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What's the worst-designed level in a Mario game?

P

Phediuk

Member
Secret of the Village Underside from Mario Sunshine comes to mind.

https://youtu.be/KotSwIoSOK8?t=84

In short, you talk to these guys, and after their dialogue is done, they automatically throw you. The direction they throw you in depends entirely on the angle they're facing when their dialogue begins, so even slight alterations in your position can lead to drastically different results. And about 90% of the level is a bottomless pit. And like all of the Fludd-less levels, the area's whole visual design looks really rushed and slapped-together.

I dunno what they were thinking with this. It's not fun at all and this mechanic doesn't appear anywhere else in the game.
 
J

jdstorm

Banned
Champion Road - It's designed to be unfinishable


Edit: Clearly most missed the joke I was going for. Since Champion Road is probably the hardest Mario level created by Nintendo. Perhaps I should have put a wink next to this post or something
 
S

SalvaPot

Member
latest


I always disliked Rainbow Cruise because its a huge sidescrolling style level that goes out of its way to make you stop.
 
B

Big Nikus

Member
Phediuk said:
Secret of the Village Underside from Mario Sunshine comes to mind.

https://youtu.be/KotSwIoSOK8?t=84

In short, you talk to these guys, and after their dialogue is done, they automatically throw you. The direction they throw you in depends entirely on the angle they're facing when their dialogue begins, so even slight alterations in your position can lead to drastically different results. And about 90% of the level is a bottomless pit. And like all of the Fludd-less levels, the area's whole visual design looks really rushed and slapped-together.

I dunno what they were thinking with this. It's not fun at all and this mechanic doesn't appear anywhere else in the game.
Click to expand...

I love Sunshine but yeah, I woud go with this one.
 
Danny Dudekisser

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
Any of the levels in NSMB that required you to be mini Mario to get to a secret area, but didn't give you a mini mushroom in the level.
 
M

MrBadger

Member
That level in Super Mario World with the repeated sideways terrain. It's annoying and repetitive, and worst of all, you have to get past that part fast in order to progress through the game.

hqdefault.jpg
 
A

AdanVC

Member
Mario Sunshine the thread.

Charming as hell characters, amazing soundtrack, gorgeous graphics (dat water still impress me even today!) But holy cow the actual gameplay is an absolute mess. Especially grabbing those damn blue coins where you literally have to glitch through certain areas just to grab some of them. Mario Sunshine as a whole is just a badly designed game.
 
J

J-Spot

Member
Lost Levels C-3. There's wind blowing throughout the stage and a large part of it involves having a springboard launch you off screen where you have to blindly guide yourself across a large chasm to the next platform. I played through the game a year or two ago and this one was absolutely infuriating.
 
K

KarmaCow

Member
jdstorm said:
Champion Road - It's designed to be unfinishable
Click to expand...

If you're going to go down that route, 3D Land's equivalent is far worse. Still not the worse designed Mario level but it's filled with shitty camera angles and is just worse than 3D World's final level in every way.
 
R

RedToad64

Member
Almost any level in NSMB2. That game is a trainwreck in terms of level design. That is probably the only reason I remember it exists.
 
I

IAmMonodi

Member
Believe it or not, my least favorite level in Super Mario 64 is Snowman's Land. It feels like an unfinished concept to me.

280px-Snowman's_Land.png


  • The ramp to the igloo seems to have been designed with the idea to be accessed with the shell and yet it's awkward to navigate there with it.
  • A lot of the slopes on the ground level are very off-putting.
  • The way you reach the place with the shell in the box is very strange: you need to step over a Spindrift, and it doesn't always work.
  • The ramps the machine(?) next to the spindrifts push out also have an awkward pace.
  • Maybe it's because I already know it by memory, but the ice "maze" at the beginning is virtually unchallenging. Maybe they were toying around the possibilities of transparent 3D objects?
  • The hitbox of the Snowman's blowing is unclear as often you think you are in a safe spot you are thrown away.
  • And again, the top of the snowman has some really strange slippery platforms that can easily ruin your climb.

I suppose I shouldn't be so harsh on Super Mario 64 beig one of the pioneers of 3D platforming, but a lot of that level just doesn't seem to work well compared to other levels.
 
DJ_Lae

DJ_Lae

Member
I came in here trying to think of something, but nothing came to mind...and then that video of Village Underside brought back a flood of bad memories.

That and the fish boss and pretty much anything other than the straight platforming levels (and the hub) are what's keeping me from ever replaying Mario Sunshine.
 
M

Menitta

Member
IAmMonodi said:
Believe it or not, my least favorite level in Super Mario 64 is Snowman's Land. It feels like an unfinished concept to me.

