Fantastic video MrMatthews, When does Paco get a lets play Channel...Ootini.

Great video M! Looking forward to seeing the rest of the list and more Paco 😀

Very cool video..looking forward to part 2

This is pretty much me lol. I tend to give in too quickly, but you're right; a little practice is all that is needed. Great video as always MrMatthews.

Cool variety of games and awesome video!

So many NES games are like riding a bike. They're hard the first time you play them but, once you learn the patterns, you can pretty much breeze through them whenever you want.

Really great video man, very well put together! Thanks for making this, I hope you get around to finishing the series!

Great review! I would add one to your list...”Aliens”. I used to play it a lot, and I don’t think it is possible to win without using cheats (and I still remember that code if you want it).

These games are only hard, Mr M, because they weren't played by Chuck Norris.

Oh my god. Thank you for this. I'm someone who enjoys a good hard game, but I also have a pet peeve about these "hardest NES games EVER" lists. As you say, they double as "top 10 AVGN episodes" lists which simply parrot back his (exaggerated for comedic sake) opinions on the games and don't actually feel like the people involved have given the things a real proper go. This video of yours made me feel absolutely vindicated, punching the air going "FINALLY SOMEONE ELSE UNDERSTANDS HOW I FEEL ABOUT THIS SHIT!". Even using Contra as your opener is a great example of how the perceived difficulty... differs from the reality of the challenge. (Hello, fellow deathless clear pal!) Thank you again for this, and I eagerly await your further findings with this list you've made. (Oh and a humble request: Please, for the love of God, when you get to doing Silver Surfer? Debunk that repeated nonsense where people are like "THIS GAME IS SO HARD, YOU TOUCH ANYTHING AND YOU DIE IN ONE HIT". It's a shooting game. Those are the RULES of a shooting game. It's like saying Mario is impossible because if you fall in ONE PIT you die. It's parroted nonsense from the AVGN again, without consideration for the actual game. I went off a little but I'll leave you to it, would love if you addressed this in that video

Great video!..i like your partner(it helps to have someone to make the video with and speak to)..i like how that dice roll worked out for you(Bam)..your analysis of the game difficulties is accurate i believe..do you remember Iron Tank?1989 Nes..stay safe

Well reasoned list!good job..these were too hard for me

Wow I'm only at the balance explaining buy your sense of style and the way you carry/deliver yourself is super unique pretty absolutely stellar editing and music integration imo

Awesome start to a series! I'm totally going to binge this series tomorrow!!!

Excellent. Subscribed for sure. As a guy who plays tons of NES games and has beaten every one on this list, I can't wait to hear more analysis.

Your content is incredibly well made and your personality is fantastic! I just shared this channel with all my friends because it’s seriously top notch. 🙏

Over the past couple of years, I was able to beat games like Contra and Super C without dying once, but Contra 3 on the SNES was the real challenge. That took things on a whole other level, with the 'boss-a-thon' approach (it's an entirely different game genre if you ask me, not a sub-genre of the run 'n gun). I must say, that with good practice, people should be able to master games like Mega Man, Castlevania, Contra, and the Ninja Gaiden series. I would also include 16-bit Shinobi, but there are only two proper installments, and it's exclusively for Sega consoles. One thing to mention - The enemy projectiles in the first two Contra games are very slow and easy to dodge. The level designs need to be studied through trial and error, sure, you have to go through that. So we need people who have decent memory and some reflexes. It's not much to cover. But yeah, it can be hard. Just not what the general opinion makes it out to be.

The reason NES games are considered harder than libraries on modern consoles is the fact that very few NES games (honestly I can't think of one though I'm sure there are a few outside of the Konami code) have level settings. While I love retro games I admittedly am pretty shitty at video games in general. But since probably Super Nintendo my abilities to at least play through a game has gone up tremendously since the inclusion of difficulty settings. Super Nintendo, Xbox, Playstation, all of those consoles and their successors I can usually beat a game on easy or moderate even. Hell, Atari 2600 games had difficulty settings you could toggle through - original NES, nope! I agree, Contra is easy, even I've beaten it with only 3 lives but Ghosts & Goblins? Man, I've been hitting my head into walls over that one since 1987 and I usually give it a go maybe once or twice year since I got it for Christmas back in the 6th grade. Great channel, great content. Glad I found you.

