Just not fair..

[Snarboo]

Super Jamie said:

In fact, most console platformers are horribly impossible. How come PC platformers like Duke Nukem, Bioforge, Halloween Harry, or Commander Keen are completable and fun but console games constantly kill you on the first screen?

Different design ethics. A lot of console designers came from arcade development, where screwing over the player was necessary to rake in money. This was most evident during the NES era where games were known for being brutally hard.

PC designers usually started on the PC and had a different design ethic. That didn't stop a lot of developers from making impossible games, however. The Amiga had a number of difficult platformers, with games such as the Killing Game Show and Shadow of the Beast coming to mind when I think of hard PC games. The PC games you mention came later, so years of development probably helped, as console games slowly became more balanced too.

One thing most difficult games shared on the PC and consoles was being short on content. A lot of old platformers were really short if you knew how to play and beat them, same with most shmups. Not always true, as a lot of old RPGs were harder for different reasons.

Edit:

40oz said:

Really? I didn't have much trouble with it. The last level was really tough though.

I played Shattered Soldier years ago, so my memory is pretty hazy. I just remember it being hard.

[Philnemba]

I remember beating Spiderman: Revenge of the Sinister 6 for the NES when I was about 6 or 7 years old. Some years later, I played it again for the first time in a while and for some reason I can't beat level 2 O_o

[Super Jamie]

Contra 3
Best Hard mode time: 0:16:07 by Josh Styger on 2007-12-14

[Super Jamie]

Snarboo said:

Different design ethics. A lot of console designers came from arcade development, where screwing over the player was necessary to rake in money. This was most evident during the NES era where games were known for being brutally hard.

Ah, I never thought of it that way. Man, it always seems to me like owning a console in its' heydey is such a short-changing affair. There are always really killer games that are fun to play at the time (GoldenEye on N64, Gran Turismo on PSX/PS2, Tekken after number 3) but history is rarely kind on most games, or it takes so long for something good to come out you may as well wait until next-gen consoles are out anyway.

[Creaphis]

Super Jamie said:

Contra 3 Speedrun

Wow, I've never played that, but just by watching it I'm really impressed by the game design. It's insane how densely packed the bosses are.

[Mindless Rambler]

Wait, the truck level on T2 was considered hard? I could beat that on my second or third try when I was five. Unless you're talking about the SWAT van level, in which I've only beaten that a few times in my entire life.

[Visplane Overflow]

Super Jamie said:
vid

Son of a bitch...he makes it look so easy. Mine's a snail's pace compared to that mad dog.

[Ultraboy94]

sonic 1 labyrinth zone? i found that zone hard in general on the megadrive version and im still stuck on the labyrinth zone boss on the master system version.

sadly most games now are too easy. infinite lives, regenerating health or easy-to-find health, heck, some games you can get 100% completed by paying an extra £5 on the Playstation store. i find things like that common and lazy in most new games.

[reki107]

I remember the adventures of bayou billy (NES)...It was a bad street fighter/shoot 'em up ripoff

[TheDarkArchon]

Ultraboy94 said:

sonic 1 labyrinth zone? i found that zone hard in general on the megadrive version and im still stuck on the labyrinth zone boss on the master system version.

Sonic 2. Game Gear. First boss. Alternatively, same game, Green Hills act 3.

[GreyGhost]

Tau Ceti on the C64 has a cheap end-game. After weeks spent collecting and assembling the reactor rods, I fight my way into the central reactor to be confronted by a bank of reactor cores that are lit up at random (you can only insert rods into cores that are lit) and a timer that runs out all to quickly. It appears that part of the game's un-winnable on the C64 so my ragequit was justified.

[deldelda]

insert mandatory Mushihimesama Futari video here

[trooper077]

Super ghouls and ghosts,to this day I consider it one of the hardest games ever made,it breaks balls.

[Super Jamie]

That is true, as if normal GnG wasn't bad enough, so many spots in Super GnG require double-air-jumps at JUST the right time. Some smartass has a speedrun of that up on YouTube as well, he does it in like 18 minutes. I can't get past Level 2.