@@aliastheabnormal The EMMIs might seem unfair at first, but on later playthroughs they’re basically a cakewalk that can easily be avoided. Especially if you liberally use the phantom cloak to evade them.
@@amirgarcia547 I tried that but the Phantom cloak either ran out long before the EMMI's left or the cooldown was so long that the EMMI's just killed me first.
@aliastheabnormal, it can be a case of trial & error. You'll get a feel for the timing after a few dozen tries. Dread is my first Metroid game... still stuck on one of the late game boss fights, so I'm taking a breather on it to play Prime Remastered.
@@aliastheabnormal The Phantom Cloak lasts longer if you have enough health, and by the time you clear the second EMMI you should have more than enough energy tanks to do so.
You get a like for that ending. Also Jirad the Completionist said it best that the reason why Cuphead is so much fun despite the insane difficulty is because of the progress meter it shows after you die. Seeing how far you got to winning just gives you that thrill and determination to try again which coming from a fan of the game I can attest to.
Right? I love how much it feels like an older game in that respect. Having no HP bars to show how close a boss is to death has always been a pet peeve of mine; sure, it makes you pay attention more, seeing as the closer a boss is to dying, the more desperate they get. But for Cuphead's case, this plays more to its strengths as it instills that feeling of "One more try" in you, and that is bloody BRILLIANT! :D
Difficulty setting combined with a great story and gameplay can be a recipe for a great awesome game. It doesn't need to be super innovative or anything like that. What it really matters in the end is having fun. KH, God of War, Bayonetta, Final Fantasy and so many more have these characteristics and are some of the biggest and greatest videogame franchises ever. KH3 is one of the Best of the franchise ever. Its not a disapointment or the worst game ever. I never got disapointed and always enjoy this game and i don't give a care about what the fandom says i like the and to is way better than KH2. I MEAN IT.
In Kingdom Hearts tho every single difficulty is piss easy minus critical, which usually ranges somewhere around mildly difficult. Heck, in some games like BBS Critical is also easy, just a bit more grindy so you don't get OKOd by bosses like Terra's Wicked Wheel fight and Zappy in Aqua and Terra's story. The only actually hard critical modes are KH2 and KH3, and most of the hard parts of those games don't come from difficulty but from the OP superbosses like Lingering Will and Yozora who are near-impossible regardless of difficulty. Edit: Also I don't think a single FF game had difficulty options until FFXIII or FFXV, some of the latest games. 99% of the games don't have difficulty options, and Square Enix games in general more often have no difficulty options rather than having them, though a lot of more recent games do have them more commonly.
My first playthrough of KH2 was in critical mode, in hopes to get the platinum in one playthrough (Jafar was still a pushover). Didn’t work, and I only platinumed on a new playthrough in a lower difficulty, but I was close. The only thing I failed to do on critical mode was defeating the lingering will. I made it deep into the fight multiple times, but he always got me with his desperation move. Even on the lower difficulty, he put up one hell of a fight, and the only reason I beat him there on my first try was being extremely familiar with his moves.
Also, they should make the high difficulties a requirement for the platinum. That’s one of the main things that made most of the KH platinums so satisfying (the only exception being KH3)
@@centurynerdbr KH3 was a disappointment in fight difficulty outside of critical mode (doesn’t take you long to become OP), and in not having a difficulty requirement for the platinum trophy. Nothing exaggerated here. It may have a great story, but the drop in difficulty compared to previous games makes it less fun, with the only exception being the gummi ship levels
Not sure if someone has already recommended this for you, but have you considered a countdown of the best Escape Sequences, since some games use them as substitutes for Boss Fights? If you do see this idea, I would highly recommend looking at the escape sequences from the Ori games, especially the Ginso Tree. Anyone who has ever played that level will know just how amazing and annoying and awesome it managed to be all at once. Still one of my favorite games of all time.
Depending on the definition of escape sequences it could be done as what is called an escape boss. An example is Monster Ock from the Spider-Man PS1 game or the Excavator from Batman Arkham Knight. They are bosses, but you can't beat them or even really damage them so the only way to win is runaway from and the game will eventually give you a way to damage them. For traditional chase sequences, I would love to see a Call of Duty example as the franchise has made these sequences into entire levels in the past. Personal favorites of mine are Iron Lady from Modern Warfare 3 which also integrates the AC-130 into the sequence and One Shot, One Kill from Call of Duty a very intense sequence and a rare case of a good escort mission on top of that (Iron Lady technically counts as an escort mission as the objective is to get out of Paris with an HVT, but you aren't playing the guy who has to watch the HVT the entire time which is the job of another member of the team) because the character is useful and can't die.
If a Top Ten Earth Bosses come out soon in this channel i bet that the Titan from Final Fantasy, mostly specific the fourteen, will be number one. That is until Final Fantasy XVI comes out with an even bigger, more impressive, cinematic and awesome Titan boss battle that will literally shake the very foundations of the battlefield.
Sad how Jet Force Gemini didn’t get a mention. Running and gunning drones has never been more fun, but the bosses, search and rescue and scavenger hunt are really difficult.
it's likely because of the fact that it *requires* 100% completion in order to reach the final boss... and much of the frustration isn't necessarily the difficulty of combat, but just having trouble finding that LAST thing you need...
The weapon variety in that game is insane. I still prefer Hades for having a clearer path to follow (I don’t know how far in the final boss is for Dead Cells) but Dead Cells is still an amazing game in its own right!
Anyone playing Metroid Dread, a tip: The EMI's can be beaten, while not 100% effective the EMI's eyes pulse twice before they attack, push the counter button on the second flash. It saved my neck a fair few times.
Ok, dancing Count Shaman and Green Scorpion during the FE part made me legitimately laugh out loud...though, to be fair, I'm also a classic mode purist... *Joins in dancing*
I'm so glad Josh actually knows about the shmup genre. The community is slowly growing in recent years and many new fans are joining in to experience the fun themselves. I wonder if Josh has ever 1CC any of the shmups that he played.
I love that the Touhou Project was brought up in the list, even if tucked within a whole entry. I've been a fan of its lore and music for an age or two, and especially love some of the metal covers done on some of the various themes.
8:42 then can you please tell me from which Touhou game this track is from, or just what it's name is? Because I don't want to have to listen to HOURS of music (no matter how good it is) just to find that one track
Judging by its quality, it sounds like an orchestral reiteration someone had done of either "Beloved Tomboyish Girl" or "The Gensokyo the Gods Loved," (I didn't hear enough of the melody to tell). Mind you there have been a lot of covers and remixes of Touhou music in the last couple decades, and even I haven't heard every last one.
I'm genuinely surprised that you seemed to imply that Crypt of the Necrodancer didn't count since Coda's optional. So what about Aria? She's part of the main storyline. Dying in one hit and if you miss a single beat with only a dagger is brutal, but always fair and a ton of fun. Remember, the Necrodancer's not the final boss - it's the Golden Lute. And getting there and beating it was the single most challenging and rewarding accomplishment in gaming I have or will ever do.
I remember getting necrodancer for the switch back in 2021 and I had a blast playing it. Hell, I managed to beat Cadence's story a month later. And then I beat Aria's story near the end of November. I'm probably never gonna unlock coda because it's hard doing an all character run.
I think Dead Cells in the beginning would be a solid choice, but now you have things like Assist Mode or Custom Mode that really take the bite out of it. Seriously, I defeated The Hand of the King in one try this time thanks to Assist Mode.
Loved the list, but a little sad that the transitional game didn't even make the honorable mentions. Sifu is a really interesting experience, balancing when it might actually be worth it to take a hit in time to gain a boost of damage but a loss of health.
I will say a game series that fits the criteria perfectly for this episode is Super Monkey Ball. Especially with the classic Monkey Ball experiences, it is the textbook definition of brutal difficulty and having a fun time.
Just because a game is difficult doesn't mean it can't be fun especially if the challenge is fair. After all you're just learning the game and eventually think of ways to play different whether getting through a hard section, level, or a boss. Granted hard/challenge games aren't everyone's cup of tea but sometimes it's best not to overlook just how fun these games can be once you find a way to get better and overcome it.
So that settles it - Bubsy is Cuphead's grandpa. Both are eye and eat candy, both have their plots centered around their villains stealing something (Poly & Ester stealing wool, Oinker stealing the world's history and Satan stealing souls) and of course both of these have severely spiked difficulties.
Now that The Super Mario Bros Movie is nearing its release, maybe you should do Top Ten Best or Worst Video Game Movies. We're entering a decade when video game adaptations are becoming much better!
