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Prepare for controller-breaking rage! Join us as we count down the most brutally difficult gaming challenges ever created. From impossible platforming to merciless boss fights, these levels will test your skills, patience, and sanity. Whether it's classic retro nightmares or modern punishment simulators, these gaming gauntlets separate the casual from the hardcore.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo and today we're counting down the most scathingly
00:09difficult areas in gaming that will have you breaking controllers by the
00:12bucket load.
00:18Number 50, The Proving Grounds, Bioshock.
00:30On paper, the idea of becoming a Big Daddy and bringing the pain to the splicers sounds
00:35like a great way to see out the final act of our bloody journey through rapture.
00:39Or at least it would be if it wasn't so cumbersome.
00:42Turns out we wouldn't get the authentic Big Daddy experience until Bioshock 2, on account
00:46that the proving grounds from the original game only amounted to the worst kind of escort
00:50mission.
00:51Keeping a little sister alive while dealing with a torrent of enemies is bad enough, but
00:54having to navigate the whole thing with your vision permanently fishbowled is just salt
00:58in the wound.
00:59There!
01:00You must use the needle of the little sister to drain Fontaine of his atoms.
01:05It is the only way to defeat him.
01:08Number 49, The Hospital, Resident Evil 3.
01:11Tyrell, where's Bard now?
01:13Gotta be the lab in the back.
01:15Stay frosty, I'm on my way.
01:17Copy.
01:18I'll go on ahead.
01:20Having to deal with Nemesis is trouble enough, but the real terror in both the original and
01:24remake can be found within the walls of Raccoon City's local hospital.
01:27Despite being a resilient soldier with flawless hair, there's little hope of Carlos getting
01:31through this level unscathed.
01:33If anything, you should expect to encounter more than a few game overs, since you won't
01:36just be dealing with the regular infected, but also the hunters.
01:40These reptilian monstrosities soak up damage like a sponge, and with very little ammo around,
01:45having to deal with swarms of them at a time will make you long for the days of bobbing
01:49and weaving past Mr. X.
01:50You're gonna be okay, Joe.
01:55Number 48, Nightmares, Max Payne.
01:59The nightmare was always the same, violent shapes moving in darkness, old and ugly.
02:04The killer's mad laughter was a riddle filled with wicked innuendo.
02:07It wouldn't be a neo-noir without some serious trauma, and few video game characters have
02:12suffered as much as this hard-boiled detective.
02:14In between gunning for revenge, Max will find himself trapped in a set of mazes formed from
02:19his own troubled psyche, wherein the only escape involves following a trail of blood,
02:23with the screams of his murdered family bellowing in the background.
02:26The only issue, aside from the attack on your eardrums, is that the blood trail isn't linear,
02:31and taking a wrong turn can send you spiraling into the dark with no clue how to get back to where you started.
02:36You might want to spend some of that bullet time in therapy, Max.
02:39Number 47, Meat Circus, Psychonauts.
02:43Nobody's supposed to know about it.
02:46You didn't tell my dad about it, did you?
02:50While re-releases smoothed over some of this final level's problems, at launch,
02:54the difficulty spike found in this psychedelic hellscape of stake and murder was gnarly.
02:59We're all for fighting through a fusion of consciousness to save the manifestation of a character's innocence.
03:04It's just that we weren't prepared for the absurd demand for precise platforming, time constraints,
03:08and an abundance of enemies blasting you from off-screen.
03:11At best, a slog, and at worst, a brutally difficult circus act that many were unable to complete back in the day.
03:17That was the best summer of my whole entire life.
03:21Number 46, Kratzu.
03:23Lies of P.
03:25Hey!
03:26Wakey, wakey!
03:27Come on, pal, get up!
03:30Well, that's certainly one way to kick off a DLC.
03:33After being sent back in time, Geppetto's puppet finds himself as a guest of the most dangerous zoo in the world,
03:38on account that much of the animal inhabitants had been experimented on and turned into mutated monsters, driven only to kill.
03:45And damn if they don't put you through your paces.
03:48Just when you think you've encountered the most heinous beasts of the bunch, another comes along to take its place.
