10 Unforgiving Video Games Hardly Anyone Can Beat

Whilst certainy iconic in their own right, the Ninja Gaiden series has certainly garnered a reputation for being amongst the toughest games to crack over the years.

The original title to kickstart them all was released by Tecmo back in 1988, and sees players take control of Ryu Hayabusa, dragon-human ninja hybrid who must overcome six acts of twenty different levels.

Unlike most traditional side-scrolling combat retro games, Ninja Gaiden's unforgiving difficulties begin with the mechanic of Ryu's physical strength decreasing everytime he is hit by either an enemy or obstacle. Players can die if their life bar is completely emptied, they fall off the screen or the timer on each level hits zero.

All of this doesn't even touch the surface on how the overly-detailed backgrounds and designs make things even more jarring for a player.

According to reports from lead designer Masato Kato, the logic was that players wouldn't stick around playing a game that was too easy, so Tecmo made the conscious decision to have the game stick out as one of the harder titles on the market.

The end result is a game that plenty love, albeit few have actually managed to finish.