What is the hardest game ever?

[Gapporin]

Takeshi's Challenge (Famicom). 'Nuff said.

[j_factor]

The Game.com version of Fighters Megamix on hard mode. Seriously.

[Trebuken]

Gauntlet, one quarter.

[bangtango]

NES Hydlide. In the early part of the game, there is this room or area which drains your energy with each step. The other part that always frustrates me is that if you attack enemies from the wrong "side", it sucks the life right out of you and you're not able to damage them. That was how I remembered it.

I usually get killed off real early in Syphon Filter 2 but I doubt that is hard. I'm just not good at it.

[smork]

The correct answer is Sinistar.

Indeed it is.

[diskoboy]

I don't think Sinistar is that hard...

I'll admit, I'm not the greatest player, but I've played plenty of harder games than Sinistar.

[exit]

Takeshi's Challenge (Famicom). 'Nuff said.

That game looks horribly annoying, it also seems that nobody has ever beaten it.

[k8track]

Ion Patrol.

[blissfulnoise]

I don't think Sinistar is that hard...

I'll admit, I'm not the greatest player, but I've played plenty of harder games than Sinistar.

Crazy talk. I'm assuming you're playing it on the arcade with the original rom set.

Outside of stuff like Penn and Teller and Takeshi's Challenge that are designed to be impossible, it's gotta be the hardest game I've ever played by a long shot.

[Kevincal]

Doom on Nightmare difficulty.

[Cinder6]

Isn't IVAN (a roguelike) supposed to be extremely hard, to the point that the developers consider any possibility of beating it a "bug"? Then again, that falls into the "intentionally impossible" category

[norkusa]

Dragon's Lair for the NES. I couldn't even get past the opening screen without a Game Genie. And even with the Game Genie, the farthest I've gotten was like the 3rd or 4th screen.

[exit]

Dragon's Lair for the NES. I couldn't even get past the opening screen without a Game Genie. And even with the Game Genie, the farthest I've gotten was like the 3rd or 4th screen.

It wasn't that bad, I remember getting a little bit through it, it's just an annoying "remember where everything is" sidescroller.

[DefaultGen]

.....

[ProgrammingAce]

Kriss Kross: Make My Video

[Bassgrabber]

I beat Faxanadu, and I beat Hydlide (I had them, I played them)

So I say Solstice... loved the 'shrivel n die' sound, tho lol

[Gandhara]

Sword Master from Activision.

It's pretty brutal I think I've only gotten to the 3rd or 4th level with several tries.

[CosmicMonkey]

1cc'ing any of the recent Cave shmups.

And Q*bert. I understand the game, and how to play it. But I can't ever do it and I'm shit at it.

[Ed Oscuro]

Doom on Nightmare difficulty.

I can do the first two levels...

Also, wow, over 20,000 hits on Beat Takeshi's Challenge? I only thought it was 10,000. Jesus on a dancing stick.

[koster]

Appropriately titled, the U.S. release of Impossible Mission for the Atari 7800 was impossible to finish due to a bug (puzzle pieces placed underneath computer terminals which the player cannot search).

I'd say that makes it a candidate for the hardest game ever.