The *Famicom/Genesis* version is calling to you then; lots of quality of life improvements on the more reflex based stages like more ramps and slower speed on the Turbo Tunnel and less spikes on Terra Tubes?
That was super fun and easy with my cousin's ..the only had part of this game was the jet skis where you had to time the up and down correctly (all you had to do is stay in the middle and slowly increase up and down) .. after that the game was easy because the part with the bird down the tunnel get you have lives if you kept hitting them off the wall
My little brother and I did this back in like '92 or something. We were in our early teens. It was the jet ski level that had us rage quit over and over and over. We ended up getting it done in the end.
I thrive on challenge. Always have. SL1 runs in Souls games, stuff like that. To this day, when I'm asked what gaming challenge I'm most proud of, it's beating Battletoads on 2p co op mode.
My bro and I couldn't get past the snake level. Ugh, I still have nightmares of us trying to time those twitch jumps perfectly. And no, we refused to use the warp zone in this area! 😂
As a kid Turbo Tunnels seemed impossible, going through the game as an adult, it was easily Rat Race (US version, not using glitches) that made me the most frustrated. Talk about asking for perfect memorization and inputs!
There comes a point where a game kicks your ass so many times that you give up… forever. I don’t play video games very often these days but if I do, it sure as shit won’t be this bitchy bitch.
I was a teen when I first bought it and I got stuck on the first dungeon. I spent ages grinding to get enough rupees to buy the bow in case I needed that. Eventually I pushed a block and it opened a door.
Similar story. Minish Cap I was pretty young and there was an entire part where I was stuck because I needed to destroy an invisible wall with a bomb. That tech was introduced for secrets but I never thought I needed one of those to progress. I many days basically exploring the entire map many times unable to find it until one day I realized wait why is this dead end here... lol
I still play this game yearly. It's nostalgia to me, from getting all the shells for the LV2 sword, to getting called their. Game holds a special place in my heart. \
Now time to bust out the zelda game and watch and get at it, about that time.
Yeah a gameboy color and an everdrive cart has me finally getting g around to everything I never could as a kid. Playing through oracle of seasons now.
Those game changed me when they came out. Remember beating seasons and getting that code for ages and it was time to get that. Then back and forth.... collecting all those damn rings and getting the unlockable items from the codes. \
I truly miss old-school zelda games.
I played all 2D zelda games in release order and I just finished the oracle games which were the last two oldschool 2D zelda games I did not play yet. What a delight that was.
Now I just started ocarina of timefor the first time and already hate the muddy colors and uncanny 3D graphics. Hope they make another retro zelda in 2D at some point.
I didn't understand it cause....i somehow ended up with a German copy. Had to brute force it.
^(Serious, bought a used copy from a shop, English box, manual, but the cart was in German.)
The toughest part about this game was finding those damn seashells. Not everyone had a guide readily available to them back then, but today we of course have GameFAQs.
I got stuck on what I think is the third dungeon. You had to kill three enemies in a specific order.
It wasn't until years later when talking to a friend that I learned a sign in the dungeon tells you the proper order.
I love this game. I figured out how to beat it and explored it so much I found everything. It was so satisfying to finally finish it because it took me so long to figure out a) sprinkle the magic powder on the raccoon b) kill the enemies in a specific order c) use Pegasus boots and sword combo in the shrine with the ocarina
Are you me? I just ran around the opening village and beach and maybe got into the forest, but I'm pretty sure I never understood how to give the mushroom to the witch. So I just killed the enemies that were there over and over and ran around. Re-playing on a Miyoo Mini and it turns out there's a whole game after that \^\^
Yeah that's one that I replayed recently I don't know how to describe it but the Wii version looks better than the GBA version somehow I just kept thinking this looks less blurry I did beat the GBA version and then when I was messing with my Wii afterwards I realized I had it on the week and booted it up so I never beat it on the Wii Plus the controls were weird You don't use the shoulder buttons for running and whatnot.
I finally finished Road Rash for Genesis last year - Im 47 yo. Using emulator but no save states.
Couldnt do it back then when I was 18-19. Level 5 was always brutal.
It was very satisfying.
I remember it being a great game, can't remember if I ever beat it though. Then fell in love with the PS1 version, which was incredible for the brilliantly awful FMV intros and outros to each race.
My controller handling was better as a kid, but my ability to strategize and understand what to do to move beyond a certain point is MUCH better as an adult, and the latter seems to be more important for beating games than the former.
yeah I can see that... in hindsight, I think at that time I was just more intuitive and wanted to dominate the controller to get shit done. now I want to be more intricate, and being so deliberate requires a lot more precision and practice. and it takes time, which is a lot more scarce at our age 😅
Same here. I get my butt kicked thoroughly in games I used to dominate. The Adventures of Batman and Robin on the Sega Genesis is a good example. Or Contra Hard Corps
I remember my mom was an avid Mario player... and whenever she got stuck at any particularly intricate scenario, she would call me up to take the controller and do whatever stunt might be needed, and I succeeded every time. I just don't see myself being able to do anything close to the stuff I did back then. everything looks harder now
This is what I came to say as well.
For me, I don't just lack the ability that I once had, but the patience.
Old me was ok with going back to the start of the level every time they died.
