Top Five Surprisingly Hard Video Games

[@Dukstless]

Ah yes, homerun derby. You forgot one thing. You not only need to hit the ball, you need to hit it in a way that it's a homerun. If it falls short of a homerun, or is considered a foul - too bad, you wasted a shot!

[@michaelgum97]

"Maybe there's another option to beat this game? Like... Beating this Tigger with this bat." "GODDAMN PIECE OF FUCKING- AAAAAUGH SHIT!!!" "YOU PIECE OF FUCKING TIGER!! I HATE YOU!! FUCKING HELLLLLL!" A girl who's traumatized by Tigger.

[@v1llainous_]

"Silly old bear... If the harbinger of spring is the sound of a bat on a ball, then I have become the harbinger of winter; a barren and desolate spot your bat will never hit. As my ball strikes the padded glove with the disgruntled furl of thirty thousand fans trudging out of the arena, watching as you throw down your bat in disgust and mourn what you'll never be, know this: you will never defeat me, Pooh Bear. Not as long as you or I will live"

[@Ramsey276one]

LOVED THIS Even if I didn’t get the reference XD

[@pundertalefan4391]

Oh. XD

[@MrPooly1459]

Oh Bother......

[@ThePkmnYPerson]

Pooh is surprisingly nonchalant about all his friends suddenly having magic powers.

[@fictionfan3699]

He's met Sora. Magic is not new to him.

[@Arcticfox030]

Have you played kingdom hearts?

[@SakuraAvalon]

Really? This all seems standard fair for cartoon baseball.

[@table2476]

I watched enough fwob to know the horrors of Christopher Robin’s home run derby

[@KneelNoodles]

@@TheOmniBlade haha I’m 12 years old am I right gamers????

[@MaxMonado]

DONKEY KONG SUUUURGE

[@coreylineberry8557]

Meanwhile, I saw Pikamee's torment.

[@PinkOrangeOrangePink]

The giraffe town boss is a far second in difficulty

[@NEETKitten]

Cade still hasn't fought that giraffe.

[@BigBoo64]

Christopher Robin is the ultimate evil, beaten out not even by the devil himself

[@acheron16]

And then you see Monkey Ball speedrunners taking physics for a spin and leaving it broken (but satisfied) when they're done.

[@amirgarcia547]

I always knew Christopher Robin was secretly the strongest secret boss in all of Kingdom Hearts. Mostly since he’s angry and jealous at Sora for taking his place as Pooh’s BFF.

[@trustyourforce4041]

"ET was a bit of a disaster" is quite the understatement.

[@freetoplayking7362]

Its like saying that Joseph Stalin wasn't the nicest man in the world

[@arnox4554]

To be fair, the video game industry was very fragile and new back then, so when this clunker came out, it gave the right punch to send the industry back into the depths for a long time until the NES finally came out. Nowadays, the gaming industry is WAY too big to be toppled by a singular game anymore.

[@Robbie_Haruna]

@@arnox4554 True. It wasn't just ET's fault that the video game crash happened, the Atari 2600 (and its competitors,) were filled to the brim with loads of terrible games because there was no quality control. ET was just the straw that broke the camel's back

[@TheHeroOfTomorrow]

"Someone bought their kid Ecco the Dolphin for Christmas not knowing it was impossible!" And that someone had a son named Juan Ortiz.

[@juanortiz9123]

Hey! I've never knew i had a genesis for christmas! :P

[@flyestskeleman]

But Some call him Johnny

[@DrvggedUpYeen]

Making someone play Pooh's Homerun Derby completely should be considered torture

[@colingznetworkplus4618]

Punishable by death in some countries!

[@Tamashikiri]

Now I know why there aren't any Heartless in the Hundred Acre Wood in Kingdom Hearts. There are none among Maleficent's legion who would dare to face the god of death that is Christopher Robin.

