Hard NES Games (We Can't Stop Playing)
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- čas přidán 27. 06. 2024
- What is it about HARD NES Games that keep us coming back? Nintendo became a household name with series like Contra, Castlevania, Mega Man, Ghosts N Goblins, Zelda, Ninja Gaiden, Metroid and more. Many of these games were HARD. Nintendo Hard. As kids, we cut our teeth on brutal games and living to tell the tale was a badge of honor. And we just can't stop playing them!
This video is my journey, through not only the hardest, but also my nostalgic favorite retro gaming experiences on the NES. Games that were so good, that despite the struggle, I came back for more. And still can't stop playing them to this day.
#nes #retrogaming #nintendo
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CHAPTERS
00:00 - Nintendo HARD
01:04 - Ninja Birds
07:19 - Ghosts N Gobblers
13:48 - 7 Minute Sphincter
19:27 - Konami Beat It with an Ugly Stick
23:59 - Ride the Tiger
28:28 - The Best and the Hardest
Opening Music: Ninja Gaiden Unbreakable Determination GaMetal Remix by GaMetal: • Unbreakable Determinat...
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Games Shown in this Video:
Ninja Gaiden - Ghosts N Goblins - The Adventures of Dino Riki - The Adventures of Bayou Billy - Holy Diver - Mike Tyson's Punch Out - Abadox - Batman - Double Dragon - The Karate Kid - Battletoads - Mega Man - Gremlins 2 - RC Pro AM - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Contra - Silver Surfer - Bionic Commando - Journey to Silius - Hry
This makes me want to try Dino Riki Again. Is there just one hidden bird icon? Or is it like one per stage and you have to know the locations?
I just tried it, the platforming is miserable. I'm hoping there's a hidden bird on the first stage somewhere.
Yes! There’s one on nearly every stage. And often right before you need it. Once you know where they all are you can bypass almost all the jumping. It even flys over the fire traps and anything else.
@@ShmupJunkie It seems like some of the later stages don't have them?
Also since Holy Diver is on this list, it includes famicom. So What about Recca? Maybe you dont find that one impossible.
I remember finding one on every one of the last stage 4 sections except the very last stage before the boss. But that area is doable without it. Im positive there is one for the stage 4 lillipad area and also the green stage.
Whoa "mutha F%ckin MIKE" knows who Shmpjunkie is !!!!!!!! COOL . Beans. .... guys. ... .. . . :-))))) ... . . ~ Cheers , ~ "the" Rev
There's actually a trick in Dino-Riki that not too many people know about. If you have a 2nd person on hand, they can fire on the 2nd controller, while you control Riki on the first. Me and my brother were able to beat the game by having a turbo controller in the 2nd port - he'd be firing, and I'd worry about the platforming. Good ol' days...
Man, just hearing the Ninja Gaiden songs is enough to put me in a massive nostalgia trip.
People don’t believe me when I say I still usually watch the cut scenes when replaying it. Even though we’ve seen them endless times. It still takes me back.
I was just saying the same thing. this video made me cry because I relieved some of my childhood. I really wish things were like the 80s and 90s. Life was much better than
Absolutely 👍
@@ShmupJunkie It's a crime NOT to watch them.
Level 4-2: Unbreakable Determination is one of the best tracks in video game history!
Beating the original Castlevania in front of my brother and father was the proudest moment in my gaming life.
You had proof! I remember with Ninja Gaiden people literally didn't believe I finished it. You needed a friend watching to vouch for you lmao.
I still haven't been able to beat Dracula without Save States. 2 forms for Dracula and he is so damn difficult. Much respect to you.
@@ShmupJunkie Same here. My friend at the time didn't believe me that I beat all 3 bosses, so I had to beat the game a 2nd time in front of him at his house for him to believe me. That spinning blade slash thing was a life saver and I memorized all of the enemy placements as well as item drops. It was the only way to beat it.
I remember having trouble beating the first Castlevania at first, but now i can play through it with ease and finish it in like 45 minutes. I remember at first it took me days, even left my nes on overnight haha. But yea, i did it as an adult, i assume you did as a kid which is actually more impressive imo.
@@loki.odinson It's not that hard when you get the pattern down. Stand right in front of him and jump half a second after he opens his cape to shoot those fireballs and hit his head. Also have the holy water and lots of hearts lol.
HARD NES Games that Kicked our Butts but we can't stop playing. Games so good that despite the struggle, or especially the struggle, they remain nostalgic favorites to replay. Can you beat some of these games? Enjoy this super fun video of my personal struggles and share your gaming experiences in the comments.
There's a number of them I've completed at least once, and there's some that just whoop my ass lol. All the Castlevanias are so well made, they're tough, but can be mastered. Like Gaiden and tons of shmups. Great vid man! 👏 🎮
Ninja Garden gave turrets syndrome.😂 Ninja Garden made go RAGE SUPER SYAN.
@@sammylane21 Gotta love that autocorrect. Ninja Garden sounds like a game that needs to happen! 🤣
Try Blaster Master on the NES. It was such a great game with amazing music. The beginning levels weren't too bad, but once you arrived at Level 4 and beyond it punished you for the tiniest mistakes. Level 8 was beyond brutal filled with quick deaths and a boss that will make you cry. It had Limited Continues, so you needed to make your deaths count because once you ran out, it was back to Level 1.
Never played Holy Diver, T&C and Karate Kid but I've beaten the other games (Dino Riki without continue code).
As a child, I once came across a "wonderful" game Ghosts'n'Goblins. It was then that I understood the meaning of the word "rage".
It did look wonderful right? I was so excited to play it. Not knowing it would become my nightmare during the following months.
But one day on New Year's Eve I got to see Dracula in Castlevania. And with about the fiftieth attempt, I was able to defeat him. It was the best New Year's gift.
@@Catovaria no way. I would love to beat that game still. Replaying it now
Rage quit throwing controller an powering off the NES. 😂 Only to realize you gotta start all over an do it again. Jokes on you my angry friend.
