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Are the Special Levels in Super Mario World the hardest Mario levels?

Is the Special World in SMW the hardest Mario content?

  • Yes

    Votes: 9 6.6%

  • No, it’s something in The Lost Levels

    Votes: 91 66.9%

  • No, it’s something in SMB3

    Votes: 1 0.7%

  • No, it’s something in SM64

    Votes: 1 0.7%

  • No, it’s something in Sunshine

    Votes: 6 4.4%

  • No, it’s something in the Galaxy series

    Votes: 2 1.5%

  • No, it’s something in the 3D series

    Votes: 26 19.1%
  • Total voters
    136
  • Poll closed .
Zolbrod

Zolbrod

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,097
Osaka, Japan
Okay, bear with me here, I'm playing through Super Mario World with a friend for the umpteenth time, and we're getting slaughtered in the Special World, despite having played this game dozens of times over several decades.

Are these the hardest levels in Mario history?
Are we just old and/or drunk? (We're definitely both)
Do we just need to GIT GUUUUUD(TM)?

Era, help us decide!!!
 
Serebii

Serebii

Serebii.net Webmaster
Verified
Oct 24, 2017
13,166
Zolbrod said:
Okay, bear with me here, I'm playing through Super Mario World with a friend for the umpteenth time, and we're getting slaughtered in the Special World, despite having played this game dozens of times over several decades.

Are these the hardest levels in Mario history?
Are we just old and/or drunk? (We're definitely both)
Do we just need to GIT GUUUUUD(TM)?

Era, help us decide!!!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The only hard one there is Tubular

Meanwhile, Lost Levels routinely kicks my butt
 
Nights

Nights

Member
Oct 27, 2017
867
Lost levels gets pretty damn rough in like, world 4. Lost Levels is as if Nintendo made a whole game around being difficult instead of one "master level" at the end like most Mario games nowadays.
 
Professor Beef

Professor Beef

Official ResetEra™ Chao Puncher
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,506
The Digital World
The Special World levels in SMW are not hard at all. Meanwhile, Lost Levels feels like someone actively hated the player. It's the equivalent of those shitty fan-made rom hacks that constantly attack the player for no reason.
 
TheMoon

TheMoon

|OT|
Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,781
Video Games
You really need to play more mario games if you think those levels are particularly "hard." Nothing will ever beat Lost Levels in terms of just being straight up exhausting to get through (not counting someone's Mario Maker creations).

edit who is that one person who voted yes and outed themselves as having not played any other mario game?
 
HMS_Pinafore

HMS_Pinafore

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,186
Straya M8
Lost levels is harder but mostly because that game is badly designed.

Champions road is also harder then anything in World, but that's a good level.
 
Poltergust

Poltergust

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,883
Orlando, FL
I would say that even the original SMB is harder than anything in SMW.

So when compared to Lost Levels it isn't even a contest.
 

Deleted member 20852

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
864
I played through them as a kid multiple times, whereas some later games have had stuff I've just given up on. Of course I may have had more time to spend back then and just got gud!
 
H2intensity

H2intensity

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
926
I believe the hardest level is in New Super Mario Bros 2 DLC. That thing is evil, never finish it lol.
Also any level in Lost Level harder than any level in Super Mario World.
 
Why would you do that?

Why would you do that?

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,825
New York City
I immediately thought of some New Super Mario Bros. levels that as a kid I bet I would have more trouble than Tubular on.

There's this one level in New SMB Wii, I think it's the second-to-last level in the Special world, where the floor is made up of ice blocks. And then many Fire Bros. are constantly shooting tons of fireballs at you, which are not only hard to dodge, but they also destroy the floor of ice blocks, leaving you ready to fall to your death. That level was really tough.


Lost Levels is tough, but it's not too terrible if you have Fire Mario and you know the secret paths in the maze levels.
 
Ramsay

Ramsay

Member
Jul 2, 2019
3,625
Australia
Not even close. Beat Tubular and Outrageous in four tries each.

Meanwhile, Champion's Road took me four hours to beat.
 
Crayolan

Crayolan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,802
As an overall experience Lost Levels is probably the hardest, but if we're talking individual levels it's gotta be Champion's Road. You can make it easier by doing it with a friend, using Peach/Rosie, or bringing in tanuki suits, but clearing it with solo Mario/Luigi/Toad and no powerups is by far the hardest thing I've ever done in a Mario game.
 
BassForever

BassForever

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,021
CT
The special world in SMW doesn't even come close to the challenge some of the bonus worlds/levels in games like 3D Land/World, the New series, or Lost Levels do. Even if you want to argue "well what if you cheese them with xyz" SMW still has the easiest levels to cheese thanks to the Cape and Blue Yoshi.
 
PepsimanVsJoe

PepsimanVsJoe

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,186
I don't fuck with the Champion's Road nonsense, but I have played through Lost Levels a few times. SMW's special world just doesn't compare.

Well...I take that back.
Tubular comes close, but only because it's like playing a shmup with really shitty controls.
 

Superking

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,671
the hardest levels in smw? sure. in the whole mario series? eh...probably not. tubular in particular required more trial and error than any level in the game, but world 9-7 in NSMBW gave me similar, if not even more difficulty, especially if you want to get the 3 big coins. luigi's purple coin challenge in smg was also a pain in the bee-hind.
 
storophanthus

storophanthus

Member
Nov 27, 2018
112
No, the hardest Mario Level is:

The True Form of Champion Road, from 3D world , in which you try to clear it without reserve power-up, plain Mario, as any levels on any Mario Games can be cleared that way.
 
joffocakes

joffocakes

Member
Nov 15, 2017
1,409
Lost Levels is far more difficult (and less fair). The Super Mario World Special Stages are great though, a decent variety to their challenge and you can ease the difficulty a little by starting them powered up or or with a Blue Yoshi (to make Tubular in particular less of a pain).

3D World has one very difficult stage and the latter half of 3D Land is a very strong challenge.

Outside of the main game I'd say getting gold medals on all of New Super Mario Bros U's Challenges count as the most difficult "levels" in a Mario game.
 

Vector

Member
Feb 28, 2018
6,686
Always thought that Tubular was easy and Way Cool was the real evil.

But to answer the OP, nope - TLL has significantly harder stuff whereas you can skip a lot of the SMW levels with the cape.
 

Sixfortyfive

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
4,615
Atlanta
Individual stages in Lost Levels aren't usually that difficult, actually. It's just that the average difficulty remains high throughout the whole game.

World C-3 is probably the worst. It's basically Tubular with super springs instead of P balloons.

Poltergust said:
I would say that even the original SMB is harder than anything in SMW.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Only world 8.

Fantastapotamus said:
It's actually every level in the Super Mario Bros Special edition due to how broken that game is
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This is the true answer.



H2intensity said:
that Impossible Level from New Super Mario Bros 2
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This is an extremely good candidate.

Harder than any of the final bonus levels in 3D Land, 3D World, Odyssey, or the other NSMB games anyway.

Zolbrod said:
Just wait until all y'all are 40 years old, lol
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I've gotten better at old games with age, not worse.
 
Last edited:
ReyVGM

ReyVGM

Author - NES Endings Compendium
Verified
Oct 26, 2017
5,447
Lost Levels is harder than anything in SMW. Lost Levels also has secret levels that are harder than anything in the Lost Levels.
 
julian

julian

Member
Oct 27, 2017
16,872
I haven't played Lost Levels, so cant judge, but try Champion's Road in 3D World or the challenge levels in NSMBU on the Wii U.
 
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