The world of platformers has changed a lot since Super Mario Bros. defined the genre. One way in which this has happened is the spawning of new, creative sub-genres, including one specifically designed to be as difficult as possible.
Exceptionally hard platformers have existed since the NES but, over the last two decades, gamers have taken a liking to titles meant to be more brutally punishing than fun. The best of these games are still entertaining, either because of how well they play, how stylish they are, or because of the story they have to tell.
Completing Super Meat Boy Can Feel Nearly Impossible
Super Meat Boy is one of the biggest indie success stories in gaming history, but it’s not because the game is easy. The levels are usually short, but they require precision that’s difficult to execute given Meat Boy’s slippery physics and floaty jumps.
Dying is common, but Team Meat knew this, so respawns happen quickly, making it trivial to get back into the game. Completing the base game is difficult enough, but for completionists, the road ahead is even harder. There are a series of hidden bonus levels that push the top-tier “106%” completion status into especially challenging territory.
N++ Has a Punishing Lack of Room for Error
Like Super Meat Boy, N++ stems from a Flash game, and also like Super Meat Boy, it’s really, really hard. The player controls a nimble ninja who has to traverse hundreds of levels filled with mines, homing missiles, and other hazards.
The barrier to entry is low, as the controls are straightforward. What takes longer, though, is mastering the floaty jumps, momentum, and wall-jumping to maximize the potential for victory. As the game progresses, it throws everything at the player, making levels impossible to complete without some extreme focus.
Celeste Can Be Comfortably Easy or Brutally Difficult
Celeste does so many things well. The story is impactful and heartfelt, the level design is intentional and intuitive, and the controls feel fluid and natural. Movement mechanics are introduced gradually, so jumping, climbing, and air-dashing never feel unfairly difficult.
The game’s primary campaign is challenging, though not unsurmountable for a casual gamer. For those who’d prefer an easier time, there’s even an assist mode, which lets the player change a number of specifics about the game to make it their ideal experience. On the other end of the spectrum, there are the ultra-difficult B-Side and C-Side levels, which make beating Celeste with 100% completion far from trivial.
Ghosts ‘N Goblins Was the Hardest Game of the 1980s
Vintage games have a reputation for being harder or less forgiving than modern titles, and Ghosts ‘n Goblins had a lot to do with that perception. In the classic Capcom title, Sir Arthur, a knight, must defeat zombies, dragons, demons, and all sorts of classic monsters.
The kicker is that Arthur can only take two hits before losing a life, at which point players must either start the level over again, or from a checkpoint. Some of the game’s bosses cannot be killed by certain weapons, and beating the game once isn’t the end, as the player then has to go through the whole ordeal twice to reach the true final ending.
The Super Meat Boy Devs Struck Again With The End Is Nigh
If The End Is Nigh seems a lot like Super Meat Boy, that’s because it was made by the same developer, Edmund McMillen. The level designs and movement styles have a lot of overlap, though levels here are generally more complex in their layouts.
Stages are packed full of enemies and environmental dangers that demand precise movement out of players, which isn’t always so easy. The game’s limited-color aesthetic often makes it difficult to distinguish enemies and hazards from traversable areas, adding another layer of difficulty to the game’s inherent challenge.
Spelunky 2 Is a Fantastic Sequel to a Beloved Original
Spulunky is one of the most esteemed freeware titles ever, so its sequel had a lot to live up to. Spelunky 2 arrived in 2020 and was a quick hit, successfully expanding upon the procedurally generated challenges of its predecessor. There are traps, enemies, secrets, and treasures in every cave, and part of what makes it great is that no two runs are ever the same.
That’s also a major reason why the game can be so hard: it can’t really be predicted. To survive a deep run, players need to not just understand the myriad reactions that can occur between the game’s elements, but be able to effectively manage resources while also being quick to react to unexpected situations. Spelunky 2 has a lot going on, and only the most skilled players can handle all of it.
Cuphead Is More Than Its Retro Aesthetic
Gamers who have never played Cuphead likely still know two things about it: All the 1930s-style cartoon art was hand-drawn and hand-animated, and the game is infamous for being brutally difficult. The game is a straight-up run-and-gun platformer, but the bosses are notoriously challenging, featuring multiple phases that test a player’s endurance and consistency.
Bosses aren’t likely to be defeated on their first try. Rather, attempts are recon missions, where the player learns the boss’ patterns in order to be better prepared for the next run. Cuphead is full of aesthetic charm, but that doesn’t mean the developers skimped on the gameplay.
Jump King Is the Best at Inducing Rage
Jump King controls terribly. That’s not a criticism; that’s the point. The only ways the player can move are by walking horizontally and jumping. To jump, instead of simply pressing A, the player must charge the jump’s distance and set its angle, turning basic movements into the game’s primary challenge. What makes this particularly frustrating is the level design.
The goal is to progress up the vertically oriented level, but miss a jump, and it’s easy for hours of progress to be erased as the player falls with virtually no way of stopping their descent. It’s a rage-inducing experience, and one that can’t be conquered by a player who doesn’t have patience.
Dustforce Is the Most Exciting Version of Custodial Work
In Dustforce, the protagonist is a janitor whose goal is to rid the world of filth. That doesn’t sound like the foundation of an exciting platform game, but this maintenance professional is especially nimble and athletic. He’s also not just cleaning a school or an office building, but large and complicated platforming levels.
The gameplay is smooth and fun, but for perfectionists, it can be unforgiving. On Steam, the game has one achievement, “Double S+,” which requires players to complete a perfect run of the game’s final level. That might not sound too bad, but this achievement has only been completed by 0.5% of the game’s players.
I Wanna Be the Guy Literally Isn’t Fair
Not only is I Wanna Be the Guy hard, but it’s intentionally malicious. Level designs are often deceptive, to the point that players can’t usually trust their eyes and years of hard-earned gaming instincts. Even in sections that are relatively straightforward, the platforming still asks a lot of the player.
The controls themselves are simple, but it’s the dense and difficult level design paired with the variety of hazards and the aforementioned deception that presents the challenge. The levels typically feature unorthodox designs, not to mention plenty of characters and assets from existing game franchises, so the whole experience can be disorienting, often in frustrating ways.
- Released
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October 20, 2010
- ESRB
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T For Teen due to Animated Blood, Cartoon Violence, Crude Humor, Language
- Developer(s)
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Team Meat
- Publisher(s)
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Team Meat
- Engine
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Proprietary Engine
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer, Local Multiplayer