When the PlayStation 2 was released in 2000, the improved hardware meant that Sony began promoting realism-centric action games, instead of the platforming games that had dominated console gaming in the 90s. Platformers struggled to compete in the industry for many years following, with Mario being one of the few AAA platforming franchises to continue thriving. Despite the eighth generation of consoles once again improving hardware, the platforming genre (particularly side-scrolling platformers) has had an impressive resurgence. This resurgence is largely thanks to Team Meat’s Super Meat Boy.
Resurrecting the platforming genre wasn’t Super Meat Boy‘s only influence on the gaming industry though, as along with FromSoftware’s Soulsborne franchise, it proved that gamers were growing tired of how simplistic games were becoming, as players loved the game’s punishing difficulty that offered a rewarding challenge. Team Meat has recently released the sequel to Super Meat Boy titled Super Meat Boy Forever, an auto-runner that unsurprisingly brings back the brutal difficulty of its predecessor. Much like the first game, Super Meat Boy Forever offers a rewarding challenge that will have players itching to experience something similar; so here’s a handful of games, ranging from different genres and time-periods, to give players a wide selection of extremely challenging games to try.
10 Cuphead
Initially released in 2017 on the Xbox One and PC, Cuphead captured audiences with its stunning art style that was inspired by 1930s cartoons. Studio MDHR won multiple awards for the game’s visuals, including Best Visual Design at the Golden Joystick awards and Best Art Direction at The Game Awards.
After a dodgy deal with the devil, players need to defeat a series of bosses to repay their debt. Cuphead‘s bosses provide one of the toughest challenges in modern gaming, as players need to ensure that their platforming and run and gun skills are at their best to defeat the painfully difficult foes.
9 XCOM 2
A sequel to the franchise rebooting XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Firaxis Games’ XCOM 2 was released in February 2016 and brought back the brutal difficulty that the series is known for.
As well as timed missions and levels of accuracy that often feel unfair, the game is extremely challenging for its lack of respawning mechanic. The game requires players to frequently upgrade their squad to ensure that they don’t fall behind the increasingly difficult missions, which is far easier said than done as if a squadmate dies in action, they’re gone for good and will be replaced by a rookie soldier.
8 Dark Souls
As mentioned before, FromSoftware deserves its fair share of the praise (or blame, for that matter) for the increase in difficulty seen in games today along with Team Meat. Whereas Super Meat Boy simply reminded players of the enjoyment and reward that a tough game can bring, Dark Souls also showed how immersive games can be when removing hand-holding mechanics.
Dark Souls removes common RPG elements like quest markers, mini-maps, and excessive tutorial screens, to let players use their own intuition and exploration skills to discover the game’s many mechanics and secrets for themselves.
7 Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time
Twelve years after Mind over Mutant and twenty-two years after Crash Bandicoot: Warped, Activision and Toys For Bob teamed up to finally release a new Crash Bandicoot game.
Much like the original trilogy, Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time isn’t too taxing to complete normally, but is extremely challenging to 100%. Toys For Bob made the original trilogy look like a walk in the park, however, as It’s About Time significantly ramps up the difficulty of its predecessors. The game’s challenge comes from many different places, including the flashback tapes, an increase in boxes to smash, and a massive increase to the challenge of time trials due to longer levels, the triple spin mechanic, and short target times.
6 Contra
Originally released in 1987, Contra is one of the run and gun genre’s most memorable games; not just for its excellent gameplay, but for its punishing difficulty.
Contra was one of the first games to utilize the Konami code, which has been seen in many of the Japanese company’s titles including Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Silent Hill 3, and Batman Returns. The NES iteration of Contra features one of the code’s most valuable uses, as it lets the player begin the game with an additional 30 lives.
5 The Witness
Directed and designed by Johnathan Blow, best known for 2008’s Braid, The Witness released in 2016 and stranded players on a Myst-like island.
The game entirely consists of line puzzles, though this certainly doesn’t make the game one-dimensional. The Witness is separated into loose sections, each featuring different types of puzzles; there’s no in-game help whatsoever to advise players on how to complete them, instead players are trusted to learn each section’s formula themselves by solving progressively tougher puzzles.
4 I Wanna Be The Guy
Released during the height of online freeware games in the mid-2000s, I Wanna Be The Guy is an action-platformer that forces a trial and error style on the player with its often illogical hazards.
Along with the difficulty, I Wanna Be The Guy is remembered for its numerous references to other games, which include the original Legend of Zelda, as well as Mega Man and Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! (more on that later).
3 Grim Fandango
LucasArts’ Grim Fandango was something of a victory lap for point and click games, as it released at the end of the genre’s dominance on PC in the 90s. Grim Fandango was a fitting end, not only because it captured everything that was so great about point and click games, earning it a Metascore of 94; but because it ramped up the genre’s infamous difficulty to a whole new level.
Although the genre is fondly remembered, point and click games do have a reputation for throwing up illogical and frustrating puzzles from time to time. Part of the reason for this was that strategy guides and helplines used to be advertised alongside graphic adventures, offering to help players that were stuck for a fee. With the genre on its last legs and struggling to succeed financially, it doesn’t take a master economist to realize why Grim Fandango was so tough to beat.
2 Battletoads
Released in 1991, Battletoads was the first entry in the franchise of the same name, which recently received a reboot in 2020 on the Xbox One and PC to a lackluster reception from critics and fans.
The original Battletoads is the one that makes this list, as it provided the beat em’ up genre’s most infamous challenge. Despite predominantly being a beat ’em’ up title, it’s the Super Meat Boy Forever-like platforming stage titled Turbo Tunnel that it is most remembered for.
1 Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!
An adaptation of the Punch-Out!! and Super Punch-Out!! arcade games, Nintendo released Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987.
Although the game is far from easy, the vast majority of it is challenging but beatable once learning the patterns of opponents. That is until the final fight, known as the Dream Fight, against Mike Tyson. Fighting Mike Tyson in the game is probably not far off taking on the former heavyweight champion in his prime, and the fight is still remembered today as one of gaming’s toughest final bosses.
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