00:09Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we're taking a look at 10 retro games that are nearly impossible to get through
00:16without the use of a guide.
00:26Before we begin, we publish new videos all week long, so be sure to subscribe to MojoPlays, and ring the
00:32bell to be notified about our latest videos!
00:36Castlevania II, Simon's Quest
00:47Few sequels have baffled fans quite like this 1987 NES follow-up. While the original Castlevania is straightforward, Simon's Quest
00:56threw players into an open world filled with deliberately misleading NPC dialogue and cryptic progression requirements, like kneeling at a
01:04specific cliff while holding a specific item to reveal a hidden path. Nothing in the game adequately explains these moments.
01:17Day and night cycles shift enemies and gameplay without warning, and certain townspeople outright lie to you. Completing Simon's Quest
01:26without consulting external resources isn't just difficult, it's practically a fantasy, making this cult classic simultaneously beloved and deeply infuriatingly
01:36confusing.
01:44Zelda II The Adventure of Link
01:53Nintendo's Black Sheep Zelda entry remains one of gaming's most punishing experiences. Unlike its predecessor, this 1987 sequel combines side
02:03-scrolling combat with a sprawling overworld, hiding towns and dungeons in ways that feel deliberately cruel.
02:15Critical spells are tucked inside villages that are nearly invisible on the map, and without them, progression becomes impossible. The
02:24game's final palace alone is a labyrinthian nightmare that could swallow hours of your life. Even veteran players who grew
02:31up with this installment will admit, without a Nintendo Power Guide nearby, Link's adventure across Hyrule was practically a dead
02:38end.
02:44Persona 4 and Persona 4 Golden
02:47Oh, I should get back to work.
02:55People will fondly remember Persona 4 for its exceptional music and story, and end the conversation there.
03:02Rarely will veteran players remember the ridiculous hoops they had to jump through for much of their playthrough. Finding NPCs
03:09during investigations can make things frustrating, as key NPCs will only spawn on very specific days. Take too long in
03:16figuring this out, and you may find yourself scrambling to save the killer's next victim.
03:20As for obtaining the true ending, you have to make very specific dialogue choices on December 3rd and December 5th,
03:28and if you're playing Golden, reach max rank with Marie. Fail to meet any of these requirements, and you'll get
03:34an ending that might sour your entire experience.
03:37Yes, you want a guide close by, or perhaps a super helpful audience like mine to help guide you and
03:44lessen the amount of time it takes to conduct investigations.
03:47Perhaps this may be a time for contemplation rather than action.
03:51Chrono Trigger
04:00Chrono Trigger is widely considered one of the greatest RPGs ever made, and for good reason, but unlocking all 13
04:08of its endings is a completely different challenge.
04:15Chrono Trigger
04:17Multiple New Game Plus runs and precise story branching paths determine which conclusions players will experience, and the game never
04:25clearly telegraphs these decision windows.
04:28The legendary side quest involving Frog's ultimate sword, Masamune, requires steps that feel disconnected from the main narrative entirely.
04:35Casual players will naturally miss enormous chunks of content, experiencing only a fraction of what this masterpiece genuinely offers without
04:44outside direction.
04:53Friday the 13th
05:02LJN's notorious NES adaptation is widely mocked, but surviving it legitimately earns genuine respect.
05:10Players must defend Camp Crystal Lake's counselors from Jason across a sprawling, disorienting map while managing limited resources and random
05:18enemy encounters.
05:19Finding and equipping specific weapons capable of actually damaging Jason requires navigating to cabins with almost zero directional guidance.
05:27The correct items are hidden inconsistently, and Jason can appear from virtually any direction, draining health terrifyingly fast.
05:41Even understanding the basic objective takes research.
05:45Without a guide, most players simply wander helplessly until counselors die, one by one.
05:51And then the game unceremoniously ends.
06:04Final Fantasy
06:06Final Fantasy
06:14The original 1987 RPG that launched an entire legendary franchise was, ironically, extraordinarily opaque.
06:24Several of the game's mechanics were completely broken or mistranslated in the original western release, including the intelligence stat, which
06:31had zero actual effect on magic damage despite the manual claiming otherwise.
06:44Boss weaknesses, dungeon navigation, and spell effectiveness were barely explained.
06:50Players grinding toward the final dungeon, the Chaos Shrine, faced a tower designed to disorient and exhaust.
06:55Without a detailed walkthrough explaining which classes, equipment, or strategies actually worked, completing the original Final Fantasy felt less like
07:03an adventure, and more like educated guesswork.
07:12Maniac Mansion
07:19Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick's 1987 LucasArts adventure practically invented the point-and-click genre, and also its capacity for
07:28maddening, logic-defying puzzles.
07:30Players choose from multiple teenagers with different abilities to rescue Sandy from a deranged scientist, but the correct combination of
07:37characters and actions isn't remotely intuitive.
07:41Certain puzzles have solutions so absurd, they border on comedic, like microwaving a hamster to progress, a choice that shocked
07:48players worldwide.
07:49Different character combinations unlock entirely separate solutions, meaning replaying blindly rarely helps.
07:57Maniac Mansion respects creative thinking enormously, but without guidance, most players simply exhausted every bizarre option until something accidentally worked.
08:06Maniac Mansion Mansion
08:09Zork
08:10Before graphics existed, text adventures ruled, and Zork ruled them all.
08:16Released in 1980, this landmark interactive fiction game dropped players into a vast underground empire with nothing but a blinking
08:25cursor in their own imagination.
08:27Descriptions were occasionally vague, exits were hidden within dense text paragraphs, and the infamous darkness mechanic could end your run
08:35if you wandered without a light source.
08:37Parsing the correct phrasing for commands was its own puzzle. Type the wrong verb and nothing happens.
08:43Mapping Zork's underground world by hand was practically mandatory, making graph paper an essential gaming accessory for an entire generation.
08:53Mist!
09:03Scion's 1993 masterpiece redefined what games could look and feel like, but its environmental puzzles resonate with many players decades
09:12later.
09:12Stranded on a mysterious island, players must deduce solutions from scattered journals, symbols, and mechanical contraptions with minimal context or
09:21explanation.
09:22The age-linking books connecting various worlds each contain puzzles that require extraordinary lateral thinking, and the game offers virtually
09:30no hand-holding whatsoever.
09:32Many players reportedly spent weeks attempting to decode myths' mysteries, eventually surrendering to published hint books.
09:39Its brilliance and its cruelty were inseparable, solving Mist alone felt genuinely miraculous, which explains why walkthroughs became bestsellers overnight.
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10:23And lastly, Wizardry! Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord.
10:28Nothing on this list quite matches the sheer, unforgiving brutality of the dungeon crawler that essentially invented the RPG genre
10:37as we know it.
10:38Characters can die permanently within minutes of entering the first dungeon floor, with resurrection attempts sometimes failing and leaving only
10:47ash.
10:47Mapping the 10-level maze manually was completely required, as the game provided zero visual orientation.
10:55Encounters scale mercilessly, enemy abilities overlap confusingly, and incorrect decisions compound catastrophically.
11:02Wizardry demanded graph paper, meticulous record keeping, and extraordinary patience from every single player.
11:09Without an external guide, most adventurers simply lost their entire party and started over.
11:15And over.
11:16And over.
11:17And over.
11:18Have you managed to get through any of these games yourself?
11:21Let us know down in the comments, and don't forget to subscribe to MojoPlays!
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