Michael's Retro Stash: The Fifteen Most Difficult Genesis/Mega Drive Games (That Are Not 'Battletoads')
Published on HivePostify by @modernzorker · Sun Feb 16 2025
In 2015, we held a combination shouting match/kumite among the Retro Gaming Magazine staff to determine the fifteen most difficult NES games, discounting Battletoads. In the aftermath, the hospital told us if we pulled a stunt like that again, they would 'accidentally' mix up the oral and rectal thermometers when taking our vitals. But hey, our premiums are paid up, the casts are off, and the swelling's subsided.
Figure out the fifteen most difficult Genesis games ever programmed? Challenge accepted!
First, the ground rules:
1) Games make the list by virtue of being programmed to perforate your colon, not for artificial reasons like sloppy controls, flabby hit detection, or incoherent game mechanics. Sorry Wayne's World, your princess is in another article.
2) We excluded anything with Battletoads in the title for obvious reasons.
3) The list is certified pure Mega Drive and Genesis only. Sega CD and 32X games, with their beefed up storage capacity and performance-enhancing hardware, got disqualified like a Russian Olympic team.
4) Games are presented in no particular order, because trying to rank them would have gotten someone kidney-shanked, but we did use a ten-point rating to give readers an idea of just how harmful these things are to your sanity.
Click on the game's title to view a video of it in action (sometimes with hilarious consequences). When you're ready, grab an antacid and your favorite six-button controller--these are the fifteen Genesis/Mega Drive games guaranteed to give you sixteen-bit ulcers.
Note: The original version of this article was written in 2016 for a now-defunct website. I'm resurrecting it here with some edits so the rest of you Hive gaming maniacs can experience the pain yourselves.
15) [Gaiares](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKPRwQMBk4Y) (1990, Telnet Japan/Renovation) https://steemitimages.com/DQmPuAezaHuBaJ3ZHzPDjb6joiX6c1bqwvuRuRUNjASgHj4/GaiaresBox.jpg
What is it?
Alexis of the Leezaluth star cluster has departed for Earth carrying the plans for the TOZ system. Unfortunately she's pursued by the terrorist organization 'Gulfer', led by the alluring but evil Zz Badnusty (I'm thinking something got lost in translation here). Her goal is to fix a planet ruined by toxic waste and systemic air pollution, returning it to the blue orb we all know and love today. Alexis hands the TOZ system off to Dan, humanity's last hero, who installs it on his ship. Now the pair must use the weapon-stealing capacity of TOZ to shoot through a never-ending gauntlet of Gulfer ships in their quest to resurrect the Earth, all to the beat of a killer soundtrack.
Why it's on this list:
If video games were rated on their difficulty the way drugs are rated on their addiction potential, Gaiares would land in 'black tar heroin' territory--assuming you can do it once with no consequences results in a downward spiral of agony good only for landing a guest spot on Dr. Phil. Gaiares takes the side-scrolling combat of R-Type and mixes in a secondary weapon mechanic via TOZ. TOZ downloads and copies anything it comes into contact with, meaning Dan can steal enemy tech and use it in his own ship. Repeatedly hitting enemies who carry the same weapons powers up the TOZ, enabling it to fire stronger shots. TOZ is indestructible, but Dan's ship is not, so careful piloting through the game's eight stages is your only hope. Also, while it has nothing to do with difficulty, I want to point out the Japanese box art features an obviously topless woman, which is why I used it as the thumbnail for this article. Feel free to shame me in the comments for such tasteless pandering to men like @blewitt.
Difficulty Rating: 9/10.
Any list of difficult Genesis games excluding Gaiares was penned by someone not old enough to play the game when it first released. Despite the awful English translation...
And heavily-mulleted professional gamer paid to endorse it!
...Gaiares is nothing to laugh at. This is the only Genesis game that can own you by making you try and sound out the title. Is it "Guy-ah-rez"? "Guy-are-us"? "Gah-ee-ah-res"? Something different? Fight it out in the comments.
Winners must combine lightning-fast reflexes with precision shooting, and strategically alter their arsenal based on what TOZ can snatch off an enemy craft. It's easy in the heat of the action to accidentally downgrade your weaponry by latching TOZ on to a ship you didn't mean to target, and if that happens after stage 1, it was nice knowing you. You can't fire while TOZ is deployed, so send it out only when necessary. Dan's ship is constructed to the usual levels of human incompetence that can send a pilot into space, but only by making the ship out of origami paper. A single brush from a bullet, laser, rocket, floor, ceiling, wall, or enemy scatters his particles across the parsec. True to normal shoot 'em up form, dying costs you all your upgrades making Gaiares a 1-credit, no-continues affair. Difficult when first released in 1990, the only thing time has dulled with this monster are your own reflexes. You can always use the invincibility cheat to see the ending, but deep inside you'll carry the shame of knowing you're a poseur, forever unworthy of Alexis's love.
