Your Favorite Game.... That You've Never Beat?

[Dragonwarrior83 | 16]

I've beaten all my favorites but I'll give 3 that I really really like and never beat. Faxanadu, Earthbound, and Legend of Zelda a Link to the past. I'm currently working on Faxanadu and I'm about 1/3rd of the way done. I've come really close to beating Linn to the past multiple times but never took the time to seal the deal. Earthbound, I purchased about 18 months ago and I have to say I love this RPG but it's such a grind at times and as an adult working 50 hours a week and with 3 kids I often have to take breaks for up to weeks at a time in between sessions and for the life of me I can never remember what the hell I was supposed to be doing.

[T3rra | 18]

I think Final Fantasy III is my answer. I have started and played through most of it several times. But I always get distracted and lose track of where I left off. I really do like it, though. I will beat it eventually, I'm sure.

Chrono Trigger was one, until maybe a year or two ago. I beat it as a kid, but only using a Game Genie. I played through it on DS when it was released, but I never got to the end. Finally I got one of the endings a few years ago.

[trj22487 | 350]

I think the only Grand Theft Auto I've ever beaten was Vice City and IV, I don't even think I got to the 3rd Island in San Andreas! I was stuck at that RC Plane mission for years....I think somebody told me you didn't even need to do that mission to progress?!? Sadly I don't even have a PS2 anymore.

[AstralSoul | 502]

Blaster Master on NES. I know it's not a super hard game, nor a super long one. I've played it very far in many times over, but there's no password system and I hate relying on save states. I want to play it in its entirety in one playthrough one day. 

[Philosoraptor | 468]

Hmm...quite a few, so I'll only list games I'd still put on my top 100 games list despite not beating them. Ikaruga (and a bunch of other bullet hells), Sonic 2, Etrian Odyssey III, Pocky & Rocky 1 & 2, and Bayonetta 2. 

[bag | 58]

Battletoads. We played that game so much as kids. One of my brothers beat it with warps. I'll never be able to beat it. Still one of the greatest games though.

[G-type | 2,476]

Punch-out! is definitely high up there!

other contenders:

Legend of Zelda, (I got close!)

Super Mario 2 (never got close)

 

[ThePhleo | 2,184]

Final Fantasy IX is #1 As it’s The ONLY main series Final Fantasy I’ve yet to beat.

But there are soooo many RPGs that I love that I still never finished. Chrono Cross, Ys: The Ark of Napishtim, Wild ARMs 3, and Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, Digital Devil Saga, Earthbound, Dragon Warrior 4....I can go on.

[DarkTone | 984]

Had to think on this one. My answer is Ikaruga.

Game is incredible, but tough as hell. If you haven't seen it, YouTube the final boss.

[m308gunner | 352]

Iron Tank. I sooooooo wanted to beat this game. Always loved the driving and shooting mechanic and general aesthetic. 

But after getting near the end, where I would die repeatedly (and lose all weapon upgrades) I just couldn't make any progress. Many, many tries and many, many expletives later I snapped.

Brought the cartridge down to the basement, slapped it in a vice, and went to town with a hammer.

Never bought it again.

That was, oh maybe 15-20 years ago.

Could be time for round 2.

[Skorp | 383]

Donkey Kong 64 (of course). I am down to the last 5 golden bananas, but I can't get them. They are just too tough. (also need one more fairy) Two of them is the Beaver Bother mini-game that I just can't do it for some reason. I completely suck at it. Another one is in Crystal Mines with Lanky and the race game. I actually probably can do that one as I get better at it each time, but so far not there yet.

Another game is Street Fighter 2010. I can't do the final part with those damn couple of bosses and transitions. Stupid time limit on that game makes me always die.

Edited October 29, 2019 by Skorp

[arnpoly | 198]

This is a hard topic for me since I beat a lot of games, especially the ones I enjoy a lot!

The one game that comes to mind is Air Fortress on NES.  I have beaten the first four stages in that game I don't know how many times.  Then Level 5 comes along and it is way harder and confusing than anything else up to that point.  I did finally clear the level the last time I played and then stopped after a couple of attempts at Stage 6.

But anyway, Air Fortress will eventually fall (hehe) and I look forward to when that day comes!

[Ghost Soldier | 24]

Dragon Warrior NES is one that comes to mind first. I've spent tons of hours playing it and watching other people play it. I wind up just going to certain areas and grinding instead of moving forward. I enjoy the grind more than the advancement in some games and this one has that quality. 

