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It's a scientific fact. The hardest video games are found on retro consoles. And the Nintendo Entertainment System, from the mid-1980s, has more difficult games than any other system.
Check out our list of the Top 5 hardest NES games and then tell us which ones you found difficult — if not downright impossible — to play.
I would like to make a comment about Mike Tyson's Punch-Out. I'm sure many people will agree with me when I say that Nintendo (or the article) is wrong in saying that Mike cannot be beat. I have won by default and have even TKO'd him in the 2nd round.
#1 - Wed May 20, 2009 9:43 AM EDTTyson could be beat, I've seen it done.
I've beaten Battletoads before, not sure why that was #1.
Did everyone seem to forget about Metroid 2? That game haunts me.
Yep, Tyson was beatable. I may try it tonight actually... it's been a while. I've seen Punch Out on the Wii VC, but with Mr. Dream (?) instead of Tyson. Luckily I have a functioning NES console and the code to get directly to Mike Tyson (which I still remember after 20+ years and probably always will [007 373 5963]).
Yup, same here, I beat him ONCE by decision, so I don't know where they're getting the "unbeatable" part. Annoyingly close, though! :-)
I've beat Tyson all 3 ways: KO, TKO, and decision.
It's definitely possible.
I've never KO'd him, but I've taken it by decision 50 times. This writer is an absolute moron.
Yes the writer is a idiot. mike tyson can be beat. do some research next time.
I think you guys missed the spirit of this article. It was meant to be humorous. A bit much to call the guy an idiot. I found it quite funny.
I have a friend that won a bet at a party by beating punch out looking at it through a mirror. He is definetly beatable. Hardest NES game... the first teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. the level when you have to diarm the bombs underwater.....brutal. BattleToads= easy PaperBoy= I've broken controllers over that one
Tyson was the hardest of the most popular nes games, not the hardest.
www.nintendorepairshop.com
I think he was just kidding. I've also seen Tyson TKO'd.
This list is off anyway. The hardest game on the NES was clearly Ghost's and Goblins.
Even in my late 20's I can't beat the first level.
#2 - Wed May 20, 2009 9:57 AM EDTGhosts and Goblins would have been my number one.
Agreed. Isn't G&G also a Konami game? Konami's games tended to be the hardest NES games IMO.
Totally have to agree with you...I got to level two once and felt really proud of myself - and promptly got killed.
Ghosts N Goblins = Capcom
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-the last area dubbed the Technodrome is by far one of the hardest I've ever seen. If you are off by a millimeter in your jumps you hit spikes-and never mind the fact that most enemies take more than 25% of your health each hit and the last boss (Shredder) kills you with one hit. I might as well YouTube the ending if I want to see it while I am still alive.
Battletoads gets rediculous right around the stage where you are on the hover craft/bike-and if you make it past that you really don't have much left to work with to last the game.
#3 - Wed May 20, 2009 10:01 AM EDTHardest NES game? Yeah, the ones without codes... lol.
Hm, I don't remember Paper Boy ever being hard, though. Of course, I only got to rent it for 3 days.
Contra is worth the cheat, though. Especially with that lame ending.
#4 - Wed May 20, 2009 10:02 AM EDTI think the NES Paperboy was dumbed down. I know the GameBoy one was.
The coin op Paperboy was impossible though. There was a PS2 port a few years ago. I didn't make it to the second stage. Since I spent a lot of time playing the NES and GameBoy versions, I thought I was a pro. It really took me down a few notches.
I agree with you Drew, Punch-Out was beatable, I beat it, as well as Bionic Commando. I also have to agree with Rob, Ghosts and Goblins was the hardest
#5 - Wed May 20, 2009 10:04 AM EDTNES Destiny of an Emperor. Impossible. I played and replayed the game for 5 years before i gave up. Sadly this game was out years before the internet and walkthroughs. I could get about 50 hours of game play and get stuck. Always stuck in the same place. Land of Shu. There was a village one could not get through. No matter how differently i approched the game. Land of Shu, is it only a myth? one will never know...
#6 - Wed May 20, 2009 10:05 AM EDTI wasted hours of my childhood playing Master Blaster. It took over 2 hours to reach the final boss only to have no clue how to kill him. The game had about 2 "continues" and no way to save the game so you had a total of about only 9 outs
#7 - Wed May 20, 2009 10:07 AM EDTMaster Blaster had great BG music though....