[@KyogresHideout_Vegito2121]

I've watched enough of Vinesauce Rev to know the horrors of Christopher Robin and his god level baseball throws.

[@muisverriet]

I watched him try to beat the game for about 4 hours while he was slowly driven insane. It was beautiful

[@BeaglzRok1]

"Silly old bear." -Entropy personified The secret behind the insanity is that the game was released in Japan, so the English-speaking browsers of anime messageboards understandably did not understand half of the game. It turns out that there is an upgrades tab that lets you improve things like the bat's hitbox or how quickly Pooh can move from side-to-side. So I think those first five years were Japanese kids raised on Megaman Hard Mode seeing a baseball game that lets you improve your kit instead of improving your skill, and being totally okay.

[@Toukozuki]

WHAT

[@Ramsey276one]

THERE ARE UPGRADES?

[@chaosinc.382]

>Entropy personified Jesus christ my sides

[@MattCraftDotDerp]

"Tell me his name again." "CHRISTOPHER ROBIN!"

[@Pattamatt1998]

i like your profile pic a lot

[@shawnheatherly]

Super Monkey Ball is the perfect franchise for this topic because no one who is learning about the series is going to think it's difficult, it has the innocence to lull them in before becoming crazy. As for the number one entry, this might be my favorite video now in a long time.

[@rainglock5885]

Your description of Winne the Pooh home run derby was perfect. The sound of the music makes my body tense up

[@aisadal2521]

Lol, never knew Christopher Robin was the secret final boss of the 100 Acre Wood 😂😂😂

[@nicholasfarrell5981]

That's exactly what he wants you to think.

[@Zezlemetkun]

"I have the high ground you silly old bear” "You underestimate my power Christopher Robin"

[@michaelgrant6899]

Christopher Robin is stronger than Xehanort.

[@stephenhernandez7609]

Its always the quiet ones

[@ShiningSilvally]

Good news for masochism advocates: Adobe Flash Player's debug program's files are able to be downloaded for free, and you can experience Winnie The Pooh Home Run Derby in the same type of download, ALL WITHOUT WI-FI AFTER DOWNLOADING THEM. Enjoy the torture! (Seriously though, Adobe Flash Player is still alive. No lie. Hope the debug files will fill the void in a Flash lover's life.)

[@thecunninlynguist]

Ecco's difficulty definitely surprised me as a kid.

[@macdongr]

I always had too much fun in the first area of the game and just jumped around without progressing. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

[@CkyGuy69]

Ecco is way tough lol chill vibe tho

[@MrARhodes]

Uncle: what ya wanna play? Thunder Force II or Ecco? Whoever:

[@Superluigi881]

I played Ecco Jr first... yeah. Just a little bit of a shock to the system when I checked out the first one.

[@StylusShade]

You mentioned Jak & Daxter 2 and I immediately knew you were going to make a reference to Shadow the Hedgehog.

[@BigBoss15310]

(In reference to Super Monkey Ball) “These games been rolling around for a while now” ...son of a

[@Kraleck]

Idea for a video: Top 5 Enemy Pairings That Increased Their Combined Difficulty. Those odd times where a combination of simple enemy mooks can be deadly, frustrating, and outright nasty to contend with. Taking on a foe that gets right up in your grill is simple to deal with at range. Another foe that you can take cover to avoid getting shot is also easy to handle. However, the chocolate and peanut butter combo of the two increases the difficulty just a few steps more.

[@juanortiz9123]

Sounds interesting. Any examples?

[@Kraleck]

@@juanortiz9123 Donkey Kong Country 3, the level "Fish Food Frenzy" where you have to keep a "friendly" Nibbla (normally an enemy, a fish with one Hell of an underbite) fed with Koco (clownfish with clown makeup) and avoid letting it eat any of the Lurchin (spiky shell on the top and bottom, squishy in the middle, moves a bit like an accordion). The Koco and Lurchin can either stay put or swim back and forth and are easy enough for a Kong to avoid normally, but trying to escort a hangry fish past the ones it hates to get to the ones it likes can make you end up with a bad case of baboon butt.

