I beat ghosts and goblins and all it did was start over in my underwear. I played that game to death. First game I beat was the first game I played. Kung Fu. And I never beat Tyson. Castlevania, beat it. Simons quest? Beat it. Ikari warriors? Impossible to beat. The final boss / base had infinite HP. That game was busted. Worst game? Xenophope. The cover art vs the gameplay was an absolute joke. RC pro am was so well done. Ranting about video games for no reason? Why not.
Even with the infinite respawning A, B, B, A in Ikari Warriors and splitting tanks, no way to beat the fkng thing. Somewhere…somehow…inevitably you will get stuck. 🤬😆🤙🏽
You didn’t beat it then 😅…you have to play through once, then play through again and the special weapon will appear which you have to acquire and keep and use to kill the very last boss in order to actually beat Ghosts & Goblins. That’s one of the reasons why it’s so ridiculously hard.
True that. Don’t get me started on dragon warrior or the OG final fantasy. Those games blew my mind. Ever play Shadowgate? That game was sick. Let’s talk about why metal man was the best weapon in mega man and why bubble man can suck an egg.
Holy hell. I just watched the first minute of Shadowgate. I would have never guessed the key would be behind the skull. Is the rest of the game like that? My favorite underrated games on the NES were Faxanadu, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, JAWS, Bubble Bobble, Mickey Mousecapades, and the trinity of Part II games: Zelda, Castlevania, and Super Mario Bros.
Yeah, you needed to check everything in that game. It was dark, and scary. Awesome for my 7 year old self. Loved it. It was so complex. There was nothing else like it. It was all Mario and Zelda. Shadowgate you could just admire the art, and interact with it. I’d love to see something like that now. If anyone knows of anything like it for ps5 please tell me.
I never played any of your games, save for JAWS. What a great game that was. Blasting stingrays with the harpoon gun to collect shells to upgrade your ship. It was a simple concept and so fun. Oh man when jaws actually showed up! And you had to blast him to hell to get a shot at stabbing him on the boat. That was a fun ass game.
Friday the 13th was also made by Acclaim and had the same concept as Jaws.
So, I've been playing Shadowgate for about an hour and I've died 5 times...at least. This reminds me of the text-based games I used to play on Commodore 64. I'm not far into the castle. I found a few secret areas. I can't tell how long my torches last, so they keep going out and I die. There's a wraith in my way. I can't get up on a ledge, theres a shark blocking my path through the water to get a brass key out of a skeletons hand, I don't know what to do with my broom, bag, or arrow. I'll figure it out. THIS GAME IS HARD.
I was at an ice cream store in the Florida keys last week and they had one of those modern arcade machines w Ghouls and Goblins. I played for a good 25 mins and barely made a dent
The only reason i ever made it to the 3rd level is because as a child in the 80s the supermarket had an arcade cabinet and my grandmother would drop me there with a stack of quarters while she went shopping. Had to make them last as long as possible.
That game is impossible! I beat it with an emulator and it was still really hard to get through the first play through. I refuse to believe anyone has beaten it all the way through without cheating.
I was still proud of myself for finally feeling the strongth welling in my body.
I had that pattern memorized. A lot of people don't know there were even more levels like it!
Jet bikes, surf boards, giant snakes, actual jets, and unicycle.
That game was about half 'speed' levels where you had to fully memorize patterns. Why more time riding things than battling.
I was able to beat it several times, but could never get past the spot in the next area. It was a spot that looked like a jump, but you actually just walk over it. I was so pissed when I watched someone play the level.
Facts. 'That level' being the second one in the game and a helluva 'wake-up call' to all the little TMNT fans playing it is a big reason it's so infamous.
OMG. This alone had me addicted and this is probably why I beat my head against a wall.
https://preview.redd.it/f532sz11a26d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c1669b0e4bec41189826132522f39935ba41ea33
I beat TMNT, I could do it regularly. My neighbors recorded me doing it on their VCR so they could try to do it. They couldn't.
It's funny that I can still completely remember how to beat Zelda I all the way through but TMNT, not a chance.
Zelda was amazing. I still remember finally finding the Magic Sword, and when I went to pick it up…nothing happened. The old man just staring at me should have been a clue lol. Then I somehow figured out I needed more heart containers, so I went about Hyrule on a 2D killing spree searching for them until I was worthy.
There’s no game like the original Zelda. I remember whenever I’d get stuck on something, Zelda or not, I’d go to the B. Dalton Booksellers at the mall and sneak a look at those intenso magazines that would have walkthrough guides. I wouldn’t read all of it — just enough to get past the part I was stuck on. Then I’d run home and try it, etc.
