I love games that are ridiculously hard. I've beaten Ghosts 'N Goblins and its successors (Ghouls 'N Ghosts and Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts), Milon's Secret Castle, every Contra game (Shattered Soldier without dying at all), all the NES Ninja Gaidens, and many more games that are considered ridiculous. Personally, I think that I'm a pretty damn good gamer.

Now, I'm not here to toot my own horn. I actually come to you very humbled. You see, I'm a huge Shmup fan. They're fun and hard as hell, just the way I like my games! I've a lot of Shmups under my belt. However, there are a couple that I downloaded off the Virtual Console recently that I thought were just too ridiculous: R-Type for the Turbo-GraFX and Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou. I didn't get to play these games when I was a kid, so I thought I'd check them out. Let me tell you, these games are driving me CRAZY!!!

Holy crap! I don't think I've ever played games that were so hard in my life! I'm serious! These games are kicking my ass! I get to the 7th level on R-Type and I die when all those things come out of the top of the screen and swarm me. After I die from that, I can't recover! I might as well reset the damn thing! Same thing with Gradius II. I get to the 8th level, beat that big thing with all the laser guns, and then die shortly after because of some enemies. Needless to say, I'm getting frustrated! I can't even do my homework because I HAVE to beat these games!

Please tell me that I'm not alone in thinking these games are damn near impossible, especially R-Type! I actually have hope in beating Gradius 2, but I see no light at the end of R-Type's tunnel.

I'd also like to know if anyone else has an unhealthy obsession with video games that get the better of them. Seriously, I can't concentrate until these games are defeated!

holy crap, now I know to stay away from those games. They sound hard as hell.

You must be kidding. You can actually get somewhere in those games. Try playing the original Darius or better yet Super Darius which is the PC Engine CD port of the game: extremely punishing game without settable difficulty or continues. It took me over a dozen plays just to get to the first boss and another dozen or two to beat him. And the game isn't being cheap; the enemies are just really fast and if you don't learn the patterns and are on your toes you're toast; the fact that the power-ups are few and far between doesn't help!

@ Sean Aaron
I actually beat Zone A from Super Darius very easily. It probably took me 4 or 5 tries. I've never had much trouble with any of the Darius games because the shield kicks ass (360 degree protection FTW!), at least not as much trouble as I'm having with R-Type (I beat Gradius II last night ). I'm really good at pattern recognition and memorization, so Darius games weren't that horrendous to me, but R-Type and Gradius II are just punishing. Those games are pretty much like, "You died. No more power-ups for you! Too bad you absolutely need them to beat this next part." Seriously, in the last level in Gradius II on freaking normal, if you die, you're screwed. You're too slow, you don't have sufficient fire power, and there are a crap load of enemies pretty much right in your face as soon as you start. It sucks.

Same thing with R-Type. Recovering from that checkpoint in level 7 is incredible! You're just too damn slow and the number of enemies is just ridiculous. I did get past that part with the swarming enemies, but then I got destroyed by all the enemy fire right after that part. It's insane! I know it can be done without power-ups; there's got to be a way! I haven't played the game in about a week because it was so frustrating, but I plan on beating it soon.

They're absolutely not the hardest games ever. In fact, the PCE port of Gradius 2 is very easy.

Hardest game ever? That's easily "I Wanna Be The Guy"...

What about Takeshi's Challenge? Or is that just the most frustrating game ever?

Point taken about the power-up requirements. I just find Super Darius so hard because your starting cannon fire is too weak to take out some of the enemies in a single shot; there are others which fly at you at high speed. The shield is good, but it only takes a few hits and you're finished. Now that I'm learning the thing I can deal with King Fossil, but getting to the 2nd boss, man I don't know how long that will take.

I guess I rate it harder because at least I can consistently reach the 3rd or 4th boss in R-TYPE. I may not have "finished" the game, but with arcade shooters that's not terribly important to me if the core gameplay is fun. It's the kind of thing I can play once a month or so.

I stand corrected...

The Hardest Game to Me is Zelda II

@ Sean Aaron
I can see how Super Darius could be more difficult, especially if much of the game is giving you trouble. In R-type, I can actually fly through the first 5 levels easily, but the 6th and 7th get me every time. I don't think anyone could ever beat those levels without having prior knowledge to the boxes or the swarm, respectively. I find those parts to be extremely cheap. Oh well, I'll beat R-Type eventually. Then I think I'll throw a party.

@Cheezy
I'm glad YOU think so! I found Gradius II to be pretty difficult. I've read in a few places and heard from various people that it's the hardest in the series, so at least I don't feel alone

I have the Gradius II Game i actually have a friend on Youtube thats gonna Review it for me i bought it for him

you guys obviously haven't played the ARC version of Gradius 3....

It mops the floor with any of the other entries in the series. Seriously, the first level without powerups is maddeningly difficult. It's one of the few games, despite owning a copy for years, that I've never fully beaten...it just gets too punishing, and I've definitely got some decent shoot-em-up chops...that entire-ship hitbox is just bruuutal with ceiling/floor walkers all over everything. Dangun Feveron is always a good way to lose hair too!

Contra: Hard Corps, anyone?

Yeah Gradius III arcade is pretty tough. At first it looks like Nemesis/Gradius, but then adds those bloody lion things jumping about everywhere.

Nice game though!

Nice game? That game is cruel. I just got Gradius III & IV disc for PS2, and those darn lions... argh. I can't get past level 1 on III. I got to the first boss of IV two or three times, but that is some super dull level design, so I never bothered again after. I might have beaten it once. I forget.