10 Hardest Mario Levels Of All Time

8. The Impossible Maze - Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

Mario Toad Head Thumb
Nintendo

Even if you know precisely where to go in The Impossible Maze in Yoshi's Island, this stage stills take at least five minutes. If you don't know where to go, it takes... considerably longer. Because the dank sewer is so dimly-lit, it's hard to tell one area from another, meaning you'll be running in circles more often than not.

Worried that The Impossible Maze wasn't impossible enough, the developers inserted a brand-new baddie called The Grim Leecher AKA The Purple Zombie AKA The Most Annoying Enemy In the Game. If Leecher makes contact with Yoshi, he'll swap positions with Baby Mario, causing the infant to float away. If you don't grab the little tyke in time, you lose a life.

Now, several other critters in the game perform a similar strategy, so what makes Leecher so bad? Well, when this creature jumps on Yoshi, it reverses your controls, which disorients the player, making it very difficult to rescue Mario. There is no question that trying to locate the exit of this place while avoiding these buggers is one of the most frustrating aspects in the entire franchise.

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James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows