Gaming is all about competition.
Against opponents, against your own self and in some cases, against the videogame you're playing.
When they first emerged as a means of entertainment, videogames were created to be challenging enough
so that they would keep players hyped for a long time.
And even though nowadays the difficulty has been toned down a notch, you can still find some games
that aim to test your skills.
Notorious for being hellishly hard, here are ten of the most difficult games ever made.
Faster Than Light is a game that requires your full dedication.
This top-down roguelike was inspired by the difficulty levels found in Super Meat Boy,
the developers' goal being to create a videogame that is hard enough to play in order to be challenging,
but it doesn't get to the point where it becomes frustrating.
Having to constantly check out the oxygen levels of your crew, fight against enemies
and keep a close eye on the fuel consumption of the ship
are some of the demanding tasks that you need to be aware of.
Both the original Ninja Gaiden 8-bit version and the newer 3D one offer their fair share of difficult moments
including all of the usual challenges - teeth grinding platforming, endless waves of enemies
and frustratingly tough bosses. This game series has always been known for its demanding gameplay,
many gamers feeling that they were facing an impossible-to-beat videogame
especially created to make them feel like they're at their wits' end.
Super Meat Boy is an indie title that features a deliberately difficult gameplay,
being inspired by harder old-school titles. Having only two buttons for jumping and sprinting,
this challenging videogame punishes its players for every little mistake,
getting to truly master its controls becoming an impossible task for many.
Once you've completed the normal levels, that is if you've managed not to break your controller first,
some other extra challenging stages will be happily awaiting you.
With this title, Nintendo didn't shy away from showing the American audience how hard a platformer could be
if the developers really wanted to show off their might.
Super Mario Brothers: The Lost Levels requires you to focus until your brain catches fire
while at the same time, remaining cool enough to be able to anticipate all of the jumps
you have to make to pass over the obstacles.
Known as the most difficult Mario game ever created, The Lost Levels really pushes the limits.
Back when videogames used to make their players go through fire and water
in order to advance to the next level, Contra was an exemplary title that emphasized this trend.
Precision was a key element that had to be mastered if you wanted to even begin to stand a chance
at beating all of the hordes of enemies that were coming at you.
Having way more health than your character,
the opponents were practically indestructible every time you were clashing in a battle.
A pastiche of other popular classic titles, I Wanna Be The Guy: The Movie: The Game
is a panoply of impossible platformers, bosses and challenges. With levels
that constantly change, inspired by behemoth gaming titles such as Mega Man or Super Mario,
this fan-made project is free to play for anyone who wants to enjoy some brain-smashing activity
that will be, of course, followed by the inevitable monitor-smashing activity, while shouting NOT FAIR!!!
When it was first released in America, Devil May Cry 3 offered a normal mode that was, in fact, the hard mode,
imported from the Japanese release of the game. Thus the American gamers were faced with no other choice
than to play it on the hardest way possible. Of course, this situation
popularized the game's difficulty, gaining quite a fearsome reputation.
But it was later toned down in the re-release that included a more normal, yet still challenging, gameplay.
With levels that make you use moving snakes as jumping platforms,
Battletoads is known in the gaming world as one terrifyingly hard-to-beat title.
Since 1991, when the first game from the franchise was released, this amalgam of frustrating moments
and hardcore gameplay received the honorary title of one of the hardest videogames ever created.
Battletoads is no walk in the park,
and keeps you constantly on the edge no matter how skilled you think you are.
Ghosts 'N Goblins is not only devilishly hard,
but it also tricks the players in the most shameless way imaginable.
After you've sweated blood to finish ALL the levels with a character
that has little to no protection against the enemies, you find out that the whole scenario was a trick!
There is no princess to save, and you have to start the game from the beginning AGAIN.
The whole game.
All in all, we have to admit that back in 1985, they really knew how to torture gamers.
Although the game is called Ghosts 'N Goblins, players were actually meeting their first ever troll.
The absolute king of insanely hard to beat videogames, the Dark Souls franchise is undoubtedly
the most popular series in terms of gameplay difficulty. Especially the third installment that created countless
victims amongst naive gamers who thought that they had mastered the combat
by finishing the previous games ha ha ha!
Considered a worthy conclusion to the entire series, Dark Souls 3 makes you grind your teeth in despair
each and every second of the gameplay
the challenging boss fights being some of the most soliciting in gaming history.
This was our list exploring some of the most difficult games that give you the worst headaches,
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