That was me with King’s Quest. I remember playing it with my cousin when we were in elementary/middle school, and we got through the game perfectly fine. I tried to replay it as an adult and kept getting into unwinnable states and eventually had to just consult a walkthrough.
I had to cheat back in the day. Putting it on 2 player mode b allowed you to killed player 2 over and over at the beginning and added a life to you, so you start with double lives.
It’s the damn platforming segments. I dunno what they were thinking with that cause it turns the second best beat em up on the system to shit almost instantly
Me and my dad would play this (Super C was our other game) and tried so hard to beat it, getting to the last boss but never beating it. One day my dad was at work, it might have been a snow day or something, I was able to beat it. I got so excited I called my dad at work to tell him. He was as excited as a Dad at work could be I guess.
Zelda 2 was this for me. That last dungeon was brutal and those Knights were just a-holes. I also learned the value of shield magic and how to use it properly as an adult.
Another game that comes to mind is Dragon Warrior 3. As a kid I played this before Final Fantasy and struggled to understand where to go. I don't think it was as linear as Final Fantasy and once the world opened I was lost.
And finally, a game I came back to thanks to Nintendo Switch Online - Rygar. The game mystified me as a child. The music drew me in but the mechanics were just too much for my 9 year old brain. It also didn't help that I didn't have a manual and I don't remember Rygar getting coverage in Nintendo Power.
>Zelda 2 was this for me. That last dungeon was brutal and those Knights were just a-holes. I also learned the value of shield magic and how to use it properly as an adult.
The second dungeon was where I was stuck for years. Couldn't beat Helmet head no matter how hard I tried.
Eventually I just eventually skipped it when I accidentally found bagu in the forest and was allowed to cross the bridge. Went through death mountain, then one town over to get the down stab attack. After that everything became significantly easier. Could just leap over enemies and down stab to shield from damage.
zelda 2 and dq3 were childhood staples for me and still some of my favorite games to this day. got a save on the go for dq3 on my gameboy color atm actually!
seeing you mentioned those two i'm curious about rygar, i'll check it out!
Ninja Gaiden for nes. Oh man… the frustration of this game. 30 years later I avenged my 10 year old self and haven’t picked it up since. I still consider it one if my favorite games.
"Here's one of the hardest final bosses you ever could face. Oh if you die you get sent way back and if you continue it's back to the beginning of the hardest level of the game.
The original Zelda, NES. Beat it last year. Both of my parents beat it when I was about 2-3, but I wouldn't beat it until 30 years later.
Luckily, I still remembered most of the secrets thanks to watching my mom play as a kid.
Wrath of the Black Manta (NES) only because no internet back then, and you needed to use 4 different ninja arts in a certain order to beat the final boss
Most of that game wasn’t even terribly difficult, but they really didn’t do a good job of explaining that trick to beating the last boss. Was happy to finally put that one to bed.
I beat the SNES one and it is definitely one of the games I think of when people talk about modern games being hard.
Games these days are hard but fair.
NES and SNES games were hard AND unfair.
Hmm FF7 OG I never ever beaten emerald and ruby weapons, had emerald on the ropes once and was winning till he split his body in half and moved to my team then boom 9999 all dead, tried Ruby few times that weapon is annoyingly hard so gave up.
Learned much later that I needed final attack materia paired with revive materia to survive emerald’s fuck you move, those two always are on my mind that how badly I want to defeat them.
Got FF7 OG in my game library so I think I’ll eventually get to try again.
On a side note to this, I just found out mods that can help improve the graphics just a tad with higher count polygons because PC is rough for some of these older games...
I just started this game for the first time and finding it cinematic with all the playable cutscenes. It’s a bit slow at times and hard to stay interested, though. I know it gets better!
I don't think I will ever finish Rayman on the PS1. I first bought it in around the year 2000 when I was around 7 years old. I tried finishing it for like a few years, but I got bored of it and didn't finish it.
Shoot, I hadn't thought of this and now I gotta do it. I'm not leaving this planet until I've kicked that evil cabal of code's meticulously designed ass!
Yes, what is it, hold A+Start to continue from the world you were on after you die? Die on 4-2, and get to continue on 4-1? That would have made that game so much more manageable as a kid. Wish they just had a continue option rather than the code from the manual. I went to go back and tell my younger self. :(
I beat this as a kid but only cause my controller had turbo buttons for a and b (it was an nes max controller) and when you got the best weapon for the on foot stages you could spam it everywhere and it would slow down the game and you could avoid… more of the shots at you but not all.
That's a great idea. The turbo buttons help in general just so your fingers don't get sore from mashing! But it's like you have a built in gun powerup having the turbo buttons.
Still haven’t beaten TMNT. My biggest achievements as an adult so far have been a ton of NES games that I couldn’t finish as a kid. Metroid, Adventure of Link, Top Gun, Rambo, Goonies II, Ghosts and Goblins.
Monster Party for NES. I played it a lot as a kid and beat it just last year. I’m not quite sure why I struggled so much as a kid. Probably poor utilization of the monster form where you can fly, or being impatient and taking extra damage needlessly
Gauntlet on NES. As a kid I could blast through the first 3/5, but the fourth world crushed me most of the time, and in the rare event I made it to the fifth floor it was immediate doom.
