Hardest Games/ROMHacks You've Ever Played?

[Sunstone]

Alright I'll admit it, I'm somewhat of a masochist when it comes to video games. I love a good challenge, and sometimes I love playing video games that are painstakingly difficult and tormenting to try and get through without failure. I have already played a couple of notoriously difficult games here-and-there, but I was wondering if anyone else knew of any I should give a try? Or just if anyone has any experiences playing extremely difficult and challenging games in general. What were these games and what made them difficult?

As I usually do when I make threads, I'll list extremely difficult games I have played before (but not necessarily completed) just to get the ball rolling:

Console Games

✿ All of the Ninja Gaiden games (on the NES)
✿ Super Monkey Ball (GameCube)
✿ Super Meat Boy (Especially if you're trying to 100% it and get all Achievements)
✿ Ghosts 'n Goblins

Fangames/ROMHacks

✿ I Wanna Be The Guy (including other fangames based off of it):
     - I Wanna Be The Fangame (This, along with the original IWBTG are the only ones I have ever completed)
     - I Wanna Be The Guy: Gaiden
     - I Wanna Be The Cat
     - I Wanna Be The Boshy
     - I Wanna Kill The Kamilia 1/2/3

✿ Kaizo Mario World
✿ Super Mario 74 Extreme Edition by Lugmillord



And... that's about all I can think of for now. .3.

 

[MagnificentBastard]

Games played:

 

- NES and SNES and XBox Ninja Garden

- Ikagura

- Battletoads

- Sekiro

 

Games completed:

- Demon Souls (Platinum)

- Dark Souls (Platinum including DLC)

- Dark Souls Remastered (Platinum)

- Dark Souls II (Platinum including DLC)

- Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (Platinum)

- Dark Souls III (Platinum including DLC)

- Bloodborne (Platinum including DLC)

- Salt and Sanctuary

 

That's all I can remember at the moment

 

 

 

 

[Generic Name]

 Though difficult in a quite different sense from the other games listed, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is absolutely brutal in terms of its difficulty, even without throwing in the second wave features, Enemy Within expansion, ironman mode, and highest difficulty levels. With all that, the game becomes a strategic and logistical nightmare that many regard as nearly unplayable. I have yet to win with all conditions active, mostly due to lack of funding and quickly inflating panic.

[Muramune]

Ninja Gaiden 2 for the 360 was a fun bit of rage for me. Even more so when my best friend was way better at it than I was. 

[NyxAvatar69]

For console games, I can't think of any, but when it comes to rom hacks, only one comes to mind, and that is Pokemon Dark Rising.  It is hard in all the wrong ways, mostly because of dumb random level spiking and legendaries with broken stats.  Don't even get me started on the game's equivilant of the Elite Four.  A bunch of mons that have moves they shouldn't have, legendaries with broken stats, a Regigigas with Huge Power, and at the very end, a Lugia that has a stupidly high power, ultra strong STAB move that has a 100% chance to poison if you manage to survive it.  It also has a Focus Band and Recover because of course it does.

(Yes, this image is not a lie.  I have a Level 100 Suicune.  You need to be overleveled to not get slaughtered by some of the BS this game has, and I was doing a nuzlocke too.  This battle was borderline unwinnable without +6 Calm Mind and Double Team.)

Like seriously, in what universe do you need something like this?!  Also, I hear the second game is slightly more balanced (slightly being the key word), but there's a part where, once you go in, you can't leave the way you came in, and if you have a full team, there's a mandatory boss battle that can sweep your team without challenge because this battle also has the dumb broken move the Lugia in the first game has, and only a couple of select Dark types and one other thing can actually survive a hit against that attack.  Without proper prep, in a nuzlocke, you'd basically auto lose if you didn't know it was coming.  It's that bad.

[Kuramitsuha]

Where to begin with...?

My memory is kinda retarded and surely I had a lot of games to list. But since I made certain that this list would come out my brain just "Ssshhhh, nope, never, forgetting games in 3...2...1..." but I remembered a handful of games. Another thing is...I too have some love for straining, and suffering, and torment, during my gaming. My friends say I'm a game-masochist, but you know...Just up to a challenge~~

Kingdom Hearts - Birth by Sleep : I love Kingdom Hearts as an boy, a teenager, a man, a oldman, a spirit and a reincarnated flower. The fact I hadn't played all of them is plain torture to my existence. But Birth By Sleep has a soft spot in it, specificaly the "Final Mix" version. The game itself isn't "oooh my gooood kill me" but its hard in some bosses if you don't figure out how they work or...If you play fair, without spamming broken skills. I played in the Critical Mode, and my favorite character "Terra" is a complete slug compared to the other 2 playable characters. There's tons of discussion about the combat in this title, but I love it and my most memorable battles comes from it. The final bosses are all thrilling and Terra's Final Boss was specially hard for me, took days to bring that shit down. And the post-game bosses...Heheh HEHEHEH, I am STILL trying to beat Mysterious Figure, a super-fast boss that every single hit reduces your HP to 1, he can erase your skills, heal, cast magic, multiplicate, is nearly immune to magic and can slow down time...I have an number, I'm counting my death count, and it is right now somewhere between 450 and 480.