03:53Between the bloodstained kangaroos, unholy chimera, and super crocodile, you'll never look at zoos the same way again.
04:00The size of that thing!
04:02Is that how big they normally get?
04:05Number 45, Renoir's Drafts.
04:08Claire Obscure.
04:09Expedition 33.
04:11The canvas may be a beautiful and rapturing reality where life can be conjured from painting, but these early sketches are beyond the pale of challenging.
04:23As an optional dungeon filled with some of the toughest Nevrons in the game, cutting your way through the onslaught is a monumental task that will push you into being a parry god or swear off side content forever.
04:34Should you make it to the end, you'll be met by two of the hardest bosses in the game, the Chromatic Creation and Simon.
04:40You don't know Suffering until you've danced with those two.
04:43Number 44, Laser Hell.
04:57Split Fiction.
04:58Hidden between all the captivating co-op content, there's a secret level waiting for those brave enough to tackle it.
05:03After putting in the correct sequence, which in and of itself requires a bit of brain flexing, you'll find that resident mad lad Joseph Ferris has set up one final challenge.
05:12A laser room.
05:13One that will have you platforming like your life depends on it.
05:17Only here, the challenge is doubled on account that both you and your fellow player have to make it through the gauntlet in sync.
05:23They knew they had created a monster with this level.
05:25Why else would they have Ferris himself waiting at the end with a congratulatory message?
05:31Wow.
05:32Amazing.
05:33You have to understand, this challenge, there are barely people in our team that can make it.
05:39Number 43, Cultist Bass.
05:41Doom Eternal.
05:42While it is clear that the Slayer is an enemy of the challenge, it is unclear if he could also be a threat to civilians.
05:50With a revamped combat system and difficulty spike so immense it would make even the hardiest of Slayers shiver, Eternal far eclipsed its predecessor in terms of demanding gameplay.
05:59And there's no better example of that than the Cultist Bass.
06:02Utterly infested with demons, you'll barely be able to take a step before some of Hell's worst leap into the fray, looking for a fresh kill.
06:09An utter mastering of the game's weapons and platforming is required if you're even entertaining the thought of facing this level on higher difficulties.
06:16Number 42, Magic Domain.
06:19Silver Surfer.
06:27Serving as the Herald of Galactus outright sucks, especially if this is the nonsense involved.
06:31The final level of this infamous NES classic, players must traverse their interstellar speedway as carefully as possible on account that touching any part of the environment spells your instant demise.
06:42Which is far easier said than done when enemies come flying at you from all angles.
06:46Try to avoid them, you'll end up crashing into some space rock and it's game over.
06:51Take too long to dodge, they'll kick you off your board and it's game over.
06:54The only way you're making your way through this level unharmed is with a serious amount of trial and error.
07:05Number 41, Derelict Citadel.
07:08Returnal.
07:09While one could argue every biome across this most brutal of bullet hells is as dangerous as the last,
07:14meandering through the Citadel was a particular nightmare.
07:17Navigating the environment with the grappling hook for the first time adds new complexities to traversal,
07:21not helped by how labyrinthine the area is.
07:24Then you've got the likes of Nemesis waiting for you at the end.
07:27If his barrage of projectiles don't shred away your health, then the ever-shifting and limited footholds certainly will.
07:33If Astro received my signal, then that's it.
07:42Number 40, Cortana. Halo 3.
07:45Chief, I'll round up our survivors and fall back to the dawn.
07:52Arbiter will do the same with the Elites.
07:54We do anything to save our beloved holographic bay from the clutches of the Flood, except play this level again.
08:00Whether you're strutting it solo or teaming up with a pal in co-op, navigating the Flood's nest is a true test in Spartan patience.
08:07When you're not trying to get a grip of the lay of the land, you're being encroached on all sides by resurrected corpses.
08:12The abundance of infested corridors and tricky terrain make it all too easy to lose your footing and put you right in the line of fire.
08:19If you hated the Flood before, this level will make you loathe them.
08:31Number 39, The Great Maze. Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
08:35Introducing a pseudo-story mode to Smash Bros. would have been a slam dunk.
08:38And for the majority of the subspace emissary, it kind of is.
08:42Solid Snake and Lucario teaming up to take on minions of the Master Hand?
