Mario is Challenging Again

[Fappy]

I recently picked up a Wii U and beat Windwaker HD right off the back (awesome game btw). Since then, my friend and I have taken it upon ourselves to 100% Super Mario 3D World. I started gaming as soon as I could hold a controller (so like, 1991-2) and started with Mario like many others my age. I have played Mario games all of my life. I have been good at Mario games all of my life. I have beaten every Mario game I have ever played... until now...

You see, I had been pretty annoyed with Nintendo's treatment of the franchise for awhile. Mario Galaxy was great, but I was not a fan of what came after. The Super Mario Wii line of games were far too simplistic and uninspired. Worst still, they were easy as all hell. For some reason, I assumed that'd be the case for Super Mario 3D World.

I was wrong.

This game is tough, but I didn't realize just how brutally difficult it could be until I reached the dreaded "Champion's Road".

Holy fuck.

Sadists still work at Nintendo apparently, and honestly... I love it.

I will beat this level after work. I absolutely have to!

So, discussion value? Well, have you beaten Mario 3D World 100%? If so, how hard was it for you? Any other games giving you a hard time lately (inb4darksouls)?

 

[Roxas1359]

I've beaten 3D World twice, all stars on my files, and I still think this is damn easy. The worlds aren't that tough, a lot of the bosses I found pathetic, and honestly I hate having time limits in levels. Now 3D Mario games have always been pretty easy, but I find that 3D World was one of the easiest, with 3D Land being even easier than that.
As for Campion's Road, that's the only level I will say is difficult in the game, but Grand Finale Galaxy Daredevil is harder than that I say. Now to wait and see if people will call me a "Mario/Nintendo" hater again, as I've been getting that lately in PMs on YouTube, and a few times here.

Now as for other games with ball-busting difficulty, I've been playing Mighty Gunvolt lately, and that game appears to be kicking my ass all over the place. I can get by just fine with Beck and Gunvolt, but the Angel character gives me a hard time for some reason. Another one, the Red Stands Alone mission from Unlimited World Red. What's that, I've gotta fight the Admirals one after another, well shit. Kizaru is pure evil. >~<

 

[Strain42]

I've not played it because I don't own a Wii U, but I HAVE watched the Game Grumps play it (they just beat it yesterday) and frankly everything I've seen about this game feels like a real breath of fresh air for Mario as a franchise.

If I owned a Wii U, this certainly would be a title I'd pick up for it.

Spoiler

Also c'mon...Meowser is AWESOME. I hope he joins Dry Bowser as playable in stuff down the road.

 

[Fappy]

I've beaten 3D World twice, all stars on my files, and I still think this is damn easy. The worlds aren't that tough, a lot of the bosses I found pathetic, and honestly I hate having time limits in levels. Now 3D Mario games have always been pretty easy, but I find that 3D World was one of the easiest, with 3D Land being even easier than that.
As for Campion's Road, that's the only level I will say is difficult in the game, but Grand Finale Galaxy Daredevil is harder than that I say. Now to wait and see if people will call me a "Mario/Nintendo" hater again, as I've been getting that lately in PMs on YouTube, and a few times here.

Now as for other games with ball-busting difficulty, I've been playing Mighty Gunvolt lately, and that game appears to be kicking my ass all over the place. I can get by just fine with Beck and Gunvolt, but the Angel character gives me a hard time for some reason. Another one, the Red Stands Alone mission from Unlimited World Red. What's that, I've gotta fight the Admirals one after another, well shit. Kizaru is pure evil. >~<

I should specify that the challenging levels that proceeded Champion's Road were only truly difficult because I was playing with multiple people. As with the Super Mario Bros. Wii titles, the game is far easier when playing by yourself... with the ironic exception of Champion's Road (where you can anchor each other) and the big star cluster fuck level in the same world.

 

[Euryalus]

Lately I've been playing Civ, and let me tell you, keeping the people happy at Higher difficulties while also trying to land grab is just not good for sanity. I'm trying to build an empire God! Do you whiny citizens really need silk right now?

Assholes! The lot of you.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Haven't played, but been watching the Game Grumps playthrough of 3D World, and I must agree there are some levels that look like they would be difficult if I hadn't spent my life practising on similar setups- Mario 64, Super Mario Bros. 3, etc. I used to consider SMB3 to be hard past World 3, but 3D World is probably tougher, more so if you play it multiplayer (the only thing that potentially made NSMB Wii difficult).

The last single-player game I played recently that really challenged me is probably Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers. I'm not really sure how far along I am, but the last 4 bosses I've faced were puzzle bosses that destroy you in a handful of turns if you don't have the counter. There was one who was immune to magic and guns who hid behind two beefy physical-immune flunkies and healed and revived them whenever he wasn't using Death magic on you. In other words, just another Tuesday for the SMT franchise. Sometimes you love it, sometimes you hate it

 

[Fappy]

Haven't played, but been watching the Game Grumps playthrough of 3D World, and I must agree there are some levels that look like they would be difficult if I hadn't spent my life practising on similar setups- Mario 64, Super Mario Bros. 3, etc. I used to consider SMB3 to be hard past World 3, but 3D World is probably tougher, more so if you play it multiplayer (the only thing that potentially made NSMB Wii difficult).

