Which is the toughest of The Big Three?

[atarilovesyou]

After reading a lot of posts, I've come to the conclusion that many agree that three of the toughest games on the NES (tough yet beatable) are:

 

Ghosts n' Goblins

Ninja Gaiden

Battletoads

 

I've beaten two, but Battletoads still eludes me. I personally think it's the hardest one...at least in the other two, you get unlimited continues. If Toads only had that, it would be in the same category as the others...repetition, repetition. Eventually you'll beat it.

 

GnG was very, very difficult back in the day. Now, it's tough but only in terms of the clunky game mechanics. I'd say that a game like Gradius is actually more difficult, skill-wise. But beating GnG only to find out you had to do it all over again?...I think I just quit back in the 80s.

 

So, I'd add two more: Punch-out and Gradius. I've never beat Mike Tyson, but who knows....maybe one day! Gradius gets a bit easier with practice but you need a good streak of luck too...far more challenging that any shooter on the NES I know of, other than the ridiculous Cybernoid.

 

What do you think?

[mbd30]

I'm rusty now, but when I was a kid, I could play all the way through "Mike Tyson's Punch Out" and beat Mike Tyson all the time. I wouldn't include that in the hardest games. Once you get the patterns and timing down, it's not so bad.

 

Of the first three games you listed,it's a tie between GNG and "Battletoads". It's tough as nails to make much progress in either. At least GNG gives you infinite continues.

 

"Silver Surfer" is reputed to be brutal, but I've never played it.

 

And then there were games like "Solstice" that were ridiculously long and difficult, and you were expected to complete it in one sitting with no passwords or battery backup.

[SoulBlazer]

Yeah, there's a number of great games I loved as a kid but never could finish due to the lack of a password or battery. How they expect you to sit there for days on end is beyond me. (Blaster Master, I'm looking at you!)

 

Ghosts and Goblins and Battletoads I never beat, and still have not, despite lots of trying to.

 

Punch Out -- I could GET to Mike Tyson easily enough, but never could beat him.

 

I'm proud to say I beat all of the following games back in the NES days without any cheats:

 

Ninja Gaiden 1-3

Gradius and Life Force

Contra and Super C

Castlevania 1-3

SMB 1-3

TMNT 1-3

Mega Man 1-4 (never played 5 or 6 BITD, I have now)

Metal Gear and Snakes Revenge

Little Nemo: The Dream Master (don't let the kiddie name and look fool you, this is a TOUGH game!)

Zelda 1 and 2

Conflict

Godzilla

Top Gun (another game that gets very nasty at the end)

Ikari Warriors 1-3

WIzards and Warriors 1-3

Double Dragon 1-3

The Immortal (GREAT game and very under rated, you NEED to try this one!)

Final Fantasy

Dragon Warrior 1-4

Destiny of an Emperor

POW (Fun beat em up from SNK)

Jackal

 

Can you tell I spent a lot of time playing NES games as a kid?

[Cobra Kai]

I always had trouble with Mike Tyson as well. I mean, the rest of the game has a great difficulty curve to it, and then Mike Tyson is nigh impossible, for me atleast. I don't have the patience for NES style difficulty anymore, I mean that stuff is infuriating enough to make you throw your controller at the wall. Battletoads? OMG where's my hammer at?

[Austin]

Tough call between GnG and Battletoads. Ghost 'n Goblins is so broken in the control department, and Battletoads is just genuinely difficult with tricky section after tricky section, virtually from the second half of the third stage all the way to the end of the game. Plus, no continues makes it difficult practicing those later stages.

[Underball]

Paul Pierce.

 

 

Oh, wait you were talking about another Big 3?

[MagitekAngel]

Tough call. I'd say Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke. No, Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke. No wait, Heinlein, Asimov, Heinlein. Aughh....

... oh wait.

 

Okay, Battletoads, Ghosts n' Goblins, Ninja Gaiden.

[Cynicaster]

I'm sorry, but Punch Out? I'd say if you've never beaten Tyson you gave up way too easily. Yes, it seems nearly impossible at first, but just like the rest of the game, you get to know the patterns and you'll surprise yourself at how well you can do. In the annals of great gaming achievements, beating Tyson is a mediocre feat at best, IMO.

[Austin]

I've never beaten Tyson. Then again though, I don't think I really tried.

[Eltigro]

I never beat Tyson. I never beat the guy before him, but to could get to that guy pretty regularly (back then). These days I have trouble getting past the second Piston Honda. If you beat it, great. But don't say it isn't a challenge.

 

The toughest game that I ever beat was probably the first Castlevania. It took quite a while but persistence paid off. I will not say it was easy or not a challenge. It was pretty darn tough and I'm proud I did it. I will not say that someone who hasn't beaten it just hasn't tried hard enough. That and Metal Gear are the only ones on Soul Blazer's list above that I can say I beat without cheats or codes.

 

I've played GnG. It was nightmarish. I think I played Battletoads, but I've blocked it out of my memory (according to my thearpist). I think of the original three mentioned, I got farthest in Ninja Gaiden. I don't remember how far, though. It was a rental and I do know I didn't beat it.