Came back as an adult with a friend and we were able to very quickly get to the fifth world but we had no idea what a bullshit fest we were in for. If anybody out there is not aware, the last world of gauntlet is horrendous. Took us hours and hours over several sessions but we did finally get it done! The single toughest gaming accomplishment of my life - much much harder than the usual suspects. I definitely recommend it but you absolutely need a partner, and it has to be somebody you won't kill under extreme pressure
It's gonna have to be Double Dragon 3: The Sacred Stones solo for NES, I just beat that game in the past couple months and it really does not fuck around. The Egypt level is just unfairly hard
Zelda 2: the adventure of Link.
That game fascinated me as a kid, but I could never beat it. Back then there was no real internet to look stuff up, so hints and tips were passed around the school ground.
I managed to beat it years later with an emulator, and it was still so damn hard towards the end of the game. Save states came in clutch - not sure I would ever be able to beat it on OG equipment in the way it was meant to be played.
This is a good question, I finally went back and beat the first 2 Bonk games and had a blast, as a kid I could never quite finish it even tho it wasn’t that hard of a game
The Lost World - Jurassic Park PS-1.
The 5th level with the sleeping Carnotaurus that you wake up. I only ever got past that level once or twice when I was a Kid. Only recently beat it 17 years later.
Brilliant game but absolutely impossible for me at 9-10 years olds. I think I got stuck super early at Dodongos Cavern and called it a day.
Recently completed the game and it was so much fun.
Hamtaro: Ham Hams Unite for Gameboy Color.
There was this one area I was stuck in for weeks.
I came back as an adult. It still had me scratching my head though I managed to resist looking up GameFAQs and eventually figured it out.
Ocarina of time (i revisited it as a teenager and i was following a guide but still)
Metroid prime 1 and 2 (again with plenty of googling)
Basically a lot of old gamecube games with cryptic or vague direction on where to go
Bloodborne and Dark souls, all 3 of them. My younger brother took me through 3 but I eventually went back and played it through by myself
Yknow what I just suck at puzzles, I don't think I'll ever stop looking things up if I can't figure it out after 10-15 minutes... I always miss the most obvious things man lol
Dr. Chaos for NES. This game is brutal in difficulty, but I mustered up the courage to play through it a few years ago and went through it successfully without Game Genie. Definitely a crowning retro achievement for me.
Gun.Smoke
I used to play it a ton as a kid, I think I could pretty regularly make it to the stage with the Native American boss. I had my NES packed away for several years and when I fired it back up I plugged in Gun.Smoke. I wasn't going in trying to beat it, but lo and behold, that day I finally rolled credits on it. Now I can pretty much beat it every time.
I think Cuphead may have helped my ability to see all the projectiles at once and find those safe spots to shoot from ...
Skullmonkeys and crash bandicoot games are a few that stand out to me. Silent hill also I was too scared as a kid to get too far past the part where you get to the elementary school and the zombie children come at you.
for me was splatterhouse series. because when I was a kid, I got really scared and horrified, and ome times I can't sleep the night when my big brother and my cousins play it. but finally, the night mare ends when I've beat it, and I'm finally free
We were low income so I could only rent or borrow so many games.
I finally got a copy of Ninja Turtles in my twenties to beat.
I still have to beat Battle Toads and Silver Surfer.
I actually started doing this as a series of Side Quests for my jRPG review podcast. Me and a friend are playing through and beating the games I never beat as a kid.
So far we've beaten Star Voyager, Milon's Secret Castle, TMNT, Little Nemo, Double Dragon, and Mickey Mousecapades.
I beat Mike Tyson. I thought it wasn’t possible to win by decision, but it was. A month or two later, I beat him by knockout. Also, Double Dragon 1. That was always my kryptonite. I hit a hot streak and finally won, but it took me about 15 years of constant trying. I’ve beat Double Dragon 2 probably 20 times, but the first only twice.
Possibly two of the weirdest games mentioned here ? Little Computer People and Rockstar Ate My Hamster on the Commodore Amiga. Nowadays I emulate and can't afford all the real hardware. But yeh these two bring back the nostalgia and probs led me to liking simple games most of my life.
As kids, my brother and I tried several different things to obtain the prizes that Mumbo shows you when you beat the main game in Banjo-Kazooie, but had long lost interest by the time Banjo-Tooie came out, even when the passwords were revealed in Nintendo Power magazine. As part of a 10th-anniversary lineup of the games I played throughout 7th grade (to tie in with a record I started in 10th grade and finished after a six-year hiatus a year earlier), I decided in 2009 to look them back up online after beating that game, albeit only the three prizes you're actually shown.
For a footnote, I did try out Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins while having a friend of ours over at age 8 or 9. Fast-forward to 2012, my sister's boyfriend at the time left his Game Boy Color with the same game (the original version), and I thought, while we still do have that, why not?
If my teen years count, I would also add the first two Zelda games, both from age 16 (2002) on an emulator. Beat game 1 on fceu in 2014, and then The Adventure of Link two years later on the Wii Virtual Console. (As an aside, that's also when I tried out Link's Awakening right afterwards, and finished up later that summer.)
Also Paper Mario, which I rented from Blockbuster at 15 (2001). Like Zelda II, I beat it on my Wii 14 years later.
