00:10Welcome to Mojo Plays, and today we're looking at the most stressful moments,
00:15levels, and boss fights in the Donkey Kong series.
00:25But before we dive in, we publish new content all week long.
00:28So be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
00:34Snow Barrel Blast, Donkey Kong Country.
00:38Thought of by many to be the hardest level in the original Donkey Kong Country, we have to say we
00:43agree.
00:44A level set on top of a mountain brings the expected stress-inducers.
00:48The ground is slippery with ice and features more than a few slanted sections,
00:53making it easy to slide into a parade of oncoming enemies or one of the many pits.
00:59The blizzard also gets thicker as you progress, obscuring your vision.
01:04Then there are the tricky Blast Barrel sections that require extreme patience and timing.
01:10Snow Barrel Blast forces you to take your time while barraging you with elements that make it hard to do
01:16so.
01:16You've got all the ingredients necessary for losing lots of lives.
01:27Crowded Cavern, Donkey Kong Country Returns.
01:41If you thought the minecart sections in the original Country games were hard,
01:45Returns brought a whole new level of hell with rocket barrels.
01:50And of all those, Crowded Cavern is the most tense.
01:53You're being chased by a gigantic bat, while a bunch of what we can only assume are its babies, fly
02:00at you from the front.
02:01Meanwhile, the cavern around you is falling apart, littered with obstacles to avoid.
02:06While the giant's bat's bites can't actually reach you, you won't know that while playing,
02:11and it will eventually fire off sonic blasts.
02:14There are so many causes of death flying at you throughout,
02:18that your hands will soon grow clammy, and you'll be swearing at the TV.
02:37To call the final boss fight of Donkey Kong 64 long would be a huge understatement.
02:44King K. Rool faces all five of the Kongs one at a time.
02:48You can't just attack him regularly, as each round has different mechanics.
02:52And since they're all timed, and your ability to deal damage only appears at certain moments,
02:58there's almost no room for error.
03:00Putting a time limit on each round, even if it is three minutes, makes it so it's easier to make
03:06mistakes.
03:06And it isn't as if he doesn't put up a tough fight.
03:09Things don't start off too bad with DK, but Diddy and Tiny have the hardest rolls.
03:15Plus, if you run out of time, or one of the Kongs runs out of health, you start all over.
03:31A surefire way to stress your players out in a platformer game is to limit the ground they can actually
03:37stand on.
03:38Case in point, Bopopolis from Tropical Freeze.
03:41Most of the level consists only of enemies whose heads you use to hop between them.
03:46Even the platforms that divide these sections start to crumble and fall the moment you land on them.
03:52So, you have no time to plan what you're going to do.
03:56The whole level is just go, go, go.
03:58Naturally, it takes a lot of trial and error, and a ton of falling into a bottomless pit, before you
04:04can reach the other side.
04:18A lot of old-school platformers feature a vertical level where some kind of danger constantly rises from the bottom,
04:26forcing you to climb to safety.
04:28And they are always the most frantic and stressful.
04:31In Diddy's Kong Quest, that level is Toxic Tower.
04:35Here, the hazard is Toxic Waste, and you transform into three animal buddies for different sections.
04:41The hardest of these is actually the first, Rattly the Rattlesnake, because if you mess up a jump, either to
04:47a high-up platform or off of an enemy's head, you're basically done for.
04:52Squawks has it easiest, since he can fly, and Squidder can at least make their own platforms.
04:59Still, the threat of constant danger makes the entire thing nerve-wracking.
05:05The most common sense of the game has to be in the right direction.
05:11The most common sense of the game has to be in the right direction.
05:14Perilous Passage, Donkey Kong Country Returns.
05:27Naturally, Returns is a continuation of the older games in many ways, and it too has an extremely hard vertical
05:35climb where instant death chases you.
05:37This time, it's lava.
05:39You aren't forced to play as animal buddies, but that certainly doesn't mean the Kongs have it any easier.
05:44When not worrying about being snuffed out by the rising magma, you also have to look out for falling platforms
05:50and flaming enemies that roll down the walls.
05:53From the start, it's constant tension, and that's especially the case if you're trying to collect all the hidden puzzle
06:00pieces.
06:01Also, screw those stupid invincible electric bees that chase you around towards the end of the level, as if things
06:08weren't stressful enough already.
06:22Dixie Kong's Double Trouble
06:24Dixie Kong's Double Trouble
06:24Do you like falling into pits when it isn't your fault?
06:27No, of course you don't.
06:29And that's what makes this level such a drag.
06:32In Coin Dozer Clamber, Dixie and Kitty must try their hardest to avoid being rammed by annoying little kremlings who
06:39bash them with shields to knock them away.
06:42Since Coin Dozers angle their shields towards you, you can use them as platforms.
06:47But if you don't land on them just right, you'll bounce in the opposite direction.
06:52They're often placed right next to pits too, so you'll get pretty used to dying over and over again.
06:59Thankfully, Dixie can hover to slow down each jump, but since each jump comes with the risk of death by
07:05these little twerps, it's undeniably frustrating.
07:09Beaver Bother
07:10Donkey Kong 64
07:12There are a lot of minigames in Donkey Kong 64, and not all of them have aged well.
07:19But Beaver Bother is in a league of its own, and deserves to burn in the lowest pits of the
07:26underworld.
07:27I am not exaggerating. Even the game's staunchest defenders dread having to play this garbage.
07:33The rules are simple enough, as you control a claptrap trying to herd beavers into a hole.
07:39But you only have 60 seconds, and it genuinely feels broken.
07:44The beavers will often stop right at the edge before turning a different direction, as if there's some invisible barrier
07:50ushering them away.
07:51If you try to get close to force them in, chances are good you'll fall right in yourself and have
07:57to start over.
07:57Worse, this game appears three times, so if you want all the golden bananas, you'll be putting yourself through a
08:06lot of stress and rage with this one.
08:09Jagged Jewels on Mirror Mode
08:12Donkey Kong Country Returns
08:22After beating each hidden level in each of the game's worlds, and then beating the golden temple that unlocks afterwards,
08:28you'll get Mirror Mode in Donkey Kong Country Returns.
08:32This lets you replay the game with levels flipped, but locks Diddy Kong, and makes it so you die in
08:38one hit.
08:39Any level in this mode is understandably more stressful, but the peak is jagged jewels.
08:46There are spikes either surrounding or coming out of every single surface here.
08:51With so many things to avoid, the stage is pretty hard already.
08:55But in Mirror Mode, without the safety net of Diddy's jetpack to hover between jumps, and the prospect of one
09:01mistake meaning you start all over, this is a nightmare.
09:05Lord Frederick on Hard Mode
09:07Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze
09:16In a similar vein, if you beat every level in Tropical Freeze, you unlock Hard Mode.
09:22While levels aren't flipped and you're allowed to choose your character, you still die in one hit.
09:27Naturally, Lord Frederick, the final boss, and already one of the hardest bosses in the series, makes for an exceptionally
09:34frustrating challenge here.
09:36He's fought across three phases.
09:38While the first isn't too bad, it's when he begins freezing the ground during the second, making your movement harder,
09:45that you'll be in trouble.
09:46If you reach the third, one of the quick-moving ice dragons he fires will probably do you in.
09:52A hard fight with only a single-hit health bar is going to truly test whether you're worthy of the
09:57game's coveted 200% goal.
10:06Did we leave off any other stressful moments that made your heart rate skyrocket?
10:11Be sure to share your experiences with us in the comments.
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