Each level’s difficulty was considered in the context of when the game was released - How hard was this when it came out? - since subsequent accumulation of knowledge, online resources, simplified rereleases, and better technology have made some of these stages more manageable over time. In general, we attempted to weigh a given level’s difficulty relative to the rest of the game and relative to other games in its genre. If a game was targeting young kids, how difficult was this level to that particular cohort? ➼ The ’90s Disney Games Rule: Intended audience matters. Side quests can be levels discrete sections of a map can be levels (as long as they follow the Flappy Bird Rule.) ➼ The Open-World Rule: As game styles evolve, so do level styles. ➼ The Flappy Bird Rule: Levels have a clear beginning and end.
meaning no arcade games (unless they were ported to a console) and no mobile-first games - and we created a few rules to guide our selections:
#RIDDLE SCHOOL GAME JOLT PC#
We reserve the right to add it at a later date.) We only looked at console and/or PC games released in the U.S. (It does not contain, we want to note, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which came out too recently for us to confidently make a determination about whether any of its challenges warrant a spot. This list contains resource-draining RPG grinds, uncompromising tactical grids, mind-melting adventure-game puzzles, and the sort of quicksilver, arcade-y gauntlets that require a speedrunner’s acumen. There are so many different ways to create a hard level. We’re here to celebrate the tradition and hopefully get some closure on our collective anguish. In fact, with the mainstream success of games like Elden Ring and Returnal, difficulty seems to be coming back into fashion. They may not be as common as they were in the old days, when there was a direct financial incentive in thwarting players, but plenty of studios still crank up the meters to 11, eager to break our thumbs in two. And yet, even now, gamers have a grudging appreciation for a really tough level. Extra lives are no longer stingily meted out between checkpoints, an easy mode is usually only a toggle away, and generally speaking publishers are more interested in immersing us in a story rather than humbling us with our inadequacies.
The modern home console-based games industry is almost unrecognizable compared to those early days.
This was the business model video games attempted to separate kids from their allowances as efficiently as possible, which was most easily accomplished through the blunt force of difficulty. A few minutes later, once those ghosts claimed Pac-Man’s soul, or after Jumpman tripped over one too many of Donkey Kong’s barrels, you were sent back to your mother, tail between your legs, in hopes that she had a bit more spare change left in her purse. In the earliest incarnation of the art - the arcade cabinets scattered across movie-theater lobbies and dentist waiting rooms in the ’70s and ’80s - you’d exchange a quarter for three lives and a dream.
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