Hard, but fair... what is the hardest game you have played.

[ThePurpleStuff]

I may be half asleep and forgetting a game but I'm gonna go with Super Mario Sunshine, the levels where you don't have FLUDD, like "Pachinko Pain" and the one I call "'holy shit, I'm surrounded by death water' lily pad ride for red coins." They kicked my ass so much and I always hated when I had to go play them. There are a lot of main world levels like in Pianta village and its drenched in lava, that level, as a kid I had no idea what to do and that was quite hard.

I tend to avoid hard games since I don't like taking risks for the most part, haha.

 

[bulbasaur765]

MegaMan Zero 4 for GBA. Requires expert hand-eye coordination and attack pattern memorization

 

[Straz]

N. It's a free platformer made in flash, for those who don't know, and it's difficult enough to test one's sanity. You have no attacks, everything kills you in one hit, and you have a time limit. Just the other day I succeeded in beating an entire set of levels, one of the greatest achievements in my gaming life.

I actually entered this thread to say as much.
N, or ngame, as it is referred to has to be one of the most brutal games out there.
And it's free.
I personally have beaten every episode up to 58.
Due to me having installed nreality, that leaves only one hundred and forty two episodes (give or take) left for me.
...

 

[bulbasaur765]

MegaMan Zero 4 for GBA. Requires expert hand-eye coordination and attack pattern memorization.

 

[Yureina]

I don't remember the last time I played a game I couldn't beat on the first day/s I played it, except for Dragon Age which I just stopped playing right before I got to the final boss. I do know that Call of Duty on Veteran has made me rage more than once, but I still managed to beat that after 70 billion attempts.

Games just are not that hard anymore, or I just haven't been playing the hard ones.

 

[Yureina]

Sorry, double-post.

 

[Signa]

Jak 2. The game actually lost reviewer points on a few websites for being too hard. It really wasn't that bad as far as "hard games" goes, but it was one of the most difficult and rewarding games I've beaten. It played fair too, so there wasn't much blame to put on anyone other than myself. Thankfully the death penalty was low, so it still encouraged you to keep playing.

 

[Eventidal]

The final world of Bomberman 64 is oddly satisfying. It's the only part of the game where they expect you to know how to bombjump on normal difficulty (unless you're going for all custom pieces) and it's hard as hell sometimes. But damn it's fun.

I have to say I agree with this one.
Bomberman 64 actually has my vote for best N64 game (ABOVE OoT and the obvious choices) because of its multifaceted difficulty (hard boss fights and hard puzzles/secrets) and really good level design. (memorable levels that, at their core, are simple enough, but are very nonlinear in their design and offer metric tons of extra places to explore and secrets to find)
I never did manage to get the last gold card on the miniboss of the final world, and that's really saying something. I poured more time into that game than probably ANY other N64 game.

 

[P.Tsunami]

It's funny that the OP listed games that are nearly unwinnable by design.

This. If we include the criteria "fair", a -lot- of hard as hell games fall off the charts. Castlevania is nail bitingly hard, but is it fair? No way. You're gonna die so many times because of the stair ascending alone, leaving you almost helpless for Goddamn Bats to finish you off. Whereas you usually fall into a conveniently placed pool of water. I Wanna Be The Guy is the most unfair game I've ever played; the game constantly tries to outright trick you, and the only way to beat that game is by constant trial, error and memorization.

Finding a game that is amazingly hard but also fair is quite a challenge, IMO. Most, if not all, game developers resort to fake difficulty here and there.

 

[JWW]

Dwarf Fortress Adventure Mode.

Holy. Shit.

People have made this game their *****, but geez it makes you work for it.

 

[Dexiro]

Monster Hunter is really hard, it seems unfair at times but people have shown me it's mostly all down to skill and preparation.

N is a really fun difficult game too
The difficulty is insane, and so is the amount of levels!

Their must be like 2000 unique "official" levels spread across all versions. The PC version alone has about 500.

The other versions like PSP and Xbox aren't as hard but not by much. I think i managed about 3/4 of the PSP version, but i've only ever managed ep 1-10 on PC.

 

[P.Tsunami]

Demon's Souls is pretty fair. It's hard as fuck but it's a game where once you get the hang of it and get the skills and actually attempt to get good at it you won't have too much of a problem.

Well, I'm sure they exist. They're just really rare.

 

[Hollywood Knights]

The Commandos series was especially challenging. The first one, Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines, is still probably the hardest 'fair' game I've played.

 

[Monstrion]

Men of War, without doubt. I can't beat the second Russian level, or even get more than half way through the first German level.

Try Men of War Red Tide ;o

I have finished all the original campaigns on normal and it is really one of the few games I dont have the balls to play on hard.

But really, insert any truly hardcore RTS. Those are the hardest games, not because you will die everytime something touches you, nor because you failed to press one button in some insane jumping passage. Its because you have to know the game itself, know your units and those of your enemies. Have some understanding of strategy and tactics.

Another game that comes to my mind is Hearts of Iron II, especially scenario where you control Germany while the allies already made their landings in Normandy, eastern front lies in ruins and you have shortage of everything. Winning that is a real feat.

 

[Mr. Mike]

Demon's Souls. You can die from any enemy easily, and it will always be your fault. You can beat everything in the game at level 1.

Yeah. But you have to admit, getting the weapon Blind was a little too hard.

That's the one BP Selen Vinland drops right? What's hard about that? Go a little bit further ahead, near that island with the slugs, clear it, lure Selen there and then you can fight and roll to your heart's content.

 

[scrambledeggs]

N. It's a free platformer made in flash, for those who don't know, and it's difficult enough to test one's sanity. You have no attacks, everything kills you in one hit, and you have a time limit. Just the other day I succeeded in beating an entire set of levels, one of the greatest achievements in my gaming life.

I've beaten every level