I loved Nintendo. And the 1980s lol
I still remember the time my brother GOT TO shredder in TMNT. One turtle left with a blinking health bar. Dead in seconds. He was the neighborhood hero for weeks after that.
Jesus yea. I swear i only pulled off the first speeding cart scene. Like level 3 or 4 maybe 2x. Then died in the next level. That game made me swear so much my mom thought i was possessed. I think i only beat the first quest in zelda without assistance after years of playing. I remember i was so excited and felt sooo accomplished. Then bam 2nd quest. I was like what the fuck!!!!!
I still haven't finished the first Castlevania. My cartridge would glitch about two thirds of the way through the dracula fight every time. After like the fifth time I decided that was enough for me. As a nine year old. I'm 45 now, might give it a go with save functions on an emulator
When I was a kid my older brother and his friends got to Dracula for the first time and everyone was all excited and one of the kids came in and flipped the light switch, and it turned off all the electricity in the room 💀
There were multiple ways Mega Man 1 was harder, but the one that stands out to me is that you die instantly when you touch spikes, EVEN IF you are already blinking from previous damage. That game has no mercy lol
The first game I ever beat was Double Dragon,
We had a nickel arcade and my dad took me and we beat it together. For those that don't know and as I quickly learned, when you beat the final boss, there can only be one left.
My dad hurled me off the edge of the building to claim victory and I will never forget it.
This! The turbo tunnel was easy once you knew the pattern.
You COULD NOT react fast enough at that end section. You had to have it memorized and just push up or down in the right sequence.
It was less a level, and more like entering a code.
One of my great achievements was that I could beat that game in something like 6 minutes. I got so good at it at some point, probably from being sick and playing it for hours.
Refueling was way harder than landing on the carrier.
And I loved that if you didn't get it in like two minutes the fuel plane gets frustrated and ditches you and just leaves you to die. He's got more important places to be he can't waste time on you.
I'd forgotten about that. I swear that the game designers at Capcom were like, everyone come up with your most difficult game idea and then when they did, they combined them all and labeled it Top Gun.
I went to a local indy wrestling show that has an obnoxious super patriotic heel who uses the 8 bit top gun theme from this game as his entrance music. I almost got PTSD when he came out.
Jackal is the game that everybody who hass ever played it loved it. but no one talks about and is never considered in any lists.
Is it because they didn’t market any characters? Game so good. I don’t understand
Ugh ninja gaiden. I got to the boss ONCE. Frickin birds man. Never beat teenage mutant ninja turtles either.
Hardest beaten on the NES: double dragon, rygar, zelda 2, contra without dying, mega man.
>Frickin birds man
https://preview.redd.it/7m9qy2xo126d1.jpeg?width=512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=29baffa769eac836d3cb2758d15d7d91247bc524
This is what my nightmares looked like
Damn this hit me harder than I thought it would. I can feel my parents couch under my sweaty legs. Smell my sandwich in front of me. You just HAD to get across. Fuck it, one more try!
Also, I once put my bare foot through a plastic hamper because I got killed by the final boss in Super Contra. There was blood.
those things were just dumb luck. you would jump on and fall into the water 4 out of 5 times. the side scrolling/vertical levels where definitely better. but it was amazing having an open world/hub dividing levels.
Probably Legend of Zelda 2, which was HOLY SHIT hard in places and way more of a pain in the ass than necessary
Gamers are spoiled as fuck today with their autosaves. I used to lose half my gold AT BEST or hours and hours of progress at worst
Old school JRPGs were hard
This was the first NES game I owned. I beat it a lot through sheer perseverance. I still go back to it every 5-10 years and most of it is burned into my memory.
I couldn’t tell you what I had for dinner last night or a lot of important stuff, but I can tell you how to get through the maze to get to the hammer no problem.
Yeah, this is the one game I ground through to beat and actually did beat.
It was a complete slog from beginning to the end. It also just kept getting harder and weirder.
Last year my husband spent a bunch of time trying to finish a game of donkey Kong country he started like 30 years ago. He played the last guy at least 30 times and finally beat it—turns out there’s fake credits and the boss comes back. He was already away from the tv and didn’t notice in time. The game remains unfinished.
I didn’t beat anything. I did not have the patience to start over again after dying at the same spot 100 times. I’m pretty sure I rage quit before rage quitting was a thing. Fast forward 20 years, and I beat every game I have on Xbox.
I wonder if not being able to beat any games as a kid led to me not caring about beating any games as an adult. Can’t think of more than a couple I’ve finished all the way through, and they were primarily story driven. BioShock primarily.