14) [Shadow of the Beast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrwAVUPuDHo) (1991, WJS Design/Electronic Arts)
What is it?
WJS Design ported this side-scrolling action/adventure to the Genesis from Psygnosis's original 1989 Amiga version, which is widely seen as more tech demo than game, but that's OK. Shadow of the Beast casts you as a guy kidnapped as an infant, and transformed via genetic experimentation into a bipedal monster to serve your new master. He's kind of a dick, but you're content to do his bidding until he kills your parents, which simultaneously breaks his hold over you and rockets him to the top of your "Assholes I Need To Throat Punch" list. In order to deliver the throat punch to end all throat punches however, you have to navigate the countryside, punching other things like rocks and bats. There's more to the game than this, but I'm sorry, there's nothing funnier than seeing a boulder bounce towards your character only to dart the other way once it makes contact with your fist. This is a phenomenon you can experience within seconds of starting up the game just by running to the left. More games should incorporate boulder-punching into their design document is what I'm saying.
Then again...
Why it's on this list:
Did anyone else notice this game's title could be abbreviated to "SOB"? If that wasn't intentional, I'll eat the box and the poster it came with. Shadow of the Beast expects you to do more than jump kick rocks to death, and it expects you to do it all perfectly. There is one proper sequence that will guarantee victory, and until you work it out, you'll have the life expectancy of a newly-conscripted Imperial Guardsman from Warhammer 40k. This wouldn't be a big deal if the game told you what you needed, where to go, or what to do when you got there, but from the start you can wander straight into places you aren't equipped to handle, and if you don't believe me, just run to the right when the game begins.
Add to this the maze-like stages that require backtracking and pixel-perfect jumps to complete, endlessly-respawning enemies, stage hazards like dripping water and random fireballs, and a punch attack with dodgy hit detection and you have a recipe for legendary frustration. The only way Psygnosis could have made this worse is with a time limit, but even they weren't completely heartless. Then again, they use their own mascot as an indestructible enemy at one point. That's some I Wanna Be The Guy-level shit from before there was an I Wanna Be The Guy!
Difficulty Rating: 9.5/10.
There's no mincing words, Shadow of the Beast is on the short-list of Mega Drive titles you never turn your back on unless you want to wake up minus internal organs. It might give you 12 hit points, but until you figure out how combat works, you can lose them all on the first screen. There's no map to help if you get lost, no companions to bring relief if you're tired, and until you determine the way the developers intended you to play, it's possible to pick up power-ups you need to beat a boss only to have them run out in the middle of the boss fight, because they come with a limited duration! Ha ha, funny that--see, you only have one life, and once you take that final hit, there's no continuing. It's back to the title screen whether you're fifteen seconds or fifteen minutes in.
Finish this one without resorting to save states or cheat codes and you, my friend, may consider yourself gaming royalty. At least until you see the ending, which is the game's final "up yours" for all the torture it put you through. Like Gaiares, SoB has an invincibility cheat; all it will cost you is one quick in-game death, a few button presses...and your Man Card(tm).
13) [Robocop vs. The Terminator](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i46zg9W3knI) (1994, Virgin Interactive)
What is it?
A dark day for humanity based on a comic penned by Frank "the Goddamn Batman" Miller before his Holy Terror days. Alex Murphy, aka Robocop, has to strike back against the forces of SkyNet in a match-up as epic as the name implies. It's cyborg vs. the cyborgs from the streets of Old Detroit to the hellscapes of a nuclear-decimated planet through ten stages of mechanical mayhem. Standing in your way are a rogue's gallery of foes from both film franchises, including Terminators (obviously), ED-209, Robocop 2, and a laundry list of everyday street scum that exist as living refutations of evolutionary theory. The future's counting on you, Officer, and only one directive is left: "Kick all the ass!".
Why it's on this list:
In addition to being one of the bloodiest games ever released on a 16-bit system (which can be made gorier by punching in a cheat code long enough to qualify as a landing strip for small planes), Robocop vs. The Terminator is one data spike away from being unwinnable. Murphy's a tough hombre, but even his metal-reinforced limbs have a breaking point. While your human enemies haven't a prayer of lasting long against you in a shootout, the game isn't called "Robocop vs. The Puny Fleshbags". Past level 3, Virgin Interactive throws so many exoskeletons, explosions, bullets, rockets, and plasma blasts at Murphy most players will run through their supply of lives by the time they hit the fourth boss.
Dying poses another problem: Murphy can carry two heavy weapons at a time and swap between them on the fly, but if SkyNet wipes him out, he comes back to life minus the weapon he was holding. You're never completely unarmed, as Robocop's always got his Auto-9 handgun in his thigh holster, but while this is fine for putting down human scum, most enemies you face are built to take punishment and grin. While homing rockets and plasma rifles don't set the game to Kindergarten mode, losing your heavy artillery turns boss fights into endurance tests as you plink away their health a fraction of a millimeter per bullet.
