10 Dumbest Ways We've All Died In Video Games
9. Time Out, Thanks Barrel - Sonic The Hedgehog 3
Time limits are pretty love-or-leave things. In some situations, they can add tension to the situation, creating a frantic rush to complete your objective in time.
But in other situations, they can be nothing more than arbitrary nuisances, sitting there counting down in the corner, reminding you of your own mortality.
“Why does this game need a time limit? It adds NOTHING to the experience”, you ask out loud, despite being the only person in the room. The time limit has made you clinically insane.
In some games, the time limit can be more of a danger than any of the actual enemies, and this is no better exemplified than in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. In the game’s infamous Carnival Night Zone, the player will come up against the dreaded Red Spinning Barrel(tm), an obstacle never before seen in this (or any previous or subsequent) Sonic game.
For the majority of players, they will attempt to repeatedly jump on it, spin dash, running backwards and forwards, and even just mashing the pad - nothing will work.
Inevitably, your time will start to sap away, slowly creeping towards the ten minute Time Out limit. Ohh, you had to to tap up and down! It’s so obvious, now I’ve wasted nine hours.