But it can be beaten....
And did you do the "trick"?
I recall that Blaster Master was an awesome game, but I never beat it - even though I played it endlessly as a kid - another game that I had a tough time with was that first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game - that game was tough! A lot of times the games were hard because of the interface. There was difficulty at jumping at exactly the right second to make it to the other side - stuff like this. But in most of the good games out there, the game makers created cheats so that you could beat the game and tell everyone you beat it. Cheats were published regularly in Nintendo Power I remember. Also, without the cheat in Contra, could anyone ever beat it? You would have to be the ultimate video gamer for something like that......
It's Blaster Master :)
Section Z was a real MFer as I recall
#8 - Wed May 20, 2009 10:08 AM EDTI can attest to most of this list, especially Battle Toads and Paperboy.
I also found the original Ninja Gaiden hard, especially towards the end(although I was only 10, 11 years-old when I played that game).
#9 - Wed May 20, 2009 10:31 AM EDTTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is right up there with Contra (without cheat code) in difficulty. Not the Arcade Version, but the original NES platformer version. Nearly impossible.
Tyson, yes, beatable. Easily when you know how. Paperboy? Not even close to making this list.
#10 - Wed May 20, 2009 10:34 AM EDTAbsolutely Mike Tyson can be beat. Whoever the second to last fighter was, can't remember if it was Super Macho Man or Mr.Sandman, was actually harder than Tyson. Once you figured Tyson's pattern out he was easily beatable.
#11 - Wed May 20, 2009 10:37 AM EDTI would definitely have to say Friday the 13th- I mean c'mon! You need to kill Jason 3 times to beat the game?
And then I would also mention Double Dragon 3, where you get 1 life and no continues....
#12 - Wed May 20, 2009 10:40 AM EDTgood one. i hated this game, just because it was impossible to kill jason. although the music was way cool.
Friday was just a boring game. It was hard, but it was hard to play it for more than 10 minutes. It was like just going in circles.
I've beaten Friday the 13th. There are a couple of tricks. One, if you play long enough you can pretty much beat Jason without getting hit when you fight him in a house. Second, you need to get the pitchfork and the only way to get it is to literally go into the woods and farm the hell out of zombies until one of them drops the blade. Then you farm the helll out of them some more until one drops the pitchfork. You can get the mother's sweater (which I'm pretty sure ups your defense though I could never confirm that) in the caves. Just walk around and press up a lot and you'll find the secret door. There's a certain graphic that indicates a door (though there's lot of the graphic and lots of doors but only one leads to his hideout) and once inside you have to kill her head and then you get the sweater.
Why do I know all of this? LOTS OF FREE TIME AND PATIENCE! Hiho.
Ghosts N Goblins is STILL the hardest game I've ever played
#13 - Wed May 20, 2009 10:40 AM EDTI would definitely have to say Friday the 13th- I mean c'mon! You need to kill Jason 3 times to beat the game?
And then I would also mention Double Dragon 3, where you get 1 life and no continues....
#14 - Wed May 20, 2009 10:42 AM EDTRussian Attack is definitely one of the hardest games ever. Having to use a small knife to attack the Russian Army is just not fair. I remember how excited I was when my older brother finally beat it.
#15 - Wed May 20, 2009 10:46 AM EDTI was thinking Rush'n'Attack too, when I read the list - not because of difficult level design or cunning enemies, but because of balky control. Had some of the worst control of any platformer ever.
Battletoads was one of the hardest for sure, that game drove me nuts.
Anyone ever beat Ghostbusters or Rambo? I always quit out of frustration. I did beat Blastermaster on one fantastic summer day though. Haha.
#16 - Wed May 20, 2009 10:47 AM EDTGhostbusters....yes....Rambo....yes......hmmm....another well known name.....lets go black and white......The Lone Ranger.....I miss that game
I remember crying tears of rage over Hudson's Adventure Island. I couldn't even beat it with Game Genie.
Sinister.
#17 - Wed May 20, 2009 10:51 AM EDTAthena. Insanely, sadistically difficult, and having used cheats to get the finish, the absolute lamest ending of any NES game. Pointlessly irritating, infuriating, just in a category of its own.