08:46This was every Nintendo fan's fantasy come true.
08:49At least until the final stage, The Great Maze.
08:52And what a slog it was.
08:54Navigating this blasted thing is maddening, which isn't good when your objective isn't so much to reach the end
08:59as it is to open every door, fight evil clones of the entire roster of characters as well as all previous bosses.
09:05Thanks to its terrible layout, this can take forever, severely dampening any hype you may have had to fight Taboo by the level's end.
09:20Number 38, Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out.
09:24While it could be argued that this is more a boss fight than level, there's no way we couldn't include slugging it out with Iron Mike in the ring.
09:35Whatever tips and tricks you've accrued from beating your way past the likes of the game's other fighters won't count for much here,
09:41because Tyson is a beast with a capital B.
09:44His punches are rapid, his uppercuts will decimate your health, and one mistimed move is a knockout waiting to happen.
09:50You have to memorize his entire moveset, including his feints, while resisting the urge to get greedy with your punches,
09:56and even then there's no guarantee Kid Dynamite won't come out of left field and sock you across the jaw.
10:01Number 37, Aztec. Goldeneye 007.
10:13Should you take a moment away from playing this game's legendary multiplayer to best its campaign,
10:18there's a bonus level waiting at the end for only the most daring of 00 agents.
10:22A walk in the park, this is not. Enemies are faster, far more accurate, and also come equipped with the hardest-hitting weapons.
10:29It's the game's way of telling you that you don't have the right to call yourself Bond,
10:33unless you have the skill to take out the likes of Jaws, armed with a Moonraker laser.
10:37By the end of your Aztec adventure, you'll be left both shaken and stirred.
10:48Number 36, Elfeol. Brace of the Halleck Tree. Elden Ring.
10:52Just unlocking this place is a rigorous test in Soulsborne logic in and of itself,
11:01but even if you completely disregard how tricky finding Elfeol is,
11:05this floral paradise is one of the most dangerous spaces in the entirety of The Lands Between.
11:10Barreling across the ever-thinning branches is a recipe for plunging to your death,
11:14while the various inner sanctums play host to some of the most demanding creatures and mini-bosses you can find.
11:19And of course, waiting for you at the depths is none other than Melania,
11:23the hardest boss in the game, and depending on who you ask,
11:26the hardest boss in all of gaming, full stop.
11:29You will witness true horror.
11:33Number 35, King Dice. Cuphead.
11:46The right-hand man of the devil himself, King Dice was always going to be a demanding boss fight, without a doubt.
11:51We just didn't expect that the entire encounter would consist of a boss rush roulette.
11:55Staying on brand, depending where the dice falls, you'll progress across the stage and land on one of nine mini-bosses,
12:01all of which are tough as nails at the best of times.
12:04Fail, and you've got to start from scratch, before eventually making your way to the Diceman himself,
12:08who is no slouch, especially for those who haven't mastered the parry mechanic yet.
12:12Gambling really can ruin your life.
12:15Number 34, Water Slums. Jack 2.
12:22That is it! Piece of sea, yes? Nice and shiny, huh? All yours! Uh-oh! I think Red Trooper's approaching!
12:32If the shift from collect-a-thon to unrelenting third-person shooter wasn't enough tonal whiplash for you,
12:37the escape from the water slums will cement this sequel for you as a different kind of animal.
12:42Jack 2 was already infamous for crazy gaps between checkpoints, and the most egregious example can be found here.
12:47If you try to fight the incoming Crimson Guards, the chances are they're going to wipe you out before Daxter has a chance to get a quip out,
12:54which makes running for the exit the most viable option.
12:57But even then, you're going to have to deal with getting bombarded by sniper fire.
13:00Get hit, and you're going in the drink.
13:02Number 33, Demolition Man. Grand Theft Auto. Vice City.
13:07Now look here, son. I got a problem, and I reckon you could help me with it.
13:11I'm no builder.
13:12No, I was thinking more of your demolition skills.
13:16We're all for a bit of wanton destruction in our GTA games, but the demands of this particular mission had us questioning whether the career criminal life was worth it.
