Coffee Talk #314: What’s the Hardest Game You’ve Played?

Imagine a verbal entertainer, some game designers, and some marketing guys drunkenly talking about games during GDC 2011. The topic of the most difficult game of all time comes up. Some guys bring up…

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Imagine a verbal entertainer, some game designers, and some marketing guys drunkenly talking about games during GDC 2011. The topic of the most difficult game of all time comes up. Some guys bring up Ninja Gaiden, others mention Battletoads, and a few swear that nothing tops Mega Man 9.

Pretend you were hanging out in the group. What was the most difficult game you’ve every played? Did you enjoy the brutal difficulty? Or was it just pissing you off to the point that you had to win? Any of you ever hurt your hand because of a difficult videogame?

Author: RPadTV

https://rpad.tv

58 thoughts on “Coffee Talk #314: What’s the Hardest Game You’ve Played?”

  1. I have to go with some that are on the list. Ninja Gaiden (any gen) and Battletoads. I'd include Fester's Quest but I feel that would be unfair since I beat it using an emulator.

    Honorable mentions: Xenosaga (the first one) and Daggerfall. Daggerfall was so damn but, but brutally hard. I'm not even sure I was doing the main storyline or not.

  2. I guess it was burned from memory. Ikaruga is the hardest damn thing I've ever played and I love that genre. It has 3 difficulties: off, hard, and makes grown men cry. If the game wasn't hard enough it gives you the option of using 2 controllers to control each ship. In this mode you simply evade and absorb instead of fighting back.

    F that game.

    I still play it occasionally.

    1. I love Treasure games. Ikaruga was probably the company's most famous release. There's supposed to be a new version of Radiant Silvergun coming to Xbox Live this year.

  3. O.o

    Call me masochist but I'll probably buy it. It will continue the trend of me buying overly difficult games.

    Demon Souls.

    1. demons souls isnt that hard if you start off as royalty class

      ninja gaiden for the NES? i beat those games pretty easily….

      i would go Top gun for the NES, that damn game was impossible without an emulator

      1. I have never to this day landed the plane on the aircraft carrier. I just couldn't get it…

      2. Believe it or not, I actually got very far in Top Gun for the original NES. I discovered a trick to pass the levels fairly easily and I even figured out how to land on the aircraft carrier. It was incredibly frustrating, but since it was the only game at my aunt's house while I waited five hours for my mom to pick me up every weekday, I kind of had a lot of time to kill and conduct trail-and-error tests.

        The hardest NES game for me was Battletoads and CastleQuest. But then again, I played a lot of crappy NES games when I was a kid that I could never beat. ET for Atari, on the other hand, I beat after a few months.

        -M

  4. Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox and TMNT on NES stand out in my mind as two of the hardest games I have every played. I would put Bayonetta in there but I haven't unlocked the hard difficulty yet. I have never died so much (on normal difficulty) in a game other than the two I mentioned previously.

    1. The only way you are going to beat Bayonetta on hard without ripping out your walls in anger and frustration is to get the climax bracelet and keep that equipped the whole time. It makes things much more doable.

      -M

  7. Altered Beast. I loved it but never got very far.

    TMNT. I didn't remember it being so tough and I know I have beaten it several times, but I played it on a friends Wii and lost all for guys by the second sewer.

    ALL of the Mega Man games. Again used to be excellent at them and eventually beat the ones I owned. I played the demo for the newest one and it KICKED MY BUTT.

    Fester's Quest has to go in there because I never could figure out what to do.

    Hydlide was a complete mystery to me as to how to play but I owned it.

    Platoon – Stupid freaking jungle maze

  8. More disruption! After my shipping debacle, I have to do a ridiculous errand for a freelance gig. I'm already stressed from being sick and the site being down on Monday. Today is just breaking me and my schedule down. It's a shame since it's beautiful outside.

    1. Hey I bought several R/C Helicopters via your Amazon links last night. Hope I did it right.

      1. I bought the Capcom classic collection just for that game. I had it on my NES and I used to be awesome at it.

      2. wait….. Gunsmoke is in the Capcom Classic Collection!!!!!! i need to find this game!

      3. after further investigation i answered my own statement and i will be buying these for the xbox, since the ps3 isn't backwards compatible. thank you very much slicky!

  10. Lol I buy everything except video games from the links here. Lamps, foamer nozzle, garden gnomes, etc. I keep thinking one day Ray will have an article about something weird depending on Amazon purchases.

    Sadly I don't use it for supplements anymore. Bodybuilding.com competes with Amazon too well in all categories.

    1. @SG

      We should have a contest to see who can buy the oddest thing that makes Ray actually WTF and comment on it.

  11. @slicky
    Hmm interesting. If you buy a flashlight I'll declare you victor by default though lol

  12. The E should be there. Damn auto correct.

    In other news that AppleTV MLB and NBA pass sounds like a good deal. Unless you live in a service area where your zipcode is too close to a cable company who doesn't service your area and has exclusive TV rights to said team. Ppl wonder why the Hornets have low attendance. News flash: the part of the metro area who can afford tix or season tix can't have access to the games on TV.

