History NintendoHard / ShootEmUps

* The ''{{Darius}}'' series of shmups, particularly ''Darius II'' and ''Darius Gaiden''. In ''Darius II'', the player's ship is huge relative to the enemies, and ''Darius Gaiden'' attempts to piss players off with nigh-unavoidable enemy attacks and cheap bosses, several of which fire the dreaded, hard-to-dodge homing lasers, and a rather annoying DynamicDifficulty system where powering up for the first time raises the difficulty, with the new difficulty depending on what tier of stages...what's that? Did you just die twice on the final stage and get reduced to the weaker laser shots? Too bad, Taito doesn't care.
* ''Legendary Wings'', particularly the arcade version.
* The ''{{R-Type}}'' series. What it lacks in BulletHell, it more than makes up for it with its challenging stage designs and enemy placements. Credit feeding and/or savestating will quickly become your best friends in practicing the stages.
* ''Armed Police Unit Gallop'', aka ''Cosmic Cop'', a GaidenGame to ''RType'', is even more Nintendo-hard than its brethren.
* Much of the ''{{Gradius}}'' series is a test of patience and being able to recover out of a death that strips you of all of the powerups that keep the game easy. The arcade version of ''Gradius III'' (not Arcade difficulty of the SNES version, but the original arcade version), in particular is a notorious example; the first stage alone will make you '''CRY.'''

* ''SunsetRiders'' is essentially ''Contra'' [[RecycledInSpace in the old West]], and for good reason. Multiplayer made the game easier, there were powerups for your gun, but you still had to master aiming and effectively making use of cover; not to mention the stampedes and one-hit kills. Then there's [[ThatOneBoss The Smith Bros]]...
* Don't let the playful graphics in ''VideoGame/AquaRhapsody'' fool you. Fast and precise mouse movements are a MUST to make any decent progress in the game.

* For all it manages to avoid TheProblemWithLicensedGames, ''AstroBoy: Omega Factor'' is a bastard in later levels. The first playthrough is all right, but once you enter the second one, every enemy doubles the amount of damage they can do. By the time you reach the last level, forget your health bar - you can take maybe three hits. Did I mention some enemies randomly don't go into hit-stun, meaning they can freely attack you while you hit them? And that many of the flying stages are BulletHell? (This ''is'' a {{Treasure}} game.) Oh, and the entire second half of the game is a massive GuideDangIt. Still surprisingly fun.

* Another game from Treasure, ''SinAndPunishment'' is easy on easy mode. And then normal mode makes your shots do less damage, you take more damage, and heal less. Took you forever to beat Normal mode? Happy joy, you just unlocked Hard. Good luck making it to the final boss, much less beating it. Beat ''that''? [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0qDMaJ6Ydg Go for Turbo/double-frame mode]].
** [[SinAndPunishment2 The second game]] doesn't seem to have lowered the difficulty any, either, and perhaps might even have ''raised'' it. Good thing the point controls make aiming so precise, because ''you're going to need every edge you can get''.

* Most of {{Cave}}'s shmups became notorious for their elaborate scoring mechanics, and their difficulty; their most successful titles have earned the attention of non-competitive shmup players and score-competitive ones alike, and are often [[http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=26325 ranked high]] in terms of player preference. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that Cave has defined its own standards of difficulty, where Nintendo Hard isn't enough to express it. For example, the {{Touhou}} community has created a hacked version of its 6th game that's inspired by {{Mushihime-sama}}'s Ultra Mode. Now, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EQOc4cWcYw for your viewing pleasure]]

* In Japanese, a subset of games called [[BulletHell danmaku]] are modern (or not THAT modern) variations that often feature extremely elaborate and beautiful patterns of bullet flows, especially for bosses, with hundreds and sometimes thousands of bullets on the screen at once. While it is unknown which game was the first to be in this genre, certainly the most popular are Ikaruga, Radiant Silvergun, and the DonPachi series.

