The winner of every difficulty comparison

Did we already forget about Battletoads?

I beat Battletoads a ton when I was a kid, we never beat the Turtles game.
- I beat both back in the day. I definitely feel like battletoads was the more difficult of the two.
Tbf, tons of nes and snes/Sega games were crazy hard. It hid how short they were. Like, Altered Beast is a game that no one ever beat on the Sega without using like a game genie. The entire game is only like 15 or 20 minutes long, though. Tmnt and battle battletoads were just super popular games you couldn't beat.
- I think they were made to be quarter guzzling arcade games.
Battletoads has nothing on Ghosts 'n Goblins! I can at least play Battletoads until the stupid vehicle jumping section. I don't think I've ever even made it more than like 3 checkpoints into Ghosts 'n Goblins
Battle toads was truly the hardest game
Some of us remember!!! Damn you, first level!!!

Sorry about the PTSD, but....

I watch a streamer who mastered speed running dozens of NES games. He says Battletoads was the hardest game to learn. Just getting through the game, not even pushing for a fast time, was extremely challenging. Much harder than TMNT 1 or Ninja Gaiden.
- Yeah, for all the difficulty I had with the dam on NES TMNT as a kid, I saw a streamer do it last year I think (I believe on first attempt?) not realizing it was supposed to be difficult. Blew my mind.
I have never met anyone that could beat this level. It’s like it was made to sell the Game Genie.
- You have to memorize the level and jump a bit before that one tricky one comes on screen.
- Child me could beat it after hours of repeated attempts and running out of continues.
  Adult me went back after a decade. The muscle memory was still there and I beat it on the first try. I probably got about an 80% success rate on first attempts now. But level 4 and beyond I'm terrible.
- I only got it by state save scumming in zsnes, and even then it was tough not to save yourself into a corner.
- My brother and I played the game so much we were able to beat that stage co-op. It gets much worse later. I learned not that long ago that the reason we were never able to beat it co-op is there's a bug that prevents the 11th stage from being beatable with two players.
I need to find an emulated version of this. Mine was faulty and always glitches as soon as you finished this stage so I never got to see neyond it for more than a few seconds. I've always wondered what was there!
Fun fact: that's one of the easiest levels in the game. It barely cracks the top 10 hardest levels in a game with 12 levels, and only because the first 2 are trivial to lull you into a false sense of security.

Lion King on SEGA Genesis?

Takeshi's Challenge?

Dragon's Lair?

Ninja Gaiden?

Marble Madness?

Battletoads?

Fuckin battletoads. WAY harder than turtles.

IMHO Elden Ring isn't the most difficult fromsoft game.

That honor goes to Sekiro.

Elden Ring may in fact be the easiest From game tbh.
- You might be inclined to say that if you don't really know much of the games From has made.
  The Adventures of Cookie and Cream on PS2 was a very easy game by comparison.
- Coming from ER to DS3 I think DS3 is much easier. I didn’t put much thought into my build and it was a breeze. I beat many bosses first try.
  Much of the difficulty in ER comes from the often hard to telegraph attacks.
- Might be worth clarifying Demon's Souls and onward, some of us are old enough to have played Armored Core.
- Armored Core series, but those have always had a way to cheese through the campaign, almost universally.
I 100% agree. Sekiro is my favorite of them all.
Elden Ring isn't difficult, it's tedious and repetitive. I really didn't like it
Just came in here to support Sekiro
Nah Sekiro is great. Sometimes I just pull it up and play it a couple of days because it's so satisfying. I think Sword Saint Isshin is supposed to be the hardest boss, and it definitely takes a lot of runs until you have him memorized. But on NG+ I first-, or second-tried him. I think all Sekiro bosses are pretty chill once you know them.
Consort Radahn however... I don't know if I have the will to ever struggle through this fight again
I think you mean the hardest Fromsoft game you liked. Go Beat the original armored core and get back to me. you could also give last raven a shot.
That honor goes to Demon's Souls...
- Not sure why you were downvoted. I found Demon Souls was frustrating more than difficult but to each their own.

