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

[xbeaker]

Another post got me thinking of this. What is the hardest game you know. The game has to be hard, but it has to be fair, and winable. Some examples - I wanna be the guy, Kid Ikirus, Deamons' Souls, Ghosts n' Goblins. These are all games of punishing difficulty, but when I played them (Demons' Souls aside, I have not played that yet), and I died I always felt it was on me. The game played fair, I made a mistake, and death followed.

Don't give me games that go on forever and jsut go up in difficulty, or games that can't be beaten due to some error, or are unbeatable by design.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Kid Icarus wasn't that hard.

Contra, on the other hand...

 

[sketch_zeppelin]

Ikaruga. It's the most brutal vertical shooter i've every played

 

[rockingnic]

I don't know why but Mario games, all you do is jump...

 

[Omikron009]

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.

 

[Logic 0]

Rondo of blood dracula's third form was a pain it took me 16 tries but when I did it I was so glad.

 

[Icehearted]

Hard but fair?
I've played way too many to know the hardest, but in the last few years I've got to say Hexic HD (grand pearl pooh-bah, I think it's called) and Mirror's Edge (speed runs). I know these are more achievement oriented, but they were part of the game, and they were all about pure skill, patience, and absurd amounts of dedication.

I'd almost be willing to add Galaga Legions, but to be honest some of the game seems really cheap and unfair :/

 

[Marter]

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.

 

[Doctor VonSexMachine]

Osmos. I will beat it one day. *shakes fist*

 

[Daedalus1942]

Another post got me thinking of this. What is the hardest game you know. The game has to be hard, but it has to be fair, and winable. Some examples - I wanna be the guy, Kid Ikirus, Deamons' Souls, Ghosts n' Goblins. These are all games of punishing difficulty, but when I played them (Demons' Souls aside, I have not played that yet), and I died I always felt it was on me. The game played fair, I made a mistake, and death followed.

Don't give me games that go on forever and jsut go up in difficulty, or games that can't be beaten due to some error, or are unbeatable by design.

Battletoads. Beat it as a kid with my friend Adrian. We are no longer friends and I can't beat it anymore.

 

[SimuLord]

Hardest game I personally beat was probably either Contra or the first Castlevania. In the former case, did so without losing a life, then repeated the feat in co-op with my brother in front of about 12 of our friends.

 

[CriticalGriffin]

Contra 4, easily(har har har). Also, Zelda II and Castlevania I.

 

[Lullabye]

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.
Also, DMC 3 was sufficiently challenging.
Ninja Gaiden on the Hardest mode was actually quite a challenge. But in a good fun way.
Bayonetta was also really fun to go through on the harder modes.

 

[Serenegoose]

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.

 

[Hed_Kansa]

I find this threads lack of Megaman 9 disturbing

 

[Lord Beautiful]

The Xbox's Ninja Gaiden fits this description nicely.

 

[ultrachicken]

Oldschool Mario games
oldschool Sonic games

 

[Twilight_guy]

Old NES games. Not only because there hard, due sometimes to low tech of the time, but also because I find them somewhat boring and lose interest. If I keep at it I could probably overcome anything eventually but many old NES games just seem to not be worth it. Also, thank you God for the save system; It is truly a wonder of the world!