History NintendoHard / GameMods

* ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARmBQ4iXtJk&playnext=1&videos=dc5tePm-RqM Grandmaster Galaxy Master Quest]]'' - The first hack of a 3D Mario game listed here. Also the first Galaxy 2 hack ever made.
* ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZe7q6Ki42g& Binary City]]'', a ''BattleCity'' hack except you control 2 tanks at the same time. Now a 4-directional action shooter has been turned into a puzzle game which requires a lot of thinking power, a lot of muscle coordination and a quick reflexes to win.
* Lots of ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' hacks are hard for the casual player, requiring tricks that only advanced players learn... but some hacks [[PlatformHell go the extra mile and are hard even for experts]]. ''Super Metroid Impossible'', the various RBO hacks, and the original version of ''Cliffhanger'' are notoriously difficult.
* ''[[http://modsbylaz.hugelaser.com Median XL]]'', a ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}} II'' mod which gives you a wide selection of new skills and powers for your character and has several "uberquests" that contain monsters which can instantly pwn your player character, even at max level with good gear. Also veteran monsters in the normal game are instant pwn. Some areas have witches which cannot be killed or targeted by your character, but if you get within their awareness radius, they will instantly kill your character (guaranteed, cannot be resisted and damage is infinite).
* ''Brotherhood of Shadow'' for ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic''. Beautiful storyline, excellent characters, and holy Yoda, what an epic scope. But the difficulty level is ''brutal.'' [[spoiler: Especially the one-on-one duel with Mandalore the Indomitable where you are armed with an unmodified lightsaber and robes and he's armed with a pair of battleaxes! He's also got a Force resistance of "yes."]]
** The Tomb of Jesset Dal'Kest is ''worse.'' Specialized armor and weapons on everything you fight, no party member backup, and boss-level characters attacking in a ZergRush. Even the mod's authors admit that it's world-class brutal.
* ''Populous: Age of Chaos'' was an unofficial expansion for ''PopulousTheBeginning'' which introduced a brand-new, 25-level, single-player campaign that was far, ''FAR'' more difficult than both the original campaign and the one from the official expansion, ''Undiscovered Worlds'', for veteran players who had beaten those two campaigns.
* Similar to the ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' example above, ROM hacks of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' are often ridiculously difficult to the point of parody.
** The most famous example being ''VideoGame/KaizoMarioWorld'', though that one can be better described as PlatformHell.
* FinalFantasyTactics wasn't the hardest game out there, despite a few truly grueling battles... So some people gathered together and created Final Fantasy Tactics 1.3, which removed many exploits, rebalanced classes and gave enemies ridiculously powerful items and classes ''way'' before you can attain such things (unless you steal and use Mediators, of course)
* The ''Destination Paris'' mod for ''VideoGame/{{Commandos}} 2'' cranks the difficulty of a series already renowned for being NintendoHard as it is UpToEleven. It adds more enemies to missions, makes them more ruthless, adds freezing cold to some missions that will kill your men without arctic gear (a feature in the main game, though only in one level) and takes away the BottomlessMagazines from the pistol. The final mission is particularly brutal, as if you don't react very ''very'' quickly, your men will all be spotted and killed within less than a minute.
* The RTS/FPS/Vehicle Combat game, ''VideoGame/{{BattleZone|1998}} II'', has the ''Fleshstorm 2'' mod - a mod which is ''brutally'' difficult. [[EscortMission One mission requires you to escort]] a large, slow, unarmed tracked vehicle (your [[BaseOnWheels mobile base]]) through narrow passes while the [[ApocalypseHow planet's atmosphere is on fire]]. The armor of your tank, your Assault Tank, and the mobile base are constantly being whittled down from the heat of the air, so you must constantly keep at least one of your units repaired by your shielded Service Truck. The canyons you're driving through are also dotted with enemies, so there's a delicate balancing act between repairing all your support units, repairing yourself, and repairing the mobile base. Several times during the mission, you have to move ahead to take out targets so the base can pass by safely - meaning you need to leave the protection of your service truck's repair laser. If you go too far out, you'll die before you can make it back to the service truck. If you take too much damage, you'll die before you make it back to the service truck. And unlike the other missions, you ''cannot eject'', as your pilot will die almost instantly under the heat.