The Most Difficult Video Games Of All Time

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home March 15, 2025 45 Views 19 Min Read
The Most Difficult Video Games Of All Time



Summary

  • Video games offer a sense of accomplishment by conquering difficult challenges.
  • Historical difficulty in video games, like Super Punch-Out, appeals to many audiences.
  • Modern and classic games like Demon’s Souls and Ninja Gaiden 2 push the boundaries of difficulty.

One thing that sets apart video games from other forms of art is that you can actually accomplish something when engaging in it. You can get a speedrun world record, get a new high score, or be the number one player in the country.

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Ash Williams (Evil Dead: The Game) standing alongside Akuma (Street Fighter). A poster depicting characters from Crypt of The NecroDancer is overlaid behind them.

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The feeling of accomplishment comes into play when looking at video game difficulty. Historically, video games have always been difficult since the arcade days, as titles wanted to eat up as many quarters as possible. Difficult games still appeal to a lot of audiences, but certain titles come along that push things to that extra mile.

Updated on March 15, 2025, by Dominic Allen: There have been so many hard games throughout the history of the medium that there’s definitely more than ten. Hard games popular now, like Elden Ring, have nothing on the truly hardest titles out there. They can be from any decade, as each generation has its fair share of brutal titles. Some games you’ve probably never heard of before, while others are well-known and deserve their reputation.

13

Arcade Super Punch-Out!!

Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out Ain’t Got Nothing On This Game

Fight number six in Arcade Super Punch-Out.

Release Year

Platforms

Developer

Publisher

1984

Arcade, Nintendo Switch

Nintendo R&D3

Nintendo

A common game listed as one of the hardest of all time would be Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out. Sure, Mike Tyson’s incredibly tough, but he doesn’t hold a candle to Super Macho Man three in Arcade Super Punch-Out. Right off the bat, this game’s harder for two reasons.

One, the controls aren’t as solid as the console games, as you must manually move between head and body shots, and second, the AI is brutally unfair. It’s far more reactive and unpredictable than other installments. If you want to fully complete all the fights, even with save states, be prepared to spend days. Super Macho Man three can do his spin punch lightning fast and can do 13 spin punches in a row after knockdown.

12

Ghosts ‘N Goblins

The Savage 2D Platformer That Started It All

Today, Capcom’s Ghosts ‘n Goblins series is well known for its brutal difficulty, and the hardest title would be the original because it introduced the series’ infamous dirty trick. The game’s already ridiculously hard even when you get to level two, but since it plays great, many at the time decided to stick with it.

Once you beat the final boss, you’ll discover the game’s not over yet, and you must beat a second loop to see the real ending. The funny thing is that, in the arcades, this was more of a reward for skilled, hardened players, while on the home consoles, this couldn’t have felt more like a massive middle finger. For many, this seemed like a cruel joke and is a surprise you can’t say about the sequels.

11

Battletoads

A One-Of-A-Kind Difficult Game

Blasting through the Turbo Tunnel in Battletoads.

Battletoads absolutely earns its reputation as one of the hardest titles ever, primarily due to one factor: the game’s constantly changing. Virtually every level has a new gimmick, and might as well be an entirely different game.

You’ll have to be skilled at all these different gameplay elements, whether it’s the turbo tunnel, dodging electric beams, riding snakes, or the obligatory water level. Even when you get to the second to last stage, you’ll have to play a wheel race against a glowing void. There are a few brief, easy spots, but for the most part, it’s a hectic journey from start to finish, unlike any other NES game.

10

Contra: Hard Corps International Version

Just Too Hard, Even For A Contra Game

Back in the day, Japanese game publishers often made the USA and European versions of titles significantly harder, primarily because they didn’t want you beating it in a rental. Contra: Hard Corps for the Genesis is the best example of this. The title was designed with a health bar in mind, leading to Contra: Hard Corps being much more hectic than any other Contra game seen before.

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In the international versions of the game, however, you only have one hit again, and only five continues compared to unlimited in the original version. This makes the game way too hard, to the point where even Contra veterans will doubt if they can beat it.

9

Super Monkey Ball 1

60 Expert Levels With Only Three Lives?

MeeMee rolling through a blue and cyan checkered maze in Super Monkey Ball.

Super Monkey Ball is notorious for its brutal difficulty, but nothing will ever top the challenge seen in the GameCube original. Beating Super Monkey Ball 1 to its conclusion in the Master stages is for the truly elite. Unlike Monkey Ball 2, you can’t buy lives in this game, so you’re stuck with three and however many you earn through bananas.

This proves to be a major problem when getting to the Master stages because you’ll have to beat 50 Expert levels and the ten extra levels without getting a game over. Some of the Expert stages are the hardest in the series, and beating them all with so few lives is ludicrous.

8

Ninja Gaiden 2

One Of The Hardest And Greatest Action Games Ever Made

Time and time again, a Souls veteran will jump onto an action game forum, describe their interest in Ninja Gaiden, and subsequently get steamrolled. Ninja Gaiden 2, unlike a Souls game, is heavily reaction-focused and fast-paced. It’s still, to this day, one of the fastest action games ever, and on Master Ninja, you can die in a split second.