13:24Using an RC helicopter, which is far from the easiest thing to control, you must place four bombs at varying levels of a construction site.
13:31If that was the only condition, it would be a cakewalk.
13:34The trouble starts when you're only given seven minutes to place all four bombs correctly,
13:38which is further hampered by the construction workers busting out their AKs and trying to fill your toy copter full of lead.
13:44We wanted nothing more than to see the whole thing go up in flames by the time the mission was done.
13:48Number 32, Fishing Hamlet. Bloodborne.
13:52Every gamer knows by now that any and all FromSoftware DLC are going to be absurdly difficult, and the Fishing Hamlet is no exception.
14:07In fact, the Fishing Hamlet is where your dreams of being a decent Souls player go to die.
14:11Obviously, there's the Orphan of Kos waiting for you at the end.
14:14By and large, the most challenging boss you're ever likely to face during your time as a hunter.
14:19But even before getting pistol whipped by that abomination, you have to make your way through a ruined village in the clutches of the shark giants.
14:26These things are horrifying, not to mention excessively hard to kill.
14:30Their presence alone makes the Fishing Hamlet one of sheer dread.
14:33Number 31, The Rings. Superman 64.
14:54That's right, the first level, because let's be honest, no one of sound mind played the game beyond its opening stage since it introduced us to those accursed rings.
15:02The flying mechanics in this game are so broken, they've carved out a place for themselves in the annals of gaming.
15:08So to task us with rushing through a set of rings with barely any room to maneuver just feels cruel.
15:13Janky, unresponsive, and a chore to get through, the fact this might be the Man of Steel's most iconic game to date is so diabolical,
15:20we have to wonder if Lex Luthor had a hand in its development.
15:23Number 30, Wrong Side of the Tracks. Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas.
15:27Hey Carl, keeping busy I hope.
15:29You know me, Officer Tenpenny.
15:31Chasing after a group of gang members sounds like an easy feat until you actually start to play through this notorious mission.
15:37Wrong Side of the Tracks from San Andreas follows CJ and Big Smoke chasing down members of the Vagos gang as they ride on top of a train.
15:44Catch? You have to drive a dirt bike while Big Smoke shoots at them.
15:47The aim of Smoke's AI isn't nearly as good as yours would be,
15:50and balancing the distance so he actually stands a chance can be pretty annoying with cars and other trains getting in your way.
15:56This one definitely saw its fair share of failures back in the day.
16:02Hey, let's get out of here before the cops show man!
16:05Number 29, Can't Wait to be King. The Lion King.
16:08Back when you could rent games from stores, some companies specifically made games harder so that players would spend more time on them, and therefore, more on rental fees.
16:21Disney did this for the second level of its Lion King adaptation, which has made it infamous.
16:25As Simba platforms through various Animal Pals, the bright colors and recreation of the movie's music may seem jolly, but it certainly isn't.
16:32The ostrich riding section is frustrating due to obstacles that come quickly, but the section Disney altered saw the young cub tossed back and forth by a group of monkeys.
16:40Roaring changes the throw direction of the pink ones, but most of them are still hidden off screen, resulting in an infuriating loop.
16:47Number 28, Path of Hades, God of War.
16:59If you like falling over and over again, then do we have a level for you!
17:03After being sent to the underworld in the first God of War, Kratos is forced to navigate the Path of Hades.
17:08This level mostly consists of minuscule platforms and spinning cylinders with way too many blades sticking out of them.
17:13Jumping between all of this is made even more difficult by packs of enemies either waiting to knock you into the abyss or shooting you full of arrows.
17:20The worst part comes towards the end.
17:22A long climb up a rotating cylinder with an army's worth of swords sticking out.
17:26Just one mistake and you fall all the way back down to the bottom.
17:36Number 27, Perilous Passage, Donkey Kong Country Returns.
17:40When Donkey Kong Country returned on the Wii, it brought new levels of irritation.
17:47While those rocket barrel levels are a gigantic pain, Perilous Passage just beats them out in the impressive amount of death it brought players.
17:54It forces you to climb upwards at a swift pace to avoid lava rising from below.
17:58As you do so, there are several annoyingly placed enemies waiting to trip you up, and falling platforms you're meant to use, some of which can easily crush you.
