10 Hardest Mario Levels Of All Time

The Darker Side Kingdom in Super Mario Galaxy is a gauntlet of epic proportions. As soon as you enter the Moon's interior, you have an opportunity to double your health. This is pretty much pointless since you can suffer an instant-kill in EVERY section of this monster level. The stage bombards the player with lava, rotating platforms, lasers that span entire rooms, lava, collapsing sections, lava, and more lava.

Probably the most frustrating section is when you have to possess a Pokio bird and use its beak to fling upwards to reach a series of moving platforms. If you make a single miscalculation, you will fall to your death.

But you can just try again, right? Well, that's the most frustrating thing about the Darker Side Kingdom. Not only does it take ten minutes to complete this course , there are ZERO checkpoints. If you make one false move, you have to go back to the start. This level feels more like a punishment than a challenge and can only be beaten by an absurd amount of grinding.

There is one plus side: anyone who manages to complete this kingdom can unmistakably refer to themselves as a true Mario player.