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Hardest Mario Level? [explain your answer, ModBot is watching...]

M

maxcriden

Member
What's the hardest overall level in a mainline Mario game?

Please explain your answer and feel free to post a picture or link to a video of the level.

Just to review, these are the games:

CONSOLES

225px-Mario_Bros._NES_Cover.PNG


250px-SMB_Boxart.PNG


230px-Super_Mario_Bros_2_00-00.png


250px-SMB2_Boxart.PNG


250px-SMB3_Boxart.PNG


--

300px-Super_Mario_World_Box.png


300px-SMW2.jpg


--

260px-Super_Mario_64_Boxart.png


--

250px-Box_NA_-_Super_Mario_Sunshine.png


--

250px-SmG.jpg


250px-Mariobox-noscale.jpg


250px-Smg2boxart.png


--

250px-NSMBU_boxcover.png


250px-Box_NA_%28final%29_-_New_Super_Luigi_U.png


250px-Box_NA_-_Super_Mario_3D_World.png


HANDHELDS

250px-SarasalandBoxArt.png


250px-Supermarioland2logo.jpg


250px-WarioLandBoxArt.jpg


275px-NewSuperMarioBrothers.jpg


250px-SM3DL_UScover.png


250px-NSMB2boxcover.jpg


--

I did not include any spin-offs, except for SML3, SMW2, and NSLU, as these are arguably mainline console/handheld marios.
 
S

Shaanyboi

Banned
Mario 3D World - Champion's Road

My explanation is that it if you stutter in your momentum, you are fucked. Don't time the jump on the block section? You're fucked. Hell, the game actively tries fucking with your timing too. They have you do wall jumps with spiked enemies ON those walls. Don't keep up with the moving water section? You're dead. And hell, I haven't even gotten to the dash section yet and that looks like a goddamn nightmare.
 
TheRedSnifit

TheRedSnifit

Member
hqdefault.jpg


Not to mention the Pachinko level, the Chuckster level, and the Watermelon level. And I have no idea how I did that "Mysterious Hotel Delfino" mission without a guide.

Fuck Sunshine.
 
E

Esque7

Member
Just to nitpick, but Yoshi's island is not a Mario game. It's a Yoshi game. You may as well consider Yoshi's island DS as a mainline Mario game if The SNES one is.

Anyway, for me it was Grandmaster galaxy, the perfect run from SMG2. Only being able to take one hit really sets it apart from the others in my eyes, plus I lost about 60 lives on it...
 
S

Snkfanatic

Banned
Super Mario World - Tubular

This one just jumps right out to me as the hardest one I can remember. Visions of rage from my childhood trying to dodge those damned baseballs and little fire balls all the while trying to keep tabs on when your balloon power up was gonna run out.
 
S

Sanjuro

Member
World 1-1 of Super Mario Bros.

Maybe 2/10 times, I'll just run straight and forget to hit the jump button at the correct moment. I then lock myself in a room and drink for a week reflecting upon it.

Realistically this is an interesting question, problem for me is most of my experience is during the NES/SNES days, so it's hard to think of a specific point. I remember when I was really young, the final stage in SMB I would always get lost and never drop down into the correct Bowser portion and fuck up along the way.

Super Mario 64 onward? Can't think of any moments. Was relatively easy from there on out.
 
D

Dr.Acula

Banned
Off the top of my dome, the Super Mario World Rainbow Road levels. Particularly the one with the balloon Mario. Now I can't recall if it was the regular, or the hidden exit that caused so much trouble, but that was the one that sticks out in my mind most. It may have to do with me being a youngin' too, and being a completionist. Maybe later Mario's were harder but I skipped stuff, or maybe with better reflexes, motor control, and problem solving skills that level would prove easier.

Snkfanatic said:
Super Mario World - Tubular

This one just jumps right out to me as the hardest one I can remember. Visions of rage from my childhood trying to dodge those damned baseballs and little fire balls all the while trying to keep tabs on when your balloon power up was gonna run out.
Click to expand...

LOL, yep. I sense a trend forming.
 
T

TheExodu5

Banned
Snkfanatic said:
Super Mario World - Tubular

This one just jumps right out to me as the hardest one I can remember. Visions of rage from my childhood trying to dodge those damned baseballs and little fire balls all the while trying to keep tabs on when your balloon power up was gonna run out.
Click to expand...

Tubular does bring back a lot of memories, but it's really not that hard of a level if you go back to it...escially with Yoshi and a cape, IIRC. Super Mario World has a harder level as well: Outrageous. Bullet bills, caterpillars, unkillable fire that hides behind trees, trampolines...yeah it was a pain of a level.
 