Elden Ring isn't even the hardest Soulslike

In fact it's probably the easiest, in the base game anyway, just due to the huge number of build options. Although DeS had some pretty broken builds.
Youre right, but its the most recent and the one that gets the most exposure. This is us getting old and classics being forgotten
- Dark Souls 3 was only 8 years ago

the chief irony of this game is turtles are supposed to be good at swimming underwater.

Well. But the way the TMNT's legs poke out their shells before they get mutated heavily implies they're actually Teenage Mutant Ninja Tortoises. I think the mistake comes from that their crew was named by a rat who only ever read about ninjutsu. What the fuck does master splinter know about identifying the difference between a turtle and a tortoise?

This was certainly the hardest part of the game due to the controls, but it still pales in comparison to actually difficult games of the era that were designed to take quarters first, provide gameplay later
- Oh yeah, for sure. Ghosts'n Goblins comes to mind.

Ghosts n Goblins say what?

Right? The studio behind it openly admitted that Ghost and Goblins was made to be a quarter eater at arkades.. it was built to be unbeatable
- “Finally beat it!… wait, what do you mean I have to do it all over again on a harder difficulty with the weakest weapon?!”

Original ASCII Dwarf Fortress

With that said I still prefer it to TMNT.

I came poking for the game that popularized the term "losing is fun"
- That shame and disappointment you feel? That’s fun. This is the fun. This is what you want.
Now that if a game for real adults!
Let the kids play with their insignificant toys...

Forgot battletoads exists I guess

I forget which platform it was, but one version of that TMNT game was literally impossible because someone fucked up the distance of a jump in one of the sewer levels, making it an impossible jump to make.

I had it on PC as a kid and it was hard enough just reading the codes out of the booklet using that piece of red cellophane to get the fucker to start up lol

Are you thinking of that one small gap where you have to just walk over it without jumping, and trying to jump makes you fall?
- Ah, fuck I thought of that damn jump. I spent months trying to get over it, until someone found that it was small enough that you could walk over it.
- I think so. On the working versions you can just walk across but on the broken one it's too far to do that and jumping makes you hit the ceiling and also not make it. Though it's been a while since I've both played it or seen the little videos pointing out the error on one of the versions.
This stupid jump ruined my childhood
https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=5zVdNXvsYXy9KETE&t=319s&v=XjUz8IT0CYg&feature=youtu.be

The hardest game is probably just a random game that no one knows about

I would like to submit this game as the hardest one

Hardest game is Tetris. No matter what, you always lose.
- Someone actually beat Tetris in the NES earlier this year. I mean beat, as in into submission. They got far enough that the game couldn't handle the progression anymore and crashed.
- The version I played stopped after level 15. Not sure if it was supposed to happen, I only managed to get that high once. But I contend that I beat the game.

Some of you have never Wanna be the Guy and it shows.

I remember wanting to play IWBtG so badly in its heyday but not being able to figure out how to on a mac. I finally watched a playthrough recently and... turns out I dodged a bullet of frustration.
- Did you really dodge a bullet though? Or did the bullet stop midair and changed direction to move toward what was up until now the most logical location to dodge to?

I've started to hate the term "Hardest".

Give me two months in Unity, and I can make a game that's "harder" than every game on any one of these lists. It would also be unplayable trash, that would prompt hundreds of "How the fuck are you supposed to XXX" responses due to obscurity. Part of what makes those listed games enjoyable is having a decent difficulty curve, compelling progression of skill demonstration, and a good feeling of reward. They're getting difficulty right.

Impossiblest? Difficulter? Most hard?

Zelda 2: "Hold my beer"

I am error.
- If all else fails, try fire.
Zelda 2 wasn't difficult, it was a mistake.
- When it's so difficult that the developers can't get it right, that's how you know it's the hardest.

Ecco.

That damned dolphin...

