I like to reminisce upon the games of my youth sometimes, but I always dread having to replay certain segments of each game. It could be that the level is just too challenging, or that the level design makes it a tiresome chore to navigate around. Maybe it's rather dull and repetitive in contrast to the levels before it, or it could very well be a mix of all three. Nevertheless, these levels often make me either spit profanity like a drill sergeant or go to sleep. Here are some examples of Levels in Good Games that I Always Hate to Play. (Keep in mind that levels unlocked after you get the game's basic ending or bonus levels that have no bearing on your progress whatsoever do not count unless it's a very special case, like levels that are hard if you're going for 100% completion. Per usual I will add more examples as I think of them. Hopefully.)
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TINY-HUGE ISLAND/WING MARIO OVER THE RAINBOW Tiny-Huge Island seemed to be inspired by World 4 of Super Mario Bros. 3, in which the normal-sized level can be switched into an enlarged version and vice versa by traveling through specific areas or warp pipes. This world always represented the point of the game where my progress came to an abrupt end, and Tiny-Huge Island from Super Mario 64, while not quite as troublesome as its 2D predecessor, still has some major issues. In the painting room, you can actually choose which version of the level you want to start out in, although you always start the level in the same enclosed space behind a gravely wall. By jumping into a few set warp pipes throughout the level, you can change the level's size from minuscule to large. It doesn't matter too much, however, because the tiny version of the level mainly just serves as a means to get around faster and locate a couple of secrets. Almost all of Tiny-Huge Island's power stars must be obtained on the large portion, and they are pretty aggravating to collect, from battling it out against several gigantic Piranha Plants on a steep plateau to racing against the fleeting Koopa the Quick. The worst thing about Tiny-Huge Island, however, has to be the fire spewers. There are literally DOZENS of these things spread all over the island on both variations of the level, and being hit by one makes Mario run around uncontrollably while quickly losing a third of your life bar unless you can jump into a body of water fast. Since the level is situated above a bottomless pit, and there are several areas with precarious cliffs and gusts of wind, you REALLY don't want to lose control of Mario. Wiggler's cave is pretty bad, too, ESPECIALLY the 8 red coin mission where you have to make several cautious jumps over another looming abyss inside a cramped cave with little space to land on the platforms. The real kicker of Mario 64, however, is Wing Mario Over the Rainbow, hands down. It's not a regular 6-star level like Rainbow Ride, oh no; it's a level solely dedicated to a red coin mission. And it takes place in the clouds above another steep drop. There is very little ground in the level since most of the flooring is comprised of floating clouds, so you have to use the stiff Wing Cap controls to fly between the platforms. Some of them can be really far up into the air, requiring either extreme flight skills or a well-aimed shot from the cannon on the pink platform near the bottom, and one has you grabbing onto a POLE (in the defense of this case, there are quite a few poles under the cloud, but it's still VERY easy to miss your mark and fly right past them). Worse still, not every platform contains a wing cap, so if your power-up runs out while you're on a faraway cloud you're pretty much screwed and have to commit suicide. Actually, no, you can't even do THAT, because falling into the void under the level, rather than killing you, dumps you INTO THE CASTLE MOAT. This means wasting another two or three minutes going back into the castle and trekking up the stairs just so you can try again. It's pretty silly how the hardest level in Super Mario 64 happens to be a side-stage, but it's brutal nonetheless, and if you're not going for a 100% completion run you're better off just skipping this one out.
