History NintendoHard / NonVideoGameExamples

** In fact, {{Cracked}} wrote an article on strategies to beat various game shows, and their strategy to win Wipeout was to deliberately fail every obstacle course so that you wouldn't waste time trying to (and mostly likely failing to) clear them.

* ''TabletopGame/HunterTheReckoning'' stresses its brutal difficulty in its fluff. The rules are not on the same level as CallOfCthulhu. However, if the GameMaster decides to use the rules in the game lines for other supernaturals in the TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness, the PlayerCharacters are mayflies.

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' parodied this trope. There's the easter egg game "Super Kingio Bros," in which you cannot possibly avoid the first enemy, who you find within the first second of the game.

** ''TakeshisCastle'' is Nintendo Hard in TV game show form. It ran for three years, each episode had 100-142 starting contestants; only nine people ever won (this isn't including the joke episode where everybody won).

* The Nickelodeon kids show ''LegendsOfTheHiddenTemple'' had a really low success rate (less than 25%). The locked doors guaranteed that the artifact you need to find was in the LAST room you'd enter, and you had to perform tasks and solve puzzles in up to 12 rooms before you found it (some were simple, like the Throne of the Pretender, but others, like the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, messed EVERYONE up.) Adding to that were Temple Guards, who would "kidnap" you and would cause your teammate to have to start over from the beginning. Throw in darkness, shadows, music, fog, Kirk Fogg, and more than one kid ended up walking in circles with confused looks on their faces.

* The final round in ''WhereInTheWorldIsCarmenSandiego?'' wasn't too bad if you knew about geography, but the final round of ''WhereInTimeIsCarmenSandiego?'' was painful. In theory, The Trail of Time wasn't too bad. There were six gates you had to pass through. Carmen asked a history question with two answers (EXAMPLE: It's 1960. The song "We Shall Overcome" is dedicated to which US protest movement? Civil Rights or Anti-War?) Get the answer right, the gate opens; Get it wrong, you have to perform some time-consuming task like pulling up a rock with a rope or spinning a wheel. This wouldn't be too bad, except they didn't put the gates in order. They were generally scattered around, and all the kids had to work with were a few blinking lights and the Engine Crew leading them around with airport flashlights. It was confusing enough to fuel the theory that they made the Trail of Time deliberately confusing so they wouldn't have to pay out the grand prize as often (Since ''Time'' was created after ''World's'' budget was cut down.)
** ''World'' wasn't much better, the beacons the player had to place needed to be put in ''exactly'' the right spot or the sensor wouldn't register. Not only that but they were just ''slightly'' top-heavy and had a tendency to fall over and need to be replaced in order to win. Add in the fact that the locations were given in such an order that it usually forced the player to wind through beacons they had already placed (thus accidentally knocking them over and having to spend extra time putting them back up) led to man grand prizes lost.

* BattlestarGalactica the board game is extremely hard for a traitor game. Often favoring the Cylon rather than the Humans. More often than not the Cylons win.

* Mastering a musical instrument. you can learn where to place your finders or the length to slide a trombone, the trick is memorizing the correct sequence, even when you have music in front of you to read.
** Same goes for mastering any talent, but I'd specifically like to highlight drawing. It takes years to build up the hand-eye coordination needed to get good at it, often ''decades'' if you want to reach pro level. The game itself is also incredibly frustrating, suffering from ridiculous amounts of TrialAndErrorGameplay, severe PacingProblems, and endless {{Fetch Quest}}s for reference material and art supplies. The enemies are terribly broken - anatomy and perspective mistakes, in particular, are GoddamnedBats, DemonicSpiders, and sometimes InvisibleMonsters, ''all at the same time'' - and the [[VideoGameLives lives system]] is very weird. You get InfiniteOneUps during the pencilling level if you have a good eraser, but if you mess up during the "inking" stage, [[FinalDeath you'll get sent straight back to the beginning.]] The "white-out," "lightbox," and "scan and reprint" expansion packs fix this design flaw to a limited extent, but the process is still time consuming, and the latter two can be expensive. (The sequel, "Digital Art," gives you [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist infinite lives throughout the entire game]], but it costs much more and takes an entirely different skill-set.)