#18 - Wed May 20, 2009 11:03 AM EDTI don't remember any cheats in Athena. I do remember it being a fun game though, with lots of unusual stuff. I know I beat it, just sure can't rember the cheats
A little-known game called Milon's Secret Castle was the only game I never beat. It was way harder than Paperboy.
#19 - Wed May 20, 2009 11:22 AM EDTOh my god!! I thought no one else knew that game (Milon's Secret Castle). It took me all day and night to get to the end and I still never beat it. Couldn't figure out which witch to beat to beat the game. And unfortunately you couldn't save your game so when you cut it off you had to start all the way from the beginning. Oh the memories!!
I agree Milion's Secret Castle is one of the hardest. Although I still go with Ghost's and Goblin's and the all time hardest game.
I still attempt to beat Ghosts N' Goblins once a month. I've never gotten past the sixth stage. Also, even though I've beaten it, I'd have to say that Rygar is a pretty tough game, just because it's so easy to be killed.
Also, LifeForce is tough to beat without the code. (It uses the same code as Contra).
#20 - Wed May 20, 2009 11:36 AM EDT
I'm going to have to agree with those that said Ghosts 'N Goblins. Not in my own words, but here's a good article to back it up www .lanceandeskimo . com/chefelf/gam_gng . shtml
.
I would add that it would take god-like reflexes for anyone to have beaten Legend of Kage. But oh how I tried.
#21 - Wed May 20, 2009 11:38 AM EDTI did punch out Mike both by decsision and TKO as previous posters mention the boxers all have patterns and if you count punches and have a good memory and reflexes they can be beat. I don't now if you can finishe the following games but I was never able to nor saw anyone do it. Ghosts and Goblins, Paperboy, Wrestling, Kung Fu. Galaxy 5000 was one of the coolest games I ever played on the NES and I got in a discount bin at a department store while my vehicle was being serviced!
#22 - Wed May 20, 2009 11:43 AM EDTRygar. I loved the game and would play for hours. But level after endless level (and no saving) my theory was that the game had no end and NES was just trying to mess with my young impressionable head. A social experiment in futility.
#23 - Wed May 20, 2009 11:43 AM EDTI have to agree. Rygar was a beast of a game... long quest, tough enemies, no continues or saves. I never did finish it because once I got to the final area and died, I was wary of investing more time to go through it all over again. Guess I'm not hard-core enough.. heh. But very surprised this did not make the list.
I remember beating Rygar... I rented it on a Friday, played until 3 in the morning, left the nintendo running overnight, played late into Saturday, left it on again overnight, and beat it on Sunday... it was a beast of a super long game but beatable.
Two not on this list come to mind, BattleTank, and Sky Shark...then again, haven't played any of these in YEARS! love the 80s!
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MTPOUT is definitely not worthy of mention let alone #1. The list should qualify only games with good game play (ie control, enjoyable). This disqualifies Bionic Commando and Paperboy both (did any of you play the GI Joe games? Awful gameplay). Battletoads had good control and was tough, especially when your buddy punches you. With enough practice (facilitated by the code) Contra can be done with 3 lives and the continues. As mentioned above Rush’n Attack (up to jump aside) and Ninja Gaiden were both very fun to play but difficult (NG had terrific music too). TMNT doesn’t qualify cuz’ the control/speed was crap. Anything arcade style was essentially an unbeatable game. High level Tetris or Dr.Mario eventually gets you (vs. mode on these is still a lot of fun).
#25 - Wed May 20, 2009 11:45 AM EDTI actually beat Contra without dying... Ended up with I think 7 or 8 guys at the end after getting a few 1-up's.
Bionic Commando, I beat that, took a Polaroid and sent it to Nintendo Power Mag (but never got my name in the mag =( ). The ending was this story about Joe the Commando.. and the final screen was his autograph.
As for Mike Tyson... He's cake! Just survive the first 1:30 and your golden.
The hardest game may have to be Ghost's & Goblins, but there are cheat codes to go right to Satan (the big guy with the littleface coming out of his stomach) who is still hard to kill, I never did.
And does BUBBLE BOBBLE EVER END????
No, Bubble Bobble never ended. It was one of those games where you played for a higher score, not an ending.
Bubble Bobble had an ending but you could only finish it with two players.
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Hey all,
Regarding backwards compatibility, I'm just telling you what the Sony exec told me.
Also, interestingly, their own website here says they are not backwards compatible:
http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/Systems/Compare
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