Speedrunner Ranks the HARDEST NES Games

[@kosmicspeedruns]

Check out the NES Gauntlet shirt it is very cool :) kosmic-1-shop.fourthwall.com/

[@jdnnle6]

I love that shirt

[@covereye5731]

You forgot to link the spreadsheet in the description. I want to see if you added Cobra Triangle for upcoming, it's made by Rare that's all you need to know.

[@Kosmicd12]

​@@covereye5731added it now, thank you! I'm sorry to report that cobra triangle is not on there haha. I generally like controlling characters, not stuff like boats

[@chanceneck8072]

Imo the best game on NES was The Guardian Legend. Have you tried that?

[@chanceneck8072]

Also, Blues Brothers was kinda hard. Couldn't get too far when I played it as a child. Had weird controls....

[@CanadaMMA]

Beating battletoads is probably my biggest NES victory, but the one i will remember the most was Mike Tyson's Punchout. I was at a friend's birthday party, and at the time, i was the only one who could actually get to him, by beating super macho man. The birthday kid wanted to see Tyson, so I played through the game for everyone, and got to him. I told them I had never beat him, and at the end, I thought I had lost anyway because the fight went to a "decision". When I actually won, the whole room went nuts, including his dad. I got more attention that day than the birthday kid hahaha

[@krippydepperi8636]

the hardest part about little samson is finding a copy

[@IdentifiantE.S]

Fr 😶

[@AllanAdamson]

get a PAL copy ? I remember when the NTSC version was first hitting $1k & you could still get the PAL for like $70 bucks.. not now though

[@acorngnome]

Piracy! 😃 (just kidding)

[@Urist_Mythrilforged]

And that's not including the price. As SNESDrunk says, "Play it any way you can."

[@limehawk4989]

Piracy! (Serious) 😊

[@JeffCirillo]

I remember finally beating Ninja Gaiden 3 and screaming like I just won the Super Bowl. I woke up the whole house. They just didn't understand. Things were different before save states existed.

[@TheOptimalmax]

Blaster Master is my all-time favorite NES game. Way ahead of its time. Very good soundtrack too.

[@adomomcjinkies4787]

That game is so gooooddd

[@Gigawood]

Sunsoft games had such great music

[@Gigawood]

Also, have you played the remake, Blaster Master Zero (and its sequels)? Also really good!

[@LUCKSOMNIXDIABLOTHEONEABOVEALL]

Contra was very easy for me. I used to beat that game with only the small bullets. If I got a better weapon on accident I'd kill myself on purpose just to get back to small bullets.

[@Gigawood]

@@LUCKSOMNIXDIABLOTHEONEABOVEALL You say that NOW, but I’m guessing you weren’t that good the first time you played, right?

[@josehinostrozavasque]

Contra is probably the best game among the hardest ones. You can desing a game that is hard because a random squirrel appears of nowhere and push you to a cliff while you control don't response and got no continues. While in Contra you always feel that the control is 100% responsive, game is challenging but fair.

[@kosmicspeedruns]

Totally agree!

[@om3g4888]

In Zelda 2 finding Bagu was probably the hardest thing back in the day. Sure the slime says that master is in the forest or whatever. But I remember searching the forests and I kept getting the monster screens and just kept missing Bagu somehow. This was before the internet so that took forever. Then finally getting into Death Mountain and the damn alligators would eat through my lives in no time. I'd get so close to the hammer and then have to start all over. It wasn't until I was a bit older that I realized Death Mountain was much easier if you level your attack to 5 before attempting. Also, to make the game MUCH easier; only collect the items from palaces. Leave the bosses until you need the last 6 levels; then go back and beat them to get the last, most expensive levels for free.

[@biggsweaty]

Interesting strategy about leaving the bosses, I never thought of that. And I agree with what your saying; in the context of playing this back when it was new, there was a lot of cryptic stuff that was very tough to figure out on your own. One of my favorite games Ive ever played.

[@WobblePizza]

Bagu. That rat bastard.

[@anonamatron]

Hard? No internet? I guess so, if you didn't have NINTENDO POWER!

[@harukaze7388]

finding Bagu is, ironically, bugged: getting an enounter on a forest tile overrides finding his house. because his house is surrounded also by other map encounters, it's very easy to skip it by accident Death Mountain is brutal. the game's level up balancing is unfortunately really bad, where you have to know to focus on attack, or else. it's much less a problem in japanese

[@juicybear1986]

I love that you put adventure island up there. I've been saying for years that game needs to get more attention for its difficulty. Game is brutal.

[@Animebryan2]

And it has 3 sequels on the NES, not even including the 2 sequels on the SNES.

[@officialFredDurstfanclub]

Yeah Adventure Island is absolutely insane. It’s weird not seeing it in top 10 hardest games lists because it’s an absolute nutcrusher. 2 and 3 aren’t exactly walks in the park either. Hell, Super Adventure Island is hard as balls too

[@juicybear1986]

@@officialFredDurstfanclub Even with the continue code, the game is ruthless. One hit kills, difficult obstacles, short timer, limited power ups which are well hidden, long levels. The enemy placement in some of the later stages is absurd. Dying and losing flame weapon brings rocks both moving and stationary back into play. And to top it off, while I would describe the controls as "good", they are still problematic at times.

[@officialFredDurstfanclub]

@@juicybear1986 don’t forget that the screen locks and you can’t go back so if you don’t enough room to make a jump, you’re taking a death. Mario 1 did that too, sure, but it was expecting you to do pixel perfect jumps while getting bombarded by enemies

[@JavonHolland]

@@officialFredDurstfanclub balls aren't hard at all. They're the most delicate and tender things on earth.