[Nintegageo | 582]

Ikaruga was the one I thought to mention. Amazing game.

[Phyrexian Hulk | 15]

Sad to say since I'm such a die hard Castlevania fan. But I've never actually beaten the original NES Castlvania. Over 30 years since that game came out and I've only gotten to Dracula a hand full of times with no sucess

[cj_robot | 540]

13 hours ago, Phyrexian Hulk said:

Sad to say since I'm such a die hard Castlevania fan. But I've never actually beaten the original NES Castlvania. Over 30 years since that game came out and I've only gotten to Dracula a hand full of times with no sucess

Castlevania was mine as well until recently. I found this awesome video on YouTube. He goes way in-depth covering all the mechanics of the game and strategies to get through every area, and it was a huge help for me to finally beat it.

 

[koifish | 555]

Most of them are games where I played them primarily for the multiplayer. Examples include Quake and TimeSplitters Future Perfect (though in my defense, that game has a LOT of stuff to finish in it).

I also have a bad habit of getting to the end and then not finishing it. I think it's a sensation of not wanting it to end. I've done that with TV shows too. I find myself in it, wishing I had more to enjoy, but knowing the only thing left to do is to beat the game and complete your 100% items checklist. Metroid Prime was a good example, I loved it but I didn't beat the final boss until 17 years after I first played it.

[CMR | 518]

Ninja Gaiden.  I made it to the next to last boss once or twice.

[SasoriVader | 1]

The arcade version of Kid Niki: Radical Ninja. I've come to terms that I'll never get a one-credit clear of that one, the final boss was simply made to eat all your credits until the stars align and you get a decent pattern. I can make it to round 8 on one life (in about 10-12 minutes), and then spend an hour or two trying to beat the last boss. I think it's typical for Irem to tack bullshit like that at the very end of their arcade games, the pit segment of Ninja Spirit comes to mind.

It's tragic because the arcade Kid Niki is better than the NES one in almost all aspects, yet I still like the NES port more just because the final boss was toned down a heck of a lot. 

[ookii_risu | 206]

On 10/28/2019 at 1:09 AM, T3rra said:

I think Final Fantasy III is my answer. I have started and played through most of it several times. But I always get distracted and lose track of where I left off. I really do like it, though. I will beat it eventually, I'm sure.

Chrono Trigger was one, until maybe a year or two ago. I beat it as a kid, but only using a Game Genie. I played through it on DS when it was released, but I never got to the end. Finally I got one of the endings a few years ago.

Did you try for the other endings?

[ookii_risu | 206]

3 hours ago, SasoriVader said:

The arcade version of Kid Niki: Radical Ninja. I've come to terms that I'll never get a one-credit clear of that one, the final boss was simply made to eat all your credits until the stars align and you get a decent pattern. I can make it to round 8 on one life (in about 10-12 minutes), and then spend an hour or two trying to beat the last boss. I think it's typical for Irem to tack bullshit like that at the very end of their arcade games, the pit segment of Ninja Spirit comes to mind.

It's tragic because the arcade Kid Niki is better than the NES one in almost all aspects, yet I still like the NES port more just because the final boss was toned down a heck of a lot. 

Oh, man. I agree that the arcade Kid Niki is better than the NES version, but that end boss... My brother and I spent hours with save states trying to beat that. We did eventually, but I'll never play it again.

[SasoriVader | 1]

Yeah, spending hours on it is definitely not out of the ordinary, it's such a ridiculous final segment. Which is tragic because the rest of the game is definitely "tough but fair", they piled the nonsense high at the very end of the game. Another thing that's better on the NES version is the hitbox on Samurai Guard - his hitbox is so goofy in the arcade version. And since the Japanese arcade version (the one that's on PS4) has shorter time limits, there are cases where I've actually Time Over'd on Samurai Guard because I am just not able to hit him, haha. But it's fine in the NES version.

Another Irem arcade game I've never 1CC'd is a side-scroller called Ken Go. It's a super cool game, by the way, which unfortunately never received a home release, but it's rock solid. Once again though, the final stage is nuts and always takes me a continue to survive, even if I get there with a full rack of lives. 

[MeganJoanne | 365]

On 11/5/2019 at 9:26 AM, cj_robot said:

Castlevania was mine as well until recently. I found this awesome video on YouTube. He goes way in-depth covering all the mechanics of the game and strategies to get through every area, and it was a huge help for me to finally beat it.