@@jamarjohnson6077 I've only beat dracula once in Castlevania. Not gone bother to even try it again. Although I do go back an play it just for the tunes 😂
If I know someone completed a hard NES game like Ninja Gaiden, I know their determination is unmatched. I did too and I am damn proud of myself.
They didn't call one of the main tracks in the game Unbreakable Determination for nothing!
@Damion Manuel Emulating is fine as long as you play the game normally. Besides, emulating is the only way to play certain games now.
It's actually easy when you've played it enough. Most don't realize that Ninja Gaiden was VERY flexible compared to games like the first Castlevania and The first Adventure Island 🏝️ ETC The controls are a bitch and you can't always or sometimes NEVER control yourself in the air or staying on a platform or edge whenever you land on one while jumping over too it and fall too your death but Ryu HOWEVER doesn't scoot or move when he lands on something and you can control him MUCH BETTER with ANYTHING up too and including attackin jumping or dodging vs someone like NES version of Simon Belmont or others like his control style. One of the MAIN KEYS too success in this game is remembering where the enemies are respawning and what sub weapon's you need to get past a certain point of enemies. Might I suggest holding on to the slicer attack for jumps that have birds flying at you as soon as you make the jump. I died ALOT before I got as good as I did at this game. I think The first Castlevania was MUCH HARDER then this game EVER WAS!! This game had it's MAJOR rough points for me when I first started playing it THAT'S FOR SURE!!! CHEERS 🥂
@Damion Manuel People have their reasons. Not having the original hardware is just one of them.
@@ShmupJunkie The best track of almost any game ever!
My favs are the ninja gaiden games on nes, stone cold classics. It would be cool to go through one day and no death all 3 in a row ha
That would be tricky! It's so easy to get upended during a run with a random death in these games due to all the pitfalls and your timing being off ever so slightly. I've done it for them individually but never tried it in a row lol. Usually it takes a handful of tries before I can get a lucky run like that.
@@ShmupJunkie yes I'm looking forward to covering the games on the channel at some point :-) Shame trilogy on snes is so underwhelming
@@TheElectricUnderground Agree there I have no love for that trilogy. Nor much for the remake on pc engine either. Nobody really got it right porting them.
Ninja Gaiden is my all time favorite series of NES games. I had all three, and as hard as they were, I enjoyed them thoroughly. And yes, you had to have precise timing skills to make it through those levels. I also had "The Adventures of Bayou Billy" and it was fun and required skills to advance.
HATED bayou billy but LOVED ninja gaiden
Loved Bayou Billy The Music and the fact that you can play it like a true movie soundtrack kept me returning for more punishment
Completing any of the Ninja Gaiden games on NES was one of the most cleansing and cathartic experienses in my childhood.
I can't believe there is someone else out there that experienced the anguish I felt 😂. This is amazing. 😢Suddenly, I feel less alone. That ninja Gaiden and G&G commentary was spot on!
we had similar childhoods, lol. it's always odd to me hearing younger guys call games like zelda 2 and tmnt "impossible" by knowing their reputations only. i can still pick up these nes games today and breeze through them by memory. overcoming "nes brutality" literally means etching them into your brain, and sometimes they don't ever seem to leave. 😊
And they weren't necessarily harder than your typical arcade game meant to eat quarters, often more reasonable. They were just designed the same way, to be practiced and etched into your memory to become so proficient with it. Definitely a recipe for how to learn most shmups as well so the skill comes in handy.
My young Nephew was playing the Turtles on the NES and couldn't get by the electric weeds, so i showed him how to do it, and he was in absolute awe at how easy i made it look, i felt like a games master lol.
Very true. I feel like the reason I sucked at math is because the entire map of Blaster Master overwrote that part and it's still there to this day.
@@heavysystemsinc.
You gotta overwrite memory for remembering those levels somehow lol.
100% spot on!! I played all those NES games as a teenager in the 80’s. They were brutal beyond belief! Today I play them on my emulator and they’re amazingly nostalgic! Only now I must admit I do abuse the save states! Lol 😂
"Ninja Gaiden is a dance. And just like real life; if you lose the rhythm and mess up: you die."
Best line I've heard in a while.
Ninja Gaiden brings out the philosopher in us. Either that or a bout of Tourettes 😅.
Fester's Quest was one of those games that kicked my ass endlessly, but I could never stop playing it.
You pretty have to never stop playing it to get anywhere haha. I remember really looking forward to it back then. Not because I was some kind of Adams Family fan but it just looked cool and had a great feature in Nintendo Power.
I loved Fester's Quest, but it annoyed me because I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing, and I never got anywhere. Pretty much the only way I knew how to gauge if I was doing well was by how powerful my gun got.
I rented Fester's Quest on a Friday and couldn't wait till Monday to have Dad return that turd of crap😂
@@thewanderingwizard9848 I remember feeling that way too, but just like you said leveling up the gun to its max early in the game dramatically helps you win. Same goes for the whip Morticia gives you.
OMG your commentary about these hard as nails games touched my soul! It's like you were reading my 8 year old mind.
Well these games touched more than our soul back in the day haha. It was fun reminiscing the good and the bad while working on the video. Was so much fun I might make another someday.
The first Batman on NES is a masterpiece. I still play it once in awhile. You should definitely cover the Power Blade series Shatterhand, and Shadow of the Ninja. More tough as nails NES action platformers on a Part 2 video. :)
Agreed on all those games. Batman is a total masterpiece and I really dig Shatterhand and Shadow. Depending on how well or not this video does and if there is interest, I would certainly do more.
@@ShmupJunkie i think non shmup related content is a great idea. You'll draw in more people. Maybe they'll discover the shmups we love :)
@@dangunheadachron1603 That’s the idea. I’m trying to expose new audiences to the genre. It’s hit and miss. Some themes do better then others. This one is off to a really poor start unfortunately but it’s early. Hoping it gets more interest as I thought it came out really well.
