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[mrmustard]

I'm curios what games you beat, because there were lots of frustrating games i couldn't beat even if my life would have depended on it.

They don't have to be in any 'official' lists, just tell us what you think.

NES:
Punch Out
Mega Man
Metal Gear

Game Boy:
Bart's Escape from Camp Deadly
Bart vs. The Juggernauts
Batman: The Video Game

SNES:
Contra III: The Alien Wars
Bart’s Nightmare
Virtual Bart

My Top 10 of the most frustrating games:
Kid Icarus (NES)
Battletoads (NES)
The Adventures of Bayou Billy (NES)
Gradius (NES)
Life Force (NES)
Trojan (NES)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)
Skate or Die (Game Boy)
The Amazing Spider-Man (Game Boy)
Super Ghouls'n Ghosts (SNES)

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Can we add N64.

The fucking Diddy Kong Racing.

 

[TintoConCasera]

As a kid? I don't think I beat many games in those platforms, if any.

 

[mrmustard]

Can we add N64.

The fucking Diddy Kong Racing.

Sure, i just didn't have a 64 and couldn't make a list.

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

NES
Metal Gear
TMNT
The Hunt for Red October
Ninja Gaiden
Castlevania
Punchout
Paperboy
Megaman

GENESIS
Robocop vs terminatorr
Ecco
Shinobi
Contra

SNES
DKC2
Super Star wars
Contra 3
Castlevania DX

7/8-year-old me was a completionist. Now that I think of it I still am. And since you only asked for those platforms, suits me anyways, that's when I got into gaming. In hindsight, I find that qol features in games made them start getting (or rather seeming) much easier. Aso had a 3DO,Jaguar, PS1, N64... but once I started buying games and consoles with my own allowance,I pretty much became a one-console guy.

 

[Sethbacca]

NES Rygar and Fester's Quest for sure, neither of which had a save system or battery were a pain in the ass as I had to leave my system on for days to get them done. Final Fantasy 1 would probably be up there too.

I've never understood why people find the DKC games difficult though, outside the mine cart levels having some precision timing moments. Now, the Super Mario Bros lost levels on the Mario All Starts cart, that's some hard platforming.

 

[IFireflyl]

NES:
Duck Hunter

SNES:
Super Mario World

Spoiler

 

[Mr Hyde]

NES:
Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link

I still remember this one and the joy I felt when finally beating it. The gauntlet at Death Mountain leading up to the Thunderbird boss was the most difficult part of the game. When I faced Links shadow my hands were dripping with sweat as all my friends cheered on me. And I took him down in my first try. One of my best childhood memories.

Metroid:

The game itself was not that difficult, but the world was very confusing with the map layout and all the hidden secrets. It was the first time I played an open ended game like this and I didn't fully understand at times what I was supposed to do. But as my mom and pop were very poor, and I only got one game for birthday and Christmas, I couldn't bear myself to complain about it so I played that game religiously even if I didn't make any progress at all. I started drawing maps and pinpoint all locations, all powerups and enemies, so I could make more efficient runs. And after a couple of months I finally bested it. I was so proud of myself for figuring out that shit all by myself.

Batman:

Another game that was quite brutal in terms of difficulty, but practice makes perfect and I played the levels over and over again, until I finally beat it. It was frustrating when you died facing the Joker and had to do it all over again, but at the same time it was also very rewarding. When you beat the Joker and saw the end credits, there is probably no greater sense of satisfaction.

Thinking back at all these games and how much I struggled with them, and how much practice and know how went into beating them, I feel that is something I miss sometimes. As games became more mainstream, with auto saves and difficulty modes, I became more convenient and lazy, and thus, a much worse player. I think that's why I gravitate so much towards the Dark Souls-franchise. It gives me the same sense of satisfaction and joy, as when I was a kid, playing and beating all these hard games.

 

[Exede]

Hm in my memory Contra 3 (Super Probotector) wasn't a hard game.

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

Not console but Cannon Fodder on the Amiga was insanely difficult at times.

 

[01011001]

I beat Mega Man 2 on GameBoy, I think I still know the password for the final stage I had back then.

