The Super Nintendo is widely regarded as the home of a few of the toughest games of all time, at least on home consoles. After all, there’s a reason they called it “Nintendo Hard.” The Big N was starting to get away from the overwhelming difficulty of the NES, but the SNES was still plenty hard. A few of those incredibly tough games feature ridiculously hard levels. These monstrosities take the general mechanics and turn them on their heads, leaving gamers in shambles as they struggle to overcome the challenge.
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Here are the six toughest levels on the Super Nintendo.
6) Extra 1: Poochy Ain’t Stupid – Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
If you’ve played modern Yoshi games, you might be surprised to see this game on the list. After all, Yoshi games are generally cutesy games that almost anyone can finish. Plus, it’s not like Super Mario World or its sequel’s campaigns are too difficult to get through. However, when you get to the secret levels, things take a turn.
Poochy Ain’t Stupid is a strangely named level that takes you through a lava-filled stage. You’ll need to ride on the back of the titular Poochy. I won’t doubt his intelligence, but let’s just say he could make this escapade much easier if his IQ were about 20 points higher.
5) Stage 6 – Contra III: The Alien Wars
Every Contra game is difficult. It’s kind of the gimmick. Contra III might not be the hardest game in the series, but you’re still going to die a lot on your way to the finish line. Unfortunately, before you get there, you’ll need to fight through the final stage, which is downright diabolical.
Five different bosses are waiting for you, each of whom gets more difficult. Alien Wars takes it to another level if you’re playing on Hard mode, giving the final boss an extra phase to really rub your nose in it. If you could beat this without using the extra life cheat, you were likely the best gamer in your school during the ’90s.
4) Be Prepared – The Lion King
Yes, Can’t Wait To Be King is one of the most frustrating, maze-like levels in the history of gaming. In fact, most of the target demographic for The Lion King were likely in tears long before they ever made it to Be Prepared. That said, if you did get this far, you’d quickly wish Scar would come by and drop you into a wildebeest stampede.
Sure, you’re playing as adult Simba, but even he can’t deal with all of the cheap enemies you’ll come up against in this volcano-based level. Putting aside that there’s no volcano in the original film, Be Prepared also forces you to complete several pixel-perfect jumps. Even worse? The checkpoints are few and far between, making this a game that many families returned after a weekend of pain.
3) Stage 8 – Super Castlevania IV
Stage 8 is hard in the way most classic Castlevanias are. You’ll need to dodge eyeballs, medusa heads, and bats, while staying out of poison pools and running over crumbling floors. It is an absolute slog that’ll require equal parts strategy and patience.
The only thing keeping it from going higher is that the final boss, Frankenstein’s Monster, isn’t too difficult. Granted, the developers might’ve decided to take it easy on us because they’d spent the entire level slowly whittling down your health bar, but either way, Stage 8 ain’t no joke.
2) Death Star Escape – Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
The three 16-bit Super Star Wars games are all nearly impossible. It’s one of the toughest series on the system, giving players fits with constantly spawning enemies, somewhat frustrating controls, and annoying vehicle sections. However, the developers decided to end on a high note with the Death Star Escape.
Remember, Return of the Jedi‘s SNES adaptation came out during the peak of the hype around Mode 7. Unfortunately, the hardware was not up to the task of quickly flying through the twists and turns of the Death Star. Most mortals couldn’t keep up their first time through. The only real way to beat it was to memorize the run so you could overcome this final challenge.
1) Stage 7 – Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts
The Ghouls ‘n Ghosts franchise is well-known for its difficulty. Not only is it constantly throwing enemies at you from all over the screen, but you’ll also need to survive with very limited lives. When you’re talking about cheap enemies, Ghouls ‘n Ghosts might as well be the patron saint of the genre.
Stage 7 is the toughest of the levels in Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts. You’ll need to get around several tricky vertical jumps, which require near-perfect double jumps. Oh, and you’re also constantly being attacked by cockatrice heads, which love to shoot you out of the air if you’re not paying attention. Then, you’ll need to take down a series of bosses. Fortunately, the final boss isn’t too tough, but getting there is a massive challenge.
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Image Courtesy of Production I.G.
