Top Ten Harshest Difficulty Curves in Video Games

Like you're walking through a beautiful forest, but then fall off a cliff and land in a puddle of dog sick while someone's beating you over the head with a plank of wood. Also Battletoads.
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Intro theme (Final Attack arrangement):
• Final Attack (Metal Sl...

[@Thesaurus_Rex]

"I dare anyone to defend Death Mountain" I dunno, Rabbid...those enemies seem to be doing a really good job of defending Death Mountain...

[@mb778_]

Thesaurus Rex and go right

[@hiro2protagonist]

Yes, they are. As a somewhat serious defense, once you beat Death mountain you are ready for the rest of the game and also, it makes sense as a progression of the story from the original game. Like, you go through Death Mountain in the original and are like...wow, that was hard. Then, you have to go back again and deal with it all over again.

[@ForGlory]

I just did.

[@chocolatelover19]

Dare anyone to try defend death mountain he said

[@salazar7223]

that is genius sir

[@Mostlyharmless1985]

"Try and defend death mountain." Okay! here's a conjecture to consider. I propose that this ball smacking hard levels early in the game were intended to be "weekend killers." Game developers weren't big fans of game rental, they didn't have any kind of rental agreement with places like Blockbuster, basically, the rental stores would buy the game once, then let other people play it for a fee. The developer got nothing but a single game purchase. The weekend killer, a crazy spike relatively early in the game would ensure that people playing rentals would not progress to the end, making it less popular to rent, while people who owned the game would presumably stay at it until they succeed. Remember these games were like, infinity money to buy, you didn't have these vast opportunities for cheap games like we do now, you'd buckle down and master death mountain, because damn it, mom isn't going to buy you another game till like, Christmas, and that's 8 whole months away!

[@Avarioth]

Way underrated comment, LOL.

[@Vellione]

That really makes sense.

[@oceanicblue8463]

Oh hell yeah!

[@gerudokupo2225]

That's so interesting! Is it a confirmed part of game history or just a super-smart theory?

[@ActionGamerAaron]

@@gerudokupo2225 I kind of doubt it since this kind of technique was more commonly seen in the following generation of games. Further, the Famicom version is just as hard while Japan's rental service industry was quite small and of little concern. It was just more common for developers to make challenging games, notably Nintendo was much less afraid of giving in to the lowest common denominator compared to now.

[@liambraithewaite6415]

I love how with Aztec, you don't mention the fact that you have a good chance of dying within the first 10 seconds when you get assaulted by guards on both sides of the room

[@the8thark]

"Mario games are like a switch" That's a pun of the future dear sir.

[@pinkamenadianepie1094]

Whitney's Clefairy isn't something that you just IGNORE. It knows Metronome, so it can use any attack. It. Can use Sacred Fire, Aeroblast or any other ridiculously powerful move. If that Clefairy gets lucky, it can devastate your team.

[@thegreatmajora5089]

"Battle toads is as hard as Sonic 06 is glitchy" *MY GOD*

[@turbomanmechachrist]

And still the world record holder beat the hoverbike part blindfolded on a live stage in Sweden this year, it's impressive as fuck lol - Guy's called TMR, or The Mexican Runner

[@VaughnJogVlog]

Jan I actually did this before KZbin was a thing and my grandma could even make it to the snake level. When a friend and I beat Battletoads in college, the Internet didn’t even have accurate information on how it ends.

[@OrElseEllipsis1945]

Jan TMR is great, and his commentary is hilarious. His run of Cuphead at AGDQ was great. And, as a Mexican myself, (although I'm sure it applies to anyone) I find his Spanish exclaimations when he's upset with something entertaining. No mames.

[@icy1007]

It’s not though. lol

[@pikmaniac2643]

The Great Majora I imagine that replacing 06 with Boom is going to be more accurate

[@GeertWilders-dg9ui]

why would i defend death mountain if the enemies are allready doing it for me?

[@RavenRyy]

Death Mountain. . . it was well named?

[@darthlazurus4382]

Seems that way.

[@charadreemerr4195]

Pretty much nailed in the nail of unfairness pass the limits of the frustration board

[@adamaus8770]

I realise that I probably sound like a bit of a twat but I never really had an issue with Death Mountain, my issue with the adventure of Link was the 2nd continent.

[@RavenRyy]

Adam Aus87 Nah, there's always one.

[@fungusonus]

Adam Aus87 me either

[@SparksHardcoreMusic]

That cleffairy is actually just about as dangerous as Milktank, just not a physical wall so it can't take a well invested hit. But that metronome could end your day before it starts, say you're like "Ok, Whitneys up, lets bring out my rock Pokemon" and first thing Cleffairy does is hydro pump it...Strategy out the window.

[@the8thark]

"Difficulty in Nintendo games is like a switch" Oh how you didn't know that your statement here was 4 years ahead of it's time.

[@AmbientDreamsStudio]

My worst was when I had to play the original donkey Kong in DK64

[@Dargonhuman]

The worst part wasn't finishing it, but finishing it TWICE to get the coin, and the second time was even harder than the first, and you only had one life.

[@graytheroninofstrife9787]

"Up next, we got the CARPAL Tunnel of Love." - RabbidLuigi.

[@facerip356]

*The way your videos are structured is like a nostalgia finger gently tickling my brain. I love your intro music, love the voice over, you get right down to it while showing video game clips, there's just something about this style of video game review. I love the Top 10 list format, I love the current and retro video game discussion. It's all like candy for my eyes. It reminds me of all my favorite KZbin reviewers who sadly, don't make the same style of reviews that they used to. There's a 1000 people trying to do the whole "Video Game Reviewer" thing on KZbin, but you, my friend, are one of the best. You nailed it.*

[@torgor6320]

+Think Before You Type I see what you did there

[@roby9631]

Think Before You Type badum tsss

[@kennethmoureau5123]

2nd level in The Lion King for the SNES. I think it's for sega genesis too

[@JoviLevi]

Hells yes. That level is hard as fuck.

