Hardest game ever.

[Et3rnalLegend64]

-Subterranean Animism: Often called the hardest in the Touhou series, and for very good reasons (but without bad controls or glitches, just like every other Touhou game.)

SA? Yeah it's definitely hard, but are we talking Normal or Lunatic? Anything below Lunatic isn't unfair hard like IWBTG. I don't think they should be grouped together, honestly. Not a big deal either way of course.

Yeah, well, what I'm saying is that most people who play it will probably never beat the game on its 'normal' difficulty (Hard, in the case of Guy.) As for 'unfair hard', I think SA passed that point with Mizuhashi. And then kept going after Komeji, particularly with Reimu-B...

Edit: Forgot to put this on my first list: Shoot the Bullet. Another Touhou game, but this time with a gimmick that makes it even harder to win. Couple that with about a hundred completely insane boss battles, and you have yourself a nigh-impossible game.

"Most people who play it will probably never beat the game on its normal difficulty."
I'll give you that one. Then again, it likely applies to most Touhou games and bullet hell in general. I'd like to think that dedicated practice can get most people the ability to play the game with a consistent end result though. For me, that would be screwing up around stage 4 or 5 and so not having enough resources for the final boss. I don't really think the same can be said of IWBTG, which is purely trial and error (hence "unfair")

Parsee isn't that bad, is she? She just has a gimmick that doesn't usually show up for a stage 2 boss. She's rather easy once you figure her out.
Yuugi is brute force bullet spam. Whether you believe brute force or elaborate patterns to be more brain shattering is subjective.
Reimu does kind of get the short end of the stick all around when it comes to Satori. Her Yukari spells have way too much health, her Suika spells are generally insane (Missing Power, anyone?), and her Aya spells are even harder than when Aya herself used them.
Orin is a destroyer of dreams for the first several playthroughs, but is doable once you can reach her consistently and learn her patterns.
Utsuho is a more unique kind of brute force spam, and I personally think she's easier than Orin for the most part. She's also really fun, so that makes it all worth it.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

Old Nintendo games and bullet hell games instantly come to mind.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Reimu does kind of get the short end of the stick all around when it comes to Satori. Her Yukari spells have way too much health, her Suika spells are generally insane (Missing Power, anyone?), and her Aya spells are even harder than when Aya herself used them.

The reason I mentioned Reimu-B specifically is that with every other copied set of attacks (Metal Fatigue rectangle bullets, anyone?) that Satori uses should be familiar to someone with enough knowledge of the series. The thing is, since Suika only appeared in IaMP and SWR, all her patterns are originals, so you can't take anything over. (Not that I'd know; I've never actually gotten up to the main fight with Yuugi...)

Also, I happen to just prefer Reimu over Marisa. Which is kind of a problem.

 

[Worr Monger]

No mention of Contra..? >.>

The original Contra? No way... piece of cake. Even without The Code.

Gonna give an honorable mention to Castlevania 1 and 3.

I'll give you Castlevania 1... that was pretty tough at some points, but not the worst I've seen... Castlevania 3 was just too damn awesome to consider incredibly hard.

OT: I think Ghosts N Goblins & Battletoads are probably the most stupidly hard games ever made.

 

[Count Igor]

The Witcher 2 on Insane.
I mean seriously? You can't die ONCE. >.<

 

[Void(null)]

No mention of Contra..? >.>

The original Contra? No way... piece of cake.

OT: I think Ghosts N Goblins & Battletoads are probably the most stupidly hard games ever made.

I loved that game as a kid. The one NES Game I was never able to beat however, was The Battle of Olympus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb4J7kO-MBM&feature=related

Haven't tried as an adult however. I should crack that open.

 

[Et3rnalLegend64]

Reimu does kind of get the short end of the stick all around when it comes to Satori. Her Yukari spells have way too much health, her Suika spells are generally insane (Missing Power, anyone?), and her Aya spells are even harder than when Aya herself used them.

The reason I mentioned Reimu-B specifically is that with every other copied set of attacks (Metal Fatigue rectangle bullets, anyone?) that Satori uses should be familiar to someone with enough knowledge of the series. The thing is, since Suika only appeared in IaMP and SWR, all her patterns are originals, so you can't take anything over. (Not that I'd know; I've never actually gotten up to the main fight with Yuugi...)

Also, I happen to just prefer Reimu over Marisa. Which is kind of a problem.

I'll definitely give you that one. Suika is actually one of the few characters that I never used in SWR/Hisoutensoku and I never played IAMP so I had almost no reference for her spells. I was having too much fun dominating with Patchouli to care.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

I'll definitely give you that one. Suika is actually one of the few characters that I never used in SWR/Hisoutensoku and I never played IAMP so I had almost no reference for her spells. I was having too much fun dominating with Patchouli to care.

