Top 10 Hardest Video Games of the 90s
#10: “Ecco the Dolphin” (1992)
Don’t be fooled by the cute protagonist and serene setting. “Ecco the Dolphin” doesn’t mess around. The game follows the titular Ecco as he battles aliens across space and time to rid the ocean of its invaders. Just roll with it. But what makes it so tough is its level design. Underwater labyrinths will get you lost in no time, causing you to swim aimlessly around the same areas. “Welcome to the Machine” is a particularly grueling level as it's an auto scroller with multiple paths. Go down the wrong one and you’ll get crushed and have to start over. Creator Ed Annunziata even admitted he made the game overly difficult because he was worried kids would rent it and beat it in a weekend.
#9: “Super Castlevania IV” (1991)
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“Castlevania” is a tough series in general. But of its 90s entries, we have to give the spot to this Super Nintendo classic. Players once again control Simon Belmont as he faces Dracula’s monstrous forces. An abundance of skeletons, gargoyles, and other beasts flood each screen with most having unique attack patterns. And they’ll be sure to mess with you while you’re trying to platform through the game’s tough-to-avoid hazards. Unlike its modern descendants, “Super Castlevania IV” gives each stage a time limit. Since these levels can be pretty big and are packed with ways to die, players have to keep their cool while also keeping up the pace. It’s a practice of patience. And don’t even get us started on the bosses.
#8: “Silver Surfer” (1990)
The thing that makes “Silver Surfer” hard is the heaping helping of unfairness. It seems simple at first as it's just a shoot ‘em up that switches between a side-scrolling and top-down view. But it’s one of the most frustrating of its genre. Despite being, ya know, a SUPERhero, the Silver Surfer will die in one hit. But many of the enemies, which always appear in groups, can sometimes take multiple hits from you to go down. Adding to that annoyance is Silver Surfer’s astoundingly large hit box and the fact that running into walls will kill you, too. It might place higher if it were longer. But if you know what you’re doing, you can beat the game in under an hour.
#7: “Contra: Hard Corps” (1994)
Much like “Castlevania,” players could pick up basically any “Contra” and get decimated. But for this Genesis exclusive, everything is just a little bit worse...or better, depending on your point of view. The game brought several appreciated updates, such as being able to carry up to 4 weapons. But you’ll need all the firepower you can get. In comparison to other entries, there are more bullets flying across the screen at any given time and the enemies are tougher than ever. You, on the other hand, will still go down in one hit. And if you want to experience the full game, you’ll have to play through it more than once, since which levels you play on depends on your decisions throughout the story.
#6: “Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels” (1993)
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Nintendo famously didn’t release the Japanese version of “Super Mario Bros. 2” in America as it believed Western audiences would find it too difficult. When it was released in 1993’s “Super Mario All-Stars,” we could see that they were absolutely right. Controls are mostly the same. But the level design will make you want to snap your controller in half. Jumps are usually extremely precise and blocked by hazards like enemies or gusts of wind that will severely impact your distance. New additions make us wish they weren’t included at all, like the Poison Mushroom that hurts you or the warp zones that can actually send you backwards. We never thought we could dislike playing a Mario game, but props to Nintendo I guess.
#5: “Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” (1993)
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We’re all for the recent resurgence of great “Star Wars” games as long as they don’t pull anything like this. By far the most difficult entry of the adapted trilogy on the SNES, “Empire Strikes Back” will start by beating you into submission and never let up. A lot of what makes it difficult can be found in other action-platformers of the time; it’s all just a bit more frustrating here. Maze-like levels make it hard to find power-ups and will make you wonder where you’re supposed to go. And the game will throw piles of annoying enemies at you while you figure things out. While you do mercifully get a health bar, if the enemies don’t drain it, the bosses certainly will.
#4: “Myst” (1993)
Action-platformers likely hold the record for the genre with the hardest entries in the 90s. But the first-person puzzler “Myst” offers a different variety of tough. Players explore a series of islands while solving puzzles and uncovering the story behind this mysterious place. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, in reality, many of its puzzles lack context and are so obtuse that developer Broderbund included a paper pad in the game’s box so players could take notes. Even the game’s designers, Rand and Robyn Miller, estimated that less than half the people who bought the game made it off the first island. It may be an important, immersive game, but it’s definitely not for everyone.
#3: “Super Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts” (1991)
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And now back to our regularly scheduled programming. Capcom’s “Super Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts,” like the rest of its series, features incredible environment design, awesome power-ups, and tons of monsters to slay. But it will make you work to enjoy any of it. The monsters will seemingly spawn randomly, popping up all over the place. And with a two-hit lifebar, Arthur the knight will be dying a lot. Similar to previous entries, you also have to beat the game twice to fully complete it. And even on the easiest difficulty, it’s not an easy feat. It isn’t the hardest game in the franchise, but it is the hardest one from the 90s.
#2: “The Lion King” (1994)
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Considering it’s an adaptation of a Disney movie, it’s shocking how difficult “The Lion King” truly is. The game lures you into a false sense of security with an easy first level. But from there, the insanely precise platforming will have you screaming at Simba. And the amount of traps and enemies that come later in the game will have you rage-quitting in no time. Similar to “Ecco the Dolphin,” Disney told developer Westwood Studios to make the game more difficult so that kids couldn’t rent it and beat it in a weekend. The fact that “The Lion King” was likely the favorite movie of many children, leading to them playing this game, makes it hurt so much worse. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
“Super R-Type” (1991)
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“Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee” (1997)
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“Crash Bandicoot” (1996)
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#1: “Battletoads” (1991)
Not only is it the hardest game of the 90s, “Battletoads” may be the hardest game ever. Its set-up is simple: cool frog dudes out to kick some butt. But its execution has been haunting the nightmares of players for decades. The reaction time it requires of its participants is beyond belief. This is evident everywhere, but particularly during the fast-paced motorbike sections. While you at least have a health bar, you only get three lives and no way to save your progress. Once you die, you’ll start from the very beginning. Multiplayer, which would normally make a game easier, just increases the difficulty through the inability to turn off friendly fire. Why even bother?