[@senhordesconhecido6290]

bob Says You're crazy. To this day, the Genesis version of the level still gives me trouble.

[@DijaVlogsGames]

It's not hard, just really, really long and annoying. If you know what you're doing you can rush through the level no problem.

[@davemarx7856]

That was a memory challenge.

[@victoriabrown6561]

I finally beat the game after years and years of practice and trouble... On easy mode. Fucking hell

[@Corrupted]

The chest chases were amazing and the modern 2d games are insanely good in general, its just made for the players that played the old rayman games and grew as an audience probably, I love the really beautiful speedrunny pace and flow you got in the really late stages and especially music runs.. but yeah, some of the challenge maps were extreeeemely tough later on - but both games are must plays for old rayman fans

[@Snap717]

I would not consider the 3 green star trials a difficulty curve, for the reason being it's an extra. You don't need to do it, it's just a bonus from the real gameplay. A difficulty curve in my opinion is a spike in difficulty from the main game, because lots of bonus content is purposely made hard. Though if you're 100%ing the game then it sort of is.

[@timecrokba4142]

+Great Great Note, quiet a few of levels are optional.

[@JoelHernandez-tz3vk]

+Great Great At the same time, that's the reason they're not higher on the list. I imagine Aztec Complex could even surpass Death Mountain if it were the final level rather than a bonus one.

[@cult_of_odin]

If your not going 100% you are doing it wrong.

[@Dargonhuman]

@@cult_of_odin Unless you're just playing for the fun of it and don't care about the annoying or unfun side content. Or just playing for the story, if the game has one. Or you don't have the time to do everything and want to just get through the main content to say you did.

[@Brickfall]

"I ain't doin' anymore stupid-ass climbing" -Rabbidluigi 2013

[@badluckclover251]

Rabid, you rival JonTron in levels of great game reviews/top 10's. Keep going.

[@invenblocker]

That stupid sewer with the rising water in the original Ratchet & Clank.

[@firibiri67]

I still have PTSD from that section in Rilgar...

[@brendanrisney2449]

Ratchet and Clank in general had some _really_ big difficulty spikes.

[@teamzebaidark5521]

"I beat battletoads in one try" said no one ever

[@WobblesandBean]

How is Ecco the Dolphin not on this list??

[@ImSquiggs]

+Amelia Bee I'm convinced they didn't even bother programming a level after the octopus, knowing no one would ever make it there.

[@WobblesandBean]

+leadergld LOL! Fair enough. I beat it but I admit I had to use the invincibility cheat. And even then I died like crazy on those stupid sky levels and The Machine.

[@demontorch]

Maybe the dude didn't play it yet

[@dragames]

it's a difficulty SPIKE. Echo was just difficult.

[@ActionGamerAaron]

Ecco only got real hard at the machine. Granted, many on this list are towards the ends as well. Otherwise the game is just tedious and taxing on your patience.

[@lotusauer4785]

That scene you showed in Jak II was my hell as a child and I’ve still never played the game past that bullshit. I even got the walkthrough and guidebook and all they said for that stage was pretty much git gud

[@JimbobHarrigan1984]

I gave up on Battletoads, turbo tunnel claimed another victim

[@reneabrego1658]

Same. We rented it back in the day and never got through to the end of this level.

[@nicholasfarrell5981]

My people, there is a webcomic I read which features a running gag of the protagonist and her childhood friend trying (and failing, a lot) to beat a Bland Name Version of BattleToads. It's 100% right in that regard.

[@Lockirby2]

I got lucky with Death Mountain. My first instinct was "Go right when possible" and that pretty much does it.

[@soylentgreenb]

I used a pen and paper, but yeah roght when possible is the trick. The trick for the lizard axe throwers is just to duck jump over the thrown axe and hit them in the face. You get enough level ups and magic bottles to not have to die.

[@loffel1700]

Exactly lol. Like only 3 or 4 zones and you're there

[@BzaafiedTheFerocious]

Donkey Kong Country 2 holds a a special place in my heart because I grew up as a Disney movie-kid that never really cussed or swore like a sailor up until I got to MOTHERF**** WEB WOODS in that very game.

[@Bacon_Hamilton]

I respect your opinions to the extent of subscription.

[@themumbles5808]

Why can't more people like you exist???

[@reshint]

*tips fedora* Nice meme, m'gentlesir

[@Bacon_Hamilton]

...How trite of you to use something so incredibly rude in the presence of something that was once decent. Shame on you, Rodger.

[@PupdudePwns]

Dante Martin I concur. That was incredibly rude of him. Oh, pardon me, IT.

[@theresayi2420]

Dante Martin Mr. Phoenix Trite. XD

[@johnbeckmann4880]

This is like the most astounding video editing I’ve ever seen, this channel, I don’t know that much about video editing but there’s always like 40+ games in each video Jesus

[@gregperianayagam4522]

OH MY GOSH, that intro is just nostalgia to me

[@fearedjames]

Does no one in the comment section understand what a fucking difficulty curve is? A hard level does not mean a sharp difficulty curve. A hard level after relative easy gameplay is a sharp difficulty curve. A good example of a sharp difficulty curve and a just plain hard part in one game would be Persona 4, with Shadow Yukiko and Shadow Mitsuo. Yukiko is not that difficulty a boss, but previously you barely needed strategy at all, and you haven't had time to build a strong Persona or two to fight bosses with. She's also only like 6 hours into the game. That's a sharp difficulty curve. Mitsuo is the toughest boss in the Persona series (I havn't played 1) and can not only utterly crush a team, but can create a gigantic 1400 health shield in two turns which causes him to constantly remove progress at a random rate. But this is a boss that not only appears I'd say 30 (Half way through the game, I cant remember when I fought him) or so hours into the game, and you've had ages to build a strong Persona or 2 that potentially could flatten him, as well as had to fight some fairly challenging bosses to reach him. He is not a sharp difficulty curve. He's just a very very hard boss.

