Sonic advance 2, I got good enough to beat all the stages but I never got enough SP rings to get a single chaos emerald

Donkey kobg country

Wizardry 1, no save-scumming. I still have a go at it now and again.

Magic Carpet was incredibly fascinating. A whole planet that you could explore and influence and even modify terrain on? Every kid's dream, even given proof by Minecraft's popularity 20 years later. Could never get past the first several levels though.

Finished the game recently after giving it another go, no wonder only the beginning is kid-friendly. The later levels are devilish puzzles in difficulty. If you do not figure out the exact sequence of actions necessary to solve them, you die! Their open-world nature is only a masquerade to trick you into complacency.

Obsessed with Legacy of the Wizard as a kid on my NES. I didn't even realize the goal was to get crowns until I revisited as an adult. I can still hum 5 or 6 different scores from the games soundtrack 30 years later.

When I was a kid: super pac man, tiny toons adventures

I used to play a boatload of Street Fighter 2010. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Fighter_2010:_The_Final_Fight)

That game was and still is incredibly hard, but regardless I used to play it for hours at a time as a kid.

Nina Gaiden and adventures of Link on NES.

So damn difficult

Rayman. That thing got brutal ( to 10 year old me anyway).

ADOM

The first two gothic video games. The first one started to crash when I entered a specific area and the second one I don't even know why I didn treat that one

Wild 9. Never beat it, but there's something magical about killing your enemies by smashing them back and forth against the walls and floor

This doesn't answer quite what you asked, but what comes to mind is The Legend of Zelda: The Adventure Of Link for the NES.

I had a Game Genie as a kid. And for some reason I could not get past the boulder to get out of the first overworld area.

It wasn't until quite a few years later that I figured out some of the Game Genie codes in the official Game Genie code book could have permanent affects on your save file. I had apparently gotten the hammer (which was what was required to break the boulder), but before breaking the boulder, I used a Game Genie code to swap the Hammer for some other item I wasn't supposed to get until later in the game. So, I was stuck without the ability to break the boulder.

More to what you were asking, The Adventure Of Lolo was a good example. I was pretty young when I first picked it up. Decided it was too hard, and basically never touched it again until adulthood. In adulthood, I loved it.

Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy.

Never completed them, even with maps, POKE cheats for infinite lives etc.

I think the problem was you couldn't really save many games then, so you were always defeated by either dinnertime or bedtime.

I think the same probably applies to nearly every game I ever played on the ZX Spectrum, but those two I think I tried the most.

Sekiro and Demon's Souls.

The only two souls games I haven't beaten.

I haven't beaten them in the past, or the present as I continue to try and beat them. 😮‍💨

Super swift on the snes.

I’ve never beaten a video game 😞

None. If I enjoyed a game enough to play it a ton, I will eventually beat it. And not just beat it, but get 100% and all the achievements when possible.

The only games I played a ton but didn't beat are open world games that don't have a set objectives.

Mario and Luigi dream team. Loved that game, but couldn't get past beef cloud.

Sega Game Gear Sonic 2. Had a boss that you had to beat with cannon balls that bounced at you down a hill. No instructions or clues, and no rings in the act to save you. Just don't die from the same balls.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Most Sonic games are easy, but Sonic 1 and 2 aren't. Actually, I've beaten it as Knuckles, but never as Sonic (therefore I've never beaten it as it was in it's original release,) I can't get past a specific jump in Wing Fortress Zone.

Minecraft is less that I'm not good enough and more that I get bored around the time I first get to the Nether.

i played a lot of wizard 101 when i was a kid but i dont think i ever got very far i think i just liked fighting the weaker enemies

Final Fantasy. My friend and I played it cooperatively, and we made our team four red mages. There was a mini boss in the final dungeon we kept getting destroyed by no matter how much we would go back and grind levels. We finally gave up. I couldn't beat Super Mario Kart either, but i didn't actually get to play that as much.

Heart of Darkness
Turok
Lion King
UFO Apocalypse