18:05It's a surefire recipe for rage, especially if you're also trying to collect all the puzzle pieces.
18:10If you make no mistakes, this level is pretty short, but you'll suffer a lot of losses before you make it out.
18:15Number 26, Angel Slayer Bayonetta Bayonetta and its sequels feature more than a few tough combat challenges.
18:34But by far the hardest of the bunch is the Lost Chapter, Angel Slayer, from the original.
18:39It's a test of your stamina to keep going, as there are a total of 51 fights to make it through.
18:44While the first 10 are set to normal difficulty, the next 20 are set to hard, while the final 21 are set to non-stop climax, the highest difficulty in the game.
18:52There are naturally a lot of intimidating enemies throughout.
18:54However, the second-to-last fight against three versions of Jeanne and the final bout, against Bayonetta herself, are clearly the ones that enraged players the most.
19:02Number 25, Blighttown, Dark Souls.
19:16When it comes to high difficulty, FromSoftware's bosses get the most frequent mentions.
19:20But there are definitely some levels that rightfully earn the ire of the studio's fanbase.
19:24Blighttown from the first Dark Souls is such a level, especially in the game's original version, where its poor framerate just intensified the difficulty.
19:30While the upper area consists of moving bridges, making it easy to get lost, the lower area is full of enemies that can easily poison you, making for multiple agonizing deaths.
19:39Your reward for making it through is to enter Quelaig's Domain, where the powerful witch will make you question coming this way.
19:45Blighttown has a reputation among the playerbase as a grueling challenge, and not the fun kind.
19:51Number 24, The Guy, Super Meat Boy.
20:00Super Meat Boy is the type of game that gets you very comfortable with seeing your character die over and over.
20:05Among the many maddening stages it has to offer, the three-part hidden area, The Guy, is sure to test your reflexes the most.
20:11Filled with more spikes than you can count, there's no way to get through it without your character getting turned to mush so many times, you'll hear that splat sound effect in your dreams.
20:19Each of the three parts is undeniably hard, requiring pixel-perfect movement.
20:23But the third section is truly something else, featuring lightning-fast spike walls that'll make you want to scream.
20:28Number 23, Champions Road, Super Mario 3D World.
20:43This is the final level in the game, and you can be sure to expect a few more final level entries in this list as well.
20:50The Mario franchise continues to evolve and revolutionize the platformer genre with every entry, and for that, we're grateful.
20:57What we aren't grateful for, however, is this level from the 2013 release, Super Mario 3D World.
21:03There are vanishing blocks, enemies that require ultra-quick reflexes to dodge, and every type of platform you can think of to traverse.
21:16One small misstep and you're a goner.
21:19But hey, at least there's a nice message at the end.
21:22Number 22, The Impossible Lair, Ukulele and the Impossible Lair.
21:37When the level has the word impossible in the name, you know you're in for trouble.
21:42While this particular level isn't literally impossible, it's close to it, and has been known to take even experienced gamers upwards of 50 tries to complete.
21:50That is, if you don't give up first.
21:58You're going to need all 48 bees to make it through alive, and that's saying something when most games give you no more than 10 chances to get hit.
22:05Each section of the level is a test of timing and reflexes, with every movement requiring the utmost concentration.
22:12Number 21, Death Mountain, Zelda II, The Adventure of Link.
22:24While we don't mind this 2D side-scrolling iteration of this influential franchise, we still prefer its top-down and 3D entries.
22:31That being said, you can't deny that this entry had charm, or, in the case of this level, a relentless difficulty that earns it a place of distinction in the series.
22:42You can't just mash the attack button in Death Mountain.
22:48Enemies have certain weaknesses that can be tough to discover, requiring you to study them before you make a move.
22:53That said, if you can get past the red axe-throwing baddies, then you should be able to make it to the end.
22:58Number 20, Super Mario World.
23:08The level that made fans hate the P-Balloon.
23:14As it may take hours of attempts to beat, but with a runtime of about a minute, you can expect to hear that annoying, albeit catchy, death tune pretty often.
23:22Not only does controlling the P-Balloon feel like dragging a heavy rock on an icy pond, but a single hit will make you fall to your death, even if you have a power-up.
