15 Hardest NES Games of All-Time

[0078265317]

https://www.denofgeek.com/games/hardest-nes-games-ever/?amp

[Cynicaster]

Why did I have a feeling Punch Out would be on this list...

 

The game definitely takes some practice and perseverence to beat but it ain't that damn hard.  I mean, aren't there people on Youtube beating the game blindfolded?  Top 15 hardest on the system?  C'maaaan....

 

 

[NeonSpaceBeagle]

they are ALL hard (for me anyway) and it was always so frustrating to pay 50 bux (in 80s and 90s dollars no less) never to get beyond level 1.   thankfully there was the game genie for people like myself.

[DJ Clae]

No way do Castlevania and Mega Man belong on here. I beat that as a kid. The article doesn't mention that Ninja Gaiden 3 was ruined for the US release.

[NeonSpaceBeagle]

I actually got decently far in Castlevania.. So yeah, definitely shouldn't be on the list.  Mega Man 1 i remember having a hard time with, I was a lot better at the second one.  That shouldn't be on the list either.  Really though, most of these bloggers don't know their asses from their elbows about video games.

[Tanooki]

8 hours ago, DJ Clae said:

No way do Castlevania and Mega Man belong on here. I beat that as a kid. The article doesn't mention that Ninja Gaiden 3 was ruined for the US release.

I've got to agree with this.  The rest of the list is pretty legit.  Castlevania III isn't as hard as the first one so that's a nonsense attention grabber, NG3 is screwed from the FC(or NGT SNES) release, and Mega Man had no password but it was shorter and in ways less difficult than some of the later NES releases, and didn't it allow continues?

 

Final Fantasy is also a bs listing.  It's like a 1/32 chance of you get Warmech on the way to Tiamat, my god awful luck the one time I finished it in the day on NES I did get that prick...and beat him, and Tiamat after as I was too worked up to walk back out but it was close...too close.  It doesn't belong there as you can just power level into a sheer bored stupor with that one.

 

Honestly I'm a little surprised that Faxanadu isn't on there, password or not, if you didn't get a start with most your stuff cheat code and play it natural, it's nasty...really nasty yet fair.  I've always owned it, finished in the era too, but not since.  I will give credit for them not trying to put troll garbage of horrid design that is hard because it's coded like crap such as some LJN dumpster fires.

 

I would definitely, despite leveling, and I'm very shocked not seeing it, would throw Dragon Warrior II under the bus for the hardest list.  The game has a broken design in the code where as you level up, the enemies and bosses tier up too, so the more you play, the uglier it gets, grinding causes pain, but grinding gets the gear you must have to survive.  Worse, there is a spot in the game where you cross water, if you do it unknowingly too early, you're really screwed as the tiering will crush your soul wanting to commit to further abuse.  Even Enix admits they fouled up, they repaired the game in the SFC then GBC remasters of the old title giving it normal progression which all updates since are also based off of.

 

Also Punchout, it is NOT hard...challenging in the last tier of fighters somewhat, it's Tyson/Dream alone that are an utter timing nightmare.  You can thoroughly enjoy and beat that game up until that last fight, even on a cheap quality modern LCD with some poor processing that'll put an over 30ms and up display lag.  I'd toss that out, and really, not to really throw more love at the franchise, put Gargoyle's Quest II in there as it's even harder than the anything but easy Gameboy original.  That game leaves little to no room for error.

 

Kind of tempted to even throw the eggplant wizard under the bus on Kid Icarus, that jerk alone made that game utterly insufferable with the dungeons every 4th stage but as he's a soul annoyance, it's an honorable mention.

[Mikebloke]

Wow pretty much a list of nes games I've actually beaten or games I've beaten on a harder system, like an amstrad. 

 

Feel like this article has a "modern lens" with punch out, mega man 1, final fantasy among others. Jeez. And really, gauntlet and games like ikari warriors? There is definitely worse nes games for difficulty. 

[0078265317]

On 7/2/2021 at 11:41 AM, NeonSpaceBeagle said:

they are ALL hard (for me anyway) and it was always so frustrating to pay 50 bux (in 80s and 90s dollars no less) never to get beyond level 1.   thankfully there was the game genie for people like myself.

me too.  loved Game Genie.

[Rhomaios]

20 hours ago, Mikebloke said:

Wow pretty much a list of nes games I've actually beaten or games I've beaten on a harder system, like an amstrad. 

 

Feel like this article has a "modern lens" with punch out, mega man 1, final fantasy among others. Jeez. And really, gauntlet and games like ikari warriors? There is definitely worse nes games for difficulty. 

These sort of lists are always going to highlight the most difficult of the popular games, otherwise it would be made up of a bunch of broken crap. I always treat these as "15 very difficult yet popular games," and a couple are questionable. In fact, it's questionable whether the author (Edit: in general, not singling out this person) actually played many or any of the games in question.

Edited July 4, 2021 by Rhomaios

[Tanooki]

I'd question that given some of the choices, but also just because they're hard doesn't necessarily mean we find them as hard anymore since we learned the games so it's being looked at poorly.  Looking at all the watered down stuff a majority of games have now, even a fairly challenging but not 'hard' game would seem like a real pain to someone who started out at a minimum with a PS2 and didn't have some older kid with old systems lying about to tangle with.  It's why I called out a few, but mentioned in some detail some that can be pretty nasty that failed to make the cut.