As a super recent Touhou fan. I really wish I stumble onto those games and fandom sooner. As hard at those games are, they have this elegant to them that makes you keep coming back for more even when you die. Cute anime girls and amazing music are a major plus.
Hades is on the cover for this one. In other words, this is going to be good. 10: A part of me is not surprised that they are this low. These games are BRUTAL, to the point that I am afraid to touch them. If I'm going to be punished, I want to be able to forget the fact that it is happening. (FromSoftware Games) 9: I went and booted up the game, encountered the first E.M.M.I. (y'know, the broken one) and couldn't get past it. So I had to stop. Also, it was my first Metroid game. (Metroid Dread) 8: I will say, I hope you don't plan to keep copping out by continuing to put entire genres on the list. (Bullet Hell Shoot-Em-Ups) 7: Josh not talking about Fire Emblem? Gasp! (XCOM 2) 6: I am not surprised that this game is on here. I am surprised that I somehow didn't immediately think of this game when I thought of "hard but fun games." But yeah, while we're going to have to wait quite a while for it, we all know that we will happily wait for Cuphead 2. If that ever happens. (Cuphead) 5: I LOVE Hollow Knight. Can't get past the first boss, but I love it. Also, I feel called out about Silk Song. But c'mon, give us the best bug girl already! I want to zip around like Spider-Man through creepy bug tunnels! (Hollow Knight) 4: This game was ruined for me due to a particular bad Dungeon Master designed an entire D&D 5e campaign around it. I can't bring myself to play it. I know that I am missing out, though. (Darkest Dungeon) 3: Ah, THERE it is. He saved Fire Emblem for higher on the list. Shocker. (Jokes aside, good on him for liking a game franchise. I'm not here to judge a guy for his tastes in games.) (Fire Emblem Path of Radiance) 2: He's right, we all have that one game. For me, that's Shovel Knight. (F-Zero GX) 1: Well, if it wasn't going to be Shovel Knight, it might as well be another Yacht Club game. (Cyber Shadow)
Sorry to be a broken record, but I feel like that DMC could fit in this list as well. It's a hack and slash game that has you fighting demons with a multitude of weapons, all while you zip, slash, shoot, and guard. Not to mention the fact that the game awards you for being creative with the combos you input with the weapons you collect throughout the game, but if you go into this I'll prepared, you'll find that it does not mess around on the base difficulty and to quote the game "One must be Stylish to survive".
13:32 Well, if you get to the end of the main story, Bugsnax does count as a kind of Horror game. I think. It's no silent hill, but has that level of horror you get from one of the creepier episodes of Adventure Time.
...curious what Engage did you to anger you. While it doesn't tell the kind of story I prefer, and the first half was kinda boring, I think it actually delivers on the story it wants to tell. It will never be my favorite (which is probably 3H?), but I've come to respect it. The gameplay's been fantastic too. There's some things I miss from 3H, but it's been a fun ride so far. Even if the DLC is pushed way too hard and fast. I will always be mad NA got a trailer for the DLC before one about the Somniel, a key gameplay feature.
I've essentially stopped playing all Soulsbourne games. Look, when I begin wondering "Why am I even playing this anymore," then I know that all of the fun in the game, for me, has been thoroughly extinguished.
50+ dread speedrun attempts (and having beaten dread mode) later and the game's base difficulty didn't even cross my mind for this list. Its nice to be reminded that the final boss took me like 6 attempts when I can usually beat it with 0-5 hits taken.
@@aliastheabnormal i was challenged by many bosses rhe first time, and in Boss Rush Mode I despise Escue (or as I call it, Kai'Sa's pet Vikavolt). In actual runs I just steamroll it with screw attack.
You got me curious about Cyber Shadow. I’ll probably try it once I’m done with my current platinum hunts. I looked it up, and it has a speedrun trophy. I HATE THOSE, but the guide does say it’s quite generous, so I guess I can handle that, after the speedruns of the first 3 Uncharted games.
@@tsyumamatsuthehavenofguard32 Well that's more challenging but in an outdated way. Though I didn't really die as much in that like I did in 3. Which again I liked 3 but it's a hard sunnava bitch even on Normal.
You have no idea how giddy I was when I saw #1. As a fellow Yacht Club fan, it hit ALL the right boxes and it's a game that I will periodically come back to every now and again to test my resolve. Cyber Shadow deserves so much more praise than it already has.
My money’s on Elden Ring for the primary Soulsborne (let alone Soulslike) entry to make the cut. As for the Roguelike entry, I just know by the thumbnail Josh will list Hades among the Top Three (or Five at least). (If I had to pick one that I MYSELF like, and should be on the list - in case it isn’t - then the PS5 exclusive Returnal)
11:07 love that you used that part of the cuphead show intro cause honestly it describes cuphead the game in a nutshell 21:23 also love the yugioh 5Ds theme insert
I like and value way more the game's story than the gameplay itself. Gameplay feels like a bonus really compared to the main and most important thing in a videogame and that is its story with its themes, characters, background, and so on. Games like KH, God of War, Bayonetta, and so on have both epic stories, boss battles, cinematic cutscenes (skipping cutscenes is boogus and ridiculous, i enjoy and never skip the most important part of the games story which is showed in those cutscenes with Avengers Infinity War and Endgame levels of epic cinematic battles), a living world, carismatic characters, and so on.
Regarding skippable cutscenes while I agree with wanting to enjoy the story as much as possible it's hard to do so when you have to wait 2+ minutes every time you fail a boss before you can try again (time that does add up over time I might add), and seeing the same unskippable cutscene 5+ times gets old fast for most people. It's more of a quality of life feature than anything. Personally speaking I never skip cutscenes on first watch and usually don't for second watches either, but 3rd+ I usually will as I want to be able to beat the boss and move onto the rest of the game & story ASAP.
Unfortunately the rules kept it off the list (the entire point of the series is you grind through the lower difficulties to level up the 4 different soldier classes that you can switch between back in the menu and get more armor and weapons to take on the higher difficulties) but I would have liked to see you talk about the Earth Defense Force games from Sandlot. Maybe if a top ten grindfilled games countdown ever happens. I can hope at least.
Anyways, Josh! I think it would be the time to give you a little lesson regarding Armored Core since you've just referred to it as a SoulsBorne game! Armored Core, or simply "AC", was first released on the original PlayStation as a launch title (Well, technically, as one of the four games from the "Interactive Sample Vol. 3" sample disc), and has been FromSoftware's most consistently-released franchise since 1997 with over 15 games in total (not counting the re-releases and the upcoming sixth-numbered entry in the franchise) across multiple platforms. Each game in the franchise has players take control of a mercenary-for-hire ("Raven" in Gen 1-3 AC games, "LYNX" in Gen 4 AC games, and "Mercenary" for Gen 5 AC games) piloting one of the franchise's titular Armored Cores (or "ACs" for short), as you work your way to the top and accept various sorties from various corporations and groups to earn money for your Armored Core, all while uncovering the many dark ethical themes of the franchise through its loose narrative. Unlike SoulBorne games, Armored Core is fundamentally different in a number of ways: * You are NOT playing as a pilot of these giant mechs, but instead, you ARE the mech. There is a difference, and the controls reflects that! One that was so complicated, legends has said that the only way to play Armored Core is to play these games with the controller held backwards! * While you do have a rechargable Energy (which is a stand-in for the SoulsBorne games' Stamina mechanic), the same cannot be said for your weapons. Once ALL of your ammo ran out, that's pretty much it! Even if you can equip your AC with a close-range weapon, even that has its own risk, as one missed hit leaves you wide open for attacks, with powerful hits can stun-lock you in place if your defense isn't enough... * Unlike SoulBorne games, whose customization is optional at most, customizing your AC for EVERY MISSION is absolutely mandatory, as each mission presents a variety of challenges and obstacles to overcome, as well as its many twists and turns if you somehow performed enough. Furthermore, future games has optional Extra Missions in the middle of missions if you accomplished certain criterias in the game, yielding more rewards at a cost of dealing with more difficult objectives. God help you if you are low on ammo and have to face off against other enemy ACs as a part of the Extra Mission... * There's no health items in these games (save for certain games), meaning that you have one shot in completing missions, as failing leaves you completely in debt (we will get to that later...). At worst, it will lock you out of certain missions, and in some missions, it's a straight-up "game over" for you if you fail! * You WILL lose money as much as you earn them through completing missions. There are several factors: A) You perform very badly in a mission, so you will have to pay for your AC's repair; B) You fired way too many bullets, and you have to pay to replenish them for your next mission; C) You damaged something that your client told you NOT to damage with your weapons, and have to pay for it as a compensation; and D) You perform very badly in a mission, wasted too much ammo, made so much property damage when you are told you SHOULDN'T, and you failed a mission. Hope you have enough money to buy those parts... * The existence of the many overpowered weapons in the franchise. Apart from the "MOONLIGHT" Laser Blade and the "KARASAWA" Energy Rifle that appeared in every game since 1997 and has to be earned in order to wield them, some of these weapons are enough to cheese through the games, provided that you have enough ammo to spare... * The multiplayer. Dear goodness Arceus and every god in every both fictional media and in real life. The multiplayer! If you thought Warzone and every MOBA out there has the sweatiest multiplayer player base ever, you haven't seen the multiplayer side of these games. To this day, thanks to the power of emulation, players from all over the world gets to reduce other players' ACs to scrap in "Armored Core: Last Raven" (PS2), "Armored Core: for Answer" and "Armored Core: Verdict Day" (JP Server), and it's still going strong to this very day! You are right! Armored Core is hard, but it's a different kind of hard! It's NOT a SoulsBorne, but rather predating every SoulsBorne games to this day! Has anyone wondered why Armored Core VI was the most anticipated game in 2023? Because we surely did...
