The Dark Souls series has garnered quite the reputation for itself. Known as one of the hardest video game franchises of all time, it’s not unusual to see people refer to games as the “Dark Souls” of their genre. That said, as difficult as Dark Souls is, it gives players everything they need to succeed. It’s a forgiving game, all things considered. Unlike most Super Nintendo titles.

RELATED: 10 Super Nintendo Games With Better Stories Than The Last Of Us

Back in the day, hard games were called “Nintendo Hard.” Dark Souls is difficult, but that hard? Not quite. The hardest Super Nintendo games challenge and outright assault the player, demanding they either get good at the game or suffer until they finally give in or give up.

10 Actraiser

Half action RPG sidescroller, half God simulator, Actraiser is one of the most unique games on the Super Nintendo. Each stage is separated into two key sections. The first half sees the main character traversing typical action stages, whereas the second half has them building a world from scratch.

How the world is built ends up affecting the player character’s state, which is incredibly important since the game is unforgiving. Getting past a single level is challenging enough as is. This is a game that is more than comfortable road blocking a player’s progress at every possible turn. Its sequel, Actraiser II, is just as difficult.

9 Castlevania: Dracula X

Far and away one of the hardest Castlevania titles, and for all the wrong reasons. Dracula X is what many consider to be the poor man’s Rondo of Blood. The only version of the game westerners received for years, Dracula X is a hard game to stomach for a lot of reasons, but its difficulty doesn’t really help matters.

RELATED: Castlevania: The 10 Weirdest Things About The Belmont Family

That said, getting accustomed to the game’s curve does lead to a rather unique Castlevania experience. It isn’t anywhere near as polished as Rondo of Blood or even Super Castlevania IV, but Dracula X makes for an excellent challenge for veterans of the franchise, testing their skills to the very limits.

8 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest is an incredibly difficult game, but it’s also incredibly fair. It’s so well designed that all its moments of challenge are clearly telegraphed and easy enough to get around... for anyone who’s obscenely good at video games. This is a platformer that demands fast reflexes and a faster wit.

As a result, it can also be a frustrating game. For a title with such beautifully relaxing music, the gameplay is anything but. That said, it’s one of the Super Nintendo’s premiere titles, its difficulty blowing the entire Souls franchise out of the water.

7 Super Mario Kart

It might seem strange to include a game like Super Mario Kart on a list of SNES games harder than Dark Souls, but it actually can be an overwhelmingly challenging racing game at times. Super Mario Kart was designed with value in mind. What that means is that Nintendo wanted players coming back to try to conquer the mechanics.

RELATED: 10 Best Kart Racers Of All Time (Other Than Mario Kart)

It’s a hard game to pick up and even harder game to master mechanically, especially once a player hits 100cc. By the time they reach 150cc, they’ll likely be struggling to stay in the top four at any given time. Mario Kart has only gotten easier with time, but Super Mario Kart proves that the franchise’s roots are coated in difficulty.

6 Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

Unquestionably the single hardest game in the Fire Emblem franchise, few strategy RPGs come close to putting the player through the same amount of grief that Thracia 776 puts them through. Characters get fatigued if they’re deployed for too many chapters, the game refuses to explain important concepts, and it’s possible to get outright stuck due to poor item management.

That said, it’s an incredibly rewarding game with plenty of rich mechanics and layers. Its challenge comes from that fact that so much of the game has to be “figured out.” With a guide, it’s easy enough to get around, but Thracia 776 still offers a brutal strategic challenge.

5 The 7th Saga

One of the largest RPGs on the Super Nintendo, The 7th Saga pits players against six other NPCs as everyone takes to the overworld, leveling and challenging one another up until the final boss. It’s a simple premise, one that actually lends itself to an easier game, but ends up overwhelmingly hard.

This is an RPG where grinding is more or less a necessity. It’s also a bit on the tedious side which naturally helps the difficulty curve end up more challenging. The fact that the game’s world is so alive makes it worth playing, but The 7th Saga will prove too challenging for most gamers who try their hand at it.

4 Shin Megami Tensei

As will the original Shin Megami Tensei on the Super Nintendo. It sets the foundation for the franchise well enough and is incredibly addictive once players find the right groove, but it’s also obscenely hard, as is to be expected from the franchise. Demons are vicious, the main character is fragile, and dungeons are dangerous.

That said, it’s a very rewarding game and surprisingly far more fair than other SNES RPGs. So long as players are careful and patient, they can make it through the game alive. Though the dungeons will always prove to be a challenge. Its direct sequel, Shin Megami Tensei II, is also available on the SNES and is considerably easier.

3 Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts

Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts has something of a reputation as far as Super Nintendo platformers go. Not only is it yet another entry in a franchise known for being impossibly hard, the game is actually coded incorrectly, making gameplay far more sluggish than it’s meant to be.

This actually doesn’t affect the game all too much in the grand scheme of things, but it takes an insanely hard game and makes it even more frustrating. That said, patience goes a long way and Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts is the kind of game that gets more manageable the more time someone sinks into it.

2 Contra III: The Alien Wars

A trait that’s shared with Contra III: The Alien Wars. Like with Ghosts ‘n Goblins, the Contra series is known for being punishingly difficult and Contra III: The Alien Wars is one of the Super Nintendo's crown jewels of difficulty. Everything the game throws at the player is harder than Dark Souls at its very worst.

Contra III demands mechanical mastery pretty much out the gate, a rather unfair expectation. It’s the kind of platforming shooter that gamers are expected to keep returning to until they finally master the controls. Only then does Contra III: The Alien Wars begin in earnest.

1 Hagane: The Final Conflict

One of the rarest games on the Super Nintendo, Hagane: The Final Conflict is without a doubt the single hardest game in the console’s library. It’s also the hardest game that never actually manages to be frustrating. Using every single button on the SNES’ controller, Hagane is ridiculously fun to pick up and play in spite of its difficulty.

It’s obscenely easy to die in the game, either through enemies or platforming challenges, but Hagane never strives to overwhelm players, simply test them. In that respect, it’s actually the closest game the Super Nintendo has to Dark Souls. Difficulty wasn’t a given, just a consequence of the game’s design.

NEXT: 10 Classic Square RPGs That Deserve A FFVII-like Remake