Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context ThatOneLevel / SuperMarioBros

Go To

1%% Image and caption selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1606094735003135000
2%% Please do not replace or remove either without starting a new thread.
3%%
4[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tll_w5_3.png]]]]
5[[caption-width-right:350:''The Lost Levels''? Seems more like [[PlatformHell making this jump]] is a ''[[{{Pun}} lost]]'' cause...]]
6
7When [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros a franchise]] has been [[LongRunners running for over 35 years, has countless installments]], and features the most prolific {{video game}} character in history, you would expect it to have one or two tough moments. But these [[ThatOneLevel take it to another]] [[{{Pun}} level.]]
8
9Please refrain from adding any {{Brutal Bonus Level}}s, {{That One Sidequest}}s (such as specific Stars, Shines, Moons, etc. in the 3D games), or {{Self Imposed Challenge}}s. Examples from {{Game Mod}}s and {{Fan Game}}s are also disallowed, as they are unofficial and thusly have no standards for difficulty.
10
11''[[ThatOneLevel/MarioParty Mario Party]]'' and ''[[ThatOneLevel/SuperMarioSunshine Super Mario Sunshine]]'' have their own pages.
12----
13
14%% The examples have been placed in ascending numerical order. Please follow this trend.
15
16[[foldercontrol]]
17
18!!!2D Platformers
19[[folder:''Super Mario Bros.'']]
20* World 2-3 (and, by extension, its [[HardModeFiller "revamp"]] as World 7-3). At first it seems like you can just run across the bridge and outrun the Cheep-Cheeps, but then you get to just before the end, where there are three small platforms. If you don't slow down, you can easily miss all of them and lose a life. However, if you slow down too soon, you will get snagged by a leaping Cheep Cheep. ''VideoGame/NESRemix'' forces you to do this level full speed the whole way. Additionally, in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros35'', these were especially difficult because not only did you have to focus on the Cheep-Cheeps... but you also had to focus on non-native enemies sent by other opponents too, which could've included Piranha Plants, Hammer Bros, and Bowser himself.
21* The original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' had many gamers' first[[note]]If they don't consider 2-3 to be hard, or used the Warp Zone[[/note]] ThatOneLevel: World 4-1. You can't warp around it. It presents Mario with his first encounter with [[DemonicSpiders Lakitu]], who is hard to kill, throws infinite enemies on you, and if you do kill him, he respawns ten seconds later. In an interview, Shigeru Miyamoto suggested that World 4 would have been the first world in ''Super Mario Bros.'' if they hadn't rearranged things late in the development. This is a truly scary thought.
22* World 4-4, the first of three maze castles. In the original NES version, there is no indication that you are taking an incorrect path other than seeing the same layouts again and again. Thankfully, the ''All-Stars'' version and the ''Deluxe'' port put in audio cues to inform you if you're on the right or wrong path. Playing the NES original for the first time, there's no clue as to what's going on and "ah, maybe it's the path you take" is something 80s and 90s kids had to think of for themselves.
23* World 7-4 employs the concept of 4-4 in a nastier way, as to advance you have to pick the correct path ''three times in a row'' to get to the next segment; do it wrong and you have to guess the three paths again. This is where the ports' audio cues ''really'' come into play; good luck not timing out this level without a guide in the original version. (There are 12 possible paths (2 × 3 × 2) per segment, so the unluckiest possible player would have to essentially run through the whole castle 12 times.)
24* The entirety of World 8. For starters, [[CheckPointStarvation none of the levels in this world have midway points]] and power-ups [[DroughtLevelOfDoom are either hidden very well or don't exist at all]]. To go into detail:
25** World 8-1. This is the longest level in the entire game and you only have 300 seconds to complete it, and though there's a Super Star a ways in, there are no other power-ups (especially no permanent ones) to be found. There's also a segment where there's 2 wide gaps in a row with only a single-block platform in between, though this becomes very easy to time if Mario just slows to a walk.
26** World 8-2 has you facing Lakitu again, mixed with dodging a barrage of Bullet Bills and loads of green Paratroopas. There's also one of the longest pits in the game to jump over with two one-block wide pits and a vertical pipe just before that, making it very difficult to get the necessary running start. At least it's much shorter than 8-1 and gives a 1-Up Mushroom early in the level, so you get as many attempts as you need provided that you never miss it.
27** World 8-3 might take the title of nastiest level in the game. It looks simple enough, but there are [[DemonicSpiders Hammer Bros.]] ''all over'' the level (eight to be exact) and the four in the final stretch are on completely level ground. You can't wait for them to get on a higher platform and knock them off; you can only run under them, jump over them, kick a Koopa Troopa shell into them if any are available[[note]]but due to a bug, there's a chance that [[HitboxDissonance the shell will go right through them]][[/note]], or have a Fire Flower (and good luck keeping one at that point in the game). Fortunately, there are two power-ups in this level, but they are both heavily guarded by the first two pairs of Hammer Bros., and you only have 300 seconds on the timer.
28** World 8-4 is TheMaze, with not a single power-up in any of it. There are loads of pipes to take in the castle, and going down the wrong one will take you back to the start. Even after you've conquered the maze, there's still an underwater section where you have to dodge Bloopers and [[FridgeLogic Firebars]], and to top it off, there's one last Hammer Bro to deal with on completely level ground before BigBad Bowser himself, who now spits fireballs ''in addition to'' spamming hammers - not safe to stand under the hammer arc waiting for him to jump anymore!
29* The ''Vs.'' arcade game replaces the HardModeFiller stages with insanely difficult new stages that were later incorporated into ''The Lost Levels'', where they fit perfectly. Three are particularly sadistic; World 3-2 (''TLL'' 2-2), with lots of BottomlessPits and precise jumping puzzles; World 6-3 (''TLL'' 4-3), an athletic level from hell with extremely long gaps, one of which requires a nearly blind jump to a Koopa Paratroopa to cross, and narrower moving platforms than its ''TLL'' counterpart; and World 7-3 (''TLL'' 6-3), a long bridge level that combines the flying Cheep-Cheeps and Paratroopas from the original bridge stage with many narrow platforms. To rub more salt into the wounds, the farthest that the WarpZone in 4-2 can take you is World 6, so no skipping these challenges for you!
30[[/folder]]
31
32[[folder:''Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels'']]
33* Worlds 2-2 and 8-2, not so much for being hard platforming-wise (they both become pretty easy once you've beaten them once), but for how difficult they are to figure out how to beat. 2-2 introduces the player to required {{Invisible Block}}s needed to pass certain areas. Meanwhile, 8-2 abruptly ends with a pipe that puts you back earlier in the level until you figure out that you need to jump off of a Paratroopa to hit a block containing a vine, something that only leads to a coin bonus in other levels. Said Paratroopa jump is very risky as well, as not only is it above a {{Bottomless Pit|s}}, but you're given a Star before it, so a careless player may still try to jump on the Paratroopa, only to kill it and fall to their doom.
34* World 3-4 is a looping castle with a nasty twist: one of the correct paths is too small for Super/Fiery Mario/Luigi to run under, with a single break so he can't slide all the way through. Even if you manage to time things just right to pass under the whole thing, there's a lava pit at the end with a Podoboo looking to ruin your day. There is one mercy: there's a Mushroom right after the path, so you can at least get your extra hit point back.
35* World 5-3 introduces a devious new concept, bringing the "looping castle" mechanic into regular overworld levels, easily confusing first-time players.[[note]]This is only worsened in the original FDS version, where there's no audio cue to explicitly express this.[[/note]] Even after the right path is found (which requires a chain of Paratroopa jumps into a pipe), there's a ''very'' difficult jump near the end (as seen in the page image) where the player must jump from a moving platform onto a Paratroopa to bounce up to higher ground, while also dealing with an airborne Blooper as well as randomly spawning Bullet Bills. There's still some jumps on very small falling platforms before the flagpole, and if you mess up there, [[CheckpointStarvation you end up at the very beginning, since this level has no checkpoint]].
36* World 7-3. Those green springs that propel Mario and Luigi so high they go offscreen for several seconds? They're now on tiny platforms spaced really far apart over BottomlessPits, followed by a couple platforms that are only several blocks wide with firebars. There's some [[GustyGlade wind]] too, and it abruptly stops near the end, easily throwing off an otherwise successful jump.
37* World 8-3. Not only is there a low-altitude Lakitu as soon as the level kicks off, but you also have to make big jumps and dodge [[EliteMooks Hammer Bros.]] ''Running'' Hammer Bros that are also encountered on completely level ground, just like 8-3 in the first game. In addition, this level features what is believed to be the only Nintendo-official use of "Kaizo blocks", multiple {{Invisible Block}}s containing {{Poison Mushroom}}s placed specifically so you'll crash into them while attempting to jump over a Hammer Bro. The final stretch even requires some hidden blocks to be found in order to reach pulley platforms that must be weighed down as much as possible to make the level's final jumps.
