OK so I was literally just playing Ex-Mutants on the Sega Genesis for the first time (Not to shabby a game by the way. Gameplay is sort of addicting).

I was playing on the EASY mode, when about three or four levels in, after a boss battle, the game prompts me with a message along the lines of, "Sorry, if you wish to continue on past this point, you must play a HARDER difficulty."

Need less to say, this is an extremely annoying tactic programmers used to use, but at the same time, it always makes me laugh. It's almost like the game is communicating with you. It's saying, "Yeah, you THOUGHT you were hot stuff but in reality you're not! Why don't you play the REAL mode and stop being a wuss!"

This was a fun discovery, as I haven't had a game do this to me since the old days. It's even worse when the game throws this at you on the second to last stage of the game. I know Contra 3 was like that. And Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose did something to that effect as well if I remember.

So for this thread, what games have slapped you in the face, pulled the rug out from underneath your feet with such a dastardly trick? I'm curious if we can create a huge list of games that are jerks like that.