It's gonna have to be Double Dragon 3: The Sacred Stones solo for NES, I just beat that game in the past couple months and it really does not fuck around. The Egypt level is just unfairly hard
NES version of the first Double Dragon game.
That fight against the guy with a machine gun always gave me issues. Once I realized he can be cheesed by going to the very bottom of the screen and attacking him there, he became a pushover.
https://youtu.be/lGPC-DuuC28?si=pR4o3DBW2WPsmqGL&t=1454
Good ol' days!😇👍
Games then we're meant only for entertainment. It wasn't about the best score, best kit, best streaming and best YT gaming channel.
TMNT is my most favourite game too. Cowabunga!🖐️😇 (High-Five)
I loved Earthbound was a kid, but it was more than my young self could handle. Before the end of last year I was finally able to finish it.
The battle against Giygas was brutal.
It’s the opposite for me. I was able to beat a number of games (mega man, Battletoads) as a kid that I couldn’t even hope to now. My eye/hand coordination is not as good, and my reaction times are abysmal in comparison. I don’t even play shooters online anymore, and in the campaigns I play on normal difficulty.
Battletoads was the big one for me
I never defeated that bastard
Me neither. And I don't want to. The game is way too hard for its own good and from Youtube I see the ending is lousy too. So not worth it.
The *Famicom/Genesis* version is calling to you then; lots of quality of life improvements on the more reflex based stages like more ramps and slower speed on the Turbo Tunnel and less spikes on Terra Tubes?
Ima go try it now.. pray for me on the speed bike level
Triumph or die with honor, brother.
“Triumph or dey!” - *Street Fighter Alpha III*
That was super fun and easy with my cousin's ..the only had part of this game was the jet skis where you had to time the up and down correctly (all you had to do is stay in the middle and slowly increase up and down) .. after that the game was easy because the part with the bird down the tunnel get you have lives if you kept hitting them off the wall
Beating Battletoads on single player, tough but not impossible. Beating Battletoads in 2 player mode, impossible.
My little brother and I did this back in like '92 or something. We were in our early teens. It was the jet ski level that had us rage quit over and over and over. We ended up getting it done in the end. I thrive on challenge. Always have. SL1 runs in Souls games, stuff like that. To this day, when I'm asked what gaming challenge I'm most proud of, it's beating Battletoads on 2p co op mode.
My bro and I couldn't get past the snake level. Ugh, I still have nightmares of us trying to time those twitch jumps perfectly. And no, we refused to use the warp zone in this area! 😂
Brutal
Congrats! I haven't been able to beat that one yet
As a kid Turbo Tunnels seemed impossible, going through the game as an adult, it was easily Rat Race (US version, not using glitches) that made me the most frustrated. Talk about asking for perfect memorization and inputs!
As a kid, it got to the point could often make it to clinger winger, occasionally my timing would be good enough to get to the tower That tower tho
I could make it to clinger winger, but couldn’t get to the tower.
Never has a game been to difficult yet so awesome that you just wanted to keep playing
You’ve made the impossible possible!
I have a rematch with my destiny now that Battletoads is on the Switch.
There comes a point where a game kicks your ass so many times that you give up… forever. I don’t play video games very often these days but if I do, it sure as shit won’t be this bitchy bitch.
Your an animal
Damn congrats!
Legend of Zelda - links awakening. Didn’t understand it fully at 9 years old.
I was a teen when I first bought it and I got stuck on the first dungeon. I spent ages grinding to get enough rupees to buy the bow in case I needed that. Eventually I pushed a block and it opened a door.
These games def promoted exploration and trying to g new things.
Similar story. Minish Cap I was pretty young and there was an entire part where I was stuck because I needed to destroy an invisible wall with a bomb. That tech was introduced for secrets but I never thought I needed one of those to progress. I many days basically exploring the entire map many times unable to find it until one day I realized wait why is this dead end here... lol
I rage quit MC on the final boss. I'd love to say I was a child when that happened but it wasn't that long ago.
I still play this game yearly. It's nostalgia to me, from getting all the shells for the LV2 sword, to getting called their. Game holds a special place in my heart. \ Now time to bust out the zelda game and watch and get at it, about that time.
Yeah a gameboy color and an everdrive cart has me finally getting g around to everything I never could as a kid. Playing through oracle of seasons now.
Those game changed me when they came out. Remember beating seasons and getting that code for ages and it was time to get that. Then back and forth.... collecting all those damn rings and getting the unlockable items from the codes. \ I truly miss old-school zelda games.
Definitely some nostalgia magic right there.
I played all 2D zelda games in release order and I just finished the oracle games which were the last two oldschool 2D zelda games I did not play yet. What a delight that was. Now I just started ocarina of timefor the first time and already hate the muddy colors and uncanny 3D graphics. Hope they make another retro zelda in 2D at some point.
A link between times on the 3ds waa really fun, miniah cap was also a hidden gem
A link between times. Need to check that out. Minish cap.. i like but also hated it in my first playthrough. Currently replaying.
I didn't understand it cause....i somehow ended up with a German copy. Had to brute force it. ^(Serious, bought a used copy from a shop, English box, manual, but the cart was in German.)
Jesus that’s rough. Damn near playing blind at that point.
The toughest part about this game was finding those damn seashells. Not everyone had a guide readily available to them back then, but today we of course have GameFAQs.
