From the outside, platform games might look peacefully entertaining when seemingly all you have to do is jump and run from point A to point B. For some titles, however, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
These games make it their mission to destroy you again and again, leaving you pulling your hair out as you try to make it through the levels. The brutal challenges will test your skills and patience, yet that sweet, rewarding feeling after making it through a stage makes it all worth it – at least for those bold enough to persevere.
11. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
Nintendo’s family-friendly Mario games aren’t usually known for being particularly challenging, yet Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (or Super Mario Bros. 2) goes against the stream.
The title from 1986 was designed to be a lot more difficult, throwing all kinds of obstacles and enemies your way as you try to make it across platforming sequences that will test your precision.
10. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze from 2018 has you jumping through an intricately designed world teeming with traps and enemies. Trial and error is your friend as you slowly master your skills – if you have the patience to do so.
Tough platforming sequences and relentless boss fights offer a plethora of challenges that ask a lot of you yet keep you engaged as you try again and again.
9. Blasphemous
2019’s Blasphemous is one of those platform games that are brutal through and through. Its gory visuals add to the overall demanding experience set in a gothic underworld that is just as nightmarish as its gameplay.
Its tough hack-‘n-slash combat sees you facing horrifying foes as you make your way through the perilous environment. You have to persevere to save the world from an eternal damnation that’s painfully palpable to the player.
8. Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time
The original Crash Bandicoot games were already quite the challenge, but in terms of difficulty, nothing beats Toys for Bob’s Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time from 2020.
The team threw any and all kinds of challenges into the series’ latest mainline platform game, asking you to master various skills and abilities in tandem with insane precision and perfect timing.
7. Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove
Yacht Club Games’ Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove from 2014 boasts tight combat and precise platforming. Prepare to die a lot, but find solace in the fact that each death will be yet another lesson in honing your skills.
Learning the patterns of each boss and practicing reflexes and timing via trial and error are the name of the game. Thankfully, relics and health upgrades will help you on your journey, and hopefully stop you from banging your head against the wall as you try to beat the stages.
6. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
With Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Ubisoft rebooted the popular franchise in a stylish Metroidvania that challenges your wits and reflexes.
In our Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown review, we were impressed by the exhilarating platforming and boss battles, which will keep you on the edge of your seat as you try to master and perfectly time every move.
The game is tough when you’re playing on the normal difficulty level, but you can even turn things up a notch and increase the challenges to your liking. Those who want a breezier experience can reduce various difficulty parameters.
5. Super Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy throws deadly traps at you at a fast pace and barely ever gives you even a second to recuperate and plan your next move.
Avoiding deadly saw blades, missiles, lasers, rising water, and much more will keep you on your toes as you try to perfectly place each jump in quick succession. Prepare to see Meat Boy get ground into minced meat a lot.
4. Hollow Knight
Hollow Knight is one of the most beloved Metroidvanias out there, in spite of, or maybe because of, its intense difficulty level. Tight platforming sequences ask you to time each movement precisely, while formidable multi-stage boss fights will test your reflexes and perseverance.
A sprawling world and engaging story that invite you to explore make backtracking enjoyable – even when you travel to a boss after respawning at an earlier checkpoint for the umpteenth time.
If the base game didn’t beat you up enough, you can play some of the DLC to face even more demanding challenges.
3. Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection
Two hits is all it takes to take down your knight in shining armor – or just in underwear – in Capcom’s notoriously punishing Ghosts ‘n Goblins from 1985. You can play the OG via NES Online or play the reboot Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection with modern graphics and gameplay.
Both titles throw hordes of enemies and big bosses at you left and right that leave zero room for even the tiniest error. The best (read: worst) part? You have to beat the game twice to get the true ending. Developers sure can be sadistic…
2. Cuphead
When you see Cuphead, you might think this looks cute. But do not let the hand-drawn art style fool you. This run-‘n-gun game does not hold back and will see its “cute” characters get stomped into the ground by its grueling bosses relentlessly.
Perseverance, trial and error, muscle memory, and memorizing attack patterns are your friend if you want to see this through. Godspeed if you actually want to S-tier the whole game.
1. Celeste
A death counter in a game is easily the loudest giveaway that you will die a lot. And such is the case in Celeste, Maddy Makes Games’ brutally beautiful platformer.
Each room is filled with deathtraps that require the utmost precision and perfect timing to make it across. While the platforming can be extremely tough, it’s never punishing. Instead, each try feels like a step forward in conquering the stage, no matter how often you fall to your demise.
This is the reason why Celeste deserves the number one spot: It manages to perfectly walk the line between brutal difficulty and uplifting achievements that encourage you to keep going.
Have you proven your mettle in any of these challenging platform games? Which titles would you add to the list? Let us know in the comments.