Might be a strange countdown idea, but I would love to see a “Top 10 scariest chasers in video games” Enemies that you can’t fight back and can only survive by outrunning them
Even if it’s not on this list, a game I definitely nominate for being “hard yet fun” is Lisa the Painful. This game is brutal and truly lives up to its name, as not only can you party members permanently *die* both during and outside of battle, but your character can permanently loses their limbs. Enemies are very strong and relentless, sleeping at campfires, the only way to heal outside of using items, isn’t safe since you risk the chance of getting your items stolen, which’s detrimental due to resources being quite limited, and to top it all off, there’s an extra difficulty called pain mode where your saves automatically get *destroyed* each time you use them. So yeah…it definitely isn’t an RPG for the faint of heart. But despite being hard, the game isn’t unfair, as you can overcome most challenges with enough strategy and planning. And it’s also not only possible to save scum in order to avoid getting screwed over (at least outside of Pain Mode), but some party members like Birdie, Fly and Nern are ridiculously good and can carry you through most battles alone. But if you want a dark and punishing yet great game inspired by Earthbound, Lisa is definitely the way to go.
Never even heard of Cyber Shadow but I'll definitely look into it with that level of recommendation. Also I laughed so damn hard at the Awesome Center clip. I forgot that existed.
I was going to mention YGO Forbidden Memories; The game has a few easy games, then the duelists start throwing insanely powerful cards at you, and you only win a single card with good ones being at best a 1% drop off a perfect duel, and 5 starchips; it's so brutal that the creators specifically stopped you using a second memory card to clone cards (can be done with three though), but once you learn about fusion, mainly THTD, the game is much less merciless. In addition, there's a list of reasonably cheap powerhouse cards you can buy to make fusions more consistent... Until the final 6.
For me a super-hard game that I could never beat as a kid was Bio-Hazard Battle on the Sega Megadrive, I was never able to make it to Level 4 but between the Bio-Ship and Alien designs, the graphics, insane Bullet-Hell dodging and of course the music I always had fun no matter what 😄😄😄 Thanks for another awesome list Josh and go hug your furbabies all 💙🐱💙
For me the EDF franchise fits the hard but fun category as the games can completely destroy you on the later missions as the difficulty just steadily increases as new enemies appear and the amount of enemies increases, as well as stronger versions of enemies replace the weaker versions, all ending with a very long and difficult final mission with the games “boss” which is the hardest part of the game.
Enter the gungeon should be on that list i have over 200hrs and have never beaten it without cheats. I also have never reset my save.(tbh I don’t think you can)
i totally understand josh on the metroid thing, while it has become one of my favorite game, after a while it becomes easy, like i first played normal which was challenging but after that doing hard was not that bad, i even 100 percented hard mode, while some bosses where hard ravenbeak only needed 3 tries on hard mode, and i died only a couple times to the emmies on hard mode, but the escaping emmies from their grasp is still a challenge as i only escaped 5 times not including tutorial in hard and normal mode combined, like if you become fimiliar with the game it's rlly not as hard as some make it out to be.
Nice list. I take it the next list will involve fighting games lol? Here's hoping to see the 180 of this list- Top Relaxing Video Games (that are still fun).
The main consequence for failure in Hollow Knight is that I can’t find my way back to where I died in the first place, be it on a boss, a puzzle, or anything, really.
To quote Markiplier, "I'm not a masochist, I just like to test the limits of my body!" Heh, jokes aside, ya know, I was GONNA mention one of my faves is Shovel Knight, but then you said how the number one segment was made by the same people: Yacht Club Games; I hate you for introducing me to it and potentially forcing me to murder more of my productivity...but I am obliged to respect you for introducing me to another pixelated chiptune 2d side-scrolling ballbuster. (JK I don't actually hate you. Seriously, love this list idea; it takes a fearless tightrope walk above instant death spikes to make hard & fun balance well. Also that ending was equal bits brilliant and hilarious; bravo, good sir.) XD
He's not gonna put this here, but a quintessential game in category is Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero and it's sequel. God I wish the Disgaea series was at least a little bit more mainstream.
Because you mentioned the Shoot-em Up genre, I have to give a special mention to Battle Garegga: One of the most brutally difficult, deceptively complicated (due to the game's rank system), and one of my favorite games out there.
Found a fellow Garegga fan here. Man, i agree when you say the rank system is brutal, you have to lose lives on purpose just to make the game easier. But then the later stages can still be tough as well.
I’ve been a gamer since the 80, so yeah, I love hardcore games! I loved to be challenged! There’s nothing, NOTHING, more satisfying on gaming than to defeat a difficult game after going at it for weeks!!
Crypt of the Necrodancer. It's a roguelike, a genre that's already hard as nails, combined with the mechanics of a rhythm game. Every movement you make has to be to the beat of the music if you want to get the most out of your attacks and collectible gold. The enemies also move with the music, but they have their own patterns on top of it: skeletons will wait until every other beat; dopplegangers will copy your movements; knights will parry your attack, immediately fall back, and strike back on the next beat if you get too close. While it does give you some amount of progress as you keep playing (increased health, more weapon availability, starting equipment), it only helps so much. But between the varied combat, the many secrets you can find on a given run, and of course, the BANGING MUSIC (seriously, listen to 1-1 if you haven't), it's hard to put down.
12:32 My guy...have you seen the final section of bug fables? and yes bugsnax is totally a horror game. edit: speaking of which a list of surprise horror game would be fun (if you havent done so already) also, I hadnt heard of cyber shadow before; you explaination as to why makes sense though.
Hades isn't hard it's 100% fair and incredibly well balanced. Once you get a build you like you start to just dominate. Like Hollow Knight, it's very much a game that you start at being god-awful at but by the end you've learned all the mechanics and become unstoppable. And if you're having a tough time dying over and over you can turn on Ichor Mode which gives you +1% damage reduction for every death. Metroid Dread on the other hand is just unfair. Samus Returns was already extremely difficult but Dread pushes it to the absolute extreme. I've died 200+ times and I haven't even beaten Kraid. I despise the emmy stealth sections where I've had a good 80% of my deaths and the bosses are absolutely brutal, every single one. I had to quit the game because it was just too hard ON THE LOWEST DIFFICULTY. I can't even imagine how impossible it is on higher ones...