[@alessandrorossi1294]

I always found Super Mario Brothers’ final boss super hard, by which I mean the last hammer brother in 8-4. Literally the whole game I have no problem with until that one guy!

[@iceman4208]

Tell me ur joking too easy

[@JoeDan54]

If you're fortunate enough, you can just hold B after coming out of the underwater room, run off the exit pipe, and then do a full jump immediately upon touching the ground, and it'll line up perfectly to have you land on the Hammer Bro. It doesn't work all the time, but it saved me when I was down to my last life in Vs. Super Mario Bros. at my local arcade!

[@alessandrorossi1294]

@@JoeDan54 Thanks for the tip!

[@WindowsDrawer]

You can go close to him, and wait until he jumps, and at that moment, run right.

[@PRO_GIMANG_1423]

Just Use Infinite 1up In World 3-1 Or Holding A Button When You Game Over Noob!

[@Randomii666]

Zelda 2 difficulty curve be like "Oh this is fun and easy" *Death Mountain:* "I fucking hate my life" *Back to easy* *The Great Palace:* 😶

[@sickofitall8486]

The trip to the Great Palace was rough on me as a young'un as well. Those lava tiles had nasty encounters. As an adult I managed to beat the game without losing a single life, but I can touch the level speed runners play it at.

[@pupper5580]

I remember reaching Death Mountain as a kid and after trying for a while (dying instantly) I said it's impossible, can't get further than this. Later I played Zelda 2 on emulator and I managed to beat the game by spamming save states: in the end, after beating Dark Link, I had literally 1 hp left and 0 mana. I was like this game is completely ridiculous(ly hard)!

[@joeangeles1215]

Great video! Adventure Island is INSANELY hard at the end. The jumps on 8-3 are damn near impossible... It took me hundreds of tries to get through it and I had to leave my NES powered on for an entire month to finally beat it. Gets my vote at the hardest NES game of all time.

[@grandalbert8422]

Did your Nes still work after a month going non-stop?

[@joeangeles1215]

@@grandalbert8422 Yes! I have my NES from when I was a kid that still works great and can be kept on for over 30 days straight...Meanwhile, my PS1, original XBOX and Wii stopped working after 5-6 years. Part of why I love collecting for NES, with minimal care the games will still work 50 years from now.

[@grandalbert8422]

@@joeangeles1215 That is awesome to hear and I had several Xboxes who broke after a relatively short time as well.

[@jonmacleod7137]

Did you know that on every second boss in BLASTER MASTER (2nd, 4th, etc) if you toss a grenade at the boss then pause as it hits, it will continue to hit them? Just leave it on pause for a couple of minutes and when you unpause, the boss is toast.

[@htxflow]

Yup. I learned that as a kid. The game is not all that tough if you're fully powered up, you have to find a spot where there's a certain enemy that drops power-ups.

[@crudmuffin64]

Funny thing about Blaster Master, the Japanese version of the game, Metafight, actually does have infinite continues, along with some level layout differences, less lag overall, and a completely different story.

[@mariusamber3237]

It's funny how Blaster Master was a flop in Japan, but got quite popular in the US. Also, Sunsoft is considered a pretty bad developer over there, because their early games released there weren't very good. In fact, Ikki helped coin the term kusoge (crappy/shitty game), and it was their best-selling game over there I believe, so Sunsoft certainly has a place in Japanese video gaming history. >_>

[@Gigawood]

And the 3rd game in the remake, Blaster Master Zero 3, addresses those differences between Metafight and Blaster Master in a really cool way.

[@crudmuffin64]

@@Gigawood Believe me, I know. I've played all 3 Blaster Master Zero games. They're really good!

[@jasonblalock4429]

It's similar with Ninja Gaiden 3. The original Japanese version, as well as the SNES rerelease, have unlimited continues like the previous games. Only the US NES version has limited continues, probably as an anti-rental measure.

[@elchamakito336]

Holy Diver is insane. And yeah, the only way you can progress is if you find some "tricks" to beat enemies without getting rekt. I felt so relieved when I learned that you could change the pattern of one enemy by pressing Start, lol.

[@NesrocksGamingVideos]

You can what now? Start?

[@elchamakito336]

@@NesrocksGamingVideos You can change the pattern of the enemy in Stage 4 IIRC by pressing Start. And I think it works with other enemies too.

[@SuperNintendies]

I've beaten about 10 of these games so far and I would pretty much agree with the rankings. I strangely picked up adventure island to play as something 'easy' after spending 3 weeks on battletoads and then quickly realized it was not going to be an easy one :D

[@kosmicspeedruns]

Hahaha, amazing

[@DidierPilon]

It’s nice to see others agree. I cant remember a single moment of Zelda 2 that I struggled with like that Tyson fight though, but I haven’t played that many of these games.

[@kosmicspeedruns]

@@DidierPilon not great palace? Tyson is a monster if you don't know the code to get back and fight him

[@DidierPilon]

@@kosmicspeedruns that is true. The code would allow a lot of fast practice :) I had both those games as a kid and beat Zelda but never Tyson. Ended up going back to punch out as an adult to finally beat him hahaha

[@doopness785]

If you think Zelda 2 is hard you should try “The Battle Of Olympus” it’s heavily inspired by Zelda 2 and quite a good game and definitely harder than Zelda 2.

[@Skelthane]

Double Dragon 3 and Adventures of Bayou Billy were two I remember renting and being unable to beat, and I had beaten Battletoads, all the Castlevania games, Ninja Gaiden 2+3, Batman, and a handful of other hard games. Bayou Billy especially felt like you were a punching bag that occasionally would get lucky.

