Hardest game you never beat (i.e., without cheats).

[EnigmaticParadigm]

This game by far.

Urge to kil...rising.

[Soygen]

Not going to lie. I never beat it either.

[Kobalt]

Contra alien wars. I played it recently and doesn't seem that bad but when I was a kid it seemd hard as fuck. I don't think I ever got past the first level.

[Arakkis]

Ugh, fuck these games and their state of the art high resolution graphics.

[EnigmaticParadigm]

I beat Ninja Gaiden only one time, but I think it was due to stupid luck combined with overactive twich jumping. The game was horrid due to the fact that if you backtracked AT ALL, the enemies you just defeated would magically reappear and knock you off a fucking ledge. Fuck that game.

Mega Man was pretty easy for me, though.

[meStevo]

I could never beat the last boss in Gyruss.

[Necrolyte]

Ghosts and Goblins was tough.

A slightly rarer hard game was Pocky & Rocky for the SNES.

[Laladilya]

Battletoads gets my submission. It was unfair, but cool enough that I actually did want to beat it. Farthest I ever got was an ice level I think. I watched a speed run of it not too long ago, I can't believe it got past playtesters in the state its difficulty is in.

Fuck Ghosts and Goblins though. It wasn't even fun. I never got passed the first area I don't think. That was one of the few games I felt like I wasted a rental on.

I did beat Ninja Gaiden and Mega Man. Ninja Gaiden isn't too bad till you get to one of the last levels that's fairly long and has shit coming at you from all over and if you die you start over. I had basically the entire game memorized by the time I could beat it. I don't think I've played a Mega Man that I didn't beat. Side Note: I've always wondered what they were thinking with the Mega Man 1 and 2 box-art. Mega Man 1's is just awful, its not even a very good painting. =/

Edit: Forgot Dragon's Lair on the NES. Thats probably even worse than Ghosts n' Goblins. I wasn't ever very good at Marble Madness either.

[Nendyen]

NES: Battletoads, Ghost n' Goblins, Golgo 13, Gauntlet (not hard, just too long).

SNES: Super Ghouls n' Ghosts, Battletoads & Double Dragon.

N64: Perfect Dark was a bit of a bitch. Castlevania 64 was tough, mostly because of the fucking horrible camera angles.

[CylusSoulreaver]

I fucking dare you to find a harder level, outside of Ninja Gaiden, than this driving part of Bayou Billy...

And I only mention NG out of respect.


Bayou Billy is probably the only game that I gave up on beating.

[Hooby]

Battle Toads will probably be a popular one. Another one that bested me was solomon's key... might give it another play if I ever dig out the NES.

[chaos]

I beat Battletoads after weeks of play, but I never beat Ghosts n' Goblins and I don't care. Fuck that game.

I never beat Ikaruga, I bought it because it looked awesome, then the game handed me my ass repeatedly until I just gave up.

[Thhin]

odd, i beat ghosts and goblins but only once made it past the racing part of battletoads. seriously fuck that game... though it was fun as hell in multiplayer beating the shit out of each other.

[CylusSoulreaver]

Battletoads?

[Salshun]

My submittions:

Never Beat

Landing on the aircraft carrier in NES Top Gun, never could knock Mike Tyson out, Ecco the Dolphin on the Genesis, E.T. on the Atari only because it wasn't possible.

In terms of hard games I have beat.

Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox. I've never played a game with a more bad ass learning curve. When you first start you keep telling yourself that the game was just made poorly and that it just stupid hard. As you play though you realize "hey, I'm getting better at this!". You start learning how to move better, when to retreat and when to advance, etc. By the time you've beaten the game the player you are then could go back to the player you were when you first started playing and beat him 6 kinds of stupid.

Also, when you get that move where you jump up and rapidly fly forward, lopping heads off, the game just opens up. That one single move just changes the game. Without it, I don't think I could have beaten it.

I watched some game play videos of Ninja Gaiden 2 and it just looks fucking nuts; like getting rushed by 20 guys and literally a 6-7 minute fight ensuing.