The Incendiary Shuriken Ninjas will force you to learn the high offensive, fast-paced nature because if you’re slow, you’ll have ten explosives in you before you know it. Despite how savage Master Ninja difficulty is, there are tactics to make it easier. You can chain Ultimate Techniques in most fights and overuse Ninpo, but even with these strats, it’s still one of the hardest and most demanding games ever.

This is for the 2008 Xbox 360 Ninja Gaiden 2. Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 or Ninja Gaiden 2 Black are a joke in comparison.

7

Demon’s Souls

The First Souls Game Was Also The Hardest

If you’re a modern gamer, Souls is what you probably first think of when discussing hard games. In reality, most of the Souls titles aren’t anywhere near an all-time hard level due to their RPG and slow nature. The first title, Demon’s Souls, on the other hand, is an entirely different story.

demons souls armors

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There are two big factors that make this game harder than the rest. One is that your healing items are limited and aren’t free refills once you rest at a bonfire. In fact, there are no bonfires present in Demon’s Souls. Every time you die in human form, it affects the World Tendency, making the game even harder. In Itagaki fashion, if you thought the game was too difficult, well, it gets even more difficult.

6

Touhou Seirensen – Undefined Fantastic Object

You Have No Chance

Playing the first level of Touhou Seirensen - Undefined Fantastic Object.

Release Year

Platforms

Developer

Publisher

2009

PC

Team Shanghai Alice

Team Shanghai Alice

You can’t leave out the bullet hell genre when discussing the hardest games, and Touhou Seirensen – Undefined Fantastic Object is the most infamous. Even in Easy mode, this game’s brutal as all hell, but crank it up to Lunatic difficulty, and most will simply give up.

What really elevates UFO into legendary status is that a joke ransomware was created years later that forced users to get 200 million points on Lunatic mode to decrypt their files. Even though you can technically do it, it’s so unearthly difficult that most victims are supposed to be stuck with their files encrypted.

5

Vanquish

God Hard Is Not To Be Messed With

Vanquish is already a pretty challenging game, even on Normal. A ton of parts will give you trouble, but what makes Vanquish an all-time hard game would be God Hard difficulty. The developers knew this mode was bad because there were no achievements tied to it whatsoever.

It really makes all the lower difficulties seem like Easy mode in comparison. First off, you’ll die quicker, but your trusty and handy AR mode has got its timer cut down significantly. This puts you to the absolute test, and the weapon upgrading system’s also gone. God Hard is for hardcore action game experts only.

4

Super Meat Boy

A Tough As Nails 2D Platformer With Controls Like No Other

One of the most acclaimed Xbox Live Arcade titles was Super Meat Boy. In this 2D retro-inspired platformer, where you play as a little clump of meat, you slip and slide through some of the hardest 2D platformer levels of the generation. What makes Super Meat Boy an all-time hard game is the controls.

When you look at Ninja Gaiden 2, anybody can pick up and play that game, but with Super Meat Boy, some will just not get the controls down. Movement is super slippery, on purpose, of course, but it’s completely counterintuitive to every other platformer you’ve played. The fact that many people won’t click with the controls here makes the title significantly harder than a game like Bionic Commando, which is much easier to understand.

3

Cloudberry Kingdom

You Won’t Pass The Last Two Levels Of This Game

Single-player action in a lava level in Cloudberry Kingdom.

The difficulty of Cloudberry Kingdom almost seems like a troll. The base campaign is moderately challenging, but when you get to chapter seven, it gets ridiculously tough. You can still succeed if you put in the time. Chapter seven starts at level 241, and you’ll struggle and put in hours until you get to the second to last stage, level 319.

From left to right: Raz with an NPC from Psychonauts, King Dice from Cuphead, and Mario with some NPCs from Super Mario Odyssey

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This is when your progression will stop dead in its tracks. Even with slo-mo on, the difficulty is so high you’d think it’s a custom-created level, not an official one. To put things in perspective, the number of people you’ve gotten the achievement for clearing chapter seven is in the low double digits.

2

Darkest Dungeon

An RPG Like No Other

Jester stabbing an enemy in front of him in Darkest Dungeon.

The thing about RPGs is that, since you can grind for experience, it’s really hard for a game to be an all-time difficult title. That’s why Demon’s Souls had to do different things to be considered, and Darkest Dungeon would also be applicable. From the get-go, the battles and encounters are already super tough, but the stress mechanic pushes Darkest Dungeon over the edge.

It’s not a normal affliction system you’re commonly used to in RPGs, as you’ll manage it constantly while dealing with these brutal fights. Of course, death is permanent, and while this may not be a problem in other RPG titles, it’s especially brutal in Darkest Dungeon when everything is already going against you.

1

Trials Rising

Some Of The Hardest Levels In All Of Gaming

For the longest time, ninja tracks were a community aspect of Trials and were never officially put in by RedLynx or Ubisoft. Sure, there were hidden ninja tracks in Fusion, but those were more Easter eggs than anything. Trials Rising brought official ninja tracks full-force into the series, making this one of the hardest games of all time to fully complete.

Once people get to Green Belt, most will quit because it’s such a huge difficulty spike. With time put in, you can pass these, but nothing will prepare you for Black Belt. The hardest track in the series is a 12-checkpoint gauntlet that can take hundreds of hours of practice to finish under the 30-minute timer.

The start of CP10 of Black Belt in Trials Rising

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