History ThatOneLevel / TurnBasedStrategy

** In Chapter 3-13, you have to play as under-leveled characters fighting against a nearly endless wave of laguz. Especially egregious because [[spoiler: Ike, the best unit in the game to which everything falls in two hits, is the enemy boss.]] You have to rely upon mostly brain-dead ally units to do the dirty work for you, and only one of them, (the one referred to by fans as the "3-13 Archer") actually puts up a fight. There were several joke topics on Website/GameFAQs about how "3-13 Archer" was the best character in the game. The only redeeming factor (somewhat) by the CrowningMusicOfAwesome [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ6WPnvukQ4 playing]] in that chapter.

* Any time there's a desert level in a ''Fire Emblem'' game, you know trouble is headed your way, because your movement on the desert is mega-slow. Paladins normally move 8 spaces, but on deserts it's 2 spaces. Magicians (Non-mounted of course--hope you trained some. And no, this doesn't include the SpoonyBard.) aren't affected by this, and neither are fliers, which the enemy army typically has a whole lot of.

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[[AC:VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics]]

* Chapter 11 in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem New Mystery of the Emblem]]''. A big desert map filled with [[DemonicSpiders Wyverns.]] Wanna know what's so bad about Wyverns? Well, you know how desert maps severely lower the movement of just about all your units? Well, imagine if the enemy had a unit that not only ignored the penalty, but had a larger movement range than anything on your side AND hit like a, well, dragon to boot? Yep, that's Wyverns, and they're not even bosses, they're the map's ''basic Mooks!'' Oh, and they're fast enough to avoid being doubled by most of your party, and lord have mercy if they actually double ''you''... [[FromBadToWorse And on Lunatic Mode, their breath has increased range.]]
* ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones The Sacred Stones]]'' is rather easy overall, even without the LevelGrinding you can do in the Tower of Valni. One level, however, is pure torture: Fluorspar's Oath in Ephraim's route. The level is set up so that you have to corkscrew your units around a winding river. You could use your fliers to fly a few units across to save some time, but then they get put in the range of archers and Selena's long-range and ''very'' powerful Bolting tome. You can also try to use Pirate!Ross or Colm to rescue people and deposit them across the water, but both of them would be severely slowed down and likely doubled by most of the enemies. Just to make it more stressful, you have to reach two towns before the Pirates and Brigands get them.
** Chapter 11, Phantom Ship on Ephraim's route, if you didn't [[LevelGrinding grind]] in the Tower of Valni, is a ''nightmare'', especially on Hard Mode. You have to fight your way through a ship full of enemies to get to [[WhiteMage L'Arachel]] before she's stupidly killed because she's a noncombatant at this point, while her bodyguard [[UnskilledButStrong Dozla]] is running off attempting (and mostly failing) to hit enemies with his huge Battle Axe. You could send your fliers to rescue her, but the seas around you are swarming with flying enemies, including flying spell-casters that can nuke the otherwise hardy flier Cormag. And at this point, there is nobody in your army big enough to rescue Dozla. Adding to this is the small space in which to move and no space to hide, the boss that is way harder than any monster faced up to that point and averts the usual StationaryBoss by being a flier who ''will'' kill your weaker units is it can, and on top of all this we have FogOfWar, meaning you can't see most of those flying enemies until it's too late.
** Heck, ''all'' of Ephraim's route. In between the aforementioned "Phantom Ship" and "Fluorspar's Oath" is "Landing at Taizel", a giant level which you get thrust into immediately after "Phantom Ship" (no chance to level-grind) and has enemies all over the place. Also, in order to recruit Marisa, you have to use the newly-recruited Ewan, who has a movement range of 4 and gets owned in one hit by everything because he's a Trainee-class unit and a SquishyWizard at that. The only way to properly make this recruitment is to lure her in with another unit, preferably unarmed because anything strong enough to stand up to her criticals would probably one-shot her due to her low HP. This requires careful planning to pick off any other enemies that are even remotely close.
*** And after those three, there's "Father and Son", which does hard the old-fashioned way: by being gigantic and filled with enemy reinforcements as well as chests that must be opened. And we're not counting the two Druids with [[RandomNumberGod really, really effective Berserk staves]], that are almost guaranteed to make units with low Resistence go AxCrazy and attack whoever's on their reach-- even those on your own side. And God forbid they ''crit'' one of your own party members. Ewwww, go stock on Restore staves and keep your staff-using units safe, you WILL need them. And then we have [[ThatOneBoss the]] [[ClimaxBoss boss]].
** The game throws an early ThatOneLevel very early on at the Adlas Plains, when Eirika is still the default main character. Before the level starts, the level boss Novala decides to taunt Eirika by teleporting three random, defenseless civilians into the map, and putting them right near a den of [[DemonicSpider giant spiders]], which turns it into a TimedMission as letting all of the civilians die leads to a NonstandardGameOver. (And losing one of them will screw you over getting an Orion's Bolt, which is needed to promote archers, for free). Between the [=NPCs=] and the spiders is a fairly strong force of Grado soldiers (which can inflict some very painful damage on your still-squishy units). And the whole thing is covered by FogOfWar. It's basically a combination of almost every single ScrappyMechanic in the series.
*** Not helping ''at all'' is the enemy outnumbering you a lot more than in the previous levels and being spread out all over; if anyone but Seth goes out on their own (like Vanessa the pegasus knight trying to get the civilians out of spider range...) they WILL get ganged up on and most likely die. This level is one of the best arguments the "It's OK to use Seth" camp has in its arsenal early on. And even with this, it '''won't''' be cakewalk to have him reach for the boss: with the FogOfWar around and how Novala is actually in an upper corner of the map, poor Seth ''will'' get ganged-up and die if you aren't careful.
** And then there's Scorched Sand. Half of the level is made up of desert tiles, which make any non-flying mounted unit essentially useless and any armored unit even MORE so. And as for all other units, save for magic ones they get slowed down substantially, making the level just drag on for hours on end. Good thing this map offers obscenely good items to break up the monotony. Want to get them? [[GuideDangIt Better check the strategy guide!]] And at the end of it all, you face ThatOneBoss, who is way too likely to kill off even your best units. And there's actually two bosses. Which of them was meant when they were referred to as ThatOneBoss? Why, '''[[FromBadToWorse both of them]]'''.
*** Both bosses ''can'' be made easier by stealing their special items; Valter in particular is greatly weakened if you steal his Fili Shield, the item that protects him from bow attacks. Due to the general weakness of your two thief units, though, you'd damn well better get them out of there before the enemy turn, or they'll likely be crushed.
* Prologue 8 and Chapter 6X of [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia FE12]]. Prologue 8 has [[spoiler:Katarina]] as the boss, and due to the way resistance works in this game, her attacks will do tremendous amounts of damage to you, if they don't just outright kill you. She, unlike many early-game bosses, can and ''will'' move to attack people in range. Chapter 6X is a small map filled to the brim with Fighters, and on top of that there's Caesar and Radd, who you actually have to keep alive so that they'll join you later. However, they won't hesitate to [[TooDumbToLive attack your best units and die trying.]] At least Radd is fast enough to avoid being hit twice.
** Chapter 19 is pretty annoying too, with its long streams of brutally tough reinforcements. (Which on [[HarderThanHard Lunatic Mode]] all carry uber forged weapons) Not only that, but there's ''four'' characters you have to recruit, and they form a chain (the first recruits the second, the second recruits the third and so on), meaning they all have to treck across the map. Did I mention they all have crap stats and die in a few hits to the reinforcements? Apart from the first, these units all have to be recruited from the enemy, and despite supposedly being enemy subcommanders they're all inexplicably much weaker than their own {{Mooks}}, who will, naturally, gleefully cut them to pieces the second they defect.
* Some of the {{Game Mod}}s have their own difficult chapters:
** Chapter 6 in ''FE Girls'', a ''very'' elaborate hack of Sacred Stones. Similar to its real-game counterpart, but there's no fog, no giant spiders, and you only have to survive for 12 turns. However, you still have to defend the helpless citizens, who are now stranded on a pier and the first one '''will''' die on the third turn if you aren't going full tilt towards them. The enemies will ''flood'' this area, too, citizens or no. On top of this, ZEPHIEL of all people is here, and, starting on the eighth turn, [[AdvancingWallOfDoom HE MOVES!]] He'll reach the island with the pier, too, so if you stopped after rescuing the citizens, thinking you're safe, you're DEAD wrong. You actually have to start retreating, citizens in tow, unless you want to see [[HopelessBossFight the stragglers get slaughtered where they stand.]] Good lord.
** Chapter 13 somehow manages to be even ''worse'' than Chapter 13-Ephraim in regular [=FE8=]. There's '''three''' different bosses, one of them actually appears behind you and will start chasing you, and the map is very large. And you get two new characters, one of which is a [[SpoonyBard Dancer]] and the other one, while capable of fighting, is very hard to keep alive with all the enemies around. While one of the bosses [[HeelFaceTurn can be swayed to your side]], said boss is ''very'' aggressive, carries a Bolting tome, and '''moves.''' It's not unlikely to see her kill Lyn, the ''very person who recruits her.'' She's also the Lord. [[WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou And you know what that means...]]
** Take the original Scorched Sand, make it larger, thrust not one, but ''two'' {{Squishy Wizard}}s into the party and you have Chapter 15. Also, there are level [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard 21 and higher]] enemies.
** Chapter 20 of ''The Last Promise'', a very elaborate hack of FE7, is just plain evil, thanks to the [[GoddamnBats Wyvern Riders and Wyvern Lords]]. They'll swarm your position from the get-go, and you'll need to contain them quickly before they overwhelm you, which is far easier said than done. You get three new characters, two of whom are painfully underleveled and quite fragile (the third is a powerful Paladin, and you'll need him to survive). On top of that, the map is huge, forcing your army through a narrow path full of forest tiles which slow your movement speed down, and it's filled with tough enemies which can pose a serious threat to you. Oh, and the boss is painful too, a level 10 Wyvern Lord with good stats and a very powerful Sylmeria lance. His weakness to arrows doesn't help much - you only have one bow user at this point, he's not stellar, and the boss is sitting on a gate which helps him dodge most of your attacks.
*** You do have Aircalibur available for your mages, one of whom is good and one [[GameBreaker who's amazing]], so you'd think that would be the perfect choice. Surprise! Sylmeria has the same effect as a Delphi Shield. And to add insult to injury, a character you recruit in a village at the beginning of the map knows why you're being attacked by these Wyvern Riders and could possibly prevent the whole thing, [[PoorCommunicationKills but for some reason, he just doesn't see fit to tell your army's leader what's going on.]]