[@shaneg9081]

Bayou Billy isn't hard. It's bad. All of the game's in this video are hard, but at least they are fair. You can get better and win. That's not the case with Bayou Billy.

[@shaunmcisaac782]

@@shaneg9081 yeah, in retrospect it is not just hard it is bad. The combat is jank.

[@gdcalamity]

the fact that ghosts n goblins is only in the hard game tier shows how difficult these are

[@RocketoPunchee]

It's very complicated to rank things by difficulty. I, for example, didn't find blaster master as hard as he put it, and zelda 2 should not even be in there!

[@BrickmanZero]

@@RocketoPunchee Same, even battletoads felt less unfair to me compared to GnG, tho i played this one on arcade and still after so many hours i still can't beat it (in the arcade ver, no idea about nes)

[@chanceForNotBeingRapper]

it is really fun seeing him not cover up the truth that Holy Diver is the Holy Grail of difficulty😂 and it's currently the one and only Japanese exclusive game on the list

[@autobotstarscream765]

​@BrickmanZero NES Battletoads is similar enough to be in the same series, but is otherwise a different beast from Arcade Battletoads.

[@frobinson7574]

Punch Out on an actual NES controller is insanely hard, especially when you have to smash the button super fast to get back up from knock down

[@kosmicspeedruns]

I don't think punch out is a game where different controllers make much of a difference. But for the record I play everything on original hardware

[@schwarzerritter5724]

The only really hard part about Kid Icarus is that halfway through the second level, the game stops you giving you health until halfway through the fourth level. After that it becomes relative easy.

[@NesrocksGamingVideos]

I find the first stage to be really hard. I have beaten the game when it came out on the wii's virtual console and thinking that after you beat the first couple of stages the game becomes normal. I guess what is frustrating is that the first stage is too long and there are no checkpoints.

[@AE-xb9uw]

The eggplant wizards suck too.

[@BOLDBANGER]

@@NesrocksGamingVideos i don't know what you mean, i'm not a great speed runner but that first level only takes a minute or so and there's a chalice along the way. been playing on NWC i forget my time but it was pretty good.

[@victorsantafeatta]

Adventure Island rarely being played at marathons, speaks about how difficult this game is.

[@jayjohn9680]

Snake rattle and roll was kinda hard for me. I was only able to beat it using game genie cheat codes.

[@ryanhamilton579]

The second I saw this list, I knew Holy Diver was taking number 1. I remember seeing a TAS for it like 10 years ago, and a handful of people were asking if the game was legitimately even beatable.

[@turborunner7859]

Hard to even imagine how insane it must be.

[@miyakogfl]

I beat Holy Diver but I haven't beat US Ninja Gaiden 3, that game is so brutal with no continues and the enemy spam and damage. I got like super far in but then lost all my lives in this crazy room where enemies come in from all 4 sides of the screen at once lol. Maybe I could do it if I tried again now but it's so hard. 1 and 2 are such a breeze compared to NG3 it's almost funny.

[@ryanhamilton579]

@@miyakogfl NG3 was a gauntlet for me to beat for sure. Super stressful game

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

Sometimes, "really hard" means "randomly unfair", like the bits you mention about Silver Surfer.

[@richardderbyshire409]

You've never played Athena...

[@lordmarshmal_0643]

I still remember watching Joel's Hardcore Friday VOD that was dedicated to Battletoads, he ended up having to split the segment across several different days (and 6 really lengthy attempts) The finale to that roughly 9-hour marathon was so goddamn worth it though

[@quonit37]

I thought to myself "Wait but Metriod is harder than that" then I remembered that I'm only remembering Gamechamp's low% run

[@turborunner7859]

The difficulty depends on how many secret upgrades you discover, although even with less equipment doesn't match any of the games he placed on "Hard Game" and above.

[@quonit37]

@@turborunner7859 I can believe it, NES games can be soooo hard lol

[@Yonah_144]

I like how "Holy Diver" is its own difficulty.

[@AFnord]

I think a lot of the reputation that Silver Surfer has comes from the fact that AVGN made a video about it. Quite a few "common opinions" about NES games seem to stem from stuff the AVGN said.

[@kosmicspeedruns]

Bingo!

[@pairofrooks]

Naw, we played that when it was new. That game just hates its players.

[@turborunner7859]

@@pairofrooks As a kid, all games are more difficult. I remember playing a Snow Bros inspired flash game many times as a kid and the farthest I could ever get was the boss of the second last world. Playing it again last year, I reached the final boss on the first try, and beat the game on the second. That may be why you thought it was so difficult.

[@discoepfeand]

Zelda 2: Hard Mike Tyson's Punch Out: Too easy to even rank WHAT???? :D Different people have different skills I guess. Thanks a bunch for the video!

[@intibird5281]

Mission Impossible is never in any hardest NES game list but totally deserves a spot.

[@TimBitten]

You’re absolutely correct and this is what I came here to say. BRUTAL game!

[@jessica_glass]

MegaMan 2 gets a lot of extra favorite-points for the music alone. The ost is kind of a masterpiece. I will die on this hill.

[@JaceyMitchell]

I think it's the best NES ost. Would put Duck Tales in 2nd place.

[@richardgurney1844]

Castlevania 3 is my pick for best NES soundtrack But you can't go wrong with Mega Man 2 as well! So many NES OST's can be considered "best". Metroid, Zelda, Silver Surfer, Journey to Silius, etc

[@Hellenicheavymetal]

the music in that game is phenomenal

[@Harkness78]

Not much of a hill, everyone knows MegaMan 2 is the best sound track on NES.