Shin Megami Tensei - Nocturne :  Hang a minute...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Done. This game is awesome. Pretty, pretty awesome. I love Megaten and Persona and Nocturne is my favorite title of the main series. But...But...This thing is so darn hard that it seems cruel and sadistic. The game's normal difficulty already is a pain, but nooo, they added "Hard mode" that lets you unlock the Secret Ending. SO I NEED TO DO IT, RIGHT?!! Wahaha! Sadly I didn't get to finish this game, my PS2 died not long ago. But its awesome, the sheer cruelness of the environment really let you feel like in a post-apocalypse demon-dominated hopeless world. Its a Monster RPG, like Pokemon or Digimon, but very dark and...Hard as hell. If Demi-Fiend (the MC) ever dies in battle, its game-over...And, some demons just seems to like using him as an punchbag. My demons getting slaughtered by miscalculations, my resources going out, money running short. This game is a fun ride. The Fiends Battle is legendary among the funs of the series, they're amazingly hard, the music...Oh the music, it gives me PTSD Flashbacks just to think of that. My best fight was versus Dante (the Devil May Cry Dante, yes, he's an character in the game, strangely) and...He was a monster. I tend to never grind in games, but here? I grinded because I was raped time after time. Dante seemed to know how my team works, he aimed for my healer, and my debuffs wasn't reaching him because of his Dekunda, his critical rate is insane and this gave him more and more turns. But know what? Defeating him was excellent. I fought with that bastard for 4 days. I still trembles when thinking that someday I will get to the Secret Boss, Lucifer...I'm sure the rage will be so much, that it'll be registered here.

Welp...That was a huge post.
I have other games with challenging experiences, but I just forgot them all. Tsc. 

Probably going to save nightmares just for remembering Matador's battle...AAAAAH

[Foxtrot Deactivated]

The hardest game in the history of games is Lords of the Fallen. I have never finished that game. All other games I've ever played, I've finished. Not that. No sir.

[Kerzin Kalamond]

Hardest game I’ve ever played was old school EverQuest. It was a bitch. 

[Xaciel]

Nioh. Fuckin Nioh.

That game hits hard and even when blocking in high armor, you're screwed if your stamina gets low.

The lack of human enemies to parry disgusts me.

[Manni]

In regards to SMT: Nocturne...you actually DON'T need to do Hard Mode to get THAT Ending. Just get to the bottom of the 5th Kalpa before a certain boss battle is enough.

[Warlock]

Not gonna lie, that question is not too hard. Pokemon dark rising is difficult, but Nioh is definately hard too. Some bossfights are too hard in my oppinion. Bloodborne had that too but it felt fairer for some reason. Now I'm doing Code Vein and lord... its hard but it feels so good XD

[NyxAvatar69]

  On 12/8/2019 at 4:22 PM, Warlock said:

Pokemon dark rising is difficult

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The first Darugis battle in Dark Rising 2 can still go burn in Pokemon hell alongside Whitney's Miltank and Ultra Necrozma.

[Writtingforfun]

I'd probably say for me Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. Mostly because I had to solo the entire game with the story and all the guild quests  (compared to the others where I played with friends or family, though soloring G rank fatalis and crimson fatalis for their armor in freedom unite is a close second.). Soloing Alatreon and Abyss Lagiacrus. Mostly it was the slog of getting through it all stuff and getting the rare items having to use a lot of percentage manipulation to get it and even then having to fave the same monster like 3 times or more to get one thing. 

[SataiRolePlayingGuy]

When we are talking old stuff, like NES old, I have always found the default games hard enough.  Definitely don’t need help finding extra difficulty.

[CarmenLovers]

Shin Megami Tensei IV and Apocalypse on War mode is absolute hell to play on to where you'll be lucky enough to get your buffs up before the every encounter kills you.

 

For fan games, Pokemon Blue Kaizo. The towns are mazes too which is incredibly not fun.

[AromaticPee Deactivated]

Pokémon Shining Pearl. It was pure nostalgia bait that was way too faithful to the original, making it a final product that was damn near indistinguishable from the originals in terms of things to do.

The Gen IV starter Pokémon snuck their way into the Grand Underground area and lesser AI teams, as well as gym leaders, which I'm told is "normal." ...How?! In other Pokémon games, you don't see their default starters roaming the wilds and joining insignificant AI! Starters are just for the player and their rival, and maybe the Champion.