[@Mickspad]

Like the fucking Pier from Jak 2 *turns away to cry for a minute* The game was difficult, but it was about a 7 on a scale of 1-10, but the pier is a fucking 11!!!!!!!!!! WHERE IS THIS SHIT ON THIS LIST!!!!!

[@fearedjames]

Mickspad Really? I found Jak 2 pathetically easy except for the very end of the game. I cant remember what this pier is tho, as I havn't played the game for like 4-5 years.

[@Mickspad]

The pier is that level with the endless hoards of guards trying to get you while you have to make your way back into the city after picking up some device. I don't remember it too well, but I remember is being where I rage quit for the final time.

[@michaelmaney6567]

Rainbow Dashtruction I remember crash bandicoot and the road to nowhere level. go from 28 lives to 0 in no time.

[@Blazingice26]

What about paranormal chaos from luigis mansion 2, the rest of the game is relatively easy if you know what you're doing, but paranormal chaos is extremely difficult, especially if its your first time and you don't know whats happening

[@Ratmus1]

I made Death mountain my bitch when I was 10 years old. What is this generation's excuse?

[@nwawallace]

You and I were much alike at 10 then. Only at 10 years old I had so much more time to practice and build my skills, to memorize the paths and to restart over and over after countless game overs. I don't have those privelages anymore, and since most gamers you associate with today are probably working class people like me and you, we don't have the time to build game specific skills anymore on top of games simply getting made easier. That's what happened to us. I can still do this, but it takes time. Time is something you have alot less of when you not 10 years old.

[@LuciusC]

Torturing children is frowned upon nowadays. :p

[@Frothenbath1]

I overcame Death Mountain as 10 year old as well. It prepared me for games today like Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. Why can't so many today handle it? Well, they didn't go through the old-school NES boot camp some of us did, haha!

[@nwawallace]

I am a huge souls fan. But I think it's safe to say now that dark souls at least is a wildly popular game. It just sat in the shadows and didn't catch on straight away so people didn't quite come to realize just how huge the game has become. March 11th I booked 3 days off work to crack into my DS2 Collectors edition. I'm expecting the servers to be swamped.

[@Tydaxer]

Well, 'this generation' is very used to having... what are they called.. oh yeah, checkpoints, so having to reset the entire game is kind of a turn off. Besides that, 'this generation's' hardest games are Super Meat Boy, Dark Souls, Binding of Isaac... actually Rogue-likes in general, VVVVVV, etc. Check these games out, and you'll find some similarities and some differences, the differences being... well, the entire game engine. Rogue-likes are played on a 2D plane, either top-down or facing the character, the later being the 'old school' perspective, like Mario and Zelda 2. These types of games, however, don't have checkpoints, if you die, you start back from square 1, the difference being is that you can buy upgrades for your character each time you die, and become more powerful as you go on. Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 has a 3rd person perspective, and is played like an RPG. You start out incredibly weak, meaning just a few hits will kill you. It doesn't help that your starting weapons are weaker than the first sword and shield you find. Afterwards, as you get stronger, so do the enemies, the difference being they get moves like curse, which will almost always kill you. The bosses have an insane amount of HP, as well as cheap moves (the scaleless dragon, for instance). However,, there are frequent checkpoints that restore all of your HP and allows you to level up. After using one, enemies respawn, meaning you can grind and level almost indefinitely... if you have no life, that is. VVVVVV is a 'classic' platformer; 2D sidescrolling, with amazing music, might I add. You die in one hit, no matter what, but there are frequent checkpoints. Then look at Zelda 2's Death Mountain. No checkpoints anywhere. The enemies are extremely high leveled in comparison to you. Lava pits that instantly kill you. Enemies respawn if you leave, and considering dead ends are everywhere, you'll have to face them over and over and over. Just as well, you don't have any great items or magic during this part, and are relatively low level. Add that to what other people on this comment chain say, about the people playing them now having more important things to do than sitting in front of the screen for hours on end and having to work, people don't have the time or patience to play a game over from the start because of one level. After all, you completely reset from one death, unlike Rogue-likes. No saved weapons, no saved levels, nothing. This would have been annoying when it was first released, but now, where games have checkpoints and upgrades, people will get fairly annoyed of having wasted a few hours of their time. Add this to what RL said, and you see why your 'generation' has been able to do that, because, at 10, you had the time and patience to replay the game as many times as needed to beat that one level. Besides, if people get annoyed by a game, they could just play another from the mountains available, unlike the days of the NES.

[@basti329]

Monster Hunter - Sooner or later you hit a brick wall and think to yourself "What the fuck happened"

[@isenokami7810]

For me that was trying to trap that damn blue bear. I try to place a trap or heal, and it charges me during the animation and wrecks everything.

[@eelektreigon9616]

Now I'm gonna be honest here. If you are saying that capturing Arzuros was a difficulty spike... Well good luck

[@basti329]

Eelektreigon To be fair here , if its your first MH then yes , arzuros would be a spike. =D

[@isenokami7810]

Just when I feel like I'm getting into the game, it throws that behemoth at me and tells me to take it alive. Not a chance.