[@Lockirby2]

I'm surprised Zelda 2 is so high. I didn't think it was that tough TBH.

[@FirstLast-mn4re]

The great Palace is a massive difficulty spike imo. Like people complain about Death Mountain, but I find its not that bad if you tackle it after beating the 2nd palace, since you're guaranteed to be a little higher leveled after completing the palace. But with the Great Palace chances are you're max level by the time you go there, there's not much that can make it easier. You just have to get good at up stabbing those damn birds.

[@rook1196]

final boss is crazy tough w/o turbo

[@Lockirby2]

@@rook1196 I guess it depends on whether you know the "crouch stab in the corner" strategy. If I hadn't known that ahead of time, I agree that it would have been much more difficult.

[@danielvasilevv2672]

Its not

[@jeremyc6054]

I found the difficulty level of Zelda 2 is quite malleable, depending on your experience levels. If you try to run headlong into Death Mountain and the dungeons, you'll get slaughtered. But if you spend some time grinding against the weaker enemies, concentrating on getting your attack and life levels up (magic becomes more important later in the game), then most of the game is a breeze, albeit a slow and tedious one. Of course, the road to the final dungeon, and the final dungeon itself, are hard no matter what since you can't level up beyond 8.

[@kamikaze9699]

In Castlevania 2, I can see getting stuck using Dracula's Heart on the ferryman because the clue to do that is inside the mansion you get to using Dracula's Heart on the ferryman. Outside of that, everything has enough clues to figure out, you're just not going to finish the game quick enough for the best ending on a first playthrough. The NPC banter reminded me of good ole B2 Keep on the Borderlands in the Basic D&D box, specifically the tavern rumor table which included some information that was false, some fantastical or mundane fluff, and a few dungeon clues.

[@lazydazey9282]

He completely lost me at Mega Man 2 is harder than 1.

[@XD.304.]

Bro he lost dr jrkyll and mr hyde😂

[@NightshadowZX]

Yellow devil isn't that bad...

[@lazydazey9282]

@@NightshadowZX you really think mega man 1 is easier than Mega Man 2?

[@thoraxtheimpalor1345]

Mega man difficulty hardest to easiest, 1, 3, 2,4,5,6, I honestly feel 2 4 and 5 can be interchangeable depending on the player but 6 is the easiest

[@NightshadowZX]

@@lazydazey9282 seriously. Megaman 1 isn't as bad as people make it out to be.

[@staudinga]

At first I thought "Tier list? Meh!" but then I remembered that Kosmic always has some interesting ideas about game design, so I ended up watching it, which I don't regret.

[@HonkeyKongLive]

A lot of these games, I think, are brutally difficult until you kinda figure out the trick behind them. Ninja Gaiden gets SO much easier once you learn how to make use of the special items. Tyson is hugely about just learning that uppercut. If you can beat Tyson the rest of the game takes like no effort except maybe Mr Sandman.

[@trutwijd]

The lack of continues on NG3 can be dealt with a little with a trick I don't see much. On the level right before the ship (6-2) you can recollect the one-up over and over to max out your lives to 9 (IIRC), takes a couple turns due to time limit but nice to have those extra lives in stage 7. I agree it's the hardest NG, I was so proud to beat that one before my buddies in school. If you want an extra challenge on Battletoads, beat it with 2 players. :) I'm horrible at punch out so I'd have that higher.

[@Animebryan2]

No! You can't beat Battletoads on 2 player because of a glitch on Clinger Winger that prevents the 2nd player from moving while the ball kills them off over and over.

[@Steambull1]

Joker (in Batman) is easy if you just use the fist. You don't take contact damage from him as long as he's flashing from being hit, so you can just jump punch yourself into his space and keep tapping. If you get lucky, you don't even have to dodge any lightning.

[@kosmicspeedruns]

fist also does the most damage, as I later learned. It feels like cheese (because you stand inside his gun) and i dont like it, but yeah its easy

[@AbsentMinded619]

I just use batarangs when he’s close and he freezes and is beaten in seconds.

[@michaeltheiii]

I’m surprised neither of the Startropics were mentioned

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

Haven't played Holy Diver, but I have played the rest of the top 10 and I honestly remember Ninja Gaiden giving me the most headaches. There are just so many spots in that game that require memorizing enemy patterns and then precisely executing jumps and attacks. If you plan for them with the right special weapons that can be easier but then that takes a lot of trial and error too. I honestly thought Ninja Gaiden 2 was a cakewalk compared to 1, and Ninja Gaiden 3 was mostly just difficult at the end.

[@ИапГоревич]

Omg, for me Ninja Gaiden 2 is uncomparable hard to original Ninja Gaiden. The boss on 2 level, level 3.1! And I can not get any further now

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

@@ИапГоревич Funny how differently people experience some games. I remember spending a very memorable summer playing (and eventually beating) Ninja Gaiden Trilogy on SNES after having failed to beat any of them when I used to rent them on NES (yeah, I'm old-school!). I remember consistently struggling with NG 1, and by the time I got through it 2 just seemed so much easier because the mechanics weren't just broken half the time and its platforming didn't require nearly as much precision. I breezed through 2 compared to 1, and only got stuck at the last level on 3. Funnily enough, despite being the easiest to me, 2 remains my favorite in the series. I think all the changes they made mechanics-wise were for the better and I also think it was the series' peak in terms of designs and atmosphere. I'd probably rank 3 ahead of 1, but 1 was just so memorable because of how much time I spent on it.

