I recently reviewed Dynamite Headdy, a game that could have been one of the most fondly loved game on the Genesis. However, it is way too unforgiving to make it truly outstanding.
Now, I have no problems with challenging games, I beat Gunstar Heroes, and i've gotten to the last level of Battletoads and have beaten the First Master Ninja Tournament and other stuff. However, the problem with Headdy is that you are not given any continues, so when you die, you are forced to replay every level. I have reached the conclusion the I have no problems with hard games, but games that are completely unforgiving and make you replay huge quanities of game that you have already beaten and prevent you from getting through to seeing all the content in a game are very hard to want to invest the required time into when there are so many other options out there. Difficulty is a hard thing to balance, sometimes it makes a game stay constantly intense and fun (Ninja Gaiden, Smash T.V.) and other times it really drags down what would otherwise be a spectatular game (Dynamite Headdy, Die Hard Trilogy)