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Vega'', a Japanese hack of ''[[VideoGame/PokemonFireRedAndLeafGreen Pokémon Fire Red]]'', makes grinding a painfully time consuming affair by lowering the levels of all trainers and wild Pokémon down to as low as 10 or 15 fewer than the [[BossBattle gym leader and evil team administrators']] teams. It's necessary, though, since the major trainers come out swinging from the get go and never let up. By the third gym you'll have run into a [[LightningBruiser Starmie]] with near flawless type coverage, a Golduck with typically late game moves like Surf and Aura Sphere, and a [[DishingOutDirt ground type]] gym leader sending out a [[GoodOldFisticuffs Hitmonchan]] as his clutch, all likely 5 or six levels higher than your strongest 'mon, unless you went out of your way to grind enough for them.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonDarkRising'', a hack of Fire Red, is one of the most difficult out there. Enemy trainers and gym leaders often have Pokemon you can't capture, the levels of these trainers jump from are to area in a way that requires LevelGrinding to deal with, and even then the strategies of some of the bosses are efficient to the point of brutality.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Blaze Black 2 & Volt White 2'', a hack for Pokémon Black 2 & White 2. If played in the "Challenge Mode" (which you can acesses in the beginning of the game), the difficulty will become absolutely brutal. ALL gym learders have six pokémon, most (if not all) holding items (some which you can only get by half of the game onwards), likely three or five levels higher than your team, not to mention the great type coverage and strategies they possess. So you want to use fire attacks against the bug type gym leader? First thing he will do is use Rain Dance (which will make fire attacks 50% weaker) combined with Damp Rock item (extending the Rain Dance duration to eight turns instead of five). Good luck with that!
** All of Drayano's hacks: Fire Red Omega, Sacred Gold / Storm Silver, and the first Blaze Black / Volt White follow that trope as their intent. They do give the player a fighting chance, buffing various ComMons to a decent level, as you're no longer expected to find the strongest mon of the advantageous type and plow through the respective gym.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonCrystalEnhanced'' is a game specifically made to be as hard as possible. For example, where Falkner has a Pidgey and a Pidgeotto around level 10 in the original, in this game, Falkner has a Skarmory, Aerodactyl, Gligar, and Mantine around level ''17''. And once you get to the post game, the gym leaders have no problems pulling out legendaries that ''surpass the level limit'', and with Red the Pokemon can be up to level 165! And the creator made it to be [[SelfImposedChallenge nuzlocked]] too!
* ''VideoGame/PokemonBlueKaizo'' is possibly the hardest hack for Generation 1. Every pokemon in the game has their movesets altered to be as lethal as possible, including those that can specialize in OHKO moves, Explosion moves, Status moves, and wrapping moves. You can expect to fight nearly every trainer in the game, and the dungeons also bumped up in difficulty, with far more lethal encounters than usual, in a mazelike area for a high punishment factor if you black out, and the dungeons are usually populated by trainers. The bosses have full teams of six, and many have wildcards, and they generally get much stronger as the game goes on, especially near the end. The AI can use healing items, and sometimes even switch. Unlike the games, Team Rocket becomes significantly more threatening, with powerful pokemon, and switching and healing capabilities. You rival will always have a [[spoiler: ''Mew'']] as his main, which will get stronger as the game goes on. The only thing the AI can't do is use revives, but you can't use revives during battle either. Though catching all 151 pokemon is actually simple enough, since you will face all 151 pokemon.
