- 10 hours ago
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:08Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we're counting down our picks for the 10 hardest collect-a-thon
00:13video games of all time. While the term collect-a-thon could cover a wide variety of genres,
00:19it's generally most understood in the 3D platforming space, where specific collectable
00:24items are usually necessary for progression or completion. So that will be the focus for this list.
00:30Let's dive in.
00:38Before we begin, we publish new content all week long,
00:41so be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
00:47A Hat in Time
00:56Despite A Hat in Time's cartoony veneer, it's a surprisingly dark 3D platformer,
01:01where some heavy themes bubble just below the surface. Oh, and it's also loaded with collectibles
01:06that will take a fair bit of time to gather, spread across some massive diverse worlds.
01:11You see, as Hat Kid, it's up to you to recover your lost timepieces in order to make it back
01:17home.
01:17This, of course, kicks off your world-spanning adventure.
01:20A Hat in Time features the aforementioned timepieces to collect, which act as the main progression
01:26collectible here. Hat Kid can also spend time finding yarn, badges, various pawns, time rifts,
01:32relics, color palettes, and more. These various collectibles can provide new ability-equipped hats,
01:38currency, expanded movement options, and more. It's a deeply layered collectible system that
01:43consistently rewards exploration, especially since backtracking to previous levels is often encouraged.
01:50So, let's get started.
01:57Snake Pass. 2017's Snake Pass might be a sort of left-field pick for a list of collect-a-thons,
02:03since it features a lighter load of items to collect by comparison. However, this one is
02:08considered hard due to the unique movement and traversal, whereby you can't actually jump or platform in
02:14traditional sense. Instead, which I guess is maybe obvious, as our adorable snake and helpful bird
02:20friend from time to time, you can only actually slither around the creative stages, using the game's
02:26physics engine to clamber up, down, and around various structures and obstacles in order to
02:31hopefully progress. It's not that easy.
02:41On paper, it may not sound all that complex, but in practice, it's a deeply nuanced and complicated
02:47physics-driven traversal system that requires loads and loads of patience and practice. Now,
02:53your main collectibles will be gate shards, basically keystones and gems to beat a level,
02:58blue orb, wisps, and gold coins. These may not be as numerous as other collect-a-thons on this list,
03:04but you will have a doozy of a time gathering them all nonetheless.
03:15Jack and Daxter, the Precursor Legacy
03:25Where Jack 2 and Jack 3 went in a more 3D action-adventure trajectory, the Precursor Legacy
03:31leaned on the full power of being a great 3D platformer, with oodles of collectibles that
03:36take our eponymous duo hours upon hours to collect. So, to put it into perspective here, the game has
03:43101 power cells, the main collectible, 2000 Precursor Orbs, and 7 Scout Flies in each level.
03:50You could also, I guess, count Eco here since it is a gameplay-specific collectible.
03:54So, as you can probably see, there's a lot for our duo to gather up.
03:58The thing that makes the first Jack and Daxter game so hard as a collect-a-thon game, apart from
04:04the
04:04large number of central collectibles, is the fact that each level is massive to explore.
04:09Many items are actually locked or hidden behind environmental puzzles or just out-of-reach areas.
04:14And the overall non-linear nature of the game, while enjoyable of course,
04:18can make it tough to fully grab everything the game offers players in terms of its collectibles.
04:41This cold classic 3D adventure platformer starring Raz, from the bizarre quirky developer Double Fine,
04:48is a real gem that needs to be experienced. But if you are hoping to completely beat this
04:53game in full, then it's going to take some grit and some patience and plenty of psi powers.
04:58Apart from just throwing loads of collectible items at the players, things like figments,
05:02emotional baggage, memory vaults, cobwebs, psi cards and other psi items, arrowheads and more,
05:09many of these collectibles can only be obtained via tough but fair skill-based platforming challenges,
05:15in tandem with some non-linear gameplay, for the most part at least.
05:18Now, in all honesty, it's super duper hard to actually keep track of the double-digit collectibles
05:23in this game, which can be quite overwhelming. Fortunately, all of these collectibles feed into
05:28the central gameplay or narrative in some shape or form, which means you do feel compelled to get as
05:34many as you can.
05:44Yooka-Laylee. Where Yooka Replaylee made collecting everything this game throws at you more streamlined,
05:50telegraphed and easier to nab, the OG 2017 version of this game was a real battle if you
05:56hoped to fully collect everything it offers. The difficulty in this collectathon is twofold. Firstly,
06:02for the game's premise of expanding storybook worlds, which requires you to actually backtrack
06:07in order to expand the already massive levels, now opening up new routes, new areas, new items to
06:13collect. All while, of course, remembering hopefully where everything was during the first pass through
06:18the world. Secondly, this game, like many others on this list, is just chock full of collectibles
06:30for both Yooka and Laylee to gather up. From Pages, to Quills, to Ghost Riders, to Molecules,
06:37to Power Extenders, to Play Coins, and even Arcade Tokens, there's a sheer cornucopia of things to collect,
06:43if you want to fully experience this rough-around-the-edges but fun 3D platformer.
06:56Banjo-Tooie.
07:04Banjo-Kazooie was certainly not an easy game when it came to collecting everything it had to offer,
07:09but it's honestly hard to argue that Tooie's bigger size, interconnected world, more complex gameplay
07:15mechanics, and loads more collectibles is easily the harder of those two collectathons.
