NintendoAge http://nintendoage.com/forum/ -Sqooner "Hardest NES Games http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=31&threadid=101430 2017-12-02T23:00:58 -05.00 Elkovsky 76 Originally posted by: bronzeshield

The list really came out quite well all things considered, even if there are a few games that don't really belong (Star Voyager, Double Dragon III, Overlord) and a few notable absences (Arkanoid, The Last Starfighter, Star Force).

Finding out the continue code in Solomon's Key is legit (included on a poster with the game) also changes things a bit. True, a year back I was looking through all the NES hardest lists, and Electric Frankfurters was the by far the best one out there. Most other lists only picked between the more famous titles, so you'd always see Ghost'N Goblins, Battletoads and Silver Surfer in the top 3 spot. 

I also found TheMexicanRunner's list over the 10 most difficult ones interesting, as he actually beat the whole library. 
 

  • The Miracle Piano Teaching System

  • Championship Pool

  • Ikari Warriors (no continue code/ABBA)

  • To the Earth

  • High Speed

  • R.C. Pro-Am

  • Arkanoid

  • Bump 'N Jump

  • Q*Bert

  • Michael Andretti's World GP

]]> "Hardest NES Games http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=31&threadid=101430 2017-12-02T09:24:41 -05.00 Elkovsky 76
Finding out the continue code in Solomon's Key is legit (included on a poster with the game) also changes things a bit. ]]> "Hardest NES Games http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=31&threadid=101430 2017-12-01T20:23:15 -05.00 Elkovsky 76 Originally posted by: arnpoly
 
Originally posted by: Kid Dracula

Arkanoid was a top contender back in 2010 when we were play-testing the hardest 30 games on the system. In the end it was excluded from the list since the Vaus controller was required to have a legitimate chance of beating it. Prior to it's rejection, I was going to rank it 2nd hardest on the system after Ikari Warriors.

Are you saying that Arkanoid with the Vaus controller is not in the Top 30 hardest NES games?  Or that it was not included for consideration for your list at all?
  He's likely talking about the Top 30 Hardest NES games list from 2011 by The Electric Frankfurter, username StanJr here on NintendoAge. The list was supposed to be a community effort on NintendoAge to rate the definite hardest NES game list, but most users backed out because it probably was simply too demanding and time-consuming. You had to play 5 hours of at least 50 games to qualify your list, I think. I think in the end it was only StanJr and possibly another guy who compiled the list. 

Here's a quote from the comment section. 
"Arkanoid got ruled out early because of the Vaus controller (I thought I mentioned that somewhere). You MUST have the Vaus to beat the game and even then it is next to impossible."

I know the thread's still exists back then when they were nominating and rating, but I'm too lazy to find it right now. 

I don't know why the need for a vaus controller has to disqualify it. I agree its impossible without the vaus controller, but its probably a top contender with it too, so why not.  ]]> "Hardest NES Games http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=31&threadid=101430 2017-12-01T14:47:34 -05.00 Elkovsky 76 Originally posted by: Kid Dracula

Arkanoid was a top contender back in 2010 when we were play-testing the hardest 30 games on the system. In the end it was excluded from the list since the Vaus controller was required to have a legitimate chance of beating it. Prior to it's rejection, I was going to rank it 2nd hardest on the system after Ikari Warriors.
Are you saying that Arkanoid with the Vaus controller is not in the Top 30 hardest NES games?  Or that it was not included for consideration for your list at all?
  ]]> "Hardest NES Games" Lists http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=31&threadid=101430 2017-12-01T14:23:18 -05.00 Elkovsky 76 "Hardest NES Games" Lists http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=31&threadid=101430 2017-12-01T00:48:45 -05.00 Elkovsky 76 "Hardest NES Games http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=31&threadid=101430 2017-11-30T22:26:26 -05.00 Elkovsky 76 Originally posted by: pegboy
Originally posted by: the_wizard_666
Originally posted by: pegboy

Has anyone legitimately beat Ghostbusters without a turbo controller?
I beat it without a turbo controller, but I used the door glitch in the stairwell, so I'm not sure if you'd count it.  I will say that after numerous attempts at it, my thumbs were extremely relieved.
I think glitches that break the game should be disallowed personally.

It's difficult for me to believe that anyone has done it legit without a turbo controller, you just can't dodge the ghosts fast enough without autofire. Necropost here, but I beat Ghostbusters today without turbo. Now, I may or may not have triggered the stairwell glitch -- I'm not sure, but I certainly didn't do so deliberately.

The problem is that the glitch is triggered in the course of normal gameplay actions, plus you don't have any direct evidence of whether or not you've triggered it since you have no HUD to tell you when you're on your last hit point (and the hit/damage detection in this game is weird -- it sometimes seems like you regenerate partial ghost damage over time). It's not associated with any one door, but simply with the act of opening a door and getting a ghost when you're on your last bit of health.

So you can't really avoid the glitch without refusing to open doors, which isn't a viable strategy since they have important health items -- though as it turned out, on my winning run I got three ghosts in a row, and stopped opening doors after that.