I also beat Super Return of the Jedi both on SNES and Gameboy, which was a game that really just threw shit at you from all angles lol

 

[poodaddy]

Sad to say, but I'm not sure I beat anything truly impressive or overtly difficult. I got to the last boss on the original Ninja Turtles game a few times, completely due to a VHS tips and tricks tape I had for it that covered Ninja Turtles, Metal Gear, Skate or Die, and some others, but I never did manage to beat him.

Probably the only mildly impressive thing I've ever done in games was when I beat all Sigma forms with no damage playing as Zero on MegaMan X 4 in either 5th or 6th grade. All my friends loved that game too, and we all understood how tough that was, and for some reason everyone believed me. I wasn't lying, but still, I can't believe no one accused me of it.

I understand that isn't impressive when weighed against what others can do, but it was a big deal to me. Apart from that, I remember getting fast enough with my reactions on Capcom VS SNK for Dreamcast where I could counter normals effectively and consistently with light shoryukens when playing as Ryu. I mean I was fast man......what in the hell happened to that speed lol.

 

[Hoddi]

I only owned a SNES and a small handful of games. But I beat Super Ghouls n Ghosts on it many times over.

I didn't find out about its reputation until much later so I was kinda happy about that. Git gud scrubs.

 

[Gaiff]

Can we add N64.

The fucking Diddy Kong Racing.

Not hard at all. Mario Kart on Extra is harder. Hell, I'd say it's harder even at 150CC simply because the AI in Diddy Kong Racing doesn't cheat.

 

[dave_d]

Hm in my memory Contra 3 (Super Probotector) wasn't a hard game.

It is if you play it on hard difficulty so you can see the real ending.

 

[Gareth Bryne]

Older gamers?! If my back and foot didn't hurt for no apparent reason I'd chase you down for a whoopin'!

 

[Gareth Bryne]

Sad to say, but I'm not sure I beat anything truly impressive or overtly difficult. I got to the last boss on the original Ninja Turtles game a few times, completely due to a VHS tips and tricks tape I had for it that covered Ninja Turtles, Metal Gear, Skate or Die, and some others, but I never did manage to beat him.

Yep this is pretty much me. I'd give a good go but plenty of times I never made it to the end of things in NES era, damn that water level in TMNT...more likely to finish the harder (to me) ones after SNES rolled around.

 

[mrmustard]

Hm in my memory Contra 3 (Super Probotector) wasn't a hard game.

1-2 levels were a bit difficult, the random attack based endboss made it hard.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

NES:
Legacy of the Wizard
Magic of Scheherazade
Bionic Commando/TMNT

SNES:
Paladins Quest
Lufia (any of them)
Jurassic Park

Gameboy:
Mega Mans
Batman
Castlevania

 

[Daneel Elijah]

In tetris I got to the point that the screen got dark. Is this winning?

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

NES
TMNT

You beat the first TMNT on the NES? Hats off to you

I struggled with that one, and could make it alllll the way into the Technodrome but never to the very end. There's one ridiculous corridor in the Technodrome which would kill my remaining turtles.

In my defense, never had any hints or help on it, and I was restricted on video games as a kid, so I could only attempt beating this game on Saturday (all other days my game time was capped at 30 minutes) and only once on that day, before having to wait a full week to try again. After dying on the final level enough times, I stopped using my whole Saturday gaming time for it and gave up.

 

[poodaddy]

Yep this is pretty much me. I'd give a good go but plenty of times I never made it to the end of things in NES era, damn that water level in TMNT...more likely to finish the harder (to me) ones after SNES rolled around.

Yeah I feel like I really came into my own, skill wise, around the GameCube/PS2/Xbox/Dreamcast era. It's been downhill since lol.

 

[mrmustard]

You beat the first TMNT on the NES? Hats off to you

I struggled with that one, and could make it alllll the way into the Technodrome but never to the very end. There's one ridiculous corridor in the Technodrome which would kill my remaining turtles.