    1. I was guessing you meant to put an E. I didn't even know they sold those on there so I checked I have ran into some pretty interesting things now. Example – A FOOT 'toy' for guys that also comes with a realistic doll for only $6.99. "The molded sleeve resembles an ordinary foot, allowing for simple and discreet storage." really?!? How is a foot a disguise for anything?

  13. I have to go with the original Metal Gear for NES or Friday the 13th for NES.

    I never would have beaten either of them if it weren't for Game Genies and emulators.

    1. Really? As long as Honey Nut Cheerios are left alone…the world is safe from me.

  15. I updated my iPad to 4.3 today….I'm not seeing the speed increase that was mentioned in the update. The browser seems just as fast as it was or even slower.

    This is making me reconsider purchasing the new iPad actually. I have read benchmarks that do not put its performance very far ahead if at all in some instances of the original device. If Apple seriously did not increase the memory on the iPad 2 up from 256mb of RAM…that is so fail.

      3. @Ray

        By a few days. I trust them. Send me a link that's updated please. I still think 512 is kind of weak if that's the case. 1gig should be pretty standard for a dual core machine.

      4. The Ars article is dated because full reviews went up yesterday. I read at least five and ignored a few others.

        I agree that 512MB is a little weak, but it's not surprising. Apple doesn't have to play the spec war because it has a huge lead in installed base and software.

        Engadget had the iPad 2 beating the iPad on Geekbench: 721 vs. 442.

        Laptop Mag had it winning GL Benchmark: 852 vs. 164 (million).

  17. Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Burning Earth…probably the hardest game to get 1000G on ever…hardest game to play also. I couldn't last past 2 minutes in that game. Of course I almost actually want to play it again now that I am sort of watching the show now.

    Honestly the Zelda games are usually some of the hardest, and as much as I still like the series I think it has definitely gotten easier as the series has progressed and I don't like that. The original Zelda took a lot of time, as did the Zelda game for game boy. The hardest part of Twilight Princess was a puzzle that took me five minutes to solve, apparently every one of my friends spent hours on the same puzzle.

  18. I heard about Captn Crunch. I love that cereal, even if it does tear up the roof of my mouth lol.

    I'll have to agree with the Ninja Gaiden series. And Demon Souls. Rented it, got mad and sent it back. I should give it another try.

    And I know it can't be that hard, but I'm stuck on the elf deck on Magic: The Gathering on PSN. Too many damn elves!!

  19. @Ray
    Nice. Thanks.

    I think I'll sit this refresh out though. I'm not interested in the cameras. I am reading they are intended for video as opposed to still shots. How does that work?

    1. You can use them for both, but the megapixel rating is super low, like the latest iPod Touch models. The videos are good enough, but stills are kind of laughable. Again, I see this as Apple doing the bare minimum because it doesn't really have competition (yet). It could have added a better for sensor for like $3 more, but it felt like it could get away without it…and that's probably true.

      As for the upgrade from the original iPad, yeah it's questionable. The resolution bump will be tremendous. I'd wait on that.

  20. Why is it that nearly every new device that comes out had bluetooth 2.1 + EDR? Why are they not just putting in Bluetooth 3.0. Its not that I would actually know the difference except I know my phone has 3.0.

    1. Its just that my phone came out many months ago and the new iPad only has 2.1 also, and ll of the new tablets coming out are doing the same, as are most cell phones. I know there is a lack of 3.0 devices but the improvement in speed from 2.1 to 3.0 is sick.

      1. @Slicky

        Yeah there is. I honestly never paid attention to bluetooth on a motherboard until recently when I purchased new gear. It seems that alot of the SB mobos have 3.0 onboard. I'd think that going forward with that gen of chips then 3.0 will be more prevalent in all devices.

        Samsung made a slick device with the Galaxy series no doubt. BTW, are you still using that Dell Streak any? I saw one at BestBuy the other day…I was floored with how massive it is.

      2. I loved the size of my Dell Streak. It was perfect for me. It wasn't too big i ended up returning it because the kept pushing back the update to Froyo and 1.6 barely runs most apps. Foursquare FC'd on each attempt.

        I tried rooting and ROMing it but I bricked the first one within 2 hours of owning it and lied my ass off at BestBuy to get them to take it back.

        If they had updated the phone before my 30 days ran out I would have kept it and loved it I am sure.

  22. @Anyone

    Does anyone use a Dell or Asus IPS panel? What an NEC IPS panel?

    I'm ready to throw my HP LCD out of the window. I get such a headache using it. Not really…it's a loaner…but my iMac never gives me a headache so I think I will stick with IPS tech.

    1. @Smartguy

      I will definitely be checking this out later. I’ll have to get back to you on my thoughts about it. Interesting theory though.

  25. I could never get close to beating a few games:

    The original Mario game.

    Megaman. Just pick one for me.

    Believe it or not, Blazing Angels for Wii.

    FF3 for DS.

    If I had to button mash on every game as much as I did to survive electrocution in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, I think I'd give up on gaming…

    1. @Lunias

      The original mario game was a fun one. The worst was world 8 for me, but it was doable eventually.

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