If you think Soulsborne games are difficult, check out a few of the tougher games from the Super Nintendo era. Many older gamers have their own horror stories about titles they’ve been trying to beat for decades with no luck, and no amount of grinding is going to help you get past a boss or obstacle that’s meant to break you.
That was no accident, either. In the ‘90s, developers didn’t want gamers to blow through their titles with a weekend rental, so they’d purposely put these devious challenges in their games in the hopes you’d get frustrated and buy the title, or at least keep going back for multiple rentals. The 16-bit era was just built different.
Without further ado, these are the 15 hardest levels from the SNES games of that period.
15. Wolverine Stage 2 – Spider-Man and the X-Men: Arcade’s Revenge
Teaming up Spider-Man and the X-Men in a video game is an awesome idea, but outside of Arcade’s Revenge, this crossover has only ever been explored in games that include a whole host of other Marvel heroes. Maybe it’s because the final result here was less than amazing. After clearning a mandatory, and somewhat tedious (but not terribly difficulty), maze level featuring Spidey, you’re free to choose whether you want to play through a level featuring him, Cyclops, Gambit, Storm, or Wolverine.
Most of these levels are tough, but for many gamers, their adventure ended with the second Wolverine stage where he’s chased by the Juggernaut. Attacking with Wolverine’s claws slows down the Juggernaut, but the only way to damage him is to drop various weights hanging around the stage on him, which is easier said than done with the finnicky controls and walls continually getting in your way.
14. Tubular – Super Mario World
Super Mario World usually isn’t considered a very difficult game. In fact, with a little practice, it’s pretty easy to get to Bowser and roll credits in an afternoon. The real challenge comes from wanting to see everything the game has to offer, and getting through the secret Special Zone.
Tubular is one of the shorter levels in the game, but most of it is made up of one giant pit. To cross it, you’ll need to strategically use three Power Balloons, all while avoiding baddies and projectiles that can instantly ruin your run. Cape Feathers are another option for getting through the level, but somehow that’s even more difficult. This is more like something a sadist would design in Super Mario Maker than the typical Nintendo level.
13. Mission 9 – U.N. Squadron
U.N. Squadron is one of the more underrated shoot ‘em ups on the SNES. Maybe it’s the difficulty that’s put off a lot of gamers. Most of Mission 9, which is set in a cave, isn’t too difficult considering the genre. There are some tight spots to get through, but what has frustrated countless players over the years is the level’s final boss. The problem is the design of this stage and how hard it is to prepare for it.
The boss rests on the ceiling, while additional enemies attack from the bottom. It has a lot of health, but this being a side-scrolling shooter, you’re probably not equipped to fire above you unless you have the right ship and weapons equipped. This level can be conquered with proper planning and trial and error, but it’s still one of the more stressful levels on the console.
12. Curse of Dr. Tongue – Zombies Ate My Neighbors
Over the years, Zombies Ate My Neighbors has become a cult classic thanks to its fun horror-comedy vibes, great graphics and soundtrack, and for being one of the longer action games of the 16-bit era. It’s also earned a reputation for being incredibly hard to complete. Curse of Dr. Tongue is the final and most difficult level in an already difficult game.
The level works as the perfect nightmare combination of everything that made the game hard to begin with: a maze-like level, tons of tough enemies, and an unpredictable bullet sponge boss. To be fair, the level can be a little easier if you use the password feature to start a few levels back and stock up on items, but even then, it’s no cake walk.
11. Rocket Rush – Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!!
The entire Donkey Kong Country trilogy has its share of difficult platforming sections, but none is more maligned than Rocket Rush, the final level in Donkey Kong Country 3. Unlike most levels in the series, this isn’t your typical left-to-right level where the goal is simply to make it to the other side. Instead, Dixie and Kiddy spend most of the level piloting a Rocket Barrel.
There’s just so much that can go wrong here, between the enemy placement, little area to maneuver, and the constant draining fuel supply. If any of those things don’t go your way, it’s game over. If you’ve played through the entire trilogy, this really is the ultimate test of a player’s Donkey Kong Country skills.
10. Dr. Doppler’s 4th Stage – Mega Man X3
The Mega Man X series became progressively more difficult as it went on. Admittedly, some of that is because the later games just got worse overall. The series’ third outing is still pretty good, but it’s also packed with some questionable design choices that make encounters feel a bit cheap. For instance, most enemies seem to do a lot more damage than in the previous two games, which feels a bit unfair at times.
The final level of Mega Man X3 is short. In fact, what it takes to get to the final boss isn’t much of a challenge at all. But the Kaiser Sigma fight is so annoying that it lands the entire level on this list. The problem is he has such a tiny hit box on his face that you have to precisely aim at. Meanwhile, he can wipe you out in just a few hits. Unless you’ve practiced extensively, most of your shots will probably just bounce off of him, and then you’ll have to start the fight all over again.
9. The Temple of Maggie – The Simpsons: Bart’s Nightmare
Fox licensed a whole bunch of Simpsons games during the game’s golden age in the ‘90s, with the results largely running the gamut from “ok” to “somehow worse than the newer seasons of the show.” Bart’s Nightmare is somewhere in between. It has some really good graphics that match the look of the cartoon, and the concept of throwing Bart into a bunch of movie parodies is interesting, but this game is mostly known for its punishing difficulty.
