Finishing a video game is an achievement. There is nothing like seeing the end credits and the conclusion of the story, you feel accomplished after so much effort and time spent on a title that sometimes becomes impossible to pass.
There are many games that are extremely difficult and end up being an Everest for gamers around the world. Finishing them is a reason for a medal, because they are virtually impossible, staying at the hardest part frustrates a lot, but finishing it is the ultimate reward.
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Let’s revisit those games that gave us headaches because of how complicated they are. The programmers certainly liked to see us suffer.
Ninja Gaiden Black
The Ninja Gaiden saga has always been almost impossible. There is a title for NES called The Ancient Ship of Doom and there was no way to finish it, it was criticised because players ended up almost destroying the controls because there were impassable levels.
This game came out for Xbox, but at first, its creator Tomonobu Itagaki created a more accessible game, but players complained that it was too easy, so he took it as a challenge and made a game that only someone with a lot of skill can pass it. And we mean a lot.
The bosses in each level give you no respite and it becomes impossible to beat the first one. You don’t want to imagine the last one, because the programmers increased the difficulty exponentially. If you managed to finish it, there was a legend that the creator himself would talk to you to congratulate you. That’s how complicated it was.
Dark Souls
Hidataka Miyazaki exaggerated a lot with the difficulty of this game. It’s unpredictable, it has no timing and that makes the player unprepared for anything. You can be an expert and lose in the first few levels. There is no way to pass it.
Moreover, there are many players who have criticised the creator too much, because they consider the game impossible. They claim that the game is no longer fun, and that making it so difficult takes all the excitement out of it, because the ultimate goal, which is to finish it, is a pipe dream.
There is no balance, everything is difficult. All three games have a very slow pace, and that frustrates a lot. Also, the bosses are huge and they have a range advantage over you, you have to get very close and that’s obviously suicide.
As complicated as it is, the rewards they give are huge. That’s what makes it attractive, because, although it’s not balanced in terms of difficulty, it does recognise the player and his effort.
Contra
It’s a classic, and we give you a curious fact on the cover. It was planned to cast Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone in their roles as Rambo and “Dutch” Shaefer, but neither wanted to, so a similar image was used which neither player liked and in fact they sued, but didn’t win.
The game itself is impossible. You only have three lives and you face a wave of enemies that literally make it a rain of bullets. It was meant for arcade machines, and the idea is that you die early to get more coins in, obviously, this doesn’t translate into a home system that frustrated the hell out of players who sat for hours without being able to advance a level.
The bosses became tricky because they had many areas where you had to hit them, and you only had one gun and they would fire a barrage of cannons and infinite ammunition at you. Moving and shooting were possible, but sometimes it was unavoidable to take damage that you obviously couldn’t recover in battle.
Nowadays, it’s still tricky, but many gamers engage in speed runs that are practically mesmerising.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
This game was not only complicated, but it was also very long. It had lots and lots of levels, with sublevels that had tons of enemies, there were times when those sublevels were unnecessary, and there was only pizza for your turtles’ energy. But getting in there was a lot of battles because there were so many obstacles you had to face, for nothing.
Worst of all, if you eliminated enemies in an area, and for whatever reason, you went back, and sometimes you had to, they would regenerate, all for nothing. Then there was the infamous water level that was the stuff of nightmares. The controls were complex, there was no room, you had a time limit and your turtle would drown, just thinking about it gave me anxiety.
It got very low ratings because no one could stand the game, very few people finished it. Konami was criticized a lot because nobody reached the last level, which to top it off was worse than the water level that everyone hated.
Battletoads
The NES Classic, Battletoads, is one of the most difficult games, especially because of a level that people consider one of the worst in the history of video games. Nowadays, there are videos of people challenging each other to pass it blindfolded, but it doesn’t take away from the difficulty of the level that saw so many controllers thrown against the wall.
The game was complicated but passable, you got to the famous motorbike level with a certain level of frustration. Two minutes of pure suffering. It starts off slow but the speed and obstacles start to get too difficult and it obviously becomes impossible.
The worst thing about it is that this level was only halfway through the game. There was still a long way to go before victory, because the game was getting more and more difficult. Finishing Battletoads was often a reason to get a medal or cry for joy.
What’s more, that level is the reason for competitions and record-breaking that give out good money, so if you can stand the frustration you can enter one of these competitions.
Obviously, there are many games with incredible difficulties, but these take the cake. What’s more, they should give international awards and recognition just for finishing them. Which of these did you manage to play?