That One Level Part 2

You're trucking along in a game just fine and then, IT happens. What is IT, you ask? Why, it's the level that trips you up over and over again and makes you wanna crack your controller in two. TV Tropes likes to call these areas That One Level because despite all the colors these levels may or may not have, the stage has you seeing only one color: red.

World 6-5 - Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)

Super Mario All-Stars ver.

Whenever I play through Super Mario Bros. 3, I usually play through nearly every stage in the game. I say "nearly" because there are a handful of levels that leave me sighing in frustration. Of course one such level would have to be in the token ice world. Ironically, very little of the stage has to do with the cumbersome ice physics and more to do with the nature of reaching the exit. 

You've encountered Buster Beetles before but their presents here is especially annoying because they are everywhere. You need these guys out of the way so they won't rob you of your Raccoon powers or interfere with your flight path to reach the top of the stage where the exit pipe lies. If you lose your Raccoon powers, you can take one of the two warp pipes over and over again for  infinite power-ups. Keep in mind that this means you'll have to deal with those Buster Beetles all over again. You may have already tried flying to the top to reach the warp pipe that leads to the exit, only to find that there's a pair of Nipper Plants blocking your path. You obviously can't use a Fire Flower to kill them because it's already been established that the only way off this rock is Raccoon Mario. There's a lone Koopa Troopa at the bottom where the Buster Beetles are roaming around and you'll need to fly up to the Nipper Plants with the shell to take them out. Sweet, sweet freedom! This stage is aggravating because you have to jump through so many hoops just to finish it. Levels like World 6-5 are the very reason Lakitu's Cloud was invented. 

Snow Barrel Blast - Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

Ice and snow themed levels aren't favored all that much among gamers mainly due to the slip-sliding controls that accompany theme. But like World 6-5 in Super Mario Bros. 3, the slippery terrain isn't really an issue in Snow Barrel Blast. Oh sure, you slide around, but I can assure you as well as anyone else that's played Snow Barrel Blast, some slippery slopes are the least of your concerns here. Snow Barrel Blast is the very first level in the Gorilla Glacier area and it's one dozy of starting level.

Things start out deceptively simple. You've got some easily disposable mooks to get ride of. Nothing too complicated. That snow-covered background is quite beautiful to look upon, isn't it? As you travel onward, it begins to snow. The further long you go, the snow gets heavier and heavier until it becomes a full on blizzard, which hampers your visibility. Since the words "Barrel Blast" were used in the title, you know what that means, right? If you thought working with those Blast Barrels was tricky before, just wait until you use them in Snow Barrel Blast. Some of these barrels spin so fast that aiming them correctly seems like an impossible task and again, that blizzard isn't doing you any favors. As if things couldn't possibly get any worse, you've got some unkillable Zingers to contend with as you try to blast your way through the storm. 

Unruly Blast Barrels, Zingers and one nasty blizzard combine to make Snow Barrel Blast one of the most frustrating levels I've ever encountered in a video game, winter themed or otherwise. Even the sadistic level designers took some pity on players because there's a shortcut near the end that allows you to completely bypass the final barrel blasting section, which is a section that even Satan himself shudders to think about. 

The Dam - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)

It isn't a perfect game, but I do feel some of the hatedom Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles gets is unwarranted. That said, one of the earliest levels in the game, while passable, more than deserves the negativity that it gets.

Shredder placed some bombs under the Manhattan waters and if they blow, the dam goes to pieces and New York is going to get a lot wetter. An underwater mission? This should be a cakewalk. I mean, the heroes of this games are turtles! Unfortunately being turtles doesn't prevent the green machines from being immune to the curse that plagues just about every single video game that has water: crappy swimming controls. The swimming controls for this game are stiff and this is a large part of what makes The Dam such a difficult level. What makes things even worse are the loads of electrical jolts that the turtles can get hit with and the plethora of electrical seaweed that will surly cost you a few turtles. The turtles have no mercy invincibility when they take damage so the longer they staff in the seaweed, the quicker their life is going to plummet. Worse still is the type of seaweed that can reach of and swallow the turtles whole. You know, letting that dam explode doesn't seem like the worse thing that could befall New York. 

Clock Tower - Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES)

Clockwork levels have been a staple in the Castlevania franchise but I don't think they've ever induced rage quit like the one in Castlevania III. This was the first game in the series to allow you to play as multiple characters as well as offer branching level paths. Upon completing the first level, you're offered a choice between going underground or journeying through a massive clock tower. If you picked the Clock Tower, you've got one nasty pill to swallow. 

As to be expected, the Clock Tower is filled with moving pendulums and spinning gears. I'm guessing those stiff jumping controls are hereditary because Trevor Belmont's jumping sucks just as bad as his descendant, Simon. Your jumps have to be incredibly precise in this level because if you're off by even a pixel, you're not going to make it. Often times you'll have to make jumps while standing on moving gears and pendulums and the vast majority of your deaths are going to come from attempting these leaps. The Medusa Heads littered about these stage don't make things any easier and they just love to attack while Trevor is on the stairs, which are just about as much of a headache as the freaking Medusa Heads. It isn't uncommon to get stuck on a set of stairs and miss a jump just by walking off a cliff.

Event 51: The Showdown - Super Smash Bros. Melee (GCN)

By finishing all 50 events, you'll unlock Event 51, which is by far one of the the most arduous things Super Smash Bros. Melee will throw at you. This event pits you against Giga Bowser, Mewtwo and Gannondorf with a stock of three lives for everyone, yourself included. All three of these guys have a high AI setting and there are no stage gimmicks to assist you. It's quite easy to become overwhelmed since you have three opponents to deal with, and one of them is a gigantic version of Bowser. You do no't want to get surrounded by these guys as they will make absolute mincemeat out of you if they do. Stay on either the left or right side of the stage and attack from there, taking out Giga Bowser first if you can. A lot of people like to use Jigglypuff but I found success in Marth, finishing this challenge with two lives to spare after many attempts.