** Same goes for mastering any talent, but I'd specifically like to highlight drawing. It takes years to build up the hand-eye coordination needed to get good at it, often ''decades'' if you want to reach pro level. The game itself is also incredibly frustrating, suffering from ridiculous amounts of TrialAndErrorGameplay, severe PacingProblems, and endless {{Fetch Quest}}s for reference material and art supplies. The enemies are terribly broken - anatomy and perspective mistakes, in particular, are GoddamnedBats, DemonicSpiders, and sometimes InvisibleMonsters, ''all at the same time'' - and the [[VideoGameLives saving system]] is very weird. You get InfiniteOneUps during the pencilling level if you have a good eraser, but if you mess up during the "inking" stage, [[FinalDeath you'll get sent straight back to the beginning.]] The "white-out," "lightbox," and "scan and reprint" expansion packs fix this design flaw to a limited extent, but the process is still time consuming, and the latter two can be expensive. (The sequel, "Digital Art," gives you [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist infinite lives throughout the entire game]], but it costs much more and takes an entirely different skill-set.)

** Same goes for mastering any talent, but I'd specifically like to highlight drawing. It takes years to build up the hand-eye coordination needed to get good at it, often ''decades'' if you want to reach pro level. The game itself is also incredibly frustrating, suffering from ridiculous amounts of TrialAndErrorGameplay, severe PacingProblems, and endless {{Fetch Quest}}s for reference material and art supplies. The enemies are terribly broken - anatomy and perspective mistakes, in particular, are GoddamnedBats, DemonicSpiders, and sometimes InvisibleMonsters, ''all at the same time'' - and the [[VideoGameLives saving system]] is very weird. You get InfiniteOneUps during the pencilling level if you have a good eraser, but if you mess up during the "inking" stage, [[FinalDeath you'll get sent straight back to the beginning.]] The "white-out," "lightbox," and "scan and reprint" expansion packs fix this design flaw to a limited extent, but the process is still time consuming, and the latter two can be expensive. (The sequel to drawing, "digital art," gives you [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist infinite lives throughout the entire game]], but it costs much more and takes an entirely different skill-set.)

** Same goes for mastering any talent, but I'd specifically like to highlight drawing. It takes years to build up the hand-eye coordination needed to get good at it, often ''decades'' if you want to reach pro level. The game itself is also incredibly frustrating, suffering from ridiculous amounts of TrialAndErrorGameplay, severe PacingProblems, and endless {{Fetch Quest}}s for reference material and art supplies. The enemies are terribly broken - anatomy and perspective mistakes, in particular, are GoddamnedBats, DemonicSpiders, and sometimes InvisibleMonsters, ''all at the same time - and the [[VideoGameLives saving system]] is very weird. You get InfiniteOneUps during the pencilling level if you have a good eraser, but if you mess up during the "inking" stage, [[FinalDeath you'll get sent straight back to the beginning.]] The "white-out," "lightbox," and "scan and reprint" expansion packs fix this design flaw to a limited extent, but the process is still time consuming, and the latter two can be expensive. (The sequel to drawing, "digital art," gives you [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist infinite lives throughout the entire game]], but it costs much more and takes an entirely different skill-set.)

** Same goes for mastering any talent, but I'd specifically like to highlight drawing. It takes years to build up the hand-eye coordination needed to get good at it, often ''decades'' if you want to reach pro level. The game itself is also incredibly frustrating, suffering from ridiculous amounts of TrialAndErrorGameplay, severe PacingProblems, and endless {{Fetch Quest}}s for reference material and art supplies. The enemies are terribly broken - anatomy and perspective mistakes, in particular, are GoddamnedBats, DemonicSpiders, and sometimes InvisibleMonsters ''all at the same time - and the [[VideoGameLives saving system]] is very weird. You get InfiniteOneUps during the pencilling level if you have a good eraser, but if you mess up during the "inking" stage, [[FinalDeath you'll get sent straight back to the beginning.]] The "white-out," "lightbox," and "scan and reprint" expansion packs fix this design flaw to a limited extent, but the process is still time consuming, and the latter two can be expensive. (The sequel to drawing, "digital art," gives you [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist infinite lives throughout the entire game]], but it costs much more and takes an entirely different skill-set.)