[@Blackpapalink]

Green Plesioth or Blue Kut Ku, pick your poison.

[@captainfiteer7360]

That intro... just OMG I love it.

[@TLB95Switchblade]

I think the water elemental boss fight in Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex was quite high in comparison to the other fights and the generally easy feel of the basic levels.

[@Enderborn55]

DRIVER 1'S FUCKICK TOUTORIAL

[@halogeorge1]

The Reverse 180 gets me every time

[@KingNefiiria]

Could never get past a burnout. I actually had to have someone do that for me when I was younger.

[@catethps]

fuck that tutorial

[@nethus]

I was playing through psyconaughts recently and the meat circus stopped me in my tracks.... Still need to go back and finish it haha

[@dasaikobunny]

5:05 he went from a British guy to a freaking mafia crime boss in about 5 seconds.

[@finalhazard883]

Lol

[@Nintenbrony]

Why does everybody think Whitney's Miltank is difficult to beat? There isn't any "learning curve" be be learned. Every Pokemon trainer should already know if you gung-ho against a bulky Pokemon with zero strategy other than hitting it head-on, 9-out-of-10 times, you are going to get your ass whooped. All you need is an Onix that can use Screech three times and a Machop with Karate Chop. I took that cow out in one hit! If you want to put up a real worthy Pokemon game with a learning curve, put Generation V on the list before putting up a Miltank nobody prepares for.

[@MacyPooh196]

He said the list is "difficulty thrust upon a new player". Not difficulty for a seasoned Pokemon veteran.

[@CopperotonGaming]

I know!!! Miltank is so easy, it took me one try and I figured out how to kill it.

[@wildefice1]

:P i just used sand attack on it until my pidgeoto fainted and turned it into a battle of attrition

[@harleymitchelly5542]

I'd guess it's a noob bitch slap thing. It got me tons of times, but I actually can get past it regularly now. The big problem comes if you have issues getting a decent sp. attacker or a really good attacker.

[@harleymitchelly5542]

DeadpoolPlayz Dumb luck is dumb luck I suppose.

[@comicking428]

DEFINIELY agree with F-Zero and Rayman, but with Sonic, I think Carnival Night from Sonic 3 is a bigger difficulty spike. And it's not because of those spinning barrels, even without them the time is your worst enemy in that stage, as I've ran out of time on that A LOT.

[@Jaricko]

The barrel is not a difficulty curve. Its a lack of instructions about how to play the game.

[@airiakizuki5592]

RPGs (in general) the climb from "Main Game" too "Post Game"

[@evanboone5570]

You didn't mention that the Miltank both paralyzes and attracts you, so that you have a 1 in 4 chance of actually attacking.

[@noah-kh3mc]

Ummm Rainbow road? Anyone? Not hard anymore, but on your first times playing Rainbow road and hearing all the stories about how fucking hard it was, it had you screaming at your tv and causeed you to throw your wii remote at the screen. I hate Rainbow road, i would think that nintendo cursed it.

[@blackbirdlore]

Wii remote? Excuse me, young 'un, I think you meant your SNES controller. I would have even accepted 64 controller. Ahh, to be young again.

[@noah-kh3mc]

blackbirdlore Dude, Mario Kart Wii. Da fuq, why did you think i meant SNES?

[@AceofJays15]

Because Rainbow Road on the Wii isn't shit. The original Rainbow Road is the one everyone talked about, the original is the one the you got carpal tunnel trying to beat.

[@blackbirdlore]

I didn't THINK you meant anything. I'm TELLING you Rainbow Road on Wii ain't shit. AceofJays knows what's up.

[@crumpus5815]

Somebody clearly never played the Banshee Boardwalk and Yoshi's Canyon on the N64 version. I would take Rainbow Road over those any day of the week.

[@Ultrazoop]

Miltank used Milk Drink!

[@zacharycarlini5907]

What self respecting adult female animal would drink the juices that came out of their own friends and families' tits?

[@Ultrazoop]

now i think the main difference here is that it's a cow

[@speedyblupi]

Zachary Carlini Well you can buy human breast milk ice cream...

[@yuhengggg]

speedyblupi WHERE?!

[@SuccubusEllie]

More than likely Japan.

[@NeonFXx]

Boost Guardian in Metroid Prime 2:echoes

[@JasonLorelei]

Spider guardian

[@justkevin09]

Much easier on wii

[@maskkid]

6:28 ALL I DID WAS PRESS A

[@EtoGmajor]

Uhghhhghghg! That one part of Jak 2 you showed, with the hoverboarding on the uneven walkway, where you can't fall in the water or you die, where you can't run into anyone, or else you fall into the water and die, where you can't even try to fight or you die, where you can't make a wrong turn or else you're forced to fight... and die. It's the hardest part of the game, and it comes out of nowhere.

[@dksdman]

Don't remind me

[@NickSharpx]

How about that one level in Jak 2 where you have to make it through the docks and there are robotic cops coming at you with their ships from everywhere and shooting you? Getting to the end is very very very hard, it's defenetely a big difficulty curve into the game, and I think it deserved #3 or something close to that. After many tries I managed to get to the checkpoint by simply spamming the punch attack as it gives you some sort of boost and avoiding all of the cops, but I gotta say that's quite lucky and I made it with only 1 life bar left... Defenetely hard in my opinion, a lot harder than the rest of the game.

[@NickSharpx]

Yeah, it took me like 2 days and then I figured out that other would've worked on the internet..

[@NickSharpx]

xD, yeah cause even playing it safe and what not, it's hardly possible!