[@Bismuth9]

Thanks for reminding me I need to beat Adventure Island without continues

[@Zazzaro703]

Should have definitely had double dragon 3 on this list and maybe Adventures of Bayou Billy. Such a great console the original NES was. I’m so glad to have grown up with it not only to have played amazing games on it but playing current indie games in the old pixel art style doesn’t bother me at all while a lot of newer gamers see that old pixel style and immediately pass.

[@MrTripcore]

I never did beat dd3 so I would call it insanely difficult

[@mushihimesarna728]

DD3 is extremely doable. It starts hard but gets progressively easier.

[@megamanmarchek8293]

The Adventures of Bayou Billy needs to be in the NES gauntlet.

[@emmastarr5242]

By far one of the most accurate lists I've seen on the matter, IMO. Adventure Island has one of the hardest jumps in the entierety of gaming in 8-3, and I'm sick of so many people pretending otherwise. Like...that game deserves its spot for that short series of jumps there alone. 💀

[@harukaze7388]

that one jump is literally as far as I got as a kid for 20 years

[@pluspixel]

I just said Mega Man 1 is better than 2 in a recent podcast and I was looked at like a idiot! Hahaha

[@ericpostma787]

I got a gauntlet shirt as soon as they were available. I’ve had more compliments on that shirt than any other I’ve ever worn. I should probably get another…

[@acorngnome]

It is a REALLY good shirt.

[@kosmicspeedruns]

how could it not be?

[@aldoushuxleysghost]

Snake Rattle n Roll and Solar Jetman are extremely difficult Oh, and we can't forget Double Dragon III

[@jacksonkisling1684]

That's a pretty good list. Here' s a few that I think deserve to be there: Gradius, Breakthru, Bionic Commando, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Maniac Mansion, and especially Time Lord. Good F%$#& luck with that last one. Also, you're way undervaluing how hard Ghosts and Goblins is.

[@daledillahunty6575]

Time Lord was very difficult. My uncle, cousins, and I never could beat the pirate ship level. I finally found the orb hiding behind the 2nd bell and beat the clam boss but couldn't beat the soldier boss in the army level. Great nights staying up late trying though :)

[@joeysnipes5]

no Bayou Billy eh? I don't blame you. Hard AF

[@BradRichardson-ec4iv]

The actual hardest NES game might be Recca on hard mode or "zanki attack" mode, although maybe not for Kosmic since he mentioned not messing with shooters (but this one is def valid to mess with cuz its really good and really hard). Other honorable mentions are Dragon's lair, Challenge of the dragon (unlicensed i think lol and a beatemup), Transformers: Convoy no Nazo, and Druaga no Tou aka tower of druaga, all which could def be higher than the midway point of the list. Plenty more I'm sure, there were some whack ones, especially j only.

[@harukaze7388]

tower of druaga is a bit weird because like, you aren't meant to play it alone, but to figure it out with a community of friends now its prequel, Quest of Ki... the main game is easy enough, the postgame though

[@silverwings21]

2:58 Did you beat it without turbo? 7:30 Were you able to beat the robot masters without using their weakness and didn't use the pause glitch on Yellow Devil? I also played Mega Man 2 1st and a lot. I was able to beat all the robot masters with the default arm cannon in Mega Man 2. On Mega Man 1, without using the weakness it's real hard; like with Elec Man, you're dead in like 3 hits.

[@Kosmicd12]

Yeah i didn't use turbo for any games, and i didn't use the pause glitch in mega man. Yellow devil is one of the *easiest* mega man bosses. It is the most predictable and pure execution. Way easier than something like Quick Man in mm2. I did use the elec beam, just because it was big, and that happened to be his weakness, so that helps. Beat it second try. I got through the refights first try, figuring out their weaknesses mid fight (most of them are intuitive, besides ice man lol).

[@shenanitims4006]

Given that “Blaster Master” predates “Castlevania”’s move into the “Metroid” realm, shouldn’t they realistically be called “Blastroids?” Or “Mastroids?” Glad to hear that my brother and I weren’t stooges for a.) owning it when it came out yet never completing it.

[@andyauthor2007]

I watched your playthrough of Holy Diver on Twitch, GG for beating it. I've beaten Hagane: The Final Conflict on SNES but I can't beat Holy Diver. You actually got lucky with the final boss because the game has a reputation of "soft locking" if you spam the Thunder magic on the final boss' first form. Retro Bit actually bought Holy Diver from Irem and they did an official U.S. release of the game. I actually have a collector's edition of the U.S. release that I bought through Castlemania. So the game is no longer Famicom only. Retro Bit did the same thing with Metal Storm and I have a collector's edition of that too.

[@Emillll]

The final boss in Batman is easy to beat if you just run up to him and punch him pointblank. His projectile will miss (it has a deadzone in front of him). Just keep mashing and chase after him if he runs away. My recommendation for hard games to try: Quattro Adventure(a collection of 4 platformers games), Sky Shark(a short shmup that I find pretty hard because the speed of the enemy bullets and the size of your own hurtbox) and Summer Carnival '92: Recca(also a shmup, has a second difficulty that is much different if you beat the original difficulty).

[@Animebryan2]

Glad I'm not the only one who knew that & calls him out on that.

[@verbatim7508]

As a small caveat, I wouldn't say you've ever actually beaten Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! if you used the Tyson code, because the Tyson code is never provided to you in the game. You have to make it to Super Macho Man, get the Super Macho Man code, and then start all subsequent attempts from Super Macho Man and THEN beat Mike Tyson before the game is legitimately beaten. In my opinion.

