So hard it's unplayable...

[ultrageek]

Hey..  I'm asking folks to name games (in MAME of course) that are so difficult that they are mostly unplayable.

This would be true for the "real" cabinets as well, not just MAME.

The reasoning behind this is that my friend and I played a game some time ago, that was so impossible to play it just killed us.  We were laughing so hard it hurt.

But I can't remember what game it was.

It wasn't a fighter (Street Fighter) nor do I believe it was a vertical/horizontal shooter (shmups) . (only 90%) on this one though.

-Ultrageek

[leapinlew]

some people (myself included) struggle with Crazy Climber. Zwackery is near impossible without the right controls.

[TOK]

Defender and Stargate often get tagged with this. The first time you play Defender, you're lucky to get a 30 second game and 300 points.

One game that I found very difficult was Ajax. Its a cool game that has different perspectives (either top down or behind the player), but its punishing to play. One of those games that makes you start over when you screw up.

Another game that is tough because it fills the screen with bullets and enemies is called Mars Matrix:Hyper Solid Shooting. It's actually very fun even though its crazy.

[massive88]

Ghosts 'n Goblins

[Minwah]

I find most old games (pre '84/85 ish) are generally pretty hard, and require a lot of patience.

I wouldn't know where to start in naming specific games though!

[ultrageek]

For some reason, I remember it being a game along the lines of "Jumping Jack".  One with that play style.

"My mind is going, Dave.  I can feel it."

[protokatie]

Ghosts 'n Goblins

Hard. Yes. So hard it is unplayable. NO! This is actually one of the few games I got far in without spending too much money.
Regardless, it IS hard, but every second is worth playing.
(I'm not dismissing your claim tho, just giving my own account)

[massive88]

Ghosts 'n Goblins

Hard. Yes. So hard it is unplayable. NO! This is actually one of the few games I got far in without spending too much money.
Regardless, it IS hard, but every second is worth playing.
(I'm not dismissing your claim tho, just giving my own account)

Well, I personally think there is no game too hard to be unplayable.  There are fun and un-fun games.  If the game is fun, it doesnt matter how hard it is.

Ghosts 'n Goblins - Arcade
Battletoads - NES
Ikaruga - Dreamcast

Those are all some of my favorite games, that are all brutally hard.  But since they are all fun they drive me to play them more and progress.

[mj147]

Hehe gotta agree on Defender and Ghosts n goblins. Nice grafx (for their time) and sounds but both were made to eat quarters after the initial stages. 



mj147

[Namco]

Dragon's Lair & Space Ace with their $.50 per credit and trial and error gameplay. F those games. Loved 'em as a kid, but F' em now, man. My pea brain can't play them anymore.

[Jack Burton]

Haunted Castle.

It's actually a Castlevania game.  The worst one.

[protokatie]

Haunted Castle.

It's actually a Castlevania game.  The worst one.

Please give some links. I used to be a castlevania fan back in teh NES deys. Never heard of this one before (I could look it up, but for forum discussion I want you to post it ) Is it really castlevania? Or just so much like it you scream "Simon's Quest" everytime you have to put a new quarter in....?

[TOK]

Haunted Castle.

It's actually a Castlevania game.  The worst one.

I played this one to see what was up when I saw the board going for over 400 bucks on Ebay.
Definitely a frustratingly hard game. Good call.

[NoOne=NBA=]

This far in, and nobody's mentioned Sinistar?
Round 1 isn't too bad.....

[Trebeck]

The ones that were unplayable were the ones that had the difficulty jacked in the settings.  Damn greedy owners.  I remember being completely spanked by mortal kombat when I first played it.
Also, Jailbreak.

[Aabra]

Ghosts 'n Goblins

Definitely not so hard that it's unplayable.  Incredibly hard game?  Yes.  But I can get up to the 5th level consistently on 1 quarter.  After that... well.....  I've tried many times but there's no way I'm passing that next level on 1 quarter.

Ghosts and goblins would make for a great high score competition.  One of the most important things in the game is that you have to tap forward while shooting. (the shots come out faster that way)  Otherwise those ogres in level 2 will eat you for breakfast.

[Namco]

I feel ashamed for not thinking of it in my first post. Super Street Fighter II Turbo

By default it's set to Very Hard. This game is the reason why someone would want to put F2 on their admin panel.

Even on Very Easy, I can't get past the 3rd level.

Those who tell you the game is easy are lying.

Those who aren't lying are actually remembering Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting incorrectly, which is 10x easier.

In comparison Street Fighter II: The World Warrior is 100x easier and the entiretly of the Street Fighter Alpha series is 1000x easier.

When I set it up on my MAME cabinet, I have it configured so that the coin mech GIVES YOU money for playing it in compensation.