The Ninja Gaiden bird portion of the video legit had me laughing with tears, but everything that was said, is true. Too funny, yet painful memories at the same time 😅
I sure had a grand old time writing that script and editing haha. I had to do my favorite NES series justice.
I cant tell you how many times those birds made me slam my controller 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Perfect timing. I'm out for breakfast by myself and now I have something to watch. Thanks SJ!!!
You're welcome and please enjoy it! I had a super fun time making it.
Great video! In my heyday I could beat Ninja Gaiden on a single life without taking a hit until Bloody Malth. That was before I knew how powerful the spinning slash was. I could also beat NG2 on a single life. Now NG3, that was by far the hardest of the trilogy, at least in the US. I've only beaten it once. They screwed up the controls. Oh, and in case you didn't notice, I loved Ninja Gaiden so much I often use it's protagonist as my profile name, lol.
hahah, my brotha from anotha motha. We both share that love. I'm the same way. I can still run through it no death but not often, as one way or another something gets you. I still love playing through it though like almost nothing else. I never did jive with 3 as much as the first two either. I like the momentum of constantly being on the move in the first game and the second. The verticality in 3 was cool and a fun change of pace, but it also slows the game down in ways and turns it into something else. I eventually learned to appreciate it for what it is, but I don't enjoy replaying it as much either as the first two.
@@ShmupJunkie Another thing that bothered me about part 3 was the story. I absolutely loved the stories of the first two games with Jaquio, Ashtar, the demon world, magic swords etc. Part three with it's bio-engineered robots and no real ties to the first two other than Foster and Irene really lost something. And again, the floaty controls really screwed it up.
On a CRT TV I can still rip through the game no problem. Every pattern is burned in my brain forever. I remember years ago in Nintendo Power one of the game counselor's best accomplishments was beating both NG 1&2 in under two hours. I thought I was hot shit for doing it in 45 minutes, lol.
Great video! I was a kid when the NES was the top new console. One game I pride myself in beating was Bionic Commando. There is some brutal areas at the end that test your patience. With no jump but trying to time out the use of the grappling hook made me want to tear my hair out. Destroying Hitler was top priority.
Man I love Bionic Commando so much. Agreed it's not an easy game like most NES stuff was. It's one of my fav old games to replay though too. None of us were expecting the hitler angle at the end so it was the coolest thing getting to explode his face lmao
There's actually an input bug in Holy Diver. Pressing any 2 buttons, including dpad, on the same frame results in 1 of the inputs getting eaten, and the A button has lowest priority. It's consistent so you just have to be sure to either jump first then move, or be moving then jump.
Good to know wow! Or would have been good to know a lot sooner haha. I never knew the system behind it. I could just always tell that sometimes a jump just wouldn't happen. So I kind of started doing what you're saying naturally, feeling like I had to be very deliberate in my jump timing and couldn't just rely on it happening every time I pressed the button. So now I know why!
Ah, nuts, I just posted the same thing and didn't notice this comment. Yep, that's it. Surprised no one has gone in to fix this particular bug.
Thanks for this info! I remember an old Shmup Forums post describing a programming mistake in Holy Diver, and was sure the jumping issue mentioned in video were the result of it. But couldn't for life of me remember what the issue was specifically. That input bug was definitely it, and after seeing how hectic the game gets in this video, that sounds like one stress inducing bug. Lol
I still constantly tease my best friend about the time he set fire to his Nintendo. With Ninja Gaiden in it! I am definitely sending him this video!
seriously? ahahaha, that's funny I hope they did it outside!
I have such fond memories of these games.. I remember my dad would stay up late into the night with me on weekends playing Ghosts and Goblins. I think Hudson’s adventure island was one of the very few games I could not be in my childhood.
That’s a cool dad to work on that with you. My folks didn’t know anything about or touch games, but at least they got them for me. So I tried to spend lots of time playing with my son who’s all grown up now. Adventure Island is one of the more brutal games!
Beating Castlevania 3 Hard Mode was one of the most satisfying gaming experiences I've had. Very tough, but also fair.
I don't think I ever tried Vania in hard mode before now that I think about it. It felt hard enough as a kid on normal haha. But now that I can clear so much more easily I should totally try it. Not all games even had hard modes back then so it wasn't something that even crossed my mind.
@Cold Snap the 2nd loop. In the case of CV3/AkuDen, there's a name you can input to start directly on it. "AKAMA"
Mine was beating Contra without the Konami Code.
Battletoads with warps is a close second
To me, castle Vania 1 was the hardest
I best CVIII with all characters (, except Trevor by himself) back in the day. Didn't know it had a hard mode, tho!
I used to own The Adventures of Bayou Billy and I got to the last bosses several times. The reason I never beat it was because I didn't think the whip was doing any damage to them! Holy hell, if I'd been a little more patient and persistent, I would've beaten it.
I honestly don't know how/if I could ever beat them without the distance the whip gives you. They're hard enough to avoid with that alone. It really does take forever to finally whittle the health down.
Never could beat the first level.
This video makes me want to try it again. I didn't like the fighting because I was used to Double Dragon and River City Ransom, to which Bayou Billy cannot compare. Now it's clear that it's a game of patience.
I grew up with these games, but ironically, I was finally able to beat the likes of Ninja Gaiden and Ghosts N Goblins last year. There's nothing like the sheer rush of finally being able to overcome these obstacles.
Those two games are hard I never beat them😂
Congrats man, especially for me GnG was a real beast of a game. Seeing it through twice tested every last bit of patience back in the day.
You nailed it! I will never forget beating Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden, Metroid, Fridaythe 13th, and the Zelda games as a kid. NES is by far my favorite console. I still play it regularly, and am still beating games for the first time creating excellent memories.
