Support NeoGAF

[supermarioworldE]

My memory might be playing up here - and there might be inaccuracies - but the ones that spring to mind are the 100-coin stars for Rainbow Ride and Tick Tock Clock.

I *think* Rainbow Ride has some missable coins that you can't go back for, so you need to do a comprehensive sweep constantly to have enough by the time you get to the end - and I *think* Tick Tock Clock is impossible to get 100 on if you have the clock speed setting set wrongly when you go in, although you may not discover that until quite late.

But those are my recollections from twenty years ago... they might be wrong!

Seconded. Two hardest stars to get in the game, and are the main reason why I so rarely 100% it. Two levels hovering over a huge death pit each, with huge gaps in between, and coins spread out from the bottom all the way to the freaking top.

If you fuck up the blue coins in Rainbow Ride, you might as well start all over again.

And yeah, if you stop time, I think its near impossible to get to the higher levels for the rest of the coins in Tick Tock Clock.

The 100 coin missions are easily the worst parts of any Mario game and those two levels are the best examples of why.

Also, screw that wing cap, red coin mission in the last third of the game. If the actual level wasnt hard enough with the shitty flying controls, it puts you outside the castle when you fail. Just why?

 

[yanipheonu]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZnEdAC9IHI&t=10m18s

Game was a mess more often than not.

That game's physics and camera did wacky stuff sometimes, especially in enclosed spaces, so that Pachinko level was probably the most misguided idea ever.

Can't think of much worse than it lol. Give other levels credit, they don't rely on luck coupled with questionable physics.

Lol at least it gave us some hilarious Game Grumps moments tho

 

[Phediuk]

No Mario game is objectively terrible - and Sunshine is still a solid 8/9 out of 10.

that is an extremely generous assessment.

 

[windsostrange]

SM3DW's Bowser battles were embarrassingly bad.

 

[Bloodporne]

Anything with water in it can go die

 

[Vital Tundra]

Dire Dire Docks. A game that gives you unparalleled controls over Mario should not have a level where almost every action is taken away from you. It sucks, its boring, and having to play it multiple times is horrible.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

Champions Road from 3D World

Even with powerups galore it took me well over 100 tries to complete this level.

Thats not the worst. Thats the hardest. Its tough as shit but also fun and well designed.

Any level from SMB2(JP) where wind + insanely precise jumps are involved!

 

[Lijik]

How is it not the Pachinko level in Sunshine.
When you finally manage to get all the red coins, the game reveals the shine is.... right back in the pachinko machine. Its the work of a sadist, no other Mario objective actively hates you this much.

 

[sanstesy]

Sunshine is so choke full of bad levels it's kind of hard to pick one.

The water levels in 64.

Bee Mario levels in the Galaxy games.

 

[FloatOn]

this shit fucking pissed me off so much as a kid

(tubular for super mario world)

 

[Alex_Mexico]

Sunshine is so choke full of bad levels it's kind of hard to pick one.

The water levels in 64.

Bee Mario levels in the Galaxy games.

You spelled Super Mario Bros 2 (JP) The Lost Levels wrong

 

[Gotdatmoney]

this shit fucking pissed me off so much as a kid

(tubular for super mario world)

Tubular is pretty tough. Just beecause its 100% trial and error to find the extra balloons.

 

[Technosteve]

Every auto run level in mario maker

 

[The_Dama]

 

[BassForever]

So many terrible takes in this topic

The only correct answer is Pachinko in sunshine. Wonky 3d movement with a bad camera angle makes this stage stupidly annoying to play.

 

[ffdgh]

this shit fucking pissed me off so much as a kid

(tubular for super mario world)

I don't think I've ever did this the normal way. Always brought along a blue yoshi to fly past everything lol.

 

[ahoyhoy]

Do troll levels in mario maker count?

The most popular Mario Maker levels ruined the game for me. Why do so many people want to play the music levels?

 

[jviggy43]

Troll levels in Mario Maker. Even if they aren't overly difficult and can be beaten rather easily, no one likes a cheap stupid gimmick design.

 

[JeTmAn81]

I'm not sure, but it's probably an auto-scroller.

 

[GurgleBot20]

I've always thought it was fitting that a game that is as messy as Mario Sunshine would have a pachinko level.

 

[Madame M]

Every level in Super Mario Land 2, the worst Mario game

 

[BassForever]

The most popular Mario Maker levels ruined the game for me. Why do so many people want to play the music levels?

