We all love to game. Whether it’s a quick twenty minutes on a beat-‘em-up before work or a hefty ten hour session on our favourite RPG, we turn to games to escape the frustrations of our day to day lives.
And more often than not, they serve that purpose. But every now and again, a game comes along that causes more stress than pleasure, and whether it’s by accident or design, no medium can get us quite as frustrated quite as quickly.
I had a think back over the last fifteen years and recalled those moments in gaming that have had me at my most frustrated; to the point where I thought the joypad would break under the force of my spasming palms.
So without further ado, let’s take a look at 10 of gaming’s most nerd-rage inducing moments.
10. The Final Stage of Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega)
Back before you could save games, before memory cards and hard drives, you had to just play and hope to god you didn’t screw up along the way. Being a gamer back then meant you were committed, but reaching and beating the final stage of Sonic the Hedgehog was something that tested the greatest degrees of that commitment.
After hedgehoggin’ through 6 stages of ever increasing insanity, you’re then dropped into the final battle with no rings and made to fight Robotnik in his most diabolical machination yet. And should you die with no continues, there’s no reload option, there’s no do over – you lost. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 rings.
Let’s say you do manage to fry the Eggman. Don’t celebrate just yet. Did you miss a single Chaos Emerald? Thought so. Well you beat the boss, you saved your critter chums, but it was all for nothing. If Robotnik even retains one Emerald then he essentially wins and shows up on a ‘Try Again’ screen right at the final moment to taunt you. Whatever his plan was, it can now take place and you’re powerless to stop it.
Frustrating doesn’t quite do it justice. It was a huge f*ck you from Sega, and the only thing you can really take from the experience after that blow is that sometimes, bad guys win.
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21 Comments
Oh man, bloody D-District Prison.To say it’s tedious doesn’t even begin to describe the experience.
Nice list Stuart!
The final boss in Sonic stands out for me. I remember as a 5 year old boy fuming at my inability to defeat Robotnik (I will never refer to him as Eggman), so much so that I felt obliged to write a note on my door that read “Do not enter and be quiet”
I can laugh at it now.
The 5th Elite in Pokemon too, my word
The Oddjob in Goldenye multiplayer was the ultimate dick move. These days looking up and down in a FPS is easy but using the C buttons on an already awful controller was just a nightmare.
Forget the Elite Four, the freaking ice puzzles in every Pokemon game make me never want to even look at a games console for a long time.
Falling down a hole on Mario has to be the most irritating gamer fail ever. And then getting pissed off and running really fast and falling down the same hole countless times. Great list!
GTA-everyone used cheats if you didnt sucks to be you
Dark souls wasn’t hard, it was just utterly the most boring “RPG” ever made
Pokemon the elite 4-5 were not that hard, as you could grind your pokemon on the first ones, in blue and yellow back when pokemon didn’t suck my charizard could solo almost the entirety of the battles with all the trainers.
I guess your just the gaming master /s
I find your lack of landing the plane on Top Gun for NES disturbing
Sonic’s difficulty was great.
Can’t agree with calling Demon’s Souls either difficult or an RPG. It was filled with fake difficulty, like no pause button; and a leveling system and swords does not an RPG make. Also, calling it vast has to be a joke.
The Champions at the end of Pokemon games are of varying difficulty. I waltzed through the elites and flicked the Champ away in the last Pokemon game I played. All I had to do was battle at each route until I couldn’t stand to look at it anymore before moving on.
I don’t recall getting that Golden Chocobo to be difficult at all. I must have gotten lucky or found a trick — or maybe I just had nothing better to do at that age. It was defeating that Weapon at the bottom of the ocean that I found impossibru.
That’s a retarded comment. You gain experience, upgrade weapons, learn skills/abilities based on your play style. It’s set in a fantasy world, with fantasy monsters. This my friend, is the definition of an RPG. Sorry it’s not all cutesy like your Pokemon and FF…sack up young’un.
Fake difficulty? The fact you can’t pause isn’t what makes it hard, jagmo. Somebody is too used to pause/heal mechanics. The fact that most monsters can 1 shot you if you aren’t careful, is generally what makes the game hard.
It’s people like you that stop new IPs from gaining a following. Keep playing your rehashed version of Pokemon and Final Fantasy. The rest of us that want something new, something challenging, will continue to look to the Demon/Dark Souls series for inspiration.
Next time, think before you type. You obviously got steam rolled by the games and couldn’t hack it. Sorry, but it doesn’t make the games bad, it only makes you bad.
Seconded. Looking at the list (missing Tyson-Punch Out), I think the author probably might have been too young to enjoy that particular form of self-immolation.
I’d just like to add that I obtained the Platinum Trophy for Dark Souls. HEHE. My greatest gaming achievement ever – seriously.
Resetting the computer in x-men on the Sega Genesis.
When I got to the #2 frustrating moment page, I clicked ‘NEXT’ and it didn’t advance to the #1 most frustrating moment… I thought: “Well played.”
But then I clicked it again and it worked.
Onimusha. Water puzzle. /list
I would say the most recent destroy my computer moment was playing Minecraft and a creeper sneaks up and blows you to hell. Then you are left completely weaponless in the dark with no clue where you built your settlement. You spend 10 minutes hopping around to find half your house has been blown up. That is very conditional though. Creepers I guess is my main point.
Very good list. I agree with most of it, particularly 1. and 2.
However, I’m very confused at the lack of Halo 2′s ending. All right, the Covenant Fleet is advancing on Earth. I’m the Arbiter and I just beat this lame Brute Chieftain. Time to jump back into the Chief’s boots, head back to Earth, and… DAFUQ?!?! CREDITS????
I never felt Sonic 1 was anything more than a breeze to get through; and it is fairly easy to get all of the Chaos emeralds – especially compared to Sonic 2.
FF8 D-district is only about 5-10 minutes long (including events and gathering the Combat King on floor 1 and the Str Up on floor 2), I think you’re blowing it out of proportion. Aside from floor 2 and floor 5, it takes about 5-10 seconds to get through a floor.
That’s not possible… you have at least two fights per level if you’re lucky, there’s no way you get through 1 level in 10 seconds. It was much easier the second time I played it though, because I knew to go up first :)… but my first time it also took me a few hours to get through it, we probably weren’t levelled up enough.
Is it really necessary to have a page for every single freaking number in the list?
Hilarious list. I especially enjoyed the vice comment. I have been there…