The Hardest Video Games To Complete

Updated July 15, 2025 542.2K views 26 items

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4.4Kvoters25.1Kvotes

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Vote up the hardest games to complete and add any that truly ruined your life

Video games are supposed to be hard. That's the whole point. Why play a game you can just breeze through in a few hours. The best video games should be challenging and engaging. But sometimes a game comes along that is nearly impossible to complete. What are the most difficult video games to beat? Vote up the hardest games to complete below.

Why would these video game developers make a game that's near-impossible to defeat? These games spank you seven ways from Sunday, making you wonder why you ever played them at all. Of course then you restart and go at it all over again. One of the games on this list was so tricky and hard to complete that Nintendo execs didn't even release it in America.

Vote up the games that broke controllers, shattered televisions, and ruined childhoods. The hardest video games that were more than just a challenge - they were games that were almost impossible to beat.

Over 4.4K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Hardest Video Games To Complete

This list is dynamically ranked based on user voting. The order reflects the consensus of our voters and is not influenced by paid placements or editorial bias.

1
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
This game was apparently designed with absolutely no regard for its target audience, the vast majority of whom no doubt tossed their controllers down in frustration. Playing with action figures is so much easier, after all.
1,376 votes
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2
Battletoads
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Metaweb
CC-BY
A side scroller, beat 'em up with already near impossible villains, Battletoads was also two player so you were tempted to join in with a buddy resulting in almost no room on the screen, constantly bumping into one another, and general madness.
1,126 votes
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3
Ghosts'n Goblins
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Metaweb
GNU Free Documentation License
Ghosts'n Goblins was a side scroller that used its gameplay to scare the crap out of you. Constant ghosts and... goblins... leaping out, causing you to fall to your doom. It's insanely hard to get to the last level, much less complete it.
997 votes
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4
Super Ghouls'n Ghosts
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Metaweb
GNU Free Documentation License
Even more difficult than its already daunting predecessor, Ghosts'n Goblins, Ghouls'n Ghosts threw even more enemies at you, had a moving landscape, and every jump required pixel perfect accuracy or you were DONE. Sometimes in just a single hit.
Then there was the ending of the game... which put you right back in the beginning again, making you complete it twice to truly beat the game.
722 votes
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5
Castlevania
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CC0
Another game legendary for it's simultaneous difficulty and fun, Castlevania seemed to find all your weaknesses in every moment and exploit them. It's hard to explain just how hard Castlevania is and why, but play it and you'll quickly see.
958 votes
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6
Mega Man
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Metaweb
GNU Free Documentation License
Well let's just say that every Mega Man after (and there are many) added things to make gameplay easier. Every cool upgrade was really only relevant towards one specific boss. The jumping modes were merciless and since you couldn't save, all those barely won victories had to be redone every single time.
933 votes
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Battletoads

Ghosts'n Goblins

Super Ghouls'n Ghosts

Castlevania

Mega Man