The Seven Circles Of (Nintendo's) Hell
I don't think there is any argument against the idea that games are meant to be fun and enjoyable. There may be some argument, however, over what makes a game fun. Should it be as relaxing as taking your dog for a walk on a breezy spring day? Or should it be challenging, enough so that when you've finished you feel a true sense of accomplishment? I know that more often than not, I fall into the latter category. I have just enough of an inferiority complex that I get off knowing that I can do something someone else can't. But what happens when I can't get through Rock Band's last expert song? How do I react when Persona of Lost Odyssey is ripping my crew apart for the fifth time in a row? It gets ugly. So ugly that my partner enforces the "if it's not fun anymore, turn it off," rule and I take an involuntary break.
This is precisely why I'm treating CVG's list of the twenty-one hardest Nintendo games as a list to avoid for the most part. If you're a gamer whose blood boils with frustration, I suggest you follow my lead. On the other hand, if you're a glutton for punishment or just an obsessive completionist, print this off as your checklist and get to work.
I've highlighted four games here that I've played enough to be familiar with -- familiar enough to know that any gamer who has conquered these titles receives complete respect, and deservedly so.
- Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz -- Sega's instantly recognizable monkey-in-a-ball labyrinth-styled game will leave you going -- wait for it -- bananas.
- Kuru Kuru Kururin -- A GBA import that involves carefully navigating a twirling baton through mazes and hazards. You'd think I'd have handling sticks down by this point in my life, but it wasn't so.
- Trauma Center: Under the Knife -- A DS
launchtitle that became so difficult by mid-game that even slowing down time would not prevent my patients from bleeding out. Even with two hands. - Super Mario Bros. 2: The Lost Levels -- I thought after all of my years platforming, this would be a cinch. To this day, it's the only Mario game I have been unable to finish, except for Galaxy, which I'm still working on.
Head on over to CVG for their complete list of the hardest-of-the-hard Nintendo titles. Just beware -- those who venture into the bowels of this hell may never return (with unsmashed controllers).
The 21 Hardest Nintendo Games Ever [CVG]
[via: GoNintendo]
TexCub
Posted to Video Games on 9 March 2008
· Comments (8)
Other stuff like this: difficult games, hardcore gamer, hell, lists, nintendo
I don't mind a challenge, but there are games that I wish I had never bought because of their level of difficulty. Thankfully things have gotten better in recent years, but in retrospective I realise that the games I regretted buying because of their difficulty are all very linear architected experiences. I wouldn't say that this alone makes them poor games, but the more games I play and design, the more I realise that architected gameplay is very cheap and shallow.
Ah come on... Zack and Wiki wasn't all that hard. o.O Most of the games on that list I haven't even tried though. @_@
Slight error I noticed. Trauma Center came out over half a year after the launch of the DS.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trauma_center_under_the_knife
Thanks for the save, kenjisalk. I didn't double check Trauma Center's release because I was certain it was one that I picked up when I bought my DS. I'm glad I didn't bet any of my bits or pieces on that!
LOL They screwed up:
Metal Gear Solid. With its propensity for lobbing out insta-kill poisoned apples, the final mother brain boss in Metal Slug 3 is a graduate of the same school of evil as the Disney stepmothers.
Naturally, having survived helicopter attacks and close encounters of the bite-your-face-off kind, you'd be foolish for expecting SNK to just let you win at this final hour, but the random patterns of the golden delicious airstrikes make for a violent hike up in deaths.
LOL Metal Gear Solid =/= Metal Slug XD
I love Kuru Kuru Kururin. It's put on import store sales semi-often. Really worth picking up. My addition to the list...
Odama.
Okay good, I'm glad Trauma Center for DS is on that list because I am stuck in that game and I thought it was just me!
I'm stuck mid-game in the DS's Trauma Center, too, Adam -- I haven't picked it up in months after repeatedly struggling and failing to make any headway. Grrrrr...