SIRENA BEACH/CORONA MOUNTAIN Most of Sunshine is a pushover until you get Yoshi and open up the entrance to Sirena Beach, and at that point the difficulty curve practically forms a brick wall. To start the level off, you have to clean up a metric fuckton of goo splattered around the beach. Once you've done that, you have to fight the Manta Ray, which is widely considered to be one of the hardest boss fights in Sunshine. Spraying the Manta Ray splits it in half, and those halves split into more rays when sprayed until they get to the point where they can't divide themselves anymore and just disappear. What makes this boss a royal pain is that he likes to cover as much ground around the level as humanly possible, and since he's technically a transparent figure on the floor, there's no part of the ground he can't cover, which means you have to keep moving and hope you don't step on any of his clones. The fight gets much more tense once all of his replicas have split into their smallest sizes, at which point THEY ALL HOME IN ON YOU. And that's only the first Shine Sprite in the level! Wait until you have to contest with the bewildering puzzles hidden within the hotel, as well as yet ANOTHER boss whose length pretty much depends on how lucky you get. Add another F.L.U.D.D.-less mini-stage and a troublesome red coin mission and it's easy to see why Sirena Beach is one of Sunshine's least bright areas. Thus we get to Corona Mountain, the game's final stage before the fight with Bowser. Being inside an active volcano, the level is surrounded by a large vat of insta-kill lava, and there are several platforms embedded with timed spike traps. These aren't so bad once you get the timing down... but then you reach the wooden boat and all the confidence and skill you've used to get this far is tossed right the fuck out of the window. Using F.L.U.D.D., you have to spray water from the back of the boat and propel it forward. Simple enough, right? WRONG. The boat must have been programmed at the last minute or something, because it has a very annoying tendency to careen into the wall and break at the slightest burst of water. It's infuriating enough just trying to reach the final platform, but it gets even worse for those of you completionists out there, since you have to make a FULL CIRCLE PASS AROUND THE LAST PLATFORM to get the final remaining Blue Coins. And you thought making this thing go in a straight line was hard; just wait until you have to make it turn on a dime. Eeuch. If there was one point in the Mario series that seemed to be the most accurate representation of Hell on Earth, Corona Mountain definitely qualifies.
GHOSTLY GALAXY DAREDEVIL COMET It is REALLY hard for me to pinpoint a specific level in Galaxy that I had trouble with because I didn't have a hard time with it at all. Not even some of the out-of-the-way galaxies proved to be too problematic for me to complete, but if I was to narrow the criteria down to specific missions the Daredevil Comet within the Ghostly Galaxy certainly takes the cake. For those of you who haven't played this outing yet, Comets are basically level modifiers that add a certain challenge to an objective you already completed in the level, such as adding a time limit to the first level or having you race against a clone of yourself to the finish line. The Daredevil Comet takes your normal 3-point health bar and does away with it; if you come in contact with any hazards whatsoever, you die and have to start the entire level over again. One of the previous missions in the Ghostly Galaxy is a fight against Bouldergeist, a hulking, haunted rock formation in the shape of a ghost. His main attack is chucking a bunch of rocks at you in quick succession, and after you dodge them you have to pick up the Bomb Boos that materialize out of the black rocks and fling them into Bouldergeist's stomach a couple of times to break it open, then hurl another Bomb Boo at the boss's exposed welt and he takes damage. In the second half of the fight, he gains a pair of giant chiseled hands which he can use to pound the ground and punch at you. The problem with this portion of the fight is that trying to swing a Bomb Boo at Bouldergeist's main body is made much harder by his hands getting in the way, which often block your attacks if you don't time them carefully. Sure, they do fall apart after a few blasts, but they'll simply reanimate a few seconds later. All the while, you have to dodge rows of stalagmites and boulders being thrown at you. It's hard enough to do on its own. Now put two and two together here. You have Bouldergeist, a tricky foe and the hardest boss fight in the game bar none, and you're not even allowed to take a single hit from him. By adding this simple rule, the developers have created a disastrously formidable challenge that will take at least TWICE as long to get the hang of as most of the other missions, possibly combined. If only Mario had brought a pickaxe or something...