[@davidjsaul]

TMNT isn't too bad until the technodrome, which I think is virtually impossible to do without taking damage

[@rook1196]

the final corridor where its impossible to not hit spikes, you just have to have enough health in all 4 turtles to make it through. Shredder wont even get close to you w/ scrolls

[@doddsino]

I disagree with Battletoads a bit since I do think the game *is* unfair in some of it's gameplay where you are essentially required to do things that result in a cheap death such as blind jumps/drops. Had the game not had those, I would probably agree. Surprised neither Cobra Triangle or Snake Rattle and Roll aren't on here. Both are pretty challenging as well, albeit probably not as hard as Battletoads.

[@joshthefunkdoc]

Ah, warms my heart to see Holy Diver still get its own tier after all these years...thank you Team Spooky crew for suggesting i add it in my marathon way back!

[@EuSouRCS]

The Legend himself,Josh the Funkdoc! Thank you for introduce me on this MASTERPIECE of a game!

[@willmistretta]

As soon I saw that thumbnail, I recognized Holy Diver and thought of that goddamn pillar boss. And I'm not even a speedrunner, just a guy who's played through the game a few times normally.

[@briankarcher8338]

Megaman 1 has the Yellow devil which I cannot beat for the life of me.

[@kosmicspeedruns]

So strange, i thought it was the easiest mega man boss. It's the most static and straightforward; nothing random about it. But I know most people feel the same way as you

[@fishactivation5087]

The Select button is your friend.

[@FemboyBlake]

Yellow devil was easy even without the select button and mega buster only.

[@chris42069]

Mastering the half jump at the last boss was so weird tho

[@asafoetidajones8181]

Idk, I've beaten quite a few games in that yellow to red zone but silver surfer was way harder for me than any of them.

[@JoeDan54]

Bucky O'Hare ROCKS. Love that game I'd recommend checking out Solomon's Key if you want another fun hard NES game

[@MisterAutist]

Bucky O'Hare is such an underrated game. The music is amazing too, I'd expect nothing less from NES-era Konami

[@samusvikerness661]

Thank you for talking about how hard Adventure Island is. It doesn’t get the respect it deserves when it comes to difficulty in a platformer.

[@briandhamby]

Anybody played Snake Rattle and Roll? I find that one crazy hard once you get to the icy levels

[@fishactivation5087]

It's interesting how many of these games (namely Ninja Gaiden 3, the Castlevania games, Zelda 2, and Battletoads) were either deliberately or accidentally made harder during their localization, or in the case of Battletoads, nerfed in subsequent revisions and the Genesis port.

[@cerealexperimentsgrain]

you're crazy for that mega man opinion

[@carlp.6196]

Blaster Master is one of my all-time favorites. I'm happy to know that I have beaten a game ranked "very hard" by a legendary gamer even if I don't stand a chance against most of the rest.

[@Yoshistar95]

Maybe worth a mention, Gradius II is known to be quite hard as well, I've played it many times now and the first level is still beating my ass to this day lol But besides that, it's a great game which sadly didn't had an international release at the time (because of some memory mapper the Famicom used) And playing on PAL NES will have a funny effect gameplay wise, it's not an emulator glitch

[@Phos9]

Blaster Master having been designed with turbo in mind makes sense because Hudson Soft was pretty heavily involved in the design of the PC engine and that had turbo by default

[@BagOfMagicFood]

Wow, I actually feel similarly about the first 2 MegaMan games! MegaMan 2 seems to pull way more cheap tricks than 1, but I think it was just so much more popular that most people overlook them through familiarity.

[@AFnord]

I do feel like Mega Man 1 spikes a bit harder when it actually gets hard than 2 does, and has some less intuitive design at some points. But yeah, overall it's still probably the easier game.

[@vulcan6460]

I feel like Mega Man 1 gets a bad rap, I'd argue that it's the fairest of the NES Mega Man games. Sure, the bosses have a steep learning curve and there's no password system or E-tanks, but you don't need either of them once you know what you're doing.

[@TheBlackSeraph]

Mega Man 1 has issues with trolly mechanics: -no invincibility frames with spikes, -screen-wrapping death plane on Guts Man's stage, -wonky animation on elevators in Guts Man's stage. Mega Man 2 has issues with trolly design: - Quick Man's "weakness" can't kill Quick Man, - one of the Wily Fortress bosses can only be killed using all 7 Crash Bombs (technically 6 with good placement or 5 with glitches) - the final boss can only be hit with one special weapon, with no chance to refill weapon energy between attempts meaning you have to DELIBERATELY die to continue if you fail an attempt.

[@thomario8639]

Anyways it won't reach the levels of bullshit MegaMan 3 does.

[@systemafunk]

How? Other than the crash bomb room, what cheap tricks? Mega Man is notorious for having issues where when you drop you drop too fast, and has battles that you almost have to use the pause trick for. Yellow Demon is super hard, the clone battle is super hard, even Elec Man can kill you in 3 hits. He's hard even with the cuts blade. And the area with the shooting platform things in Willy's stage is super cheap. Like, you can literally get a pattern that forces you to die. Do people not remember this game? I actually love it, but it's also super cheap. Mega Man 3 and Mega Man 1 are both harder than 2.

[@jonathanbradley4896]

For Batman, the climb to the Joker is hard as hell too. It's what makes Joker so hard, getting to the top of that machine tower without your resources being depleted.

[@IrisGalaxis]

Another really hard one but brilliant is Gun Nac... reccomend to anyone, regardless of the difficulty it's just brilliant...the pace, the music, and maybe the broadest arsenal of weaponry on the NES

[@richardgallimore5976]

Gun Nac does have 4 difficulty levels though. If beating it on Easy counts, I think most people would beat it their first day if they played a few hours. I was only able to beat it on Easy though, stages 7 & 8 on Normal were too much for me, I remember getting passed 7 once, then playing for hours on Stage 8 & it wasn't happening. I can imagine the skill it requires for Advanced, but I can't fathom the skill required for Expert, haha.