23:40If the plants don't get you, the baseball-throwing menaces will.
23:43Add to that the pressure of making sure you get to the next P-Balloon power-up before the time runs out and you fall to your death, and you're gaming under seriously stressful conditions.
23:52Number 19, Welcome to the Machine, Echo the Dolphin.
24:08This game gave me nightmares as a kid.
24:11It's like something about the sea and what lies beneath it.
24:14Oh my god, anyways.
24:15Most retro games have at least a couple of annoying sound effects.
24:19But mashing the sonar button over and over again, which is unfortunately required to have a chance at beating this level, will have you playing on mute.
24:26This narrow-corridor auto-scrolling level, combined with the speed at which the enemies fly into you, gives you barely any time to react.
24:40Couple that with the camera's unpredictable path, and your sanity will steadily erode with every attempt.
24:45Aliens weren't something we were expecting when we started this game.
24:54Number 18, Water Temple, The Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time.
24:58If you thought being inside a whale's stomach was bad, wait until you become an adult and do the temple equivalent of Ocarina of Time's Water Dungeon.
25:13The constant resetting of water levels makes it annoying.
25:16The maze of whirlpools makes it frustrating.
25:18Its non-linearity makes it confusing.
25:20And the battle with Dark Link makes it painful.
25:30But hey, it does make for a damn good battle.
25:33Keys are also spaced out around the level.
25:35Which can also mean lengthy backtracking if you don't have enough to get through doors at the end of long corridors.
25:40The Water Temple is an exhausting experience to say the least, but it's a rewarding one.
25:52Number 17, Parking Garage Tutorial, Driver.
25:55When the tutorial is harder than the actual gameplay experience, you can be sure that many gamers never played long enough to find that out for themselves.
26:11You have to prove you're the driver for the job.
26:13And with that comes a list of driving tasks you need to accomplish, all with a strict time limit and only a handful of chances to mess things up.
26:20Oh, and if you think you've done a track multiple times and still aren't getting the checkmark for some strange reason, well, that's just part of the level's charm.
26:42Number 16, Path of Pain Hollow Knight.
26:45The Metroidvania genre has a reputation for being tough, but Hollow Knight is the one you turn to when you think the others are too easy.
26:56One section that's sure to send you into a blind fury is the Path of Pain, a section added as part of the Grim Troop DLC.
27:02Staying true to many challenging platforming sections that came before it, the path is littered with hazards.
27:07Spinning blades, enemies, and prickly vines that cover most walls and floors.
27:11With only a few spots to catch your breath, you must wall jump when it's safe or bounce off enemies and hazards with your weapon when it isn't.
27:17They don't call it the Path of Pain for nothing.
27:26Number 15, Mile High Club on Veteran.
27:29Call of Duty 4, Modern Warfare.
27:31Given the title of this level and its corresponding achievement, we weren't quite sure what to expect and whether or not this belonged in a Call of Duty game.
27:45Rest assured, not only does it belong, but it will test a COD player like few other missions can.
27:50It's a short form linear level through a plane that is absolutely hell to complete on the hardest difficulty,
28:02and probably resulted in a lot of broken controllers and cracked TV screens.
28:06Running through the level in under a minute requires a memorized pattern of movements,
28:10and just one minor slip-up is all it takes to prompt you to immediately restart.
28:22Number 14, Slippery Climb. Crash Bandicoot in Saint Trilogy.
28:26In this ominous 24th level, you'll need to climb the outside of Cortex's castle on a wet and stormy night.
28:37Moving platforms, acid-throwing lab assistants, and evil hands trying to swipe you from below
28:42are just a few of the challenges you'll face on your hair-raising ascent.
28:49There are stairs throughout the level that disappear causing you to slide back down,
28:54making it a, you guessed it, slippery climb.
28:57While the entire course theoretically takes about six minutes to complete,
29:00we can guarantee that it'll take you much longer than that.
29:10Number 13, Flying Machine. Shovel Knight.
29:19Who would have thought a game about a knight and his shovel would be so endearing,
29:22and challenging?
29:24In many games, a boss will be difficult and their corresponding level easy, or vice versa.