** Same goes for mastering any talent, but I'd specifically like to highlight drawing. It takes years to build up the hand-eye coordination needed to get good at it, often ''decades'' if you want to reach pro level. The game itself is also incredibly frustrating, suffering from ridiculous amounts of TrialAndErrorGameplay, severe PacingProblems, and endless {{Fetch Quest}]s for reference material and art supplies. The enemies are terribly broken - anatomy and perspective mistakes, in particular, are GoddamnedBats, DemonicSpiders, and sometimes InvisibleMonsters ''all at the same time - and the [[VideoGameLives saving system]] is very weird. You get InfiniteOneUps during the pencilling level if you have a good eraser, but if you mess up during the "inking" stage, [[FinalDeath you'll get sent straight back to the beginning.]] The "white-out," "lightbox," and "scan and reprint" expansion packs fix this design flaw to a limited extent, but the process is still time consuming, and the latter two can be expensive. (The sequel to drawing, "digital art," gives you [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist infinite lives throughout the entire game]], but it costs much more and takes an entirely different skill-set.)

** ''HoleInTheWall'' is another game that's pretty difficult to win, due to the fact that most of the time the holes are way too small for the average contestants to fit through properly and if the hole is destroyed, the contestant loses the round regardless of whether they were pushed off of the course or not. The difficulty was shot UpToEleven during the final round where the contestant was BLINDFOLDED and had to listen to their teammates instructions in order to get through the hole. Couple this with the fact that some of the later rounds had holes that were airborne in the MIDDLE of the wall, which required the contestant to [[LuckBasedMission blindly jump and get lucky enough to clear the hole]] and you can see ''why'' the success rate of the winners is so low.

* ''HomestarRunner'' parodied this trope. There's the easter egg game "Super Kingio Bros," in which you cannot possibly avoid the first enemy, who you find within the first second of the game.

** ''HoleInTheWall'' is another game that's pretty difficult to win, due to the fact that most of the time the holes are way to small for the average contestants to fit through properly and if the hole is destroyed, the contestant loses the round regardless of whether they were pushed off of the course or not. The difficulty was shot UpToEleven during the final round where the contestant was BLINDFOLDED and had to listen to their teammates instructions in order to get through the hole. Couple this with the fact that some of the later rounds had holes that were airborne in the MIDDLE of the wall, which required the contestant to [[LuckBasedMission blindly jump and get lucky enough to clear the hole]] and you can see ''why'' the success rate of the winners is so low.

* The Japanese sure do love creating sadistic obstacle course shows for the masses to humiliate themselves on:
** ''NinjaWarrior'' is just pure obstacle course hell, with the obstacles becoming more and more difficult with each season. In all of its 23+ seasons of running, only ''three'' people have successfully completed all four levels of the competition. In fact, the show's design team have admitted that they try each tournament to make the ''first round'' so tough that ''no one'' could beat it.

*** Possibly even worse is the female version of the tournament, which only one woman has successfully beaten (and she's done it ''three times''!). In the most recent one, four of the original tournament's recurring competitors (dubbed the All-Stars) had each mentored a female competitor. None of their proteges made it past the first stage.
** ''TakeshisCastle'' is Nintendo Hard in TV game show form. It ran for three years, each episode had 100-142 starting contestants; only nine people ever won (this isn't including the joke episode where everybody won).
** ''UnbeatableBanzuke'' mostly involves either getting through an insanely complicated obstacle course using an unusual method of travel (like walking on one's hands, on stilts, with a wheelbarrow, etc.), completing an oversized children's game, or performing as many exercise feats as possible within a time limit. Out of the hundreds that try their luck, only 2 or 3 on average manage to succeed, with the record before the show's cancellation being 7 wins.
** ''HoleInTheWall'' is another game that's pretty difficult to win, due to the fact that most of the time the holes are way to small for the average contestants to fit through properly and if the hole is destroyed, the contestant loses the round regardless of whether they were pushed off of the course or not. The difficulty was shot {{up to eleven}} during the final round where the contestant was BLINDFOLDED and had to listen to their teammates instructions in order to get through the hole. Couple this with the fact that some of the later rounds had holes that were airborne in the MIDDLE of the wall, which required the contestant to [[LuckBasedMission blindly jump and get lucky enough to clear the hole]] and you can see ''why'' the success rate of the winners is so low.