[@NickSharpx]

Yes.. Actually the class races are quite easy if you use the shortcuts, there are other bullshit missions later in the game (at about 70%)

[@NickSharpx]

Yeah, I have to agree. Most of the times even a little fail could cost the victory, which can get annoying quite easily...

[@gushers114]

nicksurvives/NickSharpx I LOVE the Jak and Daxter games. I've played and beaten the first three. I've beaten the first and third more times than I can remember. Do you know how many times I've beaten the second one? Once. Fucking. Once. I've played it numerous times, but I've only beaten it one fucking time because it's just so damn hard. Good story, though, Naughty Dog is good at that kind of thing.

[@psi-blast]

Not to fucking mention that Meat Circus was actually TONED DOWN because it was so hard. And it was stilllllll ruthless!!!!

[@Jiveloaf]

Great sound editting. Got more lol'z from me than anything else!

[@legs0fsteel]

ornstein and smough from dark souls should be on here but again dark souls is a bit of a recent game and most of these lists are 95% based on nostalgia

[@Green.n.Purple]

Dark Souls isn't hard, you just suck. Get Good

[@curtisklemme5395]

UGH Get good makes you sound like an ass. Use it when you get raged at in PvP, not in KZbin...

[@WonderfulDeath]

LOL dude dark souls isnt a recent game its been around since 2011

[@SentientTrafficConeMan]

Wonderful Death And the games in the list are from the 90s and early 00s. It's pretty fucking recent in comparison.

[@WonderfulDeath]

John Smith recent doesent mean 3 years and "recent" usually isnt used in comparison

[@merkwadvasilios9354]

i would have thought that a water temple would have made it

[@283leis]

To be fair t Death Mountain, it lterally has "death" in its name and its a mountain. I'd say it does a good job at living up to its name

[@toptenguy1]

20:41 : That comment that you flashed for about half of a second is actually of a huge importance. As a kid, I did clear the 2nd palace before even finding out about death mountain (I don't recall, but there's a small chance I even cleared the 3rd one also), and the extra experience points made a HUGE difference. I can definitely imagine it to be "video game suicide" to go in there after the 1st palace!

[@JayEm1325]

Ah, goold ol Rusty Bucket Bay, kids go inside, men come out

[@BrUSomania]

I can confirm that the engine/gear/something room in Rusty Bucket Bay is a shitstain on an otherwise extraordinary game. I always hate it when I come to that particular section in Banjo Kazooie.

[@MarioMastar]

It does remind me of the first time I visited Grunty Industries in the second game. Vivid memories of getting every jiggy in every stage but only having one in GI because I had no idea how to enter the stage in the first place. You wanna talk difficulty curves? at LEAST RBB is at the end, GI is world 6 of 8, and you have to know you can call the train and need the train to get in there. And forget navigating that maze of a stage with the Washing machine. (though in fariness, RBB is significantly harder than Mad Monster Mansion, and funnily enough, you CAN at least do the engine room first and only have to do it once (a bit more for the few notes in there). Click Clock wood though...You die, just brutal of a punishment. XD (Always have 10 notes to go, just to fall off the top of the tree in Fall or Winter). Oh and also, Mr. Patch Boss fight. Not hard "damage" wise, but for the third boss in the game, he's a HUGE pain.

[@skeith804]

Mario Mastar I've gotten pretty good at RBB over the years so I can at least take a deep breath before I torture myself. GI though...ugh. Yes there were the days spent trying to figure out how to even get in but even inside it's just not fun at all. I've only every 100%'ed Banjo Tooie once and this level is one of the reasons why. *sigh*

[@BrUSomania]

The memories... They will never fade away :(

[@IceRenamonTRA]

Skeith804 Am I the only person who went through rusty bucket bay without a second glance at difficulty? I mean, I wasn't able to play it until it came out on xbox arcade, so they might have changed something.

[@skeith804]

Maybe so. Now it's no problem, but now I know to do the engine room first and I have way better motor controls than when I was 6-7 years old.

[@masonhyde9411]

You have to take into account the age you were when you played these stages. If the trial galaxies gave you more trouble, I could probably guess you were younger when you first played them compared to when you played the second game. For some reason video games become easier with age.

[@LarsLuron]

Huh. Gotta say, wasn't expecting to see a clip from one of my demo vids for the MM fangame I've been working on in the intro for this vid.

[@Darthzim950]

Borderlands 2 had some fair difficulty curves. Then the Hyperion Bunker came along with the BNK-3R boss fight. DAMN THAT AREA!

[@MrRANDOM1100]

was hoping he would say borderlands, but atleast someone agrees.

[@lucacoleman2064]

That part was easy and I'm 13

[@lucacoleman2064]

12 at the time

[@lucacoleman2064]

Actually I was 11

[@Ukiby3000]

Whitney will forever haunt my nightmares, and they were able to make her even more TERRIBLE AND UNFORGIVING AND NOT FUN on Heart Gold/Soul Silver due to one thing: Attract. Unless you have an all female team or you have a female Pokemon that can take Miltank, you are pretty much boned. I dunno if I was unlucky or whatever, but whenever my Pokemon bacame infatuated, they would NEVER ATTACK IN ANY TURN EVER. Letting Miltank free to Rollover them over and over without taking damage ever.

[@metroidgaminponyz1623]

The Milk Drink burden...... UUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGG!

[@Jacoby1071]

Ukiby3000 You have not seen the true Hax God crap that she does in the Drayano ROM hack of HeartGold and SoulSilver, but even then Misty is more of a threat than her from what I hear in that ROM hack.

[@oilerfan871]

Ukiby3000 Claire was worse in my opinion. She has a Kindra, which only weakness is dragon, a type that you do not have

[@MrDarkmario777]

I had no trouble with SS Whitney. Sure, it took a while, but I did it first try. Using Metronome.