Holy cow dude. The opening for this video gave me chills lol. I can see why people make such a fuss for this series of yours. The level of editing is really something to aspire to. Your approach for this episode is so uplifting, too! I love the criteria and your scientific approach to what you consider a hard game vs. a challenging one 👌🏼 Great video! 👍🏼

We gotta get you to a thousand subs homeboy. I just crossed it myself. Ill spread the word of your work best I can. ✌️

very cool

Great video MrM and yeah contra can be fair with powerups and the hitbox is fair i need to check your contra NDR and loved paco playthrough lol

The biggest problem with Contra is it can all fall apart so easily. If you loose your spread, the game just became twice as hard. But I'm mostly talking about doing good the entire game and making a few stupid mistakes a d there goes all your progress. The hardest level is the one with spike walls that pop up or the fire level but if you can get the invincible powerup on each one, it's not so bad.

Tenacity required for these games

Once i beat the game once on an emulator i've beaten it twice the next day. I think i've beaten it about 7 times on the next week and then ordered a NES console from ebay. That how enjoyable it gets when you beat once (actually if you look closely it gets enjoyable even before that). Each new run makes the game significantly easier with trickery you use here and there, and memorization of spawn points. Even hangar level becomes so freaking easy when you figure out how to get through it properly. For those who new to NES the feeling is comparable to starting a Dark Souls game all over again once you just beat it. With the knowledge you just cutting through the game like a knife through butter. For those who look for more of the same i would recommend Silver Surfer.

Great episode been watching all day since I found the channel

awesome episode and dude..... cant say i have anything to argue here at all. U nailed it man

Just made some nachos and I’m going to binge this series...

There's a marked difference between a game that's hard to learn and a game that is flat out difficult. GTA 3 can be hard, but once you learn the game, it becomes much easier. Ninja Gaiden is hard, no matter how much you know the game. There's no way to play the game 100% consistently. With that said, this is a cool idea for a series. Will be watching the rest of it.

Fun fact: the Famicom version has background movement in the stages (the palm trees in lvl1, snow in lvl 5 and the entirety of lvl 8) and is also has an opening and cut-scenes between each level. It's all in Japanese tho.

Good Lord is this a damn good video! And I also agree with you. I've never found Contra to be that hard. And with the cheat code you have plenty of opportunities to practice. I believe I also saw Tyson on your list. Another game that isn't hard... well at least until you get to Tyson himself. I've never been able to beat him sadly, but the rest of the game is a breeze.

Best quote ever. Most people are certainly capable of thinking for themselves, but that doesn't mean that they actually do 😅

Don't forget Ikari Warriors without the ABBA code, that definitely deserves a mention

Ninja Gaiden, Battletoads, and Silver Surfer aren’t just notorious for being notorious. They are legit hard. I’ve played them myself.

Well i finally got contra today. It doesn't seem too hard. The biggest challenge i have with it is aiming down and left/right while walking or standing

Holy Diver isn’t even on the list which is really strange because while a lot of people never played it it’s known on the internet to be a really hard game. So I’m really surprised it didn’t come up enough to make the overall list. I beat the majority of these when I was a kid. NES games just took patience and learning them and once you did that you can beat them barely getting hit. Also, when NES released it was a brand new experience for everyone coming from Atari games so just learning to play video games was hard for people. Those are also very popular games that people would have owned, played at a friends house or rented which is why they come up a lot. Great video.

You have a piggy!!!! Subscribed. Well made video too, but I was initially influenced by your choice of pet

Looks fun. I might try it.

It took me a little over 4 hours to beat Ninja Gaiden on my first try, Contra took me 3 hours, and less than 2 hours to beat Mega Man. On the other hand it took me months to beat Battletoads, with many attempts and much practice.

Subbed before this channel blows up!

I don't think Zelda 2 deserves its reputation as super challenging, with the exception of the rather absurd difficulty spike early on at Death Mountain, but then once you're past that, it's fine.

Here's one of my top picks: *Abadox*

It took me 5 months of practice to beat battle toads but I beat ghost n goblins like the 3rd or 4th time I played it. With endless continues even the two loops was doable in about 4 hours with all my deaths.

Wow this channel is underrated. Love the video

I disagree on the hard vs difficult game description but can understand why you feel that way.

AWESOME vídeo! Could you do Adventure Island (1) ?

Many NES games rest in the deepest bowels of hell. They’re so cruel it’s incredible Nintendo allowed them published. Rather than being hard, Battletoads is just unfairly designed. Just trial and error design. Never found Silver Surfer that hard as I was able beat it.

Amigo estaban demasiado bueno estos vídeos.Ojala los retomes.

youre right. i cant remember any game that was "easy" at all

Battletoads is the hardest game ive ever played. Ive played that game since it came out and i still have never seen the end stage. And i can beat some pretty tough games routinely. Csstlevania 1 and 3, Batman among a few others.

