What is the most frustrating video game you played as a kid?

[BrianL]

I have some of those notorious white-knuckle "NES Tough" games that can sned you screaming - but they were still really good - Ninja Gaiden, Castlevania, Zelda II, Section Z. There were also a few games that, while theoretically fun, were also broken and somewhat unplayable, like Battletoads or Bayou Billy.

 

[RamblingMad]

I have some of those notorious white-knuckle "NES Tough" games that can sned you screaming - but they were still really good - Ninja Gaiden, Castlevania, Zelda II, Section Z. There were also a few games that, while theoretically fun, were also broken and somewhat unplayable, like Battletoads or Bayou Billy.

The original Metal Gear is frustrating too.

https://metalgear.fandom.com/wiki/Metal_Gear_(NES)

You can find a rom of it you want to play it now. Retro gaming is a thing. I like abandonedware for finding some old games. Some have been remastered and are on steam too.

 

[BrianL]

Yeah, there were some games like Metal Gear and Simon's Quest that really suffered from translation issues. You really needed to know what the heck was going on. They are actually good games underneath it all, but the learning curves are very steep.

 

[kiddo76]

Dragon's Lair!

 

[JLTraveling]

The Simpsons game on NES. More than a few calls were made to the hint line on that one.

 

[loves to dive]

No video games when I was a kid, I'm too old, we didn't even have color TV.

 

[BrianL]

The Simpsons game on NES. More than a few calls were made to the hint line on that one.

Was it Bart vs. the Sapce Mutants? There wer other Simpsons games on NES, but that onew as inscrutible - it was never exactly clear what you had to do, and the presentation made it very hard to tell what you could and could not interact with or jump across, etc. Just a poorly designed game -b but it had Bart so I played it!

 

[JLTraveling]

Was it Bart vs. the Sapce Mutants? There wer eotehr Simpsons games on NES, but that onew as inscrutible - it was never exactly clear what you had to do, and the presentation made it very hard to tell what you could and could not interact with or jump across, etc. Just a poorly designed game -b but it had Bart so I played it!

Yes, thank you! I couldn't quite remember the name! So frustrating, but oddly addictive lol

 

[BrianL]

Yes, thank you! I couldn't quite remember the name! So frustrating, but oddly addictive lol

No it was addictive. In some cases you could see where there were cool ideas - like actually being able to prank call Moe - but the main objectives weren't clear and the controls were just brutal. Still, it had that great chioptune Simpsons theme playing....

There was also Bart vs. the World, Krusty's Fun House, and Bartman meets Radioactive Man for the NES. They are all kind of clunky, but have their bright spots too.

 

[Skywalker3]

Raaka-tu and Oregon Trail on the computer. I sucked at both, and never made it very far at all.
For my Atari, Pitfall for sure. and Asteroids, never good at that spinning thing for shooting

 

[DodgerGirl]

My mom has never been able to play Super Mario Bros because each time she used to play it Mom would make Mario get big and then she would try to beat a level and Mario would get small and then he would lose and Mom would get mad and it used to make me and Dad laugh every time she would lose. But my dad and I loved boxing video games and the one that we would always play together was Evander Holyfield Real Deal Boxing on the Sega Genesis and it was great fun especially when Dad would get frustrated when his boxer got knocked out by me and then he would knock out my boxer too to show how frustrated he was that I would always win all the time

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

If we're talking Atari the worst game ever, and there seems to be a consensus about it, is ET. I remember not knowing what the @#$& was going on and just recently came across a documentary that outlined how rushed of a game it was and bugged and incomplete it was. How they rounded up all the unsold cartridges and buried them in the desert.

Oh yes I remember watching that documentary too! I enjoyed that.

 

[design_mom]

We didn't have a video game system (well... ever) but my cousins did. I was terrible at Duck Hunt, and would get so upset when the dog would laugh at me!

 

[Mysterian]

E.T. for Atari, Dragon's Lair at the arcade, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the NES.

My sister beat Pitfall. There was a contest at the time- you had to take a photo of the winning screen and send it in for a free shirt or something.

 

[Mysterian]

Marble Madness

OMG, forgot all about this one. I played this at the arcade and on the Commodore 64. Was a pretty cool game at the time.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Does anyone remember the Monsters Inc game for PS2? It was hell trying to defeat water noise in that last level

 

[JLTraveling]

Anybody remember The Incredible Machine, where you had to make these stupidly complex Rube Goldberg machines to do basic tasks like turn on a fan? I wouldn't call it frustrating exactly, and it was a lot of fun, but man was it complicated!

 

[DodgerGirl]

Was The Incredible Machine made by Sierra? I do remember that game because my mom had gotten it for free with one of her King's Quest games and my dad tried it out and found it confusing and there was a whole bunch of The Incredible Machine games and for some reason that game series was a hit for Sierra. How about Jones In The Fast Lane? That was another Sierra game where you played a character trying to work different jobs to earn lots of money

 

[Chupaca bruh]

I was not good a video games way back when. I bought Milon's Secret Castle and could not get past the first room!!!! Only made it half way through Faxanadu. I did complete Zelda and Link numerous times along with all of the Adventures of Lolo games.

 

[BrianL]

I was not good a video games way back when. I bought Milon's Secret Castle and could not get past the first room!!!! Only made it half way through Faxanadu. I did complete Zelda and Link numerous times along with all of the Adventures of Lolo games.

If you were beating Zelda II: The Adventure of Link numerous times, the I daresay that you were in fact good at video games!