S

Shaanyboi

Banned
Esque7 said:
Just to nitpick, but Yoshi's island is not a Mario game. It's a Yoshi game. You may as well consider Yoshi's island DS as a mainline Mario game if The SNES one is.

Anyway, for me it was Grandmaster galaxy, the perfect run from SMG2. Only being able to take one hit really sets it apart from the others in my eyes, plus I lost about 60 lives on it...
Click to expand...

It's called Super Mario World 2. It's a Mario game.
 
F

funkystudent

Member
The original Super Mario Bros gets pretty messed up near the end. So much so that I have never actually finished it and I have gone back to it countless times over the last 20 years +.

I dont think there is one singular level but if you are not using warp zones and infinite 1up exploits that game is will mess you up.
 
Q

QisTopTier

XisBannedTier
My memory is pretty bad when it comes to this series as I haven't played a lot of them in a long time.

But I gotta say Super Mario 3D Land's S8-Crown without the raccoon suit.

It requires a ton of precision jumping and has almost every single stage element in the game shoved in your face where a single mistake either out right kills you or can screw you over and when you get near the end of it shadow mario comes out and starts to chase you during it all.

Raccoon suit does make it a million times easier though which is a damn shame.

So for me this is the hardest mario level in recent memory at least.
Edit: I haven't played Mario 3D World yet but from the sounds of it Champion's Road is even worse. Avoiding seeing it as much as I can though I like to be surprised :p
 
L

LocalE

Member
For me I think it's Champion's Road. Although there are a couple of games on the list I haven't played extensively.
Champion's Road made me work for it more than any other Mario level I can remember. I'm always happy to make it to that final part with the boost pads. That part is much easier for me than the stuff leading up to it.
 
T

The_Darkest_Red

Member
It took me about 8 hours and 300 lives to finish Champion's Road with no power-ups so I think I'll go with that.

The individual parts of the level are not extremely difficult but most of them take a good while to master. The problem is, the only way to practice them is to reach them from the very beginning, so it becomes a test of endurance, patience, and consistency. This is especially brutal because the final segment is the hardest, so you get stuck in the loop of having to redo 3 or 4 minutes worth of a rather challenging level just to get another shot at the final stretch. It can be pretty grueling, but it's very satisfying when you finally hit that flagpole.

Yoshi's Island is not a Mario game!
 
Velcro Fly

Velcro Fly

Member
That one airship in world 8 of SMB3. I think I always P-wing that shit. I try it a few times thinking I can do it but then the stage speeds up and I inevitably miss a jump and get frustrated that it keeps happening so I just p-wing it.
 
R

redmetal86

Member
Notable ones that come to mind are one of the fish levels from 3 where the platforms keep rising and sinking, and that stupid fish goes back and forth trying to eat you. Also, one of the levels from Pipe land where the mini piranhas enter and exit the pipes at alternating patterns.
 
C

Claneko

Member
Tubular on SMW was a hated level of mine as a teen.

More recently, a few of those levels in 3D Land where you have limited time, and must outrun the evil purple Mario...ugh...a couple of those were pretty damning to me for some reason and I consider myself a very good player at these games.

Beyond those, it's kind of fuzzy. I've played and completed all the listed games, but I'd say that in general, some levels definitely can take on a level of challenge they wouldn't have when you are:

1. Trying to get all of a certain collectible.

2. Are time constrained, or trying to perform a challenge where you don't really have a moment to think and have to act instinctively; those can be tricky, especially when the level itself may not have been difficult before, but a little proverbial monkey wrench in the works strikes your comfort zone with said level and makes things loopy on you.
 
R

RE lover

Member
Another early contender: world 4-2 in SMB2, the one with the slippery ice and the flying motherf*ckers

Super-Mario-Bros-2.jpg


Of course using Peach made it much easier
 
R

RoadDogg

Member
SML2 is the only Mario game I have played and never beaten. I'm sure if I went back to it now I could probably beat it just fine, but back when it first came out I got every gold coin and into the the final castle only to get destroyed. Having lost over and over the game took away one of my coins which sent me into a downward spiral. Regaining the coin (I think it was the hippo one) took way longer then it should have only to lose it in the castle again and again. I finally gave up and moved onto another game and never looked back. I will have to go back and re-play the game now...

tumblr_ky51hhsQWg1qa5kxw.jpg


Edit: Bonus spin-off selection:
0.jpg
 
M

maxcriden

Member
Shaanyboi said:
It's called Super Mario World 2. It's a Mario game.
Click to expand...