[+jeremiahjt]

I have never actually played Silver Surfer, but that hit box is huge. I think Star Soldier would be the hardest NES game I have ever played. I have never beat Tyson, but I am sure I could with more practice. By the time I get to him I am worn out of the game.

 

I wonder how many of the games I learned to beat as a kid had greater difficulty than I remember.

[+GoldLeader]

Anybody tried Dragon's Lair for the NES?   It's just damn near impossible!   It was a great idea (To have a Dragon's Lair themed side scroller) so poorly executed that I wished I never bought it.  Then again I got too frustrated to try it out for very long...

[DavidD]

The main problem with Kid Icarus is that the first level is very, VERY difficult, and an awful introduction to the game.  Once you level up a bit and get past the first stage, the rest of the game is much more playable.

[Mikebloke]

13 hours ago, Rhomaios said:

These sort of lists are always going to highlight the most difficult of the popular games, otherwise it would be made up of a bunch of broken crap. I always treat these as "15 very difficult yet popular games," and a couple are questionable. In fact, it's questionable whether the author (Edit: in general, not singling out this person) actually played many or any of the games in question.

Yes I happened to then cross another article for another system (think it was ps2 games) from the same author, seems to be a nostalgia / popular hit piece, wasn't particularly impressed by that one either. 

[Tanooki]

9 hours ago, DavidD said:

The main problem with Kid Icarus is that the first level is very, VERY difficult, and an awful introduction to the game.  Once you level up a bit and get past the first stage, the rest of the game is much more playable.

Really?  I never found it nastier than the rest, other than the smaller life bar, but that dickish eggplant magic was just overkill having no heals other than being a walking punching bag back to the nurse.  It took it too far doing that and even Nintendo knew it as they time lapsed it on GB for the direct sequel.

[DavidD]

2 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Really?  I never found it nastier than the rest, other than the smaller life bar, but that dickish eggplant magic was just overkill having no heals other than being a walking punching bag back to the nurse.  It took it too far doing that and even Nintendo knew it as they time lapsed it on GB for the direct sequel.

It might be a combination of it being the introduction to the game, forced vertical scrolling, and a tiny amount of life -- once I'm past the first level, the rest of the game seems far more evenly balanced.  The first level starts you off with very little health and lots of ways to die.

[+jgkspsx]

I didn’t think Kid Icarus was too bad past the first level either. I finished that without too much trouble.

[Tanooki]

Where I am with it, the game progressively but in a fair way gets harder in the vertical stages.  The dungeons are mostly not worse, the bosses are a challenge but a pattern so not disgusting or unfair.  But, the eggplant wizard alone makes me take very VERY long breaks before making real attempts at playing the game and not just giving in and using the 8uuuuuuuuuu code to just do the last stage.  The amount of times I stopped playing that game for months or more at a time back int he day before finally finishing it, legit, just once, was that one prick.  They should have had antidote, any life pool, or better yet as I said, a time limit, like 30-60sec being cursed.  But having it permanent without a nurse and if I recall taking extra damage being a squishy veggy was just crap.  It made a challenging but fair game, painfully aggravating and demoralizing to continue.

[electricmastro]

Ghosts 'n Goblins

Dragon's Lair

Silver Surfer

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Battletoads

Ninja Gaiden

Back to the Future II & III

Die Hard

Deadly Towers

Spelunker

Mission: Impossible

Bill & Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure

Bram Stoker's Dracula

Ghostbusters

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

[mbd39]

Adventure Island is harder than most of the entries on the list. See also Star Force, Qbert, Arkanoid, etc.

 

Another list where it's actually "hardest games that are well known/popular or had been covered by AVGN."

[Joe C.]

On 7/24/2021 at 9:48 PM, electricmastro said:

Back to the Future II & III

 

So did you beat the original? One day I made myself sit down until I finally beat that damn game. 

[Cobra Kai]

Most NES games are hard as nails guys, c'mon. We grew up with that difficulty, we have a different outlook. When I try to play some of that stuff now, I'm like how the hell did I make it through this? 

[+GoldLeader]

15 minutes ago, Cobra Kai said:

Most NES games are hard as nails guys, c'mon. We grew up with that difficulty, we have a different outlook. When I try to play some of that stuff now, I'm like how the hell did I make it through this? 

 

Now?   I was like that then!   ?

[+jeremiahjt]

On 7/28/2021 at 11:08 PM, Joe C. said:

So did you beat the original? One day I made myself sit down until I finally beat that damn game. 

My step-brother had the original when we were kids and I played it quite a bit. I could never get very far though. It is one of those games I need to finally beat.

[electricmastro]

On 7/31/2021 at 3:39 PM, Cobra Kai said:

Most NES games are hard as nails guys, c'mon. We grew up with that difficulty, we have a different outlook. When I try to play some of that stuff now, I'm like how the hell did I make it through this? 

Speaking of which, I might as well mention what are probably the easiest NES games:

 

Taboo: The Sixth Sense

Sesame Street: 123

Fisher-Price: Perfect Fit

Fisher-Price: Firehouse Rescue

Sesame Street: ABC

Fisher-Price: I Can Remember

Sesame Street: Countdown

Color a Dinosaur

Sesame Street: ABC & 123

Sesame Street: Big Bird's Hide & Speak

Mickey's Safari in Letterland

Donkey Kong Jr. Math

Mickey's Adventure in Numberland

Tiny Toon Adventures: Cartoon Workshop

Mario Is Missing!

Videomation

Magic Darts

Hollywood Squares

Rollerblade Racer

Mario's Time Machine