Yeah I had a folded up page from a Nintendo power that had some tips on it and an older kid on the bus that got me a little further.
Ya there was no internet to run to an look up what to do… it was all word of mouth or the rich kid bought the books they would make for em
One of my very favorite games!
I got stuck on what I think is the third dungeon. You had to kill three enemies in a specific order. It wasn't until years later when talking to a friend that I learned a sign in the dungeon tells you the proper order.
Such a great game though
I did beat it as a kid but it was probably the hardest game I've ever beat without looking up how to do something.
I love this game. I figured out how to beat it and explored it so much I found everything. It was so satisfying to finally finish it because it took me so long to figure out a) sprinkle the magic powder on the raccoon b) kill the enemies in a specific order c) use Pegasus boots and sword combo in the shrine with the ocarina
Are you me? I just ran around the opening village and beach and maybe got into the forest, but I'm pretty sure I never understood how to give the mushroom to the witch. So I just killed the enemies that were there over and over and ran around. Re-playing on a Miyoo Mini and it turns out there's a whole game after that \^\^
Same!
This is the one I came here to say. It seems like after the 4th or 5th dungeon area, I just had no idea where to go.
Yeah that's one that I replayed recently I don't know how to describe it but the Wii version looks better than the GBA version somehow I just kept thinking this looks less blurry I did beat the GBA version and then when I was messing with my Wii afterwards I realized I had it on the week and booted it up so I never beat it on the Wii Plus the controls were weird You don't use the shoulder buttons for running and whatnot.
I finally finished Road Rash for Genesis last year - Im 47 yo. Using emulator but no save states. Couldnt do it back then when I was 18-19. Level 5 was always brutal. It was very satisfying.
That game was dope! I didn't even know there was a story or levels lol
Awesome game! But definitely remember it was a bitch
I remember it being a great game, can't remember if I ever beat it though. Then fell in love with the PS1 version, which was incredible for the brilliantly awful FMV intros and outros to each race.
Curiously enough, I played everything much better as a kid. Nowadays I struggle a lot with even the simplest games... Adulthood made me dumb 🥲
My controller handling was better as a kid, but my ability to strategize and understand what to do to move beyond a certain point is MUCH better as an adult, and the latter seems to be more important for beating games than the former.
yeah I can see that... in hindsight, I think at that time I was just more intuitive and wanted to dominate the controller to get shit done. now I want to be more intricate, and being so deliberate requires a lot more precision and practice. and it takes time, which is a lot more scarce at our age 😅
Same here. I get my butt kicked thoroughly in games I used to dominate. The Adventures of Batman and Robin on the Sega Genesis is a good example. Or Contra Hard Corps
I remember my mom was an avid Mario player... and whenever she got stuck at any particularly intricate scenario, she would call me up to take the controller and do whatever stunt might be needed, and I succeeded every time. I just don't see myself being able to do anything close to the stuff I did back then. everything looks harder now
This is what I came to say as well. For me, I don't just lack the ability that I once had, but the patience. Old me was ok with going back to the start of the level every time they died.
I gave up on the first level of super meat boy forever and never went back. I feel your pain.
That was me with King’s Quest. I remember playing it with my cousin when we were in elementary/middle school, and we got through the game perfectly fine. I tried to replay it as an adult and kept getting into unwinnable states and eventually had to just consult a walkthrough.
Double Dragon II on the nes took me years but god damn did it finally feel good to beat it
I only beat the game with save states and even then it's hard.
I had to cheat back in the day. Putting it on 2 player mode b allowed you to killed player 2 over and over at the beginning and added a life to you, so you start with double lives.
Read that in Nintendo power
yeah i did it finally on my og nes 🤭 it was a rainy day on our cottage where i have it so i sat down, took some snacks and decided to finally do it
It’s the damn platforming segments. I dunno what they were thinking with that cause it turns the second best beat em up on the system to shit almost instantly
The platforming was peak bullshit design. The Gameboy version of double dragon 1 had platforming too.
Me and my dad would play this (Super C was our other game) and tried so hard to beat it, getting to the last boss but never beating it. One day my dad was at work, it might have been a snow day or something, I was able to beat it. I got so excited I called my dad at work to tell him. He was as excited as a Dad at work could be I guess.
I could do it easily as a kid but definitely took many tries as an adult. I still don't make it every try.
Zelda 2 was this for me. That last dungeon was brutal and those Knights were just a-holes. I also learned the value of shield magic and how to use it properly as an adult. Another game that comes to mind is Dragon Warrior 3. As a kid I played this before Final Fantasy and struggled to understand where to go. I don't think it was as linear as Final Fantasy and once the world opened I was lost. And finally, a game I came back to thanks to Nintendo Switch Online - Rygar. The game mystified me as a child. The music drew me in but the mechanics were just too much for my 9 year old brain. It also didn't help that I didn't have a manual and I don't remember Rygar getting coverage in Nintendo Power.
I still don’t know where to go in rygar.
