This goes to Geometry Dash without a doubt in my mind if you include user-created levels, and I do as long as they’re officially rated with stars, especially if they’re e.g. in a Gauntlet (which a number of Easy and Medium Demons are).
If you allow in star-rated levels outside of Gauntlets, then I think it’s safe to say that Tidal Wave on its own crushes the difficulty of basically any video game ever made that’s ever been completed by a human. GD is an interesting case where you can make it as easy or as difficult as you want because there’s no true “ending” to the game (getting to the Demon Gauntlet is part of an actual storyline, but when you beat it, it goes nowhere, so that’s weird).
if you include games with user-created levels there’s quite a few games with levels that are practically impossible for a human, eg. trackmania and super mario world
As noted, “that’s ever been completed by a human”. Otherwise there’s simply no ceiling; I can just create a game that requires you to perform 10 frame-perfect inputs every frame for five months straight and say “now I have the hardest game since it’s technically possible to win; checkmate.” With user-made levels, there’s still a ceiling defined by a human actually completing it, and I don’t think the human-beaten Mario Maker or Trackmania levels touch the extreme levels of difficulty at the highest skill levels of GD.
TL;DR: I think if we include user-made levels ever beaten unassisted by at least one human, Geometry Dash wins.
I’m pretty sure the trials of death in super mario maker wins.
Over 4000 hours over 7 years just to beat one level.
Silver Surfer for the NES is way harder than TMNT. It’s possible, though I’ve never done it, to beat TMNT. AFAIK , Silver Surfer is actually possible to beat, but basically no one has done it.
That goddamn seaweed.
I remember Retro City Rampage had an homage to this sequence near the end of the game. No lie: I broke out into a cold sweat when the screen first came up, thinking I’d have to grind and grind and grind to get through it.
Luckily the homage is much, much easier than the original.
Sorry about the PTSD, but…
I need to find an emulated version of this. Mine was faulty and always glitches as soon as you finished this stage so I never got to see neyond it for more than a few seconds. I’ve always wondered what was there!
I watch a streamer who mastered speed running dozens of NES games. He says Battletoads was the hardest game to learn. Just getting through the game, not even pushing for a fast time, was extremely challenging. Much harder than TMNT 1 or Ninja Gaiden.
I have never met anyone that could beat this level. It’s like it was made to sell the Game Genie.
Child me could beat it after hours of repeated attempts and running out of continues.
Adult me went back after a decade. The muscle memory was still there and I beat it on the first try. I probably got about an 80% success rate on first attempts now. But level 4 and beyond I’m terrible.
Original ASCII Dwarf Fortress
With that said I still prefer it to TMNT.
