If was possible for the fallen angel Satan (a.k.a. Lucifer) to have designed the most frustrating, challenging, and impossible video game of all time, I’m fairly certain it would be Takeshi’s Challenge.  Originally released on the Nintendo Family Computer (or Famicom, the Japanese variant of the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES) in Japan on December 10th, 1986, and became renowned for it’s unrelenting difficulty.

Although it was never officially released in the US, a localized ROM of the game has been made available online, so all my fellow gamers who play Ghosts & Goblins for a challenge, we now have a new masochistic gaming challenge to tackle…if it doesn’t destroy us first.  We can all thank (or curse the name of) ROM modder KingMike (via Tiny Cartridge) for the English translation, but it is also suggested that you find an English language strategy guide for some extra assistance. It may very well be a way to avoid your own out-of-control, downward spiral of self-destruction.

I’m still convinced the Devil himself made this freaking game.

[Thanks Tiny Cartridge]