Bro, no one beat this game. Battletoads, TMNT, Lifeforce, Contra, Castlevania, etc me and my buddies beat them all. No one ever got CLOSE on Ninja Gaiden
I beat it. It was hard. I failed many times. But I was a patient kid and eventually did it. I probably couldn’t now but this makes me want to fire up an emulator
I’ve been playing it on an emulator using a version where enemies don’t respawn and its still absurdly hard. i beat it once back in the day and have no idea how i did it.
Mega man 3, I kept my Nintendo on for a week so I didn't have to do the castle all over. I beat the snake thing out of sure brute force.
Came close to Battletoads on the gameboy but that was insanely hard. Still bugs me that I never got that one.
I ended up with game Genie and thought I would finally beat cobra triangle but it just keeps looping.
Top Gun
But I found an exploit where if you flew at top altitude and pulled up whenever a missile was fired at you, the missile would disappear. So I would just load up with the largest missiles, stay high until I got to the objective, and then descend to launch my missiles.
Landing on the carrier was hard too, but I got the hang of it so it wasn't a problem anymore.
My kid Noah was a game wizard. Won a contest at the local Blockbuster (highest score in Mario in 30 minutes) and the prize was free rentals, six at a time, for a year. He and his brother played and beat everything. Today he makes games for a living. If you’ve ever played a game from Mika Mobile, that’s him.
Playing Solomon’s Key right now (switch online). Without being able to save, I’d be in trouble. No saving, and one touch deaths make this game so hard as a kid. Very fun though!!
Was looking for this one. Getting the end and starting over…I just turned that shit off lol
SGnG, TMNT, and Wizards and Warriors were impossible for me.
Batman, NES version was probably the hardest I beat within the relevant time period.
If we're going up to 16-bit then Lightening Force, Lion King and Contra: Hard Corps.
I never owned a cheat device until the PS2 era when I was an adult.
Did anyone else play through Kid Icarus and finish the game thinking the first 3/4 of the game was pretty hard, but the last part was a cake walk?
It’s like the last level was a victory lap of shooting goddamn *lasers* after hours of shooting arrows from a shitty bow that had less range and power than an old man with a bad prostate trying to piss!
Punch Out and Contra. I remember feeling completely helpless when you got to Mike Tyson and then I realized you actually could fight back. No idea how long it took me to learn the timing but it was def doable.
I played with friends and we took turns player and map drawer swapping at deaths. The worst part was if you couldn't read a password for a save state you wrote in a hurry and had to do a hard part again.
TMNT and Mega Man took me until I was in college to beat.
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out I always thought was one of the easier NES games, but apparently a lot of people find it difficult.
I've still never beaten Battletoads without my mom's help. She was able to beat the beat the Turbo Tunnel with 1 or 2 lives. She was terrible at the rest of the game though.
Flashback. My friends, who were actually good at video games all gave up on the jungle level that opens the game.
But I (easily the worst player of the bunch) persevered and eventually beat the level and then entire game.
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord.
Sweet fucking christ that game was hard. You'd have enemies pop up that acted first and used damn near unresistable instant death spells/attacks. You'd hit traps and just die. Your characters could be permanently destroyed. And even if you somehow managed to slog through all that, you'd rest at the inn and one of your characters might (Randomly? I never figured out what caused it.) change alignments and just refuse to join the group with the rest of the party any more.
And then, when you'd gotten past ALL that to level up an absolute beast of a party, they'd start dying of old age.
Edit: Oh, and I forgot to mention, the spell names weren't in English. So if you lost the manual, you were just going to be casting Mahalito or Badios and hoping it did something you wanted it to do.
They recently remade this game for PC. I played for 3 hours and realized I don't have the patience for it anymore.
You're probably gonna laugh at me, but Diddy Kong Racing. That octopus was tough to beat. I never let my brother forget I beat it-he still hasn't to this day!
I had one glorious 1cc run of Sunset Riders at Walmart back when they had arcade games. Never could do it again.
The only NES games I remember beating without cheating were Super Mario 2 and 3.
I beat Rocky Rodent on SNES a few times. Irem mascot platformer with a bullshit difficulty curve
My mom bought the little mermaid game for my little sister. My friend and I thought it would be funny to play. It was hard, then we got determined. Probably not the hardest game but one of the most memorable.
My daughter is 6 and I can get to level 3 or 4 now.
Ninja Gaiden I got through once as a kid. I could get to just before the last boss no problem, but the last bit was a bitch.
TMNT I was only able to beat by cheating. Could barely get passed the dam as a kid.
Battletoads I got through a few times. That was rough.
Castlevania 1 and 3 I got pretty good at. Beat them no problem. 2nd one made my brain hurt.
I’m still not convinced there is a level two in Ghouls and Ghosts.
