I suppose all have their arguements, but one thing that crossed my mind was "gaming acheivements". These can be simple such as beating a particularly hard game, or doing something special in a game (a challenge type playthrough). Is this a definition of hardcore? If so, what have you done towards this goal?
Over the years I like to replay old games a lot, but I like to do different things when I replay them. This keeps you interested for a 2nd and MAYBE a 3rd playthrough, but after that you need motivation to do it again. I had heard of 'video game speed runs', and shortly afterwards about 'challege modes' for games set by players. I did a few of them over the past 2 or 3 years.
Here they are listed, along with anything else I consider to be a "video game acheivement".
Final Fantasy VII - No materia game
I thought this would actually be pretty hard, but as it turns out beating the games with the Fight command, Limit Breaks, and Items is not that bad. There are a few hard parts like the Living Wall boss in Temple Of The Ancients, Diamond Weapon, Proud Clod, and suprisingly final form Hojo was a real bastard as well (never would have guessed).
But, basically you use the most damaging limit breaks (Cloud/Cid/Barret), stock up on X-Potions from those bugs in Wutai area, and whomp ass for the whole game.
Final Fantasy VI - No level up game
Overall this was MUCH harder than a FFVII no materia game. You have to run from every EXP battle, and fight bosses (they don't give EXP) with ultra-low levels. Depending on which version you have this gets easier in the World Of Ruin as you can use the 128% MBlock trick to make things a bit better on yourself, and you can finally fight enemies to learn magic that don't give EXP. For the most part though you have to really know a lot about the bosses and how to battle them the best. In case you try this, I will say that the best way to beat some bosses is not outright killing them quickly - strategy comes into play big time and you can get some truly marathon style epic battles. This was a really fun one to try though.
Devil May Cry - Beat game on Dante Must Die mode
I include this because to this day I have not played a game that is harder when at max difficulty. The boss battles are huge endurance matches, and require flawless gameplay. The final few boss battles can take over 30 minutes each to pull out a win. My hat goes off to anyone else who has done this.
Metriod Fusion - 1% game
This one actually wasn't too hard, once you got used to only having 99 energy for the whole game. A 0% game would be possible but there is a badly placed missle expansion that cannot be avoided in any shape or form.
Metroid Prime - 23% game
This is the lowest normal % you can get (a 22% game is apparently possible, but you have to sell your soul to the devil - I forget what item you have to skip but its seriously NOT cool). Again, not bad once you get used to it. Most bosses are easy as hell to dodge. The battle with the Omega Pirate is the worst part, but only because of his annoying regular Space Pirate buddies beating the shit out of you while you are trying to get a bead on the big man. The bomb-jump-into-space-jump-looking-down technique is a cruel mistress, but you need it in two areas of the game. Get used to breaking shit around you in anger.
Right now I'm just starting a No Junction game of FFVIII. I hear its not super hard, but it is supposed to have its moments. Basically you don't junction a GF ever, or learn any GF abilities. This means you get Fight and Limit Breaks only in battle, and you get the Item command out of battle. I beat Diablos first try (I got lucky but still...), and had a pretty down to the wire fight with Fake Deling on the train. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
I've never beat MGS2 on European Extreme mode either...perhaps I'll try someday...
Anyone else done anything like this? Any games you have beaten that you consider a 'badge of honor' on your gaming records?
EDIT: Added in some ones I did that I forgot about at time of original posting.
).
). Haven't done much so far though. I'm not trying to play as fast as possible, though I may skip a few sidequests... 