Battletoads would like a word

Elden Ring felt pretty easy. The first 10 hours were brutal, but once I adjusted, it was pretty easy.

Try level capping at 80. Makes the DLC difficult. Also makes you summonable by me, which I could really use right now.
- I'm level 80! Where we starting tonight?
Eh ER is choose your own difficulty. It can be really easy or impossibly hard based on the limitations you place on yourself.
That's my favourite kind of difficulty curve

Battletoads

literally impossible to beat (in 2-player mode)

not the herpetology-themed NES game in the meme

I guess I'm the only one who remembers E.T. for Atari?

Never played it but I thought it's mainly known for being a terribly bad game. Or is it bad because it's too hard?
- It's fucking tedious, it's win conditions are nearly impossible, and it's controls suck. You have to collect phone pieces in a pit and then find and stand in an unmarked tile for an undeclared amount of time with no enemies on the screen to win and the win screen doesn't even differentiate itself from the lose screen. Speedrun with no glitches is under a minute. It's length of gameplay is purely designed on the fact that it's just a badly made game.
- Being bad is what makes it so hard

That goddamn seaweed.

the horror . . . the horror
- I remember Retro City Rampage had an homage to this sequence near the end of the game. No lie: I broke out into a cold sweat when the screen first came up, thinking I'd have to grind and grind and grind to get through it.
  Luckily the homage is much, much easier than the original.
It really wasn’t that bad
I was scrolling to find this post. I used to be able to beat that level on command a gazillion years ago. I retried it recently on the turtles anthology game on the ps5 and it was brutal even with the rewind feature.

Imagine souls games giving you only three lives before sending you back to the very beginning of the game.

Idk if I'm finally getting old or the real nerds are hiding. Nobody in here knows about Nethack? At least someone said Dwarf Fortress.

One time I died on turn zero failing to mount my horse and hitting my head on the stone stairs.
- Yasd material right there.
NetHack makes most mortals cry. My bones files taunt me.
I played Nethack. I was overwhelmed by my anxiety and depression. I realised I was not good at video games. So I quit playing Nethack and swore to get good at video games before returning. Been, what, at least 15 years? I've gotten better I guess. Should I return? Soon, maybe.
(Seriously, though, roguelikes are still a genre I struggle with, so I do need practice!)
- Have you tried pixel dungeon? It's kinda the same thing but dramatically easier and I've still never ascended. 🤣
  Kinda the thing about it though is that what makes Nethack so good is how the devs thought of everything.

Everyone is just forgetting about IWBTG

That's not a game. It's an internet troll disguised as a game.
- That's fair

Duck Hunt anyone ?. I think I got to middle 20s level. I hate that dog for mocking me on my last level before dying. I almost wish there was a game where I could shoot that dog instead of the ducks.

I got all the way through the game once, it reset back to super slow after level 99. I almost lost when that happened because I was so used to it being lightning quick heh.

Ghosts n' Goblins
Milon's Secret Castle

I'm sure I could think of more if I tried, but my PTSD has repressed the memories...

Elden Ring isn't even the most difficult soulsborne game, by a longshot

Some of those old games from the NES or even into the SNES era were just outright impossible. IIRC there was a Dennis The Menace game didn't have the final boss ready for the publishing deadline so they just put an impossible jump just before it so players couldn't get that far.

Amateurs indeed. How the hell are you supposed to finish the game when you lost nearly all you lives in the underwater dam level???

I did eventually manage to beat TMNT however the NES game I never managed to beat was Ghosts 'n Goblins.

To be fair I never got to play Battletoads back then so idk how it compares.

I plan to go back to it someday... I beat the recent remake on the hardest difficulty, and that was brutal. But the original still kicks my ass.

Why can't a turtle swimm?

They, you know... mutated.

No one has died of dysentery I guess…

I have done this so many times...