In The Temple of Maggie, a spoof of the Indiana Jones movies, Bart must jump across a series of stone platforms, but every time he jumps on one, another raises, and if you jump on one that’s too low, it collapses, and Bart falls to his death. Oh, and randomly spawning blue demons keep attacking you the whole time. Even worse, in the second part of the level, attacking one of these demons results in instant death for some ridiculous reason. The level is just an exercise in frustration.
8. Level 7 – Gradius III
First the good news: Gradius III on the SNES is actually a little bit easier than the arcade version. Stage 7 in particular has fewer projectiles to deal with in this port, and a mid-stage boss has even been removed. The bad news is that even with these changes, this is still really damn hard to beat. But hey, it’s Gradius. What do you expect?
There are a lot of classic shoot ‘em up challenges here, like a storm of bullets to dodge, swarms of enemies, and an end level boss that’s unpredictable and can ruin your entire run in seconds. Oh, and that’s if you manage to get past the tight turns in an annoying maze section as well.
7. Secret Mission 2 – Pilotwings
Pilotwings was a truly revolutionary game, an arcade flight sim that gave the illusion of 3D graphics through expert use of the SNES’s Mode 7 capabilities. The game itself is known for being a generally chill experience, but the final level, Secret Mission 2, is one of the most aggravating experiences of the 16-bit era.
You’re now piloting an attack helicopter at night, but have to continually dodge bullets from anti-aircraft guns while also returning fire to put them out of commission. Getting hit just once results in failure. When all the guns have been destroyed, you then still have to land the chopper. This was tough back in the day, but has somehow gotten even more difficult if you’re used to modern 3D games and analog controls. At least the later Pilotwings games eschewed this cheap type of difficulty.
6. Extra 1: Poochy Ain’t Stupid – Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
Yoshi games are usually among the easiest of Nintendo’s franchises. While Yoshi’s Island has some difficult sections, it’s a pretty easy game to beat. But just like with Super Mario World, the developers did not mess around when it came to the extra stages. Welcome to Poochy Ain’t Stupid, one of the most annoying stages Nintendo has ever inflicted on its customers.
What makes this level so difficult is that lava covers most of the ground, and the only way to safely traverse the stage is on the back of Poochy. And while the level’s name claims Poochy ain’t stupid, he’s also not the sharpest crayon in the box, often getting stuck or plunging head first into obstacles, making the level a real pain to complete.
5. Be Prepared – The Lion King
Picture this: it’s 1994 and you’re 10-years-old. You saw The Lion King in theaters that summer and it completely blew your little mind. You won’t stop singing the songs for months. So of course, when the holidays roll around, your parents buy you The Lion King video game. Sweet, it has adult Simba on the cover! Seems like a cute kid’s game you can breeze through in a few hours, right?
You are so, so wrong. The Lion King is known for several ridiculous difficulty spikes, but none are more aggravating than Be Prepared, one of the game’s final levels. It takes place in a volcano (that doesn’t even have any basis in the film), and features a host of cheap enemies, jumps that require pixel perfect accuracy, and virtually no checkpoints. The developers have since admitted that this was all done on purpose to combat the rental market. So, remember that next time you get nostalgic for Blockbuster: their business model ruined what could have otherwise been a classic Disney game.
4. Stage 8 – Super Castlevania IV
Pretty much every annoying part of the Castlevania series makes up the final level of this SNES classic. The dripping eyeballs, flying medusa heads, bats, poison pools, and crumbling floors of Stage 8 conspire to whittle away your health and end your run as quickly as possible. It just takes a lot of practice and patience to get to the level’s end.
Curiously, after going through all that, the stage’s boss isn’t much of a challenge at all. Frankenstein’s Monster very slowly throws beakers at you. They’re easy to avoid, and the whip, along with a few boomerang crosses make short work of him.
3. Stage 6 – Contra III: The Alien Wars
Every Contra game is difficult, but Contra III is still considered the most brutally unforgiving game in the series, which is really saying something. The final level of The Alien Wars opens in a nest full of enemies that attack you from all sides. Some stationary sentry enemies that need to be strategically eliminated add a little more challenge, but you’re nowhere close to done at that point.
The game then throws a whopping five bosses in a row at you, each more difficult than the last. Oh, and if you’re playing on hard, the final boss even has an extra stage right before the credits roll. To this day, few players have actually beaten this game without save states and/or extra life cheats.
2. Stage 7 – Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts
Where would any retro list about difficult games be without an appearance from the Ghouls ‘n Ghosts franchise? It’s the series that practically defined cheap difficulty and that’s probably been the cause of thousands of broken controllers over the years. Super Ghouls n’ Ghosts’s last level before the final boss is built to piss you off.
Most of the stage is design around tricky vertical platforming sections that require well-timed double jumps, all while avoiding attacking cockatrice heads that can shoot projectiles. Just when you’ve bested them, it’s time for a lengthy showdown with Asteroth and then his powered up Nebiroth form. But if you can get past all that, the final boss actually isn’t too bad.
1. Death Star Escape – Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
The SNES received 16-bit adaptations of all three Star Wars films of the Original Trilogy. They’re pretty great for the time, featuring multiple playable characters, vehicle sections, and levels, as well as music true to the source material. But all three of the games are also known for their unrelenting difficulty. There are many challenges to overcome in these titles, but the final level from Return of the Jedi has broken many a gamer.
In theory, this shouldn’t be too difficult. You just guide the Millennium Falcon out of the exploding Death Star in first-person. But remember, this game came out in 1994: Mode 7 was really not built for the sudden twists and turns of this mission. Between the graphics that are already difficult to make out, pop-in, and the Jedi-level muscle memory required to complete this run, beating the game really demand use of the Force.