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Punishing difficulty

Video game concept

There is at least one difficulty option that punishes the player for using it, such as not allowing to play the game through on easiest difficulty.

28
games
16
platforms
Cave Story+ (Nintendo Switch)
Cave Story+
SWTC 2017-06-20
Contra 4 (Nintendo DS)
Contra 4
NDS 2007-11-13
Jamestown (Linux)
Jamestown
LIN 2011
XenoPhage (MS-DOS)
XenoPhage
DOS 1993
Demon Master Chris (Windows)
Demon Master Chris
WIN 2013-10-31
Lion King (Nintendo Entertainment System)
Lion King
NES 1994
Cave Story+ (Windows)
Cave Story+
WIN 2011-11-23
Panel de Pon (Super Nintendo)
Panel de Pon
SNES 1995-10-27
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (Nintendo 64)
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
N64 1996-12
Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse (Super Nintendo)
Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse
SNES 1994
Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse (Sega-CD/Mega-CD)
Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse
SCD 1994
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Mega Drive)
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
GEN 1994-02-02
See also: mocking difficulty
Especially notable if you're not told of this limitation when choosing it.

Popular tags

fallingblocks metroidvania shariki-like tilecyclepuzzle

Parent group

Difficulty options

Games by year

7880828486889092949698000204060810121416 82460

The first Punishing difficulty video game was released in 1978.

Nicalis, Sony Imagesoft and Final Form Games published most of these games.

Related site

Related trope at TV Tropes (Easy Mode Mockery)

Platforms

Windows 6
SNES 3
Mega Drive 3
Mega-CD 2
Mac OS X 2
Linux 2
3DS 1
Switch 1
DEC PDP-1 1
Jaguar 1
NES 1
GB 1
N64 1
PS 1
MS-DOS 1
Nintendo DS 1