38[[/folder]]
39
40[[folder:''Super Mario Bros. 2'']]
41* World 3-2 has an underground segment where you have a limited amount of bombs to blow up several walls. Running out of bombs and having to reload the section can get tedious really fast.
42* World 4-2. You first have to survive a unrelenting ZergRush of Beezos on two hearts[[labelnote:Hint]]There's a trick to this: the Beezos don't spawn randomly but at predictable points. As [=SMB2=] has no time limit, you can simply advance slowly, triggering the Beezos (and the occasional Flurry) at a controlled pace.[[/labelnote]] before making your way to the next area, where you have to jump on slippery platforms and whales spouting up water [[EverythingTryingToKillYou (which hurts you unless you stand on top of the spout)]]. The whales make for very small platforms, meaning precision is an absolute must and to make matters worse, there are Blue Shy Guys running on top of the whales to give you even less room. In the final area you're faced with a long stretch of spikes, and theres no way to cross without using the CraniumRide on an enemy, all leading up to an encounter with a Red Birdo... on ''ice''.
43* World 5-1, where you have to cross a vast waterfall by hopping on falling logs and the heads of rising and sinking Trouters, is a nightmare if you try to complete it with anybody other than the Princess (who can simply soar from platform to platform). If you really want to punish yourself, try it with Toad and his horribly weak jumps. It is also the introductory level for the green Birdo, which doesn't spit any eggs, only fireballs.
44* World 5-3. The first portion of the level is a hornet's nest of Bob-ombs and Sparks, and that's the ''easy'' part. The sections that follow only get harder as they go: an underground section littered with Bob-ombs and a Red Panser, a vertical platforming section where you have to dodge more Bob-ombs as well as ''two'' falling [[DemonicSpiders Blue Pansers]] with WrapAround fireballs rolling down platforms, and a ride on two Pidgits' carpets past a bunch of dive-bombing Beezos over the abyss to reach some Shy Guys and Snifits on [[LedgeBats dangerously small platforms]], after which comes a red Birdo fight, and the actual boss of the level, Clawgrip to top it all off.
45* World 7-2, if you don't know where you're going. It's the final level, so the difficulty is justified, but it's also a MarathonLevel and TheMaze, especially if you want to get both power-up mushrooms. Depending on which paths you take, you'll also be facing up to three sub-bosses before Wart (the only other levels to have multiple bosses were 5-3 and 6-3, and just one extra one in both cases).
46[[/folder]]
47
48[[folder:''Super Mario Bros. 3'']]
49* In Worlds 3-3 and 3-8, most of the platforms rise and fall at intervals, making the player an easy target of [[DemonicSpiders Boss Bass]], who swims at the bottom of the screen. This is the only enemy in the game that can instantly kill Mario or Luigi when they're not small, and it periodically leaps out of the water to try and swallow them. Even if it's killed with a fire ball, it will respawn a few seconds later.
50* World 5 is where the game pulls the DifficultySpike and starts displaying difficult levels more often:
51** The first Fortress has tricky jumps a-plenty, and Thwomps and Roto-Discs all over the place, used in tandem in some particularly devious ways that make it very difficult to get through without taking a hit. Fortunately, it's optional, as it's part of a split path (the other option being [[Awesome/VideoGameLevels Level 5-3]]), and clearing it only creates a shortcut to the start of the world. (Which is only useful if you were to Game Over and continue.)
52** The second Fortress has lava on the ceiling. Although it's not deadly, there are Podoboos that come down from the lava and then "fall" back up, with no indication of where such Podoboos are located. Jump at the wrong time and you may be in for a nasty surprise.
53** World 5-9's already difficult platform jumping is made even more challenging by its awkward ''Diagonal'' [[AutoScrollingLevel autoscrolling]]. Near the end of the level, a [[DemonicSpiders Fire Chomp]] will show up and, thanks to the autoscroll, will be perfectly positioned to self-destruct in your face just before you reach the exit if you don't manage to defeat it before then.
54* World 6-5. The only way out is to grab a Koopa shell, fly up a narrow hole in the ceiling (which there are many of, but you have to figure out which one is the right one via TrialAndErrorGameplay) and throw it at the Nipper Plants and Brick Blocks blocking the exit pipe. The ground is cluttered with block-throwing Buster Beetles that you have to clear out first, and you can only hold the Koopa shell in your hands for so long before it eventually breaks free and hurts you. There's a room that [[AntiFrustrationFeatures provides a powerup every time you enter]] and respawns the Koopas to prevent you from [[{{Unwinnable}} getting stuck with no method of flight and/or Koopas]], but it also respawns the Beetles. At least it's conditionally optional with the easier 6-6, so you can just skip this one provided that you do 6-6 instead.
55* Pipe Maze is where the game's difficulty will test your willpower to avoid using a WarpWhistle, the final stretch being a likely road block:
56** World 7-4 is an [[UnderTheSea underwater]] AutoScrollingLevel which herds you through a maze of deadly, immobile, [[InvincibleMinorMinion invincible]] [[ElectricJellyfish Jelectros]], while several [[MookMaker Blooper Nannies]] follow you, spawning [[GoddamnedBats Little Bloopers]]. Spiked Cheep-Cheeps and Lava Lotuses are thrown into the mix as well to make the journey more treacherous.
57** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McEZ5ifAn-Y World 7-7]]'s gimmick is that the ground is made entirely of damaging Munchers, so Mario must hit the ? Blocks spread throughout the level and collect Super Stars to remain invincible until he reaches the end goal. Near the end, you have to crouch-slide under a pipe if you aren't small, which can catch players off guard and lead to a cheap death.
58** 7-8 is a bonanza of Piranha Plants and all of its relatives. Daring jumps across pipes while avoiding plants from above, Venus Fire Traps bombarding areas with shots, a few instances of tough jumps requiring strict timing to get past both piped and walking Ptooies and a few annoying Nipper Plants to deal with. And before the very end of the level, there's a [[UniqueEnemy single rooted]] Nipper Plant that spits a volley of fireballs, which can easily catch players off guard.
59** The second Fortress in World 7. Have fun having to constantly time jumps on pipes, which of course are inhabited by Piranha Plants and Venus Fire Traps. The pipes are tiny platforms, giving you a hectic time to juggle between between timing jumps and avoiding shots from the Fire Traps, and waiting for the Piranha Plants to retreat. The level also throws two tricky jumps involving Thwomps, and to make matters worse, the stage throws pairs of Boos at you (can't look away from both at once!) to give you even more obstacles and distractions to manage. Unless you've been [[TooAwesomeToUse saving up those Hammer Bro suits]], you're most likely in for a rough time.
60* World 8 (Bowser's Castle):
61** All of the Hand Traps. If a hand drags you down, you are forced to play the level you're on. The first one features all variations of the Hammer Bros., the second involves jumping and dodging lots of Podoboos, and the third is a nightmare due to all the jumping Cheep-Cheeps. Clearing them nets you Super Leaves, which will greatly help in the following levels (at least if you've {{Warp Whistle}}d past all the preceding worlds and your inventory is empty). Incidentally, these hands irrevocably ruin 87.5% of speedruns that make it that far, because each one has a 50% chance of triggering and wasting time you don't have no matter what you do.
62** The Airship level, following the Hand Traps, is a real nightmare: compared to the airship levels which end every previous world, it scrolls a ''lot'' faster and the "ships" are much smaller and spaced further apart, which is [[SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity why you were awarded Raccoon Leaves in the previous levels]]. Even if you are in Raccoon form, it won't be easy to keep, as nearly every miniature airship is piloted by a Rocky Wrench that can fill the screen with airborne wrench projectiles due to the way the autoscroll works.
63** The Fortress. A textbook example of TheMaze, with a [[OneOfTheseDoorsIsNotLikeTheOther countless amount of doors to pick from, and only one leading to the boss]]. If that weren't enough, not only do some of the doors put you on [[ConveyorBeltOfDoom conveyor belts]] that will near instantly push you into lava unless you have good reaction time, but the boss is found through a door that is only accessible for a brief time by using a P-Switch. There is no indication of this, so first-timers will often time out. Even worse in the SNES/GBA versions, where the updated graphics happen to make the two sides of the fortress the same colour. Many a player has saved a Lakitu's Cloud for the whole game just to skip this level.
64[[/folder]]
65
66[[folder:''Super Mario Land'']]
67* World 4-2 is definitely annoying. First off, there are a lot of enemies to deal with, ranging from ordinary koopas (whose shells, in this game, turn into bombs with a small timer after being stomped on) to snakes who spit fireballs. There are also a lot of precise jumps that must be made, due to either small gaps that require extremely careful movements or lack of spacing to get a good jump precision.
