History ThatOneLevel / Adventure

*** Also, the trial has many nasty tricks like giving you the option to present evidence where NONE OF THE EVIDENCE IS CORRECT and a part where you have to find evidence IN A VIDEO (and if you haven't been paying attention, reading and overanalyzing every word of the Court Record, chances are that you'll never find the correct evidence). Gladly the worst video analysis isn't penalized (yeah, you have to analyze that video many times and some of those are penalized).
*** Also, the case has so many subversions that by the end is almost impossible to determine which is the correct piece of evidence to present, all of this is not helped by the fact that you have very little help in this case and almost all of your decisions are penalized if chosen wrong.
*** And to top it off, there is a nasty OneHitKill MoonLogicPuzzle almost by the end of the trial, the worst part is that if you haven't being paying all the attention in the world, not only to the Court Record but also to the conversations since the start of the trial, you won't recognize it. And to add even more insult to injury, that part is presented as a simple choice that in other situations would be really easy to pick. If you haven't been saving from time to time, expect to suffer the worst moments of your life (Since the trial is so long that losing almost at the end will trigger UnstoppableRage in at least 90% of the human population).
** [[WholeEpisodeFlashback Case 4]] of the third game is actually one of the shortest in the series, but don't lat that fool you, [[NintendoHard it's really bloody hard.]] You only have, like, 5 pieces of evidence and ALL of them are [[ChekhovsBoomerang Chekhov's Boomerangs]], being used roughtly 3 times each, at least one of which WILL be a MoonLogicPuzzle. (e.g. Using a photo of a body in the trunk of a car to show [[spoiler: there were scratch marks on the lock]]) And to top it all off, your reward for completing it is a MAJOR DownerEnding. (Which, to be fair, [[ForegoneConclusion you should have seen coming]], but still.)

* Case 3 of ''PhoenixWrightAceAttorney: Justice for All'' is often cited as one of the weakest of the saga. For different reasons, including the need to Cross-examine a Clown witness who makes bad jokes at every opportunity, and giving you penalties if you press wrongly on him, for annoying the Judge and the prosecutor. Tip: don't Press him when he's grinning.
** Case 2 of ''Justice for All''. The thing is that Phoenix is present on the day of the murder, which requires you to essentially sit through TWO days of boring investigation segments before you even get to the first courtroom sequence, and the minigame that makes the investigations tolerable isn't even introduced until the second. Plus, the solution to the case is obvious right from the start, which makes the whole thing something of a trudge.
*** It's certainly less universally hated than Case 3, mostly because it's NOT really an obvious case in the slightest (and it has far more overall plot relevance than Case 3). For people who didn't figure out the twist until they presented a contradiction and everything suddenly made sense, the plot twist is brilliant, making the whole case worthwhile. Also the whole "side of the door" contradiction was deemed too hard to pick up on.
** Towards the end of case 5 of ''Investigations'' there's a long stretch of cross-examinations and cutscenes which wouldn't be too bad save for the fact that there's no investigating portions in between to refill you heath bar. Meaning that unless you've been paying ''very'' close attention and have an exceptional memory, you're going to have to keep a very close eye on your health bar and choose you evidence very carefully. SaveScumming is a necessity.
*** Actually, there's a very brief section that is basically just there to get you one last piece of evidence and a quick health bar refresh.
** The second-to-last Rebuttal of case 3 in ''Investigations'' is hands-down the most difficult cross-examination in the SERIES, but for the fact that you have to present a piece of evidence that is ''completely'' irrelevant to the current argument (albeit not to the statement in question). Even veterans who have followed the series since the first game had to consult a guide because of the obscurity of this contradiction.
** Case 5 in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Not only is it very long (the longest in the series), but by the end of it you have 4 pages of evidence, most of which is used very obscurely. This troper couldn't get through it without the help of a walkthrough.
*** And if that wasn't enough, many of the newly introduced mechanics (to take advantage of DS capabilities) will become hell if you don't use them regularly, usually getting you stucked only because you forgot to check some dumb thing on a piece of evidence.

