The Nintendo Entertainment System has been credited with helping the video game industry break out of the video game crash of 1983. The system helped create a new generation of gamers that have continued on playing games to this day. The cartridges that Nintendo used for its system have some pretty strict memory limitations and developers had to account for that when creating their games.

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To increase the replay value and enhance the idea that games were longer, some games were made brutally difficult to ensure that players were not able to breeze through games. Some games took the sense of difficulty to heart and created what is known as "NES tough" games.

10 Battletoads' Turbo Tunnel Has Caused Many Broken Controllers

A Battletoad braces for the bridge in the Turbo Tunnel level of NES Battletoads

Almost every gamer who has experienced Battletoads has the same memory of it: the dreaded Turbo Tunnel. The 3rd stage of this ultra-tough NES game is the last level that most players have seen, as the image of smashing one's toad into a concrete barrier is burned into the brain of so many kids. Gamers may be surprised to learn that Battletoads contains 13 levels, but most will never see them without resorting to level warps or Game Genie hacks.

9 Mega Man I Required Absolute Attention To The Surroundings

Mega Man Fighting Cut Man

Capcom's titular Blue Bomber blasted his way onto the scene in 1987's Mega Man. Players are tasked with figuring out the correct order to beat bosses in order to utilize the strengths of Mega Man's weapons against the robot bosses. Mega Man has unforgiving endless pits, instant-kill spikes, and unrelenting knockback damage.

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If gamers are able to fight their way through all of these obstacles, they meet with 1 of the most difficult sub-bosses in NES history: The Yellow Devil. Without using the famous start-button glitch, this fiend can cause hours of nightmares. The difficulty did not turn gamers off as Mega Man has seen over 30 new entries and spin-offs in the series.

8 Konami Made Sure The Adventures Of Bayou Billy Wouldn't Be Beaten In An Afternoon

Bayou Billy Fighting in Street with Whip

Konami's The Adventures of Bayou Billy is a game that could have started off an amazingly fun franchise. The game mixed in side-scrolling beat-em-up levels, driving stages, and even light gun stages. The major issue that held Billy back from stardom was the absolutely brutal difficulty.

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Regular enemies in the side-scrolling levels take 6 to 7 hits to defeat, Bayou Billy can be stuck in an endless loop of attacks, and the alligator enemies are beyond unfair. In a twist, the Japanese version of Bayou Billy is much easier than its American counterpart.

7 Do Not Die At The Final Boss In Ninja Gaiden

Ryu Hayabusa looking at mountain Ninja Gaiden

NES gamers consider Ninja Gaiden one of the Holy Grail of difficult games to beat. Requiring precise timing and an unbreakable constitution, players will need to press their way through the game's 14 stages and 6 boss battles. From birds attacking out of nowhere to the ever-frustrating knockback when protagonist Ryu is hit, there is a slim margin for error.

While there is an unlimited amount of continues, players are tossed back to the beginning of the stage they are on with one major exception. If the player makes it to the final boss and dies, they are tossed all the way back to the start of the 6th act and made to play through the final 3 stages instead of restarting right at the boss. While emulators have made Ninja Gaiden less frustrating with save states, this is a game that drove gamers bonkers at its release.

6 Zelda II's Death Mountain Is Aptly Named

Link battles an enemy in the forest in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Fans of Nintendo's original The Legend of Zelda were in for a surprise when Zelda II was released. The game eschewed the 1st's top-down view, went with a side-scrolling view, and adopted a more action RPG approach than the first game. A majority of the belief that this Zelda game is impossibly hard stems from the game's second dungeon, Death Mountain.

If a player does not know what they are getting into, they are going to have a bad time. A finite amount of 1-ups and the battle against the final boss are also seen as major hurdles to making sure Ganon is not brought back to life.

5 You Are Not Done Yet After Beating Ghosts 'N Goblins The First Time

Arthur throwing flame in Ghosts N Goblins

If you ask players what the hardest NES game they have played is, you'll hear a large number respond with Ghosts N' Goblins. After beating Ghosts 'N Goblins and trying to enjoy the moment, they quickly find out that they have only beaten half of the game. Capcom forced players to play through the entirety of the game twice to see the real ending.

An endless stream of daunting enemies, Arthur only being able to take 2 hits before dying, and the knife being the only useful weapon are all reasons that gamers have tossed aside their controller in anger.

4 Players Have To Continually Peel Themselves Off The Mat In Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

Little Mac fighting Mike Tyson

007 373 5963 - A numeric string brings players right to the final bout with Mike Tyson himself. This puzzle game cleverly disguised as a boxing game has been giving gamers nightmares since it was released in 1987. Every boxer has its own quirks and mysteries to unlock to put them down on the mat for the 10-count.

While the game starts off against the aptly named Glass Joe, the challenge keeps increasing until the player reaches Mike Tyson. The in-world Heavyweight champ tests a player's reflexes with split-second timing needed to avoid the 1-hit knockdowns that Iron Mike delivers for the 90 seconds of the first round. Being able to survive this onslaught is an achievement in its own right, but lightning-quick stick skills are needed to take down Tyson.

3 Made A Dumb Mistake In Fester's Quest? Time To Start From The Beginning

Uncle Fester Shooting an Alien in NES Fester's Quest

Fester's Quest for the NES is a Sunsoft game that was rushed out for the holiday season in 1989. The game stars Uncle Fester of Addams Family fame trying to save his city from an alien invasion. Players are dropped directly into the world without any idea of where to go and are largely left to figure it out on their own.

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Fester's Quest isn't an extremely long game, with an estimated clear time of 3 hours, but the length is not where the difficulty rears its head. There are no passwords or save points in the game, meaning that 1 small mistake at the end of the game will send the player all the way back to the beginning. There is a continue option on the main screen, however, but that was never set up correctly by the developers and causes the player to start back at the beginning of the game no matter what.

2 Your Thumb Will Be Screaming After Playing Silver Surfer

Silver Surfer fighting in NES game

The Silver Surfer is known as one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe. But players would never guess that from playing this 1990 NES game. An oversized character sprite, an amount of button-mashing that makes Mario Party look like child's play, and one-hit deaths conspire to create one of the most frustrating gaming experiences seen on the system. A turbo controller is a must if gamers want to take this game down.

1 Good Luck Figuring Out The Map In Friday The 13th

Fighting Jason in Friday the 13th NES

Some games are considered hard for more than just their gameplay difficulty. LJN's Friday The 13th is difficult due to an amalgamation of factors. The poor controls, unintuitive map system, and having to defeat Jason 3 different times to actually beat the game is a task that many gamers are not able to complete. Tasked with saving the campers and counselors at Camp Crystal Lake, the player will much more often than not be watching the masked antagonist murder everyone in sight.

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