The Nintendo Entertainment System is known for its many difficult, often unfair, games. For those wearing rose-tinted glasses, it’s much easier to focus on easy-going titles such as Super Mario Bros. and Kirby’s Adventure, but real NES fans appreciate the truly brutal experiences that it offered.
The NES was home to deceptively hard gamesTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as well as practically unplayable romps like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. There were also some genuinely amazing games that just so happened to cause blistered thumbs, such as those from the Ninja Gaiden and Mega Man series.
Ninja Gaiden is One of the Most Addicting NES Games
Ninja Gaiden was a rather complex game for its day. The game had full-fledged cutscenes that helped tell the story of Ryu Hayabusa working with the U.S. government to take down the Jaquio, who want to release a devastating demon on the world.
Ninja Gaiden is also incredibly tough. Granted, it’s not quite as punishing as later installments, such as Ninja Gaiden III, but that game didn’t have its predecessor’s original sins. These include the infamous knockback mechanic, which literally knocks Ryu down to his doom if he gets hit, and the relentless enemy respawns, which can slow one’s gameplay to a crawl.
Mega Man Began A Series Known For its Difficulty
There is a lot to admire about Mega Man. For one, players can pick what stages they want to play in any order they please. Those stages have neat level designs and energetic music. One big thing that can be loathed regarding Mega Man, however, is the difficulty.
The Mega Man games, and especially the first one, can be totally unfair in areas. For instance, there is the issue of platforming, with the game’s physics never being all that smooth. The weird placement of enemies, and the knock back that they can inflict Mega Man, don’t help matters. Worst of all is the lack of any saving or passwords, meaning if players get too far in a level and die, they have to start all over again.
Contra Can Only Be Beaten By Most With the Konami Code
Contra is a run-and-gun famous for its relative faithfulness to the arcade original, with minor tweaks being made to accommodate the NES’s hardware. More importantly, the game is known for including the iconic Konami code, where inputting a combination on the NES controller will grant players thirty lives.
It cannot be stressed enough that the Konami Code is essential to play Contra, as the game will throw curveball after curveball at the player. The controls are more than responsive, but it won’t stop players from having to constantly dodge bullets from every direction imaginable. This isn’t even mentioning the lack of any passwords or even checkpoints to help make the game more bearable.
Super Mario Bros The Lost Levels Wasn’t Originally Released Internationally for a Good Reason
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels was touted as a successor to the first Super Mario Bros. game. However, it originally wasn’t released outside Japan for two reasons. First, it looked and played too similar to the first game. Second, and more alarmingly, the game was too hard for its own good.
It seems Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels has nothing better to do than be cruel toward the player. There are deceptive warp zones located well into the game that can send players back to World 1, and there are a myriad of hazards that only serve to make players’ experiences miserable, from poisonous mushrooms to strong wind gusts.
Battletoads Is Often Called the Hardest Game of All Time
Battletoads is something of a paradox in the NES library. It tends to be looked at fondly for its story, graphics, and music, but it’s also known as the most brutally difficult game ever. And if it wasn’t hard enough in single-player mode, especially during the speeder sections, multi-player is a complete nightmare.
Playing Battletoads in multiplayer mode renders the game almost unplayable. One flaw is that players are able to accidentally deal damage to each other, and if one player dies, both players have to restart the level. It’s unfair to both players, and it could render one player a scapegoat.
Paperboy Is Harder Than It Looks
Paperboy was originally released in the arcades, although it became much better known for its NES port. The premise seems simple enough, as it looks like all one has to do is throw newspapers into every last mailbox there is. Of course, it only seems so simple; Paperboy is much harder than it looks.
With Paperboy’s notoriously clunky isometric camera angle, it’s impossible to accurately land a newspaper in a mailbox. The worst that will happen is that newspapers may crash into windows, which will result in the player losing subscribers. It’s also way too easy to crash into objects, such as cars and fences.
Ghosts ‘n Goblins Requires That Players Beat the Whole Game Twice
Ghosts ‘n Goblins sees the gallant knight Sir Arthur trying to rescue the fair Princess Prin-Prin from the satanic Astaroth. His quest to do so is not easy, as he is forced to take on enemies that almost always seem to have the upper-hand. Combined with how slow it is to change weapons and the low health bar, the game is extremely punishing.
However, all of that is the least of the game’s transgressions. After completing the game once, it tells players that their journey has been for naught, and it forces them to play through all six levels again. This is a cruel twist that may demoralize players into just quitting the game after beating it once.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is Harder Than it Looks
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a game one could be forgiven for thinking would have a reasonable or low difficulty, given the IP it is based on. Instead, the game hard, but somewhat fair, which all comes down to the frantic level designs and the constant spawning and respawning of enemies.
As far as levels are concerned, there is the dam level in Area 2 that forces players to tread extremely carefully through electric seaweed, lest they electrocute one of the turtles. All one has to know about the game’s enemies is that, for novices, they will cause a game over for the player in less than ten minutes.
Silver Surfer Is Harder to Play Than It Is to Surf
Silver Surfer is based on the Marvel superhero of the same name, and has him take on an array of his fiercest enemies, including the Skrulls. The game faced the daunting task of standing out among other superhero game adaptations of the day, and it managed to do so for all the wrong reasons.
To put it simply, Silver Surfer shows players no mercy. The title character’s massive hit box allows projectiles and enemies to knock him out with ease. If anything, this flaw is nothing compared to the fact that if players happen to hit anything, be it a wall or ceiling, they will die instantly.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Has Lived in Infamy For Decades
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is retro gaming YouTuber AVGN’s kryptonite. It’s hard to see why that is at first; all players have to do is get Dr. Jekyll to his wedding without turning into Mr. Hyde. The Mr. Hyde segments themselves are easy to get through, provided players are already far ahead at a level.
The biggest trouble is that just about everything, from humans to dogs and birds, all want Dr. Jekyll dead. To put it another way, there are far too many enemies for Dr. Jekyll to bypass, and it’s likely he’ll turn into Mr. Hyde very early on in a level, which may result in an instant game over.