I'm aware there's a current topic asking people what are the easiest and hardest games they ever played. But my idea is a little different, I want to know which games are hard and why are they so hard for you. Also, with all the answers, maybe try to see if there's a pattern for that (my bet is that most of ther hardest games ever were made in the 80's.
But a few notes: please keep this limited to comercial games. I know "I wanna be the guy" is probably one of the most difficult ever made, but the entire purpose of it is being hard! I wan't to know about games who are hard, but were meant to be played (or at lest bought by someone, thinking they could DARE to play!).
Also, letīs limit it to "default dificulty". Or else everybody will say "Doom on Nightmare level" or something, but then you are playing for the purpose of getting a hard game, and that's not the idea!

Ninja gained 2. It takes a lot to play. The enemies are horrible, they kill you very quickly if you are not careful. The bosses are horrible too.

I remember the werewolf boss. after a while if trying to stay away from him and attack when he was open, i barely killed him. That was not the end though, then i had to hold off against like 50 of them for a minute. Horrible.

Not sure if this falls into your category, but a Flash game called N.
Has no difficulty setting apart from 'Complete and utter bastard!' hard.
It's hard because you have to be inch-perfect in your movements and timing. 0.001 second off, BAM, you're gone.

imahobbit4062:
The fucking search bar.
Can we please have some ORIGINAL threads and not the same (Insert Random Type) Game Ever?

Calm Down. No one asked you to read the thread.

Anyway, Max Payne is ass-to-the-wall hard. FarCry 2 on Infamous is pretty hard too (sniper ftw).

I found Mass Effect bloody hard for a while.
Then i figured out that the combat required tactics instead of my usual rambo-style fighting...
*is embarrassed*

Emilie Diabolica:
I found Mass Effect bloody hard for a while.
Then i figured out that the combat required tactics instead of my usual rambo-style fighting...
*is embarrassed*

Really? I was breezing through it on the hardest difficulty. But then again, I AM pretty awesome.

(Joking. Kind of.)

OT: the new Turok was pretty hard, especially in the level that was full of raptors, had no lighting, and was pretty much a maze to begin with.

Super Ghouls and Goblins

Fuck you for ruining my childhood

Emilie Diabolica:
I found Mass Effect bloody hard for a while.
Then i figured out that the combat required tactics instead of my usual rambo-style fighting...
*is embarrassed*

Yeah I found that out the hard way too. :D

Battlestar galactica on ps2.
at least 15-20 minutes per mission, no checkpoints AT ALL.
frak up the end, restart the whole damn thing.
bought it about 4 years ago, supposed to have 4 flyable ships, i've used ONE.
playing on the easiest difficulty available.
even tried it a couple months ago, still pretty hard, lost my one save game that was about 1/4 done, i still have no clue how long the game is/what the later missions are like.

sasquatch99:
Not sure if this falls into your category, but a Flash game called N.
Has no difficulty setting apart from 'Complete and utter bastard!' hard.
It's hard because you have to be inch-perfect in your movements and timing. 0.001 second off, BAM, you're gone.

Ah N. On my D drive this very moment =D

Ghosts and Goblins is ridiculous.

Emilie Diabolica:
I found Mass Effect bloody hard for a while.
Then i figured out that the combat required tactics instead of my usual rambo-style fighting...
*is embarrassed*

I think Mass Effect was hard in terms of just getting into it. The pace in the beginning is kind of slow, and The first time I played it I wasn't familiar with Bioware's way of doing things and got bogged down in the story. Thankfully I gave it a second chance, though.

As for me, I think the hardest game I've played was Super Star Wars for the SNES. Laugh as you might, but to this day I typically cant get much further than the 6-7th level.

I gotta say Crimson sea 2 for the PS2, it seems easy at first, but they don't tell you you get two people to play as so you waste all your upgrades on the first guy, then the chick is terrible, and she gets the really hard balls to the wall crap, like trying to sneak past a million invincible enemies. it's a run and gun like devil may cry in case your wondering.

Many...MANY games have been really hard, so im going to say FarCry 1&2 because it is fricking stupid how i can be hiding a million bajillion miles away, and yet i am still able to shot by a guy with a handgun and die! THAT IS A LIE, there is no way a human has xray vision. I know how they say make good A.I but thats just drop dead retarded

Demon's Souls is mightily hard, but mightily satisfying. Ohhhhh, to hear the deafening thump of a mighty dragon with 2 harpoons in its eyes falling to it's death after dieing 20 times myself at it's claws is oh so satisfying

i would have to say star ocean:till the end of time.....the battle system put you in a position that if you didn't have 100% focus on what you need to do you were gone... not to mention the chain system... once you were to a certain point in that game if you didn't keep your chain up it would take forever to lvl and move on ....god i love that game

A game my friend made called the third reality. I played it on casual difficulty (easiest out of 5 difficulties) and it was fair. Past that, you're screwed. I played it on casual and beat it then on the next level up, average and couldn't beat the 6th level out of 10. That level was so damn hard though.
The game was a sidescrolling platformer/shooter and you have to find 3 keys to open a portal to the third reality and stop a demon. It was pretty complicated story wise and I don't feel like going into it. The 6th level was a race to the 2nd key, in the center of a enormous room filled with stacked, metallic cubes.
As you made your way to the center, fighting enemies as you went, the cubes began to shift and move around, rolling like dice. It got so insanely hard because the enemies were really tough (fireball lobbing demons who could fly and had swords coming out of their arms) but you still had to focus on the platforming because the platforms moved and on top of all that you had limited time. If you didn't reach the key in time the demon prince would arrive and take it.
The reason it was so hard is because my friend made it. He likes a challenge, so he makes his games hard enough to be difficult for him. That leads to problems because not only is he insane at games in general, but he made the game and knows the best way to beat it. Even he can't beat the last level on the final difficulty (uber). By the way, the last level is fighting the archdemon, who not only is near impossible by himself, but has 3 demon princes protecting him as well as a swarm of demons from the 6th level. The 7th level's boss was fighting ONE demon prince. God, even on casual that last level was evil. I counted and it took me 17 tries to beat it. Man, my friend is sadistic.

