old but very difficult games?

Korvanica

Hey, does anyone know any very old and very difficult platform games available for download?

We've just completed Dangerous Dave and are looking for more...

And man is that one hard game...

http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/game/105

scooochie4

Try battletoads on snes. I guarantee you, you wont get past the third level on the bikes!
Also try super probotector on snes (on difficult!)

LoGiE

*Waits for hamster to post...

Depending on how retro you want to go I always found Caudron or Uridium on the c64 very difficult. The ability to save games has made people soft!!

TechnoFreek

Renegade 3 on the c64. Rock hard!
Terrible collision detection which never favoured the player.
Manys the swear word that was uttered over this game.

I would imgaine that the consensus will be that the c64 harboured some of the hardest games ever known to man!

LoGiE

Aah Renegade 3! Not a patch on Renagade or Target:Renegade but famous none the less due to the flaw you mentioned. Unless your a sado masocist I'd avoid it! Theres a pretty funny discussion about it over at The Ocean Experience's forums about the games development. It was fast to say the least with very little bug testing.

Retr0gamer

Gradius 3 is a complete bastard. Don't bother with the watered down SNES version. The arcade version is the way to go. Not only is it the hardest game in a series known for it's difficulty but Konami didn't even include the ability to continue. Not that it mattered since when you lost all your power ups with your first life you were ****ed since it took so long to even power up to a decent speed.

Someone mentioned Contra 3 but it's actually quite tame. The real daddies of the series in terms of difficulty are Contra: Hard Corps on Mega Drive and Contra: Shattered Soldier on the PS2. Both fantastic games and both took me months of dedicated play to finish.

I always found Creatures on C64 to be rock hard. Could never beat the final boss before the final torture chamber even with the infinite lives cheat.

Then there is always Manic Miner and the impossible to finish Jet Set Willy (which I hate for being so hard).

trout

OP ... if you really want to try tough platform games, take a look at the 8bit era

Abu Simbel Profanation on the Spectrum gets my vote as the toughest platformer ...

http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showscreen.cgi?screen=screens/in-game/a/AbuSimbelProfanation.gif

also, Technician Ted, again on the Spectrum ... I could never beat that game and slowly came to hate it even more than JetSet Willy

http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showscreen.cgi?screen=screens/in-game/t/TechnicianTed.gif

info on some PC remakes of Spectrum classics at this link http://www.worldofspectrum.org/remakes.cgi ...

Uridium is a tough game, but not that tough, was there any platform element to it ?

TechnoFreek

Haha, this is a great topic, memories flooding back!

Can we turn this into a topic of its own - bast@rd hard games?
as our suggestions for Korvanica are probably going off topic!


Does anyone remember joystick waggler Combat School or Raw Recruit on the
c64? Holy fook were they hard.

Timans

Comix Zone on MegaDrive is quite difficult as there is no saving. Also because it is pretty much impossible to kill all enemies without taking damage.

Not EXTREMELY difficult but a great game to boot.

Peter Collins

I thought the latter levels of Magic Pockets were extremely difficult.

At one stage you had to jump from cloud to cloud that you created and would dissolve in a couple of seconds.

It was nigh-on impossible! :mad:

Retr0gamer

The old Megaman games on the NES were really tough. The worst was MM1 because not only was it the hardest game but it also didn't have a password save so you had to beat it in one sitting. Megaman 2 and 3 are the best of the series and while tough the password save makes it a lot less hair pulling than MM1.

BLITZ_Molloy

Alisa Dragoon on the Mega Drive. I found it incredibly hard to finish even after cheating by quick saving on an emulator every 10 seconds.

Defender, Robotron and of course Sinistar.

LoGiE

TechnoFreek wrote:

Does anyone remember joystick waggler Combat School or Raw Recruit on the
c64? Holy fook were they hard.

More joysticks met there end on those games then I care to remember. In track&Field lose an event and your right back to the start. Nasty!

Magic pockets was a savage platformer alright. I think it's fair to say that all of the bitmap brothers games were difficult. Chaos engine would have been a nightmare without the codes and Speedball two got pretty frustrating when you got to the top division.

im_invisible

anyone remember head over heels on the c64? anyone ever finish it??

i used to love all those dizzy-the-egg games aswell

Jerichoholic

Head over Heels was just strange, what was going on really?

The hardest game anywhere is Ghouls and Ghosts, no matter what system you play it on it's just a bollocks.

Vigilante on C64 is nigh on impossible, I never got past the 2nd level.

monkeyfudge

LoGiE wrote:

Magic pockets was a savage platformer alright. I think it's fair to say that all of the bitmap brothers games were difficult. Chaos engine would have been a nightmare without the codes and Speedball two got pretty frustrating when you got to the top division.