[@juanortiz9123]

@@Kraleck oh i see. I Remember that stage. Truly memorable.

[@flameguy21]

Christopher Robin is the Mike Tyson of baseball.

[@MrARhodes]

Get outta my head. 😂

[@WayWardWonderer]

Any Disney licensed games on the NES/SNES/Genesis. "Lion King", "Beauty and the Beast", "Jungle Book" and even "Aladdin" are surprisingly difficult.

[@newageBoundhippie]

damn straight....oh, and don't forget the impossible bullshit that is Tale Spin. I CAN'T EVEN BEAT THE FIRST FUCKING LEVEL

[@JaelinBezel]

I had Jungle Book on the Snes. Never got far in it.

[@olofskivarp]

I remember really liking Ecco the dolphin when small... I didn't know how to do the 1st objective even after my brother explained it to me, but that didn't really matter to me. At 7yo I just enjoyed controlling the dolphin 13 years later, I remembered Ecco and wondered what the game really was about, I was quite surprised to see how difficult it was, not mentioning the wacky story 🤣

[@ItMeRobin]

i genuinely like this new direction with some more jokes laced in with the segments. keep doing that, it's genuinely great.

[@smugsneasel]

It's a good thing Christopher Robin isn't a secret boss in Kingdom Hearts 3. Sora wouldn't stand a chance...

[@CommissarMitch]

Yo is that new art for RabbidLuigi?

[@jeffteepell4754]

So there's this program called Flashpoint that has a ton of flash games, and Winnie the Pooh's Home Run Derby is there. It didn't disappear. It's waiting for you. . .

[@mrmanager6591]

Gotta say, I already love the new thumbnail design!

[@silverreaps6803]

Considering your name is mr nitpick, mr rabbid luigi should be very proud

[@JustKeener]

I don't know if you'll see this, but I really like the subtle changes to your transitions! Makes the video more streamlined! And I'm glad to see your trademark humor and insight come through too. Thanks for kicking ass!

[@jackawatkins87]

I just cackled for three minutes straight watching that final entry. Bravo RabidLuigi, you've done it again 🤣

[@ArchmageOfAnarchy]

Didn't know that Christopher Robin was his reality's force user but ok.

[@holynarwhale8729]

"IM GONNA KILL PRAXIS!!!!"

[@lacytaylor1501]

Oh Peta even felt that burn deep in the icebergs they have the audacity to call hearts

[@thewinterprince1731]

"There is but one that the devil himself would never approach. To face him is to embrace the cold touch of death itself." Bruh. Poetry. I love it.

[@cheiftainvulpix]

I never thought I'll see that one last on the list and being harder than Dark Souls.

[@SupremeMarioGamer]

New thumbnail, new transition, yet the "a RabbidLuigi production" has stayed the same. Oh shit, that means no wacky fonts & transition effects anymore.

[@RosheenQuynh]

Yeah, that kinda disappointed/saddened me ☹ I hope he at least keeps the clever subscribe things going, those are my favorite part about his channel, to be honest. They're never forced and even though they're somewhat predictable, they never fail to pleasantly surprise you

[@theburningbaron6417]

As someone who played Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2 a lot and might have broken a few controllers in his childhood, I can safely back Super Monkey Ball up on this list. But once you get good, it's so satisfying.

[@frostyblade8842]

I can relate, it's tough but surprisingly fun. Super monkey ball players were getting good Super monkey ball players were "giting gud" 10 years of war dark souls was even a thing

[@aspenlawrence835]

Still loving your videos just as much as I was 8 years ago. Your humour has really carried me through quarantine this last year haha

[@bambangamer1271]

Top Ten Sadly Overlooked Hidden Gems Of 2020

[@FrahdChikun]

Would No Straight Roads fall under that category?