[atarilovesyou]

Regarding Punchout, I think I only got to Tyson once...timing those damn spin punches of Super Macho Man always killed me off. The difficulty in Tyson is that if you take ONE hit, it's lights out. And you need to be in the zone, it's not the kinda thing you can do once in a while, I'd think. I'll give it a serious go this year, I think.

 

Regarding the difficulty we're used to that just isn't evident in games anymore: I like the fact that these older games were real beasts! In fact, the harder it is to beat, the greater the satisfaction. I still remember when I finally beat Ninja Gaiden...I literally basked in the glory for a entire day! And Blaster Master was much the same, but I'm pretty sure I used that lame grenade cheat to kill the bosses. Lately, I can't even find my way out of that sewer maze level!...lol.

 

Hats off to those who finished Conflict...what a cheap-ass game that was! How many times that final boss tank just sat on a city, endlessly resupplying...endlessly dodging all attacks!...grrrr.

 

I think I'd feel the best achievement would be beating Battletoads...it's just sooooo difficult.

 

I've got my list, I'll beat em' all one day!

[NE146]

Whatever. Punch Out = EASY. If you couldn't beat Tyson, you just didn't play it enough, or you had no skills

 

On the 3.. Ninja Gaiden is on the bottom. It's a lot more masterable.

 

G&G vs. Battletoads.. hmmmmmm I say Battletoads because it just gets cheap on the speeding parts. Add limited continues and it's almost "why bother"

[+thegoldenband]

I always thought Tyson himself was easier than some of the earlier characters, especially Mr. Sandman. I never did get the timing of countering his special attacks down 100%. Super Macho Man also was sometimes tricky to handle.

 

Of the three mentioned by the OP, Ninja Gaiden is by far the easiest. I never thought NG1 and NG2 were all that hard; you just had to keep plugging away until you learned the patterns, and with unlimited continues that wasn't a problem. The US release of NG3 instituted limited continues, and that wrecked the formula.

 

Ghosts 'n' Goblins was just depressing and demoralizing after a while, and making you play through the game twice is garbage, especially if you have to hang on a certain weapon to complete the game (I assume there are other opportunities to acquire it, but it's still an oppressive win condition).

 

Battletoads I never played that much, but extremely difficult + limited continues + requires memorization = don't bother, since I have zero interest in replaying the same stages over and over again to get a bare handful of chances to practice a later stage. If I were to practice in emulation, I'd give it a shot.

 

Two of the hardest games I've played on the NES are Athena (because the controls are so horrible and the gameplay so unforgiving) and Ikari Warriors, assuming you don't use the ABBA cheat. I think a lot of the action-puzzle games are also brutally difficult, like Castlequest and Solomon's Key.

[+atari2600land]

and Ikari Warriors, assuming you don't use the ABBA cheat.

What happens when you use that? The game plays "Dancing Queen"?

[+thegoldenband]

and Ikari Warriors, assuming you don't use the ABBA cheat.

What happens when you use that? The game plays "Dancing Queen"?

 

Now that would be a hell of a thing! "You are the very prevailer that protect right and justice. Also, you can dance, you can jive..."

[Spoon]

I'll vote Battletoads. Even looking back as a kid when games were scarce due to financial limitations and you had to milk everything you could from a game both good and bad, Battletoads was so frustratingly difficult I'd throw in the towel every time. To this day I don't even own a copy of that game.

[MrMark0673]

I crushed GnG not too long ago, still one of my favorites ever on the NES:

 

 

 

Beaten NG 1 and 2 as well, though they're tough enough. Battletoads still gets my vote, I've never been able to complete it.

[AlvinKarpis]

I could beat Mike Tyson back in the 80s and can still beat him today, I always had more trouble with Super Macho Man and his spin punch, but once the timing was down I was all over him

 

I also wouldnt say beating Tyson is easy, it took me 20 or so trys back in the day before I beat him, today it isnt hard but thats because I know whats coming

 

G&G used to piss me off so bad, I never beat it because I gave up after making it through and then realizing you had to do it again

 

Battletoads was for sure a controller throwing game, I used to get so pissed and playing with one of my brothers (both of whom where good gamers) and hitting each other on accident

 

After a while we would get so pissed at the game we would hit each other on purpose

 

However all three of those games were fun to play, Punch Out was always a blast

 

The games I hated that I couldnt beat where the games that where not fun and confusing and impossible!

 

Goonies 2 and Friday The 13th caused me more grief then any other games ever

[+thegoldenband]

Goonies 2 and Friday The 13th caused me more grief then any other games ever

 

Goonies II was definitely confusing, and had overly convoluted stage design IMHO. The Official Nintendo Players' Guide had some maps that helped, but the game was still a mess, and I never finished it until the emulation era.

 

Friday the 13th, OTOH, I eventually came to like a lot. It's unforgiving at first, but once you get on the game's wavelength it's actually one of the better NES games of its kind. It's interesting that you group those two games together, though -- I'd never thought of it before, but they're actually very similar.

