As promised, I am going to wrap up my "Most Frustrating Games Ever Played" series where I pick what I find to be the hardest of the hardcore games that have tested both my patience and skills throughout the 20 years I've been gaming. Now I have gotten some feedback from the first blog I did where users would randomly suggest some games for me to add to this entry. Some were unique games that I have never quite heard before like a few Doujin games, or some being the most obvious of choices like Contra 3, while others even suggested more recent current gen games such as Hexic HD, or Trials which has been around for some time. Those are are "just ok" choices, but not quite what I had in mind for the roughest in existence. I know difficulty is subjective at best, but there are some games out there that just tend to break the barrier, and questioning the legitimacey of their difficulty ratings is something that shouldn't be done. To bring everyone up to speed on what I chose for last time (part 1's blog);
1. Tower Of Druaga NES
2. Battletoads NES
3. Dragon's Lair NES
4. I Wanna Be The Guy PC
5. DoDonPachi DaiOuJou PS2
BTW these aren't reviews...
Todays choices;
1. Super Mario Bros. Frustration NES (Rom Hack)
Couldn't find any decent pictures to display here, but there are a few videos I would like to show off that does showcase this rom hacks level of difficulty. These are TAS tool assisted speedruns before anyone asks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y_szmscmVQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tW2ZE8Ihlc
This romhack is also known as Super Mario Forever (its just a modified version of SMB 1) which was recommended to me by a fellow gamespotter by the name of Trapt4859 who frequently has problems with some of the romhacks later levels. Hey Trapt, have you checked under your bed recently? I'm sure your missing life is there somewhere.. I'm just kidding lol. I have been playing this hack myself for around a year now, and its one of those things where no matter how well you have mastered it, keeps biting you in the a$$. It gets easier the more you play it just like with anything else however there are limitations on that. Some of the jumps over at 1-2 often a times throw me off and are a tell tale sign of grim things to come. If your average at platformer games like megaman, or mario in general this hack will certainly improve your game. Of course even for the casual gamer they might get a kick out of this but to actually complete this will take motivation, some time, and a lot more if your aim is to get super good at it.
2. Death Smiles NA (North American Version)
Death Smiles is a horizontal side-scrolling danmaku from shootemup specialist Cave. This game first debuted in 2007 in the Arcades and was later ported to the X360. The first port was region-locked thus requiring the player to own a Japanese X360. After that came the localization state side in the US by company Aksys. Normally I wouldn't of added DS to this list because it is pretty tame for a bullet hell when you look at how it was in its original state. Whats the problem then you might ask? Well at the time of me actually writing this Cave is supposed to be working on a slow down patch although little is known about it at the moment. The problem with the NA version is that the slowdowns are removed thus the game is sped up like contra when originally it wasn't like this... not on the JP release... not even on the arcades. This changes everything and has a staggering effect (not a good one I might add) on both difficulty and in game scoring. If you were to run two videos of the game side by side both the arcade/jp versions against the NA version you can clearly tell how much milking potential is lost for scoring in the NA variant. I don't really play any game for a high score but this alone alienates veteran shootemup fans. For those unaware of the games difficulty, it does have different settings, and lvl 3 is a decent challenge on the NA version, Once you master lvl 3 stages including the extra stages ice palace and the gorge, you'll find yourself wanting to take your skills to the next level. lvl 999 however is next to impossible to get the true tyrant achievement unless of course you got yourself an achievement unlocker. The huge gap in difficulty from 3 to 999 is so big not even rosanne barr can cover it on the NA version. I'm all for a good challenge so as long as its attainable I've even 1 Lifed Dragons Lair for the NES. In short, DS is a good game, but if your a completionist in achievements you might want to skip out on this one, or wait until the slowdown patch comes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlVwZ3Ax0LQ
The above is a 2 Player co-op video Let's Play done on lvl 999 difficulty. Just something to throw out there I found...
3. Nam-1975 Arcade & Neo Geo
Image won't display ^
Nam-1975 is a contra type shootemup for the Neo Geo Arcade and Neo Geo CD released in 1990 by SNK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G7s1FPBUPo
I actually own a copy of this game on a real neo geo. Whilst it being an underrated gem, its very fun to play as well as it packs an unrelenting punch in difficulty after the first couple stages. No fan of Contra should pass this up. There are 6 stages to the game, pretty short, however the game does not let you continue if you die on the final boss of stage 6 so its a one shot deal. You may credit feed up until that point and playing on the normal setting shouldn't be to hard to clear, however at higher difficulty settings it does get overwhelming. Who would want to play on normal anyhow? =) It does also include 2 player support if you can get a friend to play it with you, I suggest bringing this one out randomly. Its a long grind to the top but with enough practice the reward for creaming this game is satisfying. You are given a run and roll feature to dodge the barrage of bullets from incoming enemy fire. Most of the difficulty stems from memorizing enemy attack patterns and how quick your reflexes are. You'll also find yourself getting boxed in a lot especially on stages 4-6 If your looking for a challenge ignore the base level difficulty, and max it out.
4. Lightning Fighters aka Trigon JPN Arcade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4w_zh7MXkY
Lightning Fighters was released by Konami circa 1990 when they delved into Raiden territory. It was quite an impressive feat for their first outing. This is without a shadow of a doubt one of the hardest shootemups ever made, and its pretty obscure even though it was made by Konami. I've done my fair share of asking around and I can't say that I have ran into many retro gamers who have even heard of this. To this day no known players have been able to pull off a deathless 1cc run of this game which is almost unheard of for shootemups. The checkpoints in this game are pretty lousy (unless you play the japanese version Trigon) which boast getting you killed upon reentry after you die. This is about as close to bullet hell as your going to get without actually playing a real bullet hell. Quite a few of the bosses coupled by numerous blind spots at later stages can get rediculous. The last boss is quite formidable as he throws his armor at you at a 40 degree angle at blazing fast speeds. I would say to give this a go due to the novelty of it alone. Good shootemups are a rare breed and having a look back into the past can certainly broaden your perspective on how shooters have evolved over time, and maybe even appreciate the way difficulty has transcended over the years.