I would definitely say the same in terms of the NES being my most nostalgic console of all time. The only other system I still play just as much is my Turbografx/PC Engine for all the shooting games I loved on there and still replay. But when it comes to the feels and especially the platformers, just nothing touches the NES. I still prefer those original classics to most of the sequels that came later.
I'd add Battletoads and Double Dragon as accomplishments
No u didn’t
I prefer all the 8 bit systems generally over the 16 bit ones (except Arcade, I love everything arcade till around '95)..I feel like there was more variety in the 80's and early 90's games than anything that came afterwords :)
Have you tried Clash At Demonhead and Battle Of Olympus? Both are epic games that take awhile to go through, I've never completed them yet myself :) Ohh and Xexyz!
"I love the power glove, it's so bad"-"Californiaaaa". Your reference to The Wizard(Favorite movie as a kid) and Dune earned you a huge sub. Love those movies to death and all the games you listed are my games too lol. Ninja Gaiden for life! Great video! Other mentions that drove me crazy: Blaster Master, Contra and 8 eyes. Don't forget Battle Toads. Raage!
Thanks! And welcome to the channel. I love making fun vids like this and always pepper in my fav movies and stuff I was into from that era. Good timing as I’ve been MIA for a couple months working hard on a new vid that releases in just a couple hours. Oh yeah… Ninja Gaiden for life 🤘
2:09 omg That music brings back SO many memories.
Hopefully good memories haha, not just the painful ones. It certainly does for me.
Double Dragon II and Contra are my two favorite NES games of all time, so you know I love a good Nintendo difficult NES game! Cheers and rock on!
Anyone who doesn't love the original Contra can't be trusted haha. That game is just too good for a quick run through, alone or with a friend.
@@ShmupJunkie oh, 100%! And you got to beat it at least once without the code, you truly feel on top of the world! Cheers to that!
I found Double Dragon II to be easier than the original NES Double Dragon as you can use high quality special moves early in the game.
In the NES Double Dragon, you had to build experience just to master special moves like the Jump Kick, Hair Pull and Throw, Elbow Punch, Pin Attack, and Jumping Spin Kick. You also had no continues which made it just as hard.
At least in the arcade Double Dragon, you don't have to face Jimmy Lee, and just have Machine Gun Joe (Willy) as your final boss.
Great video, I love the references to your earlier videos, especially the ninja gaiden part! The way you talk about these games is a lot of fun to listen to. You go much more in depth on the gameplay and your experience of it than other CZcamsrs, and it's definitely something I miss with other retro gaming CZcamsrs. Especially because I've never even seen an nes in my life, that console is twice as old as I am
I've been wanting to remaster that old Ninja Gaiden video for a while now so this was a perfect chance to reboot it. Throw in some of my favorite parts from the original and make it even better. My favorite NES game deserved no less. I really had a fun time making this so thank you. I hope it does well enough so I can make more like it.
We used to have a list called "Games to be Annoyed By" and Ninja Gaiden was #1 on that list and never lost its spot. I clearly recall one Saturday when we were playing for money my friend lost for the last time and he calmly stood up, popped the cartridge out of the NES, walked outside and hurled it down the street as hard as he could. He came back inside and asked if we wanted to order pizza like nothing had happened. The funniest part is that we had rented it and he needed to return it the next morning.
😂 I can see that happening. What I loved about NG though is the game was also really good, at least to me. Just that final stage was maddening having to redo. So once I cooled off in a day or two I wanted to play it again. I can't say the same for ghosts n goblins.
One of the best memories I had was when my brother, and I were kids sharing a room in our childhood home.
I remember one night around 2am on a Saturday, my brother woke me up to excitement with the Ninja Gaiden ending on the screen of how he stayed up almost all night just to beat that beast of a game.
That's one night I'll never forget, And to this day I still don't know how he did it.
If he didn't stay up and leave the console on for you to see there's a good chance you may not have believed him! I had the same problem and eventually needed witnesses lmao. It really did have some bragging rights attached back then.
I had a VHS tape that I would record my NES game endings on. Right when I defeated the final boss, I would smash pause and put that tape in the VCR to record the ending. I wish I still had that tape.
@@catsaregovernmentspies I did similar though I often recorded some gameplay too. I do wish I kept some of those old tapes too. Don’t think about those kinds of things back then and regret it later.
Thanks for sharing some of your personal battles with some truly tough titles here. This was an awesome watch!
You probably already know this but this topic was inspired by your video a month ago... which was also a great nostalgic watch. So thank you for the inspiration! It reminded me how much I enjoyed my NES and that I had yet to make a dedicated video for some of those personal battles.
@@ShmupJunkie Well I'm very honoured! The more I play other systems, the more I keep coming to the same conclusion as you. NES is where it's at for me and I never seem to get sick of anything it throws at me. I'm glad you and so many others here are on the same page!
I remember playing Ghosts n Gobblers all night long. It was addictive. Loved the design. The colors and sounds. It was ahead of it's time.
Had the difficulty been adjusted/balanced better it could be known as an all time classic as opposed to it's cool but impossible reputation. Instead of famous it's now infamous lol.
Ghosts n Gobblers sounds pretty iffy. Japanese definitely are into some weird shit!
Dick Tracy was a game that I played through as a kid just fine, but when I came back later in life, it wrecked me so hard I couldn't fathom how I ever beat it before.
Enjoyed this. Great work!
I think the "They tried and died" describes my experience with most of the games on this list lol
hahaha, yeah, you and the rest of us. That's just how it went back then playing the old school way pre save state practice.
Loved this video! Specially the segment at the end in which you pay homage to those games that didn't make the cut. Please, make a part 2 of this video in the future. The NES has enough hard games for at least 5 more installments.
True that, I originally wanted to do a lot more but just realized it was impossible for a single video. So I made the end sequence. There's a long list of great and hard games that would be great to do. I don't know when I'll make another one of these but if the demand is high enough it will happen sooner or later haha.