* A variant of the ''danmaku'', ''{{Ikaruga}}'' is often cited as one of the hardest games ever made. And that's not even regarding going for the evasive "S++" rankings. Part of this is due to the fact that, once again, Treasure found a way to make a shooter that encourages the player to fly ''into'' enemy fire.

** Another part of the first game's difficulty is how utterly ''strange'' the game's controls are[[hottip:*:The default control scheme on any controller is to use the left side only, with the triggers, analog stick, and D-pad being the method of control. The normal buttons are completely ignored.]], which take quite a bit of getting used to. Fortunately, the Wii controls in the second game pretty much fix this problem.
* ''RadiantSilvergun'', which is just long and hard as hell. Although it is one tiny step below BulletHell genre, it makes up for it by more complex game mechanics where just holding down fire buttons isn't the best thing to do.

* ''SunsetRiders'' is essentially ''Contra'' [[RecycledInSpace in the old West]], and for good reason. Multiplayer made the game easier, there were powerups for your gun, but you still had to master aiming and effectively making use of cover; not to mention the stampedes and one-hit kills. Then there's [[ThatOneBoss The Smith Bros]]...

** Cave have made some of the hardest shoot-em-ups ever, and some of the hardest games ever, period. One of their games, [[DonPachi ''Dodonpachi Dai-ou-jou'']], was out for a year and only 5 people in the entire world had beaten it. And these were all "professional" Japanese shoot-em-up players. Ultra mode in [[{{Mushihime-sama}} ''Mushihime-sama Futari'']] is pretty much legendary in terms of difficulty - you're lucky if you survive more than 30 seconds.
*** And the "Black Label" limited edition version has God mode, which features the BonusBoss to end all Bonus Bosses... Spiritual Larsa. This boss is so hard nobody in the ''entire world'' has ever beaten it without dying at least once. And to get to her, you have to beat God Mode (essentially Ultra mode with a tweaked scoring system) without dying, ''ever''. This boss is insanely hard ''even to people who can do this''.
**** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWD-GZP35u8 It's finally been done.]]

** Another part of the first game's difficulty is how utterly ''strange'' the game's controls are, which take quite a bit of getting used to. Fortunately, the Wii controls in the second game pretty much fix this problem.

*** ''Contra 3: The Alien Wars'', for the Super NES, has multiple difficulty levels and the ability to choose to have more extra lives per continue, making it less frustrating than the earlier games. When set to Hard, however, the game is at least as difficult and unforgiving as its NES predecessors.

*** And then Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu came along, and then Black Label came after that and introduced the elusive Zatsuza. Why elusive? Because for over a year, the only evidence of its existence was a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY9LTWjcvq0 track on the OST marked "Secret"]], because ''nobody was awesome enough at the game to even see it'', to the point that most people just started thinking it was just a CutSong.

** And then Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu came along, and then Black Label came after that and introduced the elusive Zatsuza. Why elusive? Because for over a year, the only evidence of its existence was a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY9LTWjcvq0 track on the OST marked "Secret"]], because ''nobody was awesome enough at the game to even see it'', to the point that most people just started thinking it was just a CutSong.

* Other shooting games that have gained renown for being pretty hard are ''VideoGame/{{Mushihimesama}}'', which writes the Curtain in Curtain Fire with capital letters (it is not unusual to barely see your ship among the thousands upon thousands of bullets as the difficulty starts ramping up)

* Much of the ''{{Gradius}}'' series is a test of patience and being able to recover out of a death that strips you of all of the powerups that keep the game easy. The arcade version of ''Gradius III'' (not Arcade difficulty of the SNES version, I mean the original arcade version), in particular is a notorious example; the first stage alone will make you '''CRY.'''