[@H33lios]

Ukiby3000 my starter was a female XD

[@temporalCaster]

This video is what brought me to your channel so many years ago, and it's still a decent video given its age

[@Thisisaweirdthing2makeusdo]

I really love your channel dude.

[@Naruto200Man]

Dirha: I defend death mountain! Dirha 2: I think it's easy :D Dirha 3: DEATH MOUNTAIN IS THE SHIT WITH THE MAZES :3 Dirha 4: trololol hay guys this place is kinda hard :3 Dirha 1,2,3:

[@KrankuSama]

I wish content creators didn't make 30 second intros that consist of various gameplay footage and loud music with their name just etched over the top. apart from that this video was actually decent.

[@FixTheWi-Fi]

He fixed that recently.

[@Chillwave6]

Every KZbinr nowadays has like their intro some god fucking epic song which is loud also the screen flashes and their name spins rapidly on screen. I'm gonna use my own intro as some calm song and the name simply showing up at some part of the screen.

[@wackywong]

Some games come to mind: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas 'Wrong Side of the Tracks' mission Timesplitters 3 When the developers ran out of good ideas at the end of the game and decides to throw invisible enemies at you.

[@Levyathyn]

1:40 "... but I'm RamblingLet'sgo" I thought it was RabbidLuigi

[@shawnfields2369]

I thought the same thing. Is he rambling, or is he RabbidLuigi? Or, is he both?

[@bren7080]

I honestly had absolutely no problem beating Whitney the first time I played the game. I had no idea other people even thought she was hard.

[@keybladeoathkeeper1948]

Because people don't really choose a fighting type pokemon untill later on when machoke appears, that and not alot of people really cared for grinding unless your stuck on a part of the game thats throws you to the ground and tells you to prepare your anus

[@Kylesico912x]

Gamer1999ad In general, a difficulty spike is only as bad as you allow it to in pokemon.

[@Dafawfulizer]

I honestly think one of the worst is Roxas from kingdom hearts 2 final mix

[@slycrino1396]

I hear that!

[@Wyatt_James]

Dafawfulizer how...?

[@Dafawfulizer]

Wyatt James He's way harder than all of the other bosses in the game. The only one that came close was deminx

[@Wyatt_James]

Dafawfulizer ohhhhhhh I thought you were talking about one of the bosses that Roxas faced when you played as him, not Final Roxas XD sorry for the mishap I guess, I personally haven't completed KH2FM/FM+ yet. Back when I was really into KH, I beat the normal game (without dying) the first time I ever played it, which was on Normal, so I didn't remember him as a boss fight. But then I was replaying the game in FM+, but I kinda got burnt out of KH and never finished it. Also my controller got a bit messed up part of the way into FM+, so lost the urge to play it pretty quickly.

[@Dafawfulizer]

Wyatt James From what I understand, he was only a boss in final mix. In the original the fight was just a cutscene

[@crystalwalrein]

Rusty Bucket Bay in Banjo-Kazooie at least has an explanation: It was initially destined for Banjo-Tooie, which was for some reason in development at the same time. Due to time constraints and programming difficulties, Glitter Gulch Mine was stripped from Banjo-Kazooie and replaced with Rusty Bucket Bay. This also explains why Glitter Gulch Mine is arguably an easier level than even Mayahem Temple, the first level on Banjo-Tooie.

[@BizmoBimblar]

I still come back to this vid after 8 years

[@Kuchiri]

Death Mountain is the area of the game that forces you to grind your levels before tackling dungeons 3-6. It also isn't the hardest Death Mountain in the franchise. (Zelda 1 Dungeon 9 was 'Death Mountain') Considering most jRPGs of the era and now give you a challenge that forces you to grind. This isn't any worse than Whitney.

[@sypoth]

Actually, Zelda didn't start out as a JRPG, the first few games like with Sonic were made in the U.S. and then migrated over to Japan where they got a whole lot lamer. And yeah, Death mountain on Link wasn't all that hard. Then again none of the stuff on this list is hard I can name a game that is almost identical to all of these whose difficulty curve is much much steeper.

[@dayolpoi]

IT IS WAY WORSE THAN WHITNEY. Whitney, if you had gotten an Onix or traded for the Machop that girl in the Department Store offers, was pretty easy. Those two had advantages over Miltank(Better tanking/Type Advantage). Death Mountain had a maze, enemies that don't give two shits about your only line of defense, and FUCKING LAVA PITS, MAN. Whitney was ranked low on the list because you had ways to bypass her being a pain in the ass. You get no such respect from Death Mountain. Death Mountain in the first one made sense, being the last dungeon. This hellhole was the SECOND. It buried an axe in your head, burned the body, pissed on the ashes, and told you your mother never loved you.

[@sypoth]

dayolpoi You mean you didn't map it? And Death Mountain in the first game made no sense at all with entire areas that has direction maps puzzles, and you had to visit it three different times before you could even do the dungeon there not to mention monsters that made no sense. In Link it was just a single puzzle and if you had the right gear an easy one as well, you needed nothing more than a candle, a sword, a piece of paper and a pen and you were done. Simple, easy, clean, only challenge I had in that game was in the one dungeon that had the hole too small for you to fit down into where you needed to go.

[@music79075]

Dwarf Fortress has a harder difficulty cliff

[@Denamic]

Not quite the same thing. The initial challenge is to understand the mechanics of the game and how to actually control it. The gameplay isn't actually that difficult... well... depending on how much death spawned in the area where you settled down.

[@music79075]

Denamic I always set all danger to maximum because i am a masochistic, suicidal maniac.

