Silver Surfer (1990) was one of those furiously difficult NES titles that still astonishes with just how goddamn hard it is. One of the most difficult titles on the system (and that’s really saying something), it’s a scrolling shoot ’em up that delivers on its notoriety.

Adapted by Software Creations from the Silver Surfer Marvel Comics series, complementing its immense difficult is a proper bangin’ soundtrack.

This one has long fascinated stuff and, lo, we’re finally giving it a retrospective. Surf’s up, dudes, and let’s do this!

Fear the Difficulty Posed by Silver Surfer

This is one of the those old school games where you’re provided minimal story before being dumped into the main game. Players have seconds to adapt to what’s happening (with no prior gameplay instructions) and within one minute will comprehend what they’re up against.

Silver Surfer is very difficult. On the plus side, you get to control a superhero surfing on a silver surfboard. That’s a considerable plus and a life goal ticked off.

Your character heads to the right and you must constantly be blasting away to shoot incoming enemies. However, the real kicker is if you so much as touch anything you die. No matter what it is.

If you slightly tap a wall above you it’s instant death. One hit from an enemy means death. The result is players need a hyper level of awareness when playing Silver Surfer and the millimetric precision of a Formula 1 driver.

What doesn’t help is on some stages it’s actually unclear what you can, or can’t, move around. This is particularly notable on overhead stages where the view is looking down at the surfing man.

Some of the later stages are merciless. As below, there’s the overhead view, incoming enemies, and you have to manoeuvre precisely through a canyon.

As we’ve covered before on the likes of our Ghosts ‘n Goblins (1986) review, developers made the games as tough as possible. This was to artificially make the titles seem longer than they really were.

Silver Surfer is a classic example of this. Skilled players with lots of experience can complete it in about 40 minutes. New players will face many, many weeks struggling to adapt to its demands. Due to that difficulty, the game has become a popular one in the online speedrunning community.

On the plus side, the game’s presentation is very good for the time. Developer Software Creations made the absolute most of the NES console’s technical limitations to deliver a striking looking title.

It’s a good game, too, but repetitive—you have to constantly hammer the attack button as the onslaught of enemies is relentless. As soon as level one begins, the onslaught commences and doesn’t stop. You’re at risk of getting RSI with this one, so it’s advisable to play on a controller with an auto-firing option.

However, Silver Surfer is also popular for another reason.

It has one of the most celebrated NES scores. The music was composed by brothers Tim and Geoff Follin and has a propulsive, head bopping quality (if this is your type of thing).

Outside of its demands as a ridiculously difficult video game, there isn’t much else to Silver Surfer. There are six levels to explore, two different dimensions (sidescroller and overhead), and lots of visual flourishes.

But many people will struggle to complete the first stage. Outside of its notoriety in retro gaming circles, it’s difficult to recommend it beyond, “Check it out if you want to suffer.”