In my defense, never had any hints or help on it, and I was restricted on video games as a kid, so I could only attempt beating this game on Saturday (all other days my game time was capped at 30 minutes) and only once on that day, before having to wait a full week to try again. After dying on the final level enough times, I stopped using my whole Saturday gaming time for it and gave up.

I always lost 2 turtles or more in that damn underwater Level.

 

[The Stig]

GB

Tetris - launched the rocket
Batman - the sunsoft game. the batwing level was hard as balls.
Castlevania - just ugh.

NES

Battletoads - looking back I cant believe the patience I needed for this.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

I always lost 2 turtles or more in that damn underwater Level.

What's so crazy about TMNT is that the water level is the first big barrier you hit as a player... but once you master it, the next area is huge, the map after that is even more difficult, and then it just keeps getting worse. It's crazy how long the game is from the dam to the Technodrome.

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

You beat the first TMNT on the NES? Hats off to you

I struggled with that one, and could make it alllll the way into the Technodrome but never to the very end. There's one ridiculous corridor in the Technodrome which would kill my remaining turtles.

In my defense, never had any hints or help on it, and I was restricted on video games as a kid, so I could only attempt beating this game on Saturday (all other days my game time was capped at 30 minutes) and only once on that day, before having to wait a full week to try again. After dying on the final level enough times, I stopped using my whole Saturday gaming time for it and gave up.

Still have nightmares to this day. And peope think souls like is hard. luckily for me, I didn't have a capon my game time. My parents and I had a simple arrangement. I could ask for as much as 5 games at a time, but only three times a year. Those times just happened to coincide with the end of the term and my report sheet. I come in 5th I can ask for any one game, I come in 1st I get 5 games. I don't turn my homework teacher tells on me, Iose gaming privileges for a week.

I always lost 2 turtles or more in that damn underwater Level.

I fucking hated that level... what i wouldn't give to have analog sticks back then. Thanks to that game, and the hunt for red October, I hate any underwater anything in games to this day.

NES:
Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link

I still remember this one and the joy I felt when finally beating it. The gauntlet at Death Mountain leading up to the Thunderbird boss was the most difficult part of the game. When I faced Links shadow my hands were dripping with sweat as all my friends cheered on me. And I took him down in my first try. One of my best childhood memories.

Metroid:

The game itself was not that difficult, but the world was very confusing with the map layout and all the hidden secrets. It was the first time I played an open ended game like this and I didn't fully understand at times what I was supposed to do. But as my mom and pop were very poor, and I only got one game for birthday and Christmas, I couldn't bear myself to complain about it so I played that game religiously even if I didn't make any progress at all. I started drawing maps and pinpoint all locations, all powerups and enemies, so I could make more efficient runs. And after a couple of months I finally bested it. I was so proud of myself for figuring out that shit all by myself.

Batman:

Another game that was quite brutal in terms of difficulty, but practice makes perfect and I played the levels over and over again, until I finally beat it. It was frustrating when you died facing the Joker and had to do it all over again, but at the same time it was also very rewarding. When you beat the Joker and saw the end credits, there is probably no greater sense of satisfaction.

Thinking back at all these games and how much I struggled with them, and how much practice and know how went into beating them, I feel that is something I miss sometimes. As games became more mainstream, with auto saves and difficulty modes, I became more convenient and lazy, and thus, a much worse player. I think that's why I gravitate so much towards the Dark Souls-franchise. It gives me the same sense of satisfaction and joy, as when I was a kid, playing and beating all these hard games.

I actually forgot to add these three to my list. Especially that blasted wall hoping batman.

Zeda 2 and those random battles were also frustrating, you just never seemed to be prepared for them.

 

[Firestone]

Hagane, Super Ghouls n Ghosts and Contra III on SNES. Game Boy... Gargoyles Quest, still one of my favorite Games on the system.

Indiana Jones - fate of Atlantis - had some trouble with this one, but finished it.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Difficulty is pretty subjective. I never found the DKC games hard, for example. On the other hand, even if I finished some games that are considered hard multiple times, I can't see child me beating Castlevania, Metroid or Ghosts 'n Goblins, and I can't see any living being beating NES Mission:Impossible without cheats as a child (now as an adult with tens of hours of practice with savestates, yeah, you could get enough experience to make it). Anyway...