** Chapter 9 is the point where the game more or less stops messing around. Never mind the fact that the whole level [[spoiler: is one giant PlayerPunch]], this is the prime contender of the Wake-Up Call Level of Fire Emblem. First off, all of the units are packing Steel weapons and El-level tomes before they're even available for purchase, which means your squishiest units will be downed in two hits. Secondly, it's a map that's on a desert, where ALL desert levels in Fire Emblem ''period'' are a ThatOneLevel. So aside from being slowed down to a crawl, you'll also have to deal with [[DemonicSpider Steel Axe-wielding Wyvern Knights]], and they WILL hurt like a bitch. [[FromBadToWorse Thirdly]], you have ''two'' units needing recruitment; while one isn't so bad, the other character you need recruiting is pure torture. He's named [[DudeLooksLikeALady Libra]], and he'll gladly [[LeeroyJenkins go charging into enemy territory.]] While he can handle himself pretty well[[labelnote:*]]He starts off as a War Monk, a promoted class.[[/labelnote]], the units he's up against are Steel-wielding lance and bowmen, so they will wear him down quickly, and you better have your flyers reach him in time. [[SerialEscalation It gets even worse]]: halfway through the map, you'll have a whole cadre of Wyvern Knights charge you from the flank and - unless you scramble defensive formations beforehand - you will be losing a unit from the surprise attack. [[spoiler: After being put through all this torture, you are "rewarded" with Emmeryn's HeroicSuicide, which serves as one-last "fuck you" to the player.]]

** Among the [[SideQuest Paralogue chapters]], there's the one where you can recruit [[{{Tsundere}} Severa]], a female mercenary and daughter to a playable character ([[spoiler: Cordelia]]). Unlike most characters who can be recruited throughout the series, she doesn't immediately join the cast when spoken to, she has to be escorted through a fortress, which is heavily armed with enemies who can so much as swat her like a fly. What's worse is that [[ArtificialStupidity her AI has the common sense of a blind ostrich]], and will outright ''[[FaceHeelTurn turn over to the enemy side]]'' if the NPC she has to talk to is accidentally killed. [[note]](There's a trick to make this easier, however: stocking up on Rescue staves and using them on her whenever she walks too far into the enemies' clutches. Plus the NPC she has to speak to doesn't move or attack the cast, so he'll stay put until Severa talks to him.)[[/note]]
** Nah's paralogue can be a pain as well because of the stage featuring a rather annoying mechanic where the walls magically break and fix themselves periodically. Aside from the locked doors one can only progress by going through them when they are down (and the player's likely to reach one just as it fixes itself). Worse, most enemies have ranged weapons and two of them have the Mire tome which have a very large range.

** Paralogue 23: The Radiant Hero may be the single most difficult chapter in the game. Good news, you get access to 30 units, the most of any chapter. Bad news? You have'' '''50''' ''enemies to deal with, and all of them are max level with top-teir equipment. As if that wasn't bad enough, the boss character is Priam, who not only has the legendary [[InfinityPlusOneSword Ragnell]] (which grants a +5 defense boost and is a 15 MT, 70% Hit Rate sword that can attack from 2 spaces away), but also has ''all three'' melee weapon breaker skills plus [[LifeDrain Sol]] and [[ArmorPiercingAttack Luna]]. Even worse? You don't get to just plan out a strategy and pick them apart step-by-step. The entire enemy formation, Priam included, charges you in a ZergRush that feels more like standing in the path of an avalanche. If you're trying to make it through all stages without losing anyone on Classic mode... good freakin' luck. Even on Normal, it's very hard to avoid losing at least one unit.

** The final chapter can be really difficult as well if you're trying for a no-death run. It may not look like it at first but the fact that Grima summons four enemies ''each turn'' really makes things tricky, and they often come packed with Killer weapons. Especially since the battlefield basically has no obstructions, allowing the enemies to flank you and pick off your slower units. And because of Grima's Dragonskin ability and ridiculously high health, he will most likely take a few turns to take down [[spoiler: unless if you attack him with Chrom's Exalted Falchion]], which by that point a good number of your army will most likely be killed.

* ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade The Binding Blade]]'':

* Any FogOfWar chapter in any game is met with groans of disgust, but "Battle Before Dawn" in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade The Blazing Blade]]'' has a reputation for being particularly sucktastic, especially in hard mode. To elaborate: there are 3 different AI allies whom you need to rescue, and they are in the bottom left, center, and right. One is the prince, who at least has the sense to hide and use Elixirs. He's the only one required to survive this chapter (you get a Game Over if he dies), but the other two are required to survive ''and'' recruit in order to unlock a sidequest chapter. Said other two are Nino the wizard, who will get killed by any physical attack and Jaffar, who while quite competent, starts surrounded by enemy forces and can get killed by a couple bad RNG rolls. To top it all off, the boss will move to get you and has the long-range Bolting tome, which will kill weakened units or the aforementioned Nino and the prince. Even worse, there are two treasure rooms, each one holding ''fabulous'' treasure (one has a consumable item that permanently increases a unit's movement range by one, one has a staff that warps other units within range to near its user[[labelnote:*]]this one is particularly painful, because it's the first and only one of such staff that you get in the game, and it would make rescuing the prince '''FAR''' easier if it were only obtainable earlier; get the prince within range, use it, and voila, ''you would save him on the first/second turn''[[/labelnote]] and another is an equippable item that removes a flying unit's crippling arrow weakness). However, the enemy starts much closer to those treasure rooms, and deploys their own thieves to steal the treasure for themselves. So, in addition to needing to defend all 3 {{Non Player Character}}s, you also have to fight ''flawlessly'' in order to get to the thieves (who ''will'' have stolen the treasures before you get there) and kill them to get the treasures before they escape off the map.
** To add an extra grain of salt into the wounds, in Hector's mode, the enemies sent to kill Jaffar all have Swordreavers (and some have Swordslayers, just for an extra "fuck you" to the gamer) which reverse the weapon triangle, putting Jaffar into a massive disadvantage at the beginning. Sometimes, you just have to restart because the game wanted him dead. Hope you got a flying unit/paladin at the ready! Nino at least can be recruited and sent to safety fast since you usually reach for her ''after'' clearing the path towards her with relative ease, but doing the same with Jaffar is pure torture. You also need to make Nino speak with Jaffar in order to unlock the sidequest mentioned earlier, and the only saving grace is that he is a neutral NPC, so he won't attack your characters.
** Also, regarding the prince and his Elixirs; he '''will not use them''' unless his health is below 50%. When he has ''20'' HP to start with. In other words, if a Fighter attacks him and only does, say 6 damage, it would be WORSE than if it nearly killed him, because he won't heal the damage back! if you don't have a healer with a Physic staff handy ''and'' relatively close, prepare to get shit-scared every time the little guy takes a hit.
** And the final kicker, the last nail in the coffin for this horrid level, is a story-related one. [[CrossesTheLineTwice From the previous game!]] (Granted, ''The Blazing Blade'' is actually a prequel, but to make players pissed off at the previous installment in a series with one level is no easy feat, and certainly not a respectable one.) You go through this hell to save the prince, and [[spoiler:not only he becomes the Big Bad of ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade The Binding Blade]]'', he also kills Hector (the man who helped to save his life in this particular level) during the events of that game]]. So much for this...

