Don’t say you have any of these.

We won’t believe you.

The feeling of accomplishment comes into play when looking at video game difficulty.

Ash Williams (Evil Dead: The Game) standing alongside Akuma (Street Fighter). A poster depicting characters from Crypt of The NecroDancer is overlaid behind them.

Hard games popular now, like Elden Ring, have nothing on the truly hardest titles out there.

They can be from any decade, as each generation has its fair share of brutal titles.

Some games you’ve probably never heard of before, while others are well-known and deserve their reputation.

Collage image of Rocket Knight Adventures, Streets of Rage 2, and Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

13Arcade Super Punch-Out!!

Right off the bat, this game’s harder for two reasons.

It’s far more reactive and unpredictable than other installments.

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Virtually every level has a new gimmick, and might as well be an entirely different game.

Contra: Hard Corps for the Genesis is the best example of this.

9Super Monkey Ball 1

60 Expert Levels With Only Three Lives?

Fight number six in Arcade Super Punch-Out.

Beating Super Monkey Ball 1 to its conclusion in the Master stages is for the truly elite.

Ninja Gaiden 2, unlike a Souls game, is heavily reaction-focused and fast-paced.

Despite how savage Master Ninja difficulty is, there are tactics to make it easier.

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This is for the 2008 Xbox 360 Ninja Gaiden 2.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 or Ninja Gaiden 2 Black are a joke in comparison.

The first title, Demon’s Souls, on the other hand, is an entirely different story.

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These are the best.

There are two big factors that make this gameharder than the rest.

One is that your healing items are limited and aren’t free refills once you rest at a bonfire.

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In fact, there are no bonfires present in Demon’s Souls.

Every time you die in human form, it affects the World Tendency, making the game even harder.

The developers knew this mode was bad because there were no achievements tied to it whatsoever.

Blasting through the Turbo Tunnel in Battletoads.

It really makes all the lower difficulties seem like Easy mode in comparison.

This puts you to the absolute test, and the weapon upgrading system’s also gone.

God Hard is for hardcore action game experts only.

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What makes Super Meat Boy an all-time hard game is the controls.

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MeeMee rolling through a blue and cyan checkered maze in Super Monkey Ball.

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Playing the first level of Touhou Seirensen - Undefined Fantastic Object.

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Triple-A Games