In just about any video game, there are going to be certain spots that give you a lot more trouble than most of the others. Which controller-breaking moments are your most memorable?
My memory isn't all that great, but I can at least remember three off the top of my head.
Final Fantasy VIII - Ultimecia (final boss): One of the cheapest, most frustrating boss battles I can remember. In her final form, she had an attack called "Hell's Judgement" that took your entire party down to 1 HP. Maybe I just wasn't a high enough level when I faced her, but I just could not seem to get past the repeated "Hell's Judgement" barrages. I finally got so frustrated with it that I gave up and downloaded the game's ending over KaZaA (back in the olden days before torrents and YouTube existed).
Elite Beat Agents - "Family Honor! Introducing the Secret-Weapon Ninja!!" (with the song "Canned Heat"): There are songs that lend themselves well to rhythm games. "Canned Heat" is not one of those songs. No matter the difficulty setting, it was hard for me to figure out the beats and rhythms to which I was supposed to be tapping. There was just too much going on in the song for me to properly separate all the different beats and rhythms being thrown at me and nail all the ones I was supposed to nail. There's no telling how many tries it took me to beat that stage on Sweatin' difficulty, and even then I scored "X" on the third section of it.
Mass Effect 2 - the "hold the line" section at the end of the Horizon stage: I've played through Mass Effect 2 at least four times; and every time, this section is the one I consider the hardest in the game. Because of the open, arena-like setting, you have no good, reliable cover you can use. Stay in one place too long and you might find yourself surrounded. Being an Infiltrator is very useful for this section, because the cloaking ability helps keep the Husks off your back. Basically, this section is like a survival mini-game until you get to the boss. The boss actually comes as a relief after dealing with hordes of enemies on a user-unfriendly playing field. It's powerful, but at least you're only having to deal with one target.
Ho, I've had plenty of tough spots. But here's the worst three I can think of...
Castlevania - Death's corridor: One of the nastiest, most sadistic areas ever designed. Medusa Heads weaving up and down everywhere in different patterns, and Axe Knights providing no shortage of ground trouble. Both enemies take off 4 whole health units, and your bar is only 16 units long. And even if you make it to the end, with a full life bar (a Herculean effort in and of itself), Death will make mincemeat out of you time and time again. At least Dracula lets you start right at the fight if you lose to him.
Super Ghouls'n Ghosts - Second fight with Astaroth and Nebiroth: Most of the insane difficulty in this game comes from the levels--the bosses are relative pushovers. The big exception comes when you have to replay the game with the Goddess Bracelet and come up against these guys. The Bracelet fires an energy blast in a straight line with limited range, and the only way to hurt these guys is to fire at their heads. Meaning you have jump and fire, which risks being torn asunder by their fire breath and lasers. Did I mention that the more hits you take (assuming you have the best armor), the lesser the range of the Bracelet? Yeah, these guys stink.
Mega Man X6 - Gate's Fortress: The Mega Man games are always tough, but at least you can appreciate the design. Not so with this entire set of stages. There's no creativity--just spikes, spikes, everywhere. Instant death awaits any but the absolute best jumps, and Nightmares swarm to make these jumps difficult. The most infuriating and least fun experience I've ever had with Mega Man.
"Of course you realize, this means war!" -- Bugs Bunny
"Here we gooooo!" -- Mario
Recently the game that has given me the most trouble is God Hand for the PS2. Granted the main reason for this was because of how terrible the controls are.