* Any time there's a desert level in a ''Fire Emblem'' game, you know trouble is headed your way, because your movement on the desert is mega-slow. Paladins normally move 8 spaces, but on deserts it's 2 spaces. Magicians (Non-mounted of course--hope you trained some. And no, this doesn't include the SpoonyBard.) aren't affected by this, and neither are fliers, which the enemy army typically has a whole lot of.
** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe The Binding Blade]]'' makes it worse by forcing you to use Sophia--a level ONE Shaman who dies in one shot from just about everything--in this desert level, which just so happens to include FogOfWar. And you need to keep her alive AND pass the level in 25 turns or you won't get the BonusLevel, which is needed for getting to the proper end of the game. Now, desert levels typically hide items in the sand. You find them by putting a Thief or high-luck-stat unit on the space where the item is (just barely evades GuideDangIt by putting the items near bones on the map). Going back to ''The Binding Blade'', you have to protect Sophia in FogOfWar, worry about the time limit AND worry about finding all the items... AND one final item that only Sophia can find! Did I mention the Bishop with a Sleep spell who can freeze Sophia and make her helpless to just about anything?
*** Oh, and just as an added "[[SarcasmMode bonus]]" -- you also have to bring Cecilia on this map. Apart from her stats being pitiful, she's a ''mounted'' magic user, and therefore gets hit by the same movement penalty that your cavaliers/paladins do. So you're stuck dragging around around at least one unit who's going to be moving across the map at a crawl.
** As a level pretty much copied from ''The Binding Blade'', Living Legend from ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Blazing Sword]]'' isn't much better. While it doesn't have FogOfWar (thank Elimine, you have the two bosses inspired by those in the ''Seals'' level, and one of them has a '''very''' valuable Guiding Ring (promotion item for magical units). Problem is, the character you're supposed to rescue (Pent the Mage General) is very badass, but being a high-level magic unit he moves around the map with lots of speed while trying to protect himself.. and if you can't reach for that specific boss and yoink the Guiding Ring with your best Thief, ''Pent will kill the boss before you can obtain the Ring''. (AUUUUGH.) And if your flier isn't overleveled enough to reach for Pent in time, s/he WILL get shot down because the level includes several archers, who have high chances to crit on them. Really, Pent is an awesome character in-story and in-stats, but in this particular level [[AnnoyingVideoGameHelper he can completely trash your strategies.]]
*** Not to mention that Pent can also screw you out of that chapter's sidequest, the requirement for it being that your party has to collectively gain 700 EXP during the map. That's hard to do when he's killing all the enemies! Oh, and that bit about there not being Fog of War? That only applies on Normal mode or Eliwood Hard mode; on Hector Hard mode, that small blessing is taken away.
** C15 of ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Path of Radiance]]''. Not only do you have a desert that slows down everyone except mages, flying units, and thieves; the map is full of Laguz shapeshifters, who are among the most powerful units in the game when transformed...but unable to attack when not transformed. This would be a blessing if not for the fact that you're rewarded for [[LetsYouAndHimFight not killing them, even though they're making every effort to kill you]]. Add in that on top of the usual hidden treasures, there's also a hidden ''unit'' that [[GuideDangIt can only be recruited by sending one of two units to a specific square, and if you send any other unit to that square first, he'll leave]]... (though at least you'll still get the Vague Katti if you send the wrong unit there.) If you don't mind forgoing the bonus experience for sparing the enemies, though, it's actually a pretty good place to level units up, both because the laguz give out just as much experience when they're not transformed as they do when they are and because the boss is immobile and lacks a ranged attack, allowing anyone with a ranged attack to grind for experience off of him without fear of counterattack. And given that Chapter 14 is a FogOfWar chapter and Chapter 17 is, well, see below, this could also qualify as a ''BreatherLevel''.
** C11 in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia New Mystery of the Emblem]]''. A big desert map filled with [[DemonicSpiders Wyverns.]] Wanna know what's so bad about Wyverns? Well, you know how desert maps severly lower the movememt of just about all your units? Well, immagine if the enemy had a unit that not only ignored the penalty, but had a larger movement range than anything on your side AND hit like a, well, dragon to boot? Yep, that's Wyverns, and they're not even bosses, they're the map's ''basic Mooks!'' Oh, and they're fast enough to avoid being doubled by most of your party, and lord have mercy if they actually double ''you''... [[FromBadToWorse And on Lunatic Mode, their breath has increased range.]]
* Chapter 13 in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia Shadow Dragon]]''. Shooters and their 3 to 10 range all but flood the map. They are at least immobile for the most part, so you can shake off the mobile enemies--which are few at all, and easily taken care of individually even on Hard 5--and then proceed to drain their ammo....except each of them has more than 5 shots and the sole Fort on the map is covered by most of the Shooters. Either that or relying on luck and [[LeapOfFaith the fact that the AI Shooters won't necessarily attack people in their range when recruitable characters like the one in this chapter will attack the very people who can recruit them regardless of reasoning]].
* ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral Thracia 776]]'' is renowned for being NintendoHard, and there are many different levels in this game that would easily qualify as ThatOneLevel in normal ''Fire Emblem'' games, but the one level that takes the cake is Chapter 22. Lots of high-leveled enemies that all have a boosted 30% accuracy and avoid thanks to a particular character on the map, status-inflicting staff users (in this game, long-range staffs can affect anyone on the map, and bad statuses ''do not wear off over time'') and lots of ballistas that are subject to the same accuracy/avoid boost that love to snipe your weaker characters off. Although it is very easy to simply cop out and use a Warp Staff to kill the boss and seize the castle on the first turn, one of the bosses, who has an army of ''very'' powerful soldiers protecting him, gives a very nice sword to someone [[GuideDangIt if you have her talk to him.]] So, if you want that sword, or if you ran out of Warp Staves... godspeed, soldier.
** Chapter 17 on the east path (17A) will make you feel like you had gone with HonorBeforeReason and wish you had been sneaky. The particular character in question is also in this chapter, and there's a bunch of Shooters and Meteo mages around the castle to keep you from getting in quickly enough. What's that? You'll take your time and avoid the distance bastards until you wipe out everything else? No you will not, you will get torn up by [[MagicKnight Mage Knights]] and Poison spell Dark Mages up the wazoo. Poison itself is a nasty status effect here, averting UselessUsefulSpell; it actually deals passable damage on each turn....or rather it would be JUST that if it ''didn't last indefinitely and the means for getting rid of it wasn't overly limited''. Worse, the bastards with the poison spell can teleport themselves with Rewarp Wands, and thanks to the hyper accuracy, they ''will'' hit and poison you even if you strike first, and no you will not OneHitKill them unless you have a seriously overleveled character, and the hyper avoid makes it quite possible that a second character will have to attack and risk being counterattacked and poisoned. It's so bad that [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfu9PnzlUlM&fmt=18 MageKnight404 got upset having to deal with it and was relieved when the character finally left]], and he has experienced Chapter 22.
** And those chapters actually pale in comparison to Chapter 24x. The whole chapter consists of a never ending swarm of berserkers with ridiculous [[CriticalHit crit rates]] and the mentioned Dark Mages with the stupid Poison-inflicting tomes. If that weren't bad enough, the map is full of invisible trap tiles that warp any unit unlucky enough to cross it to an ''inescapable room full of said enemies'' and the only way to get them out is to use a Rescue Staff to bring them to the staff's user... The problem is that particular staff only has three charges and there only 2-3 of them in the entire game, and you've likely used them up at this point and/or are saving them for the final chapter. And to make things worse, this is an escape chapter meaning your troops has to make it to the exit and leave before your Lord can, otherwise any units left behind will automatically be captured. And since 24x is AFTER the chapter you are able to break your captured units out of prison (Chpt 21x), anyone abandoned/captured here will be considered [[FinalDeath capital-D Dead]] at this point.
** Even getting access to the chapter is a pain, due to the sheer amount of luck involved. In the previous chapter, you have to rescue children being pursued by those Dark Mages and carry the right child to a door who will unlock it, revealing a room with a chest that has the item required to unlock Chapter 24x, the problem with this task is that carrying another unit(even a child) cuts the unit's stats in half making attacking enemies very risky, the child who can unlock that door is totally random, this chapter is ''full'' of chapter-lasting StandardStatusEffects, and the children are far away from that room and you have to fight those Dark Mages for them. If one of them captures/kills the child you need, you are ''screwed''.
*** And going thru all this trouble gets you a few useless (at this point) items and the [[JeiganCharacter Jeigan you lost earlier]]. Which means the only reason to even go there is if the player is doing a [[SelfImposedChallenge AAA or SSS Ranked Game]].[[note]]Oh, and to avert the MASSIVE PlayerPunch of seeing the Jeigan ''brainwashed into becoming one of the main enemies'' and having to kill her.[[/note]]
** As one user on [=GameFAQs=] puts it: [[http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/577344-fire-emblem-thracia-776/58428050/658107494 "People skip Ch 24x not just because it's not worth it; they skip it mostly for the]] ''[[http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/577344-fire-emblem-thracia-776/58428050/658107494 sake of their own sanity."]]''
* Chapter 2 in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral Genealogy of the Holy War]]'' can give you a lot of headaches. Namely, the condition of keeping those three NPC knights alive if you want the ''very'' valious Knight Ring (it lets foot units move again after attacking, VERY useful for dancers!). And no, you can't get it again in the second half. Thing is, these NPC's have such low AI that [[LeeroyJenkins they tend to attack the enemy on sight]] and then [[EpicFail get themselves killed]], so you'll find yourself trying to reach for them to heal them WAY too many times to even count.
** A close second is the final part of the last chapter in which you not only have to withstand a barrage of enemies, a powerful boss with a Holy Weapon and three Falcon Knights with Awareness and the Critical Skill but you also have to hurry over to Velthomer to take out Manfloy so you can get Julia back on your side!
*** And you NEED her back on your side, because without her the FinalBoss is [[ThatOneBoss pretty much impossible]], since he has an (un)holy weapon that not only jacks his stats, but ''halves the attack power of anyone attacking him'', and that's '''before the boss's defense is even factored'''. In other words, even your most powerful units will be lucky to do more than sneeze on him. The only way to negate this is with the holy light tome Narga, which can only be wielded by, you guessed it, Julia. Oh, and he has a long-range tome that lets him snipe your units from afar to boot, making even ''approaching'' him a risky proposition. So you need to hurry and kill Manfloy, while avoiding killing Julia, hurry Celice back across the fucking map to snap her out of, schlep Julia ''right back across the map'' to get the tome, and then try to ''get'' to Julius without him sniping off your weaker units.

* ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Radiant Dawn]]'' has a level near the end of the game [[spoiler:where you have to fight dozens of dragons to make your way to the very powerful king of Goldoa. Their brute force and numbers makes up for their terrible strategy and poor luck, and they feature both physical and magic attacks.]] Unless you use the battle save (unavailable in Hard and less than fully honorable at any difficulty), one mistake can cost hours of work.
** There's also one earlier in the game (Chapter 3-13) where you have to play as under-leveled characters fighting against a nearly endless wave of laguz. Especially egregious because [[spoiler: Ike, the best unit in the game to which everything falls in two hits, is the enemy boss.]] You have to rely upon mostly brain-dead ally units to do the dirty work for you, and only one of them, (the one referred to by fans as the "3-13 Archer") actually puts up a fight. There were several joke topics on Website/GameFAQs about how "3-13 Archer" was the best character in the game. The only redeeming factor (somewhat) by the CrowningMusicOfAwesome [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ6WPnvukQ4 playing]] in that chapter.
*** Don't forget that [[spoiler: Soren might have a Blizzard tome by now, which not only allows him to attack from half the map away and probably kill anyone who isn't being rescued, but waste a really good tome on units that you don't want to kill.]]
** Chapter 1-5 in hard mode falls squarely under this for one simple reason: Jill. Also known as your "[[AnnoyingVideoGameHelper ally]]", who you have no control over, and who will grant you a NonstandardGameOver if she dies...with A.I. that seems completely suicidal. And she starts a good distance ahead of your team, so even if you rush your entire army straight to her position, she'll still get a guaranteed chance to screw you over.
** Chapter 3-8 takes place in a volcano while spitting fire that [[GeoEffects deals 10 damage to each unit]]. The good news is that it can hit enemies, the bad news is that it can kill your characters. [[RageQuit Oh.]] [[SarcasmMode Joy.]]
** Chapter 4-3 doesn't have quite this much luck. Sure, it's probably the least bad of the ''FireEmblem'' desert levels (which, given how bad they always seem to be, isn't saying much)... but then try playing it your first time through without a guide. You won't realize that Sothe and [[spoiler:Volke's]] ultimate weapon and the Dragonfoe scroll (both of which are EXTREMELY helpful in Endgame) are buried here, much less where. You won't know to send Micaiah to the far east (which is quite counterintuitive, by the way) to get Stefan. You won't know that you need to keep the boss from being the last enemy you kill because there's a Laguz Gem (also EXTREMELY helpful in Endgame) buried at his position. And you won't know that you have to hurry to gather kills before the [[spoiler: Black Knight shows up and annihilates all the enemies in his path]]. Yeah, in case you didn't get the message, that level is a '''MASSIVE''' GuideDangIt.
** Chapter 4-5: the one with hordes of feral laguz coming at you, swamp that lowers movement rate everywhere, and a boss that would summon four more enemies every single turn, and, if you got close to him, would teleport away. At least it's a [[SquishyWizard mage boss]].
* Chapter 23 of ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Path of Radiance]]'' and chapter 3-11 of ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Radiant Dawn]]'' have some frustrating things in common. Pitfall traps and enemy ballistae to take out your fliers. The latter is made at least marginally more palatable by the fact that dragon-riders no longer count as fliers for the purpose of determining weaknesses, but is turned back around by the many enemies using Shine Barriers to block the only path available to ground-bound units (other than being carried over by a flier) for a number of turns. You know, ground-bound units like ''Ike'', who has to capture the boss's position to end the chapter?
* Any FogOfWar chapter in any game is met with groans of disgust, but "Battle Before Dawn" in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Blazing Sword]]'' has a reputation for being particularly sucktastic, especially in hard mode. To elaborate: there are 3 different AI allies whom you need to rescue, and they are in the bottom left, center, and right. One is the prince, who at least has the sense to hide and use Elixirs. He's the only one required to survive this chapter (you get a Game Over if he dies), but the other two are required to survive ''and'' recruit in order to unlock a sidequest chapter. Said other two are Nino the wizard, who will get killed by any physical attack and Jaffar, who while quite competent, starts surrounded by enemy forces and can get killed by a couple bad RNG rolls. To top it all off, the boss will move to get you and has the long-range Bolting tome, which will kill weakened units or the aforementioned Nino and the prince. Even worse, there are two treasure rooms, each one holding ''fabulous'' treasure (one has a consumable item that permanently increases a unit's movement range by one, one has a staff that warps other units within range to near its user[[labelnote:*]]this one is particularly painful, because it's the first and only one of such staff that you get in the game, and it would make rescuing the prince '''FAR''' easier if it were only obtainable earlier; get the prince within range, use it, and voila, ''you would save him on the first/second turn''[[/labelnote]] and another is an equippable item that removes a flying unit's crippling arrow weakness). However, the enemy starts much closer to those treasure rooms, and deploys their own thieves to steal the treasure for themselves. So, in addition to needing to defend all 3 {{Non Player Character}}s, you also have to fight ''flawlessly'' in order to get to the thieves (who ''will'' have stolen the treasures before you get there) and kill them to get the treasures before they escape off the map.

** And the final kicker, the last nail in the coffin for this horrid level, is a story-related one. [[CrossesTheLineTwice From the previous game!]] (Granted, ''Blazing Sword'' is actually a prequel, but to make players pissed off at the previous installment in a series with one level is no easy feat, and certainly not a respectable one.) You go through this hell to save the prince, and [[spoiler:not only he becomes the Big Bad of ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe The Binding Blade]]'', he also kills Hector (the man who helped to save his life in this particular level) during the events of that game]]. So much for this...
* ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe The Binding Blade]]'' has one late in the game. Chapter 21: The Binding Blade. Let's see, we've got reinforcements arriving in groups of four, and as many as five of these groups arrive on certain turns early on. Most of these are Dragon Riders/Dragonlords, one of the toughest classes out there. It's also a really big level. Then once you get close to the boss, you've got another really powerful enemy character showing up, one that all indications thus far have shown might be recruitable. He isn't. He won't attack you, mercifully, but he and his units will get in your way if you decide not to engage them in battle. Luckily, reports that you have to leave him alive to get to the Gaiden Level aren't true. Then there's a boss whose HP breaks the usual cap and who also has insane strength and defense. Here's hoping your mages have either been loaded with Angelic Robes (which you can actually buy in the secret store in this game) or have developed high dodge rates. Oh, and don't bother staying near the start and waiting for the waves of reinforcements to come to you, or else you'll have trouble beating the level in 30 turns, which is required to get the Gaiden level--and remember, you need to get every Gaiden level to unlock the PerfectRunFinalBoss.
** On that note, Chapter 16, Retaking the Capital. There's a rather powerful enemy General who must be kept alive in order to unlock the Gaiden level. I recommend putting him to sleep to get the bulk of your forces past him and leaving one unit with high HP and dodge, stripped of their weapons and packing an Elixir or two, in his range to keep him busy. Also, mages/sages and bishops with Bolting/Purge.