[@caedanclarke490]

If you thought Aztec Complex was difficult, WAIT 'till you see All Eyez Station in Splatoon 2 Octo Expansion!

[@Jake-tf8wh]

As this is an old video I know this wouldn't be on the list but the last section of Kirby Planet Robobobot has a huge difficulty spike. The entire game is rather easy as most Kirby games are but I went from finishing level first try to dying at least two times a level from some pretty strong mini-bosses that you fought back to back most of the time.

[@Androtimos]

concerning Death Mountain: What do you expect? it's called Death Mountain that is all.

[@ninjadog123able]

What about dark souls? In the very beginning you're trusted into a boss fight and without knowing how to properly play you're going to get smashed, then there's the rest of the game where if you aren't on your toes at all times utilizing all aspects of the game you're gonna have a very hard time

[@Kro-RissaVirus]

thats not a difficulty curve... thats difficulty right off the bat. a difficulty curve is a sudden spike in difficulty with little warning

[@phantasmic1000]

technically its a hard game so it doesnt really count

[@Kro-RissaVirus]

phantasmic1000 thats literally what i said....

[@phantasmic1000]

zach livernois i was responding to him

[@Kro-RissaVirus]

phantasmic1000 yea, by saying what i literally said to him

[@Nogli]

From the moment I saw the title, I knew that Rusty Bucket Bay would be here, and that jiggy would be called out. What made it all the more annoying was that in the original release, you didn't keep your notes if you died. It had a scoring system, which meant that if you got 99/100, but then died, but you wanted the full 100, you had to get those 99 all over again. One wrong move in the engine room, too long underwater, or too slow to get out from behind the propellors when you collected the jiggy and you were oily toast.

[@khodexus4963]

Super Mario Bros 2 actually started as a Mario sequel in Japan, and was only reskinned as Doki Doki Panic part way through development after a licensing deal was made with a local media network. The Japanese Super Mario Bros 2 was created by throwing together content that had been cut from the first game only after development of Super Mario Bros 3 had started development and someone at Nintendo decided they didn't want to release a third game to the Japanese market without a second title under the franchise and they didn't want to put a different number for each region.

[@MrEricThomason]

In Psychonauts the only level that gave me significant difficulty was the Milkman Conspiracy level.

[@RamRam.720]

straight lines? what about dwarf fortress

[@Kailova07]

Here's an obscure one: Star Wars: Jedi Knight II, Jedi Outcast: the first and oh so brutal boss fight with Tavion (the forced loss Desann fight doesn't count). From the game that taught you to walk with guns before you could run with lightsabers comes the boss fight that shows you that Lucasarts doesn't mess around with bosses in this series.

[@Brawndo27]

Good list. Nice work man.

[@PanchocoloMan]

Pokemon gold/silver is harder than others, in my opinion. I love it. Is my favourite PKMN game :)

[@PanchocoloMan]

Idk, maybe is because it is HARDER. is harder to level up, at least for me.

[@camerondickenson8848]

***** The reason is because if you catch a pokemon there, it is harder to level up and If you are level grinding it will take very long

[@j9794]

you still have 8 extra gyms and red's battle anyways

[@Swordkiller55623]

j9794 That's what I think the diffuculty curve was, since they throw INSANE lvs at you but the wild pokemon are insanly low lvs

[@j9794]

Arthur Moebius I actually don't remember having difficulties first time I played it (like many years ago), but I got stuck at the E4 playing in an emulator in my phone because the mystery road pokes didn't help me grind exp :P

[@xDoubleChocMuffinx]

My god Whittiny was the biggest b***h in pokemon

[@henrycardona2940]

She is a fat cow who sucks on her pokemons udders

[@Ancientarch3]

Haha I didn't mind her all that much. pokemon gen 1 had starmie as the fuck you over pokemon with its high critical % chance with bubble beam...

[@henrycardona2940]

@golum pawelec an udder is those hanging pink things on cows where milk comes out.@TheAnimeGamer O god i hated Misty! Especially if you start out with charmander!

[@TheNutshaq]

True vault hunter to ultimate vault hunter in borderlands 2

[@icekirby2620]

I know this video is over 2 years old now but the True Arena from the Kirby games would fit right in here. Even when you have less fights to deal with in most of them you'll take more damage each fight and have less healing items than you need. Unless you use an ability like Stone or Leaf you'll be taking more damage than you deal trying to hit an enemy without I-frames.

[@D.Dragon]

I get what you're saying. Mostly. The only problem with this is that there are absolutely broken abilities in Kirby like Tornado that make every fight a joke. But not including any power that can grant invulnerability? The True Arena is hell in Kirby.

[@redshepherd32]

+Ice Kirby 2 At least in the current games kirby got the smash spot/air dodge in base form. Made these areas more plausible even without a power that had insane s. They let you avoid damage completely, but require good timing to do so.

[@xxSupernovaStar]

Where is Dwarf Fortress on this list?

[@MildlyImpolite]

not so much a difficulty curve as a difficulty cliff.

[@Samqdf]

I agree completely with all the points here, it's stupidly hard and need a lot of effort to even know what's going on

[@viktornorbert1359]

Did anyone else see that band pic at 4:36 or was it just me

[@AprilsMoon92]

Turbo tunnel was easy, what about the hell that was rat race?

[@duskRenn]

It's his opinion...

[@skullbro7348]

***** but rat race was one of the last levels soyou knida expect a very hard level( even when this level is impossible)

[@duskRenn]

Like what Swagblast said, Turbo Tunnel is straight at the beginning of this game. Maybe you're not used to the controls yet or have slow reaction times? You *will* die. Turbo Tunnel is a spike in difficulty, while Rat Race comes more at a time when you're accustomed to the difficulty.