#1 for me would be Nioh 2, has some amazingly fun combat but man the game is hard as shit. especially the first 10 hours while you're still getting used to the mechanics. the awesome music and enemy designs combined with the flashy combat make it fun even when you're getting your ass kicked
I guessed a lot of the games that appeared here. Soulsborne, Cuphead, Hollow Knight, and F-Zero. Though I think quite a few of the FNAF games could qualify for a list like this as well. Granted, a lot of the challenge is reserved for the Custom Nights, and some are easier than others. But with the chaos in FNAF 2, the necessity to listen carefully in FNAF 4, the myriad of challenges in Ultimate Custom Night, and the extra anxiety in Help Wanted, I think one of them could've gotten an honorable mention.
to be honest, the easy mode on path of radiance was a translation error. Easy was supposed to be normal, normal was supposed to be hard and hard was supposed to be lunatic
makes me feel good one game i play is on this list, ive been playing fzero gx recently, i played it as a kid but now im starting to master this game, i was able to finally beat diamond cup on master mode and now have the ax cup, and was able to beat all story missions on hard, now to beat them on very hard and beat all the cups with all pilots on all difficulties to see their interview question answers and their pilot movies, so far ive seen falcons and recently picos after beating ax on master with him
Some of my favs that didn't make it to top 10: Noita Not a fair game at all, but the game makes its absolutely chaotic nature work quite well. Its bs nature is honestly part of its sense of humor. Rayman Origins & Legends Fast paced 2D platforming gameplay with great controls and fantastic level design.. when it isn't throwing boring mosquito levels at you, which can be quite bs to get all lums in. Super Meat Boy The indie darling with fantastic music by Danny Baranowsky, which pretty much defined the new standards for 2D platforming. Games like Celeste, Hollow Knight and even Rayman Origins/Legends owe a lot to this game. Super Castlevania IV A 16-bit 2D action platformer with fantastic art for both eyes and ears. Not from the hardest side of Castlevanias, but its fantastic pacing and snappy controls make it a very satisfying albeit short experience to playthrough every now and then. Man that contra bassline in the Submerged City is just fantastic. Treasury Room being another one of my fav songs. Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne My favourite from the MegaTen franchise. I never knew how fun turn based combat could be if you're given this level of player agency and a fun and strategic turn system. Combining it with nuanced philosophical ideas that get properly explored makes it even more up my alley. There aren't that many games with stories that actually treat the player like an adult. Dirt Rally Rally racing is stupidly difficult. Small gravel roads with barely enough room for one car, elevation changes, crests, random rocks and trees, poor visibility and you've chosen to drive through it all at around 200 kmh. You will fail over and over again, but eventually you'll get the basics and learn how to read the road and plan out your moves before hand. It also helps that rally cars are fantastic to drive. And besides, failure tends to lead to a cool looking crash, so that alleviates some of the frustration. Megaman 9 My first Megaman game and apparently it is the hardest one too. Guess that explains why I love this sort of level design that quickly escalates upon the ideas it introduces early on. The soundtrack is also a banger.
Question: do we have enough "team" bosses for a countdown? I don't mean bosses that summon standard enemies but rather bosses that don't fight you alone, tag teaming on the heroes for a change.
So great list and all but there's one game or series that I'm surprised didn't make the list. I'm of course talking about Devil May Cry. (Though mainly DMC3). I mean DMC3 can be pretty challenging EVEN ON NORMAL MODE! Though despite how challenging the fights, sections with enemies and bosses as a whole the game is actually really fun once you get used to the combos and gain new weapons and powers.
If you've ever read the Worlds of Power novelization of the NES Ninja Gaiden game, you'd be surprised how many unexpected twists there are in the narrative.
Touhou Project has already been mentioned on the list but I want to draw attention to 15.5, also known as Antinomy of Common Flowers. The series uses decimal points to indicate that a game is going to deviate significantly from the norm and in this case it's a fighting game with bullet hell elements. This time the main gimmick is that you use a main fighter that can be temporarily swapped for a sub fighter to recover health and to compensate for weaknesses. Of course, when it comes to multiplayer your difficulty is going to vary wildly depending on your opponent. Story mode, on the other hand, leans even harder on the bullet hell as each duo you fight has their own special attacks and can only be interrupted when their barrier glows red. It will serve as a great teacher for multiplayer as well as being pretty fun on its own right. This game is also a really safe introduction to the series due to having a more lighthearted story as well as featuring many of the most currently active characters throughout the franchise. As for any shortcomings, there's two I can think of. The first is that the localization sucks. Not only will it default to japanese, when switched to a different one the dialogue won't even be placed in the speech bubbles (instead placed in tiny white text at the bottom of the screen) and spell cards won't be translated at all even in menus so good luck trying to pick your super without the Touhou wiki or trial and error. The second is Overdrive Mode. The more well known standard Touhou difficulty options are all great but don't play Overdrive. It was made in an update as a response to people finding the last story's final boss too easy and its solution was to add several spellcards that are less fun than the rest to any bosses that aren't the Yorigami Sisters. In fact, I think it actively made the boss that Overdrive was made to fix worse than before because its solution was to make you fight it in a completely different fighting style that combines the worst of the two genres instead of the best.
Funny you brought up 15.5 when a lot view 15 as one of the hardest Touhou games. There's a reason why it has a different checkpoint system for a game mode
The only Souls-like I've willingly suffered through is Code Vein. I found it fun, and I'm admittedly a sucker for the player character's love interest Io.
The amount of WHIPLASH I got when Joshscorcher said FromSoftware games were 10 but Metroid Dread was 9 immediately after XD I know they can be cheesed if done right, but that still doesn't work for everything in said game, take time to make the build, and grind for the currency you need to do. I have no idea how Dread is harder, tho I 100% it and had lots of fun of it. (Know this isn't saying "I am smarter at makin lists" cause bein biased with stuff is the life of making content, I just wanted to make half a funny comment and half an explanation of how cheesing FromSoftware games still takes effort/time)
"Out of the 2D Metroids in particular, the one that's highly regarded as the hardest of them all is Metroid Dread" Me who got Metroid Dread as my first Metroid game: I picked quite a jumping-on point, didn't I?
I am sincerily not a big fan of the soulslike games from FromSoftware like Bloodborne, Sekiro and Elden Ring, but i respect those who like it. Just my opinion.
I'd like to see the most satisfying explosion. Not just a fireball, but a blast that destroys something- a space ship, a house, that sort of thing. Something that hits like the original cement truck from Mythbusters or the hot water tank they did a few years later. A blast that has energy, debris, and sound. Corridor and especially Niko are big on the look of explosions, so turn the guys loose on that.
What Prevents Dread from being too frustrating is that it respawns you in any room you died in instead of sending you back to the save point.
Dread is hard? I thought it was just cheap and unfair with the EMMI's.
@@aliastheabnormal The EMMIs might seem unfair at first, but on later playthroughs they’re basically a cakewalk that can easily be avoided. Especially if you liberally use the phantom cloak to evade them.
@@amirgarcia547 I tried that but the Phantom cloak either ran out long before the EMMI's left or the cooldown was so long that the EMMI's just killed me first.
@aliastheabnormal, it can be a case of trial & error. You'll get a feel for the timing after a few dozen tries. Dread is my first Metroid game... still stuck on one of the late game boss fights, so I'm taking a breather on it to play Prime Remastered.
@@aliastheabnormal The Phantom Cloak lasts longer if you have enough health, and by the time you clear the second EMMI you should have more than enough energy tanks to do so.
You get a like for that ending. Also Jirad the Completionist said it best that the reason why Cuphead is so much fun despite the insane difficulty is because of the progress meter it shows after you die. Seeing how far you got to winning just gives you that thrill and determination to try again which coming from a fan of the game I can attest to.
Right? I love how much it feels like an older game in that respect. Having no HP bars to show how close a boss is to death has always been a pet peeve of mine; sure, it makes you pay attention more, seeing as the closer a boss is to dying, the more desperate they get. But for Cuphead's case, this plays more to its strengths as it instills that feeling of "One more try" in you, and that is bloody BRILLIANT! :D
Agree, i always keep trying to beat that hard boss (Looking at you, Dr Kahl) because i know everytime i would be one step closer to taking him down.
I'm glad Metroid Dread is on the list. It's difficult on your first playthrough, but man is it satisfying when you get past a tough section.
The emmi that can see you through walls can go die though. That thing pissed me off.
or when you manage to kill any of the EMMI
Difficulty setting combined with a great story and gameplay can be a recipe for a great awesome game. It doesn't need to be super innovative or anything like that. What it really matters in the end is having fun. KH, God of War, Bayonetta, Final Fantasy and so many more have these characteristics and are some of the biggest and greatest videogame franchises ever. KH3 is one of the Best of the franchise ever. Its not a disapointment or the worst game ever. I never got disapointed and always enjoy this game and i don't give a care about what the fandom says i like the and to is way better than KH2. I MEAN IT.
In Kingdom Hearts tho every single difficulty is piss easy minus critical, which usually ranges somewhere around mildly difficult. Heck, in some games like BBS Critical is also easy, just a bit more grindy so you don't get OKOd by bosses like Terra's Wicked Wheel fight and Zappy in Aqua and Terra's story. The only actually hard critical modes are KH2 and KH3, and most of the hard parts of those games don't come from difficulty but from the OP superbosses like Lingering Will and Yozora who are near-impossible regardless of difficulty.