[@IrisGalaxis]

@@richardgallimore5976 I think you only get the true ending if you beat it on Expert

[@MrTripcore]

Ice Climber Double Dragon 3 Ikari Warriors

[@IStoleThePies]

Technically not an NES game, but I'm curious where you'd rank SMB2J on there

[@kosmicspeedruns]

Sorry for the earlier reply, sometimes KZbin puts my replies on the wrong person. Smb2j is very average for an NES game. Hard for a mario game (but even smb1 is). But pretty simple and like a 4/10 or maybe even less, compared to all these. Honestly, smb2u is harder lol, it's just deceptive in the way that it's hard

[@fwiffo]

​@@kosmicspeedrunsIt's weird to me that you say SMB2U is harder. I always thought it was an easy game, certainly way easier than SMB1. And I'm a casual who would give up on most of the games on this list.

[@chris42069]

​@@kosmicspeedrunsdude WHAT smb2 is totally easy mode

[@mCblue79]

I'm currently engrossed in NES TMNT. I can't get past the Technodrome. Grrrrr

[@nicholas3354]

The only Bucky O Hare game I played was an old PC game (new at the time). For its time, it had excellent graphics and smooth physics that were very traditional but also felt very good. It's just a basic sidescroller, but definitely a good one.

[@kosmicspeedruns]

how could it not be?

[@NESADDICT]

I played battletoads everyday (till I ran out of continues) some times twice a day for 5 months before I finally beat it without using a continue.

[@turborunner7859]

Dedication!

[@trofl]

My favorite hard NES game is Super Pitfall... You're just not going to beat it without a guide or weeks of hunting down every needed item (I won't spoil more than that). But it's also just kinda unfair because Harry doesn't control well and will just glitch into floors or walls because of some coding oversights... which is cool for speedrunning but not so cool for casual play.

[@taragnor]

Yeah that game is hard in a totally different way than the rest of the games on the list. It very well might be the hardest NES game in general, simply because without a guide you have absolute no idea where to go, what to do or if you're even making progress.

[@repyukJC]

another pogkosmic video I really enjoy the way you detailed things, and the way you address "what is difficulty?" and explained some nuances where the list may change based on perspective

[@doopness785]

3 hard nes games you missed: 3-D Worldrunner Gauntlet Back To The Future 2 & 3 I’m actually amazed you didn’t put a single LJN game in your top hardest games list.

[@Kosmicd12]

This isn't ranking every game, I explained criteria at the start

[@cratedivizion]

Rolling Thunder is pretty dang tough. so was thundercade.

[@sirgog]

Did you consider Bionic Commando in there? I feel it is solidly in 'Honorable Mention' territory. IIRC level 11 was brutal.

[@CyberChud2077]

Bucky O’Hare should be more well known for its excellent soundtrack.

[@coffeeintheface]

*clicks on video* "I wonder if Battletoads will be featured" *immediately sees Battletoads as the featured game, lol*

[@fwiffo]

They just don't make games this hard anymore. They make games with deliberately bad controls in the spirit of QWOP, but almost every game back then had bad controls. People complain about rage games like Jump King, but every NES platformer is basically jump king with people shooting at you. These are also some of the greatest NES games. Battletoads was late in the 8-bit era, and stands up visually to some SNES games. It's a great game even if you never get past the 3rd level. Blaster Master is a relatively unknown gem, and it has really satisfying graphics, sound and controls. That freaking crab boss though. Kid Icarus is great, but you never hear people talk about it except that it was on that Nintendo cartoon. Both Metroid and Blaster Master felt really novel for that non-linearity, backtracking to go to later levels. I guess you had that in RPGs, but it seemed really fresh in a platformer.

[@kosmicspeedruns]

Perfect comment

[@DJFracus]

They do, but they're indie games rather than mainstream titles. There are plenty of indie games coming out right now that are far more difficult than anything on this list, and I'm not talking about things like Jump King.

[@petr79]

the good thing about cv3 is that you can adjust the difficulty by picking the longest route, around 15 stages and ignoring any companion characters. TMNT1 last stage runway without kiai weapon and if the ai happens to touch the turtle, which can be random, makes the game impossible because all characters energy will be depleted before Shredder. my friend had finished many hard nes games yet marveled when I told him I had finished it

[@Animebryan2]

Exactly! I farmed the Wave Scroll sub-weapons until all 4 turtles had 99 each, and that still wasn't enough to beat the game! Fucking technodrome is cheap as fuck! kzbin.info/www/bejne/pWS8Zn6shcimqNEsi=hDWCAwTY4ebiMON_

[@EvilApple567]

I remember watching you doing the Alucard route in C3 and warning you about stage 7, which took me like 3-4 hours my first time (after I'd already beaten the Sypha route many times), and you did it in like less than an hour lol. Also agree on Ninja Gaiden. It feels bad because the movement, combat, and general mechanics (music too obv) are amazing for an NES game but the difficulty is super cheap and shallow. As a result the game overall doesn't feel very satisfying like Castlevania where it's a good mix of strategy and execution, it just feels like trying to bullshit your way through the terrible enemy respawning system and death pits that accompany them.

[@brokensprites]

You beat Holy Diver?! Damn that's impressive. I'm currently working on that one myself. The 3rd level is kicking my ass. I beat it once and I can't get back to level 4.... I didn't want to save state or use cheats, I felt like that would sour the victory... Also, my skills are increasing.... Arguably the hardest NES... And maybe one of the hardest games period! Not a long game, but I don't think the average person could beat this game.