Troll levels in Mario Maker. Even if they aren't overly difficult and can be beaten rather easily, no one likes a cheap stupid gimmick design.

Every auto run level in mario maker

There are brilliant levels in mario maker using these 3 styles of gameplay.

 

[Mesoian]

Lot of people equating "hard" with "bad" in this thread...

 

[Mael]

I think the worst level I have ever seen are in Newer Super Mario Bros Wii.
From the official games, I'll say nothing will ever top pretty much everything from Sunshine.
Aside from the Secret dungeons I think there's probably only Noki bay that I don't find aggravating to play.
Tedious meandering game with no direction and shite bosses.

The main problem of Super Mario Sunshine ? Thoses blue coins. 240 blue coins, that unlock 24 shines. Some are only available in certain missions (like one in the Hotel, right behind Mario and only in a certain Shine mission).

They're the main reason everytime I feel like playing the game, I'm like nah I'll pass.
Fucking PoS game.

mario sunshine should be played by everyone, if only to cement in their heads just how good all the other 3d marios are in terms of design and polish.
Nintendo made a few games around that era which clearly has cut content or seemed rushed but mario sunshine was the worst offender, some god awful levels coupled with an atrocious camera system and even worse ideas.
It's not all bad but when compared against 64, galaxy 1+2 and 3dworld it's a mess.

Ah funny, I feel like WW was the worst offender for me but heh
It's absolutely a torture to play, they made the game harder than 64 but not fun harder, just tedious harder.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

Every level in Super Mario Land 2, the worst Mario game

Worst than SMB game boy hack Land 1? You think about what you've done, mister!

 

[PetriP-TNT]

Click the image. Go on. Do it.

This stage. Not to mention it's a pain in the fucking ass to get there.

The ones in Galaxy 1 and 2 where you had to control something via motion controls. I remember rather disliking the one where you ride on the back of sting ray. Luckily both games only used such gimmicks once or twice.

These levels are super fun on Dolphin because you can adjust the motion controls to work on the stick

 

[balohna]

this shit fucking pissed me off so much as a kid

(tubular for super mario world)

I had never beaten SMW 100% as a kid because of this level. I finally beat it like 15 years later and now I can beat it consistently somehow, probably because all my failures are burned into my brain.

Gonna go with Corona Mountain as overall worst, but NSBM2 also had some "wtf is this?" levels that weren't aggressively bad, just kind of boring and didn't feel as polished as I would expect in a Mario game.

 

[roytheone]

Every level in Super Mario Land 2, the worst Mario game

At least that game had some interesting world ideas instead of "another dessert world!" like in current 2D mario games.

 

[ZeoVGM]

The damn hotel level in Sunshine.

Champions Road from 3D World

Even with powerups galore it took me well over 100 tries to complete this level.

Not a serious post.

 

[ZeoVGM]

SM3DW's Bowser battles were embarrassingly bad.

What in the world? 3D World has great bosses and one of the best final bosses in any Mario game ever.

 

[Madame M]

Worst than SMB game boy hack Land 1? You think about what you've done, mister!

I could properly think about it if I had any idea what "SMB game boy hack Land 1" is.

 

[CassSept]

The main problem of Super Mario Sunshine ? Thoses blue coins. 240 blue coins, that unlock 24 shines. Some are only available in certain missions (like one in the Hotel, right behind Mario and only in a certain Shine mission).

Yeah, despite all the subpar levels I agree that that's the main problem, SMS is still the only Mario I did not 100%, these were a huge pain that required no skill and were annoying even with a checklist due to what you said - some of them being hidden only in select levels. Dumb dumb dumb.

 

[Smasher89]

prob some 64 levels since i've mostly prefered any other game then that.
The most disapointing one was the final level in NSMB U though, was expecting more after Galaxy 2's final level (which is the best in the mario series imo).

 

[MrSaturn99]

for the life of me I will never understand why some hate wet-dry world

SM3DW's Bowser battles were embarrassingly bad.

The game's boss battles were mostly alright, but yeah, this was a boring one.

 

[AaronMT86]

I nominate Tick Tock Clock for nothing more than giving me sweaty palms and frustration as a kid

 

[Toadthemushroom]

I replayed Sunshine earlier this year after not having touched the game for a decade and some of the levels mentioned in this thread don't deserve to be here.