Edit: Also I don't think a single FF game had difficulty options until FFXIII or FFXV, some of the latest games. 99% of the games don't have difficulty options, and Square Enix games in general more often have no difficulty options rather than having them, though a lot of more recent games do have them more commonly.
My first playthrough of KH2 was in critical mode, in hopes to get the platinum in one playthrough (Jafar was still a pushover). Didn’t work, and I only platinumed on a new playthrough in a lower difficulty, but I was close. The only thing I failed to do on critical mode was defeating the lingering will. I made it deep into the fight multiple times, but he always got me with his desperation move. Even on the lower difficulty, he put up one hell of a fight, and the only reason I beat him there on my first try was being extremely familiar with his moves.
Also, they should make the high difficulties a requirement for the platinum. That’s one of the main things that made most of the KH platinums so satisfying (the only exception being KH3)
@@Ori_Kohav KH3 is epic and not a disapointment. People overexagerate a lot.
@@centurynerdbr KH3 was a disappointment in fight difficulty outside of critical mode (doesn’t take you long to become OP), and in not having a difficulty requirement for the platinum trophy. Nothing exaggerated here.
It may have a great story, but the drop in difficulty compared to previous games makes it less fun, with the only exception being the gummi ship levels
Not sure if someone has already recommended this for you, but have you considered a countdown of the best Escape Sequences, since some games use them as substitutes for Boss Fights? If you do see this idea, I would highly recommend looking at the escape sequences from the Ori games, especially the Ginso Tree. Anyone who has ever played that level will know just how amazing and annoying and awesome it managed to be all at once. Still one of my favorite games of all time.
Depending on the definition of escape sequences it could be done as what is called an escape boss. An example is Monster Ock from the Spider-Man PS1 game or the Excavator from Batman Arkham Knight. They are bosses, but you can't beat them or even really damage them so the only way to win is runaway from and the game will eventually give you a way to damage them. For traditional chase sequences, I would love to see a Call of Duty example as the franchise has made these sequences into entire levels in the past. Personal favorites of mine are Iron Lady from Modern Warfare 3 which also integrates the AC-130 into the sequence and One Shot, One Kill from Call of Duty a very intense sequence and a rare case of a good escort mission on top of that (Iron Lady technically counts as an escort mission as the objective is to get out of Paris with an HVT, but you aren't playing the guy who has to watch the HVT the entire time which is the job of another member of the team) because the character is useful and can't die.
If a Top Ten Earth Bosses come out soon in this channel i bet that the Titan from Final Fantasy, mostly specific the fourteen, will be number one. That is until Final Fantasy XVI comes out with an even bigger, more impressive, cinematic and awesome Titan boss battle that will literally shake the very foundations of the battlefield.
Bro, Green Scorpion gets the right idea
Question is, which Titan? ;P
@@LightTrainer Uuhh, XIV?
@@bru9383 No I mean which version in XIV? There's two thanks to the Eden Raids from Shadowbringers.
@@LightTrainer You lost me. Never played it
Sad how Jet Force Gemini didn’t get a mention. Running and gunning drones has never been more fun, but the bosses, search and rescue and scavenger hunt are really difficult.
it's likely because of the fact that it *requires* 100% completion in order to reach the final boss... and much of the frustration isn't necessarily the difficulty of combat, but just having trouble finding that LAST thing you need...
I haven't played too much of it, but I really liked Dead Cells. I'm not into many roguelike games, but I just love how it feels to play.
The weapon variety in that game is insane. I still prefer Hades for having a clearer path to follow (I don’t know how far in the final boss is for Dead Cells) but Dead Cells is still an amazing game in its own right!
Anyone playing Metroid Dread, a tip: The EMI's can be beaten, while not 100% effective the EMI's eyes pulse twice before they attack, push the counter button on the second flash. It saved my neck a fair few times.
Ok, dancing Count Shaman and Green Scorpion during the FE part made me legitimately laugh out loud...though, to be fair, I'm also a classic mode purist...
*Joins in dancing*
The entire Soulsborne genre could probably share a spot on this list.
yup.
I'm so glad Josh actually knows about the shmup genre. The community is slowly growing in recent years and many new fans are joining in to experience the fun themselves. I wonder if Josh has ever 1CC any of the shmups that he played.
I love that the Touhou Project was brought up in the list, even if tucked within a whole entry. I've been a fan of its lore and music for an age or two, and especially love some of the metal covers done on some of the various themes.
8:42 then can you please tell me from which Touhou game this track is from, or just what it's name is? Because I don't want to have to listen to HOURS of music (no matter how good it is) just to find that one track
Judging by its quality, it sounds like an orchestral reiteration someone had done of either "Beloved Tomboyish Girl" or "The Gensokyo the Gods Loved," (I didn't hear enough of the melody to tell). Mind you there have been a lot of covers and remixes of Touhou music in the last couple decades, and even I haven't heard every last one.
I'm genuinely surprised that you seemed to imply that Crypt of the Necrodancer didn't count since Coda's optional. So what about Aria? She's part of the main storyline. Dying in one hit and if you miss a single beat with only a dagger is brutal, but always fair and a ton of fun. Remember, the Necrodancer's not the final boss - it's the Golden Lute. And getting there and beating it was the single most challenging and rewarding accomplishment in gaming I have or will ever do.
I remember getting necrodancer for the switch back in 2021 and I had a blast playing it. Hell, I managed to beat Cadence's story a month later. And then I beat Aria's story near the end of November. I'm probably never gonna unlock coda because it's hard doing an all character run.
Kinda surprised Dead Cells didn't get even an honorable mention. They even just recently released a DLC crossover with Castlevania!
I think Dead Cells in the beginning would be a solid choice, but now you have things like Assist Mode or Custom Mode that really take the bite out of it. Seriously, I defeated The Hand of the King in one try this time thanks to Assist Mode.
Bet you 10 bucks Cuphead is going to be on this list
Edit: yes I will gladly take that money
You just earned 10 bucks
It’s a no contest…Cuphead will be on this list no matter what…
Take your money.
Loved the list, but a little sad that the transitional game didn't even make the honorable mentions. Sifu is a really interesting experience, balancing when it might actually be worth it to take a hit in time to gain a boost of damage but a loss of health.
If I had to pick a narrator for my life, it would probably be Vincent Price.
I would have Morgan Freeman.
Narrator from The Stanley Parable would be my choice.
I would choose the Bastion Narrator: th-cam.com/video/ugYYUdDSPaw/w-d-xo.html
I will say a game series that fits the criteria perfectly for this episode is Super Monkey Ball.
Especially with the classic Monkey Ball experiences, it is the textbook definition of brutal difficulty and having a fun time.
those Exam A-B-C levels gave me PTSD
Just because a game is difficult doesn't mean it can't be fun especially if the challenge is fair. After all you're just learning the game and eventually think of ways to play different whether getting through a hard section, level, or a boss. Granted hard/challenge games aren't everyone's cup of tea but sometimes it's best not to overlook just how fun these games can be once you find a way to get better and overcome it.
So that settles it - Bubsy is Cuphead's grandpa. Both are eye and eat candy, both have their plots centered around their villains stealing something (Poly & Ester stealing wool, Oinker stealing the world's history and Satan stealing souls) and of course both of these have severely spiked difficulties.
Now that The Super Mario Bros Movie is nearing its release, maybe you should do Top Ten Best or Worst Video Game Movies. We're entering a decade when video game adaptations are becoming much better!
Metroid Dread is an interesting one for me. Half of it is the best Metroid game ever, the other half is "GODDDAMN IT, THE EMMI GOT ME AGAIN!!!"
As a super recent Touhou fan. I really wish I stumble onto those games and fandom sooner. As hard at those games are, they have this elegant to them that makes you keep coming back for more even when you die. Cute anime girls and amazing music are a major plus.
Hades is on the cover for this one. In other words, this is going to be good.