280px-Snowman's_Land.png


  • The ramp to the igloo seems to have been designed with the idea to be accessed with the shell and yet it's awkward to navigate there with it.
  • A lot of the slopes on the ground level are very off-putting.
  • The way you reach the place with the shell in the box is very strange: you need to step over a Spindrift, and it doesn't always work.
  • The ramps the machine(?) next to the spindrifts push out also have an awkward pace.
  • Maybe it's because I already know it by memory, but the ice "maze" at the beginning is virtually unchallenging. Maybe they were toying around the possibilities of transparent 3D objects?
  • The hitbox of the Snowman's blowing is unclear as often you think you are in a safe spot you are thrown away.
  • And again, the top of the snowman has some really strange slippery platforms that can easily ruin your climb.

I suppose I shouldn't be so harsh on Super Mario 64 beig one of the pioneers of 3D platforming, but a lot of that level just doesn't seem to work well compared to other levels.
Click to expand...

This level is Hell frozen over.
 
T

Toxi

Banned
A lot of levels in New Super Mario Bros and New Super Mario Bros 2 come off as just uninspired. Going through them again is a grind.
 
P

psyfi

Banned
Toxi said:
A lot of levels in New Super Mario Bros and New Super Mario Bros 2 come off as just uninspired. Going through them again is a grind.
Click to expand...
I couldn't believe how dull NSMB was when I first played it. The first 2D Mario in five million years, and they make it more vanilla than Mario's been since SMB1.
 
P

psyfi

Banned
MrBadger said:
That level in Super Mario World with the repeated sideways terrain. It's annoying and repetitive, and worst of all, you have to get past that part fast in order to progress through the game.

hqdefault.jpg
Click to expand...
I always breezed right through that section, I thought it was a cool twist.
 
I

IAmMonodi

Member
MrBadger said:
That level in Super Mario World with the repeated sideways terrain. It's annoying and repetitive, and worst of all, you have to get past that part fast in order to progress through the game.

hqdefault.jpg
Click to expand...

I actually liked this level a lot.

It made me feel like a badass.
 
R

Red

Member
Despite being an otherwise stellar game, Super Mario World has always been marred by Forest of Illusion 3 and Chocolate Island 2. Forest of Illusion 3's stream of bubbles is consistently frustrating and breaks the flow of the game into rickety chunks. Chocolate Island 2's variables are so obtuse that they'd be impossible to figure out without resorting to a guide.

I agree there are a lot of bland NSMB levels. They may not be bad, but they are overly simple, and don't engage as the best Mario levels do.

The Mega Mushroom has to be the worst damn power up in the series. Worse than the near-useless bouncy ball from Mario Land. The star already makes things too easy by making Mario invincible against enemy characters. The Mega Mushroom goes one step further and makes him able to bypass all platforming challenges. If one of the hooks of your platforming game is the ability to bypass platforms, you should take a step back and reexamine your intent.
 
I

illadelph

Member
C

Common Knowledge

Member
I don't know if it counts as a "level", but the watermelon mission in Super Mario Sunshine brings back so many bad memories. I don't know what the thought process was when designing that shit.


Also, this one might be an unpopular answer, but I always had a dislike for Hazy Maze Cave from 64. Just very dull.
 
R

rekameohs

Banned
Pachinko in Sunshine was an absolute disaster, as was the boat in the final level of the game.

NSMB may have some dull stuff, but the worst of Sunshine is so, so bad.
 
N

Nick

Junior Member
All of the hate for Super Mario Sunshine throughout the years has really got to me. I really love that game front to back. ;(
 
M

Makonero

Member
Nick said:
All of the hate for Super Mario Sunshine throughout the years has really got to me. I really love that game front to back. ;(
Click to expand...

I love that game. It was my first 3D Mario since falling in love with Nintendo so I have nostalgia aplenty for it. But there are some very real, obvious criticisms with it. I think a full remake/remaster would do wonders for it, and I'm hoping we will something like that for NX.
 
B

BlackJace

Member
Like, Super Mario Sunshine is actually pretty decent once you look past its obvious flaws, but the half-finished fuckery that went into the Hotel level is baaaad.

It had a good theme, but you could tell they had some unfinished business with the level.
 
B

BassForever

Member
I love the idea of Sunshine's panchiko level, but the camera and sometimes wonky mechanics kill it. The only other stage I can think of that I can't stand are those awful bird flying levels in Galaxy 2.
 
C

Crimsonclaw111

Member
All these sunshine mentions and nobody has brought up that godawful toxic water and leaf level with the red coins.

Hope you can overcome the glitches and get the coins in one run or you're doing it all over again!
 
S

Stoze

Member
Sunshine's Manta Storm is one of the most monotonous things I've done in a Mario game. Then afterwards you get to experience the wonderful Hotel level.
 
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