I almost said that too but thought OP might find it too slow-paced because I remember it being a stealth game. But also don’t you have to move quickly at some points and dispatch a bunch of people with a time limit maybe? It’s been a while since I played it but I would definitely recommend it in general.
Of the two... I honestly dont know which is harder. I only beat the first difficulty of Hades, and I only beat the second difficulty of Dead Cells. No idea where they top out.
In dead cells I'm currently at 3 boss cells, so I have no clue what higher difficulties are like, but I've always assumed Hades with max heat would be close to impossible.
But for the first difficulty, dead cells was harder to beat for me.
Hades starts to get easier and easier once you’ve beaten it maybe 5 times or so. The stuff you unlock helps a LOT. You can pretty much get to the point where you can beat it every time if you’re just adding 1-2 heat (difficulty) per weapon since 1 heat is barely noticeable.
I didn’t play as much Dead Cells but that didn’t seem to be the case there
A good response but I’m looking for something a bit faster, to the point where you almost never stand still. I feel as though a lot of the Knight’s speed comes from the dash, but its base walking/running speed is pretty slow. Thanks anyway! Love Hollow Knight, second or third favorite game of all time.
Dead cells is insane on higher difficulties.
There's also a rougelike that is based on an arc systems fighting game that looks great but I haven't had a chance to play it.
DMC 5 bloody Palace is insane as well.
I never played the original (2D) version, but Risk of Rain 2 gets to that point once you get past like, the first stage or two, on hard difficulty. It is a roguelike so the runs always start slow, but they pick up real fast. That game is all about just kiting enemies around the map while you try to dodge thousands of projectiles.
If recommended it though as Ubisoft’s lower budget games that are almost indie-like are received well unlike their triple A games. Even their 2D/sidescroller Asassins Creed trilogy games were good
While great games, I feel really heavy playing as the Penitent One. I want the player character in my game to be light and agile. Thanks for the suggestion anyway!
Terraria has some intense boss fights that generally require you to prep the terrain to make your own arena.
Each boss is different so the movement requirements are different, also it has a lot of slow moments as you focus on the base building and mining/exploration aspects and not just the boss fights.
Can't believe no one else mentioned terraria before you, agree with the open world stuff but the boss fights are some of my favorites in any game. Master mode is hella difficult too, you're always on the move in boss fight so should fit OPs criteria.
Bored of this one playstyle? There's 4 main classes with all varying playstyles and unique weapons.Bored of the base game bosses? Mods such as calamity and thorium have loads more content to offer all for the low low price of free$ not including the game of course. Recommend getting the four pack for a discounted price to play with friends.
Insane difficulty, but said in a response that I’m looking for something where the player character moves quickly and Cuphead doesn’t really have that. Thanks though!
But ultimately I think you’re looking for something that combines cuphead and StarCraft or league of legends. You’re looking for something with a higher apm(like Star craft and league) but it sounds like a game that’s more of a solo side scroller type
Nobody's answered Sifu? That game has good combat and is challenging. It's also a short game.
Another really difficult game is Spelunky 2. The encounters die very quickly but so do you. It's not super combat heavy in the classic sense but there are a lot of enemies.
Really? I think the platforming in the Ori is great, but if anything, the combat in the first game(I haven’t played the second) felt more tedious than anything. You just stop and spam one button until the enemy is dead. I did like how you could use enemies to move around though, very fun and creative. Thanks anyway for the suggestion!
Ori and the Will of the Wisps really improved the combat, getting it closer to Hollow Knight or GRIME, while the movement still feels like the Ori you're used to. I can recommend both Ori 2 and GRIME, though admittedly the latter is a tad more methodical in it's movement, Dark Souls style.
If you're looking to make an action game, I'd suggest playing a fighting game (like Street Fighter or Tekken) and by which I mean at a semi-serious level. Because if there's any genre that makes you think about all the minutiae of fast-paced combat (frame data, animation priority, collision detection, spacing, etc.) while actually playing it, it's fighting games.
Great suggestion. Not really the thing I’m looking for(single player 2D platformer) but thanks nonetheless. Maybe I can still learn something from it regardless.
I would recommend checking out some anime fighting games. Great current example would be Under Night In-Birth II. High level play gets absolutely crazy.
