25) Geometry Dash
Trying to navigate this square through a hostile environment is both addictive and frustrating. One mistake, and you start again.
24) Galaga
This spin on Space Invaders is pretty hard, when you get up in levels. Like, frustratingly hard.
23) Ikaruga
This innovative, shoot-em-up game offered a lot of challenges for a player. Thankfully, it was short.
22) Super Mario Bros. 2
There are two versions of this game; the Japanese version which was a true sequel, and the American version, which was a re-skin of a different game. The American arm of Nintendo thought that the original version of the game was too hard. But the version we did get, was pretty messed up too.
21) Dragon’s Lair
This game was so hard at the arcades that it was one of the most lucrative games of all time in it’s original version. People dropped serious coin to try to beat it.
20) F-Zero: GX
This game continued the series’ difficult and high speed racing style, but amped it up. You needed to memorize the track and have sick reflexes, to even stand a chance.
19) Pitfall!
This Atari game is notorious for having a short time frame and too many hazards
18) Earthworm Jim
This game was insanely clever, but ridiculously hard. Especially that bubble level. Almost broke my genesis on that level.
17) Dark Souls II
This game is the least fun you can have gaming. If you don’t manage your stamina, you won’t get very far at all.
16) Super Meat Boy
This game is delightfully retro, but also insanely hard. Most reviewers would have given this game a perfect score, if it wasn’t for the fact that they wanted to chuck their controllers across the room while testing it.
15) Bloodborne
This gothic game is insanely hard, but in a rewarding kind of way. Originally meant to be a Souls game, it ended up being darker, but no less frustrating.
14) Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels
This was the original Japanese release of SMB2, included in a compilation. What makes it unique, is that it added far more difficult elements to deal with. In fact, some levels are damn-near impossible.
13) Cuphead
According to most reviewers, this game was brutal and unforgiving. Instead of skill, you needed good muscle memory and pattern recognition to even stand a chance.
12) Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
There’s a certain level in this game that no one could have ever had a hope to beat back in the day; the town. But it was still a lot of fun to try.
11) Demon’s Souls
Most seasoned reviewers and gamers found this game to be a genuine, if not frustrating, challenge.
10) Punch Out!
This game is notorious for being insanely difficult to beat, especially going up against Mike Tyson or King Hippo. Even that Soda Popinski guy made me want to punch the screen.
9) Contra
This side scroller would punish you severely for getting hit, falling, or running out of time. It was frustrating as fuck.
8) Mega Man
What made this game so hard, was the fact that there was no specific order to defeat the game, but there was a better way to do it. Plus, all the shooting and platforming took a shit-ton of skill.
7) Castlevania
The original is one of the hardest out there, but it’s all about knowing what item to bring with you at a specific section.
Oh, and replaying boss battles until you figure your shit out.
6) Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts
Considered one of the hardest games for the SNES, it had the bottomless pits and endless enemies, but what fucked this game up were the mind games. Every hit took you back to zero, and when you thought you were done, you were transported back to the beginning, to play it over again. Then you’d get the real ending. Fuck.
5) Ninja Gaiden Black
This reboot of the original series is either considered hard, or really hard. Like, you’ll break your controller into little ninja stars hard.
4) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
This side-scroller was insane. On the NES, it was just barely do-able, but when it was ported to PC, there were a few bugs that made it literally impossible to beat, unless you cheated.
3) Dark Souls
The original of this game literally had the hardest boss of all time. This game is ridiculously hard, but there is a way to beat it, if you’re willing to learn from your mistakes. Most people weren’t.
2) Ghosts n’ Goblins
This game is more than hard, it’s unfair. Here’s why: you get hit, you die. The controls are ridiculous, and you can’t move well enough to avoid death. Then there’s the issue, much like another game on this list, where if you don’t have the right tools for the final boss battle, you start again. You defeat the last boss, you start again. Why the fuck?
1) Battletoads
The NES version of the game was renowned for its difficulty. You either died a one-hit death or you got stuck in a place that you didn’t know what to do, or how to escape. Then there was the multiplayer where you and your partner weren’t immune to each other’s offence, so they’d accidentally hit you and you’d die, or you kill them.
Many a NES was destroyed because of this game.
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