* Case 3 of ''PhoenixWrightAceAttorney: Justice for All'' is often cited as one of the weakest of the saga. For different reasons, including the need to Cross-examine a Clown witness who makes bad jokes at every opportunity, and giving you penalties if you press wrongly on him, for annoying the Judge and the prosecutor. Tip: don't Press him when he's grinning.
** Case 2 of ''Justice for All''. The thing is that Phoenix is present on the day of the murder, which requires you to essentially sit through TWO days of boring investigation segments before you even get to the first courtroom sequence, and the minigame that makes the investigations tolerable isn't even introduced until the second. Plus, the solution to the case is obvious right from the start, which makes the whole thing something of a trudge.
*** It's certainly less universally hated than Case 3, mostly because it's NOT really an obvious case in the slightest (and it has far more overall plot relevance than Case 3). For people who didn't figure out the twist until they presented a contradiction and everything suddenly made sense, the plot twist is brilliant, making the whole case worthwhile. Also the whole "side of the door" contradiction was deemed too hard to pick up on.
** Towards the end of case 5 of ''Investigations'' there's a long stretch of cross-examinations and cutscenes which wouldn't be too bad save for the fact that there's no investigating portions in between to refill you heath bar. Meaning that unless you've been paying ''very'' close attention and have an exceptional memory, you're going to have to keep a very close eye on your health bar and choose you evidence very carefully. SaveScumming is a necessity.
*** Actually, there's a very brief section that is basically just there to get you one last piece of evidence and a quick health bar refresh.
** The second-to-last Rebuttal of case 3 in ''Investigations'' is hands-down the most difficult cross-examination in the SERIES, but for the fact that you have to present a piece of evidence that is ''completely'' irrelevant to the current argument (albeit not to the statement in question). Even veterans who have followed the series since the first game had to consult a guide because of the obscurity of this contradiction.
** Case 5 in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Not only is it very long (the longest in the series), but by the end of it you have 4 pages of evidence, most of which is used very obscurely. This troper couldn't get through it without the help of a walkthrough.
*** And if that wasn't enough, many of the newly introduced mechanics (to take advantage of DS capabilities) will become hell if you don't use them regularly, usually getting you stucked only because you forgot to check some dumb thing on a piece of evidence.
*** Also, the trial has many nasty tricks like giving you the option to present evidence where NONE OF THE EVIDENCE IS CORRECT and a part where you have to find evidence IN A VIDEO (and if you haven't been paying attention, reading and overanalyzing every word of the Court Record, chances are that you'll never find the correct evidence). Gladly the worst video analysis isn't penalized (yeah, you have to analyze that video many times and some of those are penalized).
*** Also, the case has so many subversions that by the end is almost impossible to determine which is the correct piece of evidence to present, all of this is not helped by the fact that you have very little help in this case and almost all of your decisions are penalized if chosen wrong.
*** And to top it off, there is a nasty OneHitKill MoonLogicPuzzle almost by the end of the trial, the worst part is that if you haven't being paying all the attention in the world, not only to the Court Record but also to the conversations since the start of the trial, you won't recognize it. And to add even more insult to injury, that part is presented as a simple choice that in other situations would be really easy to pick. If you haven't been saving from time to time, expect to suffer the worst moments of your life (Since the trial is so long that losing almost at the end will trigger UnstoppableRage in at least 90% of the human population).
** [[WholeEpisodeFlashback Case 4]] of the third game is actually one of the shortest in the series, but don't lat that fool you, [[NintendoHard it's really bloody hard.]] You only have, like, 5 pieces of evidence and ALL of them are [[ChekhovsBoomerang Chekhov's Boomerangs]], being used roughtly 3 times each, at least one of which WILL be a MoonLogicPuzzle. (e.g. Using a photo of a body in the trunk of a car to show [[spoiler: there were scratch marks on the lock]]) And to top it all off, your reward for completing it is a MAJOR DownerEnding. (Which, to be fair, [[ForegoneConclusion you should have seen coming]], but still.)

* ''YumeNikki'' has the "Hell" maze. Not only does it glow red, giving it a very unsettling look and feel, it's also the largest area in the game, is extremely difficult to navigate, and there's a [[DemonicSpiders toriningen]] or two to avoid. But navigation of it is necessary to obtain a few effects.

* ''YumeNikki'' has the "Hell" maze. Not only does it glow red, giving it a [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel very unsettling]] look and feel, it's also the largest area in the game, is extremely difficult to navigate, and there's a [[DemonicSpiders toriningen]] or two to avoid. But navigation of it is necessary to obtain a few effects.

* Chapter 9 in ''GhostTrick''. EscortMission. Lights switched off. Enough said.

*** And to top it off, there is a nasty OneHitKill MoonLogicPuzzle almost by the end of the trial, the worst part is that if you haven't being paying all the attention in the world, not only to the Court Record but also to the conversations since the start of the trial, you won't recognize it. And to add even more insult to injury, that part is presented as a simple choice that in other situations would be really easy to pick. If you haven't being saving from time to time, expect to suffer the worst moments of your life (Since the trial is so long that losing almost at the end will trigger UnstoppableRage in at least 90% of the human population).

