10 Video Games Nobody Has Beaten (Because It's Genuinely Impossible)

7. Dr Mario - GameBoy

Dr Mario Gameboy
Nintendo

You might be thinking "that can't be right, a game as legendary as Dr Mario"? But yes, in a sense.

First of all, it's important to talk about the existence of the arcade kill screen. When classic arcade titles, like Pac Man and Donkey Kong, run long enough they eventually get to a point where the system hits it's processor limit. In the former's case, the cap is 255 stages and when the game tries to load level 256 it instead spawns a garbled mess of graphics.

In a sense, this is the "end" of the game. Since developers never expected gamers to play for so long, they didn't bother to program an actual ending but fans tend to celebrate getting so far that the game can no longer run.

Dr Mario is a weird example though for a few reasons. First of all, the credits do play after beating level 20 but then following this the game continues, which is unique. However, there is no graphical mess to celebrate when the game finally stops at Level 28. The viruses to clear spawn but Dr Mario himself is suddenly missing.

Well, what happened?! Did Dr Mario perhaps spend too long around infectious diseases and couldn't show up for work? Who's going to clear these viruses? It's a bit of worrying anti-climax, and not much of an ending.

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Coming from a content creation background that now spans over two decades, Psy cut her teeth on personal video production and community radio. Originally joining the team as a writer and presenter, she added video editing duties to her responsibilities over time and became the longest-standing editor of the irreverent gaming show Tues Your Own Adventure. Psy has worked on many previews and reviews, long-form editorials (either her own, or supporting as an editor), as a frequent quizmaster and more. Praised for the two-pronged attack of her hard work ethic and light-hearted editing style, Psy is otherwise known as a font of retro video game knowledge which has caused her to rack up many quiz wins. Outside of WhatCulture, Psy runs First Aid Spray Podcast - a long-running channel that focuses on Resident Evil in all of it's forms. You can follow her on BlueSky at http://psywhite.bsky.social and Instagram at http://instagram.com/therealpsywhite