
Yojimbo, the samurai aeon always got first attack, and all of his attacks inflicted 10 times max health in damage on every characte and also inflicted ‘death’. If you can see the attack menu, pat yourself on the back. You’ll be dead by turn 2.
The 7th Guest – pretty much the whole game. I cant believe that Myst / Riven etc wasn’t mentioned. Back to the Future for NES – the part where you needed to hit the Biff’s in the soda shop. Last Battle for Genesis getting to and beating the last boss -but I did it. Robotron the original – getting to and passing level 3. I have a huge list but I find that this is only a list of opinions.
i still havent beaten call of duty 4′s mile high club and prototype’s supreme hunter on hard is effin impossible. it takes me like 30 minutes to even get him to 1/8 health, and any of his attacks pretty much kill u
you’re so right about the Water Temple. i hated it soo much! even the Water Temple in Majora’s Mask pissed me off. i hate all Water Temple’s!
Final Boss Necron in Final Fantasy IX.
Who has ever played Mega Man 4 Red Sun/Blue Moon? Bass wouldn’t fit in this as he is a “side quest” kind of… but the final boss even in NORMAL MODE was absolutely impossible to beat. I spent ten days trying to beat this piece of shit. He couldn’t be hurt with ground objects, which was HALF of your inventory, and he took up about half of the field, disabling all area grabs, you had to face him after facing an exact copy of yourself (which wasn’t that bad), so you had already hindered health, and he had like 100 times your health! He sucked. Also, Soul Calibur 4′s tower of lost souls sucks.
@Pegs
Right there with ya on Bass. Hard as hell. Those games were brilliant, sad they’re not being made anymore.
Dragon’s Lair….original arcade laserdisc version. I don’t want to know how many quarters I stuffed into that thing…..never did get past the last scene!
Alpha, DOA4. Standard settings (60sec time limit, two set matches). Every once in a while you will get lucky and beat her fair and square, but then in the next two sets she comes back and drives your face into the ground, then the cealing, and then finaly the wall alowing your charecter to collapse, K.O.ed. Not fun, very aggrivating.
@ Zilx,
Just thought of that, hated how difficult DOA games are.
The racing mission against Hillary in GTA: Vice City. Nothing like having a junk car to make a race hell.
none of these compare to fighting Metal Gear after Metal Gear at the end of MGS2 on Extreme difficulty with one ration. Water temple? srsly? are you six?
@Zoenevergoes
Read: The game must be set to normal difficulty.
True some of the moments mentioned above were difficult. But nothing compares to devil may cry 3 on Heaven or Hell mode. The whole game borders on the impossible and even if you manage to Beat the grim reaper at the beginning of the game. You have only gotten passed the first mission. Not to mention contra shattered soldier.
Halo 3 Mythic difficulty any level I dare you to survive the first check point. Oh wait there are none on Mythic difficulty. Mythic = Legendary + all Skulls on.
Im surprised there are less fighting games said. Akira in any Virtua Fighter Game. EXPECIALLY Virtua Fighter 4 on PS2. or DMX on Def Jam Vendetta for PS2.
Jet Force Gemini – Getting the gold medals on the stupidly fiddly flying thing
Mega Man 9 – Wii Virtual Console. Nuff said.
@Pat
Thats why you use your other aeons to beat the dark ones. Going from beating the hardest ones like Bahamut with Ifrit and whatnot.
Battletoads… it took me fucking aeons to finish that game but i did… was hard as fuck, and i almost die in anger cause of it
Seconding the final mission on Driver for PS1. It was just ridiculous to get through, I have tried probably 500+ times and always get jacked up by the FBI/police.
The first TMNT game on the NES. I passed the water mines level after 15 tries but been stuck at the next stage. Those games where hard back then!
Another here for Driver. Somehow fluked it on my 4th try….but haven’t been able to do it since. Still fire it up now and then just to see if I can fluke it again
most of the good ones have been mentioned, but how about Mario 64′s Rainbow Ride Coin Star?
What!! Super Shredder is simple. Easier than Kang on the moon, the level before in his little saucer thing.
AAAHHHHHH I forgot a great addition, so add it as number 0 as its that damn frustrating. Donkey Kong Country the last mine cart section, this will have you screaming at the TV with pure anger!
pandemonium warden on the FF MMO from what I hear
Ghouls and goblins on mame cost me a new keyboard when i smashed it repeatedly into the wall – (and i’m talking microsoft multimedia), and someone (respect0 has mentioned x-wing – what about the last mission on blance of power – that one cost me the price of about 5 pint of beer that i had to have in the pub to calm down – i can steel “feel the anger” (you see what i did there?)
love you guys
Ocarina of Time, and Master Quest “Water Temple” not as hard as it seems. The rule is no matter where you go always look up for new places above needed to investigate which don’t show on the map. And that many of the doors/gates are exits, not entrances.
oh and trying to beat super akuma on streetfighter ex with dhalsim – OMFG
No mention of Cerberus from DMC3?