29:29But what we have here is a high difficulty package deal.
29:32These green hover meanies are an absolute nuisance, especially when they're pushing you into cannonballs.
29:37Not to mention, the constantly changing air currents will mean that you have to be very precise with your movements.
29:49Then there's the actual boss.
29:51Propeller Knight moves incredibly fast, meaning you're going to have to time your jumps to a T.
29:56Of course, it doesn't help that the floor literally begins to crumble underneath you.
30:00Number 12, Through the Fire and Flames. Guitar Hero 3, Legends of Rock.
30:17Who knew fingers could move this fast?
30:19If you can complete this track on expert mode without getting booed off the stage within 30 seconds,
30:24then you're truly a legend of guitar hero.
30:26The constant onslaught of keys to hit does, mercifully, have a couple of small intermissions
30:31so you can catch your breath and shake your hand around.
30:39But the entire song is just so long that you're all but guaranteed to cramp up or lose feeling in your fingers
30:44before you hit that final note.
30:47Getting through the song is one thing, but getting 100% is nearly impossible.
30:56Number 11, Assault. Hotline Miami.
31:05You're going to die a lot playing Hotline Miami.
31:08Each level is a trial and error experiment as you attempt to figure out the exact pattern
31:12that's going to have you killing everyone in the level without falling victim yourself.
31:16But Chapter 13, titled Assault, is in a league of its own.
31:30It features tons of baddies with high powered weapons that move just as fast as you do.
31:34In the context of a game where one person with a baseball bat can give you grief,
31:37that should give you pause.
31:39But at least the music is really good.
31:42That might not seem important now, but trust us, you're going to be hearing a lot of it.
31:53Number 10, Darker Side of the Moon.
31:55Super Mario Odyssey.
31:56Unlocked after you find 500 Power Moons, this level gives you a bit more Odyssey to experience, but it has to be earned.
32:09The level honestly feels like a chore, but chores can be fun, right?
32:13Practice makes perfect, but if you don't have time to practice, then you can skip multiple segments of the level.
32:26The caveat?
32:27Discovering the skips can become a challenge in itself.
32:30Hat throws, wall jumps, triple jumps, and impeccable timing are all required in unison here.
32:35This definitely gives Grandmaster Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy 2 a run for its money.
32:49At least you still get a health bar to deal with the swarm of enemies.
32:52Trust us, you're going to need it.
32:54Number 9, Ringed City.
32:56Dark Souls 3.
33:05The Ringed City is the final DLC released for Dark Souls 3, and it's safe to say they left the hardest for last.
33:11In particular, we're talking about the pain and suffering that the Ringed City Archers have brought so many players.
33:24Dozens of ghostly archers fire a barrage of arrows at you, disappearing, then reappearing behind you, even if you've found cover behind the nearby tombstones.
33:35Nowhere is safe.
33:37Oh, and you've also got to face off with arguably one of the hardest bosses in the entire franchise, Dark Eater Medir.
33:44Dark Souls has always been known for its high level of difficulty, but the Ringed City is on another level.
33:49Number 8, Farewell, Celeste.
34:08Celeste's main game is notoriously tough but fair.
34:10The B-side and C-side stages were grueling.
34:13But Chapter 9, which was offered as free DLC, makes you feel like your spirit has been ripped out of you and there's no hope left.
34:20And as such, we can understand you not wanting to put in the effort to complete it.
34:32Combining complicated movesets is the only way to get through this DLC chapter, which, on top of everything else, is much longer than previous levels.
34:39So when you multiply the length by the overall high level of difficulty, and add newly introduced technical mechanics, you get one epic and exhausting farewell.
34:58Number 7, The Perfect Run, Super Mario Galaxy 2.
35:01As another final level in a Mario game, the Grandmaster Galaxy delivers multiple demanding obstacles to test you.
35:11But then, you're asked to beat it again, this time with a single hit health bar and not a checkpoint in sight.
35:17The Perfect Run is a nightmare for everyone who experienced it.
35:20Even though it's a pristinely crafted level, it's hard to appreciate that when there are lasers of every form ripping their way towards you.
35:26Not to mention obnoxious projectile-based enemies making it nigh impossible to focus on the task at hand.