68[[/folder]]
69
70[[folder:''Super Mario World'']]
71* Butter Bridge 1 can be quite irritating due to being an AutoScrollingLevel with small rising and sinking platforms (thankfully, the only ones that appear in the game), that absolutely tests your precision. It even has parts in the level that can be rendered briefly {{Unwinnable}}. For instance, it's easy to screw yourself by raising a platform too high for you to reach and thus doesn't fall fast enough before the screen catches up, forcing you to exhaust a life. One screw up, and you're doing the whole thing over again.
72* Soda Lake is an underwater level that features Torpedo Ted, a type of enemy that is (thankfully) only seen in this stage. Torpedo Ted is a longer Bullet Bill that's invincible and underwater. There are several spots that spawn them, they're quite fast (much faster than a swimming Mario, at any rate), there's almost no room to dodge them, and some spots ''require'' you to swim right through where they spawn. Those spots often require the utmost perfect timing to get through without taking a hit. To even unlock this level, you have to reach the Cheese Bridge Area secret exit by flying ''[[GuideDangIt under]]'' [[GuideDangIt the normal exit]], or float under it with Yoshi and jump off him, sacrificing the poor creature.
73* #4 Ludwig's Castle in Twin Bridges. It's the first castle with only a 300 second time limit. The worst part is traversing through three rooms with a small time limit and the castle lacks a checkpoint. There's a secret pipe leading to a One-Up Chamber which will eat up time which is better off skipping. Likely, players who aren't fast-paced will end up with less than 100 seconds before reaching the boss door. Make matters worse that Ludwig has a long attack animation. When he is hit, he gets into his shell to attempt to run into you and makes a long jump arc over half of the screen before attacking with fireballs. Just hopefully he doesn't jump pass the screen boundary and having to wait before he gets into his shell again.
74* #5 Roy's Castle. This level marked the birth of a notorious Super Mario ScrappyMechanic in the form of the Snake Block, a series of blocks that moves quickly in a set pattern, usually over a {{Bottomless Pit|s}} or OneHitKill lava. In this case, it's lava, and where there's lava, there's pesky Podoboos leaping out at just the right time to scorch an unsuspecting plumber. Podoboos that bounce diagonally on terrain are thrown in as well, and due to how they spawn, they can get caught in between the Snake and the ceiling, restricting movement further. When that's over with, there's still jumps on retracting and expanding platforms over a pit and Bowser statues shooting flames before Roy himself.
75* #6 Wendy's Castle in Chocolate Island, until you get used to it. The bone-throwing Dry Bones and the Grinder buzzsaws will be the least of your problems, what with the spiked pillars, which, by the way, are not treated as normal hazards, but rather as solid walls, meaning they will [[OneHitKill kill you instantly]] if you get caught under them and you cannot [[MercyInvincibility run your way through them]]. Even after the midpoint, there's still a precarious platforming section with shifting terrain and many Li'l Sparkies and Hotheads rotating on the perimeters.
76* Valley of Bowser 2 can be difficult the first time you go through it, especially in the block maze on the second section, where one wrong move will lead you to getting crushed. You can skip this for the normal exit if you have Yoshi, since his wings are right before the block maze, but you must go through it to find the secret exit, [[GuideDangIt which is where no one would think to look on the last screen]] as well.
77* The Valley Fortress. Not only does it have the same deadly spiked pillars as #6 Wendy's Castle, but toward the end of the level they move up and down equally quickly, requiring more than usually sharp timing and positioning. If you have a Cape, it becomes even more frustrating unless you can force yourself to tap the Jump button instead of holding it for even a fraction of a second longer than necessary; otherwise, Mario/Luigi will float for a while and throw off the timing. There's still one last Reznor fight to deal with at the very end, too. This level also [[CheckpointStarvation lacks a checkpoint]] in the SNES version, which the GBA port later rectified.
78* Valley of Bowser 3 is the only level in the game to feature the timed platforms, so the exclusive gimmick has to be grasped quickly in order to avoid many unnecessary deaths. Towards the end, there are even Banzai Bills thrown into the mix that take risky leaps in order to be stomped.
79* #7 Larry's Castle is not too difficult per se, but you only have a time limit of 300 seconds and nearly half of that will be lost just riding the Snake Block to the second room unless you have very impressive skills with a Cape Feather and are able to skip this part. The second room is long and contains the ever-annoying Magikoopa. If you don't have the Cape Feather by this point, you'll be waiting for Magikoopa to blast through the Turn Blocks so you can advance, and this can take time if you accidentally take Magikoopa out. If you find the checkpoint and you lose a life, however, you can retry the level at the end of the first screen without the time issue being too big of a deal. "If" is the key word here, as said checkpoint is in a small alcove at the bottom of a long chasm where the Snake Block's path ends, so the average player would avoid it thinking that it's a {{Bottomless Pit|s}}.
80[[/folder]]
81
82[[folder:''Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins'']]
83* The second level of the Space Zone is an auto-scrolling maze of [[InvincibleMinorMinion damaging stars]]. Mario can move around pretty quickly in space, but you'll still need good reflexes to get through, especially in the later parts where you have to dodge moving stars or the [[PainfulPointyPufferfish Tosenbo]] scattered throughout. The checkpoint is also pretty far into the level, so if Mario dies before you make it there, you're starting the whole level over again. Fortunately, Tatanga isn't a very hard boss once you reach him, and if you do get to the checkpoint, it's only a short distance to him.
84* Wario's (or rather, Mario's) Castle has many jumps that are nigh impossible without bunny ears. There's swinging pendulum maces, propeller platforms over lava that have [[HitboxDissonance very wonky hitboxes]], bone platforms that either rise/fall or almost instantly break, trap tiles that release fast-moving spiked fists, and more. It's also [[MarathonLevel the longest level in the game by far]], and has [[CheckpointStarvation no checkpoints]]. Die while fighting the [[SequentialBoss three-phase]] final boss (or at any other point for that matter), and you're doing the whole damn level over again from the beginning.
85[[/folder]]
86
87[[folder:''New Super Mario Bros.'']]
88* World 8-4. The entire level is filled with Scuttlebugs, GiantSpiders that constantly drop down from the ceiling and chase after you; and a good chunk of the level involves moving platforms over bottomless pits. You're going to have a rough time if you don't have a Fire Flower on you to compensate; and the Star Coin placements are enough to throw most players through the wringer. Trying to get that last Star Coin in particular without dying is CRAZY hard since that requires the use of a Mini Mushroom, the power-up that makes you a floaty OneHitPointWonder. The Super Star certainly helps, but it is not a free ticket to victory.
89* World 8-Tower 2. The ENTIRE level takes place on a Snake Block, reminiscent of Castles 5 and 7 in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld''. It's [[TrialAndErrorGameplay unpredictable, tedious,]] and nerve-wracking. Of course, as if the task of staying on the platform weren't difficult enough, EverythingTryingToKillYou, whether it be spikes, Firebars, or rolling spiked balls.
90* World 8-Final Castle is a difficult final level in the series, but not because of enemies or tricky platforming, but rather its gimmicks. The first half of the level is a confusing, gravity-flipping maze that feels out of place in a 2D ''Mario'' game, while the second half is a path-picking level reminiscent of the original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' where the wrong paths leave you in an infinite loop, and the one correct path is usually the most dangerous one to take.
91[[/folder]]
92
93[[folder:''New Super Mario Bros. Wii'']]
94* 2-1 and 2-2 aren't that difficult if you're just playing through normally, but become this if you try to get all the Star Coins. The third Star Coin in the first can really be a pain to get, especially if you're not very good at timing a throw of a shell. In the second, it's the Spikes who will give you trouble.
95* 2-4, also known as the level with that wretched sandstorm. A good chunk of the level will be spent pinned down against a wall, waiting for the wind to stop blowing. Just getting ''through'' the level is a pain, but getting all the Star Coins ''and'' the secret exit as well is an exercise in patience, considering how easy it is to slip up and die, ruin your chances of getting them, or both. It doesn't help that the secret exit is at the ''end'' of the level.
96* 3-4 is also known to be difficult, since it takes place mostly on giant moving blocks of ice. One wrong slip and you'll be crushed or fall into a bottomless pit. Because of a thing the developers did with the secret exits, you're forced to play through it ''twice.'' Thankfully the second run is much easier than the first.
97* 3-Castle is very difficult when you have to deal with the ice-covered snake blocks. It's even worse in multiplayer!
98* World 5, especially the acid river in 5-4, and especially if you're a moderately talented first-timer who found the secret exit in 1-3 and [[OhCrap decided to skip ahead...]]
