20 Difficult Games - List by Gamasutra

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
From our news:
When I was younger, I had a bad habit where I would get so frustrated with a game, that I'd wind up throwing the gamepad across the room. Ironically, some of the games that pushed me over the edge are on Gamasutra's list of "20 Difficult Games". This is not a list for the most difficult games of all time, but are rather just a few games that happen to be difficult, and ones that new game designers can learn from. Oh Cobra Triangle, how I loathed thee.

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Nothing attracts the ire of those fickle game bloggers quite like them getting their asses handed to them by a game. And it is possible to make a game arbitrarily difficult without too much effort. Increase monster attack strength, decrease player health, remove resources and/or add more foes -- these are just the most obvious ways a game can be made harder, and it doesn't take any great skill to add them.

Source: Gamesutra

What games would you add to the list? I could think of a few, mainly top-down shooters though, like Ikaruga. I think I could muster a far larger list than 20 though.
 

GameMasterNick

Coastermaker
Mmm... Ikaruga. My dreamcast gathers no dust.

I think Tron should be in there. Master Computer cheats.
Deadly Towers deserved its spot, I have nightmares about that one.
Rogue... really? The first was good, the roguelikes are always fun.
 
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Ratneck

Obliviot
I'd put ET for the original Atari on there.....The game sucked, but when I was a kid I could NEVER get ET out of the pits. And if I did, half the time the agent I just ran from was still standing right there....or happened to just appear.
 

zocoul

Obliviot
They got their #1 right. I'm surprised I still play games after playing, i.e. losing horribly, that one when I was 8. :D
 
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