35:31And as we said, dying with one hit on a level with no checkpoints makes for a whole lot of do-overs.
35:45Number 6, Dr. Wily's Castle, Mega Man 9.
35:48In Mega Man 9, Dr. Wily's Castle introduced sadistic traps and gimmicks that the player hadn't encountered before, resulting in a certain unpreparedness that we had to overcome.
36:04Stage 3 onwards, you will find sections in which the platforms you have to jump to are barely large enough for Mega Man to land on.
36:11As if that's not enough, you encounter shield-bearing enemies that give you only a small window to attack.
36:21Otherwise, they bring their shield up and do what they do best, taunt you.
36:26And don't even get me started on the Gravity Well sections.
36:34Number 5, Water Dam, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
36:38Timed levels are the bane of every gamer's existence.
36:48But couple that with a punishing control scheme, and you've got a recipe for rage.
36:52In this notorious underwater level, energy beams appear in the weirdest spots with no notice, zapping your health away.
36:59There's one spot in particular that gives you a very narrow pathway to follow around a corner.
37:10And if you stray from it ever so slightly, then you're pretty much dead.
37:14Luckily, you have the option to switch turtles and get full HP.
37:18Otherwise, there'd be literally no chance at beating this one.
37:21Number 4, Tidal Wave, Geometry Dash.
37:33Even the toughest rhythm games bring immense satisfaction when you conquer a level.
37:39But good luck making it through this one.
37:41Geometry Dash allows users to create their own levels, which are verified before getting added in for the wider player base.
37:46Tidal Wave, which is classified under the game's accurately named Extreme Demon difficulty, was added in late 2023.
37:53Although the level theoretically only lasts for three minutes, players have suffered thousands of losses, making that playtime far longer.
37:59The speed at which the stage and its hazards move is honestly insane, and we have no idea how anyone is meant to react in time.
38:05In early 2024, it topped the player-created Demon list, ranking the 150 hardest levels in the game.
38:11We're not surprised.
38:16Number 3, C3, Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels.
38:29Mario is back at it again with another entry on the list.
38:32And this time, he's taking us back to his retro days with The Lost Levels.
38:36In World C3, which is an updated version of 7-3, but now with Lakitus, you'll spend most of the time guiding Mario through the stage without ever looking at him.
38:45The reason? Because he's being launched into the freakin' stratosphere by these unnaturally powerful springs scattered throughout the stage.
38:51You'll have to time it right so that when Mario begins his descent, he has a platform to land on.
39:03If you can manage that, you only have to do it a bunch more times to reach the end.
39:08Number 2, Stage 6-2, Ninja Gaiden.
39:24Imagine not blinking for 5 minutes straight.
39:26Now imagine not blinking for 5 minutes straight so you can concentrate on not being destroyed by a flying ninja.
39:32In this particularly punishing level of 1988's Ninja Gaiden, multiple enemies come at you at the same time.
39:44The entire stage is one seemingly endless onslaught of varying enemy types that come flying at you from the sky and both sides of the screen.
39:51And should you make it through to the end, guess what?
39:54The subsequent levels are strong contenders for hardest levels in their own right.
39:59Heck, the entire game is a contender.
40:01And here we were thinking the 2005 version of the game was tough.
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40:28Number 1, Turbo Tunnel, Battletoads.
40:34Oh, the hours we've lost to Turbo Tunnel.
40:37With its unfairly placed obstacles, little to no grace period between movements, and sheer speed of the ramps and walls coming at you,
40:44this level earns its infamous place in gaming history.
40:47Turbo Tunnel undoubtedly resulted in anxiety attacks for a lot of players.
40:57There is no room for error.
41:00Move or jump a millisecond too late, and you pay the price.
41:03The sequence isn't that long, but it feels like you're spending hours traveling simply by virtue of the number of obstacles you need to avoid.
41:10Why did we have to jump on this dumb bike anyway?
41:20There are plenty of other tough levels we had to leave off.
41:22So, head to the comments and let us know which ones brought you the most frustration.
41:26And be sure to subscribe to our channel for more great videos every day.
41:29Joe, thank God you're okay. I've got good news. It's over now.
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