[@jaystev]

The stuff you said about Jak 2 and how the difficulty makes you only think about the oncoming threats and how safe you are I think is what they tried to do because it puts you in the shoes of Jak. I agree about the checkpoints though, whilst the footage of the ambush you showed is one of the times a lack of checkpoints work because the stakes are high, it is just jarring how there’s no indication of them.

[@BetaJackMaxis]

I've played original NES games and have been to an arcade, I know damn well how games aimed at kids can be balls to the wall insane to jack up the play time.

[@timsheppard6204]

Ugh just looking at the slum seal run in Jak 2 makes me mad fuck that mission

[@Penguindude1]

Oh, something you didn't mention about Ecco The Dolphin is that after Welcome to the Machine is the final boss. And if you die to the final boss, you have to re-do Welcome to the Machine.

[@tatltails3923]

All I can focus on in Number Four is the fact that Xenoblade 2's Merc Mission theme is playing over footage of ET For Atari.

[@mja2317]

Good list. I would like to also mention: - Crash Bandicoot 1 - Horizon Zero Dawn - Dragon Age Origins - Tomb Raider 3 All of them are surprisingly unforgiving for mainstream games. If you haven't mastered the mechanics, you will die A LOT.

[@amirgarcia547]

Crash Bandicoot was designed and somewhat marketed to be a difficult game, so I wouldn’t necessarily call it “surprisingly difficult.” Even if it is super bone-crushing.

[@mja2317]

@@amirgarcia547 Crash 1 is significantly more difficult than Crash 2 or 3, bordering on unfair at times. I think that's why people always look more fondly on the sequels.

[@serge263]

For Jak II, they could've made vehicles more durable and easier to drive.

[@JaelinBezel]

You know in Jak 2 they made it so vehicles take all damage until they blow up and in video games I still think as if that were the case. Like this one time in GTA Online where I rolled my car up and let my partner out to retrieve the documents and to use my car to give him cover from the veritable army of police officers firing at us. I got headshot through the window.

[@Krysta1Rose]

Loving the new shorter countdown transitions, it feels very natural :)

[@pflanzenmeister8820]

I remember back when I was like 12 I got that Jak and daxter collection on PS3, and the amount of whiplash I got from playing the first game then the second back to back blind.

[@MilkenGamer42]

Look on the bright side. At least Home Run Derby isn't in Kingdom Hearts. Smacking your keyblade into Christopher Robin's baseballs sounds like the lowest form of hell.

[@SuiteLifeofDioBrando]

F Zero GX was the hardest game I ever beat. Ch 7 of the story I barely won by falling into a land mine at the last second of the race to barely catch up to Black Bull.

[@MachetesAreFun]

my favorite thing about Ecco was putting in random passwords only to find that most of them actually work. It's like each level has several dozen valid passwords for it that they don't show you. I would just enter random stuff in and see what level I would go to. They fixed that in Tides of Time, which I actually liked a lot better than the original, but it was still really hard. Those sky levels nuts. I definitely died over 100 times on the medusa chase one, but at least that intense music was awesome.

[@jammy0596]

I'm relieved to see Jak II on the list. My sister and I had a lot of trouble playing the game, retrying each mission dozens of times. Good to know we were not the only ones having trouble with the game.

[@MCDexpo]

Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future (the 3D one on Dreamcast, and later PS2)... I never beat the second level... Mainly because the Great White Shark boss scared the daylights out of me when I was little....

[@pyrotornado108]

I was expecting to hear about the first Rayman game somewhere on the list. Gotta say, was not expecting the number one choice.

[@ladylexicon11]

*(sees Christopher Robin in the thumbnail)* oh no

[@rammantakhsh9247]

number one definitely surprised me lmao

[@tracyndiyob162]

lol with how surprisingly hard for a winnie the pooh game home run derby is i'm surprised the reward of getting the final homerun isn't the ball hitting and blowing up the honey tree with the bees being a secret final boss/chase pooh through the credits.