** ''Videogame/PokemonCrystalKaizo'' takes Blue Kaizo's difficulty UpToEleven. It's basically everything above, but with a few differences. The AI is bumped up for ''every'' trainer, from normal trainers to gym trainers, to [[TookALevelInBadass Team Rocket grunts and scientists]], to [[EliteMooks Cooltrainers]], and finally, to major bosses, with ascending difficulty, and more diabolical strategies. Bosses that have been buffed include '''[[ThatOneBoss Whitney]]''' and turned Bugsy, one of the easiest gym leaders into one of the most annoying. And it gets ''harder'' from there...
* There are plenty of mods out there for ''VideoGame/BaldursGate2'' to increase the difficulty of the bosses and make enemies behave more intelligently. Most notable among them, however, are two mods:
** The Tactics mod. For an example, the De'Arnise Keep dungeon is suddenly filled with Spirit Trolls, which you don't even encounter until halfway through the game, and even then only one at a time, and as for Tor'Gal, the boss of the dungeon (keep in mind that this is one of the ''very first'' dungeons you can go to):
*** Has Improved Invisibility cast on him, preventing him from being able to be targeted by single-target spells.
*** Can berserk himself
*** Has Free Action cast on him, preventing any spells that restrict his movement from working
*** Is immune to fear
*** Automatically detects invisible characters
*** Drains his target's strength with every hit
*** Has an insanely high HealingFactor
*** Carries one of the heads of the Flail of Ages (the perfect anti-troll weapon), meaning you can't forge the best weapon for clearing this dungeon until it's too late.
** Ascension, which beefs up all of the major boss fights in Throne of Bhaal (including Demogorgon,) and turns the final boss fight into a massive BossRush against every major villain from both the main game and ToB (including fighting every member of the Five at the same time.) The only consolation is that you can recruit one of the Five to fight alongside you.
* The SugarWiki/SoCoolItsAwesome ''EmpireAtWar'' mod ''Republic at War'' tweaks the enemy [=AI=] to be [[PerfectPlayAI absurdly intelligent and ruthlessly aggressive]].
** Also for ''EmpireAtWar'', ''Thrawn's Revenge'' [[{{Nerf}} nerfs]] space stations into [[TheLoad nigh-defenseless shipyards]], Tech Level advancement is [[ScrappyMechanic based on "Eras"]], and if a Hero unit is killed, ''[[AllDeathsFinal they're]] [[KilledOffForReal dead]]''.
*** Add to both examples the fact that the enemy faction [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules has practically limitless resources]] and [[DiskOneNuke immediate access to Super Star Destroyers (or equivalent)]]. Yeah, you're in for one hell of a ride.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda: Parallel Worlds'' may be SoCoolItsAwesome, but it is also one of ''the'' hardest games you will ever play. After beating the game you'll probably think all of the quotes on this trope's quote page are referring to this game specifically. One needs only look at level 3, Farore's Isle, for an example: After a couple of non-challenging rooms (literally a couple!), you're faced with an unavoidable Firebar that you'll absolutely have to take a hit off of to get by. And you'll probably want at least three hearts, because the room after that has more Firebars and red Hardhat Beetles that deal two hearts of CollisionDamage at a time. ''And'' the next floor down has ''more'' red Hardhat Beetles and the Crystal Switch you have to activate to continue further on. '''And''' you'll need at least two hearts left over after going through all of that, because on the way back you'll be forced to hit a Firebar again! '''''And''''' you can't use the book of Mudora to go back to the start of the dungeon, because that resets the crystal switch! And hey, guess how much the remodel (specifically designed to make the game ''easier'') changed about this series of rooms? Besides brightening them up a bit, ''absolutely nothing!!''
* ''VideoGame/MegaMan8BitDeathmatch''[='=]s single player campaign is composed of a series of pre-determined matches against computer controlled bots. However, each level '''requires''' you to reach the frag limit to finish in first place, and the bots are very aggressive, and while it's possible to lower their difficulty, it's hard to access and not avaliable in the main single player menu[[note]]So you know, you can lower their difficulty by doing it in the offline skirmish menu[[/note]]. Worse yet, they get infinite ammo for any weapon they pickup, allowing them to fire off weapons all day that would normally only have 7 shots at the most. And then some of the single player exclusive bosses battles are brutal, such as the [[ThatOneBoss Metool Daddy]], and as the player cannot respawn during these fights, you have to start the fight over if you die at any point.
