Sometimes an entire video game can be hard, othertimes there are hard bosses, but then there are games where there’s just one level that cranks up the challenge to unrealistic levels. It is natural for a game to get more difficult as you get further along, but sometimes that curve isn’t as smooth as it should be. Or, in some cases, the game decides to change up the gameplay for a level. Whatever the reason, some levels have stood the test of time as being way too difficult for their own good. Even in the cases where the levels are technically fair, they still demand a level of perfection from the player to be considered fun. Here are the hardest levels in video game history we hope to never play again.
Alien “Auto”topsy part 3
It pains us to put a level from a game as great as The Simpsons Hit & Run on this list, but the final level just has every ingredient you need for a terrible level. The goal of this stage is to collect barrels of nuclear waste and deliver them to the UFO to blow it up. You’re in a fast but not very responsive car, which is made worse by the fact that if you collide with almost anything while carrying a barrel, it explodes and you have to start over. Oh, and how about putting the mission on a timer? Yeah, you have a time limit on everything in this level, adding stress that only makes crashing more likely. If you don’t know the ideal routes to take and get very lucky with traffic and controlling your car, it is next to impossible. This final level is the main reason most players have never beaten this otherwise amazing game.
The Dam level
Even if you’ve never played it yourself, odds are you know about The Dam level from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game for NES. We won’t pretend the other levels are easy, but they’re 2D beat-’em-up style stages that at least control well and are straightforward. The Dam is none of those things. You are forced to learn the new swimming controls in tight corridors where you can’t touch the sides, have to dodge electric traps, and have no map to find your way. And, you guessed it, this level is on a timer. Even just one of those things would make this level too hard, but forcing you to deal with all of them at once is just cruel.
Tutorial
Does a tutorial technically count as a level? In the case of Driver it does because this is the only part of the game a ton of players ever saw. A tutorial is meant to be the part of the game where you learn the controls and basic mechanics. Driver treats it like a final exam. You’re thrown into a parking garage with 60 seconds to pull off a set of driving maneuvers. You get no time to think, no explanation of the controls, much less how to do the things you’re being asked, and no way to skip it. If you can’t figure out how to do every objective before the time runs out, sorry, game over.
Turbo Tunnel
Right up there with the Dam level, Battletoads‘ Turbo Tunnel might be the most infamous challenging level in video game history. That reputation is 100% earned as well. For those unaware, the first stages of Battletoads are brawlers where you fight enemies and do some basic platforming. That all changes when you hit the third level and are suddenly in an auto-scrolling hoverbike section. You need to move up and down or jump to avoid incoming walls, but the slippery controls and speed you’re moving at require almost clairvoyant levels of responses to succeed. The time between the warning of an upcoming wall and you smashing your face into it is mere seconds. Playing with a partner only makes it worse, too, since only one of you needs to die for the game to reset.
The Kid
Even the easy stages of Super Meat Boy aren’t a walk in the park. The fact that the game hides its most challenging stages as secret levels is at least a small mercy for those who just want to beat the main game. The Kid is technically three levels, but you can take your pick on which is the most difficult. Each one boils down to navigating a maze of spikes with precisely one spot you can touch between them at key points. If you hold your jump too long, not long enough, or use your double jump at the wrong moment, it’s over. The first requires you to fall and climb through a spiked maze, the second ride elevators while dodging spikes, and the last sends waves of spikes at you as you try to rush through tunnels. These levels demand almost pixel-perfect execution, and many have poured hundreds of attempts into them without coming close to the end.
Mile-High Club
This is technically an extra level to the original Modern Warfare 4, and is only notorious for how difficult it is on the Veteran difficulty level, but it still earns a spot on the list. This is, surprise, another timed mission where you need to raid an airplane full of enemies to try and rescue the VIP in time. The narrow aisles make avoiding damage impossible even if the timer weren’t so strict as to make pausing even for a few seconds an automatic loss. The only way to pass, especially on Veteran, is to know exactly where each enemy is, where to throw your flashbangs, and get very lucky on top of it all. Then, once you make it to the end, you have to nail that last shot to save the VIP or else start it all again.
Blighttown
Legends of Blighttown will be told for years. This isn’t just a poison swamp area but one of the cruelest levels in Souls history. Yes, there is poison all over, but you are navigating this level vertically on thin, spindly planks that wrap around and dead-end in a confusing layout. There’s only one bonfire around halfway down, but only if you happen to see it and are able to get to it before the mosquitoes or lizard people knock you off a ledge. Oh, and did we forget to mention the blowdart enemies that inflict Toxic – the most lethal status effect in the game?
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