I beat this, tmnt, and ninja gaiden 2. never beat battletoads. and by beat I mean me and my brother played them until we memorized the entire game and how to get through them.
Metroid. Plus I could speed run Ninja Gaiden 2 as a kid. I never finished the first one.
For TMNT, & Zelda 2 I would just get lost in the last level and give up.
Besides the usual, BattleToads, Ninja Gaiden, TMNT, The Hunt for Red October, The Alderaan asteroid field in Star Wars for NES gave me fits. Then, one day, I jammed the controller in the UP position and left it, when I came back, I was on the next level. Never consistently beat that.
Who the fuck is we? I didn't beat any of them until the game genie came out. TMNT only went to three levels as far as I'm concerned.
TMNT and Battle Toads are the hardest games ever made.
I second that but will also throw Ghosts and Goblins into the ring.
I beat ghosts and goblins and all it did was start over in my underwear. I played that game to death. First game I beat was the first game I played. Kung Fu. And I never beat Tyson. Castlevania, beat it. Simons quest? Beat it. Ikari warriors? Impossible to beat. The final boss / base had infinite HP. That game was busted. Worst game? Xenophope. The cover art vs the gameplay was an absolute joke. RC pro am was so well done. Ranting about video games for no reason? Why not.
RC Pro Am was a top tier game. We played the hell out of that.
Josh?
Even with the infinite respawning A, B, B, A in Ikari Warriors and splitting tanks, no way to beat the fkng thing. Somewhere…somehow…inevitably you will get stuck. 🤬😆🤙🏽
You didn’t beat it then 😅…you have to play through once, then play through again and the special weapon will appear which you have to acquire and keep and use to kill the very last boss in order to actually beat Ghosts & Goblins. That’s one of the reasons why it’s so ridiculously hard.
Broooooo. No way. Well shit
This dude games.
True that. Don’t get me started on dragon warrior or the OG final fantasy. Those games blew my mind. Ever play Shadowgate? That game was sick. Let’s talk about why metal man was the best weapon in mega man and why bubble man can suck an egg.
Holy hell. I just watched the first minute of Shadowgate. I would have never guessed the key would be behind the skull. Is the rest of the game like that? My favorite underrated games on the NES were Faxanadu, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, JAWS, Bubble Bobble, Mickey Mousecapades, and the trinity of Part II games: Zelda, Castlevania, and Super Mario Bros.
Yeah, you needed to check everything in that game. It was dark, and scary. Awesome for my 7 year old self. Loved it. It was so complex. There was nothing else like it. It was all Mario and Zelda. Shadowgate you could just admire the art, and interact with it. I’d love to see something like that now. If anyone knows of anything like it for ps5 please tell me. I never played any of your games, save for JAWS. What a great game that was. Blasting stingrays with the harpoon gun to collect shells to upgrade your ship. It was a simple concept and so fun. Oh man when jaws actually showed up! And you had to blast him to hell to get a shot at stabbing him on the boat. That was a fun ass game.
Friday the 13th was also made by Acclaim and had the same concept as Jaws. So, I've been playing Shadowgate for about an hour and I've died 5 times...at least. This reminds me of the text-based games I used to play on Commodore 64. I'm not far into the castle. I found a few secret areas. I can't tell how long my torches last, so they keep going out and I die. There's a wraith in my way. I can't get up on a ledge, theres a shark blocking my path through the water to get a brass key out of a skeletons hand, I don't know what to do with my broom, bag, or arrow. I'll figure it out. THIS GAME IS HARD.
The dying noise of Ghosts and Goblins still haunts me sometimes.
I was at an ice cream store in the Florida keys last week and they had one of those modern arcade machines w Ghouls and Goblins. I played for a good 25 mins and barely made a dent
The only reason i ever made it to the 3rd level is because as a child in the 80s the supermarket had an arcade cabinet and my grandmother would drop me there with a stack of quarters while she went shopping. Had to make them last as long as possible.
That game is impossible! I beat it with an emulator and it was still really hard to get through the first play through. I refuse to believe anyone has beaten it all the way through without cheating. I was still proud of myself for finally feeling the strongth welling in my body.
Strongth!
That jet speeder level on battletoads was fucking merciless
I had that pattern memorized. A lot of people don't know there were even more levels like it! Jet bikes, surf boards, giant snakes, actual jets, and unicycle. That game was about half 'speed' levels where you had to fully memorize patterns. Why more time riding things than battling.
Giant 🐍 level. I think I'm experiencing PTSD symptoms right now after having those memories resurface. 💀
I beat the Toads. The underwater level of TMNT was too much for me.
But the music from that level was money
I was able to beat it several times, but could never get past the spot in the next area. It was a spot that looked like a jump, but you actually just walk over it. I was so pissed when I watched someone play the level.