Don't forget Gods... very tough too.

o1s1n

MY first two choices for this were Contra; Hard Corps and Ghouls n Ghosts..but I see they have already been mentioned. Bastards of games. Something about Ghouls..I just cant get passed the Medieval weird turtle jumping thing level. Always ends with me hitting the off button in a rage.

Sword of Sodan for the Megadrive. This game will do your skull in. I rented it out when I was a kid and just had to buy it recently to relive the horror.

The Revenge of Shinobi can be a good challenge...when you don't use the shuriken cheat that is Same can be said for Shadow Dancer.

I remember Another World driving me mad when I was younger. Thankfully I had bought it as a trade in and the prior owner had been nice enough to write down all the level passwords.

One of the most infuriating games I've ever played is a Japanese snes import I have called Dirty Challenger. Couldnt figure out how to play it then, still cant now.

LoGiE

Having finished Ghoul's and Ghost's on C64, Amiga and arcade many times I can say it's a unforgiving bastard but I did get a huge sense of achievement when I finally finished it. I went and bought Ghosts and Goblins for my PSP and it's giving me my fix of GnG games for now:)

o1s1n

LoGiE wrote:

Having finished Ghoul's and Ghost's on C64, Amiga and arcade many times I can say it's a unforgiving bastard but I did get a huge sense of achievement when I finally finished it. I went and bought Ghosts and Goblins for my PSP and it's giving me my fix of GnG games for now:)

Fair play!
Maybe one day I'll sit down and stick it out until my thumbs bleed.

Retr0gamer

I used to 1 credit Gn'G in the arcades Loved that game. Perfect piece of game design. It might seem unfair at first but if you play through it enough you see the patterns and really appreciate it. Even those flying red devil bastards had a pattern.

Forgot to mention Rocket Knight Adventures on the MD. Absolutely spupidly good game but really tough.

Jerichoholic

Hate those flying red buggers. Love the game though, the music, the colours, graphics all so beautiful, it's just so, so hard. I've never come close to beating it, although I might make it my new goal.

hamster

LoGiE wrote:

*Waits for hamster to post...

Depending on how retro you want to go I always found Caudron or Uridium on the c64 very difficult. The ability to save games has made people soft!!

I'm late! In my original C64 collection - back then - Cauldron I with a doubt for me was the most frustrating and tough platform game I had ever lain eyes on. I still have fond memories of it and still clearly remember the music. But 9 lives was never enough. In that game, at the time I played best, I managed to get 2 of the 4 rooms cleared but never completed it. Slipping of the edge of the platforms was a pet hate of mine. You were forced to be absolutely pixel perfect and even then the witch would slip and plummet to her 8th death in the magma below! I love the woods and graphics though. It was 1985 and happy days...

Actually, this year I completed Zoids and The Sentinel (well 274 levels to from 0000 to 9999). That was a lot easier... but you could do 3-4 levels a day.
http://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21688

the_new_mr

Class thread!

Bart Vs The Space Mutants on the MegaDrive is a real pain in the ass! Level 1 and 2 are handy enough but then it gets crazy-ass difficult and pure unfair in level 3. Then you're back to level 1. No saves was a BI-ATCH!

Dynamite headdy on the MegaDrive is another turn-megadrive-off-in-anger game. Once again, early levels are fine. Then pure madness!

hamster

Ha! Ha! - I remember breaking the C key off my keyboard after a particular game.

nickcave

R-Type on the Master System was unreasonably tough. I finished R-Type 3 on the SNES with an emulator, but only by saving state every 20 seconds. How anyone could finish it on a straight run is absolutely beyond me.

c - 13

the_new_mr wrote:

Class thread!

Bart Vs The Space Mutants on the MegaDrive is a real pain in the ass! Level 1 and 2 are handy enough but then it gets crazy-ass difficult and pure unfair in level 3. Then you're back to level 1. No saves was a BI-ATCH!

Dynamite headdy on the MegaDrive is another turn-megadrive-off-in-anger game. Once again, early levels are fine. Then pure madness!

Ah Bart VS the space mutants on the Amiga, memories ....
Level 1 - Springfield Boss: Nelson Muntz
Level 2 - Springfield Mall Boss: Weylen (SP) Smithers
Level 3 - Krustyland Boss: Sideshow Bob
Level 4 - Springfield Museum Boss: ?
Level 5 - Nuclear Plant Boss: ?
Could never get past level 4, there was a jump near the end of a level onto several faling platforms, the jump itself was tough to make then as you ran along the platforms fell, the only problem was that they fell faster than you could run

Ghosts and ghouls last level is near impossible, the rest of the levels are ok, that said i've never beaten the final level either.

