5 Hard PlayStation 1 Games Nobody Could Beat As A Kid

Published Aug 12, 2026, 1:00 PM EDT Paul Farrelly is a Contributing Writer for Screen Rant’s Gaming section and the founder of GeekGasm.org, a site dedicated to celebrating all things gaming, from triple A blockbusters to weird and wonderful indie hits. Based in Louth, Ireland, Paul has spent years writing about games, pop culture, and tech, turning his lifelong love of gaming into a career that lets him talk (probably too much) about what makes this industry so endlessly fascinating. He’s previously written and collaborated with several entertainment outlets, including LADbible, gaining a wide perspective on how gaming fits into today’s pop culture conversation. His work blends genuine enthusiasm with thoughtful analysis, exploring how design, storytelling, and community have made gaming one of the most creative mediums around. When he’s not glued to a controller or keyboard, Paul’s usually spinning vinyl, plotting his next horror marathon, or debating which Resident Evil entry really reigns supreme. The original PlayStation brought us so many wonderful experiences. It introduced the world to JRPGs, and it was also responsible for bringing many iconic characters into our lives, like Lara Croft, Crash Bandicoot and Solid Snake, to name but a few. Underneath that little grey box of wonderment though was a darker side. The PS1 had a small collection of games that were so difficult, they could make you question your very reason for gaming. Soul-crushing challenges that could reduce even the most skilled gamers to tears. Here is a list of the 5 hardest PlayStation games that nobody could beat as a kid. Let's get into it! Driver It's fitting that Driver should be at the start of our list because the beginning of the game is where the problem lies. The opening tutorial level is an absolute nightmare. A checklist of skilled maneuvers needed to be pulled off in an underground car park within a limited amount of time. There were no online guides back then and considering that, at this point, you'd never played the game before, this nightmare start locked many players out of playing the game entirely. Without either mastering through trial or error or having that one friend who was a savant, getting past level 1 was impossible for most. It's a shame too, because Driver was a brilliant game and, weirdly, the hardest challenge you ever had to overcome in the game...was getting past the tutorial. It's a crying shame that so many players never got to experience this brilliant game for the simple fact that the opening five minutes reduced many to blubbering wrecks. Crash Bandicoot Many people only remember Crash Bandicoot as a larger-than-life character in a franchise of successful platformers. The furry guy who went toe to toe with Mario and, for some, came out on top. But if you go back and try to play the first installment of the game, you're in for a rude awakening. Crash Bandicoot is hard as nails. It's fast-paced and one spin at the wrong time or one misplaced jump, and it curtains for our apple-munching friend. Crash Bandicoot demanded pixel perfect jumping with no wiggle room. The High Road level, for example, definitely led to more than a few controllers being flung across the room. The long sequence of jumping from plank to plank on that rope bridge is the stuff of nightmares. Playing Crash Bandicoot demands nerves of steel, amazing reflexes and the ability to never make any mistakes. Underneath that cartoonish color palette lies a game that could reduce mere mortals to tears all while tempting you to have 'just one more go'. Tomb Raider III Lara Croft brought 3D platforming to life on the PlayStation. The games all had a healthy mix of platforming, shooting and puzzle solving and none were a walk in the park to get through. In each game, a half step difference from the edge of a platform was the difference between success and instant death. The third installment in the franchise though stepped the difficulty up by eleven! It's like the first two games were just getting you used to playing before they pulled the rug out from under you. Tomb Raider III had larger levels than we'd previously seen, filled to the brim with death traps. Resources throughout are scarce, and it feels more like a survival game than an action platformer. The opening jungle level is brutal with everything from falling boulders, collapsing platforms and not-so-fluffy animals all trying to kill you. It feels aggressively difficult, and it just doesn't let up. And don't even get us started on those lethal Shiva Statues! Tenchu: Stealth Assassin PlayStationLifestyle.net Tenchu: Stealth Assassin is a game that was before its time. It was basically Assassin's Creed before we had the hardware to cope with a game like that. The game demanded a stealth approach in the purist way. Fighting toe to toe with enemies was possible, but it usually meant a very quick death for you. Instead, stalking from rooftops, learning patrol patterns and using your arsenal of tools to silently dispatch folk is the only way to make it through each level. The difficulty here, though, is how clumsy the game plays. You could be the best ninja, hiding in the shadows, primed to jump down and strike your foe at the right moment, and the game's awkward controls would let you down. Mistakes were also brutally punished, either with an alarm being triggered or worse, an instant mission failed screen. Tenchu: Stealth Assassin was as much a test of patience as it was skill and many players dropped off this one faster than a guard eating poisoned rice. Nightmare Creatures It wouldn't shock us to learn that perhaps Nightmare Creatures inspired FromSoftware. It looks and plays like a low-poly version of Bloodborne, and it's near impossible to complete this brutally hard game. From the crazy powerful monsters to the deliberately cruel draw distance, everything in this game is actively working against you. Combat is particularly difficult with the adrenaline system that forces you to be aggressive even when you're low on health and completely outmatched. Timing your kicks and keeping your distance from enemy attacks is made near impossible as the creatures can move much faster than the player. If you do manage to get to the end of Nightmare Creatures with its limited saves and harsh combat, then good luck because the end game boss is a doozy. Fighting Crowley on the rooftops with his four guardian demons is next to impossible. The game itself says it best, "The end is in the beginning and yet you go on, prepare to die." So, the next time you hear a friend bragging about beating Malenia on the first try or defeating Erlang without breaking a sweat, point towards this list. Games have been challenging since the 8-bit era and the original PlayStation is no exception. And while you wait for the next hard-as-nails challenge from FromSoftware, it might be worth going back and testing your mettle against some of these gems from the past. It sure beats waiting around for the next Grand Theft Auto VI trailer to drop! Brand Sony Original Release Date September 9, 1995 Original MSRP (USD) $299.99 HDR Support No Weight 3.2lb (1.5kg)