Listing the hardest games we've beaten (no braggado)

Let me see what comes to mind. I'll start with the NES, which almost always seems to have the biggest reputation for brutally difficult (NES-hard) games.

Battletoads - The obvious one. It's definitely as hard as its reputation. It's obviously not impossible, and modern tools make actually learning the game much less time-intensive. Still, it needs pitch-perfect execution and a knowledge of what's coming since it's full of "gotcha" moments.

Ninja Gaiden III - Less of a "gotcha" game and more of a "haha, let's take unlimited continues away" thing. Plus it's harder than the Japanese entry, which was actually toned down to let newer players in. It's hard, but I'd argue not nearly as hard as Battletoads. Once again, practice is the name of the game here. The other games are also obviously difficult, but not as much as this because of the unlimited continues.

Contra has a tough rep, but I wouldn't say it's all that hard. Repeated plays will see you get good, and the 30-life code made for a practice method without save states. Same goes for Super C.

Silver Surfer also has a really tough rep, but I wouldn't say it's brutally difficult. I had a harder time with Abadox, honestly, where the last stage requires some really good routing if you get knocked out of your powered-up state. Really, it's just learning to keep your board away from walls and making sure you get power-ups. Very Gradius-like, but I'd also argue it's a bit easier to recover from failure than that game.

Holy Diver - Hooooo boy, we talked about this one already, and it's full of very tricky enemy placements and ways to die. There's a stretch in the final stage that is just absolutely the worst. The only way to beat this one is repeated practice and pain, which blissfully the game lets you keep whacking away at with unlimited continues.

Punch-Out!! - The game is tough, but honestly, very learnable and doesn't bare its fangs until you hit... the Bald Bull refight, maybe? Definitely Mr. Sandman, though. It's a game that relies more on reaction speed than anything, though - do not, I repeat, DO NOT play on anything that adds lag, or you're just making your life harder.

TMNT - This first game will destroy you if you don't do some specific exploits, like farming Scrolls. The approach to Shredder's lair is an absolute bear otherwise. The rest of the game doesn't mess around, either. Most folks hate the dam level, but it's really the stuff that comes after that will really get you.

Bayou Billy changes a lot from the Japanese Mad City, mostly for the worse. Enemies take a ton of hits and don't get stunned much, but it's the driving stages that will get you. But apparently running out of time only takes a life away and you can keep going? Well then, that's an okay strategy to take so you can survive it. The shooting stages are easy, but the last fighting stage really needs for you to have a bulletproof vest. I've also discovered that the practice modes actually give you power-ups for the main game, so take advantage of that.

Fester's Quest can be frustrating, but honestly, it's not that difficult if you know what power-ups to use. You get a lot of tools at your disposal that help get you through the UFO. Also, there are two hidden life upgrades in the game, so getting those dramatically improves your chances.

Castlevania III amps up the challenge from Akumajou Densetsu. Not going to lie, the game is tough. Not Holy Diver tough, but you're going to need a lot of perseverance and practice to make it through. The same is true for the original game, which has loads of death drops and tough enemy placements (that hallway to Death!), but also gives you some awesome cheese tools like Triple Shot holy water.

Double Dragon III saw me use the boring approach that toei describes. Lots of luring enemies into Cyclone Kicks. Works against the last boss, too. You just need to have good timing for it, and know how not to get surrounded. There are also a few places where you can die instantly, which isn't great. Also, save your special weapons for the bosses, and use Chin and Yagyu as much as possible before breaking out Billy.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is more opaque than anything - the mechanics aren't really hinted at much and they kind of flip at the end of the game. It requires a lot of patience, especially with Jekyll.

Blaster Master wouldn't be nearly as hard if it: 1) didn't have limited continues, and 2) had a way to turn off the wall-cling mechanic in the final area. As it is, you have to be very careful with your jumps or you'll roll right into a spike pit and die. Hover is your friend in a lot of spots. Also, no password/save for a long game.

Batman for NES is a short but difficult game that really requires mastery of the wall jump. It's a very deliberate move, and managing height and distance is very important. Also, your most effective weapons are either the Batarang or your fists. You can exploit the fists when enemies run through you, because as long as they're flashing, they won't hit you, and this really helps in the Joker fight. Also, farming at the little enemy bomb generators is huge, as it tends to be in a lot of NES games.

Mission: Impossible - Not much to say here, as it's been a long time, but memorization goes a long way. You're going to die a lot, but at least the game gives you passwords.

Think I'll stop there, haha.

Moulinoski Games became easier for sure, but there are still significant variations in difficulty in the 8 and 16-bit eras. I don't think Super Castlevania IV is considered hard, for example, unlike the NES games and definitely that damn X68000 game. I made it to the final stage of Castlevania IV, and if I liked the game at all, I would have beat it. But you're not wrong that a ton of well-known games from that era are hard.

One game whose reputation for difficulty was overstated for me was Hagane. Of course it took me multiple attempts, but I fully expect that from a old-school side-scroller. I think it was probably easier than, say, Revenge of Shinobi or Legendary Axe, for example. I alluded to this before, but I have a theory that people are taken aback when a game belonging to a simple genre is more complex than its peers and they insist on playing it in the simple way that games of the genre are usually played, so they come away thinking the game is impossibly hard. Vagrant Story isn't all that hard; I don't remember dying all the time. But it is more complex than other 32-bit ARPGs. Comix Zone has a more complex battle system than your average beat-'em-up. Even Double Dragon 3 NES. You want to just approach enemies and mash A, but then you die. Therefore, those games are "impossible".  But although it would be incredibly difficult, I can say for a fact that it's theoretically possible to beat DD3NES without taking a single hit. There is a right way to approach every enemy and situation in the game. Now, all those games require that you move carefully, too, and the last two are legitimately hard for other reasons as well. But I think genre expectations are the main thing. With Hagane, you have multiple weapons available at all times that you can switch between, and a few more moves than most games of its type, some of which are very useful. The backflip, the slide, etc. It doesn't build up to that - your whole arsenal is available right from the start. So there is legitimately a learning curve there, but once you're familiar with what you can do, it's pretty much standard-hard difficulty, not crazy-hard.

Not much. I've beaten Zelda II. First on the GBA and then the NES and then the FDS. Workin' backwards!

Contra I adore. It flows so smoothly and I don't find it especially hard.

People bring up The 7th Saga all the time as a very hard JRPG... but the mechanics are pretty standard and the dungeons are relatively straightforward. It's just very slow and grindy.

Controversial opinion: Contra for NES is not a difficult game.