This was pretty much my thinking. I understand your thinking Esque7, but I had to draw the line somewhere and I knew if I didn't put it in there (or SML3, which probably no one will choose a level from, or NSLU which is a fair contender but doesn't even have Mario in the title) someone would have an issue. And if we start including games like YI DS and Super Princess Peach, and the various WL games...the choices just get to be too many.
 
Bog

Bog

Junior Ace
Esque7 said:
Just to nitpick, but Yoshi's island is not a Mario game. It's a Yoshi game. You may as well consider Yoshi's island DS as a mainline Mario game if The SNES one is.

Anyway, for me it was Grandmaster galaxy, the perfect run from SMG2. Only being able to take one hit really sets it apart from the others in my eyes, plus I lost about 60 lives on it...
Click to expand...

It's actually called SMW2. How is that not mainline?

As for the hardest levels, Special 7-4 in SM3DL took me FOREVER, where the giant purple clone is following you and the platforms swap when you jump.
 
S

scitek

Member
Shaanyboi said:
Mario 3D World - Champion's Road

My explanation is that it if you stutter in your momentum, you are fucked. Don't time the jump on the block section? You're fucked. Hell, the game actively tries fucking with your timing too. They have you do wall jumps with spiked enemies ON those walls. Don't keep up with the moving water section? You're dead. And hell, I haven't even gotten to the dash section yet and that looks like a goddamn nightmare.
Click to expand...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHeEYdKGYWM
 
M

Majestad

Banned
It was that Sandbird level from Super Mario Sunshine. I remember having a hard-ass time grabbing all those damned blue coins you needed to get that star.
 
J

jim-jam bongs

Member
Luigi's Purple Coins in SMG took me a ridiculous amount of time, the fact that the floor is disappearing and you only have 3 minutes to gather 100+ coins means that you need a near perfect run to get the star.
 
E

Esque7

Member
Shaanyboi said:
It's called Super Mario World 2. It's a Mario game.
Click to expand...
For the western release it is, and probably only for marketing purposes. However the game was not called that in Japan, where it was made. Considering you dont play as Mario makes it difficult to call it a Mario game too. Again, with this logic all Yoshi games are now mainline Mario games.
 
T

TheExodu5

Banned
I'm really surprised that people are picking Tubular over Outrageous. I mean, just look at the last SDA'a Games Done Quick marathon...I'm pretty sure Outrageous was the only level to trip up the runner pretty badly.
 
A

Andrew.

Banned
Well I havent reached Champions Road yet, but these two stages always stuck out in my head as general pains in the ass. Somehow, the Tubular level in SMW was never that bad for me. Going in with two capes and a blue Yoshi makes it easily doable.

Anyway, my choices:

SMB1: 8-3

Level has always haunted me since childhood because of all of the damn Hammer Bros. It was a mesmerizing level at the time for me though at the young age of 7. Being BEHIND the castle walls just made me feel so accomplished and yet, scared out of my wits because I knew I was approaching the end and I had no idea what Bowser had in store.

SMB8-3.png


SMB3: Parabeetle level (World 6)

Probably the only level outside of a couple in World 8 that I would purposely skip over thanks to the Cloud powerup. I have of course played through it cheesily using a P-Wing, but the amount of times Ive gotten the balls to go rawdog with zero powerups and pure skill to just jump from small beetle to small beetle? I can count those on one hand.

SMB3_Famigaga4.png
 
G

GraceflAnger

Member
I can't remember what the world number is exactly, but it's in Super Mario Bros. 3. It's the one where it's just all floating platforms and if you don't have a Tanooki or a tail your pretty much screwed. Still one of the hardest levels for me.
 
M

maxcriden

Member
silkysmooth said:
That one airship in world 8 of SMB3. I think I always P-wing that shit. I try it a few times thinking I can do it but then the stage speeds up and I inevitably miss a jump and get frustrated that it keeps happening so I just p-wing it.
Click to expand...

Just played this recently for the first time, which airship do you mean? (Currygan are you talking about the same one?)
 
C

CO_Andy

Member
Grandstar Galaxy Prank Comet - One hit death and a VERY long level. Also, an armada of boomerang bros to screw you at the end.
 
O

OminoMichelin

Member
I played every mario level to completion. However, I couldn't finish the perfect run OR the champions road, the two hardest mario levels I can think of.
Between the two, the champion road is harder by a mile. I could at least get to the last part of the perfect run, while I can barely complete the first half of the champions road.

edit: I never found the last level of SML2 to be that hard tbh, you just had to get to wario with a powerup of some description and you were good. The space levels were much more difficult.
 
