Insane Difficulty Spikes That Ruined The Game

Battletoads boasted difficulty from the get-go, but it was its notorious hoverbiking Turbo Tunnel level that kicked things into overdrive—and turned many players away in the process. Gamers have to knock out an opponent named Scuzz, which should be foretelling of what's in store, and then bob and weave past randomly generated walls, fly off ramps, and duck underneath barriers. Once you're officially sweating through your shirt as you strain to take down the Turbo Tunnel, another spike occurs: you have to clear the gaps between ramps manually, timing your platform jumps just right. Hit any wall, ramp, barrier—anything—once, and you're dead and done. Lose your three lives too many times in the Turbo Tunnel, and you're tossed to the start of the game to begin again.

While a few lucky players have seen success in the hoverbike stage, the consensus is that it's a nightmare and mars the rest of the game entirely. Its challenges appear before you can react, and "eventually gets so fast that reflexes alone won't cut it," according to one player, who even resorted to taking notes, plotting a course, and then shouting at the television when the Turbo Tunnel defeated him.

Here's where things get even stickier. In the 2003 futuristic racing game F-Zero GX, there are a ton of campy cutscenes and spine-tingling races to the finish, but there's also a difficulty spike so steep it's alienated a whole generation of players. Combining ruthless AI enemies with in-game track layouts sure to make any gamer's head spin, F-Zero GX kicked things up to sky-high intensity levels with its Story Mode, particularly in Chapter 7, where the F-Zero Grand Prix race takes place.

Chapter 7 of Story Mode is an absolute doozy, with every single enemy driver turned up to "the maximum AI level, except for Black Bull, who has his own AI level" that breaks the game by snaking. Enemy groups respawn too quickly for a fair fight, and fans got really upset, vowing with extremely profane language and colorful metaphors that they'd never touch another F-Zero franchise installment in the future. F-Zero GX has been heavily criticized for its insurmountable challenges, especially with the Grand Prix level, and has gone down in history as one of the most difficult games to beat.

Ghosts 'n Goblins revolutionized gaming—it was the first game to utilize a version of the New Game Plus feature we all know, love, and rely on in our modern gaming market. Disappointingly, it's also one ruined by its sharp spike in difficulty. The final battle is where it all plummets down for players...and up for the game's intensity. Ghosts 'n Goblins shows off its sadism by announcing that the supposed clinching level is all but a ruse: "This room is an illusion and is a trap devised by Satan," it tells players before flinging them to the start of the game. Yep, you heard right: anyone who takes on Ghosts 'n Goblins will have to play through the game twice to reach the true ending. Suffice to say, that specific struggle spoiled what could have been a smash-hit side-scroller.

Though it may appear at first glance a title too hammy to be even remotely hard, this third-person action shooter game from Sony Interactive is anything but; the only thing over-the-top about Jet Li: Rise to Honor is a particular level that will leave players out of breath and begging for mercy.

Noted as a "great bit of entertainment," the beat-'em-up game flows along swimmingly with a steady difficulty curve and numerous checkpoints, until players are thrust into an underground sewer level out of which few make it alive. With up to 120 enemies angling their attacks from all around, the "number of characters allowed to fight at one time doubles," meaning that not only is this horde of men actually inflicting damage, the battle lasts far longer than ones that came before it. That is, if you survive long enough to put up a fight.

As if an army of enemies to defeat wasn't heart-stopping enough, the game's control system can't handle the 360-degree combat fluently; players' only chance at hope is with "critical pauses between moves," but that leaves them vulnerable and crushed down in no time at all. Which is a shame, as one player noted they were pleased with the game until they hit the "ridiculous difficulty spike" in the sewer slums.

Spooky skeleton? Check. Eerie backstory? Double check. Yet another insane difficulty spike that diminished hope for an otherwise promising game? Unfortunately, check.

Though the post-apocalyptic title Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne has gained some traction for its strong narrative and aesthetically sharp character design, its overall reception is dinged by criticism of its overwhelming challenges, particularly the mysterious Matador that appears later in the game's plotline.

Utilizing a Press Turn battle system for the majority of gameplay and keeping a steady curve of difficulty, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne flips things on their head so quickly and intensely, you'd swear you were transported to a Stranger Things-like Upside Down. Players go sword-to-sword with the menacing Matador, duking it out in the Great Underpass of Ginza, a task that is nigh impossible to accomplish. Thanks to the Matador's powerful Mazon Force Spell and Andalucia abilities, he can channel all four of his battle turns into damage on a single character: you. And on your end? Miss a hit, and you're out a turn, which is practically unavoidable given the Matador's lightning-quick speed and unpredictable moves.

While Nocturne received praise for its high replay value and efforts to innovate plot structure and combat systems, the Matador is its Achilles' heel. One player describes the game-ruining spike: "Matador is a very rude awakening... a massive spike in difficulty compared to what came previously, and usually requires special preparations to actually defeat [like] having a physical-resisting main character, a demon that nulls Force, a way to counter Red Capote, and a healer that can heal everyone at once." Crushing to hear, as Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne could have been epic on all accounts if not for its boney bullfighting boss.