* ''BattleGaregga''. If you can handle the [[RealIsBrown realistically-colored bullets]], prepare for a different dimension of hurt: the [[DynamicDifficulty rank]] system. Playing normally, the game is practically UnwinnableByDesign in the last two stages; you have to do some rather counterintuitive-looking strategies like ''deliberately not powering up'' (because higher firepower raises the rank more) and ''deliberately dying'' (only way to reduce the rank). The latter also means you need to take full advantage of the point-based extra lives; it's beena argued that playing for score (a feat that [[DeaderThanDisco 99% of gamers don't care for]]) and playing for survival are one and the same in ''Garegga''.

* AceCombat 4 had a level that where the majority of the point items were into craters on the top of plateaus. That ascended 2500 feet in the air. To get them, you had to take your jet to nearly double that height, and nose dive until you came in firing range, which is in the hundreds of feet measurements. Okay, somewhat beatable if you can pull out and zoom away for another run. Now, tack on the bad guy's super weapon, which was capable of shooting down everything above 2000 feet within operational range instantly (operational range being nearly an entire continent the current combat zone just happens to be on) and fires something on the order of once every five minutes, forcing you to abandon precious time trying to make your runs. Then, even if were to get the points necessary to beat the level, you still had to wait for the mission to time out, and endure stuff shooting at you and the superweapon.

* ''{{Touhou}}'' is particularly well-known for drawing in new players with its cast of cute girls, [[SurpriseDifficulty before they realize just how bullet-happy these cute girls can be]]. Even on Easy Mode, players not used to shoot-em-ups will find themselves wondering "how the heck do I dodge that?!" And on the harder difficulty levels, the game really starts showing its teeth--just search for a video of the game on Lunatic or its [[BrutalBonusLevel Extra stage]]. To make matters worse, although you can continue if you lose all your lives, continuing means [[MultipleEndings not getting to see a good ending]]. The real kicker, though, is that, when it comes to BulletHell, ''Touhou'' is considered one of the ''easier'' games.
* Other shooting games that have gained renown for being pretty hard are ''{{Mushihimesama}}'', which writes the Curtain in Curtain Fire with capital letters (it is not unusual to barely see your ship among the thousands upon thousands of bullets as the difficulty starts ramping up)

* ''Lightning Fighters''. Came out the same year as ''Raiden'', but quite a bit harder. Has moments of FakeDifficulty in the later levels, as well as suffering from [[ContinuingIsPainful "Gradius Syndrome"]].

* ''VideoGame/AdventuresOfDinoRiki'': In this game, Dino Riki is armed with throwing rocks and must contend with hordes of fast-moving enemies, quicksand pits, bottomless chasms, and river crossings where he must be extremely careful with his jumps or else he will end up [[SuperDrowningSkills in the drink]].

* TheAdventuresOfDinoRiki (NES): In this game, Dino Riki is armed with throwing rocks and must contend with hordes of fast-moving enemies, quicksand pits, bottomless chasms, and river crossings where he must be extremely careful with his jumps or else he will end up [[SuperDrowningSkills in the drink]].

* Adventures of Dino Riki (NES): In this game, Dino Riki is armed with throwing rocks and must contend with hordes of fast-moving enemies, quicksand pits, bottomless chasms, and river crossings where he must be extremely careful with his jumps or else he will end up [[SuperDrowningSkills in the drink]].

* Adventures of Dino Riki (NES): In this game, Dino Riki is armed with throwing rocks and must contend with hordes of fast-moving enemies, quicksand pits, bottomless chasms, and river crossings where he must be extremely careful with his jumps right or else he will end up [[SuperDrowningSkills in the drink]].

* Adventures of Dino Riki (NES): In this game, Dino Riki is armed with throwing rocks and must contend with hordes of fast-moving enemies and dangerous river crossings where he must be extremely careful with his jumps right or else he will end up [[SuperDrowningSkills in the drink]].

* [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/Capcom Capcom]]'s 19XX series which has you fighting through storms of projectiles and enemies and plenty of bosses which take the form of [[ImpossiblyCoolWeapon Huge]] [[AwesomeButImpractical Expensive]] [[MilitaryMashUpMachine Superweapons]].

