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Top 20 Most Difficult Games

Gamasutra has a list of what they believe to be 20 of the most difficult games ever created. As you may have guessed, most of these games were released in the 8-bit era. Many popular game series make the list, including The Legend of Zelda and Monkey Ball.
Difficulty in video and computer game development has been on the outs for some time. If a player possibly cannot complete Action Adventure Game X, so the thinking goes, the designer has failed. Most MMORPGs feel like they can be played on autopilot; in fact many can, a fact dear to some players' hearts. When Ninja Gaiden came out and turned out to be a stiff challenge some players were up in arms. That ever-so-quotable Tomonobu Itagaki said that hearing player cries made him want to make the game even harder.

Ahem. Setting aside what we might think of his statement, certainly, difficulty in a video game must be handled carefully. Nothing attracts the ire of those fickle game bloggers quite like them getting their asses handed to them by a game. And it is possible to make a game arbitrarily difficult without too much effort. Increase monster attack strength, decrease player health, remove resources and adding more foes, there are just the most obvious ways a game can be made harder, and it doesn't take any great skill to add them.
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  • 0 thumbs!
    Revenger of Wastelan | August 26, 2007
    Lol... i never played any of those games.
    • 0 thumbs!
      twilightprince | August 26, 2007
      Maybe because most of them are NES games?

      I'm really surprised that Zelda II didn't make the list. I personally found it to be much harder then the original LoZ.
  • 0 thumbs!
    Solid Snake 4Life | August 26, 2007
    Zelda is on the list... so I'm not just stupid.
  • 2 thumbs!
    gotenks992 | August 26, 2007
    Oh man I remember Blast Corps. It was a difficult game but I manage to get through it. Legend of Zelda was a toughie to. But I recognize some of the games. Some I played but not enough to know how hard they were.
  • 0 thumbs!
    Ninmecu | August 26, 2007
    I wasen't surprised to see Defender up there...That one was a hair ripper >_
  • 0 thumbs!
    Gothic Girl | August 26, 2007
    I'm surprised Shadow of the Beast isn't up there. That was a toughie retro game >_>

    Good to see an LoZ game up there. To be honest, I think they're all incredibly difficult. Even trying to figure out what to do next can take many hours, if not days.
  • 0 thumbs!
    Solid Snake 4Life | August 26, 2007
    Not Twilight Princess but I guess that might be experience that caused it for me.
  • 0 thumbs!
    tornjinx | August 26, 2007
    Wow, i remember a lot of those games. I am really surprised that Zelda II didn't make it, that was a really hard game for my.
  • 0 thumbs!
    Storm | August 26, 2007
    Ninja Gaiden's not technically on the list...what the hell? Some real old games on there. I wouldn't say that the LoZ game listed is that difficult, but meh.
  • -2 thumbs!
    BANDITO ATTACK | August 26, 2007
    you can pick up any random 20 NES games and get a list of the top 20 most difficult games.

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