I like a challenge, as long as it is reasonable.
On the Megadrive I had the original Micro Machines.... it has no save functionality at all, thus to complete the game you have to do it all in one sitting, I did it once and thought "What was the point?" after all everything would be gone when I turned off.
On Lost Levels (Virtual Console) you get to continue with a spawn at the start, or middle of the level, but once you die 3 times it's back to the beginning again... also frustrating.
Zack and Wiki, and Super Mario Galaxy on the other hand, punished you by your idiocy in Z&W, or incompetance in SMG.... so you had to start the puzzle/star again, but they do not just put you back at the bit right before you started.... which is not cruel, but not too easy either.
