13 hardcore challenges invented by players

Practice complete pacifism in Thief's Iron Ghost run

The idea of a 'Ghost' run applies to plenty of stealth games, where the player can reach the end without ever alerting or killing those pesky guards. The original Thief is where a lot of stealth fans cut their teeth on this concept - but the recent 2014 reboot offers even more ways to put restrictions on your shadow-skulking. Virtual thieves who think themselves up to a greater Ghost challenge should take after runner prenatual's Iron Ghost run.

It's a playthrough where no one gets hurt, no ones is ever alerted to your presence, you never buy tools needed to access more effective paths, and you've got the full suite of challenge-upping debuffs (like slowed movement and no objective-highlighting focus ability). Then again, maybe you shouldn't give it a go - prenatual admits it's not very exciting for the player, since it all comes down to studying guards' movement patterns. Still, that doesn't make the Iron Ghost run any less impressive.

Complete every Mega Man stage in the most perfect way possible

I don't remember how I stumbled onto the videos of Mega Man runner Nico Thulin, but I do recall how I was immediately entertained. Nico is part of a group of Mega Man aficionados looking to exterminate Wily's army of Robot Masters with flawless execution. In layman's terms, that means getting through an entire level and killing the boss using only the Mega Buster arm cannon, without ever being hit, and without ever missing a shot.

When you think of how sporadic enemy behavior can be in Mega Man, it becomes clear that this challenge has the power to break one's sanity. Which is why Nico's Case: Mega Man videos are so awesome - he includes all the outtakes of his failed attempts, where his commentary usually devolves into exasperated squealing and expletives like "Asscheeks!" yelled in a Finnish accent that is nothing short of delightful.

Pull off insane Street Fighter 4 combos... one-handed

If you locked me in a room and told me that I couldn't eat until I successfully completed all the Trial combos in Street Fighter 4, I would die of starvation. But combo wizard Desk could do those hit strings with one hand while yawning into the other. Desk's fighting game combo videos are widely known for making links - sequences of normal attacks that require down-to-the-frame timing - look drop-dead easy.

As if 276-hit combos with Chun-Li weren't impressive enough, Desk decided to do an entire video of combos using nothing more than ol' righty on a fightstick (with a single swap to lefty mid-combo for a bit of flair). Watching someone ace with one hand what you struggle to do with two is humbling, to say the least. That's also Desk's band playing the amazing music, by the way.

Don't get hit a single time in Ninja Gaiden 2

When you think of nigh-impossible video game challenges, this is probably your first thought. Beating any Ninja Gaiden game is an accomplishment worthy of a parade, let alone on the highest difficulty. Completing the Master Ninja difficulty without taking any damage is practically unthinkable - and yet, here's a guy with proof that he actually did it.

A Chinese player has beaten both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Ninja Gaiden 2 on two separate occasions, completing the highest difficulty setting without ever getting hit. Compared to this, performing brain surgery at the top of Mount Everest while simultaneously patting your head and rubbing your stomach is child's play. It's entirely possible that this man will be the only person in history to ever achieve this almighty gaming challenge... twice.

Beat that!

Pretty awesome/crazy, right? Hopefully these undertakings will inspire you to take on your own self-imposed challenges - or at the very least, spend upwards of 10 hours watching amazing runs on YouTube. Maybe you're the kind of player who strives for harder difficulties beyond the realm of the game, like those people who do actual choreographed dance routines while playing DDR (as seen above)! If so, I'd love to hear about your most hardcore (or just most entertaining) DIY difficulty settings in the comments below.

And if you're looking for more, check out 10 gaming resources that change how you play for the better and 7 games where you can kill your allies, you jerk.