So we have a dispute here. Someone mentioned how Castlevania was an incredibly hard NES game and someone else said that while it was hard it wasn’t as hard as beating Contra without the 30 man code.
So I am turning to you, the public to settle this debate. On a straight pop in the game and hit start playing is Contra or Castlevania the harder game?
Contra, without the 30 life code, was nigh-impossible. Castlevania was a mind-boggling tough game (I have flashbacks to this day of fighting the Grim Reaper), especially with the idiotic lack of jump control, but it was doable. You can get hit many dozens of times over the course of a Castlevania game, but Contra only gave you three shots to make a mistake.
However, I still don’t think these two games were the toughest for the NES. I’d have to go with Ghosts and Goblins and the Adventures of Bayou Billy. Contra, sans code, probably makes a good case for being #3 after those two.
Oh yeah, I wouldn’t argue them as the hardest. Besides the ones that are just so poorly designed that they might as well be unbeatable there are titles like Ghost and Goblins and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles where the only way to win is to learn the levels and system by heart (both Contra and Castlevania fall under that heading too).
Hardest is something very debatable but a consensus on which of two titles is harder should be easier to get. 
Castlevania, by a factor of 10.
I got Contra when I was seven. For whatever reason, my dad loved that game. We used to play 2-player co-op.
We always used to use the 30-man code until we realized we were breezing through it without ever dying.
Castlevania, on the other hand - I played the hell out of that game and never once made it past the Grim Reaper. Good Lord that game is hard.
No, no, no. Contra is harder.
The question is not really fair as no one plays Contra without using the Konami Code at first. If someone never knew of the Konami Code, then Contra is definitely harder without the 30 lives to practice over and over again.
I’d probably rank them as such:
One of my proudest game-related skills is being about to beat Contra without dying.
removed
Battletoads! Oh! Battletoads. I think that game was more difficult than Castlevania, actually. The fucking jetbike levels in that set strong men to weeping and weak men to hurl their consoles out the window.
Happily, my bedroom was on the first floor… I retrieved my NES without too much damage.
has anyone actually beaten battletoads?
As a Contra connoisseur - I would proudly wear Contra on my sleeve, if I could - I can say that Castlevania is the harder. Contra has predictable, easily-disposed-of enemies that pop up and can be shot down, where Castlevania has enemies that require very specific patterns and timing to get past. I’ve long since abandoned the stage where I needed the Konami code to beat the game, but, after much practice, it seems to me that Contra is more a matter of memorization, where Castlevania is precise timing and skillful use of items.
If there’s someone who doesn’t believe me, try playing Rondo of Blood.
And I don’t personally know if anyone who’s beaten the third level of Battletoads.
Well depends. I’d say if you count the endless continues of Castlevania Contra is much harder. However if you are talking pure gameplay/difficulty of enemies Castlevania wins.
Recently I played Contra on an emulator with rapid fire and went through it no problem with just the default lives (no I didn’t use save states). Castlevania I don’t even want to play just because I know sooner or later I’d have to deal with the Frankenstein level (stupid bats while on a moving platform shudder).
I once nearly beat Contra without the 30 lives code. Never could beat Castlevania though.
One of my best friends in school was a phenomenal player. He was an only child and had the NES to himself. He could beat Contra without losing a life and even got to the point where he could beat it without the code with the controller turned upside down. He could beat Castlevania too but never mastered it the way he did Contra.
I watched him beat Battletoads too. If he’s still playing games now, he’s probably one of those insanely good FPS players that never speaks, only kills.
I forgot all about this game.
I came very very close to beating Battletoads… however fate conspired to get my copy destroyed before I could finish the task. 
I do believe I was at the final level though. Certainly past the third (first jetbike) level.
Depends. For me, Castlevania is definitely the harder game. Mainly for that fucking Grim Reaper. Contra I can beat on 3 lives, every single time, guarenteed.
However, Contra is BY FAR the more difficult game for a first time player. Until you know every single step through the game, you will not beat it. Even the 30 life code won’t get you that far if you suck. Castlevania at least gives you a fighting chance, even if you’ve never played the game before. You get an energy meter and there are less tricky stages to play through (aside from a couple places).
I’d like to go on record and state that Konami’s toughest game is Top Gun. It’s the one NES game that no matter how much cheating I do, short of actually using game genie codes, I am unable to beat at all. At least I can do Bayou Billy with a bunch of save stating.
Top Gun always foiled me. It’d always come up in transition phases in my life, between other games that I had interest in. I could never land on the aircraft carrier. I also never put tons of time working on it, but it’d vex me long enough to get my attention, and then something else better would invariably come up.
I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned Double Dragon III yet… the gameplay might not’ve been as unreasonably difficult as Battletoads, but I thought the fact that you only get a single life with which to play the entire game would’ve made up for it.
When I was young, we had Castlevania, but not Contra, so I can’t speak to the comparison.
However, I must say that I am surprised that people find the Reaper to be the hardest part. All you have to do is save a triple-shot boomerang for him. Dracula, OTOH, is fucking impossible.
I never played much Castlevania, but I must report that (after much practice with 30 lives) I often defeated Contra without using the code, sometimes without dying once.
Sometimes I wish people would make games as hard as they used to be.
I beat Contra on more than one occasion. I, however, have only seen someone else beat Castlevania, once. And I have never seen anyone beat Battletoads. Therefore my list is as follows:
Battletoads, Castlevania, Contra.
Slight hijack, am I the only person who played Caveman Games on NES? It was basically caveman olympics.
I played it on my C64.