* Chapter 17 in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Path of Radiance]]''. First off, it's a four-part chapter with four different mission objectives--the first part is a Rout map, the second is a Seize, the third is a Survive (10 turns), and the last is a Defeat Boss. Much of it takes place in a swamp, which gives out even heftier movement penalties than a desert and only your fliers, rather than both fliers and magic-users like in the desert, are unhindered. The first part is relatively easy--not too much of the swampy terrain, and aside from one promoted unit with a Killer weapon, there's nothing too tough. Part two is where the swamp starts, but any unit can take the mission objective and it's not actually at the opposite end of the map (the short way goes through a ''lot'' of swamp, prompting you to take the long way around), so with a strong flier or two you can get through it quickly. Then things start getting really challenging. In between part 2 and part 3, Ike encounters an NPC in distress, and rescues her--which means that for the remainder of the chapter, he's permanently locked to having a rescued unit, cutting your speed and skill in half. (Better hope he's damn close to level 20, because he won't be doing much fighting anymore and he automatically promotes following the chapter.) Finally, part 4 throws a mage with a long-distance tome at you near the starting position, with trees protecting him from your units as he's able to get close enough (fliers can go after him, of course, as can an archer with a longbow). And once you go past a certain line--a line that you'd have to send someone over very early if you want to take out the mage with the Meteor tome? Four allied [=NPCs=] show up halfway across the map from your starting position and in the midst of the enemies' starting formation, one of whom is powerful enough to kill just about everything--and rob you of all of their dropped items--while another one is completely defenseless and will likely get killed if not rescued quickly. Your best bet to keep them from doing too much damage is to rescue all four of them as well...leaving you with ''five'' units who are going to be more or less useless in combat.
** It doubles as a MarathonLevel. To add to your worries, if you can get past all of the previously mentioned challenges, there's still the matter of ''running out of weapons and healing items''. And you can't save in between parts, either. Mess up even once and you're back to part one.

* [[spoiler: Paranoia]] levels in MajinTenseiII, especially [[spoiler: Gee]]. [[spoiler: In Gee, you have to advance one human character to a certain point on the map. However the Paranoia maps have this nasty feature in which movement range is sharply reduced for all land units. It's even worse because of 2 other features. The map of Gee itself is covered in mountainous and sand panels which reduce your movement range to a pitiful 1-2 squares, and there are Pendragons stationed on the far left and right side of the map, they have an absurd attack range that is on par with [[VideoGame/DevilSurvivor2 Polaris]]. There is only one saving grace you have and that there are 4 health regeneration panels close to each other, but they are inside the mountain panel cluster and near the side you start at.]]

* Disgaea 3 and 4 have the X-Dimension versions of every story map. These maps will have box and Geo Symbols arranged in a way that you must use a certain strategy to beat. They often involve having one or more characters able to move over 10 panels in a turn and a Jump stat above 80, being able to attack enemies from 6 panels away, or clear the map in one turn because a Game Over Geo Symbol will become active in the whole field at Turn 2. Other restrictions might include being unable to use humanoid characters. And on top of that, some maps will have a too convenient Geo Symbol around that is there to induce the player to destroy it in order to make the map easier. Doing so will usually trigger a Geo Chain that will make the entire map a Absolute Area, where nobody can do anything and the player is forced to reset the game. Woe you if you decide to tackle a map of those without saving first. Especially if you've been playing for a while (although the [[UpdatedRerelease Vita remake]] [[AntiFrustrationFeatures does soften the blow by letting you retry the map]]).

* Disgaea 3 and 4 have the X-Dimension versions of every story map. These maps will have box and Geo Symbols arranged in a way that you must use a certain strategy to beat. They often involve having one or more characters able to move over 10 panels in a turn and a Jump stat above 80, being able to attack enemies from 6 panels away, or clear the map in one turn because a Game Over Geo Symbol will become active in the whole field at Turn 2. Other restrictions might include being unable to use humanoid characters. And on top of that, some maps will have a too convenient Geo Symbol around that is there to induce the player to destroy it in order to make the map easier. Doing so will usually trigger a Geo Chain that will make the entire map a Absolute Area, where nobody can do anything and the player is forced to reset the game. Woe you if you decide to tackle a map of those without saving first. Especially if you've been playing for a while.

** Among the [[SideQuest Paralogue chapters]], there's the one where you can recruit [[{{Tsundere}} Severa]], a female mercenary and daughter to one of your playable characters. Unlike most characters who can be recruited throughout the series, she doesn't immediately join your side when you talk to her, you have to escort her through the fortress which is heavily armed with enemies who can so much as swat her like a fly. What's worse is that [[ArtificialStupidity her AI has the common sense of a blind ostrich]], and will outright ''[[FaceHeelTurn turn over to the enemy side]]'' if the NPC she has to talk to is accidentally killed.
** Nah's paralogue can be a pain as well because of the stage featuring a rather annoying mechanic where the walls magically break and fix themselves periodically. Aside from the locked doors you can only progress by going through them when they are down (and you are likely to reach one just as it fixes itself). Worse, most enemies have ranged weapons and two of them have the Mire tome which have a very large range.

** [[spoiler:Merely accessing the level requires a GuideDangIt by defeating all 4 Green Earth Missions as Sami, one level of which, Wings of Victory, is a ThatOneLevel unto itself. Proceed to defeat Sturm in the final mission, after which Eagle will challenge Andy to a "friendly" showdown.]] The map is wide, traversed by narrow bridges and islands, and you are given three foot soldiers, a small base, and are a long way off from the nearest neutral bases, which will not be neutral by the time you reach them. You are forced to play as Andy. Your foe starts with foot soldiers and a very strong base. The normal campaign version is harder than the majority of the advance campaign missions because Eagle owns more cities to build an army from at the start. The advanced mode of this mission? Your foe starts by owning the nuetral bases. And forward infantry. And an air force. In Fog of War. And both times, but much more pronounced here, he is using [[spoiler:Lightning Strike]], the best CO Power in the game. And with all those expensive air units you need to destroy, he will have very liberal use of that Power.

*** There is ONE way to make this chapter easier, and it's to bring in weak fodder characters and gamble that your strong characters will be strong enough and quick enough to beat your AI ally's duplicate before you get wrecked or your ally dies, and that only really works with SpotPass characters. And even then, the chapter can still easily turn into an exercise in frustration as the AI charges headfirst into death or if the enemy chases after your strong characters from the start.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'' and it's remake ''Echoes: Shadows of Valentia'' have some annoying chapters as well.

** Fear Mountain would not normally be a difficult map. However, it's boss is capable of summoning witches. Since witches can teleport and this ability is controlled by the AIRoulette, it is highly likely a unit could be killed because a witch chose that moment to teleport next to them and attack. It also marks the first time third tier units show up as regular enemies.

** Chapter 3-8 takes place in a volcano while spitting fire that [[GeoEffects deals 10 damage to each unit.]] The good news is it will hit enemies. The bad news is it seems ''completely random'' and could kill your party members. [[RageQuit Oh.]] [[SarcasmMode Joy.]]

** The Wellspring of Truth (Paralogue 22) might be the most dickish level the Fire Emblem series has ever conceived. You face exact copies of your characters. Including skills and stats. Their weapons are, thankfully, different, but they're by no means weak. And if you bring in fewer characters than the cap to try and make it easier? Nope. The game spawns multiple copies of your characters to fill the roster. This level is the bane of no-death runs on any difficulty. As if that wasn't bad enough, you have an AI ally to deal with that, like most, suffers from ArtificialStupidity and has a clone of their own to add to the "fun".
** The final chapter can be really difficult as well if you're trying for a no death run. It may not look like it at first but the fact that Grima summons four enemies ''each turn'' really makes things tricky, and they often come packed with Killer weapons. Especially since the battlefield basically has no obstructions, allowing the enemies to flank you and pick off your slower units. And because of Grima's Dragonskin ability and ridiculously high health, he will most likely take a few turns to take down [[spoiler: unless if you attack him with Chrom's Exalted Falchion]], which by that point a good number of your army will most likely be killed.

** Nah's paralogue can be a pain as well because of the stage featuring a rather annoying mechanic where the walls magically break and fix themselves periodically. Aside from the locked doors you can only progress by going through them when they are down (and you are likely to reach one just as it fixes itself). Worse, most enemies have ranged weapons and two of them have the Waste tome which have a very large range.

* ''VideoGame/BattleForWesnoth'' the mission Costly Revenge in the "Legend of Wesmere" campaign. Your second-in-command Landar has gone crazy and decided to enact some ethnic cleansing on the local Saurian tribe in revenge for an earlier raid, deciding to kill all of them and burn their villages. The shamans in your army are appalled and withdraw their support. This mission is a colossal pain in the ass because
** You have no source of income due to burning down all the villages, so it is impossible to recruit units once you run through your starting gold.
** You have no source of healing for your injured units due to losing access to your druids and destroying the villages.
** You have no access to Woses, which regenerate and are strongly resistant to the types of damage Saurians can inflict.
** Saurians are just generally annoying to fight.