[Aabra]

Oh wow... I was never really a big fan of the hyper fighting versions of street fighter so I never encountered that one.  I'm pretty damn good in Super Street Fighter 2.... beat the game all the time.  That Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo.....  wow I'm having Zangief nightmares.  Never in my whole life have I received quite so many spinning pile drivers.  LOL

[AndyWarne]

Dragon's Lair & Space Ace with their $.50 per credit and trial and error gameplay. F those games. Loved 'em as a kid, but F' em now, man. My pea brain can't play them anymore.

Yes I would rate Dragons Lair the hardest. I remember when it first came out, trying to play and all I could get after a few seconds of random movement was "game over".

I was able to play one on free play once at a game show where it was launched but even then just got nowhere with it!

[danny_galaga]

I don't think there is any commercially available game that is 'unplayable'. But i definitely agree with Defender and Ghosts and Goblins being in this thread...

[Turnarcades]

The ones that were unplayable were the ones that had the difficulty jacked in the settings.  Damn greedy owners.  I remember being completely spanked by mortal kombat when I first played it.

This unfortunately was common practice particularly in inner cities, and my local arcade used to set the prices higher if the machine was in a prime spot, even if they had several of the same machine elsewhere in the arcade. Used to price it up if it was in a bigger cabinet too (not even a showcase) and then ramp up the difficulty.

Our local arcade sucked anyway. A proper pit where kids were frequently mugged for pennies - that's where most of the money went in our arcade.

[shardian]

Bagman.

Game, set, match.

[garnerb350]

Same here with Ghost & Gob....I never can get past that red devil after the graveyard...( I suck)...

Last night I tried to play the Foundry hack for Donkey Kong....couldnt get past it...
MK2 Challenger is crazy... ( yeah i know, these are hacks)...but i love freaking friends out when they see Kintaro as the first opponent.


Nintendo games...Wizards and Warriors, Zanac comes to mind...

[massive88]

I feel ashamed for not thinking of it in my first post. Super Street Fighter II Turbo

By default it's set to Very Hard. This game is the reason why someone would want to put F2 on their admin panel.

The default setting in Mame is brutal, I assume it must be Very Hard like you are saying.  Im pretty good at Super Turbo (About 60% win rate online in HD Remix over 500 matches), but the computer just wails on me.  I really should look into killing the difficulty setting on my machine.

[Malenko]

ghosts n goblins isnt so hard its unplayable, its so LONG AND HARD (thats what she said) that its unbeatable.


I think Smash TV and Gauntlet are the innovators of coin munching

[THE POKER BRAT]

i would have to say,..."NARC"...now thats a game that is pretty (unfinishable),...difficult at times on some borads,..but if you have your pockets full of quarters,..i would say you can finish that grueling hard game in about -5 hours!

[Jack Burton]

I feel ashamed for not thinking of it in my first post. Super Street Fighter II Turbo

By default it's set to Very Hard. This game is the reason why someone would want to put F2 on their admin panel.

Even on Very Easy, I can't get past the 3rd level.

Those who tell you the game is easy are lying.

Those who aren't lying are actually remembering Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting incorrectly, which is 10x easier.

In comparison Street Fighter II: The World Warrior is 100x easier and the entiretly of the Street Fighter Alpha series is 1000x easier.

When I set it up on my MAME cabinet, I have it configured so that the coin mech GIVES YOU money for playing it in compensation.

Try playing Super Street Fighter II X Grand Master Challenge instead.  It's the Japanese version of the game and has the correct difficulty level.  It's both easier and more difficult at the same time.  The AI will make more mistakes and won't read your inputs, but it will also try little tricks and baits that the US AI never would. 

Japanese version is also just a little bit slower. 

Also, a little info about Haunted Castle:

http://castlevania.classicgaming.gamespy.com/Games/hc.html

[tommyinajar]

Anyone try "Super Zaxxon" that was a quarter killer if I ever saw one- even at default settings....

[Billy_Goatfeet]

This far in, and nobody's mentioned Sinistar?
Round 1 isn't too bad.....

  I agree.  I think I got to level 3 once when I was a kid and couldn't believe it was actually happening.

[RayB]

Rough Ranger

Playing this piece of crap is an excercise in torture due to bad programming, bad design, and horrible MIDI classical music.

It was obviously inspired by Rolling Thunder, which came out 2 years before this one, yet they missed the mark on everything, including worse graphics, animation, music, game design, player control, difficulty balance, collision detection (list goes on!)

[1UP]

Dragon's Lair & Space Ace with their $.50 per credit and trial and error gameplay. F those games. Loved 'em as a kid, but F' em now, man. My pea brain can't play them anymore.