* ''ThePriceIsRight'' post-Roger Dobkowitz (season 37-present) has been accused by longtime fans of being ''Nintendo Hard'' - from brutal pricing game setups to impossible to bid showcases, especially killing Double Showcase Winners. On the week of January 11-15, 2010, only three games were won.
** To cite an individual game that's Nintendo Hard, look no further than the early game Bullseye (not to be confused with a much easier later game that shares the same name). The contestant had to use binary search ("higher... lower...") in order to zero in on the price of a car, similar to today's Clock Game. The only trouble was, rather than making as many guesses as they could within a given time limit (as is done with Clock Game), the contestant only had seven guesses period. ''To figure out the exact price of a four-digit car down to the dollar.'' The game was retired after less than two months, with nobody ever winning it.
* UK kids GameShow ''{{Raven}}'' contains The Way Of The Warrior, an assault course played 3 times a week over each season's four week run. It's played by the contestant currently in last place, and it keeps being played until it's defeated. Over the first 8 seasons, it's been attempted 101 times, and won just four, and each time it's come back harder the next year... Not that no-one defeating it stops them upping the difficulty between seasons, it simply isn't guaranteed to be increased in difficulty unless someone beats it.
* The earlier UK kids GameShow ''{{Knightmare}}'' had a similar record- 80 teams challenged the Dungeon of Deceit over the course of 8 series. 72 of them failed. The first and third series didn't have a single winner.

** In a different vein, the unrelated UK quiz show ''Wipeout'' (also ported to the U.S. with Peter Tomarken as host), which had a fairly standard setup of picking the correct answers from the false ones, all displayed on a big screen. But picking an incorrect answer zeroed your entire winnings so far, each round continued until either all the correct answers or all the 'wipeouts' were found, and the prizes weren't much anyway. Players would usually pass after a correct answer rather than risk another one, and you'd frequently see two players going home with nothing and the third with a hundred quid or so.

* Several ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' modules have developed reputations for being "meat grinders" due to the high mortality rate of parties attempting to tackle them.
** The original TabletopGame/TombOfHorrors module more than qualifies.

** As is ''Throne of Bloodstone,'' the module that has your party going to the layer of the Abyss that Orcus resides in order to steal his artifact wand.
** And then there's the DarkSun module "Valley of Dust and Fire" which details the city of Ur Draxa, home of the Dragon of Tyr.
*** The whole Dark Sun-setting was intended to be the Nintendo Hard among the D&D-settings (though {{Planescape}} is more or less on par with it).
** And let's not forget just about any dungeon created by a KillerGameMaster.
*** Or even created by a normal DM. D&D is exceedingly lethal even without active malice on the part of the DM, it's just more so with it, and more arbitrarily so at that.

** ''Dungeon'' magazine was rather infamous for publishing these, as well. There was one that included a nearly-inescapable room-filling-with-sand trap, the goal for the adventure being impossible to achieve without the (level eight to ten) party members having a ''wish'' spell available, and an efreet that literally could not be killed. The only way to even get rid of the efreet involved summoning a 20th-level priest of Set who's been dead and trapped in an amulet for several thousand years, has his full repertoire of combat spells to blast the party with, and is in a ''really bad mood''. Other adventures were even more deadly.
** ''Labyrinth of Madness'' - not only are the monsters and traps extremely deadly, but to progress past certain points, you need to find magical glyphs, without which certain parts of the dungeon (mainly the entrances to new areas) don't even ''exist'' for you. There are twenty in all, and you're pretty much screwed if you miss even one. (To make matters worse, the original printing has a typo that makes one of them impossible to actually get, but honestly, most groups will give up before this actually becomes a problem.)
*** There was a comic book adaptation of the Labyrinth of Madness. The dwarven fighter was instant-killed off about 3 pages in, turned into a zombie and sent back to attack his friends. Says it all, really.

