Push-Starts Top 10 Hardest NES Games

We all remember those classic 8 & 16 Bit games that use to frustrate the hell out of us whilst being entertaining and sometimes rewarding. Well here’s our top 10 hardest games for the NES.

10. Gradius

Gradius, a classic horizontally-scrolling shoot ’em up made by Konami. “Shoot the core!” a classic catch phrase  from the game and it is famous for that. It is one of the shoot-em

ups where the game loves to throw everything at you such as tons of enemies on screen trying to down your ship. Simple fun and enjoyable even though dying would always cause me to shout “DAMIT I’LL JUST SHOOT THE CORE!” but I never was successful and continued to keep me playing for hours!

9. McDonald Land

Who ever thought this could be a game based on the friendly characters at McDonald’s Well definitely not in this century. You simply take control of kids that are trying help Mc Ronald in his fantasy world. Obviously as you guess this was a “fun” way for Mc Donald’s to advertise to kids. It wasn’t as bad as you think it sounds, of course it looks similar to Mario and having to collect Mc Donald’s  Ms for points was similar to the coins but it was challenging and if you managed to complete the game you would be known as a Mc Donald legend because it was pretty damn hard.

8. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Some may find it strange how I have put Zelda 2 on here. Well trust me its pretty hard. To me it is one of my favourite Zelda games and is one of the hardest. When working  towards the end of the game you had to deal with the most annoying red armoured knights on the second to last stage. These guys traumatised me for weeks on end until I defeated the game = Rewarding.

7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The original and first Teenage Ninja Turtles (Or hero turtles in the UK) based on the Ninja Turtles franchise is hard as hell but is rewarding. The reason why I classify this game as hard game is because the fact that the enemies keep regenerating so every movement of attack has to be done pretty quick before re-encountering with the same enemies. This game does require a lot of patience, and if you are like Wheelertron you would probably trade this game in after the first stage. You definitely couldn’t pick this game up and have a quick run through to get to the final boss. This is a long game which is good in a sense but you definitely need to be in the zone to play it.  Overall the gameplay is fun and enjoyable and for the first of the series it definitely stands out as one of the hardest but greatest Ninja Turtles games.
6. Ninja Gaiden
Ninja gaiden is one hard game and I mean hard. Not the hardest obviously but does take some true skill to defeat this game. You play as Ryu Hayabusa who goes to America to seek revenge for the death of his father who was killed in a duel by an unknown assailant. Story, Simple and solid which made this game enjoyable. It was also one of the first games to have cut scenes! After completing all 6 acts you certainly felt like a Ninja! The process was a long battle but again highly rewarding.

5. Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest

Constantly switching day and night, going to a town to talk to people to get new items etc. Seriously hard and not like any other Castlevania game. You play as Simon Belmont as you travel and battle your way through towns and dungeons. It may sound like any other sidescroller but this isn’t any sidescroller. Its one of the hardest and unique use of day and night elements which made it far too hard.

4. Metroid

Samus first appearance in her own game. At the time we all assumed it was a man in that suit because how could a women carry a cannon blowing aliens up? Sorry I’m not being sexist it was just on everyone’s mind back in the NES days. I don’t think I even have to explain the frequent difficult encounters with life sucking aliens.

3. The Karate Kid

Everyone remembers the classic movie and everyone knew they were going to make a movie game. This game is famous for the hurricane level where people will relate back to it as impossible. It pretty much is impossible but after playing it a few times you learn when the flying objects will try and attack you but still the enemies have no attack pattern, and they are constantly attacking you. Still if you managed to complete the 4 levels you were The Karate Kid.

2. Mega Man 2

How could a list be complete with out Mega Man appearing I know. Megaman was hard but in Megaman 2, Capcom liked to chuck everything at you, moving enemies spamming you with rapid fire knocking you off to your frequent death. We all love and know Megaman is famous for its difficulty and that’s why we all grew up loving it because nothing was more rewarding than defeating Dr willy.

And finally, the one you’ve all be waiting for…

1. Battletoads

I think we will all come to a mutal agreement that this game is bloody hard. It was so impossible to get past the third level and if you did you were a legend but good luck completing it. The levels some what got easier towards the end of the game but then got even harder. If you made it to Level 12 even with the infinite life cheat it still caused a struggle and was impossible to beat it on your first play through unless you were god or something! I still can’t complete it. It truly was one hard game but this is why its at the number one spot. It may be hard but it keeps you coming back more and more to try and get past the third level no matter how frustrated you were.