These days we’re challenged by games like Dark Souls and Cuphead, but hard games aren’t a new thing. Not by a long shot. We have a look at the hardest games ever, as judged by ourselves, and the Funstock Retro audience via social media.
10 – Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels
An absolutely brutal entry into the Mario franchise, Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels was initially released for the Famicom in Japan as Super Mario Bros 2. It was actually deemed to be too difficult for Western audiences and was replaced with a version of Doki Doki Panic to be released in the West. This one is hard, it pretty much assumes you’re already a master of the first game, and doesn’t ramp up in a way you would expect for a Mario title, giving it the title of one of the hardest games ever. The level design is also incredibly unforgiving, with plenty of invisible traps that you literally can’t do anything about until you’ve died to them.
9 – Super Star Wars
Super Star Wars is based on the original movie, and is notoriously difficult for a movie tie-in. This entry should also technically include the sequels to this game which mirror the original trilogy, with many considering Empire to be the hardest. You can expect some very, very hard platforming here and some side scrolling run and gun action. If you can get past some strange hitboxes you’ll have a great time.
8 – Takeshi’s Challenge
Quite frequently dubbed as the worst video game of all time, Takeshi’s Challenge is an action adventure ‘classic’ that released on the NES back in 1986. A lot of your time playing this game will be consumed by you asking yourself why you’re doing it. It’s just that bad. One of the best features of
