Summary
When Nintendo first announced the Wii back in early 2006, it was clearly designed to be a casual system which anyone, no matter how much prior experience they had with gaming beforehand, could jump in and enjoy. However, considering that the Wii’s lifespan lasted several years, and the sheer amount of developers who were creating titles for the console during its golden years, it’s inevitable that there would be a fewbrutally difficult gamesto enjoy on the console too.
Although the majority of these games came from third-party developers, Nintendo also decided to ramp up the challenge with a few of its own iconic titles. This was potentially an attempt to appeal to long-time gamers who may not have been as interested in the Wii when it first came out. With that being said, these games listed below are among the very hardest that this legendary console has to offer, and they certainly aren’t for the faint of heart.
This list is ranked in ascending order, based on the games' Difficulty rating on GameFAQs.
Muramasa: The Demon Bladeis a game that, on the surface, seems quite simple in how it plays. It’sa traditional 2D side-scrolling experiencewhere players hack and slash their way through hordes of enemies to reach the end of each level. Although the game is rather easy to get used to, it’s the weapon system that makes the experience so challenging; specifically the fact that any time the player blocks or uses special moves, their weapon can break, rendering it completely useless.
Thankfully, there are over 100 unique blades that players can acquire throughout the game to keep them stocked up. Nonetheless, this unique system still forces a more strategic playstyle than is typical with this style of game. Pair this with some incredibly aggressive enemy types and a few tricky platforming sections, and it all results in a fun and challenging experience that is quite well-balanced, not as punishing as some other titles covered.
Pandora’s Towerputs players in the shoes of Aeron, a former soldier who is on a mission to rescue his wife from a deadly curse that is slowly turning her into a horrific monster. As players explore thirteen different towers throughout their playthrough, they will need tosolve fiendishly tricky puzzles, defeat monsters, and collect as many resources as possible to make it through to the next area. Doing all of this, naturally, is much easier said than done.
The game relies heavily on the player knowing about its deeper mechanics to stay alive. Invincibility frames, for example, become absolutely essential for overcoming the relentless boss enemies thrown in Aeron’s way. Additionally, while the platforming sections are already quite difficult, the clunky camera angles can end up making these much more stressful than they were perhaps intended to be. This also ramps up the overall difficulty quite a bit. Although the first few areas can be relatively forgiving,Pandora’s Towersoon stops pulling its punches once players become familiar with the core gameplay loop.
Afterthe disastrous launchof Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, Sonic Team decided to take a slightly different direction with their next game, which played very differently to every other game in the series.Sonic and the Secret Ringstakes an on-rails approach to its gameplay, with players only being able to move left and right by using the Wii’s motion controls. As players don’t have to worry about choosing a path to take, Sonic runs at an incredibly fast pace, which can admittedly be very hard to keep up with (especially as the levels are filled with a plethora of environmental hazards and enemies).
Although the motion controls were much better integrated in the sequel,Sonic and the Black Knight, they were very unresponsive forThe Secret Rings, with Sonic tending to run in the wrong direction or perform a random jump when he’s not supposed to. Playing levels multiple times to learn their routes and shortcuts is all but necessary for completing some of the later ones with a decent final grade, which gives a good idea of just how absurdly hard they can be to run through. If you aren’t as committed to achieving the highest ratings, though, the overall difficulty won’t be quite so punishing.
TheFire Emblemgames have always been known for their difficulty, andRadiant Dawnis no exception. This is especially true with its perma-death feature turned on, which means that any units that fall in battle will be gone for the rest of the game. Although the adventure does feature a few new mechanics and systems to make the gameplay a little more forgiving thanPath of Radiancewas (such as bringing back Dark Magic and the addition of SS class weapons), the battles themselves are still just as challenging, with a single mistake being enough to cost the life of a character if they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Players are heavily encouraged to start grinding out EXP for their units as soon as possible, so that they can start changing around and upgrading their classes. Should they fail to do this, it can be rather easy for some characters to lag behind in terms of their stats, which makes them extremely vulnerable. Even for the most experienced ofFire Emblemplayers,Radiant Dawnis still far from easy and can take a lot of practice (and a little bit of luck) to complete, especially when trying to also keep everyone alive.
Monster Hunter Tri, also commonly known simply asMonster Hunter 3, is without a doubtone of the hardest games in the series. For anyone who knows how challenging these games can be, that’s certainly saying something. Just as in previousMonster Huntergames, players will be tasked with hunting down a myriad of unique and dangerous creatures, ranging from small inconsequential beings to gigantic wyverns that are capable of dealing a staggering amount of damage if they get too close.
While it’s not quite as difficult as the Soulslike games,Monster Hunter Tri’sgameplay does still follow a similar philosophy: It’s all about carefully analyzing an enemy’s attack patterns, then being very particular about when to attack, block, and evade in response. The game also features a few gimmicks that can make these sorts of encounters even harder, such as the infamous Water Arena. Trapping monsters can also be quite tricky to pull off, since the player will first need to weaken the creature enough for it to be susceptible. This can be very difficult indeed, considering how durable a lot of the higher-leveled monsters can be.
Tri does feature some quality of life additions that help to broaden its appeal in the wider context of the series, but it’s an experience (as ever) in which simply learning to use a different weapon type effectively can take dozens of hours.
The standaloneDonkey Konggames have never shied away from pushing players to their absolute limits.Donkey Kong Country Returnstakes this to a whole new level, though, often being touted as one of the hardest platformers ever made. In fact, the game ended up being so brutal that Nintendo was even forced to dial down the difficulty in the 3DS version. Anyone who got to play it on the Wii, however, experienced the most unforgiving version of the game, where just about every single level is incredibly difficult to overcome.
The base stages are already hard enough, thanks to their punishing platforming sections and relentless enemies. The K-Levels are often considered to be even harder, though, with only the most experienced of platforming fans being able to complete all of them. AlthoughCountry Returnsmaintains a very steady challenge throughout its runtime, it also includes a few infamous bosses. Take Feather Fiend for instance; it requires a tremendous amount of patience and precise timing to overcome Colonel Pluck and his deadly machine.
1Baroque
GameFAQs Difficulty Rating: 3.97
Before roguelikes took the industry by storm with the release ofgames likeHadesandThe Binding of Isaac, there was a fairly niche title that was released back in 2007 that was already experimenting with the idea. That game wasBaroque.
Baroque takes place in the mysterious Neuro Tower, which has been completely overrun with dangerous monsters. The player’s aim is to try and reach the very bottom of this gigantic structure, by leveling up their weapons and learning how best to go about taking out the hundreds of enemy types without taking too much damage in the process.
However, because the tower’s layout, weapons, and items are randomly generated, a run can easily go very wrong if the player is left with no resources to help them out, while still being forced to take on the hordes of flesh-hungry monsters that stand in their way. Although the player can lose health by taking hits, the game also features a Vitality meter, which will automatically deplete the longer a run goes on. If this meter reaches zero, it will then start to eat away at the health bar, making each and every run incredibly intense. Fans of the roguelite genre who feel that they’ve mastered the art of dungeon crawling should definitely try out this incredibly arduous and demanding Nintendo Wii title.