 

Very well done tutorial, best I've ever seen, very well explained and shown, as well as well spoken and clear, but then it might be the only one I've seen like this.

That second screen on the 3rd stage when you climb the stairs, don't jump and throw holy water at that bird, move over on that ledge enough so it appears on screen and then wait for it to be in attack range (either it will come at you at chest level or lower a little so you can hit it standing or ducking depending), kill it, then drop down, don't jump, jumping is what summons that ghost that comes from behind and if you miss in attacking it you can be in some trouble as ghosts are kind of hard to shake, so drop instead, and no ghost appears to get your rear. Also, some enemies in this game can be scrolled off of the screen, particularly useful in stage 3 with the birds, get them on screen and the moment they take flight, back up enough to make them disappear, then continue on your way, major life saver if they happen to be a pain in the ass for you. The dragonskull cannons, particularly ones that wait on the other side of ledges, if you have the boomerang, launch one of those as cover and follow it, then you can get in close enough to whip the threat or even jump over it, just beware of fire from behind if you do decide to leap over. Another good strategy getting across gaps with those bone pillars is to hit their first shot and jump over the second and the gap and quickly move in towards them. The mummy boss(es), don't ever fight them on level ground, unless you want to be fair and more sportsman like, fight them from the blocks, that means not breaking that lowest one for that food, unless you really, really need it and still think you can beat them, but then you could risk becoming a Simon sandwich with mummies as the bread and you as the meat.

Take your time in that long stretch in stage 4 with the eagles and hunchbacks, just time your whips and keep moving at a decent pace but always get them the moment the eagles drops them off, but hesitate enough just after each kill so as to avoid a most possible trade for a less desirable subweapon (hunchbacks here love to drop axes and stopwatches), but if they drop a potion and it's along the way, get it and get going for as long as it lasts but be ready for when it's about to wear out. Stage 5 just as you climb up into the axe knight / medusa hall the candle at the edge of the screen is a big heart, so if running low on ammo, get that and go back down the stairs, climb back up and repeat until you feel more secure, do this quickly but beware of that medusa head that comes from the right edge. Sometimes you can get by axe knights without fighting them, there is one that you can actually jump over (midway through the level), involves rushing to some stairs, climbing them without pause and jumping away from the ledge to land behind it, it will then turn to face you but by then you can just keep going, a good thing to know if short on subweapons or lack the holy water and don't want to risk fighting it head on.

Dracula's second form you can control what he does depending on how close you are to him, if really close, close enough for him to kiss you (less than a block's distance), then he will try to do a high jump to crush you under his feet (but beware of jumping up to hit him when this close, any more than one attack against him and he may retaliate with fireballs or a forward jump instead of a high jump), a little bit of distance away and he does regular jumps or shoots fireballs. Oh, and stock up on that last screen before fighting Drac by going up the stairs collecting the hearts from the candles outside his room and going back down the stairs and repeat until you feel you have enough hearts to feel safer.

But even with knowing everything there is to know for best survival, I still don't always have it easy, and while I've beaten it, a lot, no deathing it not so often, always all it takes is one little mistake and death comes for you soon after.

[captmorgandrinker | 1,649]

On 10/25/2019 at 11:21 AM, mbd39 said:

Block when Soda squats to do an uppercut. He'll get confused and freeze so that you can get a star off him. Star punches knock him down. You can get two quick and easy knockdowns this way before he starts dodging star punches.

^^^^This.   Then you can go swear at how much better Don Flamenco got before your second fight.

For me, it's Rollergames.   I'm guessing if I put some time into it now I probably could beat it though.

[MeganJoanne | 365]

Rollergames was hard. I beat that way back in 2003, must've had somewhere around a hundred deaths. It was my first and only time I really put in the effort. It has a bit of a learning curve with the controlling of a character on wheels while fighting and maneuvering along obstacles, ramps, pits and traps, like a Double Dragon or Ninja Turtles on rollerskates. I enjoyed it, but whew, it was one of the harder ones I'd beaten at the time. Perhaps if I had played it more I could have gotten good at it, but never did really play it again. And here just a little bit ago I was watching a gameplay of it on Youtube, the person playing it made it look so much easier, but then even as I watched them seemingly breeze though that jungle stage and the last level as well, I know how difficult it was when I played it.