The toughest game levels/missions

Quote from GrayFox

You mean the Ocarina of Time water temple?? I don't get why people find it that hard...

that was my favorite dungeon

Half Life getting past the three headed thingy in the silo. Tok me days to figure that one out. Also Zelda the first one, but that was really because i didnt know the english language back then. I was searching for Penninsula like forever. When come to think of it i dont think i ever found it. I just happened to learn its a half island some years after.

The jumps across the stepping stones in the water - Last Ninja on the C64 [/retro]

Man, there've been far too many games over the years that've driven me to the very edge of throwing my head through the television. Some have already been mentioned, but here's my master list:

1. Pretty much any part of the Dizzy games, a series in which you play an incredibly fragile egg that has either one or three lives, no save games, no level shortcut passwords, and basically nothing that precludes you from going right back to the start should you slip up once. Make no mistake, these games were tense.

2. The final boss in Beyond Good and Evil, which throws a number of cheap tricks at you including the much-loved "reverse your controls" attack, made infinitely harder due to it being 3D and you needing to continually attack the boss while in this state.

3. The bird race right before the last boss in Donkey Kong Country 2, where you have to race at high speed as a difficult-to-control bird against another one. The catch is that it's through a level where touching absolutely any surface (brambles) murders you. Almost on par with this is one of the "Lost World" levels where you have to fly through a similarly complex bramble level as the same bird, except this time the opponent bird is replaced by huge gusts of wind that randomly blow you left or right.

4. The "secret" levels in Super Mario Sunshine that Fletch mentioned, that get almost comically hard as the game progresses. Ranging from intricate jumping puzzles to sand blocks that disintegrate beneath your feet to spinning cube things that move around the air, getting through these things almost reduced me to tears as the draw of a star pulled me in.

There're quite a few more, but this subject is so great I think I'm going to think of some more and make it a blog post on my superb blog.

The Commandos series

Quote from JamesL

The jumps across the stepping stones in the water - Last Ninja on the C64 [/retro]

Omg! Yes i remember those stones. Was really hard. And Dizzy!! Awsome games, fragile egg indeed but funny how you could fall from far up in the tree´s and down to the ground without any harm

Quote from Will

The Commandos series

True dat!

Yeah, I guess you're righ:- STFU!!!!!!!!!!!

Quote from D3ads

I've read that article, I didn't really understand it much since I've never played the game (or the others for that matter). On that note I can pick up both Thief1/2 for £5, worth my time I suppose?

Thief is so awesome. You'll love it - it's made by Looking "SS2" Glass! 'nuff said.

i remember an older game, NES times. The game s called "top gun" - and if you finished a mission you have to land on a aircraft carrier - and damn fuck, my plane crashed every time because i was to fast/high/low what ever and the help was just a big joke.i sold that fucking game .... because i always had to retry the damn missions and its shit that the landings are done after 30 retries - i think this was the frustrated game i ever played

Quote from VoodooBenshee

i remember an older game, NES times. The game s called "top gun" - and if you finished a mission you have to land on a destroyer - and damn fuck, my plane crashed every time because i was to fast/high/low what every - i sold that fucking game .... because i always had to retry the damn missions - i think this was the frustated game i ever played

Then have you seen this (Angry Nintento Nerd video of Top Gun)? If not you'll love it: http://%7Boption%7D

a yeah i know this

*weee* really fun to see this again oh man i really hate this game. the same thing was refueling your plane in the air .....

Paradroid, the whole game, i never got what i was supposed to do, still it was one of the best game i ever played. I couldn't let it go even though i got frustated because i never knew what to do really. Wings of Fury to land the aircraft on the ship was almost impossible!

Turrican, again on the C64, man the later levels of that were eeeeeevil.

As were Speedball vs the computer on max difficulty "Brutal Deluxe" baby.

It took a while to think of any game, probably had so much frustration in gaming so id had to erase them all from my memory just so i couldnt kill myself or something.. anyways two games popped into my mind.

UFO: enemy unknown & terror from the deep - made back in 1995 probably the hardest games ever made given to the fact that i have played both of them to what might be close to +100 hours only to have even gotten close to the end. the alien bastards always get me...

Silent Storm - You have to have nerves with attached liquid nitrogen pipes to keep them cool for even just to pass one mission. Not saying its a bad game, probably the best tactical turn based game ever made but its also hard as hell even at the easiest mode. The game mechanic is just plain genious. almost like the ufo I just mentioned but enhanced with realistic laws of physics like bullet trails, penetration, grenade throwing with addition that almost every goddamn thing in the level is desroyable. What makes it so hard is that it's so unpredictable in every aspect that its also what makes is so good. If you throw a grenade you never know where it lands and if you take a shot you never know where it might go, you might shoot an enemy to the head with the same bullet bouncing from a wall to a gas tank and blow two more guys from the nearby wall of the neighbouring room also making an easy entry for more enemies and finally making the end to your soldiers in the following turns.

I even tried to play it on two occasions only to smash my head at the same frigging level on the allied side if i remember right it was the ural mountains. never tried the axis side it felt even harder.

but i just loved the feeling after completing a mission, like climbing ontop of a mountain.

Thief & Thief2 are both brilliant games. I've not played the third, but I intend to at some point

"Someone is taffing around down here!"

Last boss in Contra 3 on hardest difficulty, zomg!

Devil May Cry on hardest difficulty = impossible.

Quote from Thrik

4. The "secret" levels in Super Mario Sunshine that Fletch mentioned, that get almost comically hard as the game progresses. Ranging from intricate jumping puzzles to sand blocks that disintegrate beneath your feet to spinning cube things that move around the air, getting through these things almost reduced me to tears as the draw of a star pulled me in.

Oh my.

Wave Race. That game was insane on the hardest difficulty, one tiny tiny error, such as straying from the racing line for 1 second usually ended up in you going from first two last. Actually hitting anything usually meant a restart.

Actually i am playing Turok 2 over again and while it is not that tough enemy wise its hard as hell to get around. I allways get lost.

I remember playing a war flight simulator (can't remember the name tough) on the PS1, that was probablly the most frustating game ever. It toke me a week just to figure out how to move with the plane and land it properly. Then I started doing all the missions, which where even more frustating.