*** Tatter River, a massive 4CO map. The sheer size alone makes it daunting, but the challenge comes from establishing aerial supremacy on a map where everybody has a few airports to start out. Oh, and all the [=HQs=] are surrounded by rivers, which only infantry and air units can cross. When you cross any of those rivers, there ''will'' be loads of Anti-Air units (which are also the most effective anti-infantry units) waiting for you on the other side.

*** Wedding Ring is a copter-and-infantry focused race to capture as many cities as possible where the AI will punish you severely for the slightest misstep. It's fairly easy if you think outside the box and go right for the enemy HQ, though -- trying to actually fight the AI is just a losing proposition.

** [[spoiler:Merely accessing the level requires a GuideDangIt by defeating all 4 Green Earth Missions as Sami, one level of which, Wings of Victory, is a ThatOneLevel unto itself. Proceed to defeat Sturm in the final mission, after which Eagle will challenge Andy to a "friendly" showdown.]] The map is wide, traversed by narrow bridges and islands, and you are given three foot soldiers, a small base, and are a long way off from the nearest nuetral bases, which will not be nuetral by the time you reach them. You are forced to play as Andy. Your foe starts with foot soldiers and a very strong base. The normal campaign version is harder than the majority of the advance campaign missions because Eagle owns more cities to build an army from at the start. The advanced mode of this mission? Your foe starts by owning the nuetral bases. And forward infantry. And an air force. In Fog of War. And both times, but much more pronounced here, he is using [[spoiler:Lightning Strike]], the best CO Power in the game. And with all those expensive air units you need to destroy, he will have very liberal use of that Power.

** [[spoiler:Merely accessing the level requires a GuideDangIt by defeating all 4 Green Earth Missions as Sami, one level of which, Wings of Victory, is a ThatOneLevel unto itself. Proceed to defeat Sturm in the final mission, after which Eagle will challenge Andy to a "friendly" showdown.]] The map is wide, traversed by narrow bridges and islands, and you are given no units, a small base, and are a long way off from the nearest nuetral bases, which will not be nuetral by the time you reach them. You are forced to play as [[spoiler:Andy]]. Your foe starts with forward units and a very strong base. The normal campaign version is harder than the majority of the advance campaign missions. The advanced mode of this mission? Your foe starts by owning the nuetral bases. And forward infantry. And an air force. In Fog of War. And both times, but much more pronounced here, he is using [[spoiler:Lightning Strike]], the best CO Power in the game. And with all those expensive air units you need to destroy, he will have very liberal use of that Power.

*** The CO select somehow makes the mission harder: You get to pick all 3 Commanding Officers in the battle, but Sami and Drake are next to useless, and Jess and Andy aren't very useful either, not that [[GuideDangIt the map layout lets you know]]. Players who don't like Max or Eagle are out of luck.

** Unless you have a grasp on the TacticalRockPaperScissors, any naval-based Drake mission can be really frustrating. And even some of the land ones; in "Captain Drake", Andy has to capture X amount of cities before Drake does. Except Drake has more units than you to start with. Oh, and he already has infantry on the center island. And you have to make infantry from factories. And you have only one lander and no way to make more. And Drake has a submarine. And... You know what? Let's just say Drake is one tough son of a bitch to beat.

** And the very next chapter is even worse! There's little room to maneuver, and the floor starts giving out more and more as the chapter progresses. Meaning that you'll take damage if you're on it. Oh, and there are chests here, and if you don't get to them before the floor gives way, they're LostForever.

*** This is even worse because there are two abilities that are LostForever if you do not do specific things during this fight. One of them, Ultima, can only be learned by Ramza, if he is a Squire, and it is cast on him by one of the assassins and he survives. Technically, it is possible to get it the first time the assassins, but the odds of the assassins casting Ultima at all (let alone ignoring Rafa and attacking Ramza) are basically non-existent, so you need to get it this fight. Even though the odds are much, much higher, it can still easily take numerous rounds for either to decide to cast Ultima, let alone use it on Ramza.

** C11 in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia New Mystery of the Emblem]]''. A big desert map filled with [[DemonicSpiders Wyverns.]] Wanna know what's so bad about Wyverns? Well, you know how desert maps severly lower the movememt of just about all your units? Well, immagine if the enemy had a unit that not only ignored the penalty, but had a larger movement range than anything on your side AND hit like a, well, dragon to boot? Yep, that's Wyverns, and they're not even bosses, they're the map's ''basic Mooks!'' Oh, and they're fast enough to avoid being doubled by most of your party, and lord have mercy if they actually double ''you''... [[FromBadToWorse And on Lunatic Mode, their breath has increaced range.]]

* Prologue 8 and Chapter 6X of [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia FE12]]. Prologue 8 has [[spoiler:Katrina]] as the boss, and due to the way resistance works in this game, her attacks will do tremendous amounts of damage to you, if they don't just outright kill you. She, unlike many early-game bosses, can and ''will'' move to attack people in range. Chapter 6X is a small map filled to the brim with Fighters, and on top of that there's Caesar and Radd, who you actually have to keep alive so that they'll join you later. However, they won't hesitate to [[TooDumbToLive attack your best units and die trying.]] At least Radd is fast enough to avoid being hit twice.

