Unnecessarily hard games

I was thinking about Rayman earlier today, and how infuriating difficult it is. I absolutely love the visuals, the character designs, the music, the level design, the gameplay, etc. But it gets so hard by the time you get to the "music land" word (only the second area iirc) that I tend to lose all of my lives by the second stage or so and turn the game off in frustration. The game just seems way harder than it has to be.

Now, I love a good challenge, and I appreciate when a game takes some time to get through. There's nothing worse than getting a new game and blowing through it in one sitting. But Rayman's difficulty level just seems ridiculous. What are some games you've played that have ended up just frustrating you to the point where you don't want to play them again?

Streets of Rage 3 - Prototypically hard without reason

Actraiser 2. The difficulty level is bumped up way too much compared to the original. You can't even save, you have to use passwords. What a slap to the face. It's still fun though.

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Originally Posted by jerry coeurl

I was thinking about Rayman earlier today, and how infuriating difficult it is. I absolutely love the visuals, the character designs, the music, the level design, the gameplay, etc. But it gets so hard by the time you get to the "music land" word (only the second area iirc) that I tend to lose all of my lives by the second stage or so and turn the game off in frustration. The game just seems way harder than it has to be.

Now, I love a good challenge, and I appreciate when a game takes some time to get through. There's nothing worse than getting a new game and blowing through it in one sitting. But Rayman's difficulty level just seems ridiculous. What are some games you've played that have ended up just frustrating you to the point where you don't want to play them again?

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I love Rayman, but yes, it is extremely difficult. There's a simple trick that gives you ten extra continues though, and it can be used as many times as you want - so basically it gives you unlimited ones! It makes the game much more fair. When you have three or less continues remaining on the game over screen, press up, down, right and left. :mrgreen:
As for another game that's unnecessarily hard... Contra Hard Corps! :furious:

Art of Fighting 2 on neo-Geo.. it pointless to play..even on easy.

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Originally Posted by JDB1983

Streets of Rage 3 - Prototypically hard without reason

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Tedious is the word. I spend more time whooping 3 lowly thug butts than half the bosses in the game.

as with most SEGA console games there is a "trick" to pretty much every situation. a lot of these games arent about playing the game flat out, but about finding the tricks.

yes, very frustrating, and sometimes disappointing.

How about Bram Stoker's Dracula for the Sega CD. I don't know why, but that game kicked my ass for a while.

Batman Returns! Holy hell, that's a difficult game. And Batman and Robin too!

Awesome Possum has the world's hardest bosses, it's probably not even possible to beat them.

I love Wonderboy in Monster World. I wouldn't call it hard at all except for the final boss.
That guy is freaking hard.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi.../41/Somari.png
Bad object placement ruins what is otherwise a half decent clone.

Blind enemy placement is a pain.

The 3D Ninja Gaiden games.

id have to say that the original nes contra was a tad on the rediculous side

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Originally Posted by shinobimusashi

id have to say that the original nes contra was a tad on the rediculous side

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When I was ten or so I don't recall every playing that game without a friend and the thirty life code.

James Pond 3. I tend to give up about four levels in. :p

without either of those youre pretty much dead in the water which really takes away from the legacy of the game which couldve been a top 3 nes title of all time but is commonly ranked around the 7-10 area in most lists i see

Contra - 30 lives made it tolerable, but 3 lives was just about impossible in this one-hit kill game.

Ghosts and Goblins - Same here as Contra, but the weapons sucked and stuff came at you from all directions it seemed. Stuff from the sky was especially a pain-in-the-ass to take down. This game is just too hard for it's own good.

Star Wars Arcade - Fun game, but once you get to the trench the game goes on fucking overkill mode. Lasers from every angle and swarms of TIEs make this game impossible to beat alone, and it's not much easier with a friend.

Virtual On - Seriously, what the fuck is with VR Dorkas in Arcade mode? He's impossible to beat on the Saturn version!

Mega Man 1 - Some of the jumps Capcom makes you do in this game are just outright ridiculous. Electric platforms? Disappearing blocks? Come on! Your timing and jumps have to be so spot on it's just too frustrating to play at times. The only level I've been able to beat is Cutman.