Difficulty Rating: 8.5/10.
Sure there's 'Wimpy' difficulty for players who need it, but 'Wimpy' here is akin to 'hard' on most other games. 'Normal' is a nightmare unto itself, but if you cannot rest until you've shown the world how engorged your gamer testicles are, Virgin included a 'Killer' option. Whichever you pick, Robocop vs. The Terminator will rip out what's left of your human meaty bits and lubricate on the remains. Murphy earns extra lives at the rate of one for every 10,000 points, but enemies don't respawn so you can't grind at the start to brute force the game later. Long-ass boss battles, a plethora of standard enemies that would merit 'boss' status in any game where you weren't playing as Robocop, and environmental hazards like toxic waste pits that will deactivate you instantly all combine to create one of the hardest platformers you'll find on a Sega console from any era. I also went with the Mega Drive box art, because the North American release cover failed to include vital pictorial elements on it like Robocop or the Terminator. It's a bit late now, but in case someone does invent time displacement circuitry, here's an easy change you could make that wouldn't impact our future. Use it as a practice run before you assassinate Hitler or whatever.
12) [Fatal Labyrinth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbrsLaGUHpM) (1991, Sega)
What is it?
In 1980, Michael Toy and Glenn Wichman birthed a new genre with Rogue. Primitive by today's standards, with its ASCII-art, turn-based gameplay and simple keyboard interface, Rogue pioneered in-game procedural generation. This gave it depth and replayability far surpassing its contemporaries--using a simple set of rules, Rogue offered an essentially infinite number of options ensuring level layouts, monsters, and treasure differed from game to game. Blizzard borrowed this technique to enormous success with Diablo, but five years earlier, Sega decided a Rogue-like was just what their 16-bit machine needed; thus was born Fatal Labyrinth.
You play a young man from a local hamlet who enters Castle Dragonia in search of the Holy Goblet. Standing between you and victory are thirty floors populated by a massive assortment of monsters, weapons, armor, rings, staves, scrolls, potions, treasure, traps, and food. Should you reach floor 30 and claim the Holy Goblet, you get to fight the dragon who stole it. Yay...?
Why it's on this list:
All Rogue-like games come with a higher-than-default difficulty simply because procedural generation can lead to all sorts of problems. Fatal Labyrinth avoids some of these by giving you a character who can use all weapons, armor, and magical items instead of restricting you to a particular race/class combination, but that doesn't mean it's simple. First off, forget extra lives. If your guy croaks, it's game over (though the townspeople throw you a progressively nicer funeral depending on how much gold you've collected, which is equal parts hilarious and demented).
It randomizes magical item properties each time you start, which means the pink potion that healed you the last time you set foot into Dragonia might now causes blindness, and the yellow scroll which cast Lightning could be a worthless newspaper. Figuring out what does what is always an exercise in fun, and by fun I mean misery. In addition to your hit points, you also have to watch your food meter because killing slimes burns calories. Get too hungry and you start taking damage, but don't go eating everything in sight either. In Fatal Labyrinth, too much food is just as bad as too little: consume more calories than you need, and your speed decreases as you bounce your pot belly from tile to tile. If you cannot resist cramming apples into your pie hole even when you qualify for your own postal code, you can literally eat yourself to death. Fatal Labyrinth has a Goldilocks zone for 'not exploding your stomach'. Of course procedural generation will always ensure you have enough food to eat, and would never even think of dropping you in a level without a solid source of nutrition.
Then there are the trap doors that drop you down a floor with a fully-respawned compliment of monsters, mimics disguised as money bags, and living weapons that look like normal gear until they jam themselves into your uvula. This game is the reason emulators have save states.
Difficulty Rating: 7.5/10.
Fatal Labyrinth is aptly named, but as noted above, much of the game's challenge stems from a 'luck of the draw' mechanic instead of hard-coded bitch-slaps...at least for the first few floors. Once you reach Floor 11 all bets are off: the game introduces an insectoid enemy that can destroy your armor with a successful hit, so get used to ranged combat or switch to something you don't mind getting dissolved in acid. Enemies from floor 20 up are obscenely powerful, cursed gear litters the levels, and should you reach him, the final dragon is pure agony. He confuses your controls, spits fire for a ranged attack, is immune to all magical attacks except the direct damage, and can teleport you around the room at will. Have fun with that.
The game does offer the option to continue after you expire, but you don't earn that luxury until you've reached level 5, and every fifth level after that. While not the hardest game to make the list, it is one of the most frustrating. Gamers interested in taking the challenge today but lacking the old hardware can find it on Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360 and PS3, where it will still make you walk like there's a watermelon lodged in your rectum.
11) [Undead Line](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKKBX7vx-HM) (1991, T & E Soft/ PALSoft)
What is it?
Tags: #gaming#games#videogames#blog#entertainment#retrogaming