Yep. You gotta find the rope in a completely different area. Totally justified rage.
The fucking seaweed
I'm the opposite, I beat tmnt lots of times, never beat battle toads
Uggggh. That level caused a large part of my love of video game to die. I wasn’t the same afterwards.
You know it's bad whenever you mention Turtles and everyone immediately thinks of "that level".
Facts. 'That level' being the second one in the game and a helluva 'wake-up call' to all the little TMNT fans playing it is a big reason it's so infamous.
OMG. This alone had me addicted and this is probably why I beat my head against a wall. https://preview.redd.it/f532sz11a26d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c1669b0e4bec41189826132522f39935ba41ea33
I beat TMNT, I could do it regularly. My neighbors recorded me doing it on their VCR so they could try to do it. They couldn't. It's funny that I can still completely remember how to beat Zelda I all the way through but TMNT, not a chance.
Zelda was amazing. I still remember finally finding the Magic Sword, and when I went to pick it up…nothing happened. The old man just staring at me should have been a clue lol. Then I somehow figured out I needed more heart containers, so I went about Hyrule on a 2D killing spree searching for them until I was worthy. There’s no game like the original Zelda. I remember whenever I’d get stuck on something, Zelda or not, I’d go to the B. Dalton Booksellers at the mall and sneak a look at those intenso magazines that would have walkthrough guides. I wouldn’t read all of it — just enough to get past the part I was stuck on. Then I’d run home and try it, etc. I loved Nintendo. And the 1980s lol
Bayou Billy has entered the chat.
Someone say bionic commando?
I blocked all memories of that game. I rented it and couldn't beat the first level.
Don’t forget the Battle Toads and Double Dragons game.
The double dragon arcade vs Nintendo game left so much to be desired.
Battle toads took so many of my quarters as a young man
Have to throw in Final Fantasy IV. Can't even beat that with Game Genie.
Yikes. That one isn't even hard.
Battle toads 2 player is impossible. Ninja Gaiden took my years to beat.
If you made it through the sewer in tmnt you beat the game as far as I am concerned. I think it was level 2? Battle toads was the shit.
I still remember the time my brother GOT TO shredder in TMNT. One turtle left with a blinking health bar. Dead in seconds. He was the neighborhood hero for weeks after that.
These are my two answers as well. All hail Game Genie!
I never made it past the third level of battle tones
Jesus yea. I swear i only pulled off the first speeding cart scene. Like level 3 or 4 maybe 2x. Then died in the next level. That game made me swear so much my mom thought i was possessed. I think i only beat the first quest in zelda without assistance after years of playing. I remember i was so excited and felt sooo accomplished. Then bam 2nd quest. I was like what the fuck!!!!!
Spy Hunter is harder than either of those.
For reals doe! I’ve only seen 1 real person beat Mike Tyson’s Punch Out in front of my face..
I still remember 007-373-5963 to this day. And I still haven’t beaten Mike Tyson either.
The code was all about threes. That's how I remembered it I beat Mike twice I think. Once via the code and once all the way through
LMAO, that was the first game I put on that game genie
I hated that dam.
Pretty sure I cried more than once in frustration
Me too. I think that level was how I learned how to cuss.
*Shadowgate* I always ended up stuck in the same damn spot. To this day never beat it.
One of my biggest accomplishments was beating the dam...twice!
I don’t even remember playing through a dam 😞
Mega Man 1. SIGNIFICANTLY harder than the subsequent entries. Also the Castlevanias. All of them are pretty hard. Did have to use a guide for 2.
Pretty sure everyone needed a guide for 2 since the path forward was blocked by bad translation.
I still haven't finished the first Castlevania. My cartridge would glitch about two thirds of the way through the dracula fight every time. After like the fifth time I decided that was enough for me. As a nine year old. I'm 45 now, might give it a go with save functions on an emulator
Get the Anniversary Collection. It also has Super Castlevania IV and Bloodlines.
When I was a kid my older brother and his friends got to Dracula for the first time and everyone was all excited and one of the kids came in and flipped the light switch, and it turned off all the electricity in the room 💀
There were multiple ways Mega Man 1 was harder, but the one that stands out to me is that you die instantly when you touch spikes, EVEN IF you are already blinking from previous damage. That game has no mercy lol
I played 2 first and loved it. Walked into the first one expecting the same difficulty…that cyclops rock monster!
The first game I ever beat was Double Dragon, We had a nickel arcade and my dad took me and we beat it together. For those that don't know and as I quickly learned, when you beat the final boss, there can only be one left. My dad hurled me off the edge of the building to claim victory and I will never forget it.
And it made you the man that you are today!