99* 7-6, in addition to being relatively hard to find, is an auto-scroller that has you jumping on the heads of large Para-Buzzies for the entire level. There's rarely any solid ground, and most of the Para-Buzzies aren't that big, so one slip will usually send you back to the beginning. It also has [[CheckpointStarvation no midway flag]].
100* Ludwig's Fortress, in single player. It's clearly a stage designed with groups of people in mind, since it is hell trying to juggle tons and tons of Bob-ombs raining down on you by yourself while you slowly rise left and right.
101* 8-1's main gimmick is that the volcanos in the background will erupt as the player progresses through the level, showering the screen with deadly rocks. Up to 6 stones can rain at a time, some of which are three times larger than Mario's sprite, and they also destroy blocks, potentially denying the player access to power-ups. The other main hazard is a [[AdvancingWallOfDoom poisonous fog that slowly spreads from the left side of the screen]], forcing Mario to keep moving or suffer an instant death. While the level is challenging enough when playing by yourself, it's nearly impossible on multiplayer, as the layout of small/temporary platforms means there are not enough safe spots for everyone to avoid the numerous obstacles.
102* Either as a coincidence or a FourIsDeath kind of thing, 8-4 is also pretty unbelievable. BlackOutBasement... ''underwater''. [[CheckpointStarvation Without any checkpoints.]]
103* 8-5 has you riding on a moving platform controlled by tilting the Wiimote. You have to do this while avoiding lava plumes and Bob-ombs raining down, and good luck getting all the Star Coins.
104[[/folder]]
105
106[[folder:''New Super Mario Bros. 2'']]
107* The Dash Mario (cannon) levels are extremely difficult (albeit a bit short) on-the-fly high-speed madness. You have to make extremely precise jumps across platforms through lines of enemies without being able to stop and take a moment to plan your maneuvers because Mario ''can't stop running''. The worst of the bunch is World Flower-Cannon, where you have to time a bunch of jumps off parachuting Bob-ombs which sway from left to right as they fall, plus all the rotating Amps you have to deal with. If you time your jumps off the Bob-ombs correctly, you'll dodge the Amps automatically, but it's extremely difficult because there is absolutely no margin for error. Using Raccoon Mario does take some of the edge off, however; you can immediately refill your Power Meter due to the constant running and spend most of the stage just flying.
108[[/folder]]
109
110[[folder:''New Super Mario Bros. U / New Super Luigi U'']]
111* ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosU'':
112** Frosted Glacier-Ghost House (Swaying Ghost House), just for the sheer GuideDangIt factor. The door to proceed is hidden behind a false wall—with no indication that said wall is anything but a wall, especially considering it feels perfectly solid if you don't have a P-Switch activated—in not one but two rooms, although the second at least gives you a hint...hidden behind another wall. The secret exit is even worse: [[spoiler:the room it's in requires being fairly fast just to get to the regular door, and getting to the secret door allows you only a very small margin of error...even if you figure out that this time, the door is hidden behind the ''ceiling''.]]
113** Soda Jungle-Tower (Snake Block Tower). "Snake block" levels are nothing new, but this time, you have ''two'' sets of blocks to keep track of, one normal-sized and one giant, and they move around lots and lots of Amps and Ball 'n' Chains, some of them in configurations that are nearly impossible to dodge. The Star Coins? Easy enough to find, but good luck getting them all without taking a hit.
114** Peach's Castle-1 (Meteor Moat). The level in and of itself isn't that bad, until you get past the checkpoint. After that, you start getting bombarded by the meteors, while at the same time dealing with rising tides of lava and a crap load of Bony Beetles. It gets worse if you're going for the star coins, especially the third. But if you're trying to get at the secret exit, good luck not raging.
115** Peach's Castle-Castle 1 (Red-Hot Elevator Ride). The entire level takes place on a rising platform that can be controlled by tilting the [[UsefulNotes/GeneralGamingGamepads Game Pad]] or Wii Remote, but this one stops moving if more than one thing is on it. Goombas, Bob-ombs, even ''coins'' can bring it to a halt until they are disposed of if they land on it. This wouldn't be so bad, but you must also contend with constantly rising lava below, meaning that if the platform stops rising for too long, Mario will instantly die from the lava. Like Snake Block Tower, the Star Coins are in plain sight but very difficult to get and remain unscathed. The level [[CheckPointStarvation has no midway point]] either, so if you die from the lava, a bolt of electricity, a wayward Bob-omb, etc., enjoy starting the level over from the beginning and losing any Star Coins you happened to collect.
116* ''VideoGame/NewSuperLuigiU'':
117** Sparkling Waters-Tower (Shish-Kebab Tower) is almost impossible to complete as anyone but Nabbit. The pillars move in and out at insane speeds. This, combined with the time limit, Luigi's high jump, and slippery physics, can easily end your game.
118** Peach's Castle-2 (Magma River Cruise) takes the annoying acid moat level from Wii, puts it in a lava world, and adds the most annoying enemies in the game. It's a good thing that you can skip this level, though.
119[[/folder]]
120
121[[folder:''Super Mario Bros. Wonder'']]
122* The Fluff-Puff Peaks Palace can be a bit of a DifficultySpike for first-time players. This is the first 4-star difficulty level that you ''have'' to complete (though two more came before, they are optional). Fireballs and skeletal Piranha Plants constantly appear out of thin air, which will kill you if you try to rush through as fast as you can. With a bit of practice and going slower it's not nearly as tough as many other entries from other games, but for comparison, most of the following world's stages (including its own 4-star difficulty level) are much easier.
123* Some of the Level 2 Badge stages are nastier than others - they only escape being BrutalBonusLevel by virtue of the Special World existing:
124** Invisibility 2 has a lot of precision jumping while, well, invisible.
125** Wall Kick Jump 2 is a nightmare of accurately-timed jumps ending with having to wall-kick up some rotating platforms. The single mercy is that there are no bottomless pits on the stage.
126[[/folder]]
127
128!!!3D Platformers
129[[folder:''Super Mario 64'']]
130* The outside area of Shifting Sand Land is a nasty DifficultySpike compared to the other levels in the castle's basement. For starters, [[GuideDangIt the level's painting is disguised as a regular wall]], so the player is more likely to accidentally run into it while trying to catch MIPS than find it on purpose. Once the actual level starts, things only get worse, as well over half of its surface area is taken up by [[QuicksandSucks quicksand]] that is somehow more deadly than ''boiling lava'' - if you touch it once, [[OneHitKill you're done for]]. The outside area is also home to [[BanditMook Klepto the vulture]], who not only flies around the level at random, but can also steal a character's hat if they wear one, in which case they'll take extra damage until they can get it back. Using the Wing Cap or surfing on a shell can circumvent having to deal with the killer quicksand, but having either power-up expire at the wrong time (more common with the shell and its [[HitboxDissonance questionable collision detection]]) can easily be fatal.
131* Wing Mario Over the Rainbow/Over the Rainbows is one of the hardest levels in the game. The player has to collect eight Red Coins in the air. Solid ground is minimal, and due to the angles, it can be really difficult to gauge safe landing spots. The Wing Cap must be refreshed every so often to have enough time to collect all the coins. That's not even mentioning the fact that if you fall off the stage (which does not actually cost you a life), you end up ''outside the castle'', and have to go all the way back up to the top to try again. Even using the minimap in the DS version isn't foolproof, as it gives no indication of height, so if you rely on it too heavily you may end up ''under'' an island instead of ''over'' it - and if you are too high up and try to Ground Pound, [[FallDamage Mario will lose two or even four units of health]].
132* Tick Tock Clock is a nightmare. The level is ''long'' and painfully linear, and it's one continuous tricky jump after another after another, made worse by the fact that most of the level takes place on very thin platforms which are really easy to fall from, particularly into the {{Bottomless Pit|s}} at the very bottom of the level. Plus, if you don't know the "trick" for entering the level, the whole level can end up requiring insane timing. Even if you ''do'' know the trick to stop the clock, two stars all but require the clock to be in motion so that the hands of the clock can carry you to the stars, at least in the N64 version[[note]]It is possible to get all the Tick Tock Clock stars without the clock moving, but it does require some very skilled jumps and overall knowledge of the game's physics[[/note]]. In the DS version, if you play as Luigi, all eight stars (including the 100-coin star) can be obtained while the clock mechanism is stationary.
133* Rainbow Ride is the last full level of the game, and it's the ultimate test of the player's abilities:
134** The course is set in the sky, so one wrong move ends in a quick death. Several of the stars are built around riding a magic carpet. Mario will have to jump and dodge obstacles while returning to the carpet before it moves out of reach or disappears. These stars are very challenging and frustratingly time-consuming.
