Posted August 06, 2017
I'm not sure why Postal 2 is on the OP's list. I have never played it but I've watched Let's Play videos of it and it's not punishing at all.
Other punishing games:
Ninja Gaiden 1 for NES: I could never beat the final boss because he transforms like two or three times and gets full life each time, meanwhile you only have one single life bar. That whole game is extremely hard all the way up to him too.
TMNT 1 for NES: As far as I can tell, it is literally impossible to make it through a final section of the last level without cheating with a Game Genie device. You are boxed into a super tight corridor that makes it impossible to jump or to dodge, and you have to fight a series of flying creatures that will crash into you and take away your hit points no matter what you do (you can't dodge them, and you can't kill them with attacks before they hit you either).
Wizards & Warriors for NES (although it's on other platforms too): This is an extremely difficult game, but yet not impossible to progress through like Ghosts n' Goblins and Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts are (or at least they are virtually impossible if not technically impossible).
Castlevania 3 for NES: Like with Ninja Gaiden 1, I could never beat the final boss, because he has multiple forms and he gets a new, full life bar each time, yet you do not.
Karnov for NES: You play this huge hulking guy, yet he dies in two hits like a wimp. LOL.
Robocop for NES: Another game that is virtually impossible if not technically impossible.
Contra III for SNES: Yet another game that is virtually impossible if not technically impossible. On one level you have to hang on to the bottom of a helicopter while tons of enemies swarm you. You have only a couple of millimeters in which to move. If you try to dodge the enemies or bullets, you have to jump...but if you jump, there is 95% chance that your jump will either cause you to fall off the helicopter and die, or jump into any of the several dozens of enemies and bullets flying towards you and die. And you don't jump, then either the enemies touch you or their bullets touch you, and either way, you still die.
Friday the 13th for NES: The things the player needs to do to progress this game are obscure and make no sense. By default, the player has no idea what he or she is supposed to do because the game does nothing to explain it. In recent years, youtubers have disclosed that information and afterwards tons of keyboard jockies made claims like "This game is easy, I beat it in the 1980's." I think those keyboard jockies are lying. IMO no one knew how to beat that game (with maybe very few exceptions) until the youtubers told them how to do so in in this decade.
Abadox for NES: This game is brutally hard all the way through. I could never beat the final couple of levels without cheating with a Game Genie.
Blaster Master for NES: Very difficult although the player can learn how to progress via trial and error.
Battletoads for NES: I'm not sure why this game has so much acclaim since its unplayable due to extremely bad play control mechanics in certain sections that make it virtually impossible. I.e. The part where you have to avoid crashing into rock pillars is virtually impossible without a joystick, because with a controller's d-pad you'd have to switch between pressing "up" and "down" way more quickly than the d-pad can reasonably accommodate. Likewise, the part where you are tied to a unicycle and have to out-race the giant balls of death that kill you instantly in one hit are awful because the play control while turning corners is abysmal and therefore forces you to lose speed. When a player dies due to these things it's not because they played badly; it's just because the play control is horrendous.