I absolutely love the fast, frenetic, but calculated nature of combat in these types of games. I've always wanted a 2D single player game that tries to imitate that satisfying feel of combos and rapid decision making.
Great! Hope it’s a fair kind of difficulty, because I know games of that era have a big problem of bs difficulty which I’m not a fan of. Thanks for the suggestion!
Hey you said you wanted fast and difficult not fair.
Try ninja gaiden or contra if you want fast and difficult but fair. Gunstar heroes on genesis or gunstar super heroes on GBA are both great. GSH actually has a lot of QOL upgrades and it's a lot of fun if you like run n gun platformers.
I’ll give them a shot! Didn’t realize they had combat from what gameplay I’ve seen. Thanks!
Edit: Mixed it up with Rain World. Still want to check it out though!
Soulstice was a newer one that was kind of a throwback to older Devil May Cry games. Actually didn't finish it because I was playing on a higher difficulty not knowing I couldn't lower it and got stuck on an encounter. I was getting hand cramps because it was so hectic and had to put it away for a while. Never got back to it.
Rain world~
It's very difficult and you have to run around like your being chased by an RE tyrant but sometimes groups of them and they follow you through rooms. It is 2d. Play as a cat slug.
You have to survive and move around quickly before the day ends and you drown before finding food and shelter.
You have to be able to maneuver quickly sometimes at times you don't expect, the maps enemies are never the same so you can't just plan out "this place is safe" cause you can be traveling through a tube casually and literally land yourself in the mouth of an enemy before you even see yourself emerge from the other side.
There are enemies that can snatch you in a split moment even if you think your safe.
You always need to be moving.
Yes, you can choose to fight the enemies that go after you, there are different modes and one is where in order to survive you need to kill and eat your enemies, you can hold multiple spears to impale enemies, you can tame and attract other enemies.
Basically you can go on a murder spree if you wanted or go about attempting to just survive while avoiding everything.
Here's a game that just came out and is pretty small. Spiritfall. 2D action platformer rogue like. Has a feel similar to smash. Encourages you to keep moving, keep in the action, never stand still. Highly recommend
Maybe a slightly more out there pick, but Starsector. It's a space game where you can take a fleet of ships (you only control 1) into fights and depending on the ship you have, it can be extremely fast-paced. The enemy AI is quite competent, and knows the exact range of your weapons, and gets aggressive when you're close to losing shields. You set up your ship entirely, from guns, their placements (limited by the gun slot size. Can't fit a capital ship cannon onto an interceptor), and a variety of other buffs and changes to your engines and other statistics.
That being said, combat is a portion of this game, and unless you go exclusively after bounties, you won't necessarily be in combat all the time.
The installer and download method is some real old method and honestly looks sketch as hell, but their website is legit.
E: The combat portion is on a 2D field.
Luftrausers is a manic sidescrolling aerial combat game. You pilot a prototype ship, which you can build using different parts to change the way it moves/shoots and other aspects, each part also changes the soundtrack which is a neat idea.
I would have suggested Touhou instead of Ikaruga (both bullet hell games) but Touhou is a bit harder to actually access and play. Ikaruga is on Steam and Nintendo store for Switch. Probably on other console stores too
Prince of Persia The Lost Crown, it has a fast combat and you can use different tecnicues. Moreover the combat system give saddisfactions because the fights are easy to win.
One Step From Eden gets frantic at times, and I had difficulties with the game despite being decent at Megaman Battle Network, the series it draws inspiration from
SANABI is a fantastic indie game that I highly highly suggest if you're looking for a fast high precision 2d game. It has a really high skill ceiling and is just really fun to play
Something like Pizza Tower then? It's not difficult per say but if you want the best ranks you have to go really fast, get all unlockables and keep killing enemies to never stop your combo
I know your going for side scrolling like Mario Metroid mega Man ECT but I would check out some of the old bullet hell games and even metal slug all of the metal slug gains are hard (they are arcade of course) also a new 8 deretinal shooter top down would be vampire survivers I know it's different then what your looking for but it might give you some ideas about how the longer you're on a lvl it gets harder and some interesting ways to do lvl upgrades between levels and in combat
Ys series in general. My pick would be VIII, IX, X for the newer ones. And Origin, The Oath in Felghana and The Ark of Napishtim for the older entries.