*** Actually the game leaves it up to you to find this out. You can go to the main bridge, which is actually not too far away from the starting point, and read the console. It will say the ship is set to self destruct and has a time counting down. But you also don't have to enter the bridge at all to continue and you could easily bypass it completely without realizing it was even an option.
** In ''Space Quest II'', there was a maze that was a non-cursor version of a pixel hunt. If you touched the (pixel thick) walls with your (pixel sized) foot, that's it. Boom, dead, game over. Worse, the death sequence - while interesting the first time you saw it - takes a long time and all you can do once you've tapped the walls is reload or die, meaning there's a lot of step-save step-save stuff. Back in the day of playing on 512k floppies, this maze represented one of the most tedious things in the world. The maze isn't difficult - you can see the whole thing from the outside the whole time - but navigating it is incredibly tedious and frustrating. And when you've navigated and successfully evaded death? You need to remember to 'duck' or you'll die. In the same way. And then, having achieved all this herculean task... you have to do it all over again. Backwards.

*** The [=ScumSoft=] Maze in ''Space Quest III'', where Roger must slowly go through a repetitive labyrinth of cubicles zapping garbage, where missing even one can (or indeed, wandering too near to just about everything) results in an instant death.

*** Also from SQV, TheMaze. It's a long, boring vent maze, and joy of joys, there's several levels of it! What should be the badass infiltration of the enemy ship suddenly turns into slow tedium, likely followed by a walkthrough.

** In the original version of ''Space Quest I'', you have to escape the Arcada before it explodes. Yet you are not explained ANYTHING about this other than "the Arcada was boarded by unknown assailants".

*** The ScumSoft Maze in ''Space Quest III'', where Roger must slowly go through a repetitive labyrinth of cubicles zapping garbage, where missing even one can (or indeed, wandering too near to just about everything) results in an instant death.

** The stupid cliff climbing section in [[KingsQuest King's Quest III]] -- you have to inch Gwydion down a cliff with no indication as to which pixels are the very, very small minority which will not send you plummeting to your death.
** The desert in ''[[KingsQuest King's Quest 5]]''. Finding the oases and the bandit camp (and a certain item that you need to complete the game lest it becomes {{Unwinnable}}) is trial-and-error, unless you have a [[GuideDangIt map]]. And even after getting past that one, there's the catacombs of Mordack's dungeon late in the game, with a ''very'' confusing map system.
*** Let's not forget the infamous mountains of KQ5, where [[EdgeGravity King Graham will gladly walk to his death at any and all available ledges]], [[HumanPopsicle he'll freeze to death instantly if he forgets his cloak]], [[FakeDifficulty you can screw yourself over if you eat the wrong food item or feed the wrong thing to an eagle]], and of course, [[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption you end up defeating a Yeti with a custard pie]]. Actually, pretty much the whole game is ThatOneLevel when you stop and think about it...
** [[KingsQuest King's Quest VI]] has the Labyrinth, which comes close to V's desert in sheer frustration. The maze is littered with instant-kill dead ends, has an infuriatingly annoying tile puzzle, and getting to the second floor requires you to [[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption do something that got you killed every other time you tried it.]] Most of this was done for the sake of CopyProtection (the manual had solutions for the tile puzzle, for example)...but then there are a couple of items you need to get, or you're locked out of the [[MultipleEndings good ending]], [[UnwinnableByDesign and if you enter without the right items, you can't leave to go get them.]] Fortunately, you're offered the option to return and search the place again, this time having an easier exit. Also it didn't have the perspective skew KQ5 did.

** The second-to-last Rebuttal of case 3 in ''Investigations'' is hands-down the most difficult cross-examination in the SERIES, but for the fact that you have to present a piece of evidence that is ''completely'' irrelevant to the current argument. Even veterans who have followed the series since the first game had to consult a guide because of the obscurity of this contradiction.

*** The second-to-last Rebuttal of case 3 in ''Investigations'' is hands-down the most difficult cross-examination in the SERIES, but for the fact that you have to present a piece of evidence that is ''completely'' irrelevant to the current argument. Even veterans who have followed the series since the first game had to consult a guide because of the obscurity of this contradiction.

** The stupid cliff climbing section in [[KingsQuest King's Quest III]] -- you have to inch Gwydion down a cliff with no indication as to which pixels are the very, very small minority which will not send you plummeting to your death.
** [[KingsQuest King's Quest VI]] has the Labyrinth, which comes close to V's desert in sheer frustration. The maze is littered with instant-kill dead ends, has an infuriatingly annoying tile puzzle, and getting to the second floor requires you to [[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption do something that got you killed every other time you tried it.]] Most of this was done for the sake of CopyProtection (the manual had solutions for the tile puzzle, for example)...but then there are a couple of items you need to get, or you're locked out of the [[MultipleEndings good ending]], [[UnwinnableByDesign and if you enter without the right items, you can't leave to go get them.]] Fortunately, you're offered the option to return and search the place again, this time having an easier exit.

* 7 Days a Skeptic of the Chzo Mythos games was particularly painful when the player was being chased about the space station and died if the enemy got within a few pixels of him (in a small windowed game). While the chasing was not TOO bad if you played things safe, the worst part were the puzzles to defeat said assailant, usually involving doing things that were much more elaborate than it seemed necessary.