5 Hardest Platformers On The SNES

Back in the ’80s, players coined the term “Nintendo hard.” That essentially meant that if you wanted to get your teeth kicked in, you might as well hop onto your NES and play whatever you could rent from the video store. That focus on difficulty started to dissipate with the Super Nintendo, but the console still had its fair share of tough-as-nails games, particularly in the platforming genre. Nintendo wasn’t sucking up more quarters with every loss, but it sure felt like it sometimes, given how hard some of these games were.

Here are the hardest platformers on the Super Nintendo.

5) The Lion King

You might assume that a game based on an incredibly popular children’s movie would be relatively easy. After all, not many teens or adults were champing at the bit to jump into Simba’s digital adventure. Unfortunately for many young gamers, your assumption was very wrong.

The Lion King game follows Simba’s journey from lion cub through his fight with his uncle Scar. From the jump, developer Westwood Studios is not taking it easy on you. In just the second level, players have to navigate a complex puzzle made up of animals. It’s a dizzying jungle of creatures, and the difficulty only goes up. By the time you’re scaling Pride Rock for the final fight, you’ll feel like a gaming god. Sadly, most players never got past the jungle.

4) Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest

The Donkey Kong Country series is great for players who like a challenge, but Diddy Kong’s Quest takes the cake. DKC2 is filled with new mechanics, each of which requires some trial-and-error to master. The problem is that you won’t get many opportunities to improve naturally.

See, DKC2 loves to teach you a technique in one level and then immediately move on to the next gimmick. Five levels later, it’ll go back to that first thing, but make it much harder. By this point, you’ve forgotten exactly what to do, so now you’re re-learning something under stress. Don’t get me wrong, DKC2 is a great game that introduced fan-favorite Dixie, but it’s also one of the more punishing games on the system.

3) Hagane: The Final Conflict

This lesser-known game from publisher Hudson Soft lets players step into the shoes of a ninja cyborg named Hagane. You’re trying to get revenge on another ninja faction and re-acquire the Holy Grail. While the graphics don’t look great and there’s quite a bit of repetition across its levels, Hagane stands out for its classic approach to difficulty.

Hagane is filled with non-stop action. This game throws so much at you in the form of enemies and elemental hazards. Thankfully, the controls are tight, and Hagane moves with incredible speed. It never feels unfair because you have plenty of tools at your disposal, but that doesn’t mean you won’t need a long break after beating it.

2) Castlevania: Dracula X

Personally, I prefer the European title: Castlevania: Vampire’s Kiss. It’s a much better name, but no matter what you call it, this is one of the toughest Castlevania games Konami has ever released. You play as Richter in this throwback to Castlevania‘s brand of retro consoles.

Look, Super Castlevania 4 is an exceptional game, but Konami definitely dropped the difficulty by giving players much more movement control. Dracula X goes in the other direction, feeling like a more natural successor to Castlevania 3. On the gameplay front, it’s very close to Rondo of Blood, featuring branching paths. However, it doesn’t have additional playable characters. That said, there are three different endings to find, giving players plenty of reasons to replay Dracula X.

1) Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts

The Ghosts ‘n Goblins series has always been known for its difficulty, but Capcom’s 1991 game is among the most difficult. Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts is the third game in the series and the first one that didn’t come to arcades. As with most games in the series, you play as Arthur, who is trying to save Princess Guinevere from the evil Emperor Sardius.

There are eight levels, all of which test you with tons of projectiles and enemies all over the screen. You can only take two hits before you lose a life, and if you want to see the true ending, you need to beat the game twice. When you do come up against Sardius, it’s a nearly impossible fight that ranks among the hardest on the system.

The good news for fans is that Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts does have a difficulty option, so you can slide it down to easy if you want. However, if you’re playing at the hardest difficulty, you’re probably going to have a bad time.

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