Rygar on NES was a sonbitch.
Level 8-3-4 of Adventure Island on NES.
Those who have played it will know. Those who write strategy guides for it all state the same thing about that level. I have never, ever, ever, ever been so infuriated by one single part of a video game. And there is not one person I know who has past it on the first go. Let alone the 50th go.
Give it a shot. If you aren’t already a pile of gibbering lunacy and resorting to eating your own fingers by the time you actually get to this part of the game, I already commend you.
For hardcore mode, don’t use save states and play it on the original NES.
No Mike Tyson PO, no ghost n goblin, or ninja gaidan (NES)? This list sucks, and the comment from dirty old prev is sick, people like him should be shot!
Mike Tyson – the first minute and a half. 007 373 5963
Ah…Battletoads. We screamed. We cried. We made up new obscenities because the traditional ones failed to convey our true feelings. Pretty sure the first time I ever swore in front of my mom was while playing that game.
The sweet joyous memories of childhood.
(Beat Contra – no cheats – too. Battletoads sticks out MUCH more in my memory. That screen grab above of the race induced a PTSD flashback)
I found the bandit camp on stalker easy, for some reason I saw everyone and I thought I was screwed, I ran into the attic of one of the rooms and no one followed me up. So I shot them all through the holes in the planks of wood
There was no Mega Man on this list…im disappointed
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. the star destroyer part is a joke i think it took me around a day to beat this part and it. I even stopped playing it for a few days because i couldnt get around this section. And i know there are many others
the stalker: shoc bandit camp? really? i thought it was insanely easy.
however, the raid in Clear Sky at the beginning of the game was obnoxiously difficult.
@Del
Cerberus in DMC3 is easy if you buy the air hike for your sword before you reach him which is simple enough should you be a good enough player and find the secret red orb crystal. If you still come up short, use the secret mission just before him repeatedly to build up the red orbs.
battletoads FTW.
@ Yousif,
Exaclty, following what you say DMC 2 is an easy title to beat.
@ TruGmr
Mike Tyson Punch OUt wasn’t hard in my opinion, i’m seeing a lot of you guys post about games that are fairly easy to beat.
Lol I still pull the Battletoads joke at my local GameStop.
what about the wax off achievement in geometry wars 2? in pacifism mode ride around the outer edge twice!
@ Blake
I did that drunk no joke.
@Blake
YES. You have no idea…how many times….that kicked my ass…
Making Alma number one and battleoad 6 must have been a sentence to fire in the middle age.
I’m gonna date myself with this one. However, I still beleive the toughest moment in my gaming career would be getting the Babel Fish in the original Infocom game of Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. People actually bought shirts with “I Got the Babel Fish!” on them.
silent hill one.the zodiac puzzle.stuck in the elevator for almost a week trying to figure out the riddle to clue was nerve wracking.I couldnt figure it for the life of me.Then a friend of mine comes over my house and Im telling him about the puzzle and he tells me to try the arms and legs first.I thought he was crazy when said that so I tried it.what do know it worked
Tryin’ to crack the “adult filter” on the original Leisure Suit Larry when you weren’t an adult. Most frustrating video game moment ever. I still fail it half the time, and I’m 33 now!
August 24, 2009 at 5:58 pm
kelly says:
“alma was easy just like the rest of ninja gaiden … alma was nothing compared to the final boss and and as for the second one … allow me to say i am the true ninja master”
The final boss was the easiest one. Just jump and slash constantly. He wont hit you if you have any skill. He may disappear to do that stupid dragon thingy. But just run to the far left and he never hits you. You obviously think way too highly of yourself and overthought that fight.
And the second? Even the first was harder than that and all you have to do with him is lure hime to a wall then run up it, slash, then block and roll away.
COD4 Airplane on Veteran, took me about 200 trys.