The last single-player game I played recently that really challenged me is probably Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers. I'm not really sure how far along I am, but the last 4 bosses I've faced were puzzle bosses that destroy you in a handful of turns if you don't have the counter. There was one who was immune to magic and guns who hid behind two beefy physical-immune flunkies and healed and revived them whenever he wasn't using Death magic on you. In other words, just another Tuesday for the SMT franchise. Sometimes you love it, sometimes you hate it

Yeah, SMT can be pretty brutal. I've only played Nocturne and SMT IV (of the non-Persona titles) and even those were really tough.

Back to Mario... we finally beat Champion's Road. When we got past the super obnoxious key part and ended up in another section we paused the game and screamed in rage only to find out that it's just a fun victory screen in disguise XD

 

[BarkBarker]

The thing is, they CAN do mario as challenging, just look ast stuff like the impossible level pack for NSBM2, that stuff can get tricky

 

[xaszatm]

Haven't played, but been watching the Game Grumps playthrough of 3D World, and I must agree there are some levels that look like they would be difficult if I hadn't spent my life practising on similar setups- Mario 64, Super Mario Bros. 3, etc. I used to consider SMB3 to be hard past World 3, but 3D World is probably tougher, more so if you play it multiplayer (the only thing that potentially made NSMB Wii difficult).

The last single-player game I played recently that really challenged me is probably Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers. I'm not really sure how far along I am, but the last 4 bosses I've faced were puzzle bosses that destroy you in a handful of turns if you don't have the counter. There was one who was immune to magic and guns who hid behind two beefy physical-immune flunkies and healed and revived them whenever he wasn't using Death magic on you. In other words, just another Tuesday for the SMT franchise. Sometimes you love it, sometimes you hate it

I wouldn't call SMT hard, just unforgiving. You need to think in terms of buffs, weaknesses, debuffs, and instant death over just having a strong stick to beat people with. Once you master the combat system, it isn't that hard. It WILL destroy if you make any mistake, though.

OT: Mario is what you would call a "solid" series. While some may think it is hard or easy, there is no doubt that Mario makes some of the best platforming levels from a gameplay perspective. It is because of this why Mario games can be so easy. I don't think this is a bad thing and Nintendo does have other platformers (like Donkey Kong) if you want a true platforming challenge.

 

[JagermanXcell]

I was actually considering picking up the game based on the merits of 1. It's co-op and me and the girlfriend got a WiiU and are looking for something to tide us over till Bayo and Smash and 2. The obvious breath of fresh air factor I keep hearing about.

But how challenging would you say it is? Star Road from Super Mario World challenging? Cause if it's anything like the infamous Tubular level.... COUNT ME IN..... f*** Tubular.

 

[xaszatm]

I was actually considering picking up the game based on the merits of 1. It's co-op and me and the girlfriend got a WiiU and are looking for something to tide us over till Bayo and Smash and 2. The obvious breath of fresh air factor I keep hearing about.

But how challenging would you say it is? Star Road from Super Mario World challenging? Cause if it's anything like the infamous Tubular level.... COUNT ME IN..... f*** Tubular.

Ehhh...I don't think Star Road was THAT challenging. It is very fast pace, though. Also, most of the difficulty (and fun) of Super Mario 3D World comes from the co-op, so if you are soloing it you might find some parts easier (and some parts harder, it actually is fairly balanced in that regard)

 

[tstorm823]

All stars, all stamps. I didn't intend to beat every level with every character, but after unlocking the last Rayman Legends character, I used 3dWorld as my "I've got 20 minutes to kill" game.

It's not too hard. It's the right amount of hard. Just difficult enough to make my really try.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Following up my previous post, the Grumps are now tackling the bonus world and it's kicking their asses. Of course, they're not the most reliable players and multiplayer always makes it harder.

The one level that comes to mind when I think of a difficult Mario level is the Valley Fortress in SMW. Completely optional, but I've never seen hyper-speed spike poles, lava pits, spikes and padobos used in such an effective placement combination outside of a ROMhack. There's hardly any space to stand, and spike poles are the only obstacle that are a guaranteed one-hit-kill.

I guess the 'reward' is being able to skip the lion's share of Bowser's Castle, but why would you want to? It's awesome, and much more varied than this nightmare.

 

[Xman490]

I've beaten 3D World twice, all stars on my files, and I still think this is damn easy. The worlds aren't that tough, a lot of the bosses I found pathetic, and honestly I hate having time limits in levels. Now 3D Mario games have always been pretty easy, but I find that 3D World was one of the easiest, with 3D Land being even easier than that.
As for Campion's Road, that's the only level I will say is difficult in the game, but Grand Finale Galaxy Daredevil is harder than that I say.

I don't find it too easy. Every level provides a little challenge. Almost every level in the last 2 full worlds gave me trouble. When I got to Champion's Road, I breezed through with Tanooki suits. I can definitely do it without floating, though.

Champion's Road was polite with some difficult-to-predict obstacles. The Perfect Run, on the other hand, had many things mean doom. Those stinking hammer and boomerang brothers...