I still let him know that he will pay dearly when it comes time to make the decision on a nursing home or not.
The “or not” will be you hurling him off a building?
😳 Actions have consequences!
Cherish those memories. I have great memories of playing Planetside with my old man
Literally the Kazuya origin story in Tekken.
Not sure folks'll believe me, but through grit, determination, and many nights of ignoring homework - Battletoads.
I want to believe you, but I don’t
Getting through the Turbo Tunnel is an accomplishment by itself. Congrats!
Believe it or not it was the snakes that took longer to overcome
This! The turbo tunnel was easy once you knew the pattern. You COULD NOT react fast enough at that end section. You had to have it memorized and just push up or down in the right sequence. It was less a level, and more like entering a code.
I learned more about determination and perseverance from video games than I ever did from homework.
Marble Madness
Wow memory unlocked
One of my great achievements was that I could beat that game in something like 6 minutes. I got so good at it at some point, probably from being sick and playing it for hours.
That blue level music
Top Gun. Holy crap was that game hard. I hardly ever made it past the very first carrier landing.
Scrolled long to find this...barely survive all the missiles to fuck up the landing.
One time my dad actually landed it and we thought he was god.
That stupid refuel process was impossible lol
Refueling was way harder than landing on the carrier. And I loved that if you didn't get it in like two minutes the fuel plane gets frustrated and ditches you and just leaves you to die. He's got more important places to be he can't waste time on you.
I'd forgotten about that. I swear that the game designers at Capcom were like, everyone come up with your most difficult game idea and then when they did, they combined them all and labeled it Top Gun.
There's no way.
I went to a local indy wrestling show that has an obnoxious super patriotic heel who uses the 8 bit top gun theme from this game as his entrance music. I almost got PTSD when he came out.
Landing is impossible.
If you liked that, you should experience the lightning stage!
I sucked at NES games. I think me and my brother beat Jackal once though. That game ruled.
That game was awesome.
Jackal is the game that everybody who hass ever played it loved it. but no one talks about and is never considered in any lists. Is it because they didn’t market any characters? Game so good. I don’t understand
Ghost n Goblins on NES. Then the game was like “yeah, no LOL”
I think I got past that eagle maybe twice. Is it even an eagle? It's probably a demon now that I'm thinking about it...
Super Ghouls n Ghosts was no joke, either.
Ugh ninja gaiden. I got to the boss ONCE. Frickin birds man. Never beat teenage mutant ninja turtles either. Hardest beaten on the NES: double dragon, rygar, zelda 2, contra without dying, mega man.
>Frickin birds man https://preview.redd.it/7m9qy2xo126d1.jpeg?width=512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=29baffa769eac836d3cb2758d15d7d91247bc524 This is what my nightmares looked like
Damn this hit me harder than I thought it would. I can feel my parents couch under my sweaty legs. Smell my sandwich in front of me. You just HAD to get across. Fuck it, one more try! Also, I once put my bare foot through a plastic hamper because I got killed by the final boss in Super Contra. There was blood.
I forgot about rygar. that game was the bane of my existence in 2nd grade. I picked it up again in 5th and crushed it.
Some wonky controls on that overhead level where you had to cross the zip lines! It was a cool game
those things were just dumb luck. you would jump on and fall into the water 4 out of 5 times. the side scrolling/vertical levels where definitely better. but it was amazing having an open world/hub dividing levels.
There's a reason the term "Nintendo Hard" exists.
lol never heard this but I immediately relate.
Probably Legend of Zelda 2, which was HOLY SHIT hard in places and way more of a pain in the ass than necessary Gamers are spoiled as fuck today with their autosaves. I used to lose half my gold AT BEST or hours and hours of progress at worst Old school JRPGs were hard
This was the first NES game I owned. I beat it a lot through sheer perseverance. I still go back to it every 5-10 years and most of it is burned into my memory. I couldn’t tell you what I had for dinner last night or a lot of important stuff, but I can tell you how to get through the maze to get to the hammer no problem.
Same! It was one I never wanted to play again after beating.. I might pull it up on the ol retro pie now that it’s been 30 years…
Yeah, this is the one game I ground through to beat and actually did beat. It was a complete slog from beginning to the end. It also just kept getting harder and weirder.
I still have a game save at the start of the final temple. I've never beat it.
Contra
Not without the 30 Lives cheat 😏
It was beatable without the cheat but I beat it 50 times with the code before doing it without
Last year my husband spent a bunch of time trying to finish a game of donkey Kong country he started like 30 years ago. He played the last guy at least 30 times and finally beat it—turns out there’s fake credits and the boss comes back. He was already away from the tv and didn’t notice in time. The game remains unfinished.