[[AC:VideoGame/SuperRobotWars]]
* The Anime/MacrossPlus stage in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha 3''. You begin the stage with only two units, both of which have fairly low HP and damage output. Your enemies include a rather large number of units, particularly the infamous Ghost X9s, a new type of plane which has downright insane dodge rates, possibly the highest in the game, bar a few bosses. Normally, this wouldn't be much of a problem, as your characters can usually cast buffs on themselves in order to increase their own hit and dodge rates. However, for the beginning of the stage, you not only have no access to your buffs, but your morale is down, meaning an overall decrease in stats. Despite having two of the fastest pilots in the game out, you rarely get above a 30% chance to hit. Even when backup finally arrives, you still have no way of increasing your chances to hit for a good while, so getting through the stage even at that point is an exercise in luck, frustration, and lots of soft-resets.
* ThatOneLevel is ''OG Gaiden'' Stage 15. Not only does it pit you against a horde of (thankfully not [[WeHaveReserves reinforced]]) enemies which have crazy dodge stats and high morale values, it later features one win condition that requires a certain character to do it. Then, a PlayerPunch occurs, then ThatOneBoss appears...
* Let's go for a classic: ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars3'', "true" final mission. You're on a map with a grand total of THREE enemy units, two of which are the infamous Valsion (the final boss mecha of ''[=SRW2=]''), and the other being the Neo effing Granzon. Now, count the facts that in this game Focus (increases own accuracy and dodge rate for a full turn)and Hot Blood (greatly increases the damage of your next attack) were RARE seishin, you couldn't upgrade your unit's mobility or weapons, morale raising seishin had a prohibitive cost and the two Valsions were weak enough to die in a few hits without effectively raising your morale. Furthermore, the final boss's morale went up by at least 15 for each turn due to your characters hitting him (not counting those it eventually shoots down), he could attack TWO times for each turn (so could your units, but it was more like a 'get twice the chance of getting shot down'), had insanely high HP and Armor and his morale could cap at 200 which meant EVERY SINGLE ATTACK WOULD KILL YOUR UNIT RIGHT AWAY....
* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsDestiny''. All of it. It starts out as a great game, with a lot of anime getting their introduction into the franchise, such as Megazone23, Godmars, Daltanius, ''Anime/{{Macross 7}}'', and ''Anime/TheBigO''. It also explores the idea of what would've happened if the Earth had been sealed away, [[spoiler: Irui Ganeden's goal in ''Super Robot Wars Alpha 2''.]] And it ALSO features the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing OZ]] and the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Neo-Zeon Movement]] as ''allies'', simply because they're the only groups left that have the manpower to save the Earth, meaning [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Haman Karn]] arguably makes her debut as a Super Robot Wars ''protagonist''. Then things get sour, fast. The OriginalGeneration mooks are unbelievably fast and accurate to the point that, on the last stage, [[BossInMookClothing they're more dangerous than the]] ''final boss'', every Super Robot has abysmal armor to the point where even if they're fully upgraded they're useless by the halfway point of the game, and you'll probably be using [[Anime/{{Macross}} Fire Bomber]] as a blatant crutch.
** You want ThatOneLevel, Try Mission 23 of that game, You cannot destroy the [[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Adrasteas]] in that mission or it is game over, and you cannot allow the enemy to advance to the other side of the map which means you have to box in 2 Adrasteas and reduce their HP to 20% while knocking off the enemies flunkies, And THEN the reinforcements... do not get me started on them, because you have to fight a THIRD Adrastea in addition to the flunkies that it brings, and even before that you have to fight 6 [[Anime/{{Megazone23}} Garland GR-2]]'s (Garlands have high evasion rates), which means you will be spamming Seishins out the ass just to keep up with protecting the area you are ordered to guard.
** Another mission that will piss the hell out of you is Mission 37 which is a two part mission but the second half is what will reallly drive you mad! In the second half of that mission you have to hit 4 switches, one every 8 turns, the real problem is that the enemies have high evasion/accuracy and can respawn if you don't leave 6 of them active. So mentioning the Fire Bomber Units being a crutch, yeah you will need them for this.
** The final battle map is aggravating for one reason. Before you fight the FinalBattle, you have to fight two OriginalGeneration bosses, who will always recover their full HP unless you kill them in one shot from around the half HP mark, and have considerably high HP... coupled with the fact that if your machine can do enough damage to them to kill them, they will enter the battle in defence mode and cut your damage in half. Effectively, you're forced to go into the battle doing enough damage to ''almost'' kill them, and have another unit support your unit to finish them off, as they won't factor support attacks in to whether they defend or not... and support attacks do half damage on their own.
* There is also ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars2''[='s=] final stage. Similar layout to 3's, with you against the Granzon, Valsion, and two PunchClockVillains from ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Gundam ZZ]]'' of all series. Things go sour fast if you want to beat the Granzon for the BraggingRightsReward. The game, as long as you know what you're doing, isn't impossible or even very long... but by GOD that level is hard since the Granzon is ''immune'' to all projectile attacks and has armor three times as thick as the Valsion's.
* Pretty much the meat of both the ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'' games on GBA fits this trope if you're going for the skill points.
** Speaking of which, the introduction of the Inspectors in ''Original Generation 2''. "But it's a ''Hopeless'' Boss Fight," you say. "you're ''supposed'' to lose!" No, not '''this''' one. This one is Hopeless only in that it's damn near impossible to ''win''. The challenge of that stage is '''surviving'''. With only a battleship which you have had few to no opportunities to upgrade (depending on the route split) and three mid-level mecha, which have had ''no'' opportunities to be powered up (if you were able to get a certain Secret weapon, that's about it). Against a bunch of Mooks, a couple enemy battleships, and three end-game bosses that can probably kill your mecha in a single hit. And you have to escape through the far side of the map. That is to say, right ''through'' them.
*** Oh and get this: One of the game's super-special secrets requires that you not ''escape'' the battle, but you have to ''beat'' them, while leaving the most dangerous for last. And due to the set-up of the stage, it will be tough every time, even with the bonuses normally gained though a NewGamePlus.
** One mission in ''Original Generation 2'' requires you to defend an annoyingly large base from annoyingly fast enemies. Not only is it game over if they so much as reach the outside line, but you're going to be using one set of mechs you haven't upgraded (since it's on the Earth Route, you won't have had a chance to upgrade Katina's stats so she can dodge better than a paraplegic whale, for example), the third wave comes from the back, your most durable starting robot isn't allowed to move until the third wave, the Shirogane battleship and the allied NPC Barrelions will be contributing jack shit (at least the Barrelions are trying), your reinforcements deploy to the west so you can't use even the fastest of them to secure the east, and every time you fail (which will be often), [[UngratefulBastard Captain Lee Linjun]] will insult your troops despite the fact that he was TheLoad for the entire mission.
** In ''Original Generation 1'', there's a mission on Ryosuke's path where you have to escort the Hiryu to a certain area so that it can blow up the enemy base. The first half isn't so bad... but then you actually get there and the plot kicks in. Now you're looking at half of the game's bosses, including the Hiryu's more-powerful sister ship, sitting around the exit. And you have to get every one of your units (except the Hiryu, which was crippled and cannot move) into that exit. And if anyone dies, you lose. ''This includes the Hiryu.'' And for the secret point, you have to kill the aforementioned sister ship... which can one-shot pretty much anyone. Pray you spent your cash wisely.
* The final stage of the PSP remake of Advance. Tough grunts and ridiculously high HP bosses with HP regen are nothing new, especially if you took the Nadesico route at the last path split and had to fight Don Zaucer... but unlike most levels in this game (or in the non-skill point using installments of the franchise in general,) there is a TURN LIMIT. You have 10 turns to wade through the strongest grunts in the game, backed up by TWO overpowered bosses, one of whom as far as I can tell has an automatic 0% chance of being hit (and not the type that goes away after one attack,) with the only ways to even HIT her being to use accuracy boosting spells (and SP is rather limited in this game overall, though by no means as bad as in certain other titles,) and her own counterattack range and accuracy being ridiculously huge. Thankfully, she's not REQUIRED to be defeated to clear the stage (though have fun clearing it with her sniping you constantly)... but the actual boss is so much worse. Some 260K HP, of which he regenerates 10% a turn, exceptionally high EN, which he also regenerates, and his attacks use far less of it than they ought to (not that you can really hope to drain his EN even without the regen, due to the turn limit), a VERY powerful and accurate MAP attack, and the ability to move and attack TWICE per turn. Oh, and while not guaranteed, he is surrounded by high HP/Armour grunts, some of whom have HP regen, all of which if they are right next to him can Support Defend (take a hit for him for half damage) THRICE PER TURN. It might be worth noting that this is also the game where enemy accuracy increases with each attack - if you dodge an attack, the next attack aimed at that character will be at a ''cumulative'' 15% accuracy boost, meaning that with enough attacks at any one character, eventually they WILL get hit (and there are more than enough enemy units for this).
* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsK'' has several of these.