07:21Backtracking is really the name of the game here, which, for some players, is a boon,
07:25and for other players is frustrating. Taking the interconnected approach, Banjo and Kazooie must
07:30scour every nook and cranny of this creative platforming playground, in order to hopefully obtain
07:36every Jiggy, Globo, Cheeto page, Move slash Ability, Notes, Egg, Feather, Honeycomb, and Jinjo.
07:49Now, sure, not all of these are needed to progress, of course, but they do always tempt you
07:54with their allure of 100%ing an area. Plus, many areas of the game have you actually split up Banjo
08:00and Kazooie for parts of it, which throws another wrench into the works as you seek to find every
08:05last collectible in this game. Sly 2 Band of Thieves
08:16The Sly Cooper series might not have the staggering number of collectibles like other games of its ilk
08:21do, but make no mistake about it, the items it does have to collect as Sly and the gang
08:26takes quite a good deal of work and effort to obtain. Where the first game, The Thievius Raccoonus,
08:32was pretty straightforward with its level-based collectibles, and keeping track of them was
08:36actually easy too, Sly 2's more open nature and more playable characters makes things much harder
08:42all around. You see, instead of the collectible clue bottles being collectible in each individual
08:47stage like the first game, it's the game's large hub worlds that now hide them, with 30 in total for
08:53each new hub area. This, as you might imagine, requires you to fully grasp, and purchase of course,
08:58each ability for Sly, Bentley, and Murray, if you hope to actually explore the intricate and well-hidden
09:04parts of each hub area. Then, the game features challenging treasures to obtain, which are much
09:15more rare. These aren't really the only two central collectibles apart from the regular loot and coins
09:21spread about the game's hubs and levels. But, given Sly's stealthy 3D platformer gameplay experience,
09:27it's not just a simple run and jump affair. As I mentioned before, each playable character has
09:32particular moves that you need to purchase with coins if you hope to fully explore every area completely.
09:45Super Mario Sunshine
09:55Okay, so we did think about putting Super Mario Odyssey on this list instead of Sunshine due to the
10:01sheer number of power moons to collect all throughout the game. However, gathering all of the shine
10:06sprites and blue coins in Sunshine is generally tough for all around. Mostly because it's honestly quite
10:12tough to actually contend with Flood. Getting to grips with platforming around each tropical-infused stage,
10:18battling goons and collecting goodies in tandem with Flood's one-of-a-kind mechanics is divisive,
10:24to say the least, and it's really hard to master. Whereas utilizing Cappy in Odyssey, while unique and
10:30super fun to be sure, isn't really all that challenging once you get the initial hang of it.
10:34Some of those shine sprites in Sunshine are downright grueling to obtain. And, as we mentioned before,
10:40those blue coin challenges truly take the pineapple upside down cake here.
10:53Donkey Kong 64
11:01For many collectathon fans out there, this is likely the game that your mind conjures up when you think of
11:07hard collectathons. Not only does DK64 feature a staggering boatload of very specific collectibles
11:14to find and obtain, but you are required to gather many of them with individual Kongs, which means tons
11:20and tons of backtracking and trying to retrace your steps to hopefully remember where you saw such and
11:26such collectible for each Kong. Be it bananas, banana medals, blueprints, boss keys, fairies, and more,
11:32you can easily see why DK64 is a doozy of a collectathon. The game features well over 1,000
11:39specific collectibles. Yes, 1,000 plus actually, it's crazy indeed. This is a gargantuan undertaking
11:46if you hope to achieve that coveted 100% in this game. Now, you'll have a blast doing it to
11:51be sure,
11:51but you better get out your notebook to keep track of everything. Good luck.
12:02Crash Bandicoot 4 It's About Time
12:11Now, it's pretty darn hard to think about any collectathon harder than DK64 that would be harder
12:17in terms of both the number of collectibles and the amount of gameplay challenge that you need to
12:21contend with. But here we are, Crash Bandicoot 4 It's About Time. While not having nearly as many
12:27as DK64 in terms of all the collectibles, it's a full-on challenge fest to not just beat this game
12:33regularly like most of us, which, yeah, no, I still can't beat it, it's really hard, but actually fully
12:38completed, 100% collecting every single item along the way. My goodness, it's a lot. Apart from easily
12:44being one of the hardest platformers of all time, it's also just a ridiculously punishing collectathon
12:50that requires absolute mastery of every single character, ability, level, and more.
13:04You see, Crash 4 has layered collectible systems for each level, which basically means you can't
13:09just go through a stage once to gather up every gem, relic, flashback tape, and the like. Sure,
13:15you can more easily get every Wumpa Fruit, Crate, and Aku Aku Mask, but that's just really the start
13:20of the pain for completionists out there. Crash and pals must fully grasp every single time ability,
13:26while memorizing each tricky level in order to get through unscathed, hopefully, and in a quick time,
13:32again, all while collecting all of those other items I mentioned. Heck, I can barely even get through
13:37this game to just beat it normally, let alone collect everything. Here's hoping one day I beat it,
13:42probably not. So what did you think of our picks for this list? What are some of the hardest
13:53collectathon games you have played? Let us know in the comments.
13:56Thank you for watching this video from MojoPlays. Be sure to subscribe for more gaming videos every
14:01single day.
Comments