NES
Total Recall
Bionic Commando
TMNT

GAME BOY
Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly
Jurassic Park (the devs were so preoccupied with whether they could...)
Mega Man

SNES
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts (one loop. I never did the second one before emulation)
Star Fox route 3 (it's brutal. Took me weeks after beating the first two routes)
Earthworm Jim 2

 

[Jack Package]

NES
Bayou Billy
Tale Spin
As an adult, 2 months ago: Turtles 1. At last!

SNES
Super Probotector
100% Yoshi’s Island
Illusion of Time (Gaia); first boss Castoth is a thunder bastard. Rest of the game fairly straightforward, even getting all the red jewels for the bonus dungeon.

Game Boy:
Wario Blast
Blaster Master Boy
Donkey Kong 94 (goat, can’t wait for the switch re-release on the app!)

 

[Knightime_X]

NES:
Street Fighter 2010
Trojan
The Adventures of Bayou Billy

SNES:
Demon's Crest
Tuff E Nuff (hardest difficulty)
Gradius 3 (arcade difficulty)

Genesis:
Shinobi 3 (master)
Contra Hard Corps
Fatal Labyrinth

Gameboy:
Mega Man 1

 

[Metnut]

NES

Ninja Gaiden
Battletoads
Final Fantasy
Zelda 2

SNES

7th Saga
DKC2

Biggest regret was never being able to beat the original Castlevania. Made some deep runs in super ghouls and ghosts but never finished it.

 

[Punished Miku]

I'll never forget when my brother beat Guardian Legend. Random people at school shook my hand that never even met me, or knew he was playing it. The word just spread all across town.

 

[Alebrije]

Battletoads
Ninja Gaiden 123
Contra without Konami code

 

[asdasdasdbb]

You beat the first TMNT on the NES? Hats off to you

I struggled with that one, and could make it alllll the way into the Technodrome but never to the very end. There's one ridiculous corridor in the Technodrome which would kill my remaining turtles.

If you are talking about the Jetpack laser guys, you're supposed to use the scrolls or whatever they're called. Even on an emulator using save states it's hard to get by them without it.

 

[Gabbelgak]

As a kid I didn't really have the option to just give up when the games were impossible, only got a new one for like birthday and Christmas.

Gameboy:
Final Fantasy Legend 2 - I remember this being the absolute hardest FF I ever played (I didn't realize until much older that it's really a SaGa game)


I can't remember any other really stand out titles that were memorably difficult enough for me to take note of and then actually complete. Maybe the disney games, I believe I beat Lion King / Aladdin and they were pretty notoriously difficult.

I never did beat the NES turtles, I only made it past the section with the turtle van a few times. ,

 

[Physiognomonics]

NES:
Batman
Mega-Man 2
Contra

SNES
Super Probotector.
Street Fighter 2 (finishing the game without losing once gives you a special ending)
Super Ghouls's Ghosts (only one loop back then)
Earthworm Jim (suprisingly difficult game IMO)

The rest of the games I have finished on SNES (like DKC2 or Yoshi's Island) are really not that hard.

EDIT: I really envy people who beat TMNT on NES. This one was really so unfair!

 

[Team Andromeda]

SNES

Super Star Wars
Jurassic Park
Super Metroid

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

If you are talking about the Jetpack laser guys, you're supposed to use the scrolls or whatever they're called. Even on an emulator using save states it's hard to get by them without it.

Yeah years later I read about it and learned that the scrolls are the only way... but I never did item-maxing on my runs in the game, probably because I had to be fast or I'd run out of play time even on a Saturday. So I once I discovered the fastest route on each map, I would generally follow that and skip any extras or items. Too bad, because It seems like they designed that hallway with the laser guys to basically be impossible without having ready items in advance.

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

NES:
Castlevania
Mega Man 2
Ninja Gaiden 2
Metroid

SNES:
Battletoads x Double Dragon
Super Ghost n Ghost
Mario Bros lost levels(Super Mario Allstars)

 

[RoboFu]

only truly hard game I can think of was Legacy Of The Wizard on NES. I was 13.