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Originally Posted by Baloo

Contra - 30 lives made it tolerable, but 3 lives was just about impossible in this one-hit kill game.

Ghosts and Goblins - Same here as Contra, but the weapons sucked and stuff came at you from all directions it seemed. Stuff from the sky was especially a pain-in-the-ass to take down. This game is just too hard for it's own good.

Star Wars Arcade - Fun game, but once you get to the trench the game goes on fucking overkill mode. Lasers from every angle and swarms of TIEs make this game impossible to beat alone, and it's not much easier with a friend.

Virtual On - Seriously, what the fuck is with VR Dorkas in Arcade mode? He's impossible to beat on the Saturn version!
Mega Man 1 - Some of the jumps Capcom makes you do in this game are just outright ridiculous. Electric platforms? Disappearing blocks? Come on! Your timing and jumps have to be so spot on it's just too frustrating to play at times. The only level I've been able to beat is Cutman.

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Oh thank god, I thought I was the only one who could barely beat VR Dorkas. With a name like that, you think he would be easier:(

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Originally Posted by Nunzio

Batman Returns! Holy hell, that's a difficult game. And Batman and Robin too!

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You're not kidding!
Those games are far far too difficult for their own good.
Especially the Sega CD version of Batman Returns...and especially the bosses in Batman and Robin.

WTF were they thinking with those bosses?!

IMHO the most pointlessly hard game I ever played with The Empire Strikes Back on the NES.
Without cheating, I could get all the way to beating Boba Fett.
But, after that I just never learned how to play the last two levels without cheating.

It's probably possible, but I think it's really admirable to even get that far without cheating.


TMNT 1 I can beat without cheating, on real hardware too.
So IMHO that game isn't too hard in the end. But it's probably too hard for it's own good, since it made most people hate the game.

I agree with Baloo about Star Wars Arcade, and the Mega Man games.

After I finished Mega Man 1, and 2, I said "Never again."
I never played Mega Man again.

I thought Blades of Vengeance was pretty tough.

Two that I can think of for the NES:

Ghosts and Goblins by Capcom. Never could get past the second level. Ridiculously difficult, to say the least.

Castlevania by Konami. Never got past Frankenstein on that one. Insanely hard.

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Originally Posted by tz101

Two that I can think of for the NES:

Ghosts and Goblins by Capcom. Never could get past the second level. Ridiculously difficult, to say the least.

Castlevania by Konami. Never got past Frankenstein on that one. Insanely hard.

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The farthest I ever got was the 4th level or so. That was pure luck though. Never gotten that far again.

Yea, Castlevania's difficulty prevented me from experiencing Bloodlines, and Super Castlevania until this year.

A shame really, since I would have had both back in the day, if only at least Castlevania 2 had been an easy awesome game.
Castlevania 1, while I love the first level to death, the rest of the game sucks because it's hard.

Super Castlevania, and Bloodlines are actually beatable.
I like that.

I'm glad I've never played Castlevania 3, but Dracula looks rediculously easy on that one, and on Rondo Of Blood...which I haven't played.
I played Dracula X, and I hated it since it went straight back to the NES formula of pain in the ass gaming.


...so I guess Ghosts N' Goblins is way hard?
I only ever had Ghouls N' Ghosts, is that one easy in comparison?
I noticed Super Ghouls N' Ghosts is much harder.
I wonder how Ultimate Ghosts N' Goblins is, alas I have no PSP.

It's not too bad, for a G and G game. It's still pretty hard though. The improved graphics can make it harder, but I enjoyed it. Still traded it in after like a month of owning it though.

I have always found Ghouls'N Ghosts difficult but the other two just made my head hurt. I managed to beat Ghouls'n Ghosts when I was 11. I remember playing Super over and over again only to make it the forth level after a week or so.

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Originally Posted by Nunzio

Batman Returns! Holy hell, that's a difficult game. And Batman and Robin too!

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Holy crap yes! I have never beaten the first racing level (so, the first level period) in the Batman Returns game for Sega CD. Batman & Robin for Genesis is ridiculous! The most aggravating thing about playing with two people is that my weapons never seemed to get very powered up and I pick up the wrong ones inadvertently. But it's even harder by yourself! I've gotten through to the third set of stages once, but that was it. Still, I really enjoy and admire that game.