[@MetallicD3ath]

This is like, the 3rd or 4th time I've heard about 100 Acre Derby this month, and yet, I've *never* heard of the game before that. It's incredibly weird, why did it suddenly blow back up in multiple avenues that I frequent? And yet, the memes are amazing. Almost every time this game shows up, so too does the harbinger of winter quote. And Ecco, I'm pretty sure I fit that "someone's parents bought this game," I faintly remember playing as a child, and never got to the weird bit (at least, I don't remember it). Little 5 year old me actually did think it was a fun little dolphin sim game without any sort of plot or ending, because even the intro tutorial sequence was too difficult. I'm thinking I got the better deal on that one.

[@greatsageclok-roo9013]

What? No Crash Bash on this list? That game gets BRUTAL difficult without any warning! Though I do agree with Jak II. Favourite game of the series for me, but what the actual HELL were NaughtyDog thinking when they made it this hard?!

[@Torthrodhel]

I love that Ecco's on here and the list was practically made for Monkey Ball, but I do feel like Fantasy Zone should get an honorable mention. That was quite a bullet hell back in the day without any save functionality. In lovely bright colours and cute designs! :D Cuphead might be punishing, but it doesn't make you start the entire thing over if you lose too many lives.

[@Caitlinm007]

As kids my sister and I had “Timon and Pumba’s Hippo Hop” which was basically a Lion King themed Frogger. We loved it and played it a lot, but after playing for a few minutes the game would suddenly get harder. Animals moving twice as fast, no clear pattern, it always frustrates us. Also, Circus Caper on the NES. It looked like a cute game with carnival sideshows. No matter how many times I played, I never made past level 2.

[@mr.e9502]

Not gonna lie. I knew Jak II was gonna be different, but I never thought it would be balls-deep in difficulty. Especially that mission where you have to be on your hover board for the entirety of the mission to deliver some bombs in the mine area.

[@MRjuggerNAUT77]

Idk if you made an intentional change but I really appreciated the script in this vid. Felt very fresh and funny this time!

[@seriousspikesam7770]

Alien Hominid... I remember that classic. I remember playing that during the breaks of 6th grade and besting the final boss at my last life... took a while to figure out how to beat him. Other classics I remember beating were Majinwar and Sonic Flash... good, simpler times.

[@shenloken2]

I’ll take Jak II over the Last of Us Part II ANY day...hear that Naughty Dog!?!

[@toxicastigator]

Gotta say, I’m missing the old number transitions that felt unique and complimented every topic of your video.

[@DRCEQ]

Loving the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 music playing in the video.

[@phantomhurricane666]

top ten themed videogames. (medieval, the old west, etc)

[@kitsunered9135]

I am traumatized by Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2 on the GCN

[@bluestreaker9242]

Yo saaaaame! I'm surprised I had the patience to beat Super Monkey Ball 2's Story Mode all told. Although, I probably would've never given the games the time of day if it weren't for the arcade cabinet set up in my local dine-in Pizza Hut. R.I.P...that...time that Pizza Hut was actually good, I dunno. :/ Meanwhile, I remember loving the minigames: Target Flight being an absolute favorite amongst my friends and I. :3

[@fryPS]

I still can’t believe it’s called the Game Cube Nintendo I always have to re read GCN

[@luischavesdev]

The only two hard games in the series to be honest.

[@whereisspacebar2991]

I love the new video style! Never thought I'd hear Christopher Robin and Dark Souls in the same sentence, but here we are

[@TerravancerYoh]

A reminder that Super Monkey Ball 2 was used as a warm up for surgeons in a hospital in Florida. My personal choice of surprisingly difficult game is Freedom Planet 1.

[@amirgarcia547]

Yeah, that game kicked my ass the first time I played it, though over time I got used to its difficultly.