The NES was definitely one of the best video game consoles of all time, with many interesting adventures that inspired me. As a child I was an avid reader, so I loved games with a good backstory. Games with cutscenes were among my favorite, and it made them so much more than an ordinary game.
I definitely left it behind and "graduated" to the Sega Genesis and SNES after finishing numerous games, but nothing could replace the feeling of playing the NES. They are some of my mist treasured childhood memory, whether playing solo or with my little brother.
This was a great video! Well done! Thank you!
You are an amazing story teller, great video editing ,great voice, awesome games,all this got a little tear in my eyes at the end, thank you , your video was really really good!
You’re very welcome it’s always much appreciated to hear that it’s being enjoyed. It took a lot of videos and practice to eventually get to this point in editing and putting a fun video together. But I’ve always enjoyed it and hope to make more like it.
Another great video and a pleasure to watch.Made me think about how prepared we were to get hammered by games again and again without any save states,rewinds etc and that this was ok!!Probably cause the games were so fun, and without being consciously aware of it, realising that the graphics ,sound and gameplay was just the most awesome experience. Probably also explains why even these days I don't get too irritated by the latest psikyo ports not having any training features!
We didn't have any other options back then or know any better. Happy to keep plugging away at a game and just keep trying multiple times a day and improving. We did have a lot more free time as kids. It's nice to have the modern conveniences but I won't say it didn't harden our skills back then.
This may as well be a video about why I almost exclusively play RPGs 😅. Great stuff man. Can't wait for the next one.
I remember coming across a hardest nes games list back in the day and seeing final fantasy on there. I was like wait, what? lol Don't get me wrong I adore the original final fantasy. And I guess it definitely forces you to grind like crazy to progress sometimes. But I saw it on a list with the likes of Fester's Quest.
What was especially frustrating and challenging in Ninja Gaiden was that if you died on any of the 3 different end bosses on 6-3, the game sent you all the way back to 6-1. Ghosts n Goblins was Dark Souls before there was a Dark Souls and the game literally trolled you when you died.
I only wish Ghosts N Goblins was as easy Dark Souls. I would have beat it with far less torture back then haha. Dark Souls is pretty perfect in terms of where a good difficulty lies. Bloodborne especially was my favorite of their games.
You are a pro bro. I can’t get pass 6-3.. feels impossible. Some day tho.. Ghost & Goblins I can’t handle that level of frustration…
this channel is PURE GOLD
Great work! I heavily enjoyed. 👍👌👏😀
Awesome video, I laughed a lot especially with Bayou Billy 😆, which still I havent beated yet. I remember finish Ninja Gaiden just once when I was 10 or 11 using only that cyclone slash or whatever that power up was called. Ninja Gaiden 2 was way easier and beated many times, but then directly from Hell's oven came Ninja Gaiden 3 and kicked my @$$ way worse than the first game. So many great games that requiere practice and patience but once you beat them it felt so damn good. What a great time to be alive.
Thank you. I had a bunch of fun making it so it's been so cool seeing the great response and enjoyment from everyone. Maybe I had a little too much fun with bayou billy haha. I think most people say that about NG3 being the hardest, mainly with the US changes they made. I definitely thought 2 was much easier, but it's still possibly my favorite one. It's like the original only improved with an even cooler story and visuals.
@SHhmup Junkie You did a great job on this episode... I love it!💪🏿
Thanks! I worked really hard on it and really enjoyed it. I'm proud of how it came out too.
@@ShmupJunkie You should be! The intro with Ninja Gaiden is tight, the Music segments are Radical, and only certain people will understand your love for the NES Ghouls and Ghosts ... I do... Waiting f for the next, and you got a new subscriber...💪🏿
Awesome video ...I laughed with the dog as well
Dude so funny. I fell down the rabbit hole of nes docs and your vid had me laughing so hard. Thank you!! Wizards and warriors is one of my all time favorite nes games! I just like yelling that.
You know what? Mine too! I played the heck out of both Ironsword/W&W games. You'd think that endlessly climbing your way up through levels and getting knocked down to start over would get annoying, but I just couldn't stop playing it. Just fun to play, good controls, cool music and effects. I still play one or the other every year or so too.
In speaking of Ninja Gaiden, one of my favorite games of all time is Ninja Gaiden I, II, and III on Xbox 360. I hope that they'll make a new one soon. By the way, thanks for the great video and the trip down memory lane with the games mentioned in this video.
I'd love to see another NG game yeah and am all for it. Though who knows if that kind of game will be welcomed by the masses in this day and age. I thought they did a really great job bringing it into 3D with the original and even enjoyed the second one too.
you guys have to see Running & Gaming, with the NES BIKE... Ninja Gaiden was defeated in 3 miles and 25 minutes, there was a 55 min showdown with battletoads...
Where do I find that? I haven't seen it.
@@ShmupJunkie the tagging must not be working well for the videos, type in running & gaming marmax gaming and that gets them to pop up!
@@anti-wokeness7424 lol that’s crazy. I found it. The stuff people come up with. I see he used the speed slash trick on the final boss. Don’t blame him. I would try it one day but I can’t run for that long! 🤣
@@ShmupJunkie yeah that's no gimme lol but that was only form #1, then the 2nd and 3rd form was just raw without any tricks... imagine going back to 6-1 haha devastating. Hell most people can't takes some practice, takes months of a couple jogs a week.
Props to you for beating it Ninja Gaiden. I spent my entire childhood proficiently getting to the final boss and never beating him.
At least back then I found it easier to just get to the boss with the jump slash weapon and kill it quickly. Especially the second form. It was getting to the boss without losing it that was the hard part!
Amazing video!
Hardest game that I ever played is Magician Lord for the Neo-Geo. Now that game needs a video on its own SJ. I would love to see you talking about this all so challenging gem for sure bro. 8^)
Anthony..
