Games with the best "Hard" mode?

[Plunder]

For me; by a mile, it has to be Mass Effect 2

The Insanity mode is incredible; it's rewarding, and it plays completely different from normal or even hard mode. The AI changes, their powers evolve and most importantly the shield and armor buffs they get force you to utilize every resource in a frenzy as they slowly overwhelm you.

The first time I tried it I got completely obliterated, but then you learn how to use your powers and teammates in tandem. The synergy pays off and you feel like a battle commander bada** on every mission, it's a ballet of mayhem. I got addicted to it and going back to normal or hard mode was impossible because they were way too simple.

But the best thing about the "Insanity" mode from ME2 is that it's viable with any build, and even solo with no teammates. As long you you plan things out correctly and you make smart fast decisions it's wide open.

On the other side of the spectrum are Bethesda games, I understand because their games are so massive it would be a HUGE undertaking to custom make different difficulties. But man oh man the damage scaling for each difficulty just feels cheap and it becomes so unbalanced for many builds and styles of play. It's not fun at all, feels like the same game with a simple number changed.

 

[Minato]

Two come to mind for me. First one is Tales of Graces f. Higher difficulties allow you to get a lot of better bonuses after completing battles. A good incentive and reward to grind when changing the difficulty to it. It eventually balances out and you get to play with more abilities early on than you would otherwise. You're able to chain more moves as well, so it's not just a difficulty to make things harder on you, but to make you take advantage of the battle system more.

2nd is Kingdom Hearts II's Critical Mode (with or without zero exp ability). The game is too easy on normal and even on proud. You can get by with just mashing X and heal. On Critical Mode, I had to use Guard more. It made me realize cool animations that could trigger leading to boss weaknesses and certain guaranteed reaction commands. It was also neat to see and discover enemies that were weak to certain spells, it made me experiment a lot more than I normally would have.

 

[Cyn]

I remember being challenged pretty hard playing the hard mode for Ninja Gaiden on XB.

 

[oZzIIgk]

I've heard that the hard mode on Hotline Miami (1+2) is pretty crazy, but I've never played it.

 

[swampthingcs]

I've heard that the hard mode on Hotline Miami (1+2) is pretty crazy, but I've never played it.

HLM1 doesn't have hard mode, but Dead Ahead (11th stage in Hotline Miami 2) made me ACTUALLY furious. I'm talking legitimate completely red face and pounding on my desk furious. (Ask my brother, poster above me)
And depending on your weapon choice, it's not even the most difficult hard mode stage

 

[Zalak]

Very Hard mode in F-Zero GX. It's very challenging, but it feels soooooo good when you clear a level, especially because the game is so fast.

 

[swampthingcs]

clearing the harder levels in Hotline 2 can be an incredible feeling, though the level clear music makes you feel guilty as well

 

[CassandraZD]

The Metal Gear series has a difficulty known as "European Extreme" where you get a game over as soon as you are caught by the enemy. It's a really, really challenging difficulty level.

 

[ixos]

I found the levels in Kid Icarus Uprising to be good on 9.0. They were hard, but I managed to beat almost all of them on 9.0, and on the final chapter I failed at the VERY last part of it.

Also, Kingdom Hearts 3D had a good difficulty in Critical Mode. I remember I accidentally deleted my Beginner mode file, so I was basically forced to play Critical. I beat it somehow, and I ended up hacing a level 84 Riku and a level 40 Sora. Haven't played the game since.

 

[Nixon Corral]

Master mode on any F-Zero is some peak gaming challenge, IMO (well, that and beating staff ghosts).

Perfect Dark also has a really good hard mode, actually adding mission requirements with each difficulty level.

 

[Deleted member]

The challenge mode in all the Ratchet & Clank games that's unlocked after you beat the game is pretty nifty. Ramps up the difficulty tons while giving you greater rewards such as more powerful weapons and getting a bolt multiplier.