[@GT3NB]

Seeing any coverage of my favourite franchise (Jak and Daxter) brings a smile to my face, and the brilliant thing is that I knew it would absolutely be in this video. Jak 2 might be completely unreasonably difficult but it’s fine because the first game is the quintessential 3-D collectathon and Jak 3 is just the perfect game period. In fact 3 fixes every issue 2 has, blends the platforming and action of the first and second games, while on top of that bringing innovative car mechanics, a world probably about 3 or 4 times as big, more weapon variety and missions with dozens of gameplay styles. People really don’t talk about 3 enough.

[@henryvargasestrada2320]

You belong in my team. Jak is also my favorite Sony franchise.

[@Wobbmin]

I definitely would have put Bug Fables on this list. Even without the Hard Mode medal equipped, even the normal enemies can be a real threat if you're not careful, and the bosses especially can give you a rough time.

[@Stephen-Fox]

Glad to see Ecco on this list (Though I'm more familiar with The Tides of Time and screw everything about Sky Tubes and Tube of Medusa and that's, like, the 5th and 6th levels of 40 or so). I'd also add the Dizzy franchise, generally, but in particular Treasure Island Dizzy (A cute puzzle-platformer about an anthropomorphic egg stranded on an island, where you carry objects from one place to another to solve puzzles and collect the coins for a boat ride home as you do so. But you have no health so any damage will kill you, some obstacles are off screen, the jump physics make the Belmonts look agile - If you're jumping to a platform above or below you you will continue to tumble when you land until you're vertical, and if that sends you careening off a ledge to your doom, so be it), some of the coins are ludicrously well hidden, the inventory is 3 items large, the inventory is a queue, one of the items is a snorkle that dropping underwater will result in you drowning, there's a weird glitch where sometimes it registers two inputs instead of one for pick up/drop item, and while the game was designed with multiple lives in mind this was changed late in development, apparently due to looming deadlines and the snorkle mechanic giving a possibility of a softlock to being a single life game, meaning if any of the nonsense I just mentioned leads to your death, you get to start over again. Even if it's the last jump of the game that you mess up due to the tumbling mechanic. Not annoyed that that's the closest I've ever gotten to beating the game. Nope. Not annoyed about that at all.) I don't think either of these are the hardest games ever made, but for me they're the ones that have the greatest disparity of what they look like they're going to be and what they actually are, difficulty wise (At least aside from the Christopher Robin Baseball game which thankfully I've never played)

[@OdeForCruelty]

I expected Rayman to be here. Holy fuck, that difficulty spike after a few cozy and easy levels... That game kicked my ass so hard when I was a kid.

[@MidnightRaziel]

i'd love to see you do Top 10 (or 5) Metaphysical Games, or in other words, thought-provoking games. You always discuss topics intellectually in these videos so i'd love to hear your thoughts on metaphysics specifically.

[@OneTrueBelmont]

The amount of difficulty spike in Jak II cannot be overstated. I think I gave up near the beginning because I simply could not pass one of the driving levels, mostly because you had to get rings and they all were random and sometimes random cars or nonsense could appear that would make you lose. But I think the worst of all that made this game unplayable for me was the map. It's not that the map was inaccurate or anything, but the map would always rotate depending on your direction. Because of that, I could never tell where I was.

[@Progamer1013]

2:22 I instantly knew where this was going, and I could not agree more. Still love it to death though.

[@coyoteartist]

As a baseball fan, I immediately set about trying to decide which pitcher would most emulate Christopher Robin as described. I'm tempted to go with Nolan Ryan or Bob Gibson but I'm most inclined to go with Sal Maglie who combined a looping curve and high heat with the inside of the plate to earn the name Sal The Barber. Gibson just wanted to put you firmly in a padded room and Ryan wanted to put you in traction. Sal just wanted to take an inch off the top of your sanity and your outer layer of skin.

[@Xackadee]

It wasn't until you were almost at the end of talking about Jak II that I got the ET "surprisingly difficult" joke.