M

maxcriden

Member
RoadDogg said:
SML2 is the only Mario game I have played and never beaten. I'm sure if I went back to it now I could probably beat it just fine, but back when it first came out I got every gold coin and into the the final castle only to get destroyed. Having lost over and over the game took away one of my coins which sent me into a downward spiral. Regaining the coin (I think it was the hippo one) took way longer then it should have only to lose it in the castle again and again. I finally gave up and moved onto another game and never looked back. I will have to go back and re-play the game now...

tumblr_ky51hhsQWg1qa5kxw.jpg


Edit: Bonus spin-off selection:
0.jpg
Click to expand...

I played that one as a kid, too, and losing the golden coins really frustrated me. I actually got it on VC not that long ago and used save states to not have to get the golden coins all over again when I'd lose them. Still haven't been able to beat that castle, though. I always found that game pretty difficult.

(Which spin-off is that, Mario Party?)
 
mrmickfran

mrmickfran

Member
I'm getting 3D World this Friday, so I havent tried Champion's Road yet. So for right now, it's "The Perfect Run". Took me two weeks.
 
G

Gamerloid

Member
Super Mario Sunshine and that Manta-ray stage. It leaves so much electrocuting ooze, and to kill it, you have to keep splitting them up. That makes so much more ooze lol.

Another stage I disliked was the one when you have no Flood, and you're left in the village with flaming ooze.

Majestad said:
It was that Sandbird level from Super Mario Sunshine. I remember having a hard-ass time grabbing all those damned blue coins you needed to get that star.
Click to expand...

Lol I remember that one. Something would happen at a certain time, but I don't remember. Did it dissolve with time, or did it go upside down to kill you?
 
J

jblank83

Member
Tubular - The timing requirements and lack of "safe" plays is very challenging.

NSMB Wii 9-7 (all 3 coins) - The sliding, precise jumps, disintegrating blocks, fireballs, gauntlets... nightmare fuel.
 
S

Septimus Prime

Member
I haven't beaten it yet, but Super Luigi U is the hardest Mario game I've played. There's really no room at all for error, since you only get 100 seconds per course, and the courses are quite hard. 1-1 is comparable to a world 7 or 8 course in Mario U, and on top of that, Luigi controls differently from Mario, so you have to get used to that, too.

Aside from that, though, I'm generally not as good at the 3D Mario games, so all of those levels are hard for me. Sunshine takes the cake, though, since the water physics messes me up even more.
 
F

ffdgh

Member
The perfect run from galaxy 2 especially the end with those freaking hammer bros and boomerang bros...Special mention to fire bar sprint in new super luigi U. Took a while before I could figure out the timing for that place.

Havent gotten 3D world yet so I have yet to see the horrors of champion road lol.
 
R

RoadDogg

Member
maxcriden said:
I played that one as a kid, too, and losing the golden coins really frustrated me. I actually got it on VC not that long ago and used save states to not have to get the golden coins all over again when I'd lose them. Still haven't been able to beat that castle, though. I always found that game pretty difficult.

(Which spin-off is that, Mario Party?)
Click to expand...

Yes, Mario Party 1. You have to rotate the analog stick as fast as you can to get a high score. I would get massive blisters on the palm of my hand trying to get an even higher score. I ended up using paint ball gloves to try and save my palm a little pain. They decided to remove that mechanic from future games in the series.
 
L

lt519

Member
Champion's Road

It's the only one that has made me quit and throw in the towel. I tried 50+ times and will revisit it soon to see if I can take it on again.

Honorable Mentions:
Pachinko

HardMarioLevelsFive-620x.jpg


100 Coins Rainbow Ride (young me hated this level, although I'd be much better at it now)

280px-RainbowRideCarpet.JPG
 
Danny Dudekisser

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
I have to go with Champion's Road. The level is ridiculous, and demands 5 minutes of concentrated perfection -- there's really no downtime in the whole thing. And the last part of the stage is easily the most difficult, so even after you've made it through all the other obstacles, you're still probably fucked. It's pretty brutal.

None of the 2D Marios had anything that tough. Not Tubular, not Outrageous... none of 'em. Though I do recall Yoshi's Island had some dicey hidden levels...

That said, I haven't played Super Luigi U yet. I've heard that one's a real menace. 2D platformers are my specialty, though, so maybe it won't be that much of a struggle.
 
G

GraceflAnger

Member
maxcriden said:
I played that one as a kid, too, and losing the golden coins really frustrated me. I actually got it on VC not that long ago and used save states to not have to get the golden coins all over again when I'd lose them. Still haven't been able to beat that castle, though. I always found that game pretty difficult.

(Which spin-off is that, Mario Party?)
Click to expand...

SML2 still pisses me off when I get to the castle. Completely forgot about that half of the game.
 
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