New Super Mario Bros. U - Don’t. Touch. Anything.
The final coin collection level in New Super Mario Bros. U, was a clever inversion of your typical Mario instincts. Filled to the brim with coins and items, Don’t. Touch. Anything. asked you to reach the end of the level without — you guessed it — touching a single coin, item or enemy. Add in a pair of Lakitus throwing spinies down at you every few seconds, and this level became anything but easy.
Littered with tempting item boxes and rotating platforms smothered in coins, carefully precise jumps were needed to find a clean path through. With time-dependent scoring thrown in the mix it was tricky as hell to get anything above a bronze ranking out of the level.
Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels - World C-3
Originally held back for being too difficult for western gamers, The Lost Levels was first released to Japan as Super Mario Bros 2. in 1986. As a game bumped from a market for its difficulty, it’s no surprise to see it crop up in a list of Mario’s toughest ever levels. World C-3 was an especially cruel challenge, featuring springs which rocketed Mario well above the top of the screen, making it extremely tough to know where exactly you’d be coming down.
Many of the jumps you needed to make were straight up leaps of faith, with the landing zone positioned well out of view from where you launched. Once again Lakitu turned up to make the stage even tougher, and there are even random gusts of stormy winds which could easily send Mario slipping to an early grave. The Lost Levels were filled with evil ideas to make our stalwart plumber's life harder, but World C-3 was an especially cruel mistress to contend with.