Bar none the hardest game to beat for me was Blaster Master for the NES. Took me twenty years to beat!
could anybody get past the torture parts in MGS on extreme. I think that part gave me carpal tunnel in like 60 seconds
ninja turtles 1 for the nes
mosst people couldn’t get passed the first few levels and the 3rd water level with the electric seaweed was really annoying but if you ever made it to the technodrome that was probably the most impossible level ever, i never got past it
@ Chris
I had that turtles title on my ZX2 (the floppy disk version!) and completed the game after serveral hard fought attempts. Great game, the water level didn’t phase me to much as all games of the era seemed to contain a level like this and felt like second nature.
the part in dino crisis where you have to find the right pattern on the computer to turn off the security alarm is still the hardest part of a video game iv’e ever played
The water temple,contra,Alma..all bring back chilling memories of frustration and anger.
Only one game trumps all of these and that is the last level on Abadox. A game so horribly unforgiving that I still cry when I see the name.
Now that I think about it..so was silver surfer, and megaman, and mike tyson’s knockout. Why did I even buy an NES >_>…
Beating Maat in Final Fantasy IX as a hume Redmage or Blackmage.
First several times through the first level of Deus Ex.
The water puzzle on Onimusha deserves a mention. I found that rather tough.
Ian W.
I can honestly say that i would rather stick a fork in my eye than try and beat the final boss , Ansem on the hardest difficulty in the first kingdom hearts game. i went through like 6 controllers and a tv before i finally beat him. man he was such a pain in the a$$
::ahem:: Author – you might want to plug in your PC again. Since I’ve only ever owned Sega/MS systems in my 26 years on this mudball I can only say that Alma was nowhere near as hard as that three-part-angel-thingy as the first-of-three controller-breaking, system-chucking boss fights that were always against you, but never unfairly so.
“Wasteland” – 1988 – The Assault on Base Cochise
Possibly the single hardest, and most strategy-required, instance in any CRPG ever the instant you walk in you’re taking on sharpshooters that are a good three levels on you – and can hit you from 70+ feet. Your only hope is a small alcove to fight from, which means they can surround you. And then you have to fight your way out of it without forgetting that one little thing:
The boss is only four rooms away and you’ll need all the ammo you can conserve…
“Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: Eye of The Beholder” – 1989 – The Beholder
Did you spend forty+ hours grinding all of your characters to max level? Can your Mage cast Ice Storm yet? Does your Paladin (since clerics suck comparatively) have a Holy Avenger (yep – there’s one in the game)? Can your fighter land 4 shots in a round? No? Did you miss one TINY LITTLE thing?
Congratulations! The Beholder’s gonna eat you. He attacks twice as fast as you can click, resists damn near EVERYTHING you throw at him and then laughs at melee attacks with his -10 (thick Abrams tank) Armor Class.
Abandon All Hope.
But the hardest moment in any game? Ever? That made me actually break a system at 16? AND it’s an RPG on the Genesis? That should have given it away right there:
“Shadowrun” – 1993 – The Raid on The Renraku Arcology
Every enemy is a Phys-Ad (Physical Adept): you have infinite clips in your AK-98 and The Crimson Samurai are laughing as the bullets plink, harmlessly, off their armor. You keep blasting away and maybe one or two goes down. But that’s okay – you’ve been here before when they DIDN’T want to kill you. Remember that little tiny hut at the top of the Arcology? You’re going there.
Remember the Three Golden Rules: “Shoot straight, conserve ammo and NEVER DEAL WITH A DRAGON!”
Honorable mentions:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – 1989 – The Technodrome
‘Nuff said.
Phantasy Star (SMS) – 1987 – Lassic’s castle
Got graph paper, an ironclad memory and nerves of steel? Probably still going to die.
Baldur’s Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal (Exp. pack) – 2000 – The Tomb of Unknown Fear
Made and engineered to make you break your keyboard. A literal tile-by-tile translation of Tomb of Horrors made beefier – by “beefier” I mean “Death Knights on Level One You Poor Bastard”. They switched levers, switches, rooms and outright made all the enemies patrolling boss-types.
But at the end you get a prize greater than any other:
Godhood.
Fitting that the only way to reach it is to beat the game with all characters at Level 21 or higher – impossible in standard Forgotten Realms but feasible and completely expected for the Greatest (Hardcore) RPG of All-Time.
Final Fantasy III-final bosses. I had a hell of a time with that. Actually I never beat it. You have to fight 5 bosses without ever dying once or you have to start over. The damn thing was a bitch. I haven’t played in a while because of that.
Anyone remember Shinobi For sega master system? That game was tough.
All the goddamned legend of zelda series water temples have been hard and annoying. They do it on purpose, I believe >:3
Mega Turrican for Sega Genesis. The whole damn thing, from the first level through, you need codes to play it!