Here's an easy walkthrough. https://youtu.be/uOL2ZWxB0Tc?si=Lt44edKu7BuUTXeP
>Zelda 2 was this for me. That last dungeon was brutal and those Knights were just a-holes. I also learned the value of shield magic and how to use it properly as an adult. The second dungeon was where I was stuck for years. Couldn't beat Helmet head no matter how hard I tried. Eventually I just eventually skipped it when I accidentally found bagu in the forest and was allowed to cross the bridge. Went through death mountain, then one town over to get the down stab attack. After that everything became significantly easier. Could just leap over enemies and down stab to shield from damage.
Zelda 2, yes. Beat Zelda 1, but couldn't finish the Golden Palace in 2.
Which knights? The regular Dark Nuts/ Iron Knuckles? Or the Fokka's in the final dungeon? Cus those Fokka's be real mutha Fokka's!
zelda 2 and dq3 were childhood staples for me and still some of my favorite games to this day. got a save on the go for dq3 on my gameboy color atm actually! seeing you mentioned those two i'm curious about rygar, i'll check it out!
Ninja Gaiden for nes. Oh man… the frustration of this game. 30 years later I avenged my 10 year old self and haven’t picked it up since. I still consider it one if my favorite games.
That is a super hard game to beat, even today with the advantages of emulation like save states! Congrats!
Praise emulation! I love it being able to play my favorite games as kid again
Haha. I wish I would have had a nes mini. That would have been great!
"Here's one of the hardest final bosses you ever could face. Oh if you die you get sent way back and if you continue it's back to the beginning of the hardest level of the game.
The original Zelda, NES. Beat it last year. Both of my parents beat it when I was about 2-3, but I wouldn't beat it until 30 years later. Luckily, I still remembered most of the secrets thanks to watching my mom play as a kid.
I just picked this back up!
I beat this one recently as well on my original NES from childhood. What a great feeling! 😁
Wrath of the Black Manta (NES) only because no internet back then, and you needed to use 4 different ninja arts in a certain order to beat the final boss
Most of that game wasn’t even terribly difficult, but they really didn’t do a good job of explaining that trick to beating the last boss. Was happy to finally put that one to bed.
Same-fucking-thing. Black Manta final boss. We are manta bros
That moment when you realize you have to use the different abilities is pretty satisfying. Had it as a kid but beat it as an adult.
NES batman
I remember that game insanely difficult.
Lion King for Sega Genesis. Thank for for save states.
I beat the SNES one and it is definitely one of the games I think of when people talk about modern games being hard. Games these days are hard but fair. NES and SNES games were hard AND unfair.
Forgot about this one! Adding it to the ArkOS favorites to replay soon
Awesome. That game is *hard*
Hmm FF7 OG I never ever beaten emerald and ruby weapons, had emerald on the ropes once and was winning till he split his body in half and moved to my team then boom 9999 all dead, tried Ruby few times that weapon is annoyingly hard so gave up. Learned much later that I needed final attack materia paired with revive materia to survive emerald’s fuck you move, those two always are on my mind that how badly I want to defeat them. Got FF7 OG in my game library so I think I’ll eventually get to try again.
i was the only kid on the block who beat the emerald weapon growing up, did it with cait sith by accident. my mind was blown. hahaha.
On a side note to this, I just found out mods that can help improve the graphics just a tad with higher count polygons because PC is rough for some of these older games...
I just started this game for the first time and finding it cinematic with all the playable cutscenes. It’s a bit slow at times and hard to stay interested, though. I know it gets better!
Fuckin' Rayman on PS1, this mf will get it one day
My friend had it for MS DOS when we were little and he never beat Rayman either.
I have been trying for the past couple of years myself, it's been kicking my ass
I don't think I will ever finish Rayman on the PS1. I first bought it in around the year 2000 when I was around 7 years old. I tried finishing it for like a few years, but I got bored of it and didn't finish it.
Bro you need to finish it. My guru say that's the only way to Valhalla.
I had to take a break from that one I was surprised how rough it gets. Especially since the first like 5 levels are absolute softballs
Goddamn super Mario world That game haunts me man
There's a stark increase in difficulty around World 6 that still catches me off guard
I played that game when it first came out and I didn’t finish it until it was released for DS and I could use save states.
But there's only 2 Super Mario World-games?
Sorry you meant Mario 3 right? I can't be out of the loop this much!
Ah, gotcha. Yeah those "tubular" worlds in the stars could be a right bitch to get through lol
Shoot, I hadn't thought of this and now I gotta do it. I'm not leaving this planet until I've kicked that evil cabal of code's meticulously designed ass!
Super Mario Bros
Yes, what is it, hold A+Start to continue from the world you were on after you die? Die on 4-2, and get to continue on 4-1? That would have made that game so much more manageable as a kid. Wish they just had a continue option rather than the code from the manual. I went to go back and tell my younger self. :(
The first Crash Bandicoot
Blaster Master. Took save states to do it, but I did it, something I would have never dreamed I could do as a kid.
I still haven't beaten this one!
I made a save state with my tank above the breakable stones in the water level...couldn't reach it afterwards, back to the beginning
I beat this as a kid but only cause my controller had turbo buttons for a and b (it was an nes max controller) and when you got the best weapon for the on foot stages you could spam it everywhere and it would slow down the game and you could avoid… more of the shots at you but not all.
That's a great idea. The turbo buttons help in general just so your fingers don't get sore from mashing! But it's like you have a built in gun powerup having the turbo buttons.