Apparently no one here has played F-Zero GX for the Gamecube.

70n3wy012k:
i would have to say star ocean:till the end of time.....the battle system put you in a position that if you didn't have 100% focus on what you need to do you were gone... not to mention the chain system... once you were to a certain point in that game if you didn't keep your chain up it would take forever to lvl and move on ....god i love that game

I actually thought that gam was pretty easy. You can beat the entire game without leveling up.

Ghosts and Ghouls has my vote for a stupidly difficult and cheap game. Demon's Souls gets my vote for most challenging to the player's skill development, and most rewarding.

The NES version of Battletoads is a worthy mention, as well.

Battletoads was impossible.

The correct answer is search bar the game.
In all seriousness though, Metal Slug 3.

EClaris:
Super Ghouls and Goblins

Fuck you for ruining my childhood

This. I just beat it for the first time about a year ago. It was a bitch to use that fucking bracelet as a weapon. What the fuck kind of bullshit move is that?

Ninja Gaiden is an extremely close second. I couldn't even make it pass the first level. Oh and its Super Ghouls and Ghosts.

Jumplion:
Demon's Souls is mightily hard, but mightily satisfying. Ohhhhh, to hear the deafening thump of a mighty dragon with 2 harpoons in its eyes falling to it's death after dieing 20 times myself at it's claws is oh so satisfying

This too. Demon's Souls isn't so much as "hard" but just infuriating. It wouldn't be so bad if there were checkpoints. That's bullshit when you have to start the whole goddamn level over when you die. The no pause menu thing pisses me off too. I once had to go to the bathroom so I just let it sit for a second and when I came back, I had died. Twice.

I don't know "Wizardry: Return Of Wenda" was a game released as part of a contest of sorts by the company to see who could beat it, and the fact that they refused to publish a strategy guide was a big deal.

Truth be told though given my FPS reflexs I'd probably nominate the whole genere in a personal sense... still wind up playing more of them than I'd like to admit though. Just got Left 4 Dead 2 for like $5, first one I've played since Bioshock unless you count RPG hybrids like Borderlands.

-snip-

This too. Demon's Souls isn't so much as "hard" but just infuriating. It wouldn't be so bad if there were checkpoints. That's bullshit when you have to start the whole goddamn level over when you die. The no pause menu thing pisses me off too. I once had to go to the bathroom so I just let it sit for a second and when I came back, I had died. Twice.[/quote]

I think you can't pause because it's an online game. I haven't tested it offline though, so I'm probably wrong.

sasquatch99:
Not sure if this falls into your category, but a Flash game called N.
Has no difficulty setting apart from 'Complete and utter bastard!' hard.
It's hard because you have to be inch-perfect in your movements and timing. 0.001 second off, BAM, you're gone.

I beat N after about 3 years of on-and-off playing. I think my final death tally was around 4,000, probably higher.

I say Far Cry 2 is up there, as well as a last-gen game "Haven: Call of the King"; there was one level that i'm pretty sure was impossible

Apparently using the search bar is the hardest game ever, no one seems to be able to beat it.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.110112#1900510
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.115179#2121482
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.117562#2226815
for example

Anyways, instead of being an asshole "I wanna be the guy" is the hardest game for me. If you haven't played it you haven't played hard as far as I'm concerned. Silver Surfer on the NES was quite difficult too, but it's got nothing on I wanna be the guy.

AC10:
"I wanna be the guy" is the hardest game for me.

That one's a doozy.

Life.....Ha Ha Ha just kidding LOL!
No, but THIS GAME below in the picture is proveing very hard for me...

And yes, it's real!

But I'll crack it dag nabit!

Lester the unlikely. A boy and his blob (the original NES version)

Juven Ignus:
-snip-

This too. Demon's Souls isn't so much as "hard" but just infuriating. It wouldn't be so bad if there were checkpoints. That's bullshit when you have to start the whole goddamn level over when you die. The no pause menu thing pisses me off too. I once had to go to the bathroom so I just let it sit for a second and when I came back, I had died. Twice.

I think you can't pause because it's an online game. I haven't tested it offline though, so I'm probably wrong.[/quote]

No, no pauses whatsoever, not even if you press the PS button. It's supposed to make you think of what you want to equip and such before continuing since you only have 4 available slots. It'd be cheap if you could just pause the game, switch out your catalyst for a bow, and unpause. It's much more intense when you're doing it while running away from a hugeass enemy/blackphantom and all the more satisfying when you pull it off.

Oh That F'n Warrior in Prince of Persia which makes the game unbeatable to me. Yeah, It's that bad for me. I mean I've had some bad ones but if I kept at it, I'd win. But not with the Warrior. Just terrible!

Fucking Ninja Gaiden 2, I couldn't even beat the game on the easiest difficulty.
I hate games that emasculate me.

Battletoads. That bitch is impossible.

would have to say myst and riven. not sure if it was the lack of ingame dialogue, lack of in game help. or the fact i was like 12 when i played them. but it's hard to argue that they are 2 of the most difficult puzzle games out there.