I don’t know if I’ll ever beat castevania 😅

I think it has more to do with punishment rather than the mechanical difficulty itself. Dying or getting a game over means you have to spend a lot of time redoing parts you've already completed. If you remove the lives system from NES they actually become much more friendly and less tense. Or even just add more lives and/or reduce the punishment for getting a game over, as some remakes do.

Contra is actually difficult because of the one hit kills and the fact that it takes so long to get an extra life its true the difficulty can be mitigated by becoming familar with the game but the boss levels present a unique challenge as they tend to flood the screen with enemys that have to be killed at nearly the same time everytime if not then its difficult to learn the boss pattern also im ust admit super c (contra 2) seems to be the exact opposite of contra 1 the main stages seemed quite easy but difficult bosses but in super c the main stage is pretty difficult but the bosses are easy

Seems many people confuse challenge for unfairness in old NES games. Contra is not that hard. Contra 4 for the DS is a lot more difficult. Ninja Gaiden 1 & 2 I´ve beaten with some practice, but 3 is BS with the limited continues. Ghost & Goblins is probably the hardest one in the list, the stiff controls and random patterns of enemies like the Firebrand demon make it unfair. Battletoads is another tough one, but more fair than Ghost & Goblins.

I agree Contra isn't that hard of a game. I don't understand how it always ends up on these lists. Now Contra 3 the Alien wars on SNES that game is hard

Hmmm.... No Solar Jetman?... Because it's legit difficult and highly underated..... ☝️🧙‍♂️

This guy made an entire self braggings series.

you want hard? play fucking ghosts n goblins resurrection on legend mode and do the shadow levels… makes battle toads look like baby’s first game

I 100% agree that some games on this list are just there by reputation. But you placed Mario 3 as a 5 in a 1-10 scale. Im a die hard Nintendo generation kid, I was born in 1983 and got my first NES in 1986. Ive owned over 400 titles for the NES and played atleast another 200 and there is only about 800 titles for the console. Ive been in the Pros Corner in the official Nintendo magazine twice. My point is, Ive played ALOT of NES and I was really rather good at it. Super Mario 3 is a two or maybe a three... at best. Its not very hard, it can be beaten in a day without greater challenge for anyone who isnt brand new to gaming. This is literally the low end of challenge if counting games worth their salt. Its a fun and worthwhile game, dont get me wrong... but its NOT hard... AT ALL. For a comparison Section Z, which isnt even on this list, took me 13 YEARS to clear. Mostly because I was stubborn and considered writing down all the passages as cheating, I wanted to beat the game on its own and I took a break for 5 years after coming to one of the last levels and took a wrong turn only to get sent back to level 3. But none the less. Megaman is one of my favorite game series of all time and theyre hard games, dont get me wrong... but none of them has any business being on a top ten hardest games list. Ive cleared all of 1 through x6 without dying once. Contra is a joke on this list. It IS really hard initially, but its literally just a mind game, not a skill game. Once you remember the patterns you can clear it in 2 lives or less even if your mechanics and reactions are sub par. Edit: Granted Im European and the game was called "Probotector" here and you played as Mecha suit robots but as far as I know thats the only difference.

This is a great game, and it's tough. But to beat this game without the cheat code......I think it can be done, and i will agree this game shouldn't be on the list for toughest games. Other games like Silver Surfer should of made the list. I also agree that Mega Man shouldn't be on the list either due to all the health pick ups, live pic up's. and boss weaknesses to weapons.

But can you beat Contra on a smartphone?

Just because Contra gives you the ability to complete it and it’s a good game that’s rewarding to beat. Does not mean it is one of the most incredibly huge kick in the balls I have ever experienced on an NES. You realize that this game is decently long and if you get hit 3 Times from brutally designed levels you have to start from the VERY. BEGINNING. And It’s absolutely ridiculous that you put it only 1 above SMB3 Like- Your obviously incredibly biased because how many times you played it. IMO

i guess Dragon's lair wasnt very popular , because it is THE most difficult game on the NES

Starship Hector seems to be pretty hard but its pretty niche so I understand why its not on the list.