I would love to see some ofthese people who cry about Dark Souls play that game.

 

[TheDuskwalker]

I barely remember what I played on NES as a kid, just remember beating Castlevania and Super Mario Bros.

SNES:
The Lion King
DKC2 Diddy's Kong Quest
Super Mario The Lost Levels

Gameboy:
Batman
Donkey Kong Land
Bionic Commando I guess

Contra, Mega Man, Ninja Gaiden, and stuff came later in life.

 

[Sleepwalker]

From what I remember:

Snes
Sunset riders
Aladdin
The mask
DKC
Contra

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

(Will stick to NES only)

I managed to beat Metal Gear NES as a child, alone, not speaking English AT ALL with my only weapon: an English translation dictionary.
I got this game loose and didn't even get the manual, I had no idea what was going on. It was so obscure as a child.

Thank you the password system !

I even built a box from thick paper for this game, I still have it !

*edit*
Others game beaten (quick random list):
-Kid Icarus (I used to draw a map of labyrinths)
-Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest (I had to call "Club Nintendo" because the part where you have to do something specific to reach Dracula's Castle was beyond my understanding)
-Castlevania 3
-Super Mario Bros 3
-Megaman 2 (but was not an hard game)
-Ghost'n'Goblins (but only the 1st quest, I didn't understand I had to redo the whole game again back in time)

About Kid Icarus, I didn't find the game hard, it was just long and required a lot of patience, lucky me, as a child I had plenty of them and I had also so few games because I couldn't afford them.

I failed miserably:
-TMNT (I didn't owned it, I have return the game)
-Dragon's Lair (...controls were, nevermind, just try it)
-RYGAR (in theory, I finished the game BUT I reached the last boss and he won't die whatever I was doing, I learnt 25+ YEARS LATER it was because the PAL version was fu***** bugged and IMPOSSIBLE TO FINISH, imagine as a child playing the game without Internet and not understanding why the last boss is never dying)

Will try to edit the list when some hard games I beaten come back to my mind.

 

[jshackles]

NES
Tombs and Treasures - I recently replayed this game, and holy fuck is it archaic. There are tons of ways you can permanently soft-lock your save, which I did A TON when I was younger.

Blaster Master - The old cliché - "I got this for Christmas one year, and only ever got one new game for my birthday and one for Christmas, so whatever I got I would sink as much time as possible into until I could master it". That was me and Blaster Master. This game is crazy difficult, I don't think I could beat it today.

Legacy of the Wizard - An early Metroidvania that came out before the term Metroidvania was invented. An amazing game that literally takes the patience of a saint. Solid action RPG combat combined with a nearly endless dungeon full of shit to find. Six different characters all with different abilities. When I played this the internet and walkthroughs didn't exist, so there were massive amounts of trial and error.

Gameboy
Final Fantasy Legend - This game doesn't make any sense. Humans, Espers, Mutants - eating monsters, none of this shit is explained. The game is tough as nails and extremely unforgiving. I went through many sets of batteries until I finally beat it.

Battletoads - I remember this game being an absolute bitch to complete, mostly because no saving and few continues. It's obvious they tried fitting the NES game in the Game Boy version, and didn't do a very good job at it.

Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge - I thought this would be a lot like Castlevania II for the NES. I was wrong. This game is extremely difficult, even with its password save system.

 

[Krathoon]

The funny thing about this is that people tend to forget that old videogames could be hard as hell.

There is kind of a "rose colored glasses" effect that happens.

 

[Krathoon]

Yeah. You could not save your game with Blaster Master. I totally recommend playing it in an emulator with save states.

 

[Trogdor1123]

For nes, top gun, ninja gaiden, and super Mario 3 with no p-wings

 

[Badlucktroll]

 

[MacReady13]

Battletoads on NES and Mega Man 3 on NES gave me some trouble but I managed to beat them.

On N64 I beat Diddy Kong Racing but it was damn frustrating at the end.

 

[Krathoon]

Mega Man 1 is a real bastard. Also TMNT.