Actual Hard Games for the Hardcore

[NeonSpider]

What are some games that are legitimately hard? Not pseudo-hard (commonly thought to be "hard" but in actuality aren't). Preferably oldschool games but list any you like. Only requirement is they actually be legitimately hard to even the best of pros.

Examples of pseudo-hard games. (These easy games are frequently thought to be hard by less experienced gamers who haven't tasted true difficulty yet). Contra, Super-C, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Super Punch-Out!!, Marble Madness, Mega Man, Mega Man 2, Mega Man 3, Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels, Donkey Kong Country, etc...

Examples of overrated hard games. (These games are hard but are very far from the hardest games out there but are frequently incorrectly cited as "hardest games of all time". Games with respectable difficulties). Battletoads, Castlevania, Zelda II: The Adventures of Link, Legend of Zelda, Legendary Wings, etc...

Examples of truly hard games. (These are games that can kick the butts of even the best of the best even for people who've beaten them before and generally can beat pretty hard games. Less than the hardest of hardcore gamers need not apply). Abadox, Snake Rattle 'n Roll, Adventure Island, Air Fortress, Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones, Star Tropics, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Format can be like that, where you can list pseudo-hard, overrated hard, and truly hard if you like.

[DM692]

I'm fairly certain this is it.

[Painbringer]

Doom (Nightmare mode)
Diablo II (Hardcore)
Minecraft (Hardcore)
Flappy Bird

[MrApophis]

Fallout 1&2 on max difficulty. As for 3&NV, add some realism mods for food/water/sleep, as well as real injuries, and realistic bullet damage. For extra points, play the game while high, and NO quicksaving. You only get to save after sleeping to find a bed. Limited to 80 pounds of equipment. NO fast travel

[Viper]

Ghosts 'n Goblins

[ClockworkCopper]

The original Devil May Cry 3 on Dante Must Die is a brutal game.

[Blaze611]

Dark Souls or Demon Souls.

I do enjoy the learning curve.

[sweet21]

Wow your idea of hard games is very difficult to understand. Im not sure why star tropics is "true hard" while Contra is "fake hard." Or lost levels overrated hard. I have no idea if what I suggest is "true hard" or not. Personally im not sure I care.

I wanna be the guy
Vectorman 2
Demon souls
1001 spikes
Spelunky
binding of isaac
Super meat boy

[Viper]

At 9/26/14 01:54 PM, sweet21 wrote: I wanna be the guy

Oh god I forgot about that game. It's damn near impossible.
I seriously played it for over an hour and couldn't get past the first screen......

[elitegamer11]

starcraft 2 brutal is like,inpossible unless your a pro pro pro gamer

[NeonSpider]

At 9/26/14 01:54 PM, sweet21 wrote: Wow your idea of hard games is very difficult to understand. Im not sure why star tropics is "true hard" while Contra is "fake hard." Or lost levels overrated hard. I have no idea if what I suggest is "true hard" or not. Personally im not sure I care.

I wanna be the guy
Vectorman 2
Demon souls
1001 spikes
Spelunky
binding of isaac
Super meat boy

First off, have you beaten those games? Because I have. You really can't give a good difficulty estimation if you've not played through the entire game because while earlier levels may be easy, the later levels may more than make up for it, or in some cases what at first seems like a hard game really isn't, but it's more that you just need to get used to it.

Why do I consider Contra pseudo-hard? Because I can consistently get through the entire game on a single life, easily. Somehow if I can get through an entire game without taking any damage and without even really having to try, I just can't take that game seriously as a "hard" game. Do you want to restrict me to just the default weapon? I can still do it on just a single life.

Lost Levels is overrated simply because, while a bit difficult, it's nowhere near as difficult as people claim it to be. I can consistently beat it as either Mario or Luigi. If it was truly difficult then even I should have a hard time beating it, and I don't.

Why do I consider Star Tropics to be actually worthy of the difficulty title? First off, have you beaten that game yet? Because if not then step aside. If you have then you should know the difficulty spike at the end of that game is absolutely ridiculous. The entire early part of the game is extremely easy but to actually get through the very last part of the game and those final bosses is indeed hell mode.