[atarilovesyou]

Throwing the controller in anger...do kids even do that anymore? Or kicking the system?...I had a buddy back in the day who couldn't really play NES after a while, "anger management" wouldn't allow it. Dude kicked his NES more than your average bear. I was always kinda shocked and pissed when he did it, but that NES kept tickin'. I guess if you try that on a PS3 you'd break the thing. I was witnessing 'entitled kid syndrome' back then...I had to wait about 3 years past that before I got my own NES, so I was always treating the machines nicely. That was the first time I ever saw the blink screen, after a furious outburst after losing a match in Pro Wrestling...lol.

 

No matter how pissed I got at a game (Gaiden qualified many times) I never took it out on the equipment...I just cursed my lack of skills, lol.

[AlvinKarpis]

Throwing the controller in anger...do kids even do that anymore? Or kicking the system?...I had a buddy back in the day who couldn't really play NES after a while, "anger management" wouldn't allow it. Dude kicked his NES more than your average bear. I was always kinda shocked and pissed when he did it, but that NES kept tickin'. I guess if you try that on a PS3 you'd break the thing. I was witnessing 'entitled kid syndrome' back then...I had to wait about 3 years past that before I got my own NES, so I was always treating the machines nicely. That was the first time I ever saw the blink screen, after a furious outburst after losing a match in Pro Wrestling...lol.

 

No matter how pissed I got at a game (Gaiden qualified many times) I never took it out on the equipment...I just cursed my lack of skills, lol.

 

I never have thrown a controller in my life, its a saying we used to have in reference to the kids that did throw the controller in anger (my little brother being one of them lol)

 

When I would beat my brother in Street Fighter 2 over and over again he would punch me in the arm, throw the controller and then turn the SNES off and take the controllers out and try to go hide them lol

 

I would be laughing the entire time

[SoulBlazer]

I defentily have thrown the controller into the ground a few times when I got SUPER frustrated. Normaly I'd just curse and/or stomp my foot or some thing like that. Of course, that was when I was younger. Nowdays I mostly just swear.

 

This was also back in the 2600/NES/SNES days when the controllers were lighter and were just plastic shells. I defentily would NEVER do that with a PS1 shock controller or anything on past that. Much too fragile and expensive to replace.

 

I thought of another tough to beat game from the NES days -- Batman. Boy, did that one take some doing.

Edited February 9, 2012 by SoulBlazer

[Austin]

I thought of another tough to beat game from the NES days -- Batman. Boy, did that one take some doing.

 

Yeah, Batman was one of the most difficult games for me.... until I found out you can duck the Joker's shots and just rapid-punch him to death. I didn't finish it until a couple of years ago when I was 26 or 27. Man did it feel good to finally put that one behind me (and not feel threatened every time I play it )!

 

Friday the 13th, OTOH, I eventually came to like a lot. It's unforgiving at first, but once you get on the game's wavelength it's actually one of the better NES games of its kind.

 

I used to despise this game, but one day a friend and I decided to look up a FAQ for it. Holy crap this game turned out to be awesome once I figured out HOW I was supposed to play it. I've still yet to finish it because Jason's third form seems near impossible to me, but I still feel it's an underrated game. It's one you need to know what's going on in order to truly understand it. It's much deeper than it initially seems.

 

Also, it's still easily one of the creepiest games from this time period, too, with the randomization of Jason popping out with his signature sound.

[mbd30]

The last three fighters in SNES "Super Punch-Out" are probably tougher than Tyson... until you've memorized their patterns. For the longest time I thought that Hoy Quarlow was impossible to figure out. He'd always kick my ass right away.

[+thegoldenband]

Friday the 13th, OTOH, I eventually came to like a lot. It's unforgiving at first, but once you get on the game's wavelength it's actually one of the better NES games of its kind.

 

I used to despise this game, but one day a friend and I decided to look up a FAQ for it. Holy crap this game turned out to be awesome once I figured out HOW I was supposed to play it. I've still yet to finish it because Jason's third form seems near impossible to me, but I still feel it's an underrated game. It's one you need to know what's going on in order to truly understand it. It's much deeper than it initially seems.

 

Also, it's still easily one of the creepiest games from this time period, too, with the randomization of Jason popping out with his signature sound.

 

You're exactly right, both on the creepiness and about the way the game "clicks" as soon as you understand what it's really all about. Nice music, too. I beat it on real hardware sometime in 1996 -- it was one of the last games I beat on real NES hardware, actually, before giving it up for emulation a few years later -- but I don't remember if I had to use any special tactics against Jason's third form.

 

BTW I checked my notes, and guess what game I beat right before Friday the 13th? None other than Batman. I don't remember how I finally cleared it, but it must've been satisfying.

 

Actually, it's kind of amusing to look at the last eight or so NES games I beat before hanging up the real hardware (and getting seduced by savestates): Legacy of the Wizard, Batman, Friday the 13th, Firehawk, Adventure Island, Little Nemo, TaleSpin, and Captain Comic. Two are relatively easy, but the others are among the console's more brutal titles!