Top 20 Hardest Video Games of All Time

Remember the first time you played a game where you couldn’t get by the first level no matter how hard you tried? Remember thinking to yourself that you spent three dollars to rent a game that was so difficult you wanted to return it and ask for something more tolerable? The staff here at Old-Wizard remembers these games like we played them yesterday. We remember all the controllers crushed under the weight of our throwing power. We remember the broken windows from the throwing of the controller at them. It wasn’t until the invention of the Game Genie and emulator programs that we were able to make any headway into the places we wanted to in these video games.

We didn’t think that all of the video games on this list were difficult because we couldn’t conquer the first level though. Some of the games on our list had one level where we just gave up because we knew that it would take a year of practice to conquer it. On top of this, one would have to go back through the whole game to get to the part that takes a year of practice to conquer. This was vexing, and when one had the chance for using cheats, they were used, knowing that they would get them to where they wanted to go regardless of the pride lost in the apparent lack of skill. These next games then are the definitive most difficult games of all time for us. No games more than these have ever been as smashed after playing them.

20. Mega Man 1

Mega Man 1 was no walk in the park and was arguably the most difficult game in the entire series. It was after Mega Man 1 that the games would become easier after it was realized that the first installment was hard as hell. The bosses in Mega Man 1 were difficult to beat, unlike the bosses in Mega Man 2 who you could sometimes shoot with a proton gun and kill in 10 shots (Flashman). The stages themselves were just as difficult as the bosses. One need only play the Guts Man stage to experience one of the most difficult levels in gaming history. The moving platforms in the beginning of the level were discouraging to even the most skilled of video gamers. Guts Man himself was basically impossible to beat without the right weapon. Many of the bosses in the Mega Man series could be beaten without the secret weapon that they needed. In Mega Man 1 though, it was imperative that one beat all the bosses with the appropriate weapon or they would be playing levels over and over again. Bomb Man’s stage was just as difficult as Guts man’s stage. Shooting proton cannons would shoot in all directions at poor Mega Man as he was trying to climb difficult areas. If one were lucky enough to beat the bosses in Mega Man 1, they had to fight an even more difficult final area with the first appearance of the Yellow Devil who seemed to hit the player every every second. Wiley himself was incredibly difficult to conquer. When looked at a whole then, Mega Man 1 was hard in every facet from the levels, to the post levels, and to all the bosses. If one were interested in playing one of the hardest Nintendo games of all time, one need not look any further than Mega Man 1.

19. Final Fantasy 3

The average game player going into this game would have had to prepared themselves for one of the most epic journeys of all time or they would not be ready for what was in store for them. This game took anywhere from 60-90 hours to conquer and it wasn’t easy at any step, especially if you didn’t have a strategy guide to help you. All the bosses were difficult and the final boss was a monster that required all your characters to have the max hit points and appropriate weapons, not to mention a knowledge of which character worked best at each part of the final boss (Kefka who is in our top 10 greatest final bosses of all time). This game is long and hard. Unlike many other hard games though, it’s very rewarding and deserved a high rank in our top 100 video games of all time.

18. Back to the Future

Back to the Future was nothing like the great movie that preceded it. That would be Okay though, as long as it held its own as a video game it didn’t have to replicate the movie. It didn’t hold its own as a game though, because it was so damn hard. Walking down the street would prove to be one of the most difficult tasks in a video game ever. Birds could knock you down. Fucking birds could fly into you and defeat in one light swoop. Movers holding glass would intentionally get in your way every chance they got. This game was reminiscent of paperboy in its difficult level. The sheer difficulty level of Back to the Future though was just one of the many reasons why this game sucked ass.

17. Silver Surfer

A game is not bad just because its hard. Sometimes hard games gives us more of a sense of accomplishment because of its difficulty level. Silver Surfer was so ridiculously hard though that you could never in your wildest dreams gain this sense of achievement, because it was impossible. There are a seemingly infinite amount of enemies that will make you hammer the shit out of the B button in this game to the point of numbness. No matter which level you choose from, you’re in for shit loads of enemies with never ending button tapping. Isn’t Silver Surfer supposed to be one of most powerful superheroes of all time? How the fuck are lizards killing him with absolute ease? In the comic books, he is well nigh invulnerable. He could survive being hit by a nuke. Did the video game developers ever read a comic book? No one must have test-played this game. There is no one on the face of this earth who would continue this game after seeing how every level is so bastardly hard.

16. Street Fighter (when playing with Zangief)

Street Fighter was a great game. The amount of time DestructoMaximo and I have spent playing this game is enormous. All those characters to beat the game with and all the two player action that could be had in this game made for one of the best fighting games in history. Play the game with Zangief though, and the player was in for one of the most difficult fighting games of all time. Zangief was slow, had no shooting power and excelled in no area except for basic power which was useless in a game with fighters as diverse as Ryu and M.Bison. Congratulate yourself if you conquered Street Fighter with Zangief. It’s something even the most adroit players can’t accomplish.

15. Bionic Commando

Bionic Commando must have been made to be intentionally difficult. The levels you have to beat in this game are some of the hardest in gaming history. Your swing mechanism was hard as hell to control and would often leave you dead in a ditch. The levels are long and the enemies are never ending. It’s been said that there have only been 55 people in the entire world who have beaten this game. We aren’t one of them and we don’t know one of these 55 people. If anyone has any information on who has beaten this game, please give us their email address so we can send them and Old-Wizard T-Shirt.

14. TMNT for NES

This game was annoyingly hard. How easy it was to get run over by steem rollers rolling around every inch of the top map. There was seemingly impossible jumps throughout the game along with enemies who could take down your energy in seconds. Get past these obstacles and one was certainly done for in the water level where you had no time to detangle bombs that were timed to explode the city. This task was near-impossible. We never got past this level so can’t tell you what comes after. We assume more hard shit though.

13. Top Gun

Ever try landing on the aircraft carry on this game? It’s not worth trying to land on it because no matter how hard you try, and no matter how perfectly you follow the on screen instructions, you will crash making this game impossible to beat. The dogfights are easy and the missiles given to you in the fights are smartly efficient enough to create a moderate difficult level in the sky. Try landing on the aircraft carrier though and you are thrown into one of the most difficult moments in video game history. It’s one of the greater accomplishments in life itself.

12. Smash TV

This game looked easy upon appearance. It looked like a regular game show, except this game show there was no winning. You were cornered at all angles by an infinite amount of enemies. Screen after screen you were surround by rockets being shot at you, monster bosses, and little soliders crawling all around you. Even with two players, this game was near impossible to beat. After playing the first level alone, the gamer would know how hard of a game Smash TV was. It was a fun game though and could have gained a much greater legacy if it wasn’t so damn difficult.

11. Doom 2

Doom 2 was the hardest of all the dooms. Cyberdemons infested this game making the player in need of the most precise rocket shots. Get past the complicated levels and the player had to face one of the most difficult final bosses of all time in the Icon of Evil (which appropriately had a high rank in our top 10 hardest final bosses of all time). Even with codes, the Icon of Evil was difficult to beat because you had so little time to knock a rockets into his head from the top of the elevator in the middle of blood infested poison. Doom 2 is a perfect example of a game that is too hard sheerly on the difficulty of the last boss.