FLEET GLIDE GALAXY I've probably already touched on this in my list of game mechanics that suck the fun out of certain parts of other games, but I'm not a huge fan of the Fluzzard levels. They sure do look pretty, and the first one isn't even that bad even with the wonky controls, but the second Fluzzard galaxy very well had me in stitches from hitting my head against the wall. The first Fluzzard flight took place in a calm forest and even IT was pretty challenging in its own merit. This mission takes place on a BATTLE CARRIER. Yeah. Pretty bad. Getting into detail a bit more, this iteration of the Fluzzard levels sees our hero avoiding massive swarms of Bullet and Banzai Bills, volleys from moles in turrets, several instant-death wall hazards and crumbling architecture in practically every area of the level. There's not a single point where you aren't avoiding anything, and to make matters worse you have to complete the level in 1 minute and thirty seconds, which would be doable if it wasn't for the stupid amount of crap being thrown at you at once. And keeping in tradition, the second challenge of this level is EVEN WORSE. Here, you have to race against a group of birds, come in first place, and avoid EVEN MORE enemies while doing so. It's goddamn insane. And don't even get me friggin' STARTED on the retarded Green Star missions. I swear, I spent DAYS looking for those things on this mission.
RAINING BLOOD Experienced veterans of the Guitar Hero franchise need only recognize two words before being driven into a crazed fit - Mosh 1. If you haven't outright mastered the hammer-on and pull-off techniques, this one 20-second long tidal wave of pure insanity will bring your progress to a screeching halt. A screeching, thrashing, and noisy halt.
NOVA PROSPEKT Half-Life 2 is an astounding game in terms of puzzle and combat variety, but there are quite a few low points here and there, and the lowest for me had to be Nova Prospekt. It's basically a gigantic romp through a Combine penitentiary, except all of the walls and areas look the same so you can't tell if you've already been to certain areas or not. Since this is after the chapter which you obtain the Bugbait and there's no longer any sand anywhere, you can't summon Antlions to assist you, but that's the least of your worries. Inside the dreary corridors of Nova Prospekt, you have to face off with practically an entire ARMY of Combine soldiers armed with machine guns and shotguns, and all of them choose to take cover in spots where it's practically impossible to land a shot on them. There is at least one point where you have to fend off an Antlion Guard, who is phenomenally more tough to kill than its simple counterparts as it has several times more health, is much bigger and faster and can crack your face open within seconds of fighting him, and there are at least THREE points where you have to stand your ground and defend against wave after wave of Combine soldiers, shotgunners, and elite commanders. All of the defense scenarios drag on for several minutes and require taking full advantage of turret placement strategies in order to move on unscathed. If all of that wasn't enough for you, then you'll be happy to find out that Nova Prospekt is no slouch when it comes to agonizing platforming puzzles and zombie infestations, either. Nova Prospekt takes every irritating obstacle this game could possibly throw at you, clumps it into an enormous ball of crap and runs a marathon with it. I would almost rather go to an actual prison than play this level again.
THE FIRE TEMPLE Aaaaaaaaaah, I bet you thought I was gonna put the Water Temple down, didn't you? Well, surprisingly, while the Water Temple was set up in a pretty arbitrary fashion and Dark Link was somewhat of a pain, I had a far worse time with the Fire Temple earlier on. First of all, the level is absolutely overwhelming with fire bats and other monsters that can quickly become a nuisance. Second, every path is segmented so awkwardly that I can barely tell where the hell I'm supposed to be going even with judicious use of the dungeon map. Third, there are quite a few disorienting mazes, and if I recall correctly at least one of them has harmful walls. Fourth, there are a few areas where falling all the way down to the first floor is VERY likely, which means you'll not only lose a ton of health but you also have to trek back up to the spot that you fell from. Fifth, the item you get for this dungeon, the Megaton Hammer, is underwhelming; there are only a few specific uses for it in the entire game and it isn't very useful as a combat weapon except for the boss room. And last but not least, Volvagia, the level's boss, is a strong opponent who is usually invincible to your attacks and can plow right through you for an insane amount of damage. I remember specifically being stuck on this level forever because of this one STUPID FRIGGIN' DOOR that was hidden BEHIND A STATUE at the beginning of the dungeon that completely eluded my sight the first time I entered the level. To be fair, this was partially due to my poor path-finding skills, but it doesn't excuse the rest of this level's treachery.
