Nintendo hard was almost a guarantee during the NES era, when games would constantly seek to break your spirit (in a fun way). As most titles were pretty short, they used to make up for that by being pretty darn difficult, just to ensure most players wouldn’t complete them in roughly 30 minutes. Even decades later, most of the hardest games of all time date back to the industry’s earliest days, particularly the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Now, “hard” games come in two different modes: intentional and broken. The latter covers NES games like Silver Surfer and The Adventures of Bayou Bill, both of which are painfully difficult because of mechanical defects rather than genuine challenge. Meanwhile, internationally hard NES games make for a far more fascinating group, and that’s the one we will focus on today.
7
Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse Is Harder In The United States
That Said, Every Version Is Difficult
We hear stories about Japanese developers tweaking their games so they are easier for a Western audience, but the reverse has also happened. Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse sits among the most famous examples, as Konami ramped up the challenge for the US release, mainly to reduce the odds that people could rent and complete the campaign quickly. Changes include swapping Grant’s throwing knife for a stabbing one, harder enemies and bosses, and a revamped damage system. In the Japanese version, each enemy hits for a specific amount of damage; in the Western version, damage increases per stage.
Even if we stuck to the Japanese version, Castlevania III would still be a contender for the hardest NES game, as it still packs one hell of a punch. The combat revolves entirely around learning enemy movement and deliberate action, where you cannot just correct course halfway through a motion. Then you have branching paths that rely on picking the right companion, and a final few stages that are absurdly difficult.
6
Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! Delivers On Its Promise
When You Step In The Ring With The Champ, You Need To Bring Your Best
Really, it only takes one section to transform an easy game into a hard one, and the NES is absolutely stuffed with examples of this phenomenon. TMNT is a fairly infamous case, but the dam level is more tedious than downright difficult; conversely, Mike Tyson is very much that boss in Punch-Out!!
A rhythm game masquerading as a sports one, Nintendo’s classic is all about reacting to the enemy’s strikes and feints, giving yourself an opportunity to hit a counter. Each new opponent introduces new moves, shakes up their rhythm, and gets progressively harder, culminating in a fight with the champ himself. Mike Tyson gives you absolutely no room to breathe or make mistakes, and you will almost certainly die a few dozen times before you take the belt, if you ever manage to do so.
5
Super Mario Bros. 2 Was Too Much For North America
The Lost Levels Represents Mario At Its Cruelest
After crafting the most highly anticipated sequel on the NES, Nintendo decided that Super Mario Bros. 2 was just too hard for North America, so it reskinned Doki Doki Panic and shipped it as the new Mario game instead. Eventually, Western players got to experience the fabled soul-crushing sequel in the form of The Lost Levels, and by god did it live up to its reputation.
Undermining many of the safety measures of the first game, Super Mario Bros. 2 is arguably the only entry in the franchise that seems like it was deliberately created to punish players with fond memories of past games. You could pick up a poison mushroom, find a warp pipe that sends you to your demise, or be killed by enemies who don’t act the way you expected. The Lost Levels is closer to a puzzle-platformer than either its predecessor or successor.
4
Solomon’s Key Is A NES Escape Room Game
Puzzle Games Were Always Hard
Look, I suck at most puzzle games. Don’t get me wrong, I play and enjoy them, but my brain doesn’t seem to work in a way that fits these types of releases. Therefore, I might just be uniquely bad at Solomon’s Key, as I find this game to be so bloody hard. Even removing my weird bias, I feel this game qualifies as one of the hardest on the NES.
As a wizard, you play through locked rooms, with the goal being to find a key and open the door while avoiding enemies. Naturally, the process is quite complicated, especially since you only really have one ability: the wizard can create blocks. Blocks act as steps, protective walls, and redirection tools, and it is very easy to accidentally trap yourself in a no-escape situation.
3
Ninja Gaiden Is Ninja Gaiden
Ryu Never Had It Easy
OK, let’s get to the “duh” games now. Ninja Gaiden is hard. You know this, I know this, everyone knows this. Unlike so many hack-and-slash releases from this era, Tecmo didn’t rely on frustrating or unresponsive controls to artificially ramp up the challenge level; in fact, Ryu feels remarkably fluid and satisfying to maneuver, ensuring that the ninja always acts exactly as you want them to.
Consequently, whenever a player dies, they always feel 100% at fault, and they will die a lot. Tecmo made up for the perfect controls with aggressive, plentiful enemies who have a habit of just materializing out of thin air. As strong as Ryu is, he has plenty of blind spots and weak spots that make him vulnerable to counter-attacks or dumb moves, and failing to think ahead guarantees death.
2
Battletoads Is All Flavors Of Hard
A Rare Achievement
While Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles didn’t make the cut, Rare’s attempt at a competitor, Battletoads, certainly belongs among the very hardest games on the NES. Although some sections are more punishing than others, Battletoads‘ most brutal element is its refusal to stick to a single genre.
The campaign constantly introduces new mechanics that ensure players never really grow that comfortable with any, at least during their first playthrough. The speeder bike segments in Stages 3 and 11 tend to attract most of the limelight as they are the hardest part of Battletoads, but the rest of the campaign is pretty darn challenging in its own right.
1
Ghosts ‘n Goblins Sends You To Hell
The Hardest Game On The NES… Or Ever?
Completing the ‘duh’ trifecta, Ghosts ‘n Goblins is the hardest game on the NES. You know that you are in for a rough time if your first death happens on the literal first playable screen, as the game instantly lets you know that anything less than 100% at all times will not be enough.
Taking exactly two hits to become a skeleton, Arthur goes down easy, and he immediately faces absurd threats. Like Castlevania, Ghosts ‘n Goblins forces you to commit to every jump or climb, with no option to pull back on a leap in midair if you realize that you’ve made a grave mistake. Enemies are not only incredibly aggressive, but they are also reactive by the standards of the era.
As an added bonus, Ghosts ‘n Goblins throws out a twist by revealing that the Stage 6 boss isn’t actually the final one, before challenging players to complete the campaign on a harder difficulty to unlock the real ending.