Rick Dangerous was tough enough as well (Amiga).

Oh and Operation Stealth (Amiga - Point&CLick Adventure) nearly impossible, The first thing you had to do was to forge yourself a passport to get through an airport security check, couldnt do it at all. That said I was young enough at the time, must look that game up again and give it another shot.

hamster

c - 13 wrote:

Oh and Operation Stealth (Amiga - Point&CLick Adventure) nearly impossible, The first thing you had to do was to forge yourself a passport to get through an airport security check, couldnt do it at all. That said I was young enough at the time, must look that game up again and give it another shot.

I remember that... I still hear the echoing footstep in front of the airport. Getting the coin and that french way of using "operate" on the objects. Tried the WHDLOAD version lately and might play it some other time again... still a good game though. Later in the game - got killed/captured in a green maze. Drove me nuts!

Retr0gamer

Just had a go at some original Gameboy games. Was playing Castlevania Adventure. Brutally tough game. Don't know how I finished it. If anyone wants to try it then prepare to be frustrated.

o1s1n

Retr0gamer wrote:

Just had a go at some original Gameboy games. Was playing Castlevania Adventure. Brutally tough game. Don't know how I finished it. If anyone wants to try it then prepare to be frustrated.

Should post up a new bastard hard game every week and see if anyone can beat it. Preferably on original hardware. Or emulation with no save states. Although, I would imagine it would lead to many broken computers/consoles.

Jerichoholic

o1s1n wrote:

Should post up a new bastard hard game every week and see if anyone can beat it. Preferably on original hardware. Or emulation with no save states. Although, I would imagine it would lead to many broken computers/consoles.

That would be great!:D

Retr0gamer

I remember a mate of mine broke his gameboy playing batman the animated series. He headbutt and cracked the LCD screen

Castlevania Adventure is a complete dog to play until you get good at it (and then I still only stuck with it because of the name). Loads of instant death scenarios, really stiff controls which don't help when dealing with flying enemies and it also moves at a snails pace. The term 'pixel perfect jumps' must have been coined for this game. I remember looking closely at the screen to see how many pixels the main character was over the ledge so I would know if I could make the jump. Only 4 stages but it took me months when I was younger to see the end screen,

Earthhorse

nickcave wrote:

I finished R-Type 3 on the SNES with an emulator, but only by saving state every 20 seconds. How anyone could finish it on a straight run is absolutely beyond me.

/puts hand up

I'd say that was the toughest game I ever finished. Plus I only had it rented for a week so my wrists were arthritic and and my eyes bloodshot when I returned it to the store.

Can't believe Bart vs the Space Mutants is being mentioned in this thread. It was easy enough once you got to grips with it.

Retr0gamer

I finished R-type 3 on the SNES recently on the Virtual Console. Yes it is rather tough but R-type 1 and 2 are much harder. I've made it to the final bosses of both those games (using the save after each stage function in R-types and the GDP of a small country in credits) but could never manage to beat the last boss of either game.

TechnoFreek

I remember some of the Dizzy games on the c64 being tough, in the head scatching sense.

Trode

TechnoFreek wrote:

I remember some of the Dizzy games on the c64 being tough, in the head scatching sense.

There were a few obscure puzzles, but they were usually alright until the end, where you had to find all the coins/diamonds/whatever to finish the game, and some were hidden behind random chunks of background scenery. Treasure Island Dizzy, though, had only one life to finish the game, and multiple unpredictable insta-deaths.
Also, Hagane and Lemmings 2 on SNES were pretty tough. I never did figure out the last Beach level on Lemmings.
The arcade version of Renegade I never got off the first screen of. It's hard to the point of looking like a realistic take-off of beat-em-ups. You're attacked by about four punks, and instead of handily flattening them all and with martial arts prowess or furious punching, you get one or two hits in before you're hopped on and beaten to death.

Retr0gamer

Hagane has been confirmed for the Virtual Console. Can't wait to give that a blast, looks like a brilliant shinobi/strider clone.

LoGiE

Retr0gamer wrote:

Hagane has been confirmed for the Virtual Console. Can't wait to give that a blast, looks like a brilliant shinobi/strider clone.

I really have to look into getting a Wii and virtual console. Anyone got a link to the games available so far? Is it expensive to purchase games (Given I probably bought a few first time round!)

Retr0gamer

http://www.vc-reviews.com/

That's all you need. It is very expensive to buy the games. 5 yoyos for a nes game, 6 for TG-16, 8 for SNES and MD and 10 for N64.

