Think Mega Man 9 is tough? Though the ridiculously timed jumps and tricky enemies have been the cause of many broken controllers,‚ but the Blue Bomber only comes in around the halfway mark of our top 5 toughest franchises. The list:

Devil May Cry Series
Devil May Cry 3 introduced players to a depth of difficulty that had not been seen since the eras of the NES and SNES.‚  The Hard difficulty, for Japan and Europe, was set as America’s normal default setting.‚  The game forces you to be flawless and at most times you have to be.

Viewtiful Joe
In a game, when, on the first level, you are forced to know all of your moves with no tutorial, and are forced to time them in combat in a way that borders perfection, you know you’re on a hard game. Oh by the way, on the way to the first boss battle which takes you about a half hour of perfection, you are confronted by a boss that is about 20 times harder then what you have just encountered. When you beat him, then you are awarded your first save point. If you don’t beat him, well, get your swear words ready because your starting all the way at the beginning.

Mega Man
Mega Man 1, Mega Man 2, and the recent Mega Man 9 are example of games that make you throw down your controller in anger.‚  When a game forces to memorize every enemy action while only progressing just feet from where you just died last, you know that this is a game that will test your limits.

Battle Toads
This game was not only graphically advanced for its time, but it was hard as hell.‚  The most difficult of the whole game were the obstacle and racing levels.‚  These levels required you to memorize and dodge a series of obstacles that would just appear out of nowhere.‚  A game that requires you to have quick reflexes and the need to memorize its levels holds its own on a debate of the most difficult video games.

Contra
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, START

Must we say more?

Feel like we missed something? Leave us your own list in the comments section!