Elden is fair if you grind, explore and prepare for the enemies. Other games are basically "rhythm games" in disguise, you have to memorize the exact series of moves, in the exact order, with the right timing.

you have to memorize the exact series of moves, in the exact order, with the right timing
That applies very well to the Dark Soul series as well in my opinion
- Didn't play DS yet honestly, but if you can use the terrain, change builds and choose between close combat or ranger/magic weapon, then you have enough elasticity.

The young'uns nowadays don't know what a difficult game is. Not to mention the "impossible" ones.

I can proudly say I've beaten 4 of those on the original hardware, but it was probably around 2010 or so as an adult.
(Contra, Ninja Gaiden, Castlevania, Mega Man 1)
- Same here, though I also beat Ghosts n Goblins. Honestly once you can reliably beat the first couple of stages, you can probably get through the whole game.
That geekyinc article is the most 100% written by ChatGPT wall of text that I’ve ever encountered in the wild.
- First ddg result, wth. This one better?
Contra is considered a difficult one? O.o
We beat that in co-op with my brother when we were like 6 and 8.
- Konami games were hard, but not crazy hard. I don't think it should be on any "hardest game" list either.
- They probably mean without the cheat code. I think you started with 3 lives originally.
Nice links! Ive played a good deal on the impossible list, i even 100% beat jet force gemini. Iirc the "true" ending pissed me off. Don't remember why but i felt let down for all the work i did to get it
Nice to know Ninja Gaiden is considered difficult. I remember it kicking my butt.
Glad to see Castlevania on that list, that game was brutal on little me as a little kid.
But let's get real, there is a long tradition of brutally hard games, and people be bullshitting if they say they beat some of these games without save states 🤣
Let's also talk about arcade games that are brutal even with unlimited coins - R-Type, Pulstar, ghouls and ghosts, just to name a few. But these are all beatable.
A NES game that I thought was exceptionally hard without save states (looking at you doungen with no lights and hard enemies) is NES Zelda romhack Outlands
Forgot all about Sub-Terrania. Loved that game as a kid.

I completed TMNT as a kid... on Commodore 64. That version is admittedly a little bit easier than the NES version (some mechanics were missing, and an entire level is gone, as I recall). Still, I have no idea why people complain about the second level (river), it's actually pretty fun. Compared to what's to come later in the game.

To me, the definitive "hard" game is Metroid Prime 2: Echoes on GameCube. Dark Souls just makes me say "eeeeeehhhh this is probably doable, I'll play this after I'm done with MP2E."

(When I first played MP2E, I only got through the second to last boss. Then my MadCatz memory card died. Played through the game again, with the fury of million suns. 99% complete. Because I missed one optional scan. ...One of these days I replay this bastard.)

I never could defuse all the bombs at the dam.

It's s one of my biggest regrets from childhood. Right up there with the rest of my early traumas that have guided my life in major and subtle ways.

Silver Surfer for the NES is way harder than TMNT. It's possible, though I've never done it, to beat TMNT. AFAIK , Silver Surfer is actually possible to beat, but basically no one has done it.

R.C. PRO-AM brought it to a new level. It was really difficult, but super rewarding to progress to new phases of the later levels. They kept introducing new elements as you progressed. That was so much fun.

I never realized collecting the flashing blocks upgraded your car until having the game for a year. Then I was pissed everyone else upgraded as well.
And what the living fuck was the deal with the car that just went “I’m off! See ya!” and somehow won the race in hyperdrive?
- Those were some really good moments a long time ago. Thank you for feeling the same way.

aka "Where's the Terrordrome THIS time?!"

My friends were encouraging me to play Dark Souls. I told them I'm not interested since it's hard and I no longer have time to persevere, now that I am an adult with little to no time. One of my friends commented that I'm just scared to play Dark Souls. To which I responded I've played harder games. Said friend never had video game consoles when we were kids, and missed out on the suffering of playing 90s and 00s games.

I grew up with nes and had no idea till I got older that this turtles level was so notorious. I first started playing when I was like 6 so I managed to get good even in the water level. Also managed to beat the Battletoads speeder level a bunch of times.