[@chanceneck8072]

Actually, I only started playing Ghosts N Goblins as an adult and it was a bit too difficult for me and was not fun to play. But as a kid, I liked to play and beat games like Darkwing Duck, The Guardian Legend (still my favorite game from that era) and Bucky O Hare....

[@kosmicspeedruns]

exploration is not included in a games difficulty. I even spent most of the time on zelda ii talking about how figuring out where to go is not that difficult, if you just read the manual and talk to all the npc's.

[@duranduran6456]

Wow, you are an NES master! I am surprised nobody ever mentions Abadox or 8 Eyes for the list of Hardest games. I played those both growing up and never came close to beating either. Nobody I know has came close!

[@trayson]

obligatory "zelda 2 does not belong on this list"

[@kosmicspeedruns]

Well, I'm ranking the games in the nes gauntlet. Where would you rank it among these? It's a hard game, but there's plenty of nuance involved in explaining why. Hopefully you can acknowledge that? If you grew up with that and have beaten it 20 times it's not very hard, but beating it for the first time asks a lot of the player. It has the highest quality of life of any of these games, which is probably the only reason you're saying this. Try imagining your memory is wiped and you don't know where anything is or how to best do combat or gain levels or where to go in palaces. And compare that to all the other games going into them knowing nothing.

[@trayson]

@@kosmicspeedruns sorry kosmic i was being ironic ; ; (but actually i'll respond in a minute)

[@kosmicspeedruns]

@@trayson oh lol, I guess I'm not familiar with the gag

[@trayson]

lol no worries dude. personally i always found zelda 2 to be super fun to play through, and it's that fun factor that i think sometimes surprises me when others consider it one of the hardest nes games. my initial comment wasn't at all meant as a serious dig at your list; more just a playful expression of my own experience. also i agree that describing zelda 2 as having a "high quality of life" aligns more with my experience. like it fully resonates with me much like zelda 1, castlevania, and the mario trilogy, unlike other childhood games i found significantly harder (emphasized by not having as much fun) like ninja gaiden, punch-out, and metroid. but yeah, i recognize the subjective nuances of this kinda thing 😌 by the way, i did catch a bit of your nes gauntlet stream live, and it's reminding me that I should check out the rest of it. love your streams :)

[@kosmicspeedruns]

@@trayson Haha, I agree with all that you said. I think it is easily the best made game on the NES. Really incredible game. I think it's so well made that you don't find much of it to be unreasonable, so sometimes it doesn't register as "hard", because it's not really unfair or anything. But it does ask a lot of the player to beat it for their first time, I think. Great talking! Always happy to talk positively about zelda II :) !

[@UnderratedAlbums]

Great list! I actually played them all except Big Nose and Holy Diver. I agree that Adventure Island and Battletoads should be at the top. Ghost'n'Goblins was a pain for me so that one would be higher on my list.

[@vintagegamecrazy]

Would you be willing to make this an ongoing series? You ranked these games but would you be willing to rank the rest of the games that you play and then compare them to these after you get so many finished? It would be cool to see some of the lesser known difficult titles be ranked with the well-known ones. This was such an awesome video. I myself have beaten quite a few of these and mostly agree with this list.

[@TheCasualMark]

Just bought a shirt! I love watching the Gauntlet. Even if you don’t do one this year, I’ll always enjoy watching this one 😁

[@kosmicspeedruns]

On July 15th I'll do somewhat of a marathon stream- not quite an nes gauntlet but there will be many games and several of them hard nes games. Outside of that, I'll occasionally stream playthroughs of more nes games i haven't played yet

[@green2498]

Ikari Warriors with no cheat codes makes the traditional list of hard NES games (GnG, Ninja Gaiden, Battletoads, etc) look like Kirby's Adventure in comparison. Q-Bert, Arkanoid, and Athena are also brutal, harder than the traditional hard games

[@yawshhimself]

Really fun video! Little surprised that Legacy Of The Wizard (or Dragon Slayer IV) didn't get a mention, but its difficulty is based on using glitches and hidden doors that are never explained to the player. So I suppose it wouldn't crack the list anyway.

[@MacNDocTKO]

Great list man. Ninja Gaiden 2 is the only one that I wouldn't rank so difficult since once the end bosses are figured out it's pretty routine. Life Force is another great game that offers a great challenge without the code

[@cheewie2]

Thanks for good info about the games with no spoilers!

[@johnnymeteo]

Can't believe you didn't play NES Gauntlet for the NES Gauntlet. My greatest video game achievement was running the Gauntlet pre-internet.

[@kosmicspeedruns]

I did play it but I didn't think it was very fun

[@barnabusdoyle4930]

I’m surprised we don’t see the less known titles in these lists like Deadly Towers or 8 Eyes which can be really hard on your first few play throughs but once you get to know what your doing aren’t insanely difficult but still have execution difficulty

[@jorymil]

I think the question about lesser-known games like those is whether they're worth playing or not. Deadly Towers has this odd mix of randomness-based difficulty and illogical secrets that for me just make it not fun. If it was my only game, say, back in 1987, I might feel differently, but the journey just isn't worth it. I haven't played 8 Eyes, so can't really comment on that one. One that perhaps should be here is Zanac, which gets harder and harder the longer you go without dying. Tetris is that way, too: it's easy at levels 1-10, but insane on Level 20.

[@pairofrooks]

Oh yeah 8 Eyes was pretty stiff but mostly because of some boss fights. Deadly Towers is just dysfunctional.