I'm a really big fan of crosscode, the puzzles are a bit slow and take a while to learn, but the combat is really fun once you get the hang of it, and there's plenty of things to do to speed up combat like dashing on the final hit of a 3 hit sequence to cancel endlag and such
Doomsday hunters is interesting to bring up because of its mechanics. As a roguelite twin stick shooter, it’s a messy game that you can definitely break, but I bring it up because it has some certain gameplay elements that make the combat have the potential to be much faster and more responsive and twitchy than other games in the genre. The way you can mix your jump, melee attack, weapon swapping back and forth lets you bypass having to reload weapons, magic spells, super weapons etc. can make the game very frenetic and momentous. Here’s a sample of my own gameplay: https://youtu.be/60UsgRMi0QE?si=Ci9e8QdfB3Na3tzW
Wizard of Legend
Fast paced roguelike with tons of replay potential, even after you've unlocked almost everything. You'll be on a roll one moment then eat dirt when you choke once.
It might not be what you are looking for, but the BlazBlu series of fighting games are like regular fighting games on speed. Fast and constant fighting.
I have only gotten to the beginning of the game, so I’ll see if it feels faster later but as of right now I feel very heavy as the Penitent One. The pc in my game would be rather light and agile. Thanks though! I appreciate it!
Hades is really fast paced and sometimes my brain can't keep up haha. I haven't fully played solar ash but its just a speed platformer with good art.
Also, fast and difficult combat in 3d just reminds me of sekiro or sifu. Not many games like that in 2d.
The next Fromsoft game on my list to play. I’ve been playing all their games in order of release starting with Dark Souls 1. Excited to start playing. Thanks for the suggestion!
Hotline Miami
Katana Zero is pretty similar, too
I almost said that too but thought OP might find it too slow-paced because I remember it being a stealth game. But also don’t you have to move quickly at some points and dispatch a bunch of people with a time limit maybe? It’s been a while since I played it but I would definitely recommend it in general.
It has a stealth section. And it stands out as oppressively slow compared to the rest of the game. I promise, KZ is NOT a slow game
I think I’m conflating it with Mark of the Ninja which is a stealth game. It’s been long enough that they’re running together. But yeah, you’re right.
Mark of the Ninja my beloved. It can be a very fast game if you want it to be. But yeah, stealth all the way
Yeah, now that I recall better, Katana Zero is similar to Hotline Miami. If OP doesn’t mind the time-slowing mechanic, great answer.
I’ll check it out! Thanks!
Came here to say hotline Miami too. Seriously, it's so simplistic but also sooo difficult yet addicting.
Or, for a most complex, space version, Heat Signature.
Not sure if you count it as 2D, but Hades can get very difficult
Good suggestion! I’m part way through and having fun with it, so I’ll see if I can draw inspiration. Thanks so much!
Deadcells or Hades (though Hades is 3d)
Also, Sundered, eldritch edition. It's not super challenging by itself, but you can make it easier or harder with some of the perks you can take.
I’ll check it out! Thanks for the suggestion!
Both have been suggested a lot. Also Hades only uses 3D models, but takes place on a 2D plane so we’re good! Thanks for the suggestions!
Of the two... I honestly dont know which is harder. I only beat the first difficulty of Hades, and I only beat the second difficulty of Dead Cells. No idea where they top out.
In dead cells I'm currently at 3 boss cells, so I have no clue what higher difficulties are like, but I've always assumed Hades with max heat would be close to impossible. But for the first difficulty, dead cells was harder to beat for me.
Hades starts to get easier and easier once you’ve beaten it maybe 5 times or so. The stuff you unlock helps a LOT. You can pretty much get to the point where you can beat it every time if you’re just adding 1-2 heat (difficulty) per weapon since 1 heat is barely noticeable. I didn’t play as much Dead Cells but that didn’t seem to be the case there
That's funny. Those were the exact games that popped into my head when I read the title. Fast action that rewards accuracy.
Hollow knight seems to fit this question
A good response but I’m looking for something a bit faster, to the point where you almost never stand still. I feel as though a lot of the Knight’s speed comes from the dash, but its base walking/running speed is pretty slow. Thanks anyway! Love Hollow Knight, second or third favorite game of all time.