LoGiE

Cheers for the link. That is a little expensive alright... I'd probably pay for the likes of zelda but there's a few duds there. The Megadrive version of Virtua Fighter 2? Give me a break!!:rolleyes:

legs11

daley tmompsons on the speccy was unreal, went thru about 10 kempston joy sticks,

all the ultimate games were all night affairs, knightlore, underworlde , fairlight also a taxing affair.

jezus so many classicos from the 80s....

i had boxed ultimate games but they are gone awol, my eldest bro gave them to a neighbour years ago, id say they would be pretty valuable now, mind you i got a boxed speccy 48k spectrum with manuals safetly put away.......

legs11

also monty mole was one cnut of a game,

even to this day i have an urge to complete it. but you need them pokes dont you.

my brother was deadly at hacking....

seo-ireland

All hard:

Megadrive
- Spatterhouse III (was hard to complete even using emulator save states. Not only that but it gives you nightmares)
- Thunderforce IV
- Contra Hard Corps
- Battle Squadron

SNES
- Super Probotector (this no-hit speed run is amazing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlTopHWbqnM)

NES
- Airwolf (happy to say I completed it but probably gave myself a heart problem in the process)
- TMNT (could never get past those blasted flying robots in the Technodrome)

Notorious

scooochie4 wrote:

Try battletoads on snes. I guarantee you, you wont get past the third level on the bikes!
Also try super probotector on snes (on difficult!)

Ha I'd say it took a total of three years of my childhood to get past the speed bikes level. I never passed the Ice level after that though! Its such a difficult game.

LoGiE

I'd like to add Cannon Fodder (Amiga Version) to the list of bastard hard games... I fired it up for a quick game and ended up spending 3 hours and found myself completely losing the plot on more then one occasion!:eek:

Pigman II

Spooks on the C64 was a nightmare (pun not intended) game. It was made doubly so by the fact that even tho you'd been killed thousands of times over the simple nature of the game always left you with the impression that "never mind I'm DEFINITE I can win it *this* time".
http://www.lemon64.com/reviews/view.php?id=386

V (based on the SciFi televison show) was another one you could forget about completing. I'm convinced everything was designed deliberately to leave you in confusion, from the layout of the space ship to the fact that the interface in the game was written in an alien language.
http://www.lemon64.com/reviews/view.php?id=386

Enigma Force. The horror! The horror!
http://www.lemon64.com/games/details.php?ID=836

I guess in their defence they were games that one indeed came back to despite the difficulty and frustration, instead of just chucking in the bin. It was a mean trick to play on a kid tho!

hamster

I'm sure we mentioned we mentioned Cauldron already? Grr. That game was a sprite killer. My witch kept on slipping and sliding to oblivion in the caves. Imagine being paid to complete that now? I played it a lot since I played with friends. Look at the 2nd screenshot in the link. It shows the lucky player has all the ingredients collected and hopefully ready to walk past Daddy Pumpkin in the Green room. The 3rd screenshot is the classic cottage screenshot that many drooled over in those days.

I never played V and loved the 5-part film version. Might try it.

Ruu_Old

seo-ireland wrote:

All hard:

Megadrive
- Spatterhouse III (was hard to complete even using emulator save states. Not only that but it gives you nightmares)
- Thunderforce IV
- Contra Hard Corps
- Battle Squadron

SNES
- Super Probotector (this no-hit speed run is amazing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlTopHWbqnM)

NES
- Airwolf (happy to say I completed it but probably gave myself a heart problem in the process)
- TMNT (could never get past those blasted flying robots in the Technodrome)

Good grief, that game went on forever!

A-Trak

Retr0gamer wrote:

I always found Creatures on C64 to be rock hard. Could never beat the final boss before the final torture chamber even with the infinite lives cheat.

Hear Hear,

A bastard of a game, a joy to play but so unforgiving!

Mcj metroid

Ruu wrote:

Good grief, that game went on forever!

Best megadrive game ever!:)


I actually wasn't that bad.

Super ghouls and ghosts was legendary. Also F-zero gx is very difficult on the highest level in story

Retr0gamer

Thundeforce IV really wasn't all that tough, much tough shmups out there including Thunderforce 3.

F-zero GX is a right bastard especially the story missions.

TinCool

Pigman II wrote:

V (based on the SciFi televison show) was another one you could forget about completing. I'm convinced everything was designed deliberately to leave you in confusion, from the layout of the space ship to the fact that the interface in the game was written in an alien language.
http://www.lemon64.com/reviews/view.php?id=386

I got to agree with you there but myself and my brother during the summer of the release of the game did successfully complete it. Once we got the hang of it completed it several times actually and yes it was ba$tard hard. Most time was spent trying to crack the codes to open the doors.

TC