Title Rating / 5 Difficulty / 5 Length (Hours)
1 Ghosts 'n Goblins 3.20 4.74 15.81
2 Silver Surfer 2.48 4.67 9.62
3 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1.13 4.67 9.25
4 Battletoads 3.68 4.66 23.23
5 Ninja Gaiden 3.96 4.56 12.90
6 Action 52 0.97 4.45 29.13
7 Deadly Towers 2.17 4.43 22.78
8 Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom 3.80 4.40 11.89
9 Ghostbusters 1.76 4.30 10.95
10 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3.18 4.23 14.50
11 Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos 4.05 4.21 11.42
12 Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones 3.19 4.17 11.50
13 The Adventures of Bayou Billy 2.67 4.15 8.39
14 Zelda II: The Adventure of Link 3.67 4.14 22.17
15 Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse 4.10 4.13 12.03
16 Dick Tracy 2.52 4.12 7.96
17 Castlevania 3.89 4.10 9.32
18 Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight 3.19 4.09 12.02
19 8 Eyes 2.91 4.07 7.85
20 Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos 3.46 4.07

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/games/...=0&min_votes=0

Min. votes: 100

The NES is notorious for having some of the hardest home console games ever released. What is interesting about this list is that most of them are well-known games. The data could be slightly skewed if most of the gamers polled had only rated the games they are familiar with so granted this list probably is only accurate when it comes to games that people have actually played. I have played games that were many times harder than Battletoads but they were fairly obscure and I couldnt even tell you what they were called. Ikari Warriors 3 is up there for me. Some games were hard because there was no indication of what you were supposed to do exactly.

Also of note is the fact that all three Ninja Gaidens make an appearance. I feel the Mega Man games deserve a spot on the list with all their "leap of faith" moments and boss fights that can be downright brutal especially in the later stages.

Metroid is a hard game to me. Having to farm health is very time consuming and some of the enemies move so fast they can be very hard to dodge at times. In some areas where the ceiling jumpers come at you, you cant even get out of the way and you cant kill them quickly enough. And unlike later entries in the series, the enemies can buzz right through open doors so even if you think you escaped their wrath and moved into the next screen to safety, they will come through and kill you as you are going through the door.

Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japanese) almost doesnt even need mentioning as to how hard this game is. Mushrooms that can kill you, warp pipes that send you BACKWARDS. the game was so hard that Nintendo wouldnt even release it for North Americans until they included it with Mario All-Stars.

I havent played Ghosts and Goblins for the NES but I know the arcade version is hard.

Battletoads can be a hard game but at least you get a ton of continues. I could never get past the level 8 boss but it seems beatable at least. I am usually so beaten down at that point that I dont have enough time to memorize his movements before I get killed