10: A part of me is not surprised that they are this low. These games are BRUTAL, to the point that I am afraid to touch them. If I'm going to be punished, I want to be able to forget the fact that it is happening. (FromSoftware Games)
9: I went and booted up the game, encountered the first E.M.M.I. (y'know, the broken one) and couldn't get past it. So I had to stop. Also, it was my first Metroid game. (Metroid Dread)
8: I will say, I hope you don't plan to keep copping out by continuing to put entire genres on the list. (Bullet Hell Shoot-Em-Ups)
7: Josh not talking about Fire Emblem? Gasp! (XCOM 2)
6: I am not surprised that this game is on here. I am surprised that I somehow didn't immediately think of this game when I thought of "hard but fun games." But yeah, while we're going to have to wait quite a while for it, we all know that we will happily wait for Cuphead 2. If that ever happens. (Cuphead)
5: I LOVE Hollow Knight. Can't get past the first boss, but I love it. Also, I feel called out about Silk Song. But c'mon, give us the best bug girl already! I want to zip around like Spider-Man through creepy bug tunnels! (Hollow Knight)
4: This game was ruined for me due to a particular bad Dungeon Master designed an entire D&D 5e campaign around it. I can't bring myself to play it. I know that I am missing out, though. (Darkest Dungeon)
3: Ah, THERE it is. He saved Fire Emblem for higher on the list. Shocker. (Jokes aside, good on him for liking a game franchise. I'm not here to judge a guy for his tastes in games.) (Fire Emblem Path of Radiance)
2: He's right, we all have that one game. For me, that's Shovel Knight. (F-Zero GX)
1: Well, if it wasn't going to be Shovel Knight, it might as well be another Yacht Club game. (Cyber Shadow)
Oh man, I feel you on F-Zero GX! Even now, I still can't seem to beat Story Mode on Normal either.
Sorry to be a broken record, but I feel like that DMC could fit in this list as well. It's a hack and slash game that has you fighting demons with a multitude of weapons, all while you zip, slash, shoot, and guard. Not to mention the fact that the game awards you for being creative with the combos you input with the weapons you collect throughout the game, but if you go into this I'll prepared, you'll find that it does not mess around on the base difficulty and to quote the game "One must be Stylish to survive".
13:32
Well, if you get to the end of the main story, Bugsnax does count as a kind of Horror game. I think. It's no silent hill, but has that level of horror you get from one of the creepier episodes of Adventure Time.
...curious what Engage did you to anger you. While it doesn't tell the kind of story I prefer, and the first half was kinda boring, I think it actually delivers on the story it wants to tell. It will never be my favorite (which is probably 3H?), but I've come to respect it. The gameplay's been fantastic too. There's some things I miss from 3H, but it's been a fun ride so far. Even if the DLC is pushed way too hard and fast. I will always be mad NA got a trailer for the DLC before one about the Somniel, a key gameplay feature.
Engage to Josh is getting like Fates to Oscar, ngl...
I've essentially stopped playing all Soulsbourne games. Look, when I begin wondering "Why am I even playing this anymore," then I know that all of the fun in the game, for me, has been thoroughly extinguished.
Imagine basing your self-worth on how hard the video game you're playing is.
50+ dread speedrun attempts (and having beaten dread mode) later and the game's base difficulty didn't even cross my mind for this list.
Its nice to be reminded that the final boss took me like 6 attempts when I can usually beat it with 0-5 hits taken.
Ditto, the only reason i didn't blitz the game in a day is because the EMMI's are so unkillable. Raven Beak was the only legit challenge.
@@aliastheabnormal i was challenged by many bosses rhe first time, and in Boss Rush Mode I despise Escue (or as I call it, Kai'Sa's pet Vikavolt). In actual runs I just steamroll it with screw attack.
You got me curious about Cyber Shadow. I’ll probably try it once I’m done with my current platinum hunts.
I looked it up, and it has a speedrun trophy. I HATE THOSE, but the guide does say it’s quite generous, so I guess I can handle that, after the speedruns of the first 3 Uncharted games.
A must play for fans of both megaman and ninja gaiden
@@aaronatkinson177 I never played Ninja Gaiden, but I love Megaman 11 and half the classic Megaman games
I swear if Devil may cry isn't on here...
Odds are it will be 3. Never found the others as challenging as DMC3 which is still a great game.
@@shadowlinkbds not even the first game?
I still find it harder for how clunky it is to survive
@@tsyumamatsuthehavenofguard32 Well that's more challenging but in an outdated way. Though I didn't really die as much in that like I did in 3. Which again I liked 3 but it's a hard sunnava bitch even on Normal.
@@lukasrosenbaum7893it's not on here... Not even in honorable mentions...
You have no idea how giddy I was when I saw #1. As a fellow Yacht Club fan, it hit ALL the right boxes and it's a game that I will periodically come back to every now and again to test my resolve.
Cyber Shadow deserves so much more praise than it already has.
My money’s on Elden Ring for the primary Soulsborne (let alone Soulslike) entry to make the cut.
As for the Roguelike entry, I just know by the thumbnail Josh will list Hades among the Top Three (or Five at least). (If I had to pick one that I MYSELF like, and should be on the list - in case it isn’t - then the PS5 exclusive Returnal)
Egg on both our faces my friend. (It hurts because succeeded once personally and that with one hell of a b*tch set up)
IIRC one of the guys who did talk about your number 1 pick was mostly praising for the accuracy that relates directly to real historical ninja.
I can't believe how you managed to talk about some of my all time favorite games in this list, thanks!!
11:07 love that you used that part of the cuphead show intro cause honestly it describes cuphead the game in a nutshell
21:23 also love the yugioh 5Ds theme insert
I like and value way more the game's story than the gameplay itself. Gameplay feels like a bonus really compared to the main and most important thing in a videogame and that is its story with its themes, characters, background, and so on. Games like KH, God of War, Bayonetta, and so on have both epic stories, boss battles, cinematic cutscenes (skipping cutscenes is boogus and ridiculous, i enjoy and never skip the most important part of the games story which is showed in those cutscenes with Avengers Infinity War and Endgame levels of epic cinematic battles), a living world, carismatic characters, and so on.
Regarding skippable cutscenes while I agree with wanting to enjoy the story as much as possible it's hard to do so when you have to wait 2+ minutes every time you fail a boss before you can try again (time that does add up over time I might add), and seeing the same unskippable cutscene 5+ times gets old fast for most people. It's more of a quality of life feature than anything. Personally speaking I never skip cutscenes on first watch and usually don't for second watches either, but 3rd+ I usually will as I want to be able to beat the boss and move onto the rest of the game & story ASAP.
Unfortunately the rules kept it off the list (the entire point of the series is you grind through the lower difficulties to level up the 4 different soldier classes that you can switch between back in the menu and get more armor and weapons to take on the higher difficulties) but I would have liked to see you talk about the Earth Defense Force games from Sandlot. Maybe if a top ten grindfilled games countdown ever happens. I can hope at least.
Anyways, Josh! I think it would be the time to give you a little lesson regarding Armored Core since you've just referred to it as a SoulsBorne game!
Armored Core, or simply "AC", was first released on the original PlayStation as a launch title (Well, technically, as one of the four games from the "Interactive Sample Vol. 3" sample disc), and has been FromSoftware's most consistently-released franchise since 1997 with over 15 games in total (not counting the re-releases and the upcoming sixth-numbered entry in the franchise) across multiple platforms.
Each game in the franchise has players take control of a mercenary-for-hire ("Raven" in Gen 1-3 AC games, "LYNX" in Gen 4 AC games, and "Mercenary" for Gen 5 AC games) piloting one of the franchise's titular Armored Cores (or "ACs" for short), as you work your way to the top and accept various sorties from various corporations and groups to earn money for your Armored Core, all while uncovering the many dark ethical themes of the franchise through its loose narrative.
Unlike SoulBorne games, Armored Core is fundamentally different in a number of ways:
* You are NOT playing as a pilot of these giant mechs, but instead, you ARE the mech. There is a difference, and the controls reflects that! One that was so complicated, legends has said that the only way to play Armored Core is to play these games with the controller held backwards!
* While you do have a rechargable Energy (which is a stand-in for the SoulsBorne games' Stamina mechanic), the same cannot be said for your weapons. Once ALL of your ammo ran out, that's pretty much it! Even if you can equip your AC with a close-range weapon, even that has its own risk, as one missed hit leaves you wide open for attacks, with powerful hits can stun-lock you in place if your defense isn't enough...
* Unlike SoulBorne games, whose customization is optional at most, customizing your AC for EVERY MISSION is absolutely mandatory, as each mission presents a variety of challenges and obstacles to overcome, as well as its many twists and turns if you somehow performed enough. Furthermore, future games has optional Extra Missions in the middle of missions if you accomplished certain criterias in the game, yielding more rewards at a cost of dealing with more difficult objectives. God help you if you are low on ammo and have to face off against other enemy ACs as a part of the Extra Mission...
