Do you remember the first time you ever tried to beat the Aztec level in Goldeneye 64? Man, I do. I was probably in fourth grade and spent wayyyy too much time over a weekend dedicated to beating it. That Temple is hell to beat, no matter how old you are or how good your muscle memory is. The only video game level I’ve ever spent more time grinding away at beating is the last ship/blimp in BioShock Infinite. I think that took me a three or four evenings.
It’s pretty amazing when you finally conquer a level that’s puzzled you — You have a massive sense of accomplishment, then you realize that you could breeze through it if you’d backtrack to try it a second time.
Anyway, here’s a little ranking of the seven hardest video game levels of all time.