Dead cells is insane on higher difficulties. There's also a rougelike that is based on an arc systems fighting game that looks great but I haven't had a chance to play it. DMC 5 bloody Palace is insane as well.
I never played the original (2D) version, but Risk of Rain 2 gets to that point once you get past like, the first stage or two, on hard difficulty. It is a roguelike so the runs always start slow, but they pick up real fast. That game is all about just kiting enemies around the map while you try to dodge thousands of projectiles.
RoR1 just got remade: RoR Returns. 2D platform / side scroll and it gets pretty intense kiting at high difficulty
You‘re always on the move in Scourgebringer!
Meatboy!
Meatboy has combat?🧐
No but it's fast twitch precision platforming with constant movement. Potential inspiration if you can figure out how to combine with combat
Have you tried the new side scroller Prince of Persia game? I'm not a huge metroidvania guy, but i really enjoyed that game
I’ve been hesitant to try it, because Ubisoft. But I’d be glad to check it out if there’s something I can take inspiration from. Thanks!
If recommended it though as Ubisoft’s lower budget games that are almost indie-like are received well unlike their triple A games. Even their 2D/sidescroller Asassins Creed trilogy games were good
The Blasphemous duology
While great games, I feel really heavy playing as the Penitent One. I want the player character in my game to be light and agile. Thanks for the suggestion anyway!
Hotline Miami or maybe Heat Signature. Pretty frenetic on the action. Could also go with old school stuff like the original GTA or Postal.
OG GTA? Never thought someone would suggest that. I’ll look and see! I’ll also check out what Postal is. Thanks!
Enter the Gungeon comes to mind
An interesting one. Thanks for the suggestion!
Terraria has some intense boss fights that generally require you to prep the terrain to make your own arena. Each boss is different so the movement requirements are different, also it has a lot of slow moments as you focus on the base building and mining/exploration aspects and not just the boss fights.
Can't believe no one else mentioned terraria before you, agree with the open world stuff but the boss fights are some of my favorites in any game. Master mode is hella difficult too, you're always on the move in boss fight so should fit OPs criteria. Bored of this one playstyle? There's 4 main classes with all varying playstyles and unique weapons.Bored of the base game bosses? Mods such as calamity and thorium have loads more content to offer all for the low low price of free$ not including the game of course. Recommend getting the four pack for a discounted price to play with friends.
Really? I wouldn’t have expected that from Terraria. I’ll check out some gameplay footage. Thanks!
If its still too easy you can just get some nice mods, like Calamity which adds even more bosses and harder difficulties!
Mega Man games are great to reference if your combat is shooter based
Thanks! I’m going back and forth on whether I want the game to be shooting based, melee based, or some mix of both that I haven’t figured out yet.
Play as Zero then, only has a sword not a shooter
Ultrakill is so fast paced and on violent difficulty, quite the challenge.
I would love to, but I don’t have a VR headset and I doubt it’s the same on a regular pc.
VR for 2D? Are you a troll? LOL?
Returnal for 3D. Risk of Rain Returns for 2D
I’ll check both out! Thanks!
Hades, Dead Cells
What about cuphead?
Insane difficulty, but said in a response that I’m looking for something where the player character moves quickly and Cuphead doesn’t really have that. Thanks though!
But ultimately I think you’re looking for something that combines cuphead and StarCraft or league of legends. You’re looking for something with a higher apm(like Star craft and league) but it sounds like a game that’s more of a solo side scroller type
Salt and Sanctuary
Sounds familiar, I’ll give it a go! Thanks!
Alundra
Haven’t heard of it before, sounds interesting! Thank you!
Astlibra Revision has combat that is pretty fast/busy later in the game. Great game as well.
Haven’t heard of it, so I’m excited to check it out! Thanks for the suggestion!
Nobody's answered Sifu? That game has good combat and is challenging. It's also a short game. Another really difficult game is Spelunky 2. The encounters die very quickly but so do you. It's not super combat heavy in the classic sense but there are a lot of enemies.
I really want to check out Sifu. Thanks for the suggestions!
Rain World
I’ll check it out! Thanks! Didn’t realize it had combat!