135** The 100-coin star requires Mario to make it through multiple difficult challenges, including carpet rides, swinging platforms, flamethrowers, and disappearing blocks. It's recommended to go for the blue coin block first, but the blue coins are retrieved by performing a series of wall jumps. If the player messes up or misses too many of the blue coins, it's time to restart. Even with those coins in hand, getting to 100 is a nerve-wracking and difficult experience with little margin for error.
136[[/folder]]
137
138[[folder:''Super Mario Galaxy'']]
139%%* The Trial Galaxies, which are unlocked by getting all three green stars. Each of them forces you to use a ScrappyMechanic to get through the levels.
140%%** Bubble Blast Galaxy, because of the difficulty of guiding the bubble through the electric maze, and the fact that the ending sequence doesn't allow you to be slow and careful, leaving your chance of survival at the high speeds you're forced into mostly up to luck.
141%%** Loopdeeswoop Galaxy, which has you piloting the Manta from Loopdeeloop Galaxy, due to the sensitive controls and the way the course is designed. Alot of lives will be lost on this level not because of running out of time, but because you keep falling off the course.
142%%** Rolling Gizmo Galaxy. You have to navigate the Star Ball through a very narrow obstacle course filled with enemies that will mess up your momentum, rotating platforms, and rails which intentionally speed you up so that you have to slow yourself down before you end up plummeting off the course.
143* The Daredevil Comet mission on Melty Molten Galaxy. Unlike the other Daredevil Missions, this one requires you to play the entire stage, instead of just a boss. A stage mission that's already frustrating. This was likely made into a run because it is next to impossible to not get hit battling the Fiery Dino Piranha.
144* The trash clearing missions have very short time limits in which you can pick up the bombs and throw them to destroy the trash, with the bombs being hard to aim and having long fuses which narrows your timeframe even more, causing even slight mistakes to result in failure. Granted, coin markers appear which indicate where you should be aiming at, but this might not be obvious at first and even when you do figure it out, actually getting the bombs to land on or near them is difficult without practice.
145* The difficulty curve of Sweet Sweet Galaxy ''really'' got some players with ''those moving holes''.
146* Sling Pod Galaxy requires ridiculously precise aiming, as a shot even a millimeter off target means instant death. Averted in ''Super Mario 3D All-Stars'', as the gyro aiming allows for greater precision.
147* On the other hand, "A Very Spooky Sprint" in Ghostly Galaxy has taken its place as an infamous early-game mission. There is an upper limit on the gyro cursor's speed, whereas controlling the cursor with the Wii Remote would allow you to move it as fast as you want. The racing Boo's speed was designed with the latter in mind, so the mission was unintentionally made more difficult with the different control scheme. The mission ''is'' made easier if you use the touchscreen controls to grab the targets with faster accuracy, but that requires you to play in handheld or tabletop mode. If you play it docked, you ''must'' rely on the gyro controls.
148[[/folder]]
149
150[[folder:''Super Mario Galaxy 2'']]
151* The Speed Run in Boss Blitz Galaxy gives you five minutes to defeat Dino Piranha, King Kaliente, Major Burrows, Bouldergeist and Fiery Dino Piranha, one after the other. The main source of difficulty is the reliance on the [[UsefulNotes/RandomNumberGenerator RNG]], as it directly affects the bosses' vulnerability periods, potentially costing the player precious seconds. This affects the Bouldergeist fight the most, as it's a SequentialBoss who can only be hurt by bombs that spawn randomly. This level may take several tries, as it not only requires skill and dexterity but also luck.
152* While any level with Cosmic Clones can be frustrating, "Cosmic Clones in the Chompworks" takes the cake. You have to race around a course holding down platforms to guide a Golden Chomp to the end of the course where it will release the Star. Not only is it hard to stand and wait on the platforms the right amount of time while the clones are chasing you, but the layout of the level makes you retrace your route in several spots, thrusting you right back into the path of the pursuing clones.
153* For those who had horrible memories of it in the first game (particularly the fast foe comet star), the Cyclone Stone returns, and it's much more painful than before. As seen in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEMvIOxSNHU this video]], the Thwomps and Tox Boxes are ''even faster'' than they were in ''Galaxy 1'' with the fast foe comet, requiring you to hit switches to briefly slow down time in order to collect five Silver Stars.
154* The Clockwork Ruins is one of the longest levels in the game and moves at a drudgingly slow pace compared to the rest of the game. Mainly due to it involving a lot of waiting and harsh consequence for not doing so. The 3rd planet in particular is an arduous climb (with [[CheckpointStarvation no checkpoints]]) where a slight error can send you plummeting down to the bottom. This also houses the 3rd Green Star, which involves a very precarious jump that ''will'' kill you if missed.
155* The already hard "Luigi's Purple Coins" is back, and they seem to have made it both easier (actual solid ground, P2 can help out, getting the star itself is not timed) ''and'' harder (The timer is reduced from 3:00 to 2:00, there are only 100 purple coins and you have to grab them all, and there are Cosmic Clones chasing you.)
156* One of the Green Stars on Stone Cyclone Galaxy has you ''perfectly'' time a Triple Jump off of a moving Tox Box to get the star.
157[[/folder]]
158
159[[folder:''Super Mario [=3D=] World'']]
160* World 3-2 (Chain-Link Charge) will probably be one of the first levels that you will seriously rack up the deaths on. It's an AutoScrollingLevel that has many segments with moving fences, most of which block your way or force you to make quickly-timed jumps if you don't have the Super Bell. If you do, you can climb on the fences... but you can't climb on forever. The second Green Star is brutal, since you have to make some very tricky jumps past two moving fences right before the checkpoint, so if you mess up you're doing the level from the start again. After that it goes upwards through segments where the fences move against you over clouds and a lot of enemies.
161* World 5-6 (Cakewalk Flip) isn't so hard if you're just playing through. If you're going for the collectibles (''especially'' the Stamp and third Green Star), on the other hand... the Ring Burners in conjunction with flipping platforms can cause lots of hassle... and that's with one player. Any more than one player, and the level becomes unmitigated chaos, with the platforms flipping every time ''anybody'' jumps, making it a much smarter strategy to just have one person play the level while the other participants stay in bubbles.
162* World 6-Tank (Bowser's Bob-omb Brigade). You will ''need'' to know where to throw bombs and how to do it quickly if you want most of the items here.
163* World Castle-3 (Red-Hot Run). This level consists of boost panels that speed you up during the level. The ledges are somewhat thin, and it's very easy to lose control and accidentally fall off the path at no fault of your own, leaving only a small margin for error. Also, the 3 Green Stars and the Stamp are located in the easiest areas to fall off, you only have 100 seconds, and even though the level is quite short, [[CheckpointStarvation there's no checkpoint]].
164* [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Castle-Castle]] (Bowser's Lava Lake Keep), if you're going for all collectibles in one run. The second Green Star requires a Cat Suit (which has to be acquired outside of the level itself), while the third can only be retrieved with the Boomerang Suit, and the only ones in this level are far before and far after where it is. forcing a dangerous juggle of two different powerups past Firebars, Lava Bubbles, and more if you want to beat the level in one run. The icing on the cake is that the checkpoint is located just before the narrow Lava Bubble-infested bridge leading to the third Star, so unless you're playing the Switch port where collectibles are permanently saved after getting them, you have to skip the checkpoint and go back and activate it ''after'' retrieving the star, lest the star becomes unobtainable until clearing or leaving the level if you die or lose the Boomerang Suit.
165* World Bowser-7 (Grumblump Inferno). This is the second-to-last regular level in the main game, and [[DifficultySpike it lives up to the position]]. The gimmick of the level is the Grumblumps, large rectangular blocks in [[LethalLavaLand lava]] that tumble end over end and force you to keep running to the next side. They tumble rather quickly, and you must be pretty careful with your positioning and timing when running; too far forward or back, and [[OneHitKill say hello to the lava]]. The blocks are bad enough, but some of them are rectangular, so the distance you need to move isn't always the same. They don't just move in straight lines, but also go along twisty paths that make frequent 90-degree turns. [[SerialEscalation And only adding to the headache]], you will have to do all this ''while'' dodging Hammer Bros and Fire Piranha Plants in some places. Then there's the collectibles, particularly the Stamp, which is on a very thin pillar guarded by a Hammer Bro. The only mercy you're given is that the level at least gives you Tanooki Suits. And whatever you do, do ''not'' ground pound the blocks -- if you do, they get angry and move ''twice as fast!''
166[[/folder]]
167
168[[folder:''Super Mario Odyssey'']]
169* The Lost Kingdom is full of poisonous water that instantly kills you, it's made up of islands that are easy to get lost in and provide little to no sense of direction, most of the enemies are either spiky or immune to your cap, the latter of which throw Cappy back like an explosive (which has a ''very'' tight time limit to dodge or jump over and is required to get to some areas and Moons, but can be easily crouched under) and the entire island plays a piece of music that can quickly become annoying. The tone of the level is [[ThisIsGonnaSuck set nicely]] when you arrive and Klepto makes off with Cappy, and you can't even to go to previous kingdoms until you've collected the quota of Power Moons. Likely a deliberate example as [[spoiler:Bowser sends you crash-landing here after the game promised the highly promoted Metro Kingdom as your next stop]].