* ''Lightning Fighters''. Came out the same year as ''Raiden'', but quite a bit harder. Has moments of FakeDifficulty in the later levels, as well as suffering from [[ContinuingIsPainful "Gradius Syndrome"]].

* ''Abadox.'' Holy shitcock, Abadox. It looks like ''LifeForce'' - and it is a damned good shooter - but there's one little problem. When you die - and you WILL die - [[UnstableEquilibrium you lose all your powerups]]. Standard shooter fare, right? Did we mention that if you don't have speed powerups, you control like molasses in January? This in a game full of tight turns, fast-moving landscapes and (especially in the later levels) enemies as fast as you are ''with'' speed powerups. It fits with all the old shmup tropes - huge sprites, OneHitPointWonder and the like - but quite simply, this game is a psychotically hard example. Beating it without using the all-powerful code or savestates is an incredible achievement, on par with one-life-running ''Battletoads.''

* Another game from Treasure, SinAndPunishment is easy on easy mode. And then normal mode makes your shots do less damage, you take more damage, and heal less. Took you forever to beat Normal mode? Happy joy, you just unlocked Hard. Good luck making it to the final boss, much less beating it.
** The second game doesn't seem to have lowered the difficulty any, either, and perhaps might even have ''raised'' it. Good thing the point controls make aiming so precise, because ''you're going to need every edge you can get''.

** A press release about the upcoming sequel says that "easy mode will be easier, and hard mode will be harder."

* ''[[SinAndPunishment Sin & Punishment]]''. After one play-through on Easy, it won't seem so bad, but going up a difficulty doesn't just reduce time and max health, it gives all the bosses superpowers, and adds 'more' bosses. The game was basically a BossRush from the beginning
** The second game doesn't seem to have lowered the difficulty any, either, and perhaps might even have ''raised'' it. Good thing the point controls make aiming so precise, because ''you're going to need every edge you can get''.

* For many players that had played the infinitely easier SNES version, trying the original ''Gradius III'' arcade version tends to be a ''complete bitchslap to the face''. Yeah, so we're going to shift the enemies around, speed them up, make them much more dogged in their pursuit of you--oh, and while we're at it, you might want to know some of the more useful weapon configurations didn't exist here and the bosses are more resilient. Finally, if you lose all your lives, you don't even get to continue. Have fun!
** The Asian and World arcade versions were somewhat easier than the aforementioned Japanese version, which was the basis for the PS2 port.

* Most of Cave's shmups became notorious for their elaborate scoring mechanics, and their difficulty; their most successful titles have earned the attention of non-competitive shmup players and score-competitive ones alike, and are often [[http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=26325 ranked high]] in terms of player preference. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that Cave has defined its own standards of difficulty, where Nintendo Hard isn't enough to express it. For example, the {{Touhou}} community has created a hacked version of its 6th game that's inspired by Mushihimesama's Ultra Mode. Now, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EQOc4cWcYw for your viewing pleasure]]
** Cave have made some of the hardest shoot-em-ups ever, and some of the hardest games ever, period. One of their games, ''Dodonpachi Dai-ou-jou'', was out for a year and only 5 people in the entire world had beaten it. And these were all "professional" Japanese shoot-em-up players. Ultra mode in ''Mushihime-sama Futari'' is pretty much legendary in terms of difficulty - you're lucky if you survive more than 30 seconds.

* ''DoDonPachi'' is another manic shooter easily as hard as Gigawing or Mars Matrix, except that you can't reflect the enemy bullets, and to fight the secret boss (a giant robo-wasp capable of firing huge ass LAZORZ) you have to one-credit the game and survive a second loop. Of course, the lilliputian "collision mask" (the pixels on the center of the ship's sprite that cause actual damage) helps learn the skills needed, but even though it's stupidly hard and frustrating.
** It's not a wasp. It's a bee. A very angry leader bee. [[ThatOneBoss Who'll probably turn your ass into paste against the wall.]]

* [[Game/SilverSurfer The Silver Surfer]] video game might very well be one of the hardest games ever.