I think Addams Family Values is really hurt unnecessarily by its difficulty, which is a great shame as the game really is massive and varied as an adventure game and could've been something really special with a proper battery save and some slightly better pointers on where you should be going.

Also, god damn I would've expected people brought up on Mega Drive to be better at video games than you guys, I mean seriously 30 life codes required on NES Contra?!?!!?!

Contra really isn't so hard once you get the hang of it. Usually when I play, I wind up losing one or two lives throughout the whole game. As for the Mega Man games, I've actually gotten so good at the first game that I don't even need to use the select button trick anymore, not even for the Rock Monster.

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Originally Posted by Baloo

Contra - 30 lives made it tolerable, but 3 lives was just about impossible in this one-hit kill game.

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I cannot understand how that game is hard... it was probably the 2nd game i beat 14 years ago... I can beat the game eyes closed with controller under my toes while not getting killed...

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Originally Posted by jesus.arnold

I think Addams Family Values is really hurt unnecessarily by its difficulty, which is a great shame as the game really is massive and varied as an adventure game and could've been something really special with a proper battery save and some slightly better pointers on where you should be going.

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This!!


And my entry for this thread would have to be Eternal Champions.
An amazing looking game with a wonderful fighting engine and diverse and colorful characters,
combined with great music and an excellent story/background for everything.

Only to find out that the CPU cheats and becomes unbeatable about the 3rd character in.

Had this game been as noob friendly as say.. SF2 or MKII then it would have probably been the best fighter on the system.

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Originally Posted by NeoVamp

This!!


And my entry for this thread would have to be Eternal Champions.
An amazing looking game with a wonderful fighting engine and diverse and colorful characters,
combined with great music and an excellent story/background for everything.

Only to find out that the CPU cheats and becomes unbeatable about the 3rd character in.

Had this game been as noob friendly as say.. SF2 or MKII then it would have probably been the best fighter on the system.

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OH HELL YES. I can't even beat the 2nd guy. Seriously. Awesome ideas, but the difficulty is through the roof and out into space.

...I suddenly no longer feel like buying EC for the Sega CD...(I don't own EC at all)

Don't listen to them! It's not as hard as you think!

I've beaten it a couple times. There are some characters that are better than others though, I will say that. If you don't buy EC for Sega CD, you're missing out.

You wouldn't happen to have an extra copy on Sega CD?

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Originally Posted by jesus.arnold

Also, god damn I would've expected people brought up on Mega Drive to be better at video games than you guys, I mean seriously 30 life codes required on NES Contra?!?!!?!

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You expect people who grew up with a Genesis to be good at Contra? That's stupid. I would expect people who grew up with an NES to be good at Contra, considering that that's the only platfrom you can play it on.

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Originally Posted by TmEE

I cannot understand how that game is hard... it was probably the 2nd game i beat 14 years ago... I can beat the game eyes closed with controller under my toes while not getting killed...

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And still, you haven't turned the Genesis into a Guyver Unit. :p


On topic: What makes a game, 'unnecessarily hard'? Artificial difficulty created by cheap & cheating AI with a broken camera system?

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Originally Posted by jerry coeurl

Holy crap yes! I have never beaten the first racing level (so, the first level period) in the Batman Returns game for Sega CD. Batman & Robin for Genesis is ridiculous!

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You know I really enjoy Batman Returns except for the difficulty. As a youngster I enjoyed the Konami version on the SNES as well, because the games have such great atmosphere and imagery (and the Konami version is a joke on the difficulty scale). When I first got to the Atlas boss in the Genesis version I was floored, it was crazy awesome looking! But that is one of the cheapest bosses in video games and it brings the whole thing down : /

Batman and Robin is similar, they really captured the atmosphere of the cartoon... but when you actually try to play it it's a different story!

I played some Arkham Asylum and I was just like 'Pssshht, when we were kids these games were HARD'.

Yea, games don't build character like they used to.

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Originally Posted by Knuckle Duster

On topic: What makes a game, 'unnecessarily hard'? Artificial difficulty created by cheap & cheating AI with a broken camera system?

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yes, i call it Asshole AI.
but also some games just have such poor control that they are impossible to play.