Poll: What is the hardest game you've beaten, and would you have done it today?

[Poised Turtoise]

Hi everyone, so this year has had a lot of discussion over difficulty personally through Sekiro in the gaming community and in my friend circle the awesome but imo completely diabolical Cuphead


Four of us had just beaten cuphead, and all of us absolutely adored and respected the gameplay design, art/animation and music. We were gushing over it but! despite that, myself and one other friend have no idea if we would have done it again especially without a gameclub to keep pushing us.

Now, it is very easy sitting atop my throne of accomplishment and say AAAHH of course I would! All those great memories, the sense of accomplishment! But what I am sure I will soon try to forget is the sense of stress! Cuphead, as my personal most difficult game above all roguelites, retros, splatformers and metroidvanias I've beaten, sent me to my demise a literal 927 times. I was simply not good at this game. As much as the art impressed me my brain had a seriously hard time focusing on what was going on, and for whatever reason was just incredibly slow at picking up on a couple of the bosses in particular, having them alone take me hours (something I only experienced once in Bloodborne).

And honestly, as rewarded I feel, can't say would have done it again. No matter how beautiful a game it almost felt bad for my health. I was so intensely into trying to beat these bosses that my breath would literally be short by the end of the gaming session, and I audibly yelled like twice during my playthrough which for a 25 year old dude that just means you aren't having fun. So in a way it was worth beating, but if I knew what it'd take I probably wouldn't have done it.

How do you guys feel? What is the hardest game you have ever beaten? At the end of the day was it worth it, and would you have done it again today or would you have let it slide?

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

Probably Bloodborne platinum for those last chalice dungeon bosses alone, but some of the other bosses were pretty hard,too. And yes, I would totally do it again, it's one of my favorite games of all time. The thing with hard games is that they have to truly motivate me to go on. And besides Severance: Blade of Darkness, Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry 3 the Soulsborne-games are a prime example for that.

 

[Cess007]

Demon's Souls.

And just like back then, I would hate myself for it D:

 

[Rosebud]

I think I never finished a really hard game, I'm fine with that :p

 

[Pillock]

Ninja Gaiden Black. And no, I couldn't do it today.

 

[Nanashrew]

F-Zero GX story mode, very hard mode. Not sure I can do it again these days, lol.

 

[Necron]

Bloodborne or Sekiro plat?

Yeah, I'd do it again! At least... I think I would.

 

[WellbornWarrior]

F-Zero GX easily.

I just don't have the reflexes or the patience to pull this off anymore. You have to be at your peak to beat the highest difficulties of this game.

 

[Lant_War]

There is a mobile game called Geometry Dash that I used to play quite a bit. The game itself wasn't hard, but the stuff people came with in the lever editor definitely was. I beat what at the time was one of the hardest levels after like, 20 thousand attempts or so (roughly 2000 hours, maybe a little less).

I would never do it again, but it was pretty fun seeing how I progressed.

BTW: that level isn't even in the top 100 hardest levels now. The skill celling of that game got to absurd heights.

 

[Tambini]

Probably world at war veteran (ps3). Don't think I could do it now even if i wanted to, especially not on a controller

 

[Aaron D.]

Prob. going after the GoldenEye 007 (N64) Invincibility cheat unlock.

Invincibility: Facility - 00 Agent - 2:05

Man it took me forever to nab that one over 20 years ago.

No way in hell I could do it today, lol.

 

[Yog-Sothoth]

Probably Ninja Gaiden Black and yes, I'd do it again.

 

[salary0n]

Platinum trophy of Bloodborne, and I would do it again, since I really love Bloodborne, and getting all the trophies is quite fun.

 

[Deleted member 15428]

Life.

 

[Version 3.0]

F-Zero GX story mode, very hard mode. Not sure I can do it again these days, lol.

Click to shrink...

This is probably mine, too. I've done it twice, because I lost my first save file (memory card went bad).

Could I do it again? Yes. Would I? Probably not that game, but if another F-Zero arrived, just as hard, then yes, I would.

Just like I'll beat Cuphead 2, future Souls games, etc.

 

[azeke]

Did La-Mulana, Hell Temple run few years back.

This year did Hard run, primary weapons only.

Might go for 100% sometime next year...

 

[PrimeBeef]

The NES TMNT(cheap artificial difficulty), NES Silver Surfer(cheap artificial difficulty), and NES Battletoads(game was easy, but that one vehicle section was too hard for many).

 

[Finale Fireworker]

The first time I played Bloodborne it was insurmountable. I'd never played a game like Bloodborne before. It was like something out of another universe. It didn't feel like video games were supposed to feel. Everything I was accustomed to games having, or doing, or being, was simply not present in Bloodborne. I took me more than 10 hours of nonstop failure to reach the first boss.

I did so terribly that my weapon degraded, making the experience significantly worse and even harder. But I didn't know that weapon degradation existed, or how it worked, let alone how to fix it (impossible at this point in the game). I consumed all my resources to the point where I was just running pathetically in to a grinder with a broken weapon and zero resources to try to proceed. It was a humiliating experience and the most amount of time I ever wasted trying to enjoy a video game. This was hands down the most difficulty I've ever had playing a video game.