I know it is a freeware game, but “I Want to Be the Guy” (IWBTG) is probably the hardest game in the world. I have put in countless hours trying to beat it and am currently stuck on the final boss. I’m shocked I actually made it, but only a handful of people have ever even beaten him. Incomparably difficult…
There’s this level in Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2 where in the expert story mode you have to use Goku to beat like 5 cooler clones, Goku can be upgraded to max lvl 160 each cooler I think was like level 100-160 … the battles were simultaneous… Hell.
Mile High Club on veteran, Call of Duty 4. I know it isnt on the hardest setting, but it has to be one of the hardest levels ever, it took me 3 hours of constant memorisation to complete, and even a year on i can still recite the locations of every single enemy in the whole damn level…
No mention of the “Control” level in Goldeneye on the hardest difficulty setting?! It took me and a friend three weeks to beat that level. Oh, how I loathed Natalya after that…
I wouldn’t let Alma touch me…but she’s hot and hot Demon chicks are allowed to beat me senseless everytime.
I would have to say doing the last level of fallout 3 Broken steel without god mode on x.x effing enclave EVERYWHERE deathclaws too if you didn’t do that one side quest, not to mention the upgraded flamethrowers, there’s this one part where you have to face 5 hellfire enclave with those things, plus sentries and turrets!
Alma was pretty fkin difficult at first, but i played that game wayy too much and the whole game got easy :[. I would say the second to last boss the Vigorian Emp the skeleton form in the lava was pretty fkin frustrating.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.
I raged the hardest at the bottom of the list.
Fuck you Ninja Gaiden.
The water temple was one of my favorites though. The hard one was the boss to the shadow temple
Maybe not the toughest of games, but one particular fight in Final Fantasy XII stayed with me long after I completed the game. Yiazmat. One boss, 50+ million HP. one attack is capped at 9999 dmg. I entered the fight right away. I wasn’t highest lvl, I hadn’t restocked pots etc.. After 5½ hours of fighting I finally lost due to lack of potions, elixirs and the like. It’s not necessarily tough, but it is frustrating.
Sephiroth on Kingdom Hearts 2 anyone???
Kingdom Hearts 1? Really? What level were you when you fought Ansem? I beat him pretty handily at 53 weilding the Iron Chocobo, which is approximately where you are if you don’t level at all. I imagine with the ultimate weapon and 30 more levels under my belt I’d just demolish him.
Final boss on Metroid Prime
Do not forget the last mission of Driver 1.. took me months of daily tries to get it. Still remember it clear as a yesterday and went instantly boozing just to celebrate!
The last boss of Lost Kingdoms 2. The god of peace could blow your brains out in 5 seconds flat
Don’t forget The Last Remnant’s Six bases! FUCKING HARD
Hoy! If you want some pictures of the last boss in Contra 3, check the link: http://tasvideos.org/745M.html
The Viddler stream should allow you to get some good shots if you want.
Boost Guardian in hard mode on Metroid Prime 2!
I would have to agree, Battle Toads in general was frustrating as all hell, quit playing after trying to beat the Rat Race level. Plus, Iron Sword (aka Ghosts n’ Goblins 2 NES)has to be THE hardest game ever, aside from Battle Toads of course. One hit kill, weapon was utterly useless, and the armor didn’t do a blasted thing. Plus there were no check points, or level codes at all. So basically you had to beat the entire game without getting touched once. This game should have made number 2, if not number 1.
Look here retards, games on NORMAL settings only. Jesus…
Thank you to the above post. I dare not count how many posts ignored those guide lines.
Killing the lambent Brumak at the end of Gears of War 2 is the absolute hardest fight ive ever had. A close second is killing teh Prophet of Truth in Halo 2. Sooooo hard.
Final Boss in SMT: Digital Devil Saga I. You had to have a full spectrum of special attacks to beat him/her/it. If you know what I am talking about, you KNOW what I am talking about. Also, the last bit in Half Life 2 eps 2. I hate to cheat my way through that, and I regret doing so.
I would definitely have to say my most frustrating moment is from Super Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts on the SNES. It was those damned flying devils, the ones that avoided all of your attacks. If there was only ONE of them as a boss or something, it would have been okay, but there were so many! And so irritating to kill! Unless you had the crossbow (not the upgraded tracking one, the normal one), it was almost impossible.
Am I the only one on the planet who the Water Temple never gave any trouble to? I finished it in just under a half hour without any problems whatsoever. On my first try, with no helpful guides.
Now the Boss of the Water Temple in Majora’s Mask took me YEARS to beat. in fact, I beat it Yesterday, and I’ve had the game since they day it came out.