Super Mario Galaxy 2 - The Perfect Run
Taking on The Ultimate Test in Super Mario Galaxy 2’s Grandmaster Galaxy required you to utilize every one of the skills you’d honed throughout the game. A series of miniature worlds, it took you through everything from Wiimote-pointing Yoshi swings to Cloud jumping through an electric maze and dodging expanding laser rings while you flipped platforms.
Sounds tough, right? Well the games final star, The Perfect Run, made you do all of that again — only this time you had to complete it in one run without taking a single point of damage. Youch. Earning this final star forced you to really nail down each and every segment to a tee, and getting truly efficient meant mastering little tricks like saving a few of cloud mario’s platforms to help you through the subsequent part. Completing The Perfect Run was gruelling, but by the gods it felt good once we made it.
Super Mario Bros. 3 - World 8 Airship
When it comes to the old 2D Marios, auto-scrolling levels are up there as some of the worst offenders for frustration-inducing difficulty. The Airship in Super Mario Bros. 3’s World 8 easily puts itself near the front of the pack. Jumping between platforms in the sky, Mario needed to dodge cannonballs, wrenches and flames as he kept pace with the rolling background. This Airship, matched perfectly by its foreboding music and stormy background, is Super Mario Bros. 3’s toughest level, and one well worth saving a P-Wing for.