Part 1

That One Level Part 1

You're trucking along in a game just fine and then, IT happens. What is IT, you ask? Why, it's the level that trips you up over and over again and makes you wanna crack your controller in two. TV Tropes likes to call these areas That One Level because despite all the colors these levels may or may not have, the stage has you seeing only one color: red.

Marsh Cave - Final Fantasy (Multiplatform)

The Marsh Cave is the first big dungeon of Final Fantasy but don't think it's gonna pull any punches because of that. This underground cavern consists of three enormous, maze-like floors. Some floors house duplicate chests, meaning that if you opened up a certain chest on floor 2, a chest on floor 3 will be empty and you'll have wasted valuable steps going to open a chest that had jack in it. Did I mention that the original Final Fantasy, regardless of which version you're playing has an astronomically high random encounter rate? The monsters in the Marsh Cave don't screw around. A few of them are heavy hitters but the big threats come from the ones that love to use paralyzing and poisonous attacks. Needles to say, antidotes, softs and your White Mage are going to be your best friends in the Marsh Cave. A few treasure chests have fixed encounters that you cannot run away from. The music that plays in the Marsh Cave, Dungeon is a perfect auditory example of what your experience is going to be like in this place.

Plant Man Stage - Mega Man 6 (NES)

One of my least favorite Robot Masters has the level that I despise the most in Mega Man 6. Plant Man's stage begins perfectly fine at first. There are some mechanical grasshoppers attempting to hide in the grass but are easily seen and disposed off, but once you pass the mini boss that resembles Guts Man, the stage takes a turn for the annoying. Shortly after this mini boss is a lengthy platforming section over a long bottomless pit. The only thing keeping Mega Man from plummeting to his death are closed platforms that you have to shoot to open up. Unfortunately, the restless natives, robot beetles and robot fish, do their best to make you lose your footing and send you into the drink. From time to time, this area mixes things up by making you cross the gaps with springs. Combine these bouncing things with the fish and beetles over a bottomless pit and you've got one of the most irksome sections in the entire classic Mega Man series. Oh and if you die during this portion of Plant Man's stage, you have to do it all over again because the's level's check point is right after the first gorilla-looking Guts Man robot.

Rainbow Road - Mario Kart Wii (Wii)

Seven Mario Kart games and seven Rainbow Roads. Mario Kart Wii's iteration of the course is the only one I loath with a fiery passion. Now a Rainbow Road without much in the way of barriers to keep you from falling off isn't anything new. In fact the very first Rainbow Road from Super Mario Kart was the hardest course in the game because it had zero barriers. However, in Mario Kart Wii's Rainbow Road, it's so much easier to fall off the course than any other version of Rainbow Road. There are multiple paths you can take and lots of places to catch some air and perform tricks, but gaining too much speed and prove disastrous due to all the sharp turns, holes in the course and of course, the main sections where there is absolutely nothing to keep you from falling off into Earth's atmosphere and suffering what looks to be a pretty morbid death. Since this is the last course of Mario Kart Wii, I suppose it should be the hardest, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

Turbo Tunnel - Battletoads (NES)

By now it isn't really a secret that Battetoads is one of the most punishing games in the history of the medium. But what may come as a surprise to some is that, unlike Ghosts 'n Goblins, Battletoads doesn't smack the player in the head with it's difficulty right off the bat. Now, the true pain doesn't commence until you reach, the third level, Turbo Tunnel, which is also the first of many racing sections. After some standard beat 'em up fare, you reach some hover bikes and herein lies the true horrors of the Turbo Tunnel. As you move along you have to dodge walls on a high and low plane as well as make quick jumps over to the next platform. It may not seem all that maddening at first but things speed up as you go on to the point where I don't even think Sonic the Hedgehog would be able to keep pace. The only thing worse than trying to do this solo is trying to complete this stage with a friend. You've seriously got a better chance at achieving world peace than you do finishing this stage with a pal. If you even blink when it reaches max speed, you're dead. Lots of gamers have actually stopped playing the game once they've reached Turbo Tunnel. The level is that freaking hard.

Metropolis Zone - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (GEN)

The last of the full fledged multi-act Zones in Sonic 2, Metropolis Zone is by far the most aggravating, frustrating, smash-you-controller-through-your TV zone in all of Sonic 2. It wouldn't feel right to list a single act of this zone for this feature because the truth is, all three acts of Metropolis Zone will make your blood boil. You read right, three acts. Unlike all the previous zones, Metropolis Zone has three acts and each one of them will test your sanity. Each act is long, complex and even some portions of the levels can loop around, making it easy to get lost. There's also a wide assortment of ways for you to die here. Lava pits, crushers, spears that extract from the ground, running on a giant nut into a ceiling of spikes, this zone has it all. But the real death bringers are Slicers, Shellcrakers and Asterons, the three mooks of Metropolis Zone and most diabolical selection of Badniks Robotnik has ever created. Asterons, are little star-like robots that love to hang out in the walls and explode into five pieces when you get close enough to them. Shellcrakers are bigger Crabmeats with a huge extendable claw and a super tiny hit box if you're going for a head stomp and he's frequently found in narrow hallways, making him that much harder to dispose off. Slicers are praying mantis robots that throw their blades upon seeing you and said blades can circle around for another shot. All three of these guys are positioned in the worst places you can imagine and even if you've collected all the Chaos Emeralds, these Badniks make it near impossible to keep any set of rings for long.

Part 2