[@epiccat8876]

+AprilsMoon92 I think the thing about turbo tunnels is if you beat it you can do it over and over again but yeah fuck that fucking rat

[@EntityofDarkness696]

+AprilsMoon92 Because at the point you get to Rat race, you expect the game to beat you to the ground and keep kicking you until you're mush. You don't expect that at Turbo Tunnel.

[@pavementpounder7502]

Didn't think the chest chases were all that hard. Perfect level of challenge.

[@Yoyo18247]

21:23 My eyes......

[@mitjakocjancic2205]

I feel your pain with #9.

[@reloadpsi]

I agree completely on Rusty Bucket Bay - the first seven levels are less about platforming and more about well-prepared exploration. Rusty Bucket Bay and Click Clock Wood are just plain hard, and they're my favourite levels in the game.

[@jessbragg1]

god, i remember battletoads, i felt the same way, love/hate relationship with the game :), oh man, i also remember that dragon game around 18:52 minutes in, i used to play that on my computer in the late 80's. nice job on the video, i actually watched the whole thing

[@chobitsgnarlslover]

try the souls series. bosses that can 1shot you if you've no idea how to counter, a story which is linear/part open, but they NEVER give hints, and newgame+ modes that multiply that by 1.5 each time

[@bari2799]

chobitsgnarlslover Git Gud

[@thrasher698]

chobitsgnarlslover the slogan for the Souls series is "prepare to die". if you read that and expect ANY semblance of an easy time, that's your own damn fault

[@monsterlovers100]

i hate it how people just asume the fps gernre is just for causual gamers just because games like cod and battlefield

[@Shadowsoftime99]

That was sarcasm in the video. He then effectively goes on to say "Have you *played* this game?" Because the Aztec complex in particular is... Not exactly casual.

[@TYLRMN8R]

Aztec wasn’t that bad in GoldenEye... it was my favorite mission actually, and was some excellent fan service, as I loved Moonraker

[@blackenedwritings]

I loved the video with James Rolfe (AVGN) and Mike when he finally beat the Turbo Tunnel. The look on his face. :D

[@xiiiultima]

harshest curve ive seen was in skyrim. during your first trip up high hrothgar really early on in the main quest (ignoring the fact you have to run through miles of wilderness just to get there at that point, as no fast travel locations are even close) you encounter one of skyrim's deadliest enemies, the frost troll. my first playthrough was as a melee type, and this guy tossed me around like a ragdoll. after two or three tries, i thought i lucked out. after once again climbing the mountain and fighting of skeevers, wolves, and spiders, i come face to face with a dragon. this comes right after your first dragon fight, and as a noob in iron armor i see dragons as the ultimate of baddies. but this badass lizard isn't after me, his killing that troll for me! huzzah! then the troll immediately wrecks the dragons face, and even being weakened by the dragon, tears me up once more. if you ever play skyrim for the first time after reading this, take my advise, do NOT do the main quest first.

[@XkcdEsperite]

You can actually just run right past the troll if you want.

[@xiiiultima]

but they still put him there attacking you when you should be way too low to handle it

[@undercop5567]

No, just no. Skyrim has absolutely no place on this list. You could argue one of the earlier elder scrolls games back when decent game design, objectives systems and a sensible difficulty curve was a luxury to have.

[@Shmandalf]

Skyrim is easy even on legendary man get out of here with that nonsense lol. If you want a steep learning curve elder scrolls play Morrowind.

[@davidmcdevitt7583]

Skyrim was an absolute pisstake. Unless you're playing on master difficulty, you really need to try harder games.

[@AceAviations2]

Honestly Ultra Necrozma has since dethroned Whitney for biggest difficulty spike in Pokemon at this point, Ultra Necrozma is a level 60 when the strongest pokemon you've faced was level 50 (if you're on level with the game you're 10 levels or more below it), not only that but it has +1 in all of it's stats (accuracy and evasion being neutral) with the coverage to make it hit damn near everything for at least neutral damage. This isn't even taking into consideration that Ultra Necrozma has the 3rd highest base stat total of all Pokemon with it having a higher BST total than ARCEUS ITSELF. Ultra Necrozma makes Whiteny look like Diantha in terms of difficulty, and is a garbage fight because of how buillshit it is if you don't use cheap tactics. It's an absolutely unnecessary level spike for now good reason that the game doesn't get back to until the final battle of the main game. Seriously, in the same year that we got Slave Knight Gael, without a doubt one of the best boss fights of the DECADE so far (seriously the fight is that fucking good) GameFreak gives us Ultra Necrozma which does difficulty COMPLETELY wrong and makes the Bed of Chaos look like a decent boss.

[@g.garcia7639]

It wasn't much of a power spike because it was only one pokemon, you could just poison him on the 1st turn and just wait for him to die while he wiped out your team. Heck, you could even bring a lvl 1 magnemite with sturdy to thunder wave it if Speed on your team is an issue and stomp it to death. If it were a team of lvl 60 pokemon, it would have truly been a power spike. Ultra Necrozma was just unexpected, not hard.

[@jacoblau9355]

​Ultra Necrozma was a decent boss for someone with a "standard" team. Everyone talks up the toxic approach but if you never loaded there's a chance you'll miss and die. For me, I just used a Mimikyu with Destiny Bond and let Ultra Necrozma kill it taking it down with me. Honestly, Pokémon isn't really a very challenging game if you do the research and think outside the box.

[@aanawenjigewin]

This makes me more proud of my brother and sister being able to beat level 3 of battle toads on 2 player. I was always the burden so I tended to watch more than I played with them.

[@gloomycandy101]

It's too bad that the F-Zero speed bomb mission was so difficult it basically killed the entire franchise :(