edition vulture Ranking of the 100 hardest video game levels of all time. The top ten included Contra, Portal and Dark Souls, but none of them made the hardcore trio.
Dark Souls – Anor Londo. Image source: IGN
The journalists only considered games for PC and consoles released in the USA and with clear level limits (they also chose individual quests or parts of the open world). The position was given taking into account the target audience (games for children were rated according to the possibilities at a certain age) and the year of release (how difficult they were at that time). Bugs and other developer errors were not taken into account.
First place went to the Turbo Tunnel level from Rare’s platform Beat ’em up Battletoads, released on the NES in 1991.
“In Turbo Tunnel, battle toads move through what appears to be the bowels of a giant creature, – Describe the level of the authors of the article. — The only thing you can do here is get on the hoverbike and jump over chasms and avoid obstacles for three terrifying minutes. That’s all it took to create the hardest level in a video game. This is only Tier 3 of Battletoads, but for many it was the last.”
“This level seems to drink away your tears and keep you and your friends away from the wonderful adventures that await on the other side. For most children in the 80s, the mere thought of the tunnel made them sweat. Perhaps it was he who ensured such high sales. [чит-устройств] gaming genius. “In 50 years of video games, there was nothing worse than crashing into a wall within nanoseconds of the next checkpoint.”
The second line went to The Mountain from Braid writer Jonathan Blow’s 2016 puzzle The Witness.
“The mountain is the island’s main trial and playground, throwing all sorts of puzzles that exist in the game at you at the same time. […] You must use and apply all the rules you learned for the passage to solve multiple puzzles at once. Being stuck on the mountain will take hours and even days of trial and error, but once you get this far there is no turning back.
The Witness Mountain. Image source: IGN
Rounding out the top 3 is “The Kid” from the 2010 platform game “Super Meat Boy” by Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes.
“The Kid, the secret area in the fifth world of Super Meat Boy, is the pinnacle of perverted art. [гейм-дизайна конца 80-х]. The level is packed with every imaginable deathtrap in the Super Mario Bros. tradition. They must perform near-impossible double jumps to scale the elevator shaft’s spiked walls, then negotiate multiple platforms that hurtle towards the player at incredible speed, giving (probably) a millisecond chance of not being crushed.”
The 20 most difficult levels in video games are as follows:
- Battletoads Turbo Tunnel (1991)
- The Witness – The Mountain (2016)
- Super Meat Boy – The Kid (2010)
- Dark Souls – Anor Londo (2011)
- Spelunky – Jungle (2009)
- Guitar Hero 3 Through Fire and Flames (2007)
- Resident Evil 4 – Castle Water Hall (2005);
- Portal – Chamber 15 (2007);
- Contra – Alien’s Lair (1987)
- Devil May Cry 3 – Invading Hell (2005)
- Darkest Dungeon (2016)
- Hotline Miami – Assault (2012);
- Trials Fusion – Circles of Hell (2014)
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – Return to Hirata Estate (2019);
- Ghosts ‘n’ Goblins – Graveyard (1985)
- Hades – Enhanced Security (2020);
- Super Mario 3D World – Champion’s Road (2013);
- Fez – Rosetta Stone Room (2012)
- Donkey Kong – Stage 1 (1981)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Dam (1989)
The full list also included Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy (25th), the final level of Into the Breach (27th), Path of Hades from the first God of War (28th), Allegro Pesto from Rayman (29th) , Wrong Side of the Tracks from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (32nd), Fishing Hamlet from Bloodborne (38th), Toxic Sewers from Dead Cells (41st), High Road from Crash Bandicoot (52nd), Deepnest from Hollow Knight (55th), Blue Creek Apartments: Coin Puzzle on Hard from Silent Hill 2 (58th), Crumbling Farum Azula from Elden Ring (66th), Nova Prospekt and Entanglement from Half-Life 2 (68th), and Funhouse Frazzle from Cuphead (72nd).
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