Nintendo Hard/Video Games/Platform Game: Difference between revisions

* Believe it or not, ''[[Battletoads]]'' manages to up the ante considerably. From the racing segment of level 3 on, the game's difficulty ranges from insanely hard to downright unplayable. Most gamers of that generation have never seen the ending. Perhaps most difficult of all is a level made entirely of [[Spikes of Doom|Instant Death Spikes]](!!). Even with the use of a [[Game Genie]], beating the game is still considered to be quite an achievement among hardcore gamers. Many with a NES agree.

** This is not helped by the apparent lack of playtesting. Observe: Stage 11, "Clinger Winger," which is ''literally'' unplayable in two-player mode, because the second player can't move, meaning they get killed seconds after the level starts. [[Unwinnable|Real smooth, Rare.]]

** ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'' is widely agreed to be [[Sequel Difficulty Spike|harder]] than the original ''Galaxy'', but most of {{spoiler|World S}} is particularly tough, and {{spoiler|[[Brutal Bonus Level|The Grandmaster Galaxy]]}} can be flat-out sadistic at times, getting even worse in {{spoiler|[[Last Lousy Point|The Perfect Run]] which requires playing through the Grandmaster Galaxy as a [[One-Hit-Point Wonder]], and on top of that, restarting the entire thing up should one be unfortunate enough to die}}.

* ''[[Ghosts 'n Goblins|Ghosts N Goblins]]'', ''Ghouls 'n Ghosts'', and the rest of the series, have an evil reputation stemming from moderately annoying [[Jump Physics]] and extremely [[Goddamned Bats|unpredictable enemy movement]]. Which would be pretty hard on its own. But some games in the series (such as ''Ghosts 'n Goblins'') went further: If you miss a power-up in the fifth level, it kicks you back to the fourth level once you reach the final boss. Even more frustratingly, you have to go through the game ''twice'' just in order to see its [[A Winner Is You]] ending.

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda|Zelda II: Adventure of Link]]'' is easily the most challenging game in the franchise, although it doesn't mean much given that more modern and recent Zeldas have begun to edge into [[It's Easy, So It Sucks]] territory. [[Mooks]] that are easy cannon fodder in all other games are super-deadly here. The bats will kill you. The hopping spider things will kill you. The rats with boomerangs will trap you between two of them and stay out of your range; you get hit ''no matter what.'' Many ''normal'' enemies can only be damaged one way or at certain times. Opportunities to recharge your health and magic are much scarcer than in other games. Enemies are poised so that knockback will send you off the platform and into the lava every time. When you get a Game Over, you don't start from the beginning of the dungeon, but from the beginning of the overworld and must take the (often difficult) path to the dungeon again. [[Random Encounters]] go from "free XP" at the beginning to "you will ''not'' reach the Great Palace alive" by the end. [[Guide Dang It|If you aren't following an FAQ or a fanmade map, good luck making your way to the end]] ''at all'' due to super-vague hints for actions nobody would think to take on their own.

** Speaking of the Great Palace, the final dungeon is more of a fiendish maze, and most of the enemies in there some of the most powerful enemies in the entire game. The first half of the final ''bosses'' is Thunderbird. To even damage the boss at all, you have to use the insanely costly spell Thunder (no using your healing spell after this!) and then you have to jump up in the air to hit the boss's now-exposed face while it drops fireballs at you. Then, with no way of recharging your health or magic in between, you fight Dark Link. Dark Link is the same as you, except ''incredibly'' hard to hit. He does [[Collision Damage]] to you, ''you don't to him.'' If you run out of lives, you get to take the Great Palace all over again. (Whatever you do, don't turn off your machine, or even if you saved, you'll be back at the starting point of the ''overworld'', and you ''will'' have to retake the path to the Great Palace, which is worse than any dungeon.)

* Sunsoft's ''[[Journey to Silius]]'' is only 5 levels, but becomes insanely difficult in its later parts.

* ''[[Metal Slug]]'': So ball-bustingly difficult, the games ''show how many continues you used at the end.'' ''[[Metal Slug]] 3'' is perhaps the peak of the series' difficulty, with many players taking as many as 60 or even 70 continues to finish the game.

* [[Distorted Travesty]], it starts out easy enough, but soon grows to masochistic levels of difficulty. In fact, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tE199spGNk the trailer for Distorted Travesty 2] seems to use this as it's selling point.

* ''[[Eversion]]'': Not only the horrific elements of most of it, but the inability to drop down a one-block-sized hole if you're even one pixel off makes it unnecessarily hard to avoid advancing enemies.

* [[Exit Path]]: [[Jmtb 02|John Cooney]] gave Armor Games a duo of surprisingly dark platformers that are living hell. [[Frickin' Laser Beams|Laser-mounted turrets that auto-target if you're not under cover]], pendulums that sometimes [[Everything's Better with Spinning|spin]], buzz saw blades of death, crusher panels, and loads of spikes. The second one even has a massive [[Interface Screw]] towards the end.

* The Xbox Live Indie game ''The Deep Cave'' has infinite continues (though it does keep count how many times you've died) but it's still has a very high level of difficulty.

* In ''[[Amagon]]'', Amagon's basic form has only a limited supply of bullets to try to hit the fast-moving enemies before they kill him [[One-Hit-Point Wonder|in one hit]]. You do get continues, but not until late in the game.

* Think the original ''Kirby's Dreamland'' is too easy for you? Try out the hidden "Hard Mode", which speeds up enemies and adds new attack patterns, and even the most seasoned gamers will be given a run for their money, particularly during the boss fights. But wait, that's ''still'' not hard enough? Go to the options menu, and set Kirby's lives to 0 and his health to one hit point (which basically amounts to you having to replay an entire stage if you take so much as ''one'' hit) and you are in for one long, painful journey.