One of those things could be an entire video game being challenging, two, there are hard bosses in video games, or three, there are video games that just have one section that makes it a near-impossible experience. It’s only natural for a game to become more challenging as you progress deeper into its world, but that curve can sometimes be a bit bumpy. Or, in other cases, the game chooses to shake up the gameplay for a level. Whatever the case, some levels have proven to be far too demanding for their own good. Even those levels that are technically fair demand such perfection from the player that they can only be termed fun once the player reaches said perfection. Here are the hardest levels in video game history we never want to see again.
Alien “Auto”topsy part 3
It breaks our hearts to be able to put a level from a game as good as The Simpsons Hit & Run on this list, but that final level just has every element you need for a terrible level. Now the objective of this stage is to gather barrels of nuclear waste and deliver them to the UFO so that it can be blown up. You’re in a quickish but no longer very responsive car, and it’s worse because if you bump just about anything while you’re holding a barrel, it explodes, and you have to start over. Also, how about putting the mission on a timer? Sure, that adds a time limit to everything in this level, which only adds stress and increases your chances of crash. Unless you know exactly the routes to take, get extremely lucky with traffic, and have a firm grip on your car, it’s nearly impossible. And, this final level is the primary factor behind why most players have never completed this otherwise brilliant title.
The Dam level
Even if, like me, you’ve never played it yourself, you’re probably aware of The Dam level from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game for NES. We’re not saying the other stages are easy, but they’re 2D beat-‘em-up style stages that at least feel good to control and are simple. The Dam is not one of them. The new swimming controls must therefore be learned in claustrophobic halls, where the sides can’t be touched, electric traps must be avoided, and no map exists. And, you guessed it, this stage is timed. Even one of those things would be enough to make this level too difficult, but all three at once is just sadistic.
Tutorial
Is a tutorial technically a level? For Driver it does since this is the only section of the game a lot of players ever saw. A tutorial is typically the portion of the game where you get your bearings on the controls and basic mechanics. Driver approaches it as if it’s a final exam. You’re dropped into a parking garage with 60 seconds to execute a series of driving moves. You get no time to think, no explanation of the controls, much less how to do what you’re being asked, and no way to skip it. Sorry, game over if you can’t work out how to do all of the objectives before time expires.
Turbo Tunnel
Close or hand-in-hand with the Dam level, Battletoads‘ Turbo Tunnel might be the most notorious hard level in game history. It is a well-earned reputation, too. For those not familiar with it, the opening stages of Battletoads are brawlers where you fight enemies and do some light platforming. That all goes away, however, when you reach the third level, and find yourself in an auto-scrolling hoverbike segment. You have to slide up and down or jump to avoid incoming walls, but the slippery controls and their speed mean you have to react with almost clairvoyant levels of powers to avoid hitting said walls. The niggling time frame between the warning of an oncoming wall and you head-butting it is measured in seconds. (And playing with a partner only exacerbates the issue — all it takes is one of you dying for it to reset.)
The Kid
Even the easy levels of Super Meat Boy aren’t a walk in the park. The fact that the hardest stages of the game are secret levels is at least a small mercy for those who are just trying to finish the main game. The Kid is technically three levels but it’s up to you to decide which one is the hardest. Each one basically comes down to winding through a maze of spikes, with like one spot you can touch between them at key moments. If you hold on your jump too early, too late, or use your double jump at the wrong time, it’s done. The first has you fall and climb through a spiked maze, the second ride elevators and avoid spikes and the last throws waves of spikes at you as you try to rush through tunnels. These levels require nearly pixel-perfect execution, and many have poured hundreds of attempts into them, none clear of the end.
Mile-High Club
Technically, this is an additional level to base Modern Warfare 4, and it’s infamous only for how hard it is on the Veteran difficulty level, but it deserves a spot on this list all the same. This is, surprise surprise, another timed mission where you need to board an airplane loaded with enemies in an attempt to save the VIP before time expires. The narrow aisles make it impossible to avoid damage, even if the timer weren’t so strict as to cause you to automatically lose if you stop to think for even a few seconds. If you’re hoping to pass, especially on Veteran, then the way to do it is to know exactly where every enemy is, where to throw your flashbangs, and then also get really lucky. Then, when you finally reach the end, you have to hit that final shot to save the VIP or start all over again.
Blighttown
For years, there will be tales of the Blighttown. This isn’t just a poison swamp area, hell, it’s one of the cruelest levels in Souls history. There is poison everywhere, but you are traversing this level vertically on thin, spindly planks that twist around and dead-end to disorienting effect. There’s only one bonfire about midway down, but only if you notice it temporarily propped at the edge of these deadly cliffs before the mosquitoes or lizard people throw you off them. Oh, did we also mention that the blowdart enemies inflict Toxic — the most deadly status-affecting condition in the game?