170* The Luncheon Kingdom is surrounded by lava, and, as usual, falling in causes Mario to go flying in pain. Unfortunately, you cover a ''lot'' more distance than you did in older games and Mario isn't as easily controlled. This is not good when the map is full of small platforms, so it's entirely possible to overshoot the platforms completely by mistake. (Or worse: Fall off, then Mario goes ''the opposite direction''.) What's more, there are also several areas with ''very'' narrow platforms you must hop onto, and if you miss, then you fall into the lava -- which might as well be an instant death trap since you'll likely not have any way to recover (at least, not without accidentally hitting the lava ''again''). There is also the primary gimmick of navigating the area with Lava Bubbles. A captured Lava Bubble will disappear if it hits anything other than lava. Naturally, this means any slip-up in sections requiring you to jump over solid ground are likely to send Mario into the lava.
171[[/folder]]
172
173!!!Spin-offs
174[[folder:''Super Mario Maker'']]
175* "Be Brave & Get Up Close!" (7-3) has a row of ? Blocks in front of a huge tower of giant Chain Chomps. You have to try to get the invincibility star placed in the very last block so you can use it to knock out the Chain Chomps and jump over the remaining tower of Chain Chomp pegs and hit the goal, but the somewhat erratic behaviour of the Chain Chomps makes this practically a LuckBasedMission. You also have a short timer on this level as well, so you can't take forever either.
176* "Zig-Zag Lava Bubbles" (8-3) fills the entire screen with bouncing Lava Bubbles. Extremely precise movement through thin corridors is required, or you ''will'' die.
177* "Even Trampolines Dream of Flying" (15-1) consists of mostly nothing but a bottomless pit with winged trampolines as your only means of getting across, it doesn’t help how not only are they constantly moving, hardly give you any time to position and bounce properly and bouncing on trampolines is extremely wonky. You will die ''A LOT'' while playing this level.
178[[/folder]]
179
180[[folder:''Super Mario Run'']]
181* Black Coins:
182** The second black coin in 1-4 requires doing a perfect leap and spin off a Dry Bones from ground level. There's no room for error, and it's counter-intuitive since you actually have to time your leap so you hit it just before you finish vaulting over the Dry Bones. Easy if you have Luigi, though.
183** The fourth and fifth black coins in 3-3 are each awful for their own reasons. The fourth actually requires you to use the bubble mechanic to redo part of the stage after smashing a block to allow a shell through, while the fifth requires using a spring to bounce through a one-block hole. Doesn't matter what character you're using here, it's frustrating all the same.
184** Getting the second black coin in 4-1 is easily the most frustrating special coin in the entire game. It requires jumping off a P-switch, wall-jumping onto a single brick, jumping towards another single brick, wall-jumping off of that, and back up onto the pipe containing the coin. The timing window for this is simply a few seconds and allows for absolutely no error, requiring a full restart of the stage for every attempt. The Yoshis make this easier as their Flutter Jumps make it easier to access the pipe.
185** 6-4's first black coin is hell if you're playing as anyone but Toad. It's in a ? block situated over a gap just high enough that a regular jump will clear the block. You need to carefully time your jump to clip the edge of the block. Too little and you miss. Too much and you vault over it. As Mario and Luigi, grabbing a Mushroom makes doing it even harder. Toad's higher speed makes it easier to hit the block, as he can get right under it.
186* Toad Rally:
187** The airship. It combines Ninjis, gaps, and cannonballs to make a run where even the slightest mistake will hurt or kill you. This is the bare minimum. If you've beaten the World Tour, add Rocket Engines and Rocky Wrenches to the list for added annoyance.
188** The ghost house is tolerable at first, but once you've beaten the game it gets a lot worse. The puzzle aspects from the later versions are tacked on, so you have to figure those out on top of trying to get coins. It's also fairly stingy with Toads, owing to the lack of tricks you can pull off.
189* Unlocking Star World levels. Of all the challenges necessary for unlocking the levels, the challenge for Star-6 tops them all. You have to collect 400 coins in 1-2, a level where they're separated into different paths and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwarcZlSyu4 an absolutely optimal strategy will get you 426]]. There is no margin for error here. You have to backtrack and make the run perfectly to achieve it. Toad alleviates the problem slightly, but not by much.
190[[/folder]]
191
192[[folder:''Super Mario Maker 2'']]
193* "[[EmphasizeEverything NO JUMPING ALLOWED!]]" (#15) takes the most basic mechanic from the series away from you. You cannot jump a single time (unless you grab the flag before you land), and if you do, you will automatically fail the level. It's not just jumping - falling off a ledge or even stepping down a single block is instant failure. Mario's feet cannot leave the ground under any circumstances or it's a failed level for you.
194* "Chain Chomp Chiller" (Undodog 3) takes the same concept as "NO JUMPING ALLOWED!", only this time you have to run past a whole field of Unchained Chomps without any use of headgear to protect yourself from them. While the winged Chomps have a higher jump, allowing a bigger (but still not an awfully big) timeframe for you to run past them, the final parts of the level pit you against Unchained Chomps ''without'' wings, leaving you only some springs for you to use, meaning you either have to backtrack to get more springs, or run at nearly pixel-perfect timing. Assist Mode might just be the only thing that'll get you through this level if you're not very good at dealing with Unchained Chomps.
195* "Dash On, Dash Off" (#33) is one of those levels where you have to, as suggested by the name, rush through it and activate ON/OFF switches, and perhaps jumping over some large gaps. What adds to the challenge is there's a ''strict'' 30-second time limit, and you better not screw around as much or otherwise, the timer will run out on you by the time you make that jump to the last switch.
196* "March of the Rookie Toads" (Peach 2) tasks you with bringing ten Toads over to the goalpole, who follow either you to your very move, or behind another Toad doing the same thing, who can get trapped in a bubble in one hit. If that doesn't sound hectic enough, Fire Piranha Plants on Lakitu Clouds also show up as well, meaning if you aren't very careful with how you jump, half of the time you'll spend on this level is dealing with the Toads who were caught by the Angry Sun swooping down on them, if they weren't caught by a stray Goomba or any other enemy that shows up throughout the level. However, if you use Assist Mode and steal the Lakitu's Cloud with a Super Star, it suddenly becomes a breeze.
197[[/folder]]
198
199!!!''Yoshi'' series
200[[folder:''Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island'']]
201* Level 5-7: [[PlatformHell "Shifting Platforms Ahead"]] deserves mention, as the need to time your jumps to avoid falling into the abyss while dealing with the moving platforms makes reaching the exit a frustrating ordeal, and completing it 100% a bigger nightmare.
202* Level 6-5: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "The Very Loooooong Cave"]] is a long level that requires a steady sequence of very precise jumps, which due to the continuous auto-scroll, you have essentially ''no'' time to prepare for. One especially aggravating sequence is when you have to ride a ''rolling boulder'' across a lava pit to reach an alternate exit door. The very end of the level autoscrolls especially fast and has a series of pillars that you need to GroundPound to collect the last red coins. If you miss, you will reach the goal and be forced to start over from the beginning.
203[[/folder]]
204
205[[folder:''Yoshi's Island DS'']]
206* Any of the autoscrolling levels are often considered this by many.
207** World 2-6, "Donuts and Eggs", is a long autoscroller that sometimes loops, and although there is checkpoints in the level, it is often considered the worst level in World 2.
208** Most of World 3-1, "Up The Creek", is a standard level, but at the very end of the level autoscrolls up a waterfall against the player's own will. It's a short section in a large level, but can be frustrating if you don't know what you're doing.
209** The very next level, World 3-2, "The Goonie Coast Isn't Clear", is quite often considered one of the worst levels because it scrolls the entire level. It's not the first section of the level that gets most, although it is a little frustrating ; it's the latter section that many consider to be [[PlatformHell extremely frustrating]] because this section is ''several'' times as long as the first section in the level and also partially loops in the fourth ship, if you plan on getting all secrets and a 100% for the stage. It doesn't help that some players consider the level's music to be an annoying and empty tune that seems to be taunting the player.
210* World 4-7, "Teeth-Chattering Chill Zone". Let's see: You use Bouncies in combination with ice to slide past the crushing rocks, BUT those things fall and rise INCREDIBLY fast, so you're likely to DIE. Then, you have to do a tricky platforming section with lots of Bumpties and Bouncies to avoid, as well as some moving platforms. These Bumpties and Bouncies, combined with it being an ice level, often lead to you falling to your death. This section is so hard, some gamers never even get past this part before giving up in frustration. The final section is a ski jump section, which normally is a ScrappyMechanic, but here, it's actually the easiest part of the level.