In any event I put myself in the best possible position to win by grinding until I got the Sound Generator and Anti-Ghost Suit, and with the Sound Generator I was mostly able to avoid the slower-moving ghosts. I took a few hits, but not a ridiculous number.

I'm not sure that anyone's really summed up the optimal strategy for Ghostbusters -- for instance, the fact that the ghosts you stop by driving over them in the map screen are the same ghosts you suck up with the Ghost Vacuum, so you can slow down the increase in the PK meter by targeting them.

  ]]> "Hardest NES Games http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=31&threadid=101430 2013-05-02T08:56:54 -05.00 Elkovsky 76 Originally posted by: scaryice

I'd love to put together a new "hardest NES games to beat" list. Some thoughts:

1. Any game which doesn't have an actual ending shouldn't be eligible. I know we have a list of what constitutes beating a game for the NES completions thread, but technically those games aren't beatable. So not being able to loop a game shouldn't matter if there's no end.

2. I'd say almost any game with a password/save system wouldn't qualify, since you can beat them with enough time. Time consuming doesn't equal difficulty, or Bases Loaded and other sports games would dominate the list.

3. I'd assume that the player has access to FAQs, maps, and anything else that could help them. Sure, Gauntlet is extremely hard without that, but it's simple to just look up the code for the last world. The gameplay of Gauntlet wouldn't qualify it, whereas there's no way to look up how to beat something like Starship Hector. Also, if you've played a game before, it's hard to put yourselves back in the shoes of someone who's unfamiliar with it.

4. Expanding on point 3, games should be judged on how hard they are once you know what you're doing. Familiarizing yourself with the game shouldn't be part of the difficulty. I know I don't have the patience to learn Koei games, but that has nothing to do with their actual difficulty to beat.

Burai Fighter and Isolated Warrior have password systems but these game are both in my top 20 (I can only speak for games I've played myself). 
Ghosts 'N Goblins doesn't have passwords but it does have unlimited continues. It's basically the same thing as long as you don't turn off your NES. ]]> "Hardest NES Games http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=31&threadid=101430 2013-05-02T08:41:56 -05.00 Elkovsky 76 Originally posted by: Luigi_Master

Dragon Fighter is another one of those games. The first two levels are alright, but the second boss onwards starts getting tricky. And IIRC, in level 4, you can only get power to transform into a dragon by killing the enemies normally instead of charging up your weapon. Considering their nature in stage 4, you'll have to use the homing powerup on them, but you absolutely need dragon power. I got to the 4th boss and died there, and you only get one life, but three continues. Die anywhere in a given stage and you start at the very beginning.
 
I've beaten this game without too much trouble. Wouldn't put it in my top 30 list.

]]> "Hardest NES Games http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=31&threadid=101430 2013-04-30T22:55:24 -05.00 Elkovsky 76 Originally posted by: scaryice

I'd love to put together a new "hardest NES games to beat" list. Some thoughts:

1. Any game which doesn't have an actual ending shouldn't be eligible. I know we have a list of what constitutes beating a game for the NES completions thread, but technically those games aren't beatable. So not being able to loop a game shouldn't matter if there's no end.

2. I'd say almost any game with a password/save system wouldn't qualify, since you can beat them with enough time. Time consuming doesn't equal difficulty, or Bases Loaded and other sports games would dominate the list.

3. I'd assume that the player has access to FAQs, maps, and anything else that could help them. Sure, Gauntlet is extremely hard without that, but it's simple to just look up the code for the last world. The gameplay of Gauntlet wouldn't qualify it, whereas there's no way to look up how to beat something like Starship Hector. Also, if you've played a game before, it's hard to put yourselves back in the shoes of someone who's unfamiliar with it.

4. Expanding on point 3, games should be judged on how hard they are once you know what you're doing. Familiarizing yourself with the game shouldn't be part of the difficulty. I know I don't have the patience to learn Koei games, but that has nothing to do with their actual difficulty to beat. I'd be down for contributing. I think there are enough of us on the completion thread that have over 100 NES games under our belts, so we have the resources to get a list going again. There's going to be some subjectivity, for sure, due to the many factors that can cause difficulty - games with a hard or one-shot final level, games with moderate difficulty but very few lives, games with mind-numbing spots but infinite continues to push through, etc.

Regarding Gyruss, I always found the Jupiter boss to be irritating, and I never felt comfortable enough with the final boss to call him a pushover either. Still, I found that a surprising inclusion, too... that, and Castlequest. It's nearly inscrutable, yes, but I made it about 2/3rds of the way through without a guide, partly because there's a suspicious chain of doors early on that require a ton of rare keys, which served as a bottleneck through which an astute player could squeeze, and then get stuck in the rest of the castle waiting to stumble upon the princess room. I think that most anyone who *has* beaten it has probably used Game Genie for infinite keys to map things out, and then gone from there... or else used ASchultz's guide, which was created using said means.

I remember reading that AdamL found Rampart to be brutal on its highest difficulty. I feel like higher difficulty levels should be considered in this, perhaps, but not "second quests" (i.e. modes opened after a first playthrough). We'll have to get a group together to come to a consensus on these things, though. ]]>