For no reason at all, I love to punish myself with exceedingly difficult games. I tend to forgo joyful romps and low-cortisol cooking games for brutal, hair-pulling titles that get my heart rate rising. While there are a slew of difficult games available for all types of consoles, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) seems to have a few borderline infamous ones known for ruining gaming experiences and putting 90s kids and adults alike in a very bad mood.
Many older titles' intense difficulty is due to external factors often involving money. Gaming manufacturers made rentable games extremely tough to stretch their playthrough length. The difficulty prevented players from beating games in the span of a weekend, which meant once their rental had expired, they'd need to rent again, or buy the cartridge for themselves. This method got players hooked on the adrenaline of trying to beat the impossible, inadvertently putting money into game developers' pockets. Forget Soulslike titles or even Cuphead. These games might just be the worst of the worst. In no specific order, here are some of the hardest SNES games that seemingly nobody could beat.
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts was released for the SNES back in 1991. As it stands today, the game is one of the hardest around. I'm talking "throwing the controller across the room" frustrating. This Capcom title is a side-scroller centered around Arthur, a brave knight who must rescue Princess Guinevere from the clutches of Emperor Sardius.
Many point to the jump mechanic as frustrating simply because it is impossible to master. Once players jump, they're locked into an arc and can't change course, meaning if an enemy suddenly decides to cross Arthur's path mid-jump, it'll collide with him no matter what. A double-jump mechanic was introduced, but that didn't seem to save players any grief.
The health system isn't easygoing either. Once Arthur is struck, he loses his armor, leaving him in his undies. A second hit kills the brave knight, turning him into a skeleton, causing players to lose a life. This is a way less forgiving system than your standard decremental health bar per hit.
Through grit, determination, and likely lots of tears, once players reach the final boss, Emperor Sardius, the nightmare is not over. Far from it. Getting to this point likely took weeks upon weeks, a monumental victory, but instead of congratulating players on their accomplishments, they are told they must replay the game from the very beginning to obtain a weapon strong enough to defeat Sardius. This is a mandatory step, given that the item needed to successfully kill the Emperor, the Goddess Bracelet, is only available via a second playthrough.
The Lion King game essentially follows the story of the animated movie, with slight tweaks here and there. Many claim that the hardest part of Westwood Studios' 1994 game based on the Disney flick was the second level, titled "Can't Wait to Be King". The infamous monkey puzzle awaits just beyond what looks like a platform traversal across giraffe heads. It seems simple, but stay with me. Once you jump on the animals' heads—which you'll have to time perfectly, by the way—you reach a group of monkeys meant to pass you around on a tree.
Simba must roar at these monkeys hanging from branches on a tree to change their direction so they can throw Simba over one of the taller giraffes. Specific monkeys wouldn't react to the roar mechanic, while others would. Hit boxes and awkward timing caused this section to drag on and on and on. Many 90s kids rage-quit during this level, learning to accept defeat before it swallowed them whole.
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