But I went on to platinum Bloodborne, and the Dark Souls trilogy, and no longer consider these games very difficult. So while I don't find the experience difficult today, nothing will beat how hard it was for me at first.

 

[Deleted member 4494]

Probably GoW on GMGOW difficulty. Sekiro, Bloodborne -- always hard but fair, but that difficulty mode nearly ruined the game for me retroactively. I guess I kind of knew what I was getting myself into, but yeah, that shit sucked, and no, I wouldn't do it again.

 

[Bulk_Rate]

Super Hexagon -- although beating that one is mainly a function of putting in the practice time.

And no...would not do it again

Second place is beating all the Merc levels in RE4. I don't think I am capable of that now.

 

[Poised Turtoise]

There is a mobile game called Geometry Dash that I used to play quite a bit. The game itself wasn't hard, but the stuff people came with in the lever editor definitely was. I beat what at the time was one of the hardest levels after like, 20 thousand attempts or so (roughly 2000 hours, maybe a little less).

I would never do it again, but it was pretty fun seeing how I progressed.

BTW: that level isn't even in the top 100 hardest levels now. The skill celling of that game got to absurd heights.

Click to shrink...

Wow, that is absolutely absurd

 

[Skittzo]

Battletoads is probably the game known to be the hardest that I've beaten, but I really don't think it's very hard. It's a lot of memorization and not much else difficulty wise beyond that.

And considering I found Cuphead to be pretty easy I'd probably be fine beating Battletoads again today.


EDIT: Man this thread is making me feel old...

 

[Colfari]

Ninja Gaiden Sigma. It drove me almost mad back then, still don't know how I did it. Demon's Souls was pretty hard as well, but there a couple of fights where you could cheese it.

 

[Dingens]

Something from Atlus, probably one of the Etrian Odysseys? maybe something else. I'm not sure

 

[Gush]

Maybe Tales of Maj Eyal on Roguelike difficulty. Long, long, long game with a lot of chances to fuck up and be set back a dozen or two dozen hours as result, sometimes just because you didn't check a tooltip or pressed a button when you shouldn't have. Don't know if I'd do it again, I'd like to, but the time investment always puts me off before I get anywhere with it especially given that it's no longer a novel experience.

Most other stuff I thought was hard would be much, much easier today than it was at the time. Sekiro and Bloodborne for instance are heavily trivialized once you memorize patterns and strategies. I think I beat Sekiro five or six times and by the end it was a cakewalk so there's no real opportunity to "do it again" the same way it was the first time, though I'm sure I'll return to both sooner than later regardless.

 

[Laser Man]

I want to say Dark Souls and "No", the reason is that I was very easily suckered into grinding mode and that game was grind heaven to me, I look back at that and think I wasted so much time, was fun tho, wouldn't do it again that way at least!

There are probably harder games I've played and finished than Dark Souls in the C64 and Amiga era but those were always rather short in length.

 

[Mupod]

all emblems in Sonic Adventure 2 if that counts. And no, I would not do that again. Ever.

maybe Contra Hard Corps? I don't actually think it's that hard relative to its reputation. Also I did a run through of it last summer and beat it first try (albeit with almost no lives left). Alien Soldier and Thunder Force 4 also both fuckin rule and I'd happily play through them whenever.

 

[Sparks]

Through the Fire and Flames Expert in Guitar Hero 3 (and 100% GH3).

Would I do it again? Hell no. COULD I do it again? HELL no.

 

[Deleted member 4247]

I've grown to enjoy really challenging games in later years (yes, because of Dark Souls), and now play most games on the highest difficulty, whereas earlier I would usually play on Normal. So yeah.

 

[Skittzo]

Through the Fire and Flames Expert in Guitar Hero 3 (and 100% GH3).

Would I do it again? Hell no. COULD I do it again? HELL no.

Click to shrink...

I say this wins.

I tried that once just completely mashing buttons the entire time without any idea of what I was doing and I got 49%.

And had to take 2-3 pause breaks to rest my hands.

 

[Harris Katz]

Probably Bloodborne platinum for those last chalice dungeon bosses alone, but some of the other bosses were pretty hard,too. And yes, I would totally do it again, it's one of my favorite games of all time. The thing with hard games is that they have to truly motivate me to go on. And besides Severance: Blade of Darkness, Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry 3 the Soulsborne-games are a prime example for that.

Click to shrink...

I am with you on this one, my friend! The one Chalice Dungeon boss, Keeper of the Old Lords, drove me INSANE! It took me DOZENS AND DOZENS of attempts to finally beat him. Didn't have nearly that difficult a time on any other bosses in the game. He was so same FAST... That is the one boss that almost prevented me from getting the Platinum -- I almost gave up!

 

[pswii60]

Ninja Gaiden Black. Twice. Sure I'd do it again.

 

[Deleted member 3208]

Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest lunatic classic. Two or three years ago, I believe.

That shit was crazy with maps that were extremely hard, yet it was enjoyable, except Endgame which is basically bullshit.

Would I do it again today? No idea.