About the one genre I've never been able to be any good at is fighting games (well, that and real-time strategy.) I'm not sure if Satori's Suika attacks are still based on her original patterns for that reason. Anyway, it's unlikely, since the method of survival is different, and we both know that ZUN is a sadist.

 

[crudus]

chess. Did you mean video game? I am going with Devil May Cry 3, before the re-release.

Note: I have never played Battletoads.

-I Wanna Be The Guy: Mostly about learning where the traps are, but surgical precision is also required for several sections (such as the Ghosts 'n' Goblins world.)

That game actually has "illusioned" difficulty. The game tends to go for cheap kills you can't avoid (like the aforementioned traps) rather than going for clever design.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

-I Wanna Be The Guy: Mostly about learning where the traps are, but surgical precision is also required for several sections (such as the Ghosts 'n' Goblins world.)

That game actually has "illusioned" difficulty. The game tends to go for cheap kills you can't avoid (like the aforementioned traps) rather than going for clever design.

I liked the level design in that game, but I won't criticise you for having a different opinion.

 

[Christemo]

Witcher 2 on Insane. have fun dying in 1 or 2 hits from anything and not being able to reload your data ever again.

Blazblue on Hell.

Touhou: Perfect Cherry Blossom. goddamm you extra stage.

 

[Arakasi]

Space Invaders.

There are no games more difficult than those designed to not be beaten.

 

[Et3rnalLegend64]

I'll definitely give you that one. Suika is actually one of the few characters that I never used in SWR/Hisoutensoku and I never played IAMP so I had almost no reference for her spells. I was having too much fun dominating with Patchouli to care.

About the one genre I've never been able to be any good at is fighting games (well, that and real-time strategy.) I'm not sure if Satori's Suika attacks are still based on her original patterns for that reason. Anyway, it's unlikely, since the method of survival is different, and we both know that ZUN is a sadist.

You might be surprised how accurately some spells transferred between genres. I was. Patchy's Satellite Himawari from Shoot the Bullet actually translated pretty well as a SWR player spell. The Boss spells in the fighting games wouldn't seem too out of place in the shooters. They get tweaked a bit as Player spells (as they should), but of course you might have known that already.

Also, fighting games ftw! BlazBlue and SWR/Hisoutensoku are significantly easier than any Bullet Hell I've played. I realize that I have the same problem in both genres though. If I'm doing well in BlazBlue, I try too hard to finish with an Astral Heat. If I'm doing well in Touhou, I don't bomb nearly enough once stage 4 or 5 comes around. I should really fix that.

 

[Void Droid]

Demon's Souls difficulty is very overrated, it punishes you for mistakes you make, so the game is only hard if you yourself make it that way, taking time makes it like a walk in the park, granted a walk in the park with demons, dragons and weird poisonous slug things, but still a walk in the park.

Contra III: The Alien Wars always used to kick my ass, even now I've never finished it as the last level is just too much.

 

[Thundero13]

I Wanna Be The Guy, or something like that...

 

[minimacker]

Dwarf Fortress. Because losing is fun.

The reason is that it's not frustratingly difficult, but it took about 2-3 months to actually learn the game and it's mechanics.

And I still don't know it's physics.

...And I'm too elitist to quit after all that learning.

 

[StarStruckStrumpets]

4 minutes and 33 seconds is up there. it's a full PVP MMO, and if anyone is playing other than you, you lose.

Why did I fall for your lies...why?

 

[namewon'tfitin]

These weird titles aside, I found the S.T.A.L.K.E.R games punishingly difficult. I still haven't gotten anywhere significant in any of the ones I own.

Do yourself a favor and get the Complete mods for the series. Not only do they fix a ton of bugs and update the graphics, but it also adjusts the difficulty curve making the game easier to get started and more difficult at the end.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/stalker-complete-2009

DID YOU JUST SUGGEST A MOD ON THE FIRST PLAYTHROUGH.
HNNNNNNNGGGGGG.
Sorry. I just thnk that's pretty stupid.As a somewhat experienced stalker I have to say playing whit a mod on the first playthrough is one of the dumbest choices someon can make.
The mod changes the atmosphere and some core gameplay mechanics so that's why I have to recommend playing vanilla first to really understand and apreciate what each and every mod changes.

 

[Yopaz]

Everything mentioned so far pales before the far, far more unforgiving I Wanna Be The Guy. Which has an even harder fangame made from it.

Go ahead. Play it. It's a free download. If you make it to the first boss before giving up, your gaming gonads are bigger than mine.

It's a free download. What do you have to lose besides your keyboard when you HULK SMASH it.

Ninja'd. I have finished the game however. The final boss incredibly hard, but not the hardest boss actually... It's worth to play it. It will last you a long time. Especially since it records how many times you die. Once got to the first boss without dying. I was so proud of myself.

 

[lockeslylcrit]

Hardest game ever? Simple:

Spoiler

The Game

You can never win.