ACT IV: HIVE The whole damn chapter. I'm dead serious. While there were some pretty ridiculous areas prior to Act IV, none of them even compare to it. A good chunk of your enemies are equipped with near-perfectly-accurate crossbows that fire explosive rounds that stick to you and blow you into a pile of bloodied giblets should they come into contact with your fucking chin hairs, your sense of direction WILL be put off by several passageways that look too similar to each other, and sometimes what little cover is available to you isn't permanent and is often switched off when someone pulls a level 100 feet away from you, requiring you to huddle around the lever and guard it from enemy personnel. Oh, did I mention you fight Skorge on this level? He's not as tough as General RAAM was in the first game, but he has at least a couple of instant-death moves and tends to flank you with Tickers at any given moment. It's fitting that the level that takes place in the Locust stronghold would be the hardest in the game, but it still gives me grief to this day. For those of you attempting it on Insane without any co-op partners to help you... heh... good luck with that.
THE NIGHTMARE SEQUENCES Max Payne is a third-person shooter game filled with tons of action. There isn't as much time spent jumping between platforms or ledges as there is running, gunning, and slow-motioning your way through several squads of gangsters, criminals, and cultists, and this is why the Nightmare sequences are particularly vile in the eyes of many a gamer. The freaky imagery and distorted audio clips of Max's deceased wife and child are actually pretty neat, if not repetitive, but then you get to a large, pitch-black room with a blood trail stemming out into the nothingness. You have to walk across this trail of blood like a tightrope act, except the line is very thin and Max begins to slip if you're so much as a centimeter off balance. Fall off the trail and you plummet to your death and have to start again from your last save. But wait, there's more! Once you get past a certain point, you find out that the blood trail section is a MAZE. That's right, a maze of razor-thin blood splatter suspended above a dark void which is very easy to slip off of, and to make matters even worse, reaching a dead end plays the terrible noise of Max's wife belting out a blood-curdling scream, and the last thing you need while navigating a tightrope is a scripted audio jump scare. She also keeps calling out Max's name in the background throughout the ENTIRE SECTION, accompanied by Max's infant child's faint crying noises. One more thing... Did I mention there are certain points where you have to make LEAPS OF FAITH to progress? Holy God, what were these guys thinking?! It's no wonder they gave the PC version a save state feature. For all of you playing this on console, I weep for your poor souls.
RUSTY BUCKET BAY In a time where Nintendo had practically monopolized the platforming genre, one game, Banjo-Kazooie, rose from the ashes of third-party development and practically trumped all others. I still consider this one of the best titles in gaming history to this day, and I often find myself crawling back to it for nostalgia's sake... well, until I reach Rusty Bucket Bay, that is. Then I gets drenched in my own sweat from trying to surmount all of this level's hazards. I don't think there's a friggin' portion of Rusty Bucket Bay that ISN'T trying to kill you. Let's see... there's the water in the docking area takes away air bubbles ON THE SURFACE, and drowns you TWICE as fast underwater, the invincible, mortifying tube monsters on the boat that chomp at you, the multiple rooms on the boat filled with hazards and tough sailors, the inner workings of the boat where you have to navigate a series of rotating cogs and metal platforms suspended above a bottomless pit, and countless, COUNTLESS other things. I defy anyone to attempt to collect all 100 notes on this level without dying and using a guide. It's immensely difficult, especially the cog section under the ship's hull, where I'm pretty sure everyone has died at least once in during their playthrough of Banjo-Kazooie. The 360 users luck out because the notes don't reset, but for kids like me who played BK the old-fashioned way on the Nintendo 64, this level gave me so much hell. Hope you've acquired a few health upgrades beforehand...