** First, there's missions 5 to 8, Those Four Levels.
*** Mission 5 pits you against ''every single bad guy'' in the first half of ''Anime/OvermanKingGainer'', including Brunhilde, who in the series ''attacked friends and foes alike'', yet here only attacks ''you''. Fortunately, to beat the level you just need to kill Brunhilde... except it has 10000+ HP (At Stage 5 it's pretty good, mind), and you've got like 7-8 FragileSpeedster bosses attacking you at the same time as well. At least the {{Mook}}s are easy.
*** Mission 6 has the beginning of ''Anime/GunXSword'', only Van is being attacked by ''a lot'' of [[Anime/GaikingLegendOfDaikuMaryu Darius Empire]] Mooks instead. You basically have to survive for two turns until the Daiku Maryu crew shows up to aid him, which is easier said than done.
*** Mission 7 is a mix of the two before: It starts with Dann of Thursday, plus [[CombiningMecha El Dora V]] (that guzzles EN like crazy), [[CombatMedic Brownie]] and the OriginalGeneration main character being attacked by a bunch of ''Anime/OvermanKingGainer'' mooks and bosses (again). Again, you have to endure a few turns until the other heroes shpw up, only the enemies also get two tough bosses as reinforcements: OKG's Cynthia Lane and GXS's Ray. And like Brunhilde above, neither of them were with the [[Anime/OvermanKingGainer Siberian railroad]], but on their own team, yet here, they only attack you again.
*** Finally, Mission 8 is MORE Gainer bosses/mooks, PLUS Cynthia again, plus GXS's Diablo of Monday. This one is slighty easier, but if you want the GXS secret characters, [[GuideDangIt kill Diablo with Van]] or they're LostForever. Fortunately, after this hell, the next mission is a very easy BreatherLevel playing the beginning of ''Anime/ZoidsGenesis'', only with more [[Anime/GaikingLegendOfDaikuMaryu Darius Empire]] mooks showing up chasing Zoids' [[MsFanservice Kotona Elegance]] so there's an excuse to get her without [[TheBigGuy Garaga]] and [[TheSmartGuy Ron]] showing up as well.
** And besides that, there's all the Virtual-On missions (The first two are long, boring missions set in corridors against mooks with Map Attacks, the last one is on an open field with more Mooks like that AND EliteMooks with huge HP supplies AND the Attack Combo skill that allows them to crush your support units)) and the one playing Gundam SEED Stargazer (A "don't let the bad guys get to this point" mission... [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]]. On a game where everyone who doesn't goes into space in-series has a B as its Terrain Rating for... well, space, and terrains matter A LOT. See: [[LightningBruiser King Gainer]] getting hit easily and missing often.) Ouch.
* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsJudgment'' has the attack on Hell Island, which could end up spelling the end for you if you don't know what you're doing. You start the level facing several fairly powerful mooks and Zaied from LightNovel/FullMetalPanic. After beating him, Gauron shows up in the Venom (very dodgey, very accurate, lots of HP and equipped with a Lambda Driver, which more or less halves all damage inflicted upon him), along with more powerful mooks and a couple of [[GiantMook Giant Mooks]]. Then, after after defeating them, you're forced to take on Zeorymer's Ritsu and his Rose C'est la Vie of the Moon, who has a fair amount of HP and is capable of dishing out a decent amount of punshiment. ''Then,'' after defeating ''him'', the ''real'' final boss of the level, Baron Ashura, appears in his Mechabeast-ized form along with a group of even ''more'' powerful mooks, but before fighting ''him'', you'll ALSO have to fight and destroy a possessed Diana A TWICE (which ITSELF has an inordinate amount of health points BOTH times). But of course, just fighting Baron Ashura himself isn't enough because, after ''ALL'' of that, he still regenerates all of his HP after you've defeated him, forcing you to fight and kill him ''AGAIN'' before the level is finally over. Sheesh. The only saving grace that keeps this level from being an absolute nightmare to slug through from beginning to end is that you get to see Mazinkaiser recieve its final upgrade during a mid-game event. In conclusion, this level (and SRW J as a whole, for that matter) isn't hard, per se, but rather is incredibly ''long'' due to the sheer abundance of high-powered bosses, which puts you in danger of consuming all of your resources prior to the FINAL, final confrontation due to a lack of foresight.
* Being one of the harder handheld titles, ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsL'' has quite a number of tarpits that even veterans may fall for:
** Stage 17 is Operation Yashima from ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion''. As suggested, you have to deal with Ramiel (aka the 6th Angel) but at the same time [[Anime/ShinkonGattaiGodannar Mimetic Beasts]] are standing in your way. Since Ramiel gives a nice amount of cash and a rare Part, it's common for players to rush up with all their forces in order to destroy it at least once before the stage forcefully ends on Turn 6. The problem is that Ramiel (in addition to HP and EN Regen as well as an AT Field) has its Will maxed out at 150 already, and in case of players who forgot after watching the movie, this Ramiel actually has a ''sweeping'' MAPW around it. That will certainly hurt. But it doesn't end there: on turn 4 Eva-00 and 01 finally show up at where the stage begins-- and ''enemies spawn to the left and right of them''. If Shinji gets attacked even once, GAME OVER. That means one have to leave some units behind to prepare for such a scenario, but that also mean you can't attack Ramiel with your full force.
** Stage 30A: [[Anime/MacrossFrontier Little Queen, Little Sister]]. You have to last 9 turns against never-ending waves of Vajra while Ranka gets ready to sing them all away. But one has to make sure the Vajra don't reach the building before she does, which is easier said than done since you don't have enough units to protect all the tiles (which becomes worse when one of them leaves the map on Turn 4). Even with Brera flying off to one corner of the map and holding off part of the wave, it's still going to be a nightmare.
** The worst example of this trope, however, is Stage 37 where you resolve the ending of ''Manga/LinebarrelsOfIron'', which would be the biggest CrowningMomentOfAwesome of this game if this stage doesn't annoy players so much. First off, you have to protect all 6 Machinas from being destroyed, which would be easy if Koichi (in his Linebarrel mode-C) wasn't a NPC and didn't rush headlong into the enemy formation, chopping up anyone in his way [[spoiler:(that includes Soubi, in case if you want to recruit him)]]. Doesn't help that the enemy force is made up of Original Mooks with armour-reducing weapons and they're more than happy to use it on him. Worse, since Koichi WILL attack anyone if they're in range, Linebarrel's energy and ammo will eventually dry out, leaving it as a complete sitting duck. The catch? You have to defeat Masaki (in his Naked) to return Koichi back to your control. This is just the first part of the stage.
*** The second part of this stage involves protecting all 6 [[spoiler:or 7 if all conditions are fulfilled]] Machinas (who'll just stay idle in the middile of the stage) from being destroyed in 4 turns, in order to begin the Final Phase. Remember how [[LightningBruiser fast and hard]] those [[EliteMooks Mass-Produced Machinas]] are during the first half of the stage? You have to deal with an ''unlimited'' number of them. ''From both sides''. This immediately happens after you defeat Masaki's second form, so there're basically no breathing room nor redeployment time in between. Many who manage to protect Koichi in the first half may actually fail on this part.
* Although stages in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsUX'' are more forgiving than ''L'', it also has quite an amount of crazy stages, especially late game.
** The most well-known but unexpected ThatOneLevel happens on Stage 23, ''[[Anime/MacrossFrontier The False Songstress]]''. This is your usual "defend a certain area" mission (except half of the field is a sea), and it's mostly easy......Until Ranka Lee is captured by a Hound Vajra and the objective "reduce Hound Vajra's HP to 10%" is added. First off, it only has ''slightly'' better stats than other Vajra (it's one of the late-game grunts), so accidents may happen for those players who don't notice. Second, if you accidentally summon [[Anime/NinjaSenshiTobikage Tobikage]] to the field, due to his AI pattern, he'll ''directly go for that Hound Vajra and kill it in one hit!'' Third, ''even'' you don't summon Tobikage, [[Anime/MacrossFrontier Brera Stein]], who is supposed to help you as an NPC, ''will do the same thing to Ranka if you don't act fast enough''. This stage is so frustrating to the point that it has created numerous new memes, like "Killing Ranka without mercy", "Victory Condition Thief" for Tobikage[[labelnote:*]]In addition to its infamy of stealing your cash, experience and secret conditions[[/labelnote]], and "Ranka Slayer" for both Tobikage and Brera.
*** Except Brera can't really deal enough damage in one hit, and the Hound Vajra has an [[DeflectorShields Energy Field]] so if you leave it to Brera, he will lower the Hound Vajra's HP below 10% himself with the pattern he uses. Two problems do exist though: First, Brera's strongest attack, even the Hound Vajra has an Energy Field, is capable of killing it in two hits. Second, because Brera comes with boss-like stats, the Hound Vajra will also target him (again because of the AI pattern) if he's in range, so the situation isn't much better. And that's not even accounting for Critical Hits......
** Stage 46, [[Manga/LinebarrelsOfIron The Beautiful Dystopia]]. Successfully landing Pretender on the designated grid is one challenge in itself, and after your reinforcements arrive and kick some Mass-Produced Machinas' butt, [[spoiler:[[SuddenlyVoiced Deus ex Machina]]]] will pop out and reduce all your units' will by 30 (except Kaidou and Magami, they will either gain +30 Will, lose only 20 or be completely unaffected). At this point if you don't act fast enough, your units and battleships will be surrounded and being slapped to death due to the enemies' Will bonus. [[spoiler:Deus ex Machina]] also moves twice, has Override, a MAP weapon and HP/EN recovery. Have fun.
** The next stage, [[Anime/FafnerInTheAzureDeadAggressor Heaven and Earth]] is also insanely frustrating, as 70% of the stage consist of water terrain, which limits your options to Air units and units with Sea Adaptation. Which make those red Festum ''much'' harder to deal with due to their ability and, in case of not having enough units for Sea Adaptation, terrain bonus. [[spoiler:If you want to save Kurusu, ''all'' Fafner units must deploy, and each must fight him once, but only a few of them can deal with such situation.]] Oh, and your reliable Festum buster, Kazuki and his Mark Sein? He won't show up until you beat up Kurusu enough.
** In Stage 48 we deal up the last of the [[Anime/Gundam00AWakeningOfTheTrailblazer ELS]]. As mentioned in DemonicSpiders, lots of ELS means big problem to your units, and now they come ''without limits''. You think ELS is your only problem? [[Anime/NinjaSenshiTobikage Zerokage]] will also pop up with his force, probably enough to distract you. ''And'' all those big bad ELS twin units around the designated area after Setsuna arrives. In the meantime, you have to be cautious that random ELS may race down to the south edge of the map, or gangs of ELS suck up all EN from one of your battleships, ''while'' you have five turns to send Setsuna to the designated point. Talk about a race against time and a war of attrition.
* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ'' isn't a particularly difficult game, if you understand how to abuse the TRI System, but some of the SR Point requirements are BRUTAL for anyone not in a NewGamePlus, and sometimes even then they can be crazy! A few definitely stick out, though.
** Rand's 6th scenario, [[Anime/TurnAGundam The Night of the Festival.]] The mission itself is a reasonably difficult one - you start out with an unupgraded and [[MagikarpPower very]] [[WillfullyWeak badly gimped]] Turn A Gundam facing an enemy horde. You DO have reinforcements on the map, but they're far enough away to not be able to get at the grunts until Turn 2. The problem here is that you need to start dealing damage ''immediately'' and not stop, because the enemy grunts are spread out and will not entirely convalesce by Turn 3. To twist the knife, you're not allowed to end it at the ''actual'' end of turn 3 for the SR point - no, you have to end it on the player phase, which means you can't hope the enemy will come to you on their phase and run into your well upgraded units.
** One of many secrets that's easier to get in one protagonist's story over the other is [[Anime/{{Zambot3}} keeping Aki alive.]] Want to do it in Rand's story? Well, understanding how the first mission (that gives you the first two requirements) works is important, and you will fail without knowing that, but even assuming you do that you may end up running headlong into trouble on the [[Anime/CombatMechaXabungle Gallia]] [[Anime/OvermanKingGainer Route]]'s mission 18 - you start with the Zambo Ace (the main component of Zambot 3) alone against an army of [[RoBeast Mechaboosts]], and it must kill two enemies before Turn 3 begins. This means you get four phases to kill the enemy, one of which will be spent getting to the enemy no matter what, and one of which will only have you attacking a single enemy unless you switch Zambo Ace into its Fighter mode, in which case you can't deal damage fast enough to win. And if you forget to upgrade Zambot's weapons (which you might end up doing: there's a lot of units that need your money more), you are stuck hoping to get at least 3 criticals on an attack that rarely gives them out.