* ''VideoGame/HideousDestructor'' is a weapon/gameplay mod for ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' that makes it play like a tactical shooter. A tactical shooter with Doom-like numbers of enemies who are at least as fast and tough as you are. If you get damaged you can bleed to death over time if you don't have the right items, you move at a realistic speed that is agonizingly slow compared to the [[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic-like]] speed of the original player character, and all enemies do tremendous amounts of damage. It's a truly harrowing experience and there is ''no'' room for mistakes.
** While it's still in Beta, the Advanced Arsenal Pack for ''VideoGame/BrutalDoom'' turns an already tough mod into a nightmare, since now the lowly zombiemen can carry rocket launchers, which they ''never'' drop as pickups. If you want your own launcher to level the playing field, you gotta find one laying around.
** The later parts of ''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfMassmouth'', as well as its sequel, ''Massmouth 2''. The enemies aren't numerous, but they have a lot of health and hit really hard, all while ammo is very scarce.
* The ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' mod "Dig Deeper" is designed for people who have gotten the hang of regular DF and want a fresh challenge. And by "fresh challenge" we mean "endless tide of [[DemonicSpiders Orcs]][[note]]which are unique to Dig Deeper, have TRAPAVOID, can open locked doors, and are ridiculously brutal, fast-moving killing machines[[/note]] before your first caravan".
* Hacks of ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'' tend to be nearly impossible in terms of difficulty, often because they mix Artoon's love of instant kill spikes and lava with the original game's tendency to have absolutely gigantic puzzle levels. Just watch any one LetsPlay/{{raocow}} has played for examples.
* The [[http://www.miserymod.com/ Misery mod]] for ''S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat'' is so ridiculously [[NintendoHard Nintendo Hard]] that it practically [[UpToEleven redefines the trope]]. Everything, ''everything'' that could have been exploited for an advantage has been ruthlessly suppressed. Relied on artifacts to stave off radiation? Tough luck. Now they ''all'' are hotter than a rod of depleted reactor fuel, weigh a ''ton'', and unless you brought lead-lined containers you'll be glowing in minutes. Considering you even survive the treasure hunt, that is. If you once could, say, wade into an anomaly with your trusty detector and bolts and leave with your treasure slightly worse for the wear, now venturing without the proper gear will kill you in seconds. And even if you have the proper gear don't expect to last long. On top of the anomalies being [[EldritchLocation little pockets of hell on earth]], the usual share of competing stalkers and always hungry mutants will make that an ordeal even for the [[CrazyPrepared crazy prepared]]. If fleshes and boars were pests your Protecta or SPAS shotgun could easily deal with, now they'll need anything between four shots and a full magazine/drum each. ''Even a single cat can ruin your day''. Just imagine how deadly the rest of the monster cast is. The whole Zone is such a [[DeathWorld cruel and pitiless place]] now that you shouldn't expect to make money hunting for artifacts anymore - your main source of income will be other stalkers you hunt down and kill for their gear.
** And just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, now the mod even makes stalkers completely unpredictable in their behavior. Oh, you just stumbled upon what appears to be a group of regular Loners? Cue the sudden cruel twist of fate when you quickly find out to your horror that these are actually bandits and/or mercenaries in disguise and they will immediately turn their guns on you. Oh, and the mod also removes the compass-map that you were so used to in the vanilla version, as well as other mods for this game; now you have to resort to opening up your PDA to check your map to find out where you actually are. The series was already notorious enough to be considered the ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' of the FirstPersonShooter genre. [[ThisIsGonnaSuck Yeah]].
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** ''Crystal Kaizo'' takes Blue Kaizo's difficulty UpToEleven. It's basically everything above, but with a few differences. The AI is bumped up for ''every'' trainer, from normal trainers to gym trainers, to [[TookALevelInBadass Team Rocket grunts and scientists]], to [[EliteMooks Cooltrainers]], and finally, to major bosses, with ascending difficulty, and more diabolical strategies. Bosses that have been buffed include '''[[ThatOneBoss Whitney]]''' and turned Bugsy, one of the easiest gym leaders into one of the most annoying. And it gets ''harder'' from there...