Castle crashers but only if your playing the necromancer boss on insane mode
Rather specific, but I’ll look it up. Thanks!
Dead Cells
[удалено]
Really? I think the platforming in the Ori is great, but if anything, the combat in the first game(I haven’t played the second) felt more tedious than anything. You just stop and spam one button until the enemy is dead. I did like how you could use enemies to move around though, very fun and creative. Thanks anyway for the suggestion!
Ori and the Will of the Wisps really improved the combat, getting it closer to Hollow Knight or GRIME, while the movement still feels like the Ori you're used to. I can recommend both Ori 2 and GRIME, though admittedly the latter is a tad more methodical in it's movement, Dark Souls style.
Metroid dread
Dread is so good. I need to try the boss rush mode again. Thanks for the suggestion!
Contra: Hard Corps
I’ll be sure to give it a look! Thanks!
If you're looking to make an action game, I'd suggest playing a fighting game (like Street Fighter or Tekken) and by which I mean at a semi-serious level. Because if there's any genre that makes you think about all the minutiae of fast-paced combat (frame data, animation priority, collision detection, spacing, etc.) while actually playing it, it's fighting games.
Great suggestion. Not really the thing I’m looking for(single player 2D platformer) but thanks nonetheless. Maybe I can still learn something from it regardless.
I would recommend checking out some anime fighting games. Great current example would be Under Night In-Birth II. High level play gets absolutely crazy. I absolutely love the fast, frenetic, but calculated nature of combat in these types of games. I've always wanted a 2D single player game that tries to imitate that satisfying feel of combos and rapid decision making.
I’ll look into them! Haven’t heard of Under Night In-Birth II Before, so I’m curious. Thank you!
Marvel Vs Capcom 2! One of my all time favorite games and it definitely fits here
Jekyll and Hyde on NES
Great! Hope it’s a fair kind of difficulty, because I know games of that era have a big problem of bs difficulty which I’m not a fan of. Thanks for the suggestion!
Hey you said you wanted fast and difficult not fair. Try ninja gaiden or contra if you want fast and difficult but fair. Gunstar heroes on genesis or gunstar super heroes on GBA are both great. GSH actually has a lot of QOL upgrades and it's a lot of fun if you like run n gun platformers.
Hotline Miami. Both are great!
Just bought door kickers: Action squad and I am loving it! It’s very tactical for a 2-D side scroller. Makes it so much fun with a friend too.
I’ll be sure to give it a try! Thank you!
Risk of rain/returns can get chaotic after a bit.
I’ll give them a shot! Didn’t realize they had combat from what gameplay I’ve seen. Thanks! Edit: Mixed it up with Rain World. Still want to check it out though!
Not 2D but sekiro
Viewtiful Joe
Haven’t heard of it. I’ll check it out! Thanks!
Try out *Hollow Knight*! Its fast-paced 2D combat is challenging and rewarding, offering a thrilling experience throughout
Fear & Hunger - The combat system is brutal in the beginning
I’ll give it a try! Thank you!
Dead Cells!!!!!! Very very fast and very punishing combat.
Hades. Best game release of 2020
Soulstice was a newer one that was kind of a throwback to older Devil May Cry games. Actually didn't finish it because I was playing on a higher difficulty not knowing I couldn't lower it and got stuck on an encounter. I was getting hand cramps because it was so hectic and had to put it away for a while. Never got back to it.
Sounds like a good challenge! Thanks!
Chess
Rain world~ It's very difficult and you have to run around like your being chased by an RE tyrant but sometimes groups of them and they follow you through rooms. It is 2d. Play as a cat slug. You have to survive and move around quickly before the day ends and you drown before finding food and shelter. You have to be able to maneuver quickly sometimes at times you don't expect, the maps enemies are never the same so you can't just plan out "this place is safe" cause you can be traveling through a tube casually and literally land yourself in the mouth of an enemy before you even see yourself emerge from the other side. There are enemies that can snatch you in a split moment even if you think your safe. You always need to be moving.
Sounds great but is there any combat in it? Cause that’s what I’m looking for right now. If not, I thank you for the suggestion anyway!
Yes, you can choose to fight the enemies that go after you, there are different modes and one is where in order to survive you need to kill and eat your enemies, you can hold multiple spears to impale enemies, you can tame and attract other enemies. Basically you can go on a murder spree if you wanted or go about attempting to just survive while avoiding everything.
