10 Absurdly Hard DLC Modes You Never Beat
2. The Impossible Pack - New Super Mario Bros. 2
Despite his bright and friendly appearance, Super Mario’s platforming challenges can be tough as nails at times. The NES games aren’t exactly easy, in particular Lost Levels is notorious for being inaccessible for most casual Mario players.
New Super Mario Bros 2 might be one of the most forgettable adventures in Mario’s catalogue but it throws back to this feeling of sweating profusely as you guide the moustachioed hero through an obscene obstacle-course in the aptly titled Impossible Pack. This piece of 3DS eStore content features a string of three stages - all played in succession - where players cannot take a single hit.
The first is an ode to some of the toughest Mario enemies like Hammer Bros and Chain Chomps as well as - everyone’s favourite - water levels. The second revolves mostly around acrobatic mayhem, avoiding firebars and navigating rotating platforms. Make it to the final round and you’re met with what feels like a stage constructed by a masochist who grabbed a bunch of platforming elements and threw them on the screen: rising water, circular saws, conveyor belts, bouncing platforms and Fire Bros.
It’s one part memorisation and another pure flow-state. You must be one with the plumber to get through all of this unscathed.