Also, there were not nearly enough Gen V+ Pokémon like Patrat or Foongus. That would have given the game extra replay value, but apparently that's not what the devs wanted! Instead, I'm given only 4 generations of 'mons, not a single one beyond.

...do you want me to write more? Because I'll write more if you give me the green flag, on purpose or not...

[Cute_Bro]

Well if we're on the subject of Pokemon, want a hard ROM Hack? Gaia. Simply, Gaia. That one is just...oh dear lordie it hurt my brain to play. Now if we're talking about original games...this may sound odd and I can assure myself no one's ever heard of this game before...but the Russian Campaign of Empire Earth...took me a solid 3 months to beat

[NyxAvatar69]

  On 7/2/2022 at 2:14 AM, AromaticPee said:

Pokémon Shining Pearl. It was pure nostalgia bait that was way too faithful to the original, making it a final product that was damn near indistinguishable from the originals in terms of things to do.

The Gen IV starter Pokémon snuck their way into the Grand Underground area and lesser AI teams, as well as gym leaders, which I'm told is "normal." ...How?! In other Pokémon games, you don't see their default starters roaming the wilds and joining insignificant AI! Starters are just for the player and their rival, and maybe the Champion.

Also, there were not nearly enough Gen V+ Pokémon like Patrat or Foongus. That would have given the game extra replay value, but apparently that's not what the devs wanted! Instead, I'm given only 4 generations of 'mons, not a single one beyond.

...do you want me to write more? Because I'll write more if you give me the green flag, on purpose or not...

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Go on.  I like reading other people complain about bad games.

[AromaticPee Deactivated]

  On 7/2/2022 at 3:08 AM, NyxAvatar69 said:

Go on.  I like reading other people complain about bad games.

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...okay. Here goes...

They removed Mega Evos and Z-moves from the game, with NO explanation or consideration for those who like Mega Evos and Z-moves—people like ME! It doesn't help that people complain about Pokémon Sun and Moon (and their redubs) being so bad, even though they haven't even flopped in terms of sales! PLUS, the Z-crystals gave Sun and Moon's battle system a worthwhile activity!

And now, they tricked us with live action footage and siked us by announcing two new core games instead: Scarlet and Violet! I... I guess we're just gonna have to deal with not having a loud enough voice for Game Freak to notice!

[NyxAvatar69]

  On 7/2/2022 at 1:19 PM, AromaticPee said:

I guess we're just gonna have to deal with not having a loud enough voice for Game Freak to notice

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The problem is mainly that Game Freak is too big to fail.  They'd have to pull something on the level of Activision to have some kind of backlash from the majority of the fanbase.  Personally, I think Sword and Shield are the worst mainline, non remake games to ever release (not counting Gen 1), and the blatant addition of DLC to an obviously unfinished game soured my opinion of Game Freak forever.  People will blindly throw their money at whatever they release these days, even if it's a carbon copy like BDSP or a passable game but still an obvious tech demo like Legends Arceus.  Plus, where's the spinoffs?  Instead of tiding people over with another (non cashgrab) spinoff like a Pokemon Ranger or something, they go and toss out the whole "oh hey, Gen 9's coming this year."  Legends Arceus was barely on store shelves for a month when they announced Scarlet and Violet, and that alone raises red flags for me.

 

  On 7/2/2022 at 1:19 PM, AromaticPee said:

They removed Mega Evos and Z-moves from the game, with NO explanation or consideration for those who like Mega Evos and Z-moves—people like ME! It doesn't help that people complain about Pokémon Sun and Moon (and their redubs) being so bad, even though they haven't even flopped in terms of sales! PLUS, the Z-crystals gave Sun and Moon's battle system a worthwhile activity!

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As one who played competitive Gen 7 for a time, I personally have a hit and miss relationship with Z-Moves in particular, but them just axing both mechanics for an even more unbalanced one along with releasing one of the most blatantly overpowered Pokemon on par with Mega Rayquaza in the form of Zacian while trying to say this (and Dynamax) is balanced tells me that the dev team wouldn't know what "balanced" means even if a Machamp hit them with No Guard Dynamicpunch.  I liked megas.  Outside of a few standout examples, it gave bad mons a chance to be good again.  Without megas, nobody would ever use Pokemon like Beedrill, Medicham, Glalie, and Lopunny.  Now that Mega Evolution got the axe, they're all back to being borderline unusable, if they're even put in another game ever again.

The less I also say about the 20 minute battle timer killing 6v6 singles after Ultra Sun and Moon, the better.

...Ahem.  Sorry about that.  I just...like to complain about bad games and bad business decisions that alienate the veteran fanbase for the sake of people who likely won't play the game ever again after the main story (and that's another can of worms too because the stories in this series suck post Gen 5.)