Old games that were poorly designed, way too hard but some how you beat

There are a few games from back in the day that were designed to be outrageously difficult and almost impossible to beat. One that comes to mind is Star Wars the Phantom Menace for the PS, and on top of that Jedi Knight for the PC. Both have some of the same problems, saber duels that are almost impossible to win... fire fights that are brutal and there's no aiming ...getting shot from people from all around and not being able to take any real cover or get into a tactical position to hold your ground...

TPM is a outrageously difficult game for these reasons but i've played through it a few times and beaten it thanks to the save game option.

 

Super Star Wars on SNES.

 

Never really had any issues with either of the games you mentioned. I played them both at age 5-9 and beat them both. Only problem I ever had with Jedi Knight was the constant mazes (trying to solve some of its puzzles). Otherwise both were solid games.


Hardest Star Wars title ever has to be the Super Star Wars series on Super Nintendo.

Worst game is likely Star Wars demolition. I liked the Rebel Assualt series / Rogue Squadron / Shadows of the Empire games too.

 

Super Mario Bros. 3 is probably the hardest game I've ever beaten (Guitar Hero 3 on expert notwithstanding). I tend to stay away from games that have a reputation of being overly difficult.

 

I haven't finished any stupid hard games, as most of them showed up on older consoles and I never had a NES. The most annoyingly hard game I have played is TMNT on NES. Stupidly hard game. But yeah I tend to not play any games that are really difficult, though I don't think JK is.

 

Jurassic Park from Snes was quite hard, I never knew what to do.
Lester the unlikely (Snes) and Alf (Nes) also.

 

Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom. Emphasis on the poorly designed aspect - whereas the first two games in the NES series were stupid and unfairly difficult, they at least allowed unlimited continues.

NG3 did not.

 

What about all those stupid Sierra adventure games?

'Take metal sheet'
YOU CUT YOUR HAND OFF AND DIE

*Attempt to walk down crooked CGA cliff path/staircase*
YOU FALL TO YOUR DEATH

 

^^^ not to mention all those random bits of rock, bottles and other things you had to interact with, lest later on in the game it was game over if you didn't have the required item.

(Classic example in Kings Quest V - forget to chuck that boot at the cat to save that mouse earlier in the game (you know, that scene that gave you 0.2 secs to react?) and you'll be screwed an hour later when you're tied up in a cellar and the mouse can't free you. AARGGHH!)

 

LOOK OUT GRAHAM, A POOOOOIIIIIIISONOUS SNAKE

Yeah, no, I hate adventure games with those kinds of instant kills. Too much memorization and punishment.

 

I played the SNES Jurassic Park a lot - SO DIFFICULT!!!!! Never got very far, but I always tried. No save or passcode feature, if I remember correctly.

Back to the Future for NES was another game that was poorly designed, and difficult as a result. I got to the very end, but never beat it.




That game was terrible, and yet I played and played and played.

 

Yeah, Jurassic Park for Snes is not poorly designed, quite the contrary, but it's very hard because you have no idea of what you have to do. You just walk around the Park, kill dinosaurs, collect eggs, ammunition, and that's it. I've managed to finish it back in 2008 thanks to the internet help, when I decided to go back and play it again.

Never played Back to the Future. I shall youtube it and take a look.

But both Lester the Unlikely and Alf were terrible, really terrible. They gave me a new definition of the world frustration.

 

I remember the Lester game, and the terrible controls.

 

Yeah, I rented it because the cover looked very promising, for me as kid at least.
Boy... was I wrong.

 

It was always so depressing as a kid, when you'd buy a game, excitedly look at the box on the ride home, pop it in and.... get totally let down by a crappy game. Money was tighter then, and reliable reviews were scarce. It was all trial and error. Lots of error.

 

Exactly! ALiens vs Predator for the Snes was one of those. The box was awesome, but the game was terrible. All you do is walk and beat Aliens, the design of the Predator weapons sucked. And the bosses... you could only beat then with the Cannon, all of them. It was so repetitive... and no Passwords, hated that in a game (even in the first Super Star Wars).

 

There's no way Phantom Menace or Jedi Knight fall into this category.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_(1991_video_game)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_The_Empire_Strikes_Back_(1992_video_game)


Properly these, I swear I had nightmares about these games. The Super Star Wars games are easy compared to them.

 

The Game Gear games I've played on Sonic Gems Collection and Sonic Mega Collecton Plus are really hard. I beat Sonic 1 game gear version after I figured out how to beat the first boss. I still can't beat the first boss on the game gear Sonic 2. Seriously they don't give you any rings on THE FIRST BOSS. At least they have save states but that dosen't help on Sonic 2.