Magician Lord is brutal! I've never practiced it enough to get a legit clear. I do really enjoy it though... one of the few Neo games I own physical that are non shmups along with Nam 75. Those two games are what really made me want a Neo back in the day. So we settled on playing them at the local blockbuster demo setup instead on weekends haha. Or in arcades when I came across it.
You know what’s crazy, my best friend in high school was this semi rich Jewish kid who got a Neo Geo AES then (there were actually 2 people in my high school who had one including him). He got it with 2 controllers & 1 game, & that was the game. Man, what awesome music & sprite art. He got so insanely good at it that one time we walked in a local arcade & he put in 1 quarter & beat the _entire game!_ I was blown away. That was the first time I ever heard of what I now know is a 1CC.
As a kid I loved the idea of infinite continues, but as an adult, I've realized infinite continues = incredibly incredibly incredibly hard game
With the older games, you had to restart at checkpoints after dying so infinite continues let you keep trying, but still forced you to improve and learn the game. I liked that. The games that let you credit feed without penalty and finish it without improving your skills or effort just lose any challenge or fun for me.
@@ShmupJunkie Yea, like I enjoy neo geo games, but its hard to resist quarter pumping at home.
that infamous way of continuing was preserved even in ghost n goblins resurrection
I really like your selection of games. It felt like perusing the gaming section of a late 80s, early 90s rental store. Good times, good times
Great Review as Usual SHmup Junkie. A lot of great game and great memories of our childhood on Nes ❤❤❤
Thanks! I really had fun making this video and hope everyone enjoys it.
It's nice to see you branch out into other genres :)
Thanks. As much as I adore shmups and will keep plugging them, I think we all have a wide variety of games we like playing. So I'm always testing what my community and viewers are interested in and try to mix it up. It's also a great strategy to get new subs that wouldn't normally click on a "shmup" oriented video, but may find how I present them compelling enough to give them more time and branch out into the genre more. Although I doubt watching Dino Riki here would actively make someone want to play it ahaha
@@ShmupJunkie funny you say that, cause it made me dig out my old cartridge and try to find the wing items. I had forgotten I had that game so it was nice to see it showcased.
Also...what happened to Timmy? Did he move out? XD
Great Video!
Oh MY GOD the Ghost and goblins section is spot on too!
Unfortunately for the majority of us, spot on in a very nightmarish memories sort of way haha.
this is so funny, the bit about ghost n goblins brings back so many memories. I felt the exact same way.. lol
Those Ninja Birds...🤣🤣 3:16 bruhh
I remember with Contra as a kid and before I knew the 30 man code, I grabbed the machine gun and left my game on for like 13 hours just shooting guys that walked on screen. We were at a town bbq or something so when we finally I got home and I ran it to find I had about 41 lives I finally finished Contra for the first time. After I learned the code I soon realized I could do it with the 3 lives your giving. Great times and memories.
lmao that's funny. How did you just leave it shooting guys? Like in a spot where nobody comes from behind you and just taped the fire button down? You're right about the code. A game that originally seemed so brutal became no problem later on. BTW if you're a fan of Contra and haven't before, check out Super Cyborg. It's about a couple years old and on modern consoles but as close to playing SuperC as it gets. I featured it in my last Run N Guns video and it got a ton of response. Game is killer. Not only that, but I'm currently playing an early build of a game coming later this year that I'll show in the next video called Iron Meat. Another Contra homage that so far is just as good or even better. Loving it so far. These two games are literally better than any Konami made Contra game I've played since Contra III on SNES. Can't believe two of the best Contra games out there now are not made by Konami 😅
@@ShmupJunkie I used a combo of tape and rubber bands to hold the fire button down, and I did it in the jungle stage where the back part where you drop in still showed water. That way no one could spawn behind me, just in front of me.
Man, half these games I finished, half I didn't hear about them. I do however have the memory of accidentaly despawning enemies in the last stage of Ninja Gaiden, specifically on that imposible jump. Great video!
Thanks! I never got lucky and despawned that enemy back in the day. It wasn't until much later and the interent that I learned it could be done. And then wished I knew it sooner!
Loved this video man! Holy Diver is ridiculous. Haven't finished that beast yet.
Man, I had the exact same experience trying to slog through the OG Ninja Gaiden when I was like 14. I had got it back in '07 on the Wii Virtual Console because the boys at Screwattack would never shut up about how great it was, and how balls hard it was. Those chuckleheads weren't f'king lying. I vividly remember getting to the fight against Ryu's dad and dying, and being in such disbelief that I swore the game gliched out on me. I crawl my ass back to the Jaquio, die in half a minute, get booted back to the beginning AGAIN, and just... paused and stared at the screen. It was the most demoralized I've ever felt in my entire life. I didn't touch that game again for a solid month. I did eventually beat it handily, but my god, Ninja Gaiden is the only game that's ever broken me.
Makes me glad that games like Elden Ring exist tbh. A kid can't say they're a gamer until they've played something that's utterly broken them!
I loved the gameplay in Ninja Gaiden so much that no matter how hard, frustrating, or sometimes even rage inducing it was learning that last level, I couldn't stay mad at it. I'd be back on it the next day haha. Ghosts N Goblins was that game for me where I just put it aside even after finishing it and didn't try to beat it again for ages. Honestly, playing Elden Ring and other games since had their challenges, but none came close to the unforgiving nature of some old NES games. Not necessarily a bad thing. Modern games have more tools to present you with serious challenges, or even allow you to challenge yourself in ways you choose, but not make them so unforgiving to retry and replay that you need every ounce of willpower to persevere and see it through. Oh but I wouldn't give up those old memories for anything.
I bought an after-market console from amazon that plays NES, SNES, and Genesis games. I love busting that out once in a while and having the physical copies to play with.
Man, this is a great video. Your best ever. I love it. Beautifully edited, and extremely funny. 😎
Thanks man. Of course I had a blast making it. Wanted at least a few more games in here but had to cut it. Was already taking over a month to make haha.