The pachinko stage is indeed bad - frustrating for all the reasons. As has been mentioned, the game's physics are often unpredictable when Mario bumps into walls or dives into off-angle surfaces, so each attempt rarely ends up in you actually understanding how the pinball machine works. What a mess.

But stuff like the lilypad riding over toxic water, that's great! The journey there is fun to work out and execute, keeping Yoshi's belly full at just the right time while flutter jumping over deadly water, and the challenge itself felt pretty fair to me. Took about half a dozen goes but it's all about mastering how using FLUDD affects the momentum and turning speed of a lilypad, after a few goes you get the hang of it and it becomes a matter of just being consistent positioning Mario in ways that make sense.

That sort of level exposes how Sunshine can be an unforgivingly complex game though. While I think the level is fine and a worthy, fair challenge, if you don't have a perfect grasp of Mario's positioning and the game's camera controls (which are tied to where you're going to aim FLUDD versus where the lilypad is moving) you won't have a fair shake at the stage.

Other stuff like the last shine in Ricco Harbour works well, too, again, a chunk of the challenge comes down to controlling the camera.

In ways Sunshine feels like the anti-Mario 64 due to how it basically doesn't have a helpful auto-camera at all. Mario 64's camera may not be as polished as modern games, but you don't have to control it at all times to get a good view of a lot of challenging traversal you'll be doing.

I nominate Tick Tock Clock for nothing more than giving me sweaty palms and frustration as a kid

The moment it all clicks though, when you realise the time the clock hand is showing upon entering the level affects the speed of the clock's gears, was amazing.

 

[TheMightyJerkules]

Do glitch levels count? If so, -1. It's an infinite water level. Enough said.

 

[Farmboy]

Click the image. Go on. Do it.

I know this has been seconded a couple of times already, but yes. This.

 

[nachum00]

Sunshine and the pachinko level, nothing else comes close, the controls themselves simply don't work like they seem they should.

Maybe I'm crazy but I really enjoyed the pachinko level.

Champions Road from 3D World

Even with powerups galore it took me well over 100 tries to complete this level.

Me and my friend stayed up all night trying to get all the stars and stamps on Champion Road. Beating it 100% was one of the most satisfying experiences I've had gaming.

 

[Arc Christelle]

Pachinko, That Fucking Leaf - Sunshine

Clock Tower, Rainbow Cruise - 64

3D World - That one stage where you die a lot that is NOT Champion's Road. It's a scrolling stage with moving cage platforms, I think the cat suit was hella prominent in it.

Some stages in NSMBU I can't bother to think about.

World 5-1 in SMB.

 

[bennywhatever]

Chai Kingdom in Mario Land was hell. I liked the music but that's it.

 

[NathanS]

What? I LOVE that level, so many ways to get around based on where the water level is.

 

[perfectchaos007]

Super Mario 2 (JPN) level C-3.
If there are too many objects on the screen, one of the necessary trampolines won't spawn, so all you can do is die.

 

[JohnTonne]

Every level in Sunshine?

This is correct

 

[AwakenedCloud]

Sunshine and the pachinko level, nothing else comes close, the controls themselves simply don't work like they seem they should.

I've gotten all shines at least twice in my life, but I have absolutely zero recollection of this, or what stage it even exists in.

Click the image. Go on. Do it.

But this dude!

 

[hotcyder]

that is an extremely generous assessment.

Thank you Treat much maligned mario games as you would want to be treated yourself

I feel like the design process of Lethal Lava Land was based around riding a shell on lava. The shell's one of the first thing you'll find the level, a lot of the scattered platforms in corners have slight curves going up to them...

But then outside the Red Coins/100 Coins nothing really makes use of it and you get "go to two platforms and take out the bully" oops.

Good call! Never really thought of that - but it is a really fun level to ride the shell around. It's a shame that they don't really use that for anything but the 100/8 Red coins, as stated.

 

[Junior Asparagus]

this shit fucking pissed me off so much as a kid

(tubular for super mario world)

Yeah, there's no way I would've beaten this as a kid without the strategy guide map that showed me where all the balloons were.

 

[Doctor_Thomas]

Tubular is the only real answer.

2nd is autoscroll levels.

 

[True Fire]

The one in 3D Land that takes two seconds

 

[Lionel Richie]

Any answer other than Pachinko level or riding the boat with Yoshi in SMS is flat out wrong.