So while I can easily and consistently get through Contra on a single life, I can only sometimes beat Star Tropics. I cannot consistently beat that game. So it earns the title of a truly hard game.

So truly hard games are those which are even hard to people who are actually good at those games. Not just games which are hard to less experienced gamers or to semi-experienced gamers.

[Absurd-Ditties]

God Hand, mate.

[Sheizenhammer]

At 9/25/14 08:43 PM, NeonSpider wrote: Stereotypical gaming elitism.

Some of the things on that 'truly hard' list aren't actually that hard, in the opinions of quite a lot of people. The main reason being, difficulty is not a simple linear scale. Different types of challenges will be dealt with by gamers in different ways, and inevitably some will fare better than others as a result. Exactly which games will be more of a challenge for you is not going to have much of a correlation to a list of games that will prove hard for other people.

It's better to do your own research here. Especially if you're going to play the "if you haven't finished it, don't talk to me" card.

TL;DR: Go outside.

[NeonSpider]

If you want a truly hard game that has a good learning curve, that would be Blast Corps for Nintendo 64. It starts out extremely easy and you've more than enough training to get you going. It gradually becomes more and more difficult until, at the very end, only the very best of the best gamers can attain full completion (all platinums) on that game. You actually have to first earn the ability to earn platinums (instead of just gold) before you can go about that ultimate test as well. So many times that game tricks you into thinking you've "beaten it" too, just to add on more tasks.

If anyone disagrees with my rankings, that's fine. So what are some games you think are commonly thought to be difficult but they're actually easy? What are some games you think are overrated but still hard? What are some games you think are worthy of only the very best gamers?

To give some indication of my skill that's easily verified, since some of you are listing I wanna be the guy type games, check my medals on these games (I have all medals on all of these)

• 

  I wanna be the flash game

  by Lochie

  Think you know flash games? Well think again..

  Game

  406,345 Views

  (Ages 13+)

• 

  IWBTG - Pokieman land

  by solleader

  sequel of IWBTG - Prologue. This is an hard 2D platform game.

  Game

  25,800 Views

  (Everyone)

• 

  IWBTG - prologue

  by solleader

  This is an hard-hilarious platform 2d game

  Game

  18,464 Views

  (Everyone)

One of the hardest games on Newgrounds though I think is this one

• 

  Cathode Raybots

  by TomFulp

  Fight the robots or build the robots that fight the humans!

  Game

  2,066,456 Views

  (Ages 13+)

Earn every medal in that game and you definitely earn my respect as a gamer and I bow to your prowess.

[lofi69]

Super Mario World, DKC 1 & 2. Those are my all time favorite games. You actually need to be a REAL gamer to get down on those games. Not a "I bought Turtle Beaches N bought all the weapon skins N I'm a gamer now". But an OG gamer. Real gamers know what I'm talking about. The kind of gamer who is jus so skilled at it its second nature. You know the exact right moments to fly with your cape, or do your cartwheel. I respect true gamers. I've seen so-called pro gamer dudes who play COD like 24/7 play like a 3 yr old on DKC 2, lost all respect.

[darkjam]

Super Meat Boy
Ninja Gaiden 2
Ninjar Gaiden 3
Battletoads
I Wanna Be The Guy
Halo with skulls on Legendary difficulty

[Celshaded]

Persona 3 if you're into rpg's

[TheMajormel]

At 9/28/14 07:55 PM, Celshaded wrote: Persona 3 if you're into rpg's

Game is not that hard unless you are talking about "The answer" or that ridiculous Elizabeth boss fight.

Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne is crazy difficult.

[Kwing]

Monster Hunter games are usually pretty brutal if you stick to single player.

There's also an incredibly obscure game called Mercury Meltdown which happens to be borderline impossible. The vast majority of levels are reasonable, but there are a couple that are just insane. For many of the levels that are normally beatable, completing the level with 100% mercury or within par time are just brutal.