Ninja Gaiden is WHY I have Hypertension today at 47 years old. LOL!
Amazing stuff. Loved the humour and nostalgia. So much suffering haha. Well done
Thanks! Been wanting to do a fun nostalgic vid like this for a while with some of the games I had stories for. It was a good time and the video is doing well so maybe there's a sequel in it's future.
great video!
This is the first video I've ever seen from you and I LOVED it. What a great nostalgic trip through some of these insanely hard NES games, it really felt like going on a retro journey. Fantastic video!
Thanks! And welcome to the channel. I had a blast making this and will likely do more in the future. And hope you enjoy some of my other recent stuff as well. We have an awesome community here.
Always so entertaining. Great vid.
Thanks! You can probably tell I had a great time making it 🤣
Very well done and nostalgic!
Thanks! I had a really fun time making it.
Brother you BLEW TF UP with this video. Almost all your videos are in the 20k's and this one sits at 236k as of today haha. Good shit dude.
Thanks. Think this is my third best performing vid. The recent 80s 90s video is almost at 500k and the Mega Drive Shooters is 750K. This is one of my favs though I had some stupid fun with the script haha.
Alright, I just found your channel and your commentary on Ninja Gaiden is hilarious, but so true! Ninja Birds?!? 🤣 Subbed!
Welcome! You sure picked a heck of a video to find me lol. Ninja Gaiden is just too good and too fun to roast at the same time. Will always love it.
man! such memories (and nightmares!! - lol) thank you for this awesome video! Back then i used to look at the box art in frustration after i couldn't beat a level and wonder if there was some secret hidden there! :'(
"set me up for gaming for the rest of my life" Well said!
My cousin had a 2600, although enamored, I was a little to young, but a few years later when my mom got me my own "TV Games" with Super Mario and Adventure Island phew! I got up an hour early before school just to play that little bit more.
The 2600 was my first console as well but like you, I was a bit too young. I still had fun with a bunch of the games, but playing Defender at 4yr old is pretty brutal haha. It wasn't until the NES that I fell in love with games in general. Adventure Island man, what a trip. The game that humbled those of us thinking we were hot stuff for easily clearing Mario lol.
Battletoads still playing that turbo tunnel, bring me a smile everytime I passed it.
Funny enough I think that's possibly one of the easier levels in the game once you memorize it. Even though it seems impossible at first. I always had the most trouble with some beat em up sections.
@@ShmupJunkie Correct, it is easy for old gamer like ourself. The level I always get trouble is one of the finals one with the rat boss you have to race and catch. Love that game top 10 of Nes era.
great work man that was a blast from the past and that was brutal games hard as hell
Thanks! Had a super fun time making it too. Minus the getting my butt kicked again by GnG haha
I beat the first Ninja Gaiden for my friend's birthday as the "entertainment". I owned Bayou Billy as a kid and beat that in exactly the way you described. Those last two dummies hurt my thumbs so bad and they were sore for days from circling them across the screen. With that said, there were others that eluded me and I am happy to say that in the last year or so, now into my 40s, I am back to beating NES backlog games. Last year I beat Batman and The Adventures of Lolo and Abadox on original hardware with no cheats or Game Genie. I have some others lined up for this year too....I think it's time I beat Mike Tyson again!
Congrats! I can honestly say that most of the old games I play and finish legit now are the ones I've already been playing and know so well. It's hard to find time anymore to grind away at a game from the beginning or for days on end. I remember spending endless amounts of time on Abadox with it being the kind of game you just have to no death most of the time. Ghosts N Goblins was the one I was looking forward to least for the video because I never was good enough at it to not struggle with it. Since once I beat it back then I pretty much stopped playing it, unlike these other games I still like coming back to. I heard there is an international version with continues removed. I can't even imagine what learning the game must've been like for any poor kid playing it that way lol. It was hard enough even with endless attempts to learn it.
You make me want to try ghosts n' goblins again... Your videos are awesome!
For me it was 8 eyes as a single player experience. So good I kept going back!!!!
I will always love going back to the ninja Gaiden games!!!
It made you WANT to play it? 😂 I thought it would only remind most of why they don't play it anymore lol. Even for me that game is a love hate relationship. I love the sequels and play them all the time but I don't come back to the NES version often... mainly for this video. It's a real ass kicker. Now Ninja Gaiden I still can't stop playing all of them. Masterful games. ❤
@@ShmupJunkie Yup, I want to play ghosts n goblins again... back in the mid 80's it was one of the first games my buddy owned... and it owned us again, and again, and again... Love hate indeed! We only made it to level 3 back then... now... well... not much better!
Completely lost it at the Dune reference 😂
They tried and died 😂
Honorable mention for this list - battletoads
Honestly, growing up in the UK in the 80s I never even SAW an NES, never mind played on one. But between the ZX Spectrum, BBC model B, Commodre 64, et al there sure was a catalogue of crazily difficult shooters, pixel perfect platformers and others which we would keep playing until we beat them. This also was a great proving ground that set me up with my gaming skills for life (which now dazzle my daughter, and my wife still calls me to do `the difficult bits') that your comments truly struck home with me!
Great vid.!
What an AMAZING video! Just 2 words for you, or better 4 words! Thank you, my friend!
You're welcome! I had so much fun making it and would do another one someday in the future. There was still so many I wanted to include.
Great vid man, you tell the storys so we'll, you had my attention thru the entire vid
Thanks! I clearly had a great time making this and would enjoy making similar in the future. I left plenty of games on the table that I wanted to talk about, so there's plenty of material left for a sequel.
Brought back memories of me and my brothers taking turns playing Ninja Gaiden and then laughing hysterically watching them get frustrated every time they would die. Ah the good old days. Thanks for this.
Almost as good as two player Contra and leaving your friends behind on the waterfall stage to die because they can't keep up! haha
Beautiful editing so many good cut ins lol
Thanks. It takes a long time to make these videos but it’s always worth taking the extra time to get them just right. I had a lot of fun making this one.