[@amirgarcia547]

As for my own surprisingly difficult game, it’d probably be Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. I knew nothing about Shiren the Wanderer or other dungeon-crawlers at the time, so I didn’t think a game with Pokémon attached to it could be unforgiving enough to make you lose most of your items when defeated, having to do the whole dungeon again when losing to a boss (outside of scripted ones like Grovyle) or the horror that is... *shudders* A monster house... In terms of the series itself though, I definitely wasn’t expecting Super Mystery Dungeon to be as hard as it was. I had already beaten Blue Rescue Team, Explorers of Time and Sky beforehand and it *still* kicked my ass in several occasions.

[@luischavesdev]

Bumped. Only played blue rescue team, but it kicked my ass for sure.

[@kaistephens2694]

* *Nervously laughs in Joyous Tower* *

[@amirgarcia547]

@@kaistephens2694 That’s a post-game dungeon, which are usually quite hard, so I wouldn’t really call it surprisingly difficult. Just...well, difficult difficult.

[@darienb1127]

okay, with Pooh Baseball being the final game on the list, i just want to remind people of the beauty of a video called Attack on 100 Acre Wood. it's a fucking gem of a video that i think a lot of us have forgotten.

[@MrLuigiBean1]

I like all the little changes to your script and presentation!

[@tehPete]

That last level in Ecco was just evil, and took me waaay too long to beat. I loved the Pink Floyd references in the game though, even as a kid - they're actually the only reason I ended up beating it.

[@KinamOfMyth]

Other than pits, what in Jak 2 kills you in one shot?

[@LevelsOTT]

This is definitely one of your best videos

[@digitaldeathsquid3448]