The first SMB game is the hardest of the NES trilogy (not counting the Lost Levels). Then I'd say SMB2 is harder than SMB3, but not by much. I personally don't think SMB3 is hard at all, just long. Sure it has some difficult levels, but nothing that can't be overcome after a few tries. As a kid, I def beat the original last, while SMB2 was completed before SMB3 by virtue of having it longer (I got SMB2 and RoboCop with my NES Power Set during Christmas of '89).

sub sub sub sub holy shit 335 views. wtf thanks for showing me this youtube, thanks for making the video

Bayou Billy should've been on this list

Obviously the people who put out the lists that you compiled yours from haven't played Holy Diver or Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight. In fact, Battletoads wants to be Holy Diver when it grows up. I agree, most of the games on this list don't belong on it, I personally have beaten most of them (and without any codes or Game Genie like devices.) And I would disqualify The Adventures of Bayou Billy from any list like this because that game is just plain unfair.

i think what is and isn't hard can be pretty readily cleared up now by using RetroAchievements and looking at their completion rates now. i don't think its perfect as games like Contra and Super Mario will have more people play it who just want to check it out with no intention of beating it really.. but it gives you a pretty good idea. though i agree that most people got their opinions on these games through the experiences of others i also disagree with you define hard. as ultimately there really is hardly any game that thwarts your efforts at every turn and ESPECIALLY for nes games, once you learn how to manage you turn 5 hours of progress into 20min of muscle memory. i feel like people who can beat 'hard games' often do this, they think 'well i can beat that game relatively painlessly now that i know what to do and it's really not that hard anymore.' and then just apply that mindset to every game they can beat. people can beat holy diver the same way.. though i doubt even those people would say that isn't a very hard game, though i think they would if there was just another tier of hard games above it... but there isn't really. fwiw alot of these games only have 5-8% completion rates. SNES on up have higher completion rates even in the same series as they are just a bit more lenient as they just add more stuff they want you to experience. and on and on each game generation has been ever since, becoming a bit more accessible/easy and adding a bit more stuff. i think SMB gets the nintendo hard pass because you can play the game for 20min or so until it does become pretty hard. whereas most other nes games they introduce the challenge immediately or right after the first stage

I like your friend!;)

Contra!? 🤣 come on! Last time i beated contra was in a mall in Miami, in a bootleg Nes mini!

With the konami code contra is easy of course, beating without, allthough not as hard as some games, is a much bigger accomplishment

Paco 😍

Whoa! I love you now!

What witchcraft has given you such low sub numbers with this kind of quality? /sub

The HARDEST NES game is HOLY DIVER !!!

Ghosts and goblins.... IMPOSSIBLE!! ARGGGGHH 🤬

I'd go far and say Ninja Gaiden 3 is relatively easy compared to first game thanks to improved sword and climbing and jumping

No Kid Icarus...

Make me sick how many people put Battletoads on a pedestal like it's the most unbeatable game. All it takes is patience and practice

After spending five years to get to level eight on Battletoads, you still can’t save your progress every 30 seconds like you can now on Xbox. So yeah, NES hard 😂😂

I beat punch out when i was 8 years old, yes it took awhile and was hard, but if an 8 year old can get good enuff to beat it then i think its difficultly is overrated

Contra is actually one of the easier games on nes , not sure why so many think it’s hard

Contra is not a hard game…if you use the cheat code. If you are playing it straight-up, it is far more difficult.

You seem to have already made up your mind and have decided to find ways of proving your confirmation bias. That doesn't seem very scientific for a self-proclaimed "man of science". Other than deciding that Super Mario 3 represents the most balanced difficulty, just because you personally find it to be that way. That was very scientific

His thesis is based on his personal semantics and his usage of the words „hard“, „challenging“ and „unfair“. He uses hard as a synonym for unfair games and use the Word challenging for games, that are difficult to master but not unfair. You easily could make a definition for hard that doesn‘t make this destinction. He says, that games aren’t hard, when you can master them. But of course every game gets easy when you played it long enough. The only question is, how much you have to learn/memorise to master it. He of course is right tho, that almost all toplists are just easy clickbait/nostalgiabait and put the easy picks on top instead of researching games that might be harder but less known

I’ve beat battletoads…..don’t even attempt to say that shit is easy lol

Those games are hard, except Contra. Contra is not hard. Super C is hard, but not Contra. Contra is a game that anyone can beat. Ninja Gaiden, totally different story.

Yeah personally I can’t stand that guy too. He’s annoying and all he does is curse and act like an idiot. Yet so many people subscribe to him and eat into his annoying shit. I do however, disagree with you on the difficulty. It’s not as frustrating as he said but it’s not as easy as you say either. With only 3 lives, the game is severely improbable to beat. I’ve beaten the game hundreds of times but only by using the “code”. Nice post anyway.

If you really like pain and punishment. These games are hard? 8-10 year-old kids were beating these games....... So you as a grown adult cant?

You seem very cocky