The 25 hardest video games of all time
Marlene Breverman stashed this in Gaming
As the industry has grown, the big titles have moved towards toning down the difficulty, in order to give a smooth experience to as wide a range of players as possible. Nowadays, if you want a real challenge, you have to select “hard” mode, which usually just means more enemies and less ammo. But difficulty is at its best when it’s an intrinsic part of the design: players have to think about the game in another way – and earn their progress.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/18/the-25-hardest-video-games-of-all-time
Stashed in: Gamers!, Games, Gaming
Passionate Comments - eg, "I received Rick Dangerous II for my 9th birthday in 1991. I completed it two years ago, at the age of 32. It was one of the best days of my life."
the insane difficulty of Ninja Gaiden was its appeal to me and the last intrinsically difficult game I believe I have played. games now are just grind machines and don't have deep puzzles or benefit to planning your resource use several levels in advance.
This version? Ninja Gaiden II (Tecmo Koei, 2008)
Challenge was always part of the Ninja Gaiden series, but 2008’s Ninja Gaiden II hit a new peak of demanding insanity. These enemies rough-house the player on even “normal” difficulty but, once the setting is at Master Ninja, they attack relentlessly with brutal health-chewing grabs and projectiles. In later levels, foes have cannons for arms that are fire with unerring precision and regularity. It’s impossible to survive at times, nevermind kill anything. Naturally, the internet means someone has done the whole thing in four hours without being hit once.
I have to respect a tenacious ability to play a game for 23 years.
All the Ninja Gaidens do sound maddeningly difficult.
exactly, that game was engrossing!
It's funny to think that difficult == engrossing. Some people love a good challenge!
It's being able to choose your challenges that can make them engrossing/fun.
Yes, unlike life where you're stuck dealing with the challenges foisted on you.
8:44 AM Mar 18 2016