* [[{{Paranoia}} Friend Computer]] would like to remind you that only Commie Mutant Traitors would say the Troubleshooters in Paranoia are given six clones because of the stunningly high death rate in Alpha Complex. Complaining about a 2% survival rate at one week is treason. This information is above your clearance level, Citizen; please report to your nearest termination center immediately or wait for your local extermination team. Have a wonderful daycycle!

* ''HomestarRunner'' parodied this trope. There's the easter egg game "Super Kingio Bros," in which you cannot possibly avoid the first enemy, who you find within the first second of the game.

* The casino game "Diana" [[OlderThanTheyThink Surprisingly old]], predating [[OlderThanTheNES Nintendo]], [[OlderThanTelevision the TV itself]], and even [[OlderThanRadio radio!]] was introduced to the Wild West in the 1800s, but did not gain popularity as the odds were apparently murderous.
* Most puzzle- or skill-based toys are simple once you get the trick. However, there are a few that remain fiendishly difficult, even after hours of practice. Worth special mention is one that consists of a box topped by a tilting platform, controlled by two knobs on the sides. The object is to navigate a marble through the maze on the platform by tilting it using the knobs. It wouldn't be that hard, except that the platform has a bunch of holes in it in addition to the walls of the maze. Falling through a hole forces you to start over, and all it takes is a momentary lapse in concentration.
** There is now a 3-dimensional version of that puzzle, encased in a clear plastic sphere. This one offers a "save point", but also many new challenges.

* Several ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' modules have developed reputations for being "meat grinders" due to the high mortality rate of parties attempting to tackle them.
** The original TabletopGame/TombOfHorrors module more than qualifies.
--->'''E. Gary Gygax''': [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0536.html Heh, heh. Oh, man. The Sphere of Annihilation in the statue's mouth. That never gets old.]]
** As is ''Throne of Bloodstone,'' the module that has your party going to the layer of the Abyss that Orcus resides in order to steal his artifact wand.
** And then there's the DarkSun module "Valley of Dust and Fire" which details the city of Ur Draxa, home of the Dragon of Tyr.
*** The whole Dark Sun-setting was intended to be the Nintendo Hard among the D&D-settings (though {{Planescape}} is more or less on par with it).
** And let's not forget just about any dungeon created by a KillerGameMaster.
*** Or even created by a normal DM. D&D is exceedingly lethal even without active malice on the part of the DM, it's just more so with it, and more arbitrarily so at that.
*** A lot of it - especially the latest (as of early 2011) Monster Manual - actually isn't that hard, so long as you have proper pacing and a well balanced team. Which leads to conversations like "What, you wiped with that? The tank shouldn't have been touched, and the healer should have been able to keep the AOE mitigated!" "Yeah except we have three melee damage-dealing guys in hide armor or less, and our 'healer' focused all his skills in attacks with a little control and heals himself first and foremost." ".... Ouch."
** ''Dungeon'' magazine was rather infamous for publishing these, as well. There was one that included a nearly-inescapable room-filling-with-sand trap, the goal for the adventure being impossible to achieve without the (level eight to ten) party members having a ''wish'' spell available, and an efreet that literally could not be killed. The only way to even get rid of the efreet involved summoning a 20th-level priest of Set who's been dead and trapped in an amulet for several thousand years, has his full repertoire of combat spells to blast the party with, and is in a ''really bad mood''. Other adventures were even more deadly.
** ''Labyrinth of Madness'' - not only are the monsters and traps extremely deadly, but to progress past certain points, you need to find magical glyphs, without which certain parts of the dungeon (mainly the entrances to new areas) don't even ''exist'' for you. There are twenty in all, and you're pretty much screwed if you miss even one. (To make matters worse, the original printing has a typo that makes one of them impossible to actually get, but honestly, most groups will give up before this actually becomes a problem.)
*** There was a comic book adaptation of the Labyrinth of Madness. The dwarven fighter was instant-killed off about 3 pages in, turned into a zombie and sent back to attack his friends. Says it all, really.
** The Skinsaw Murders, a ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' adventure path installment, is infamous for [=TPKs=]. Lots of ghouls, who's paralysis attack can be very cheap and very nasty, a haunted house full of unavoidable "Haunts", one of which forces you to jump out a window, possibly hitting the water some 50 ft below, or run outside into a flock of undead crows. And the final boss encounter...no. Just no.
* ''HomestarRunner'' parodied this trope. There's the easter egg game "Super Kingio Bros," in which you cannot possibly avoid the first enemy, who you find within the first second of the game.

