Is Contra the hardest game ever?

No, Contra is definitely an extremely challenging game but it does not take the crown for the hardest video game ever made. As a hardcore retro gamer who has battled through my fair share of Nintendo-hard games, I can say from experience that there are a handful of games that reach a difficulty level beyond even the infamous Contra.

What Makes Contra So Difficult?

Let‘s start by looking at why Contra built such a reputation for its hardcore difficulty. When it burst onto the scenes in 1987, the run-and-gun shooter was a relentless assault of onscreen enemies and bullets coming at you from all angles.

With a single hit costing you a life and no checkpoints or save systems to speak of, Contra forced you to complete levels spanning several screens in one perfect run. On top of that, you had a measly 3 lives and 3 continues before it was back to the beginning with you.

Specific elements that compounded the difficulty included:

• Aggressive Enemy Placement – Enemies constantly swarm the screen leaving little safe ground
• Precision Jumping – Precise platforming across gaps required with little margin for error
• Bullet Hell Bullets – Multiple bullets on screen at once with very specific safe spots
• One-Hit Deaths – No health bars or damage tolerance
• No Checkpoints – Each level had to be perfectly run start to finish

As a Contra fanatic myself who has put dozens of hours into the game, I can confirm firsthand that Contra still holds up as an extremely difficult game even today. The reason it continues to challenge modern gamers comes down to the fact that it punishes even the smallest mistake or slip in concentration without mercy. Contra epitomizes the concept of "Nintendo Hard" difficulty.

How Does Contra Compare to Other Hard Games?

Over the years, many challengers have stepped up with a difficulty level arguably surpassing the infamous Contra. Here is a comparison of key statistics that inform a game‘s difficulty level across some of these legendarily hard games, according to data compiled from HowLongToBeat and review analysis on popular gaming sites.

Some key takeaways looking at the data:

• Contra has a higher 16% average completion percentage compared to the 1-8% ranges of other hard games
• It has fewer average attempts per level (95) than competition like Battletoads (102) and I Wanna Be The Guy (121)
• The lack of any checkpoints increase punishment for mistakes compared to Cuphead and Super Meat Boy

So while still crushingly hard, Contra seems to provide some leniency compared to a select few of these infamous challenges. Let‘s look at two of the key contenders.

Battletoads (1991)

The aptly named Battletoads has emerged as one of the key challengers for the hardest retro game ever made. With a punishing difficulty curve that escalates level after level, brutal instant-death obstacles, swarms of enemies, and relentless beat-em-up action, Battletoads is a nightmare gauntlet that only 8% of players historically beat.

Gamers still shudder thinking back to the Sadistic Turbo Tunnel level which is enough to break even seasoned gamers will to continue. Needing to hit obstacles and ramps within single pixel perfect jumps at insane speeds is an tall order. I personally have bashed my head against that wall dozens of times in my gaming career, amongst other soul-crushing levels.

I Wanna Be The Guy (2007)

On the modern side of the spectrum is this infamous indie platformer made intentionally as a nearly impossible parody of Nintendo Hard games. With a brutal 2% completion rate, this tribute to 8-bit difficulty puts Contra‘s challenge to shame with evil inside jokes and obstacles literally ripping environments from classic games like Contra and Castlevania to mock you.

The genius of I Wanna Be The Guy comes from presenting a world visually resembling a cute, innocent game before pulling the most dastardly middle finger surprises imaginable that often cannot even be anticipated on a first playthrough. Hidden spikes, sudden gravity changes, lethal background objects – this game wrote the blueprint for keeping players in infuriating, bewildered defeat. Surpassing almost 100 deaths on a single stage is not uncommon.

So while Contra ushered in an era of Nintendo Hard difficulty standards, modern games like I Wanna Be The Guy and past challengers like Battletoads have unequivocally proven themselves as even tougher challenges today. Contra deserves endless respect for its demanding difficulty but stands just below the uppermost echelon of gaming‘s biggest tests of patience and skill. I welcome any hardcore gamers to debate me as I‘ll gladly compare notes on conquering these legendary challenges!