All the hard games

Photo: Warner Bros. Cyber Shadow One of our most underrated games of also finds its way onto this particular list by virtue of being a proper throwback to the most difficult action games of the 8 and bit eras.

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Written by Matthew Byrd SilverTuna Based on the film of the same name, Jurassic Park finds you taking control of Dr. Alan Grant on an island overrun with dinosaurs. You must complete various tasks to make your way to safety to complete the game, such as avoiding the T-Rex which is near impossible. While the graphics are decent for a movie-tie in and the area of play massive, Jurassic Park's biggest downfall is the lack of a save feature.

Without the ability to type in a password to continue a previous game you are forced to finish it in one sitting, something that puts a downer on playing this otherwise decent console game. The original Doom will go down in the history books as one of the greatest first-person shooters of all time, unlike its successor Doom 3.

It must be said the third installment is a cracking game with some delightful levels capturing the spirit of the first game, but the main problem is how simple the game is. The A. Even increasing the difficulty doesn't help. As the name suggests, players take control of a spelunker and explore a variety of caves and underground lairs searching for treasure while fighting enemies and dodging traps.

And just like real spelunking, this game is incredibly difficult to complete. The levels are full of traps and the slightest slip and you'll find yourself losing a life and right back at the beginning. You have to watch your surroundings and learn from your mistakes if you want to get far in this game. Despite all this, Spelunky is very addictive and hard to stop playing, even after playing hundreds of hours without much progress. What nobody warned me before playing is just how hard this game is.

Stealing from a number of similar-style platform games Ghost 'n Goblins , Metroid , Castlevania the landscapes in the game are designed to take you out, meaning not only do you have to contend with enemies but the actual level layouts themselves.

Playing as The Kid, you only have one life, so if you get hit or attacked you'll find yourself back at the start. While there are a number of save points throughout the game, if you play on "Impossible" difficulty there are zero, the same amount of chance you have of completing the game. I have fond memories of watching The Karate Kid as a youngster, unfortunately, the same can't be said for playing this terrible video game cash-in.

There are only four levels in the game and after playing the first, which is actually tutorial, you soon learn kicking your opponent over and over again is the best way to defeat them. There are never more than two opponents on the screen at one time making it easy to navigate each level. Honestly, it takes about 15 minutes to complete this game, with the only joy coming from Mr.

Miyagi giving you a wink at the end as he explains; "You have successfully guided Daniel- san through all the challenges and have become a martial arts master! When you're talking about tough games to finish Demon Souls is always in the conversation. A dark fantasy RPG with five different worlds to explore, Demon Souls has been widely praised by critics and gamers, but both parties agree it's insanely hard to complete.

Like any RPG you upgrade your skills and weapons as you progress but everything else about the game will have you tearing your hair out. Players not only fight baddies while collecting suits of armor but now also have the ability to double jump around the screen. Does this make the game easier?

You might think so but we beg to disagree. This game is still one of the hardest titles we've ever attempted. Takeshi Kitano is a Japanese comedian with a very unique sense of humor. This game required players to complete specific tasks in order with little to no direction. One incorrect decision can cost you the whole game.

Remember the Konami code? This secret pattern often gave players extra lives in select Konami games. Contra was one of the first games to use it and we can see why players needed it! Contra is an incredibly difficult game in which players fight bad guys with the option of a player 2 for multiplayer. Despite its notorious difficulty, many still regard Contra as one of the best NES titles you can play. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out is often recognized as one of the best and most difficult boxing games ever.

It was released for the NES in and has allowed Mike Tyson to digitally whoop thousands of collective gamers for decades. Later renditions of this game have replaced Mike Tyson with Mr. Dream as official licensing ran out for the Mike Tyson name. The Oregon Trail is one of the oldest on our list having been first released in In this game, players make careful decisions to guide a caravan of settlers across America along the Oregon Trail.

The game is beyond treacherous and one of the hardest ever. It and modern releases are seemingly installed on almost every public school PC. This game might be ready to kill your party with dysentery, but it's still incredibly fun. If you've never played Ski Free , you probably didn't have a Windows 3.

In this ridiculously tricky game, players guide a skier down a dangerous mountain filled with obstacles. Even if you manage to reach the finish line, good luck avoiding your fate as the abominable snowman's lunch. Super Meat Boy was made with difficulty in mind. It has over levels of mind-crushing, over-the-top mayhem.

Players get an infinite amount of tries for each level but death means starting the level over from scratch. The main protagonist is Meat Boy who's on a quest to save Bandage Girl, his girlfriend. If you can save her, one thing is for sure—you're a fleshy legend of a hero. Looking for a new kind of challenge? Marble Madness is here to drive you mad but it's at least driving you to potential victory!

This game was first released in and was programmed using C. Players guide a marble through an isometric maze with each level getting progressively harder. It sounds easy enough, but actually playing the game is another story. This game is often regarded for its difficulty. Learning how to move your character is usually the most basic step in starting a new game.

As simple soldiers with an array of weapons, players had to take on an alien force across several missions, including side-scrolling, platform shooting sections and psuedo-3D shooting galleries. Waves of enemies constantly assaulted players, as well as some fearsome bosses. Through all of this, you had three lives with one-hit kills to beat the game. You also had to contend with deadly pitfalls and a timer.

Even with the Konami Code, which granted you 30 lives, the game was still a hefty challenge, so much so hardened gamers still view completing this as one of the most celebrated achievements.

Pro tip? The game threw the previous Shinobi gameplay to the winds and embraced fast-paced 3D combat. The focus here was on fast, violent kills, as you had to keep your sword charged with the souls of your foes, otherwise attacks would actually hurt you.

This urgency only contributed to the already steep difficulty, with tough enemies and levels that loved to throw you headlong into bottomless pits, with many areas taking place on precarious footing. The game is a simple shooter at heart, with both side and vertically scrolling sections. Even with this kind of challenge, the game is beatable, it just requires some extreme skill to better the various levels and take down the bosses, something only the best players of the game have managed to do.

The whole game! The whole, damn thing! Yep, I reckon if all the screams and cries of players who hit this roadblock of a challenge were gathered together into once mighty howl, its shrill noise would still be reverberating around the world to this day. The initial release of the game in the western market actually had a bit of a cruel twist in its difficulty settings.

Enemies were tough as nails, requiring supreme skills to defeat without injury, and some of the bosses, even the first Cerberus boss, were tantamount to impossible for many. How many other games do you know have been re-released simply because they were too hard? Well, we have another, but more on that later…. Instead, this was a side-scrolling platformer, one that could well have been created by the devil himself. They have it all: difficult platforming, endless waves of foes, hit-back pitfalls, enemies that spawn endlessly off screen, and tough bosses.

The bit one, of course. This time the new developer, Team Ninja, had the power of the Xbox and PS2 at its disposal, so the series was brought from the two-dimensional realm into 3D, following the same mold as Devil May Cry.

This was about as challenging as games get save for our final entry , and like Devil May Cry 3 , even got an altered difficulty in a re-release.

In particular, anyone whose played the game will surely remember Alma, one of the most difficult boss confrontations of all time, and a fight that requires nigh-on perfect play to best. When you win, though? It feels good…. Seriously, though, Battletoads is the gaming equivalent of cutting yourself shaving, rolling your cheeks in salt, and then dipping your face into a bowl of vinegar. Each and every level in this multi-genre title is a challenge of epic proportions, demanding the kind of patience lost to most of us, and only attainable by going through decades of Zen training.

We hate you. If you want to know about the toads, we wrote a complete history piece about the series.