Some other games I would consider surprisingly difficult Stuntman - Not much to go on with the title of this game, other than the knowledge that it was developed by Reflections Interactive, who had previously developed Driver and Destruction Derby. The game ends up being a combination of the two, as you play the role of a stunt driver who must execute a tight sequence of stunts called out by the director as you learn the level. What makes this game surprisingly difficult is the unforgiving time limit, sometimes giving you as little as 5 seconds between checkpoints, while actions are being called out to you as you are travelling at speeds in excess of 60mph. In addition, the game notes how closely you follow the sequence called out, but doesn't tell you if you've met the required standard until the end of a level, meaning you could reach the end, think you're all done, only to be told that you missed too many marks and you have to try the whole thing again. It's not so bad once you get a feel for both the controls and the levels, and the sandbox mode is a glorious showing-off of the game's destructo-physics, but I'll be damned if there weren't days that I wanted to run the director down in a monster truck. Thankfully the sequel, Stuntman Ignition, was far easier with much more time per checkpoint and a Strike system implemented that would simply stop the level immediately if you missed too many marked events WipEout series - Sony's answer to F-Zero, the WipEout games tried a slightly different tack of (for the most part) toning down the rollercoaster-esque track design of the former, and upping the sensation of flight by giving each racing craft two sets of airbrakes and the ability to pitch the nose of your craft; two things that you will need to master if you want to make it through a fast race on some of the tougher tracks in one piece. The "surprisingly difficult" aspect typically comes from how, if you start a new racing campaign in a lower speed class, the first two or three tracks can seem like a breeze even in some of the heavier craft that can be tough to steer. That false sense of security is quickly dispensed of, and all of a sudden you're thrown into tricky corner sequence after tricky corner sequence, while your opponents are firing at you, and all with limited shield energy. Thankfully there are ways of recovering shield energy (earlier games had a pit lane, later games allowed you to absorb power-ups to regain shields as you raced) but learning the tracks is only half the battle. In a particularly devious move, WipEout 2097 even locked some of the hardest tracks behind skill walls, meaning that your introduction to some of those tracks had to be at the faster speed classes, which made racing this new track you haven't seen before a real trial-by-fire. Ratchet And Clank 2 - Insomniac, not to be outdone by Naughty Dog, also chose to up the difficulty of the sequel to what would be their landmark PS2 action-platformer/third-person-shooter, but also ironed out a few of the control creases from the first game, and notably allowed you to level-up your weapons with increased use as well as increase your maximum health as you defeat enemies. In practice, this took away one of the safer caveats of the first Ratchet And Clank Game; that being that no matter how big the enemy, attacks could only deal one point of damage. As early as the 3rd level, you are introduced to enemies that can deal two points of damage per hit, as well as being introduced to certain bosses (including optional ones) very early on in the game. As levels become tougher, it can be a nightmare to try and keep up as relying on your favourite weapons can only get you so far, and there may be a scenario better served by a different weapon that you haven't used all that much. Starting afresh in New Game+ Challenge Mode only increased enemy toughness further, but allowed you to further level up your weapons and give you the chance to earn far more cash with the Jackpot Multiplier extending to a maximum of x20 so long as you could avoid taking damage. This put something of a ceiling on the difficulty as it becomes much easier to save up the 1,000,000 bolts necessary to buy the best weapon in the game, the RYNO II, and trivialize every encounter. Portal - Looking back, it's easy to forget how much of an unexpected hit Portal became, seeing as the game will be turning 14 this year, but the entirely new way of thinking required to overcome any and all challenges this game put in front of you arguably hasn't really been seen since. Heavily based on the freeware title Narbacular Drop (indeed I believe Valve actually bought the studio behind said game) that similarly involved portal-based puzzle platforming, the game finely balanced sections that required a more methodical approach with nail-biting life-or-death sequences that required quick reflexes to not fall to your death, be crushed, blown up or riddled with so many bullets you could be mistaken for a sieve. Having to manipulate your own momentum to pass seemingly impassable barriers under the watchful eye of the malicious GLaDOS turned out to be ball-bustingly hard as well as novel and fun. But bear in mind this game was released as a small, 2-to-3-hour title alongside what were (and to an extent still are) heavyweight titles in Valve's stable, Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2 when The Orange Box dropped back in 2007. Not bad for a completely new IP that was essentially serving as stocking-filler once players were done with the big, expensive presents that had flashing lights and dispensed sweets.

[@shiffpup2529]

*Hears Winnie the Pooh music *FWOB flashbacks intensify*

[@rasta7655]

I hope you keep the new thumbnail. The old one took up like half the screen.

[@Superluigi881]

Silly old bear. *You will never win.*

[@pikmaniac2643]

Out of all of these, I've only played Jak II, but I gotta say I struggled more with the third entry in the series.

[@evilduck1000]

For me it was Crash Bandicoot. I never played it as a kid so knew very little about it or what to expect. I was not prepared for so many instant kills and such a lack of checkpoints.

[@Waffletigercat]

Top Video Games Secondary Characters Who Deserve Their Own Game

[@Sokobansolver]

I love how Christopher Robin is on the thumbnail

[@supergamer1388]

I like the music behind #4. Though some people may have PTSD from leveling up Ursula.

[@stephensmith7327]

I'd argue that Jak 2 is still a platformer with some 3rd person shooter elements thrown in. And I feel that the difficulty was because they felt the fans that played the first to 100% would appreciate the extra challenge. I do also think they went to far and they probably agree because Jak 3 is way easier and reaches a nice happy medium

[@skiller5034]

Top Five Video Game MEMES That Are Surprisingly ALIVE!

[@floatingf8783]

It's nothing short of a travesty that Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle isn't on this list. YOUR NAME IS LITERALLY RABBIDLUIGI!

[@stan_1999]

I'm KZbin for a while now. I heard countless people talking about the E.T game. I know the game footage but today was the first time I actually understood what you're suppose to do in this game. THOSE WERE HOLES.

[@krimsonkatt]

Hello youtube. Please fix false copyright claims and remove demonization. Thank you.