211* World 5-1, "Rompin' Stompin' Chomps":
212** The level features three different versions of the Chomp enemy, and they're ''all'' nasty. In the first section, you have to dodge huge, fast-moving Chomps which jump up and down in place while trying to collect red coins by throwing eggs really high into the air. Doesn't sound so bad? The screen is AUTO-SCROLLING while you're trying to do this. In the second section, you have to hover over gaps while even bigger Chomps are raining down on you from above. If you can manage to get past that, there's the final section, where one of the "eats everything in its path" Chomps from the first game chases you, and he's much faster than the ones in the original game. If you're going for 100%, be sure not to miss the very inconveniently placed coins and flowers while you're scrambling for your life!
213** The Baby Mario coin deserves special mention. First off, you need to know it's coming, because if you instinctively jump from the ledge above, you'll overshoot the coin with no way to get back. Then, because it's completely surrounded by breakable material, you have to shoot an egg at exactly the right angle; if you're a tiny bit off, you'll either destroy the ground underneath the coin or you'll leave a barrier blocking your way forward. Once you've cleared a path the coin, you must jump in, grab it, jump out ''onto a moving platform'', and then get through the rest of the level (if you die, you lose the coin). All of that, while being chased by a Chomp with RubberBandAI.
214* World 5-5, "The Cave That Never Ends", is an obnoxiously difficult [[AutoScrollingLevel forced-scrolling stage]] that very nearly lives up to its name. The level is a constant barrage of challenging platforming sections that are far too complex to make split-second maneuvers practical, yet that's what you have to do... you know, because of the autoscroll and all. There are several spots where you have to clear a path to a coin or flower and then backtrack so you can follow the path, only to find that you can no longer get to it because you didn't stay ''quite'' far enough ahead of the scroll. Then once you do finally get to the exit ring, you'll find out you passed it quite a while ago, but the scrolling wouldn't let you go to it until just now.
215* Stage 5-7, "Superhard Acrobatics", lives up to its name and then some. Unsurprisingly, it's composed of vicious jumping puzzles and dodging on moving platforms. If this weren't bad enough, unless you specifically set yourself otherwise, you're probably carrying Baby Donkey Kong into the stage,[[note]]Getting the preceding stage's baby coin requires using Donkey Kong for the level's final section, and there's no opportunity to switch babies after that.[[/note]] which cripples your speed and aerial ability.
216* World 5-8: At Last, Bowser's Castle! (of course) gives you five different ways to go through it, depending on who you have on your back. [[SadisticChoice Every one of them]] is NintendoHard.
217** Baby Mario's route has you outrunning a giant Tap-Tap across small platforms. You have to keep running in order to avoid being hit, and your jumps have to be precise so that you hit all the collectibles as well as avoiding falling to your death. It's the most hectic route, but also the shortest, and isn't so bad if you can make your '' Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' instincts kick in.
218** Baby Wario's route depends on puzzle-solving ability rather than platforming skills. It's confusing, long, and tedious. There isn't much in the way of stuff that's likely to kill you, but you can easily ruin your chances of HundredPercentCompletion if you aren't ''really'' careful in how you progress through the level.
219** Baby Peach's route is essentially this game's equivalent to "Animal Antics" from ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest''. You have to use her parasol to ride the breezes through sections lined with instant-death spikes, being very careful not to let the wind blow you into right into them. A particularly nasty section toward the end forces you to ride the breezes upward through a long diagonal shaft. It ain't over after that; you still have to do some careful falling and fluttering through more spiked passages to finally reach the door that takes you to the next section.
220** Baby Bowser's route has you crossing a bunch of tiny ice platforms, in some places bouncing off Koopas to progress, all while being constantly besieged with [[GoddamnedBats Gusties]] coming at you from all directions. They're usually right on top of you before you see them, giving you very little chance to attack or even just dodge them.
221** Finally, Baby Donkey Kong's route is probably the most difficult of them all. It involves a lot of swinging on ropes while dodging Firebars over a bunch of, you guessed it, instant-death spikes. If you're going for HundredPercentCompletion, there are two flowers in this section that are a real pain to collect. One of them forces you to throw an egg up a vertical shaft while swinging on a rope; the hard part is lining up and making your throw without letting the rope's momentum swing you into the spikes. The other is surrounded by spikes in the middle of a zip-lining section. If you don't know it's coming, you probably won't have time to grab it by the time you notice it. Even if you do know it's coming, it's very difficult to grab; you have to slide toward the bottom of the rope — otherwise, you won't be in range to hit the flower with an egg — nail the flower with an egg, then ''very quickly'' climb back up the rope so that you won't hit the next set of spikes.
222[[/folder]]
223
224[[folder:''Yoshi's New Island'']]
225* 3-4: Slime Drop Drama is normally fine to beat, but doing it without taking damage with 30 stars can be really annoying. The first room might have a crate of five stars, but you might just have to get red eggs, enter and exit a locked door over and over again and pin down the Shy Guys or Snifits. And there is barely anything besides the middle ring and three Snifits tucked within walls during a moving platform segment to supply you with stars in the second room. Kamek can easily become ThatOneBoss trying to get through without getting hit.
226[[/folder]]
227
228[[folder:''Yoshi's Woolly World'']]
229* 5-6: Up Shuttlethread Pass. This stage is mazelike, and requires the player to constantly shift between the "front side" and "back side" of the level. However, since you can't see between the two sides of the stage and your perception of the level is mirrored every time you flip sides, it's very easy to become disoriented. It's also a vertical level, so accidental falls can undo ''loads'' of progress.
230* 5-8: Snifberg the Unfeeling's Castle. Almost the entirety of the stage is covered in FrictionlessIce, and it's filled to the brim with ice blocks that slowly roll on an axis like the giant blocks in Shifting Sand Land. Expect countless deaths from getting pinched by one as it rolls over while you're trying to get out of its way. Then they become enormous and then they roll ''fast'' into the foreground in such a way it's difficult to judge their depth. The collectibles aren't easy to reach, either. At least the boss isn't that bad once you figure out his weakness.
231* 6-5: Yoshi, the Terror of All Boos. The level is filled with Frame Boos, which you have to hit with yarn balls to create platforms in order to progress. The problem is that these enemies turn intangible when you face them, meaning that you have to look in the opposite direction and ricochet a yarn ball off the wall to hit them. However, the Boos will chase Yoshi while his back is turned to them, which can mess up their position and lead to the creation of useless platforms. The level also contains stationary Boo Platforms that work similarly, but only last a few seconds. One particularly annoying room has three rows of Boo Platforms, with the player being required to perform a series of precise egg tosses to nail the correct ones in order to reach the exit.
232[[/folder]]
233
234!!!''Paper Mario'' series
235[[folder:''Super Paper Mario'']]
236* If you don't just hop on Website/GameFAQs, Chapter 2-3 is the ultimate in Scrappy levels. To wit - you have to play out extremely long, unbearably boring minigames to run up 1,000,000 Rubees to pay for a vase. Even though you really only need about 10,000 (the rest can be found once you've got that), it takes forever and a year just to get that much, and if a player does not talk to people much, then it is theoretically possible to go for the full million. Thankfully, every bit of that minigame work can be skipped over if you just hop on the Internet and figure out how to get the hidden stash of them without worrying about paying [=NPCs=] to tell you.
237* Chapter 3-3 has [[DemonicSpiders those damned Crazee Dayzees]] in a rather annoying '''jump-centric''' level. They hit you when you're in the middle of a jump, and there's a good chance you will be knocked down and forced to do large chunks of the level again. When you finally make it out of there and deal with your first fight with Dimentio, you still have quite a bit of jumping to do ...and it's possibly made worse by having a few ''Lakitus'' roam the sky, which you likely won't see until it's too late.
238* The entirety of Chapter 4 can be very annoying, due to being a SpaceZone chapter that uses UnexpectedShmupLevel in both 4-1 and 4-3. 4-1 is also TheMaze, and all the rooms look almost identical to each other. On the other hand, 4-3 is nothing but a pointless fetch quest that deprives you of your ability to attack until you complete it. While 4-2 doesn't use either of those elements, it's still annoying, as it is a long level with space physics. Once you reach the end to get a key item, you're forced to backtrack ''all the way to the beginning'' to proceed. To put the annoyance into perspective, 4-4, a GravityScrew TheMaze MarathonLevel, is probably the least annoying level in the Chapter. As a bonus, your guide through the chapter is a {{Jerkass}} who treats your characters like dirt, only adding to the annoyance.
