Games that Kick Your Ass

[Markus. D]

Heyyyy, Adam's Family wasn't horrible in it's time, it was non-linear and about as complex as a platformer could be back in teh day.

I must say the stages were extremely long but EXTREMELY tricky to trip through, soooo many traps, odd-platforming situations and enemies.

I meant horrible as in 'wah these games are kicking my ass D:" But that's not to say I don't enjoy having my ass kicked I've finished the NES version countless times and I finally got the SNES version done a couple of years ago.

!

[Ultima Shadow]

Am I the only one who found the original Rayman to be tediously difficult in some places?

Oh yeah, I remember having some big problems with that game. Not sure if it really was that hard, or if I just sucked at it though. It's been at least 6 years or so since I played it. Still, out of all the plattform games I've played, I do belive the original Rayman was the hardest to beat.

I remember the final boss being a major dissapointment though. I found a lot of the mid-game bosses much tougher.

[sir helix]

Xenosaga I II III- after reaching a certain point in these games i gave up and hipefully i will finish them in a few years lmao

[Madame Adequate]

Am I the only one who found the original Rayman to be tediously difficult in some places?

Christ no, that game was brutal.

[Moon Rabbits]

I second Gradius, Rayman, and Lagoon.

Also:

ActRaiser


Civilization series. Any difficulty past Prince is impossible for me ... but that might have something to do with the fact that I declare war on everyone I meet.


rRootage.

[Rase]

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! If you have the time and reflexes to lay the beat down on Iron Mike... Congrats, but there's no way I will ever. I can hardly get past the Major Circuit.

[Depression Moon]

Final Fantasy XII. It seems impossible for me to make it even a quarter a way through the Penumbra in the Pharos even after multiple level grinds. Those Damn frogs and blue horses gave me over ten game over screens.

[Levian]

ActRaiser

I don't know what I would do without Stardust

[Wolf Kanno]

Nocturne. That game is mean! I mean there I was fighting the Black Rider. Annoyed because for the White Rider and Red Rider, you could easily turn there helpers to stone. But nooo. Black Rider had to cheat and bring unstonable helpers. But just when I was about to win, he thought it'd be funny to spam Megadoloan. And there was Mara right before that. It wasn't a hard fight, but it dealt with luck and him using a Physical Attack when the Mirror was up. Problem was Mara was stupid and wouldn't attack. Not only that he insisted on spamming Dismal Tune, which I was immune too. So I had to set there for fifteen minutes waiting for him to kill me off so I can go again. And of course Matador all the way at the beginning. That wasn't a fun fight. Oh and of course the dreaded random encounter that spams Mudo/Hama skills. Or that same encounter who waits until you switch to Magatama that doesn't Null Death skill before attacking.

I will second this, outside of old school titles like Ghouls and Goblins or Metal Slug, have I ever played a game that kicked my ass so many times. Thank god the game over screen is pretty...

[Momiji]

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! If you have the time and reflexes to lay the beat down on Iron Mike... Congrats, but there's no way I will ever. I can hardly get past the Major Circuit.

I actually played that for the first time in years today! I got to Bald Bull before I got a Game Over. xD

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

Final Fantasy I for the NES. Marsh Caves. Enough said. It was all smooth sailing until I had to go there. No matter how much I levelled up, I just got pwn'd until I discovered the joys of walkthroughs and GameFAQs years later. -__-;

[Cyric]

Am I the only one noticing a trend with all these games that are CHALLENGING?

But, my vote goes for:
The Ice Cave - in FFI (NES)
TMNT (NES)
Batman (NES)
Ninja Gaiden - I still love the game though (NES)
Zelda II (NES)
Zelda I - only after you beat Gannon the first time, and everything gets moved (NES)
Total Recall

[erikramza]

The third X-com game, that no one played. It's like x-com... only ty, and impossible.

[Madame Adequate]

Once you get Toxiguns the game gets incredibly easy*. And if you can ingratiate yourself with S.E.L.F. and keep your androids alive it's made easier, too, on account of the fact that you have basically got Terminators on your side.

* Edit: And let's not even talk about toxiguns + teleporters + shielding. You basically turn into a team of medics who just teleport around administering fatal shots to the aliens.

Comix Zone was hard as nails.

[Moon Rabbits]

Am I the only one noticing a trend with all these games that are CHALLENGING?

Yes, they're all 8- and 16-bit. The reason for this is that 2D low-res games are 100x times better than anything else.