Devil Daggers?

That don't look like Takeshi's Challenge

[NES] Sector Z, Goonies, and others would like a word [Atari] E.T. has entered the chat

Was ET actually difficult or just unclear how to progress? I swear I finished it when I was a kid but the amount of games I've finished in my life is extremely tiny, if things get too hard I just go play something else for awhile (looking at every stealth mission shoehorned into non stealth game). So maybe I just misremembered finishing it but I sure played it a lot before I got an NES.
- If you managed to finish ET that'd put you in a club of one person I have met in person or online who has done it.

It's not even the seaweed bit it's the bit where your on the roof and try to jump over but you hit the top and just drop

Wasn't there also a right to left building jump that was impossible ? I think it only worked left to right jump from a higher building

Mega man 2

Mega Man all of them, they were all brutal. There was one with the tails looking dude on the ps1 that was not too bad
I've got it on my homebrew Wii. I think I can still beat it, but I don't think I've done it in years.
I think Mega Man 2 is easy compared to many other games from that era. It’s one of the few NES games I’ve beaten without save states or cheats.
Battletoads on the other hand…

Thanks for the PTSD flashback. It was delightful.

Kid Icarus enters the room...

That final hallway in TMNT is crazy.

Solomon's Key was the OG escape room puzzle game. The creators must have had so much designing all those rooms while laughing at the future me dying and restarting over and over.

The real answer is probably DoDonPachi SDOJ. Inbachi, the true final boss, went undefeated for over ten years.

I found Bartman Meets Radioactive Man in Game Gear to be terribly difficult, mostly because of the controls. I think I got to the 3rd or 4th world once, but it was a struggle.

Fucking coral reef.

IIRC the issue with that was super janky hitboxes
Dam was only level 2 my friend and possibly the easiest level. I'm not even kidding here.

Weirdly, that is the only one of the three I have beaten. Zero chance I could do it now of course.

I hate hard games nowadays, but when I was a kid I had a high tolerance for them because that's pretty much all there was. I have a fondness for the Ghosts 'n Goblins series because it was part of my childhood, but I wouldn't give it the time of day if they came out now.

Oh good, it wasn't just me then.

What about that Action52 Tigerman game that was made to be impossible

Did anyone ever play Pursuit Force on the PSP?

That game was brutally difficult.

Cuphead is easy. Ever tried Hotline Miami?

This goes to Geometry Dash without a doubt in my mind if you include user-created levels, and I do as long as they're officially rated with stars, especially if they're e.g. in a Gauntlet (which a number of Easy and Medium Demons are).

If you allow in star-rated levels outside of Gauntlets, then I think it's safe to say that Tidal Wave on its own crushes the difficulty of basically any video game ever made that's ever been completed by a human. GD is an interesting case where you can make it as easy or as difficult as you want because there's no true "ending" to the game (getting to the Demon Gauntlet is part of an actual storyline, but when you beat it, it goes nowhere, so that's weird).

if you include games with user-created levels there's quite a few games with levels that are practically impossible for a human, eg. trackmania and super mario world
- As noted, "that's ever been completed by a human". Otherwise there's simply no ceiling; I can just create a game that requires you to perform 10 frame-perfect inputs every frame for five months straight and say "now I have the hardest game since it's technically possible to win; checkmate." With user-made levels, there's still a ceiling defined by a human actually completing it, and I don't think the human-beaten Mario Maker or Trackmania levels touch the extreme levels of difficulty at the highest skill levels of GD.
  TL;DR: I think if we include user-made levels ever beaten unassisted by at least one human, Geometry Dash wins.

Huh you seem tohave used a tmnt cover instead of greg tech new horizons

God Hand enters the chat

I didn't mind TMNT.

What still gives me PTSD is Shadow Of The Beast 2. I was utterly clueless on how to beat that game as a child, and as an adult I can literally watch someone beat it, know what to do, and still fuck it up.