EDIT: So, I was up all last night (Literally until 5) putting the finishing touches on this Top 10 list I wrote for GameFAQs, and when I woke the next morning (Er, afternoon), I was featured on the front page!
The Top 10 Reasons People Play Video Games, and the Games that Represent Them
Woohoo!!!
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I wanted to try writing some Top 10 lists for GameFAQs. Problem is, I haven't actually played a lot of games myself, so my frame of reference is very limited.
So, I'll post some of my list ideas here so people can poke holes in them and suggest things I'm missing. The order might appear a little unbalanced, but they're just rough estimates at the moment. Suggestions are welcome.
Definitely agree with Bubble Bobble as well.
The level you're talking about for SMB3 is 6-5, not 6-6.
And Battletoads level 3 belongs nowhere near this list. Top 10 most overhyped difficulty, perhaps.
EDIT: Some levels I've thought of that might earn a spot on the list:
Megaman 2 - Quick Man
Battletoads - Rat Race
Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link - Grand Palace
TMNT - Level 2
I dunno, for levels that blocked my progress, Battletoads level 3 is pretty high up there. In contrast, Quick Man is pretty straightforward once you get used to making your movement decisions while the next room is scrolling into view. And the Grand Palace is a bit of a slog, but I never recall having any serious difficulty making it through -- assuming I have some lives to spare.
Ninja Gaiden's last stage deserves to be on there, though. It's brutal and long, and penalizes you heavily for dying.
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Funny— I was thinking just yesterday that the TMNT dam level is more hype than actual difficulty. You'll take some damage, yes, but you'd take damage anyway if you want to get through quickly. Just getting through is easy, but level 3 is what scares me, since the three meat shields are at low health.
I wish I could name some of the harder Smash TV rooms. I don't know if it's regarded as a difficult game in general— I certainly do— and there's definitely some sadism to be found in the third level. There was probably one in particular that ruined a majority of my no-death runs.
Maybe world 12 (or was it 13?) in Solar Jetman qualifies. Not particularly high gravity, but very long. Grueling, even. Very little leeway for bumping into walls, so of course you'll have to navigate a bunch of tight passages on the way to a big goddamn maze. Then again, I haven't played that in a couple years, so I could be wrong about the details.
The clock tower level in Batman (U) also stands out. The AVGN pointed out a particular spot where you apparently must take damage to continue... I don't quite believe that, but the level did scare the crap out of me when I was a kid. These days, I can't even get that far.
Also, speaking of Solar Jetman, Blublu found a new warp when he was working on his TAS a year or two ago. Whether it was just new to us or new even to Gamefaqs, I'm not certain. Seems to me that if it were on Gamefaqs, it would have been used in the published TAS...
Whoops, that's what I get for using YouTube for reference.
About Great Palace: maybe. It was another one of those dead end / infinite loop level designs where if you miss the right path you'll spend an hour realizing you're going in a circle. Definitely a case of "We've already made the game as hard as it's going to get, so in order to make it harder we have to start messing with your perceptions"
As for Battletoads, I never played the game and so I was not able to write a description yet, I just heard from too many people that Level 3 is the level that nobody ever beat. I did watch a Let's Play of it, though, and it seemed as though Level 3 was really a wakeup call for the rest of the game.
The dam level of TMNT probably wouldn't make it. I beat that several times as a kid. It was annoying, but doable after a few tries, and close enough to the beginning of the game where losing to it isn't too big of a deal. The level I really hated was the third, with those sewer parts that wash you out to the entrance if you fall. I could never get past that level.
For Batman, Solar Jetman, and all the rest, care to elaborate? I've never played those games. Heck, you could write the description for the list if you want.
Yeah. I casually ran through the game again last night and spent a couple dozen rerecords trying to avoid the hit, but the window for making that jump must be microscopic. I could just refer to the TAS for the exact timing.
Actually, I found that Stage 3 was quite a bit harder than 5, because of those jumping frog things. You see it, it leaps across the screen directly onto your head. You try to flee, not knowing any better, but you can't shake it off. You're only a few seconds into the level with your health almost drained, then a SECOND one attacks because you scrolled to the right.
I guess they're not incredibly evil since you can memorize their behavior and their positions in the level. Still, I'd love to see someone attempt that stage for the first time without getting killed 30 seconds in.
Interesting. Every time I've beaten that level without using warps or items that killed the enemies, I jumped up using bubbles along one side of the room.
You don't need that many extra lives if you abuse the drops every 6 or so enemies killed. Just get to one of the screens where those flying dragon(?) heads come toward you without you having to move. Then downthrust until you get enough magic to refill health. You can also do the same thing with the giant bot near the Thunderbird's room, but it takes longer because you have to move off the screen for it to respawn.
My personal hardest levels:
SMB3 - 7-7?
You have to run over a ton of plants using stars. I think I made it once.
Lost Vikings II - World 5 Area 4 (4RGH)
Based on the docs at GameFAQs and the map at VGMaps, I'm pretty sure it was this level. I resorted to reading an FAQ because I couldn't figure out how to get Baleog to the top through all those tunnels. It seemed like there were way more tunnels when I was actually playing it, though.
Battletoads level 3 was insanely difficult, but level 11, the Rat Race, is even worse. Of course, far fewer people made it to the latter than the former.
Anyways, you write pretty well, and those lists were amusing to read. For hard NES levels, I would definitely include
last level of Batman (two hard boss fights, precise platforming before that, much harder when you don't know the patterns and right inventory)
level 5 of Castlevania (very difficult section with axe knights and medusa heads, and an extremely difficult Death fight unless you have Holy Water with a II or III)
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Holy water is also insanely useful in handling that last hallway. As long as you ignore grabbing the candles, water will hold the axe knights in place as you casually pass them. Learned that from watching the speedrun here.
Battletoads 3, while not the hardest level, is definitely the most iconic one for difficulty. The planes are a bigger pain for me than the bikes.
My personal hardest? Hm... I'll have to think on that one. I'll get back with you on it.
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There was a level in Yoshi's island, (something with morph) that I could hardly complete as a kid. :D
I've played I Wanna Be The Guy on Very Hard, nothing seems hard to me anymore. :P
The word "just" doesn't belong in that sentence.
R-Type games tend to involve a lot of memorization of patterns too; that doesn't mean that they have fake difficulty. IWBTG has cruel difficulty, but it'd only be fake IMO if your controls sucked or there wasn't a save point five seconds earlier.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.