 

[Sean]

Huh, I'm not really sure. I don't know how I'd qualify something as the hardest.

Max ranking every difficulty in DMC3 is probably the most effort I ever put into "getting good" at something. The beginning of that game hit me in the face about as hard as Sekiro did, but Sekiro was a breeze after it clicked and an easy peasy Plat. I don't know how much work that would be for me now a days. It might click, it might not. I'd definitely be willing to play the game again and just beat it and that wouldn't take much, but I probably wouldn't go near as far as I did in completing it before.

RIP, PS2 memory cards.

The hardest thing for me to do again *might* be Warcraft 3 on the hardest difficulty since I'm just always pretty bad at RTS and they're really not my thing. Not sure if I could do that again with my hands being such a mess now too. Using a mouse suuuuuuuuuuuuuucks for me. I can play with a controller for way, way longer without having to nope out. I don't think I'd want to do that again and I just actively avoid mouse-only stuff that isn't something slow like point and click or turn-based now.

 

[Deleted member 2618]

Probably DMC4SE on SOS with Vergil. I'm still working on DMD so I probably would have done it today. Granted that was less than a year ago lol.

 

[jelly]

Ninja Gaiden Black. It was hard at times but looking back, I managed fine. Nowadays I don't fancy my chances, I'm slow at driving, slow at fighting games, kinda slow at FPS. Your powers are weak old man.....nothing to add. Would totally give it a go though. I've never been tempted to complete Dark Souls again, that was draining and in recent times.

 

[Gevurztraminer]

Difficulty is relevant for me. Games as a kid are easy now, and some are opposite and become harder over time. One of the hardest for me was cybernator as a kid, only managed to beat it once. I would give it another shot today though, absolutely.

 

[Ceileachair]

Street Fighter 2010, 29 years ago. Me and a buddy did it and no I wouldn't be able to beat the game today, in fact I probably wouldn't get past the first few platforms.

 

[Knight in Shining Armani]

Maybe Ninja Gaiden Sigma on the Vita. Though a lot of that was fighting the controls.

 

[Black_Red]

MGS3 in European extreme, but no, i wouldnt do it again.
I was like 2 weeks fighting against the fury D:

 

[Santar]

I'm not sure what the hardest game would be, but Fume Knight in the Dark Souls 2 DLC is up there for sure, when it comes to hard stuff I've done in games.

 

[Hanbei]

I got the platinum trophy for Max Payne 3. I think I could do it again, but I'd need to practice a little, I'm kind of rusty.

 

[Sgt. Demblant]

I one-credited Contra Hard Corps last year :P
I hated hard games as a kid but I enjoy the challenge much more these days. It's a cliché but honestly, it's the Souls effect.

 

[Professor Beef]

Metal Gear Solid 4, trying to get the Big Boss Emblem, and then doing it again on a fresh save when the trophy patch came out. Extreme isn't too much harder than the other difficulties, but the time limit on the emblem is the only stressor.

 

[RochHoch]

Getting 100% on Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, I guess.

I didn't 200% it though. I don't have the patience for that shit.

That or beating Cuphead. I didn't play that one on hard either, but I'd be willing to both of them again.

 

[Issen]

I don't recall what the hardest game was. Maybe SF3 3rd strike with its bullshit input reading final boss, maybe NES Ninja Gaiden... In general I have done many very hard things in games (fuck you Mario 3D World Champion Road) and I wouldn't do any of it today.

In fact, just a few days ago I reached the optional final challenge in Mario Odyssey and noped the fuck out of it after a few tries, even though I saw a playthrough and it's by far much easier than most Mario endgame challenges, many of which I have already beaten before (Champion's Road wasn't even that long ago).

Wasting a shitload of time I could spend playing other games in my immense backlog just to get hours of frustration in return is just not worth it anymore, "sense of accomplishment" be damned. I already get plenty of unavoidable and frustrating situations in daily adult life, don't need any more of that shit.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

Devil Survivor 1 and SMT3 are two of the hardest JRPGs I've played (and loved). And would happily play them now, heck SMT3 is still one of my top favourite games ever, so is Bloodborne even though that game kicked my arse too especially the Old Hunters.

Dark Souls 2 as well was really hard I felt. Think I actually might have died in that Souls game than any other due to the randomness of some of the level design and how slippery movement was in that game.

Rocket Knight Adventures on Sega Mega Drive on very hard was incredibly difficult but I beat it several times over the years. One hit KO! And I still look back fondly on that game.

The most brutally hard survival horror game I've ever played has to be the first Forbidden Siren on PS2. That game is insane! Died so many times.

 

[Deleted member 51248]

Reach Legendary Solo, it was a slog at times (especially sections in the later missions as there's less friendly AI around to help), not sure ill revisit it at that difficulty again when it gets put on MCC.

Mass effect 1 and 2 on Insanity, at this stage ill be more likely to revisit them on the casual difficulty.

 

[DontHateTheBacon]

Considering I just did it about 3 months ago, yeah, I'd do it again. Probably wouldn't be as hard this time. (Sekiro)

 

[super-famicom]

I beat MGS Revengeance on the hardest difficulty at launch. I think I could do it again.