* There are plenty of mods out there for BaldursGate2 to increase the difficulty of the bosses and make enemies behave more intelligently. Most notable among them, however, are two mods:

** ''Crystal Kaizo'' takes Blue Kaizo's difficulty UpToEleven. It's basically everything above, but with a few differences. The AI is bumped up for ''every'' trainer, from normal trainers to gym trainers, to [[TookALevelInBadass Team Rocket grunts and scientists]], to [[EliteMooks Cooltrainers]], and finally, to major bosses, with ascending difficulty, and more diabolical strategies. Bosses that have been buffed include '''[[ThatOneBoss Whitney]]''' and turned Bugsy, one of the easiest gym leaders into one of the most annoying.

** ''Crystal Kaizo'' takes Blue Kaizo's difficulty UpToEleven. It's basically everything above, but with a few differences. The AI is bumped up for ''every'' trainer, from normal trainers to gym trainers, to [[TookALevelInBadass Team Rocket grunts and scientists]], to [[EliteMooks Cooltrainers]], and finally, to major bosses, with ascending difficulty, and more diabolical strategies.

** ''Crystal Kaizo'' takes Blue Kaizo's difficulty UpTheEleven. It's basically everything above, but with a few differences. The AI is bumped up for ''every'' trainer, from normal trainers to gym trainers, to [[TookALevelInBadass Team Rocket grunts and scientists]], to [[EliteMooks Cooltrainers]], and finally, to major bosses, with ascending difficulty, and more diabolical strategies.

* ''VideoGame/PokemonDarkRising'', a hack of Fire Red, is one of the most difficult out there. Enemy trainers and gym leaders often have Pokemon you can't capture, the levels of these trainers jump from are to area in a way that requires LevelGrinding to deal with, the even then the strategies of some of the bosses are efficient to the point of brutality.

* Lots of ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' hacks are hard for the casual player, requiring tricks that only advanced players learn... but some hacks go the extra mile and are hard even for experts. ''Super Metroid Impossible'', the various RBO hacks, and the original version of ''Cliffhanger'' are notoriously difficult.

* ''Hideous Destructor'' is a weapon/gameplay mod for ''{{VideoGame/Doom}}'' that makes it play like a tactical shooter. A tactical shooter with Doom-like numbers of enemies who are at least as fast and tough as you are. If you get damaged you can bleed to death over time if you don't have the right items, you move at a realistic speed that is agonizingly slow compared to the [[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic-like]] speed of the original player character, and all enemies do tremendous amounts of damage. It's a truly harrowing experience and there is ''no'' room for mistakes.
** While it's still in Beta, the Advanced Arsenal Pack for ''Brutal Doom'' turns an already tough mod into a nightmare, since now the lowly zombiemen can carry rocket launchers, which they ''never'' drop as pickups. If you want your own launcher to level the playing field, you gotta find one laying around.

* ''KaizoMarioWorld'' is perhaps the most famous of difficult romhacks, and inspired a massive slew of Kaiso-esque ''SuperMarioWorld'' hacks of varying degrees of quality.

* ''KaizoMarioWorld'' is perhaps the most famous of difficult romhacks, and inspired a massive slew of Kaiso-esque ''World'' hacks of varying degrees of quality.

* ''SuperKaizoWorld'' is perhaps the most famous of difficult romhacks, and inspired a massive slew of Kaiso-esque ''World'' hacks of varying degrees of quality.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Vega'', a Japanese hack of ''[[VideoGame/PokemonFireRedAndLeafGreen Pokémon Fire Red]]'', makes grinding a painfully time consuming affair by lowering the levels of all trainers and wild Pokémon down to as low as 10 or 15 fewer than the [[BossBattle gym leader and evil team administrators']] teams. It's necessary, though, since the major trainers come out swinging from the get go and never let up. By the third gym you'll have run into a [[LightningBruiser Starmie]] with near flawless type coverage, a Kappa-like Pokémon with typically late game moves like Surf and Aura Sphere, and a [[DishingOutDirt ground type]] gym leader sending out a [[GoodOldFisticuffs Hitmonchan]] as his clutch, all likely 5 or six levels higher than your strongest 'mon, unless you went out of your way to grind enough for them.

* ''Hideous Destructor'' is a weapon/gameplay mod for ''{{Doom}}'' that makes it play like a tactical shooter. A tactical shooter with Doom-like numbers of enemies who are at least as fast and tough as you are. If you get damaged you can bleed to death over time if you don't have the right items, you move at a realistic speed that is agonizingly slow compared to the [[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic-like]] speed of the original player character, and all enemies do tremendous amounts of damage. It's a truly harrowing experience and there is ''no'' room for mistakes.

* Hacks of ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'' tend to be nearly impossible in terms of difficulty, often because they mix Artoon's love of instant kill spikes and lava with the original game's tendency to have absolutely gigantic puzzle levels. Just watch any one {{raocow}} has played for examples.

* The ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' mod "Dig Deeper" is designed for people who have gotten the hang of regular DF and want a fresh challenge. And by "fresh challenge" we mean "endless tide of [[DemonicSpiders Orcs]][[hottip:*:which are unique to Dig Deeper, have TRAPAVOID, can open locked doors, and are ridiculously brutal, fast-moving killing machines]] before your first caravan".