Y'know those iconic hard but good games? I recently beat Ninja Gaiden and explained to someone how it is/was a sorta bragworthy achievement. Here's the ones that came to mind.

Castlevania
Contra
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
Ninja Gaiden
Super C
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Zelda 2


Any others you can think?

Battletoads
Ghosts 'n Goblins
Batman.

The "classics" like Mega Man and Blaster Master? Or real shit like Ikari Warriors? If Contra is an achievement practically any NES game is  

But in the spirit of your question I'd say Adventure Island and Castlevania III. Both balls hard classics.

Elevator Action!

Pac-man. There is an ending after level 558, but instead of a "congratulations" or a "The end" it just blips you back to the title screen. lol

A nice big ol' "fuck you".  
 

lol, it does last longer than the arcade version which ends at 256. But at least that one had something. (Granted, it was an unplayable glitched-up screen, but still. lol)

 

The hardest NES games that I've beaten are Battletoads and Bump n Jump. I beat both without continues. Adventure Island may even be harder but I only beat that with endless abuse of the continue code.

If you’re talking pure brag-worthy achievement then the games you’ve listed pale in comparison to the following:

Ikari Warriors
Ninja Gaiden III
Adventures of Dino Riki
Snake Rattle & Roll
Top Gun
Top Gun: The Second Mission
Battletoads
Silkworm
Adventure Island 
Star Soldier
Star Force
Arkanoid
 

I can beat Battletoads and Ninja Gaiden III without continues but never made it past stage 5 of Super C. Not sure why Super C is so hard fo rme.


 

Sometimes I wonder if Contra is actually a hard game. It impossible for me to say because I've been playing since I was like 5 years old and I can beat it sleeping. If I played it for the first time as an adult would I find it difficult?

There's a list of the "30 hardest NES games ever" from 2011, but it could use an update. Overlord is quite easy to beat, for example, and Star Voyager isn't especially hard at all. Dragon's Lair has an incredibly nasty final boss but otherwise isn't too difficult once you learn the game. Even so, beating most games on the list -- really, anything except Overlord -- would still be a bragworthy achievement.

Besides Ikari Warriors, I'd say that Mutant Virus, Q*bert, Arkanoid, To the Earth, and High Speed are a few of the games that have emerged as strong candidates for the hardest NES game. I'd throw in The Last Starfighter too -- I found it almost unplayable, and that's coming from someone who's beaten a Uridium clone on the CD-i (Steel Machine), though that game at least lets you save after each level. No doubt someone else has figured out TLS better than I have.

Of course if we're talking about "rite of passage" games, then beating Blaster Master is maybe the biggest one I haven't done yet. And yeah, I too have a hard time telling whether games like Contra, TMNT, and Mega Man are really hard since I've played them so much.

Ninja Gaiden III is hard, but not that hard.

The difficulty of Bayou Billy is overrated as well. Once you know the strats it isn't that difficult to beat.

 

Double Dragon III is another one that doesn't belong on that list. I have no idea why people think it's a hard game -- only the final boss is dicey, while everything else up to that point is relatively straightforward.

I'm far more gun-shy about taking on, say, Kung Fu Heroes.

I spent two weeks trying to beat Kung Fu Heroes and gave up because it gets so hard near the end.  I even reached 8-4 which is the final stage but I couldn't do it.


 

Battletoads could make the cut. I am talking about the games that, back in the day, earned you bragging rights to beat so they weren't exactly obscure games. That 30 game list is decent, I may just look at the "Nintendo hard" list on Wikipedia.

I always think of it as two lists of "hard" games. There's the list of classics from the OP that are "hardest" within the subset of popular games and then there's everything else. I think we can all agree that the absolute hardest NES games come from the "everything else" list.

However, the other list is relevant because it's what most people started with. They're games that you can actually impress people outside this website with because everyone has played them.

So it's usually "Wow, you can beat Ninja Gaiden?!" followed by "Mutant Virus? What's that?"

Mega Man 2

That is usually considered the easiest in the series. MM1, maybe.
 

Double Dragon 2 on Warrior setting so you get the true ending.

This post is spot on. Well said.

To most people who have put a lot of time into playing the vast NES library, beating a game like Ninja Gaiden isn't really all that impressive. But I think the average casual however would consider beating NG an impressive feat. Not that NG isn't tough, just in relation to the "everything else" list (which is I'd say 85%+of the library) it really isn't that bad.

 

I've seen you mention this before. I have to say that it is quite puzzling, lol. I believe you've said you've no-death'd Contra before, right? If you can do that, and also 1CC Battletoads, then you definitely have the skills beat Super C!
 

I've rarely even made it past stage 4 and believe me I've tried. Contra is way easier for me. People seem to think that Super C is easier which I don't understand.

 

I would say Super C is harder than Contra but not by a lot. That should be your next nes goal- first beat it and then no death it.

I would say THE 5 nes games to beat for "bragging rights" without getting too obscure are:

Ghosts and Goblins
Adventure Island
Battletoads
Arkanoid
TMNT