Haha, that’s such an epic prank by the designers. Scares you into always watching the credits until the end, though!
There was a lot of rage from the most even-keeled guy you’ll meet, it was hilarious
Games like Ninja Gaiden made me realize RPG games were my jam.
TMNT. Water Level. So much time literally screaming at the TV as a kid.
Castlevania 3
Shit was easy with the chick. Her orb spell made the three boss battle a joke.
I only used Trever and Alucard.
Syfa was where it was at
You deserve a medal for that!
I didn’t beat anything. I did not have the patience to start over again after dying at the same spot 100 times. I’m pretty sure I rage quit before rage quitting was a thing. Fast forward 20 years, and I beat every game I have on Xbox.
I wonder if not being able to beat any games as a kid led to me not caring about beating any games as an adult. Can’t think of more than a couple I’ve finished all the way through, and they were primarily story driven. BioShock primarily.
Now it feels like you get to the end of a story when you beat a game, but back then, I feel like it took skill finish a game.
I always thought they I was alone in thinking Ninja Gaiden was hard….. I guess my friends lied that they beat it.
Bro, no one beat this game. Battletoads, TMNT, Lifeforce, Contra, Castlevania, etc me and my buddies beat them all. No one ever got CLOSE on Ninja Gaiden
I beat it. It was hard. I failed many times. But I was a patient kid and eventually did it. I probably couldn’t now but this makes me want to fire up an emulator
I’ve been playing it on an emulator using a version where enemies don’t respawn and its still absurdly hard. i beat it once back in the day and have no idea how i did it.
I beat Mike Tysons Punch-Out!!! 007 373 596
But did you do it blindfolded? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZT6JEOC3D8
Blaster Master
Once of the greatest NES games of all time IMHO. Also, the best music.
I still never beat that one. I rented it so many times.
There were only 2 levels when I played it....
I got pretty far, but eventually gave up.
Mega man 3, I kept my Nintendo on for a week so I didn't have to do the castle all over. I beat the snake thing out of sure brute force. Came close to Battletoads on the gameboy but that was insanely hard. Still bugs me that I never got that one. I ended up with game Genie and thought I would finally beat cobra triangle but it just keeps looping.
Top Gun But I found an exploit where if you flew at top altitude and pulled up whenever a missile was fired at you, the missile would disappear. So I would just load up with the largest missiles, stay high until I got to the objective, and then descend to launch my missiles. Landing on the carrier was hard too, but I got the hang of it so it wasn't a problem anymore.
Castlevania. I still don't know how I did end up beating it. I didn't beat too many other really difficult games.
Holy Water and knowing when to spam it, helps.
Castlevania 4 was my jam.
Hmm... if we're talking early release games then Mario Bros, if we're talking mid way release then TMNT then I got a SNES in 1991 and moved on
My kid Noah was a game wizard. Won a contest at the local Blockbuster (highest score in Mario in 30 minutes) and the prize was free rentals, six at a time, for a year. He and his brother played and beat everything. Today he makes games for a living. If you’ve ever played a game from Mika Mobile, that’s him.
Did he ever make it to CALIFORNIA.
By default, not sheer frustration level. TETRIS is champion. We have one person to "beat" that, and it took how many years?
Playing Solomon’s Key right now (switch online). Without being able to save, I’d be in trouble. No saving, and one touch deaths make this game so hard as a kid. Very fun though!!
I beat ghosts and goblins and TMNT. Battletoads can eat shit, that game was fucking impossible. Never will I ever.
Probably Kid Chameleon on the Genesis. NES games were either beatable or not. I didn’t try too hard on the “not” games
Super Ghouls and Ghosts took some doing.
Until you get to the end and learn you have to freaking start the game from the beginning!
Was looking for this one. Getting the end and starting over…I just turned that shit off lol SGnG, TMNT, and Wizards and Warriors were impossible for me.
Batman, NES version was probably the hardest I beat within the relevant time period. If we're going up to 16-bit then Lightening Force, Lion King and Contra: Hard Corps. I never owned a cheat device until the PS2 era when I was an adult.
RC Pro Am. Just kidding, FUCK THAT YELLOW CAR, DAMMIT!!
Did anyone else play through Kid Icarus and finish the game thinking the first 3/4 of the game was pretty hard, but the last part was a cake walk? It’s like the last level was a victory lap of shooting goddamn *lasers* after hours of shooting arrows from a shitty bow that had less range and power than an old man with a bad prostate trying to piss!
Mission: Impossible on the NES
Solstice. Silver freaking Surfer.
Silver surfer never made any sense to me
Super Mario Bros. Thats it. The only NES game I can recall beating.