At 9/26/14 01:54 PM, sweet21 wrote: Wow your idea of hard games is very difficult to understand. Im not sure why star tropics is "true hard" while Contra is "fake hard." Or lost levels overrated hard. I have no idea if what I suggest is "true hard" or not. Personally im not sure I care.

binding of isaac

The game is mostly luck. I started playing as Magdalene (I know, I'm a pussy) and beat Satan and Isaac on my first try.

[Sense-Offender]

Watch out guys, I'm a HARDCORE GAMER!

[Gobblemeister]

At 9/26/14 04:41 PM, TheMaster wrote: God Hand, mate.

Word.

SMT: Nocturne is tough too but in a good way. Difficulty in RPGs is tough because ideally you want to have it so that the player is able to be consistently challenged without having to grind or skip battles and for me Nocturne did that really well. There are a handful of really tough fights but virtually every boss and even random encounters is dangerous.

A lot of games are just tough because of shitty mechanics or they just severely gimp the player which isn't as much of a challenge as it is a chore. I think the most fun I've ever had playing a game for the challenge was doing the Boss Extreme run for MGS4. It really let me use all of the various tools and tricks the game has, and it's packed with them.

Ideally a game that is appropriately challenging makes the player utilize all the mechanics of the game to succeed.

[NeonSpider]

At 9/29/14 07:44 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: Watch out guys, I'm a HARDCORE GAMER!

Name some games you've beaten. There's nothing wrong with wanting to know about some of the hardest games around. Some of us like a challenge. Maybe this just isn't the thread for you if you don't.

[xXSp1cyN1njaXx]

shinobi 3 on expert difficulty
doom on nightmare
mortal kombat 2 on easy
kid chameleon
halo on legendary
fallout on very hard and realism mode
silver surfer

[Mismo]

Odin Sphere can be ridiculous at some points.

[Ronald-McDonald-LoL]

Descent is a challenge for any gamer. In addition, Killing Floor can be pretty difficult too.

[NeonSpider]

At 9/30/14 02:47 PM, Ronald-McDonald-LoL wrote: Descent is a challenge for any gamer. In addition, Killing Floor can be pretty difficult too.

Ooh I love Descent! Unfortunately I can't seem to get it to play well on any modern-ish computer. It's a DOS game and you can play it under DOSBox, but I can't figure out how to make the game timing right. Either everything goes way too fast or it's way too laggy and I can't seem to get it to play like it should.

It's basically Air Fortress in 3D. Huge maze-like stages where you go in, blow the core, then find the way out before it explodes with you inside.

[Ronald-McDonald-LoL]

At 9/30/14 03:21 PM, NeonSpider wrote:

At 9/30/14 02:47 PM, Ronald-McDonald-LoL wrote: Descent is a challenge for any gamer. In addition, Killing Floor can be pretty difficult too.

Ooh I love Descent! Unfortunately I can't seem to get it to play well on any modern-ish computer. It's a DOS game and you can play it under DOSBox, but I can't figure out how to make the game timing right. Either everything goes way too fast or it's way too laggy and I can't seem to get it to play like it should.

For the love of god, check out the Rebirth source port. It allows you to play the game on modern systems while retaining the same gameplay, and it adds a few features. You can even use it for multiplayer.

[NeonSpider]

At 10/1/14 12:57 AM, Ronald-McDonald-LoL wrote: For the love of god, check out the Rebirth source port. It allows you to play the game on modern systems while retaining the same gameplay, and it adds a few features. You can even use it for multiplayer.

I'll have to look into it. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

[Splats]

At 9/28/14 09:22 PM, TheMajormel wrote:

At 9/28/14 07:55 PM, Celshaded wrote: Persona 3 if you're into rpg's

Game is not that hard unless you are talking about "The answer" or that ridiculous Elizabeth boss fight.

Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne is crazy difficult.

Don't listen to him. Persona 3 is damn tough on hardest difficulty.

[RayS10]

how about super smash bros. brawl. i could not stand falling.