239* Chapter 5-3, a mine level that centers mostly around one long, enemy-filled room with so many branching pathways, several of which are ''hidden'', that it becomes extremely easy to get lost and forget which doors you've already explored. At one point, in order to progress, you must go through one of the automatic MinecartMadness sections while flipped to 3D. The player doesn't find out about this until the end, at which point they're forced to ride back, flip to 3D, and go through it again, meaning they need to sit through the minecart ride ''two more'' times.
240* Chapter 7-1 is a definite breather (given that [[spoiler:Mario and Luigi technically already went through this level beforehand]]), but 7-2 will have anyone grinding their teeth. Does a vertically-ascending MarathonLevel sound bad enough? No? Well, how about setting it in a BlackoutBasement and including a fetch quest that forces you to redo the bulk of the level? [[{{BlatantLies}} You're gonna enjoy this one]].
241* 7-3 isn't any better. It's even longer than 7-2, it's ''very'' jump-centric, and the entire level revolves around finding the right apple to [[spoiler:free Peach from a sleeping curse]], but it doesn't stop there. If you don't have ''another'' right apple to enlarge Cirrus the Cloud in getting you to the end, you'll have to '''backtrack the entire thing again'''. Luckily, the GuideDangIt can be mitigated by hopping on the Internet to find out which apple it is. Also, it's vertical. Don't forget that.
242* The entirety of world 8 can fall into this. A monochromatic maze where every door is the same, and going into the wrong one is punished by an enemy. 8-3 also follows possibly the hardest boss in the game, with no mushroom blocks at the start of the stage to recover from that fight, and one room has you jumping across platforms while dodging magic balls thrown by Dimentio clones. Even then, 8-4 stands out: You only have access to Mario, so kiss Bowser's OP fire blast goodbye. Half of the maze is a never-ending 3D loop of doors. Running out of 3D deals damage to you, so you're punished by taking damage. At least the very last boss is not too hard.
243[[/folder]]
244
245[[folder:''Paper Mario: Sticker Star'']]
246* 1-5 is a fairly moderate level, but trying to get past the Lakitu throwing Spinies everywhere can be frustrating for some gamers because you're more than likely to end up touching one; and you can't jump on them, since they have spikes. They also deal ''5 damage a hit'', when the most health you can have at this point is 25 HP. Hope you've saved non-jumping stickers up for these moments.
247* 2-3, "Sandshifter Ruins". The level is a large, confusing mess of paths and chambers that mostly relies on trial and error. Go down the wrong route, and you're shot all the way above the ruins and you have to start all over. To make matters worse, it's the only level in its world that has multiple exits, and both of them are mandatory.
248* World 3. The world is so long that it's not an exaggeration to say it's ''longer than the previous two worlds combined.''[[note]]The first world has 6 levels, while the second world has 5. World 3? '''12.''' And the levels are looooong.[[/note]] Most of the entire world is spent backtracking and trying to find the four pieces of a Wiggler, all of which run away and try to fight you at one point, and love to dodge your attacks (though, at only 15 HP apiece, they aren't that bad). Also, nearly every single level in the world is covered in poison, which hurts you to step in it (and if you battle while in it, expect to randomly take damage and screw up your perfect bonus), and infested with [[GoddamnedBats Ninji]]. The creepy music starts to get old after a short time. Leaflitter Path is a BlackoutBasement because of how dark and foggy the place is, which makes it easy to walk into poison. The Bafflewood is TheMaze (though you can set markers for the first few path branches). In Rustle Burrow, [[NoGearLevel you lose your hammer, Kersti, and your stickers. All of them.]] And the local Scuttlebugs are all over the place, and the miniboss of that world can't be hurt except by destroying its web, and each attempt will be responded with an unblockable 8 damage. Gauntlet Pond is also really long, and has segments with jumping on swinging logs across a huge poison lake. Then in Whitecap Beach you have to fight Gooper Blooper, who, like all the bosses in this game, is ludicrous without abusing its weakness. Yeesh.
249* 4-3 "The Enigmansion", no doubt. You have to defeat 100 Boos in order to complete the level. Fortunately, some are fought together as a group... but they're hard to defeat. The hardest Boos to defeat are the five that battle you disco-style, and the sheets of 82 Boos combined together (you find two conveniently-located Flashy Infinijumps in the level, for good reason). It's a large level, and it can get extremely frustrating trying to find that [[LastLousyPoint Last Lousy Boo]]. Once you've gotten all 100 Boos, you're done with this level, right? ''Wrong.'' Now you have to put the book away in the basement. But then Kamek appears and turns all 100 Boos into one giant Big Boo, who only has one attack: jumping onto you and grabbing you. Sounds easy at first, but then the lights come on and you can't directly attack it. Hope you have lots of Spike Helmets or the Vacuum for this battle; you'll need either one of them. What a long, frustrating mess it is.
250* 4-5. Not too bad at the start, but the ski lift part is ''really'' annoying. First off, there are ''so'' many enemies (mainly Paragoombas and Fuzzies), and to avoid them, you have to sway left and right, but swaying your ride only lasts for a few seconds. Also, to collect coins or hearts, you have to press the A button when the top of your ride is under that item, and the ski lift part is ''really'' long.
251* 5-3. You've got an annoying Cheep-Chomp trying to eat your raft. If it eats all five logs of the raft, it's game over. If you're swallowed whole, it's game over. Yes, the name of the level is right ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Long Fall Falls]]), the level is long. Worse yet, to access the secret exit of this level, you have to face the Cheep-Chomp ''again''. If you get the secret exit before the normal one, or if you get both and still have stuff to get in the level, the fish's AI improves, making the level even harder.
252* 5-6, which is the home of the World 5 boss, Petey Piranha. It seems to be easy at first, but then when you get to the bridge, Petey Piranha appears and ''eats'' Kersti. Without Kersti, you can't paperize (so attaching the secret door of this level to its rightful place can't be done until Kersti is rescued). Then you cross half the level, and it's easy until you reach the Chain Chomp you have to battle. It can't take damage no matter WHAT item you use. You have to use a Baahammer to put it to sleep and then run off. Then you have to battle it again. You have to use useless items before it wakes up. Once it does, it goes ramming across the screen (you ''have'' to have more then 10 HP here, since the Chain Chomp runs into you with no stopping, and you lose 10 HP for that). Then finally, you reach the boss, Petey Piranha. He has 300 HP. It's hard. But what makes it worse is that you can't use the Battle Spinner, because you need Kersti to operate that, and Kersti is in Petey's body. With the royal sticker on his head, your stickers do little damage to him. Your only bet on beating him is to use Infinijumps stickers. At least you get Kersti back at the end of this level.
253* The Green Toad in 1-4 is this. You find him at the back crying. He'll follow you, but that's when the trouble lies. Because the Green Toad can't jump, any time you fall off a ledge, jump over barriers or over enemies will cause him to run back to where he was; meaning you're essentially forced to battle enemies just to get through to return him to Decalburg. You'll have an easier time at the World 1 boss than this crap!
254[[/folder]]
255
256[[folder:''Paper Mario: Color Splash'']]
257* Dark Bloo Inn, although to a lesser extent than the following ones. The level has you finding six ghost toads and helping them by doing fetch quests. The problem is that one of the toads can only be found in a specific time frame, the toads are invisible and can only be found by painting them and it is slightly difficult to tell where they are (you have to look for something moving on its own) and some of the fetch quests are annoying. Finally, the level is actually a TimedMission. It will [[GroundhogDayLoop reset if you take too long]] and [[GuideDangIt the game does not tell you this until after the loop occurs once.]]
258* Colbalt Base revolves around a memory game. Completing it normally is not too difficult but in order to get the Thing that is in the level (which is required to defeat Wendy) you have to complete the whole thing flawlessly. Hope you have a good memory and you also need to have the right cards to answer the questions. These are given to you by a friendly blue Sniffit at the start of the level but he is easy to miss and will not give you the cards if you do not have space for 30 cards.
259* Violet Passage, probably the most irritating of the three. Featuring an UnexpectedGameplayChange where you take control of a ship and complete a series of tasks that require precise timing with controls that make this harder than it should be. Additionally, your hints for what to do use nautical terms and are a little vague at times. Thankfully, there is a MercyMode if you fail too many times.
260[[/folder]]
261
262!!!''Mario vs. Donkey Kong'' series
263[[folder:''Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!'']]
264* World 7, Cannon Cove is a nice breather level after the hell that was World 6, even in plus mode. That is, however, until you hit the nasty brick wall of 7-7 with a hellish puzzle with Capture Kongs and an almost guarantee of getting your Minis in the door out of order. That level is by far the hardest level in the game outside the BrutalBonusLevel set, and it's harder than most of the NintendoHard bonus levels.
265[[/folder]]

Top