Games that are harder than Dark Souls

[RavingSturm]

Ultimaagan
Japanese version of metroid - did not have a password or save system if I recall correctly
Wizardry games
TMNT 1 nes
Battletoads

 

[TaintedSaint]

Ninja Gaiden on Nes epic crazy story but damn that game is hard. its my dragon. "Fabled creature I could never slay"

 

[Mahorfeus]

I see a lot of more retro games being mentioned here, and while I agree, I can't help but think that their difficulty comes more from their clunkiness and bad/outdated design. But maybe that is generalizing too much. Either way, it's not particularly relevant - they are still harder.

In which case, hm. I definitely think that Skullmonkeys for the PSX was pretty damned hard, especially the later levels. I have never beaten it, which is a shame. I think my disc cracked.

Most of the old Final Fantasy games, particularly II. Again, maybe it is just bad design, but it is the only FF game I literally ragequit on.

 

[Whitbane]

Try the Ys games on Steam, particularly Oath or Origin. Nightmare difficultly may result in soiled pants or broken monitors.

 

[Buckshaft]

Digimon World 4. Starts difficult, gets a little easier, and then BAM.