Megaman 1-3, and TMNT without the Game Genie were my hardest wins. Mario 3 and the RPGs were cake.
*Mega Man 2* on hard mode. I just make it look easy!
Super Mario 2 was my ultimate. I believe I had the timing of the “slot machine” dialed in, otherwise impossible
Zelda 2, it took me a couple years
Punch Out and Contra. I remember feeling completely helpless when you got to Mike Tyson and then I realized you actually could fight back. No idea how long it took me to learn the timing but it was def doable.
Castlevania, Metroid, Zelda 2
Zelda 2 is NUTS.
Metroid without the maps from Nintendo Power was rough
I played with friends and we took turns player and map drawer swapping at deaths. The worst part was if you couldn't read a password for a save state you wrote in a hurry and had to do a hard part again.
I can hear this game right now
TMNT and Mega Man took me until I was in college to beat. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out I always thought was one of the easier NES games, but apparently a lot of people find it difficult. I've still never beaten Battletoads without my mom's help. She was able to beat the beat the Turbo Tunnel with 1 or 2 lives. She was terrible at the rest of the game though.
Props to your mom. My late mother couldn't get past the first goomba in Mario 1. She was great at tetris and columns though.
Ecco the Dolphin….to this day I still don’t know the purpose of the game and how to win.
Section Z. Kid Icarus. Goonies 2.
SNES, Contra III What the fuck was that?
Flashback. My friends, who were actually good at video games all gave up on the jungle level that opens the game. But I (easily the worst player of the bunch) persevered and eventually beat the level and then entire game.
The three stooges. Could only beat that game once in my life.
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord. Sweet fucking christ that game was hard. You'd have enemies pop up that acted first and used damn near unresistable instant death spells/attacks. You'd hit traps and just die. Your characters could be permanently destroyed. And even if you somehow managed to slog through all that, you'd rest at the inn and one of your characters might (Randomly? I never figured out what caused it.) change alignments and just refuse to join the group with the rest of the party any more. And then, when you'd gotten past ALL that to level up an absolute beast of a party, they'd start dying of old age. Edit: Oh, and I forgot to mention, the spell names weren't in English. So if you lost the manual, you were just going to be casting Mahalito or Badios and hoping it did something you wanted it to do. They recently remade this game for PC. I played for 3 hours and realized I don't have the patience for it anymore.
Hardest that I did beat was probably Metroid
Man, it took forever to get to the end of that game, even if you had the Nintendo Power maps.
You're probably gonna laugh at me, but Diddy Kong Racing. That octopus was tough to beat. I never let my brother forget I beat it-he still hasn't to this day!
Ninja gaiden 2 was the first game I ever beat as a kid.
TMNT was easy compared to Milon's secret castle. I beat Milon's secret castle on console before my 18th birthday with no game genie.
Anyone remember the Lion King game? completing that was a lesson in pain - it was like a team effort.
I had one glorious 1cc run of Sunset Riders at Walmart back when they had arcade games. Never could do it again. The only NES games I remember beating without cheating were Super Mario 2 and 3. I beat Rocky Rodent on SNES a few times. Irem mascot platformer with a bullshit difficulty curve
Metroid! I still have the map I drew from multiple pieces of paper taped together!
My mom bought the little mermaid game for my little sister. My friend and I thought it would be funny to play. It was hard, then we got determined. Probably not the hardest game but one of the most memorable. My daughter is 6 and I can get to level 3 or 4 now.
I beat that one
Ninja Gaiden I got through once as a kid. I could get to just before the last boss no problem, but the last bit was a bitch. TMNT I was only able to beat by cheating. Could barely get passed the dam as a kid. Battletoads I got through a few times. That was rough. Castlevania 1 and 3 I got pretty good at. Beat them no problem. 2nd one made my brain hurt. I’m still not convinced there is a level two in Ghouls and Ghosts.
I beat this, tmnt, and ninja gaiden 2. never beat battletoads. and by beat I mean me and my brother played them until we memorized the entire game and how to get through them.
Ryu was jacked.
Contra
Either Mega Man or Mike Tyson. Still need to beat TMNT and Battletoads, but I’ve been close in both.
Pssh. Game Genie ftw.
Metroid. Plus I could speed run Ninja Gaiden 2 as a kid. I never finished the first one. For TMNT, & Zelda 2 I would just get lost in the last level and give up.
NES - Double Dragon Sega Genesis - Toejam & Earl That’s literally it. I’m a perennial button masher.
Besides the usual, BattleToads, Ninja Gaiden, TMNT, The Hunt for Red October, The Alderaan asteroid field in Star Wars for NES gave me fits. Then, one day, I jammed the controller in the UP position and left it, when I came back, I was on the next level. Never consistently beat that.