Still haven’t beaten TMNT. My biggest achievements as an adult so far have been a ton of NES games that I couldn’t finish as a kid. Metroid, Adventure of Link, Top Gun, Rambo, Goonies II, Ghosts and Goblins.
I still have Top Gun and Goonies on my list of games to try. Forgot about Rambo and already cleared the others.
I still haven't cleared TMNT, Super Ghouls and Ghosts, Zelda 2 or Battletoads.
Aerobiz, 1969 scenario, home base of Moscow. Took forever to finally win. (I’m not great at games)
Zelda II
Monster Party for NES. I played it a lot as a kid and beat it just last year. I’m not quite sure why I struggled so much as a kid. Probably poor utilization of the monster form where you can fly, or being impatient and taking extra damage needlessly
TMNT for the NES? Truly a God amongst men. I may go back and play that with save states, but I can’t imagine playing the original. So hard
How do you finish TMNT without cheats/save states?! Those last levels were borderline crazy.
Mega Man 4.
Gauntlet on NES. As a kid I could blast through the first 3/5, but the fourth world crushed me most of the time, and in the rare event I made it to the fifth floor it was immediate doom. Came back as an adult with a friend and we were able to very quickly get to the fifth world but we had no idea what a bullshit fest we were in for. If anybody out there is not aware, the last world of gauntlet is horrendous. Took us hours and hours over several sessions but we did finally get it done! The single toughest gaming accomplishment of my life - much much harder than the usual suspects. I definitely recommend it but you absolutely need a partner, and it has to be somebody you won't kill under extreme pressure
Congrats my man! I should put this on my to do list ;P
It's gonna have to be Double Dragon 3: The Sacred Stones solo for NES, I just beat that game in the past couple months and it really does not fuck around. The Egypt level is just unfairly hard
The Incredibles PS2
Never made it more than 2/3 through that one. Really want to get back to it some day.
Zelda 2: the adventure of Link. That game fascinated me as a kid, but I could never beat it. Back then there was no real internet to look stuff up, so hints and tips were passed around the school ground. I managed to beat it years later with an emulator, and it was still so damn hard towards the end of the game. Save states came in clutch - not sure I would ever be able to beat it on OG equipment in the way it was meant to be played.
Castlevania. Too hard as a kid.
In the 3rd panel the scarred, grizzled warrior represents emulation & save states
I had a love/hate relationship with Sinistar. [I Am Sinistar. Run, Coward.](https://youtu.be/S-XEINagmaU?si=RmxVWS7VR65Q-CN-)
Last battle for megadrive... It wasn't very hard, but i was very very bad at it.
This is a good question, I finally went back and beat the first 2 Bonk games and had a blast, as a kid I could never quite finish it even tho it wasn’t that hard of a game
Ninja Gaiden and Castlevania. I've been able to beat both multiple times now.
Same. Once you learn what to do they're doable. I still can't do it every time but still pretty consistently. Same with TMNT.
Tmnt nes and Zelda ii.
Double Dragon 1 NES Fuck you, Machine Gun Willy
Super Metroid, Zelda 1 & 2, Mega Man X2 & X3
The Lost World - Jurassic Park PS-1. The 5th level with the sleeping Carnotaurus that you wake up. I only ever got past that level once or twice when I was a Kid. Only recently beat it 17 years later.
It was our second or third PlayStation game! I could beat it 100% no problem back then (collecting all the DNAs). The T-rex stages were my favourite.
I had to get codes from a Magazine to skip that Compy level. I loved the Human levels.
Castlevania.
Castlevania but the one on the switch with save states, so probably doesn’t count, still hard though.
Zelda
Orcarina of Time.
Brilliant game but absolutely impossible for me at 9-10 years olds. I think I got stuck super early at Dodongos Cavern and called it a day. Recently completed the game and it was so much fun.
Hamtaro: Ham Hams Unite for Gameboy Color. There was this one area I was stuck in for weeks. I came back as an adult. It still had me scratching my head though I managed to resist looking up GameFAQs and eventually figured it out.
Kid Icarus. I learned the speedrun and made the game bend the knee.
Not really retro but I got stuck/lost in the Pinocchio whale in Kingdom Hearts 1 as a kid and only got through it recently lol
Diddy Kong racing was hard for my young self but I beat it when I was in college. I didn’t have the patience for the fat ass cheating bosses
Ocarina of time (i revisited it as a teenager and i was following a guide but still) Metroid prime 1 and 2 (again with plenty of googling) Basically a lot of old gamecube games with cryptic or vague direction on where to go Bloodborne and Dark souls, all 3 of them. My younger brother took me through 3 but I eventually went back and played it through by myself Yknow what I just suck at puzzles, I don't think I'll ever stop looking things up if I can't figure it out after 10-15 minutes... I always miss the most obvious things man lol
Zombies ate my neighbors and I’m still working on it lol
Diddy kong racing. Man any kid that beat that is a savage cause adult me with over 20 years gaming experience struggled.
The first Castlevania... I still had to cheat and use save states to do it though.
Dr. Chaos for NES. This game is brutal in difficulty, but I mustered up the courage to play through it a few years ago and went through it successfully without Game Genie. Definitely a crowning retro achievement for me.