Yes I would rate Dragons Lair the hardest. I remember when it first came out, trying to play and all I could get after a few seconds of random movement was "game over".

I was able to play one on free play once at a game show where it was launched but even then just got nowhere with it!

Hehe, I'd agree with Dragon's Lair, but I can still get thru Space Ace on one credit with a couple of warm-up runs, even on ACE difficulty.  There is some memorization involved, but come on, Space Ace flashed every direction you're supposed to go!  The answers are right there if you're fast enough. 

Granted, I probably spent close to $100 and several years of my 'teens to get that far...

[Dazz]

Battletoads - NES?

Am I the only one that had no issues with this game at all?  It was, and still is, one of my favorite games of all times.  Even to this day I can beat the game on 1 or 2 lives.

[Ummon]

Dragon's Lair & Space Ace with their $.50 per credit and trial and error gameplay. F those games. Loved 'em as a kid, but F' em now, man. My pea brain can't play them anymore.

---steaming pile of meadow muffin---, now they're free, I've been much more inclined. (Actually, just after Space Ace debuted, I was at a Golf Land during a time they were having a 'pay this much, games are on free play' deal, and I played it a few times. Unfortunately, I didn't know they were doing this, and I got there I think within the last hour of it. Eek.) But DL isn't that hard. Just have to remember what to do and have the right timing, which isn't too tight, mostly.

Sinistar, yeap. Bagman I don't know. It's ---smurfin--- slow and kinda boring.

[Xiaou2]

 Not in the arcade... but there is a Really insanly hard game for Sega Genesis.
(and it Should have been in the arcades)


       "Target Earth"


 I remember spending like an hour or two  trying to beat the 1st level.  After I
realized certain tricks, and how the game worked... I was able to get deeper in
the game... but after using the cheat code to see how far that game goes... It
appears that its nearly impossible to beat without cheating.

 Its also incredibly original and quite awesome.  In some stages, your friends will
actually help you fight, and their bullets actually kill the enemies.  I wont give away
the other kickers though.  Ill just say that even with the invincibility cheat, you can
lose the game.   

 
 Watch the full game intro to get an idea of the kind of Epic Win this game exudes:

 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpUyZ9DnXFg[/youtube]

(sadly, this vids intro was cut short a few seconds.  Kinda spoils the music / feeling)

[Trebeck]

Oh Target Earth....
I just recently played it and couldn't figure out why I sucked so bad at it.  Went online and found the codes and realized that I wasn't that good when I was young.  I was just a  good cheater.
That game was damn hard but really good.  Had a great Robotech feel to it.

[massive88]

Battletoads - NES?

Am I the only one that had no issues with this game at all?  It was, and still is, one of my favorite games of all times.  Even to this day I can beat the game on 1 or 2 lives.

No way.  Fraps it.

[ahofle]

I don't think there is any commercially available game that is 'unplayable'. But i definitely agree with Defender and Ghosts and Goblins being in this thread...

I'm actually the one that showed this game to ultrageek.  Rest assured we are not joking about how hard it was.  I mean I literally died with 3 seconds.  I had him try it and he died in 3 seconds at the same spot.  It was hilarious.  I remember it being some really crappy, early 80s platform type of game from one of those unknown companies.  I would almost guarantee no one has played it.  You started out on the bottom right if I recall, and something would kill you before you even figured out where to go.

[Jack Burton]

I remember there was a clone of Super Pang that had a Halloween theme that I didn't last more than 10 seconds in usually.

[Turnarcades]

I found one to add literally last night. I'm a massive fan of scrolling co-op fighters and last night thought I'd finally play Double Dragon II through. Yeah it's starts mild and is noticably harder than the first game, but play it further and it turns to hell!

The awful 'left attack/right attack' control system aside, it soon gets ridiculously hard but in a very cheap way, not progressive. The enemy moves become very random, the collision detection is iffy, simultaeous blows always go in favour of the enemy and some dudes just seem unhittable. There was one particularly cheap bit where the sliding block wall just nailed me from left to right without any chance to move. This game is so cheap 1 life literally lasted 2.5 seconds!

In short, it sucks balls. The control system is lame, the slowdown is worse than the first game, the difficulty is cheap and the levels are literally recycled from the first game, with slightly newer skins. Finally the reward for completing the game? A single-frame picture and 'the end' logo.


This game is an abomination to the great original. I dare you to try it....

[thomascirca]

Ghosts n Goblins.. both the arcade one and the NES one. I had the NES one as a kid... I managed to beat the first 6 stages (with game genie giving me extra lives, of courses) only to be informed that I had to re-beat it and that it was much harder. I almost cried.