* There's no health items in these games (save for certain games), meaning that you have one shot in completing missions, as failing leaves you completely in debt (we will get to that later...). At worst, it will lock you out of certain missions, and in some missions, it's a straight-up "game over" for you if you fail!
* You WILL lose money as much as you earn them through completing missions. There are several factors: A) You perform very badly in a mission, so you will have to pay for your AC's repair; B) You fired way too many bullets, and you have to pay to replenish them for your next mission; C) You damaged something that your client told you NOT to damage with your weapons, and have to pay for it as a compensation; and D) You perform very badly in a mission, wasted too much ammo, made so much property damage when you are told you SHOULDN'T, and you failed a mission. Hope you have enough money to buy those parts...
* The existence of the many overpowered weapons in the franchise. Apart from the "MOONLIGHT" Laser Blade and the "KARASAWA" Energy Rifle that appeared in every game since 1997 and has to be earned in order to wield them, some of these weapons are enough to cheese through the games, provided that you have enough ammo to spare...
* The multiplayer. Dear goodness Arceus and every god in every both fictional media and in real life. The multiplayer! If you thought Warzone and every MOBA out there has the sweatiest multiplayer player base ever, you haven't seen the multiplayer side of these games. To this day, thanks to the power of emulation, players from all over the world gets to reduce other players' ACs to scrap in "Armored Core: Last Raven" (PS2), "Armored Core: for Answer" and "Armored Core: Verdict Day" (JP Server), and it's still going strong to this very day!
You are right! Armored Core is hard, but it's a different kind of hard! It's NOT a SoulsBorne, but rather predating every SoulsBorne games to this day!
Has anyone wondered why Armored Core VI was the most anticipated game in 2023? Because we surely did...
Might be a strange countdown idea, but I would love to see a “Top 10 scariest chasers in video games”
Enemies that you can’t fight back and can only survive by outrunning them
Nemesis in RE3
Even if it’s not on this list, a game I definitely nominate for being “hard yet fun” is Lisa the Painful. This game is brutal and truly lives up to its name, as not only can you party members permanently *die* both during and outside of battle, but your character can permanently loses their limbs. Enemies are very strong and relentless, sleeping at campfires, the only way to heal outside of using items, isn’t safe since you risk the chance of getting your items stolen, which’s detrimental due to resources being quite limited, and to top it all off, there’s an extra difficulty called pain mode where your saves automatically get *destroyed* each time you use them. So yeah…it definitely isn’t an RPG for the faint of heart.
But despite being hard, the game isn’t unfair, as you can overcome most challenges with enough strategy and planning. And it’s also not only possible to save scum in order to avoid getting screwed over (at least outside of Pain Mode), but some party members like Birdie, Fly and Nern are ridiculously good and can carry you through most battles alone. But if you want a dark and punishing yet great game inspired by Earthbound, Lisa is definitely the way to go.
Never even heard of Cyber Shadow but I'll definitely look into it with that level of recommendation.
Also I laughed so damn hard at the Awesome Center clip. I forgot that existed.
It's so much fun, and it has a solid ost too.
I was going to mention YGO Forbidden Memories; The game has a few easy games, then the duelists start throwing insanely powerful cards at you, and you only win a single card with good ones being at best a 1% drop off a perfect duel, and 5 starchips; it's so brutal that the creators specifically stopped you using a second memory card to clone cards (can be done with three though), but once you learn about fusion, mainly THTD, the game is much less merciless. In addition, there's a list of reasonably cheap powerhouse cards you can buy to make fusions more consistent...
Until the final 6.
For me a super-hard game that I could never beat as a kid was Bio-Hazard Battle on the Sega Megadrive, I was never able to make it to Level 4 but between the Bio-Ship and Alien designs, the graphics, insane Bullet-Hell dodging and of course the music I always had fun no matter what 😄😄😄
Thanks for another awesome list Josh and go hug your furbabies all 💙🐱💙
For me the EDF franchise fits the hard but fun category as the games can completely destroy you on the later missions as the difficulty just steadily increases as new enemies appear and the amount of enemies increases, as well as stronger versions of enemies replace the weaker versions, all ending with a very long and difficult final mission with the games “boss” which is the hardest part of the game.
That opening clip made grin like an idiot. I love Aladdin! 😂
The Cuphead entry made me squeal with joy~ 😊
Enter the gungeon should be on that list i have over 200hrs and have never beaten it without cheats. I also have never reset my save.(tbh I don’t think you can)
i totally understand josh on the metroid thing, while it has become one of my favorite game, after a while it becomes easy, like i first played normal which was challenging but after that doing hard was not that bad, i even 100 percented hard mode, while some bosses where hard ravenbeak only needed 3 tries on hard mode, and i died only a couple times to the emmies on hard mode, but the escaping emmies from their grasp is still a challenge as i only escaped 5 times not including tutorial in hard and normal mode combined, like if you become fimiliar with the game it's rlly not as hard as some make it out to be.
Nice list. I take it the next list will involve fighting games lol?
Here's hoping to see the 180 of this list- Top Relaxing Video Games (that are still fun).
The main consequence for failure in Hollow Knight is that I can’t find my way back to where I died in the first place, be it on a boss, a puzzle, or anything, really.
Didn’t think I’d hear the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds opening in the video. Nice.
To quote Markiplier, "I'm not a masochist, I just like to test the limits of my body!" Heh, jokes aside, ya know, I was GONNA mention one of my faves is Shovel Knight, but then you said how the number one segment was made by the same people: Yacht Club Games; I hate you for introducing me to it and potentially forcing me to murder more of my productivity...but I am obliged to respect you for introducing me to another pixelated chiptune 2d side-scrolling ballbuster. (JK I don't actually hate you. Seriously, love this list idea; it takes a fearless tightrope walk above instant death spikes to make hard & fun balance well. Also that ending was equal bits brilliant and hilarious; bravo, good sir.) XD
I bet 10 Bucks that cuphead is on here
No doubt it will be
And maybe a dark souls game and sifu and hollow knight will be on here too
May I suggest that next year you do a top 10 gaming April fools/pranks and have the episode Air on April 1st?
Josh you have no idea just how positively *insert HSUA Alucard's excitement at the nazis returning here* you just made people with number 7.
He's not gonna put this here, but a quintessential game in category is Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero and it's sequel. God I wish the Disgaea series was at least a little bit more mainstream.
Because you mentioned the Shoot-em Up genre, I have to give a special mention to Battle Garegga: One of the most brutally difficult, deceptively complicated (due to the game's rank system), and one of my favorite games out there.
Found a fellow Garegga fan here. Man, i agree when you say the rank system is brutal, you have to lose lives on purpose just to make the game easier. But then the later stages can still be tough as well.
I expect Armored Core as the Number 10 entry, but at least a mention isn't that bad!
Besides, we all know why we AC fans want it on the list...❤
Path of Radiance was the first Fire Emblem game I played.
I’ve been a gamer since the 80, so yeah, I love hardcore games! I loved to be challenged! There’s nothing, NOTHING, more satisfying on gaming than to defeat a difficult game after going at it for weeks!!
Crypt of the Necrodancer.
It's a roguelike, a genre that's already hard as nails, combined with the mechanics of a rhythm game. Every movement you make has to be to the beat of the music if you want to get the most out of your attacks and collectible gold. The enemies also move with the music, but they have their own patterns on top of it: skeletons will wait until every other beat; dopplegangers will copy your movements; knights will parry your attack, immediately fall back, and strike back on the next beat if you get too close. While it does give you some amount of progress as you keep playing (increased health, more weapon availability, starting equipment), it only helps so much. But between the varied combat, the many secrets you can find on a given run, and of course, the BANGING MUSIC (seriously, listen to 1-1 if you haven't), it's hard to put down.
12:32
My guy...have you seen the final section of bug fables?
and yes bugsnax is totally a horror game.
edit: speaking of which a list of surprise horror game would be fun (if you havent done so already)
also, I hadnt heard of cyber shadow before; you explaination as to why makes sense though.
Hades isn't hard it's 100% fair and incredibly well balanced. Once you get a build you like you start to just dominate. Like Hollow Knight, it's very much a game that you start at being god-awful at but by the end you've learned all the mechanics and become unstoppable. And if you're having a tough time dying over and over you can turn on Ichor Mode which gives you +1% damage reduction for every death.