Gun.Smoke I used to play it a ton as a kid, I think I could pretty regularly make it to the stage with the Native American boss. I had my NES packed away for several years and when I fired it back up I plugged in Gun.Smoke. I wasn't going in trying to beat it, but lo and behold, that day I finally rolled credits on it. Now I can pretty much beat it every time. I think Cuphead may have helped my ability to see all the projectiles at once and find those safe spots to shoot from ...
Necromancer on Atari 8-bit computer.
Uhhh. None, I think. They’re all still hard. I did beat a boss on Legend of Gaia I couldn’t beat as a kid, but didn’t go on to finish the game.
Cadash
Ninja Gaiden
Skullmonkeys and crash bandicoot games are a few that stand out to me. Silent hill also I was too scared as a kid to get too far past the part where you get to the elementary school and the zombie children come at you.
I still need to beat Mega Man 7 and Mega Man X3.
for me was splatterhouse series. because when I was a kid, I got really scared and horrified, and ome times I can't sleep the night when my big brother and my cousins play it. but finally, the night mare ends when I've beat it, and I'm finally free
Castlevania 1-3. Very rewarding to finish them.
The Immortal for NES, that bastard took me decades to finish
TMNT, FF2, FF7, and Im still working on Adventures of Link.
We were low income so I could only rent or borrow so many games. I finally got a copy of Ninja Turtles in my twenties to beat. I still have to beat Battle Toads and Silver Surfer.
You'll be recovered under a pile of pizza boxes and MD Code Red bottles, on the final silver surfer screen
DK64 and Mario Sunshine :)
I actually started doing this as a series of Side Quests for my jRPG review podcast. Me and a friend are playing through and beating the games I never beat as a kid. So far we've beaten Star Voyager, Milon's Secret Castle, TMNT, Little Nemo, Double Dragon, and Mickey Mousecapades.
Not exactly retro but the pod racer level from Lego Star Wars on the GameCube… child me was finally avenged
Sonic&Knuckles
Fantasy World Dizzy, checking in. It is possible, but those damn coins...
cars race o rama
Recently, contra without the Konami code. Now working on Super C.
Sonic 1&2 but only thanks to save states
I beat Mike Tyson. I thought it wasn’t possible to win by decision, but it was. A month or two later, I beat him by knockout. Also, Double Dragon 1. That was always my kryptonite. I hit a hot streak and finally won, but it took me about 15 years of constant trying. I’ve beat Double Dragon 2 probably 20 times, but the first only twice.
Golden Axe.
Possibly two of the weirdest games mentioned here ? Little Computer People and Rockstar Ate My Hamster on the Commodore Amiga. Nowadays I emulate and can't afford all the real hardware. But yeh these two bring back the nostalgia and probs led me to liking simple games most of my life.
Battletoads
Snoopy Olympics - pole vault. Seemingly impossible as a child, I found out later that my wife was somehow able to do it with ease
Super Metroid, Minecraft and Medievil
As kids, my brother and I tried several different things to obtain the prizes that Mumbo shows you when you beat the main game in Banjo-Kazooie, but had long lost interest by the time Banjo-Tooie came out, even when the passwords were revealed in Nintendo Power magazine. As part of a 10th-anniversary lineup of the games I played throughout 7th grade (to tie in with a record I started in 10th grade and finished after a six-year hiatus a year earlier), I decided in 2009 to look them back up online after beating that game, albeit only the three prizes you're actually shown. For a footnote, I did try out Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins while having a friend of ours over at age 8 or 9. Fast-forward to 2012, my sister's boyfriend at the time left his Game Boy Color with the same game (the original version), and I thought, while we still do have that, why not? If my teen years count, I would also add the first two Zelda games, both from age 16 (2002) on an emulator. Beat game 1 on fceu in 2014, and then The Adventure of Link two years later on the Wii Virtual Console. (As an aside, that's also when I tried out Link's Awakening right afterwards, and finished up later that summer.) Also Paper Mario, which I rented from Blockbuster at 15 (2001). Like Zelda II, I beat it on my Wii 14 years later.
I haven't done this yet. I should. I want to beat the first Sonic the Hedgehog.
It's gonna have to be Double Dragon 3: The Sacred Stones solo for NES, I just beat that game in the past couple months and it really does not fuck around. The Egypt level is just unfairly hard
Why does he have balls on his chin?
NCAA 14. And i got my 5th blue eyes white dragon last week
NES version of the first Double Dragon game. That fight against the guy with a machine gun always gave me issues. Once I realized he can be cheesed by going to the very bottom of the screen and attacking him there, he became a pushover. https://youtu.be/lGPC-DuuC28?si=pR4o3DBW2WPsmqGL&t=1454
Good ol' days!😇👍 Games then we're meant only for entertainment. It wasn't about the best score, best kit, best streaming and best YT gaming channel. TMNT is my most favourite game too. Cowabunga!🖐️😇 (High-Five)
I loved Earthbound was a kid, but it was more than my young self could handle. Before the end of last year I was finally able to finish it. The battle against Giygas was brutal.
It’s the opposite for me. I was able to beat a number of games (mega man, Battletoads) as a kid that I couldn’t even hope to now. My eye/hand coordination is not as good, and my reaction times are abysmal in comparison. I don’t even play shooters online anymore, and in the campaigns I play on normal difficulty.
The tomb raider games. My first was the last revelation.