There was a trick in Ninja Gaiden that I learned by accident. By holding down while in the air (before and during a jump), you could do 3 slashes rather than the normal 2, it helped a lot with flying bosses and the dreaded stage 6-2.
I didn't know or learn about that trick until I saw people doing it in videos. Sure would have made that final boss a lot easier!
You just unlocked a memory for me. I just remembered Dino Ricky, I guess the experience as a kid was just that traumatic I just blocked the whole thing out. I remember I barely ever got past the first lilly pad
Oh, man, I beat all of these except for Bayou Billy. I stumbled across a loose cart of Holy Diver some 20 years ago or so along with a Famicom Contra for $10 each at a store that didn't really do much in the way of imports, and sold all Famicom games at a flat $10. I didn't even know what it was at the time, but the art on the sticker was awesome and I dig the song, so I grabbed it, and I loved it.
Ghosts 'n Goblins is a game that gave me one of my fondest memories. Twice I've 1cc'd it in front of live witnesses, and the first was the best. Back in 1999, I was working at a FuncoLand. We had a bunch of kids that we referred to as the "rat kids," whose moms would just drop them off like it was day care while they hit other stores in the plaza. Eventually, one of my buddies that worked there came up with an idea to get rid of them. We put Ghosts 'n Goblins in the NES, and would bet the rat kids an issue of Game Informer that they couldn't beat the first level on one credit, and if they failed, they had to leave. One kid was throwing a fit after he lost, saying it was impossible and that none of us could do it, not realizing that the guys working all knew I'd beaten it before, so, I went to prove it, and cleared it on my first life. It was slow and we were staffed (and I was manager on duty anyway), so I kept going. As I got to the end of the first loop, a small group of 5 or so people were standing around watching as I cleared it. It was the best I'd ever done, so I kept going. I wad pretty locked in, and didn't realize that by end end of thr second loop of that 1cc, a small crowd of maybe 10 or so people were there. I mean, it's just a game, but the guys I worked with treated me like I was a god that day, and was probably the "coolest" playing a video game ever made me feel. The second time it was just my brother watching at my house, but it still felt good... but that first time is something that one of my friends I still hang out with from there still brings it up, and we still make fun of that kid over 20 years later.
Ninja Gaiden... I have no such story about crushing. I have beaten it several times, and each was a pretty brutal continue-fest. I have gotten to the final stage on one credit, but have never even come remotely close to clearing it without continuing. I bet I've never beaten that game on less than ten continues.
Awesome walk down memory lane!
Dude, we are the polar opposites there. I can run ninja gaiden on memory and love it. It can be memorized and smoked. But I just can not do anything with ghosts n goblins without quite a lot of continues. It starts out easy enough, but some parts seem so unpredictable and random to me I can never get through without continues. Especially the second loop and that ogre house, then the final stages. That one is my nightmare game while Ninja Gaiden is my pleasure. Funny how that is. But just goes to show that it's in our heads and clearing either on a credit or no death is possible.
Loved you ended with The Batman music. Still here that song in my head.
No kidding. Sunsoft music was god tier in their NES days. Gremlins 2, Blaster Master, Silius… all bangers!
We love to challenge ourselves, that is why we go back to these games.
It's funny how what once caused us endless anger and frustration we can now look back on with humor and nostalgia. It really is the struggle that is a part of some gaming experiences. They were good enough to keep trying instead of just throwing in the towel.
@@ShmupJunkie Bayou Billy was the NES game I had first (I bought John Elway's QB first, but returned it within 2 days as it was garbage), and the was the only game I'd own outside of rentals for awhile. Yeah it kicked my ass for a bit, but I didn't let that deter me, eventually I could beat the game on one life. I eventually traded it off to a friend for SMB 2, which in itself was a challenge at the time (till I learned how to farm coins for it's post stage slot machine and could amass about 200 lives each time I played because I got the slot machine timing down). I got Billy back eventually, tried out the Japanese version too, surprisingly 1 lifed it, but then again, it is an easier experience.
Super C was another I took some time to learn, could never 1 life clear it, but eventually could beat it without continuing. Even managed to 1 life the original Castlevania a few times at some point in my teenage years.
These days, I am quite happy with how challenging games were back then. They sharpened your reflexes and timing, helped memory out a lot, you had to really exercise your brain, as well as your hands. That carried over to the 16 bit generation, but started to fade come the 32 bit era, and today's games insult all that by holding the players hand.
Epic work here, had me laughing from the get go and wanting to go back to some of these classic games :)
Although the thought of dancing with the ninja birds gives me the heebie jeebies...
Thanks dude! If I didn't have so much practice with those birds already and know the game like the back of my hand from so much replay, I doubt I'd go back to the frustration often too. As that's how I feel about GnG to this day.
Glad you put Punch Out in the ending montage. I didn't beat Mike Tyson until college, with the help of emulators and save states.
Punch Out is like an old pair of shoes and so much fun to this day. Timing is so spot on that I feel like I should only play it on my CRT. It may not be as hard as the others, but it was an early game and I was very young. So I remember we struggled with the last third of the game for a long time before finally getting through it. It was just a simple concept executed so well and played to the strengths of the console.
Great games, Great video!
I actually flinched during the Riki segment when you backed up into a ravine. It's been a couple years since I played it but it still haunts me. As for games from my childhood that bullied me, I can never forget Kid Kool which is one of the first game I had the misfortune of playing. All I can remember is that the physics made no sense and I don't think I ever made it past stage 2. Didn't take long for me to go back to Metroid and Mega Man
omg Kid Kool 😂 It's like what if inertia in a shmup was applied to a platformer. Mario did it right. Kid Kool went horribly wrong. Like it had some interesting mechanics but it was no fun to wrestle with. I never owned it and remember it being a one and done rental. I take it you backed up into a few ravines in your day playing Dino Riki as well haha