I finally beat down Jubelius after trying after the checkpoint about 6 or 7 times, and evenutally had to restart the level and do a better job with the motorcycle sequence with Jeanne to ensure that I had enough powerups to finish it (let's just say I'm not awesome at these types of games), and when I was done I felt a real sense of accomplishment. And it felt weird. I thought about it for a moment, and realized that it might have been the first time this gen, and maybe even before this gen that I felt that level of accomplishment for completing a game. It was difficult, but not cheap and super rewarding. It's actually made me rethink some things about why I play games. I mean, I LOVE Mass Effect, but even finishing it on insanity didn't give me nearly this feeling.

This made me go and finally invest in Super Mario Galaxy, another brilliant game that can take a ton of skill. I want that feeling again. Does anyone else think that the way games have been made this gen take some of the feeling of accomplishment out of them? I mean, I beat the original Ninja Gaiden on the NES and that was probably about 5 times as difficult as Bayonetta, are games just too darned easy?

try playing Ninja gaiden black on the xbox but 2D games were useally fkn hard because of the poor level designs.

Also I think it depends who makes the game! The guy that makes Ninja Gaiden wants his games to be remembered as giving players nerdrages

For starters, galaxy isn't really "hard" like back in the NES/SNES days. It has it's challenging moments, but some levels are really easy too. If you want a list of challenging games, there are plenty on Wii. Here are some in no particular order. I can't really help much with PS3/X360 or even DS as I don't have any really hard games for those systems.

* Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn - not only is it hard, it's considered one of the best SRPG games.
* Trauma Center (either one) - lots of fun, you can move to easy if you get stuck, but they are very hard games.
* Mario Strikers Charged (on Expert) - best multiplayer game I own probably. There are a few "cheap" moments with the PC, but I never really feel cheated. If you liked Hitz or Blitz you'll love this even if you aren't a soccer fan. This is also one of the only games I play and actually yell really loudly about over a win/loss.
* Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz - talk with Amp
* Mercury Meltdown Revolution - I can't beat it, but if you like "marble" games this is a different take on the genre
* Punch-Out!! - it really depends on how good you are at memorizing and recognizing moves. It'll kick your butt when you get to title defense.

I'm sure there are some more that I'm missing. For DS

* Professor Layton (either) - 100% not cheap, 100% mind bending
* Fire Emblem - very much a strategy game. If you put it on 5-star difficulty it'll challenge you.

I remember back in the NES days it just made sense to us that if you fall off the bottom of the screen, you'll die. WTF?! LOL!

I'm too scared to even try Bayonetta on hard, I don't even want to think about Ninja Gaiden.

Yeah I think games are too easy these days. Ninja Gaiden on the NES has one of the most frustratingly cheap last levels ever made, but with that game in particular it was just poor design decisions. If you die on any screen, you restart on that screen. But if you die AT THE BOSS, you have to continue from 5 screens earlier. It doesn't make any sense. You have to die on the screen right before the boss, with at least one life left, so you can have full life right before the boss. But then you have to do a flawless run of that last pre-boss screen to get to the boss with full health. And then... then you better beat that boss quick. Repeat that whole process for the boss's second form. It's horrible. I don't know how I did it when I was 5 or 6, but I went back to do it again when I was about 21 and it almost drove me insane.

I still haven't played Bayonetta or God Hand, but all their beat 'em-ups are really rewarding, like Viewtiful Joe and MadWorld. One of the most rewarding games I've beaten recently was No More Heroes 2.

Now I don't even finish most games. If they don't have something really really special going on, I usually get bored less than halfway through.

Bayonetta is so worth playing, but I can't really describe to you why, it just has so much style. It's so tongue in cheek and has so many homages to great old games (the Space Harrier-esque sequence is just brilliant), it's in my top 10 for this gen, maybe top 5 and I am NOT a hack-and-slash gamer at all.

I also agree that games are too "easy" now, but then if you look back to what made those games hard it was typically poor design along with no way to save. As much as I like hard games, I'd rather not go back to bad design or cheap tactics.

I agree with the Ninja Gaiden comment. Beating that one bi$%@; I forget her name, but she had wings and was in the church...damn she was hard!!

Regardless, for me, Ninja Gaiden was a game that was incredibly challenging, without ever feeling cheap. That's a tough line to walk (IMO).

@OP get Monster Hunter.

P.S. 

Yes games have stopped being games and have become entertainment. Entertainment is only supposed to cause joy in your emtions not accomplishments. Accomplishment euphoria comes from difficulty and challenge. Something that most games avoid these days.

I think Super Mario 3 and Super Mario World might be some of the more rewarding and non-cheap games from back then, you can't say they were easy, but not cheap either. Yes, bad game design sucked. Thank god for the Konami code in Contra!