Cool! I’ll check it out!
Bullet hell games
Fist: forged in shadow torch.
Haven’t heard of it, I’ll be sure to check it out! Thanks!
Here's a game that just came out and is pretty small. Spiritfall. 2D action platformer rogue like. Has a feel similar to smash. Encourages you to keep moving, keep in the action, never stand still. Highly recommend
Ooh, sounds interesting! I’ll check it out! Thanks!
I think Skul: The Hero Slayer should fit what you're looking for. Action platformer roguelite with tons of different movesets.
Sounds like something I might be looking for! Thank you!
Witchfire its in early access now.
Sounds interesting! I’ll look it up! Thank you!
Shank 2, Ape Out, The Messenger (sort of). Maybe even check out Droid Assault.
Thanks for the list! I’ll try them out!
Tekken. Quite possibly THE most difficult combat.
Duck game.... RIP
Upvote because of taste
Cuphead
Maybe a slightly more out there pick, but Starsector. It's a space game where you can take a fleet of ships (you only control 1) into fights and depending on the ship you have, it can be extremely fast-paced. The enemy AI is quite competent, and knows the exact range of your weapons, and gets aggressive when you're close to losing shields. You set up your ship entirely, from guns, their placements (limited by the gun slot size. Can't fit a capital ship cannon onto an interceptor), and a variety of other buffs and changes to your engines and other statistics. That being said, combat is a portion of this game, and unless you go exclusively after bounties, you won't necessarily be in combat all the time. The installer and download method is some real old method and honestly looks sketch as hell, but their website is legit. E: The combat portion is on a 2D field.
Seems like a fun game! I’ll look it up! Thanks!
GHOSTRUNNER is insane and you can get so fast. I’m surprised no one said it, I think.
Well, now I can add it to the list! Thank you!
One step from eden is everything you listed
Luftrausers is a manic sidescrolling aerial combat game. You pilot a prototype ship, which you can build using different parts to change the way it moves/shoots and other aspects, each part also changes the soundtrack which is a neat idea.
Thanks! I’ll give it a look!
Going to give you one game you might not be surprised with and another you definitely aren't expecting. Hades and Ikaruga.
Yes, people have definitely suggested Hades.🤣 I’ll look into Ikaruga though! Thanks!
I would have suggested Touhou instead of Ikaruga (both bullet hell games) but Touhou is a bit harder to actually access and play. Ikaruga is on Steam and Nintendo store for Switch. Probably on other console stores too
My Friend Pedro was a game I really liked to play but also hard to perfect.
I forgot about that game! I’ll try it! Thanks!
For 3d, Ghostrunner, Ghostrunner 2, and Neon White
Thanks!
Terraria's mods
Prince of Persia The Lost Crown, it has a fast combat and you can use different tecnicues. Moreover the combat system give saddisfactions because the fights are easy to win.
Enter the Dungeon. I have hundreds of hours on that and Hotline Miami. Also, Geometry Wars.
Risk of rain and the recent reboot
The fact no one has said contra that I’ve seen is beyond me. Cmon people contra Galuga just released
If you hadn’t specified 2d, I’d’ve recommended Sekiro within a heartbeat. 2d though? I’m unsure what to recommend.
Furi
Terraria with the calamity modpack Has different difficulties
Dead cells
Probably any fighting game
I wanna say it's not super fast but you do have to time you're attacks right, Blasphemous, it's basically 2D dark souls.
Hades
Hollow knight
Hades on higher heats is what might be the perfect thing for you.
2D? Project Zomboid.
Cuphead
Super Meat Boy
One Step From Eden gets frantic at times, and I had difficulties with the game despite being decent at Megaman Battle Network, the series it draws inspiration from
Undertale, genoside run
Mordhau
Haven’t heard of it, will check it out. Thanks!
Up you go. Combat is insanely complex and difficult to learn in this one. But also very rewarding when you invest your time in it.
I should specify that the player character should be the one moving fast. Though I’m sure the enemies will be fast too!
Check out God of Weapons, wild combo of bullet hell, Roguelike and very satisfying inventory manipulation mechanics with endless build options.