Metroid Dread on the other hand is just unfair. Samus Returns was already extremely difficult but Dread pushes it to the absolute extreme. I've died 200+ times and I haven't even beaten Kraid. I despise the emmy stealth sections where I've had a good 80% of my deaths and the bosses are absolutely brutal, every single one. I had to quit the game because it was just too hard ON THE LOWEST DIFFICULTY. I can't even imagine how impossible it is on higher ones...
Also, no mention of Blasphemous?
...
BLASPHEMY!
#1 for me would be Nioh 2, has some amazingly fun combat but man the game is hard as shit. especially the first 10 hours while you're still getting used to the mechanics. the awesome music and enemy designs combined with the flashy combat make it fun even when you're getting your ass kicked
I guessed a lot of the games that appeared here. Soulsborne, Cuphead, Hollow Knight, and F-Zero. Though I think quite a few of the FNAF games could qualify for a list like this as well. Granted, a lot of the challenge is reserved for the Custom Nights, and some are easier than others. But with the chaos in FNAF 2, the necessity to listen carefully in FNAF 4, the myriad of challenges in Ultimate Custom Night, and the extra anxiety in Help Wanted, I think one of them could've gotten an honorable mention.
Lol yeah. Was going to say while Bug Fables starts out cute, it's lore is pretty dang dark
to be honest, the easy mode on path of radiance was a translation error. Easy was supposed to be normal, normal was supposed to be hard and hard was supposed to be lunatic
Fear and hunger would fit perfectly in this video
I want to relive GX's exhilaration so bad.
makes me feel good one game i play is on this list, ive been playing fzero gx recently, i played it as a kid but now im starting to master this game, i was able to finally beat diamond cup on master mode and now have the ax cup, and was able to beat all story missions on hard, now to beat them on very hard and beat all the cups with all pilots on all difficulties to see their interview question answers and their pilot movies, so far ive seen falcons and recently picos after beating ax on master with him
Oh hello, Touhou Project!
*gets to number 4*
I CAN STILL SEE THE FLESH SCREAMING!
Some of my favs that didn't make it to top 10:
Noita
Not a fair game at all, but the game makes its absolutely chaotic nature work quite well. Its bs nature is honestly part of its sense of humor.
Rayman Origins & Legends
Fast paced 2D platforming gameplay with great controls and fantastic level design.. when it isn't throwing boring mosquito levels at you, which can be quite bs to get all lums in.
Super Meat Boy
The indie darling with fantastic music by Danny Baranowsky, which pretty much defined the new standards for 2D platforming. Games like Celeste, Hollow Knight and even Rayman Origins/Legends owe a lot to this game.
Super Castlevania IV
A 16-bit 2D action platformer with fantastic art for both eyes and ears. Not from the hardest side of Castlevanias, but its fantastic pacing and snappy controls make it a very satisfying albeit short experience to playthrough every now and then. Man that contra bassline in the Submerged City is just fantastic. Treasury Room being another one of my fav songs.
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
My favourite from the MegaTen franchise. I never knew how fun turn based combat could be if you're given this level of player agency and a fun and strategic turn system. Combining it with nuanced philosophical ideas that get properly explored makes it even more up my alley. There aren't that many games with stories that actually treat the player like an adult.
Dirt Rally
Rally racing is stupidly difficult. Small gravel roads with barely enough room for one car, elevation changes, crests, random rocks and trees, poor visibility and you've chosen to drive through it all at around 200 kmh. You will fail over and over again, but eventually you'll get the basics and learn how to read the road and plan out your moves before hand. It also helps that rally cars are fantastic to drive. And besides, failure tends to lead to a cool looking crash, so that alleviates some of the frustration.
Megaman 9
My first Megaman game and apparently it is the hardest one too. Guess that explains why I love this sort of level design that quickly escalates upon the ideas it introduces early on. The soundtrack is also a banger.
I was hoping Furi would at least get an honorable mention, oh well. Also good choice for number 1. That game kicks ass.
Question: do we have enough "team" bosses for a countdown?
I don't mean bosses that summon standard enemies but rather bosses that don't fight you alone, tag teaming on the heroes for a change.
One hard but fun game that I can think of is Destiny mostly because of the Respawning Restricted zones.
So great list and all but there's one game or series that I'm surprised didn't make the list. I'm of course talking about Devil May Cry. (Though mainly DMC3). I mean DMC3 can be pretty challenging EVEN ON NORMAL MODE! Though despite how challenging the fights, sections with enemies and bosses as a whole the game is actually really fun once you get used to the combos and gain new weapons and powers.
If you've ever read the Worlds of Power novelization of the NES Ninja Gaiden game, you'd be surprised how many unexpected twists there are in the narrative.
As Yosuke would say: "Critical hit to the nads!"
*Hears Ninja Gaiden mentioned and knows where it it’s going.* Nice to see that game talked about
Cyber Shadow. I actually have that on my wishlist. Just need to wait for the proper time...
Touhou Project has already been mentioned on the list but I want to draw attention to 15.5, also known as Antinomy of Common Flowers. The series uses decimal points to indicate that a game is going to deviate significantly from the norm and in this case it's a fighting game with bullet hell elements. This time the main gimmick is that you use a main fighter that can be temporarily swapped for a sub fighter to recover health and to compensate for weaknesses.
Of course, when it comes to multiplayer your difficulty is going to vary wildly depending on your opponent. Story mode, on the other hand, leans even harder on the bullet hell as each duo you fight has their own special attacks and can only be interrupted when their barrier glows red. It will serve as a great teacher for multiplayer as well as being pretty fun on its own right. This game is also a really safe introduction to the series due to having a more lighthearted story as well as featuring many of the most currently active characters throughout the franchise.
As for any shortcomings, there's two I can think of. The first is that the localization sucks. Not only will it default to japanese, when switched to a different one the dialogue won't even be placed in the speech bubbles (instead placed in tiny white text at the bottom of the screen) and spell cards won't be translated at all even in menus so good luck trying to pick your super without the Touhou wiki or trial and error.
The second is Overdrive Mode. The more well known standard Touhou difficulty options are all great but don't play Overdrive. It was made in an update as a response to people finding the last story's final boss too easy and its solution was to add several spellcards that are less fun than the rest to any bosses that aren't the Yorigami Sisters. In fact, I think it actively made the boss that Overdrive was made to fix worse than before because its solution was to make you fight it in a completely different fighting style that combines the worst of the two genres instead of the best.
Funny you brought up 15.5 when a lot view 15 as one of the hardest Touhou games.
There's a reason why it has a different checkpoint system for a game mode
The only Souls-like I've willingly suffered through is Code Vein. I found it fun, and I'm admittedly a sucker for the player character's love interest Io.
The amount of WHIPLASH I got when Joshscorcher said FromSoftware games were 10 but Metroid Dread was 9 immediately after XD
I know they can be cheesed if done right, but that still doesn't work for everything in said game, take time to make the build, and grind for the currency you need to do.
I have no idea how Dread is harder, tho I 100% it and had lots of fun of it.
(Know this isn't saying "I am smarter at makin lists" cause bein biased with stuff is the life of making content, I just wanted to make half a funny comment and half an explanation of how cheesing FromSoftware games still takes effort/time)
No, Dread is easier. It's higher because it's more fun.
Idea for a list video "List of Video Game challenges. " or "List of Self-imposed Video game Challenges. "
Surprised Josh would mention the Nostalgia Crtic given the whole meltdown of Channel Awesome in 2018
"Out of the 2D Metroids in particular, the one that's highly regarded as the hardest of them all is Metroid Dread"
Me who got Metroid Dread as my first Metroid game: I picked quite a jumping-on point, didn't I?
I am sincerily not a big fan of the soulslike games from FromSoftware like Bloodborne, Sekiro and Elden Ring, but i respect those who like it. Just my opinion.
Came specifically to see if Cuphead was on the list and was not disappointed
Now I'm hoping for the next one to be: *Top 10 Fun Games that make us Hard!*
One shot Bosses? OK electrocution it’s time for your time to shine.
Oh I hope elden ring and monster hunter is on here.
I'd like to see the most satisfying explosion. Not just a fireball, but a blast that destroys something- a space ship, a house, that sort of thing. Something that hits like the original cement truck from Mythbusters or the hot water tank they did a few years later. A blast that has energy, debris, and sound. Corridor and especially Niko are big on the look of explosions, so turn the guys loose on that.
I’m surprised it took me this long to realize you have the same humor as nostalgia critic 🤣
I'm genuinely shocked that God hand wasn't on the list