** ''TakeshisCastle'' is Nintendo Hard in TV game show form.

*** ''HoleInTheWall'' is another game that's pretty difficult to win, due to the fact that most of the time the holes are way to small for the average contestants to fit through properly and if the hole is destroyed, the contestant loses the round regardless of whether they were pushed off of the course or not. The difficulty was shot {{up to eleven}} during the final round where the contestant was BLINDFOLDED and had to listen to their teammates instructions in order to get through the hole. Couple this with the fact that some of the later rounds had holes that were airborne in the MIDDLE of the wall, which required the contestant to [[LuckBasedMission blindly jump and get lucky enough to clear the hole]] and you can see ''why'' the success rate of the winners is so low.

** ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'', the RPG, is usually murderously difficult to survive. Characters are at risk of death from a single rifle round, and many monsters deal enough damage that player characters who are hit have almost no chance to survive. TheCorruption is killing you, your SanityMeter is killing you, the McGuffin is killing you, the TomeOfEldritchLore is killing you... [[EverythingIsTryingToKillYou They're not trying.]] They're succeeding.

* ''BetrayalAtHouseOnTheHill'' has many scenarios which are won or lost based on victory conditions. However, before the endgame begins, players have found items, gained and lost stats, and explored the house. End-games range from fair challenges to virtually impossible.

* The CthulhuMythos board game ''ArkhamHorror'' is extremely difficult. The randomly drawnly opponent EldritchAbomination BigBad changes a number of rules, monsters, and often has instant-kill conditions should the game end in a final battle. Strategy and teamwork is mandatory, random events and blind luck will usually ruin your plans, and it's all a RaceAgainstTheClock. Expansions for the game generally exist to make the game ever ''harder'', such as adding TheDragon or TheCorruption to the mix. In general, you don't expect to ''win'' a given game, completely appropirate to the [[CosmicHorrorStory setting]].

* Several ''DungeonsAndDragons'' modules have developed reputations for being "meat grinders" due to the high mortality rate of parties attempting to tackle them.
** The original TombOfHorrors module more than qualifies.

** The Skinsaw Murders, a ''{{Pathfinder}}'' adventure path installment, is infamous for [=TPKs=]. Lots of ghouls, who's paralysis attack can be very cheap and very nasty, a haunted house full of unavoidable "Haunts", one of which forces you to jump out a window, possibly hitting the water some 50 ft below, or run outside into a flock of undead crows. And the final boss encounter...no. Just no.

** ''CallOfCthulhu'', the RPG, is usually murderously difficult to survive. Characters are at risk of death from a single rifle round, and many monsters deal enough damage that player characters who are hit have almost no chance to survive. TheCorruption is killing you, your SanityMeter is killing you, the McGuffin is killing you, the TomeOfEldritchLore is killing you... [[EverythingIsTryingToKillYou They're not trying.]] They're succeeding.

* ''HunterTheReckoning'' stresses its brutal difficulty in its fluff. The rules are not on the same level as CallOfCthulhu. However, if the GameMaster decides to use the rules in the game lines for other supernaturals in the WorldOfDarkness, the PlayerCharacters are mayflies.

* UK show ''TheCrystalMaze'' was won by only a few teams in its entire run. The individual challenges to earn crystals ranged from dead simple to unfair, but what ultimately decided the difference between winning an adventure holiday or going home with only a souvenir paperweight was the Crystal Dome, a dimly-lit wind chamber in which the team would have a period of five seconds per crystal to grab at slips of foil, hoping to collect 100 more gold ones than silver ones.

* ''BetrayalAtHouseOnTheHill'' has many scenarios which are won or lost based on victory conditions. However, before the endgame begins, players have found items, gained and lost stats, and explored the house. End-games range from fair challenges to virtually impossible.
* ''FinnegansWake'' is a prime literature example.
* The ''New York Times'' crossword puzzle.