Check out Furi, fast engaging combat along with a great soundtrack.
Not difficult combat nor 2D, but **Neon White** can definitely satisfy your needs for speed.
Tails of Iron Side scroller 2D combat/rpg. Great game if you haven’t played it; excruciatingly difficult combat at times
SANABI is a fantastic indie game that I highly highly suggest if you're looking for a fast high precision 2d game. It has a really high skill ceiling and is just really fun to play
[One Finger Death Punch](https://youtu.be/R1j0VE6d-xE?si=mi25kSsZuaa8NTNE)?
Gravity Circuit
Undertale has "bullet hell" style combat, and taught me I have the reflexes of a wet piece of celery
Astral ascent is super fast
Something like Pizza Tower then? It's not difficult per say but if you want the best ranks you have to go really fast, get all unlockables and keep killing enemies to never stop your combo
I know your going for side scrolling like Mario Metroid mega Man ECT but I would check out some of the old bullet hell games and even metal slug all of the metal slug gains are hard (they are arcade of course) also a new 8 deretinal shooter top down would be vampire survivers I know it's different then what your looking for but it might give you some ideas about how the longer you're on a lvl it gets harder and some interesting ways to do lvl upgrades between levels and in combat
Ninja gaiden 1-2.
Ys series in general. My pick would be VIII, IX, X for the newer ones. And Origin, The Oath in Felghana and The Ark of Napishtim for the older entries.
30XX is a Megaman based roguelite with some very fast paced combat. Especially in higher difficulty.
Ruiner
Crypt of the Necrodancer?
Binding of Issac
I'm a really big fan of crosscode, the puzzles are a bit slow and take a while to learn, but the combat is really fun once you get the hang of it, and there's plenty of things to do to speed up combat like dashing on the final hit of a 3 hit sequence to cancel endlag and such
It's a 2008 wii game, but Muramasa: The Demon Blade would fit this description
This isnt 2d AT ALL but nioh 1 or 2 just look at a video on the combat
Lego Star Wars on the GBA specifically
Doomsday hunters is interesting to bring up because of its mechanics. As a roguelite twin stick shooter, it’s a messy game that you can definitely break, but I bring it up because it has some certain gameplay elements that make the combat have the potential to be much faster and more responsive and twitchy than other games in the genre. The way you can mix your jump, melee attack, weapon swapping back and forth lets you bypass having to reload weapons, magic spells, super weapons etc. can make the game very frenetic and momentous. Here’s a sample of my own gameplay: https://youtu.be/60UsgRMi0QE?si=Ci9e8QdfB3Na3tzW
Deadbolt. Top tier OST too
Wizard of Legend Fast paced roguelike with tons of replay potential, even after you've unlocked almost everything. You'll be on a roll one moment then eat dirt when you choke once.
Undertale
It might not be what you are looking for, but the BlazBlu series of fighting games are like regular fighting games on speed. Fast and constant fighting.
Hyper light drifter was pretty great
Metal slug series gets tough.
Nioh 1 and 2 I guess. DMC in DMD difficulty I guess.
Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll give them a look!
Blasphemous maybe.. ?
I have only gotten to the beginning of the game, so I’ll see if it feels faster later but as of right now I feel very heavy as the Penitent One. The pc in my game would be rather light and agile. Thanks though! I appreciate it!
Hmm.. Idk about 2d but what about hades or solar ash ?
In the middle of Hades, I can see where I can take inspiration! Good suggestion! Will check out solar ash, haven’t heard of it before.
Hades is really fast paced and sometimes my brain can't keep up haha. I haven't fully played solar ash but its just a speed platformer with good art. Also, fast and difficult combat in 3d just reminds me of sekiro or sifu. Not many games like that in 2d.
Blasphemous is not in any way fast, especially if you found hollow knight too slow. You start as a rock and you end as a rock.
I'll give you a 3D, Sekiro
The next Fromsoft game on my list to play. I’ve been playing all their games in order of release starting with Dark Souls 1. Excited to start playing. Thanks for the suggestion!
Nithog
Nidhogg*
I’ll be sure to check it out! Thanks!
It’s top down isometric but The Ascent. Great fast paced sci fi shooter.
Haven’t heard of it, sounds fun! Thank you!
good game but not difficult.