< That One Level

That One Level/Sonic the Hedgehog

Remember: Color power, not boost. Here's hoping your thumb can get that right.


The Blue Blur has went through many ups and downs as a Long Runner, but one thing that remains constant in these games is that they are home to more than a few infamous levels.

  • Sonic the Hedgehog:
    • Scrap Brain Zone Act 3 if you don't use the shortcut anyway. That, and its slightly less difficult predecessor, Labyrinth Zone.
    • It gets even worse should you fall into the deepest part of the Act. There the air bubbles are so far and few in between that the dreaded countdown is practically GUARANTEED to start haunting you, and if that weren't enough, the air bubbles actually take much LONGER to spawn than the ones found in Labyrinth Zone.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2:
  • Sonic CD:
    • Metallic Madness, the final level, where you are very much in danger of time running out due to its multitude of one-way doors, timed (or simply time-consuming) set pieces, and hitting Sonic with a shrink ray which only really makes him harder to control.
    • Wacky Workbench? Combine a floor you can't stand on and forces you to jump high into areas where there are patterned background graphics that can kill you onto platforms near the top of the stage, those slowly snaking block platforms, cold blasts under most major jumps, and elevators that spin you and make you jump off oddly. Additionally, when you get thrown to the top of the stage, you have to work you way down, slowly, through the killer background, to the bottom of suspended pillars JUST NEAR the bouncy floor.
  • The final level in Sonic Spinball is utterly horrendous; all the required Emeralds are heavily guarded, there is virtually no safe ground below you, the climb up to the end boss is a nightmare, and the end boss itself is actively trying to (and can easily) knock you back down to the bottom of the stage. Compared to it, the rest of the game is a cakewalk.
  • Sonic 3 and Knuckles:
    • Carnival Night Zone, Act 2 is great fun up until you get stuck between two red and white swirling things... and you will. (On the GameFAQs message board, it's known as the Barrel of Doom.) It's actually quite easy to get past them if you know how, but the game gives you absolutely no indication on how to, causing many players to get completely stuck. One of the few Guide Dang It moments in the Sonic series. This led to the rise of a video game urban legend -- back around the time of the game's release, when you called Sega's help line (Remember those?), the line's automated greeting was supposedly along the lines of "Welcome to the Sega help line! To get past the red and white swirly things in Carnival Night Act 2...."
      • Another thing about Carnival Night Zone Act 2 is that the level is designed to waste time; with all the bumpers and the sheer length of the level, odds are when you reach the boss you'll only have 3 minutes or so left on the clock. And of COURSE this boss is one who uses a strategy where you can only get a hit on him once every 30 seconds or so. So unless you can somehow get a lot of hits on him at once (which is only possible if you've learned the timing on Sonic's insta-shield attack, or you're willing to bleed rings in order to get those extra hits in while you have Mercy Invincibility, or if you managed to hold on to a lightning shield) then odds are you'll time out before finishing the fight.
    • Marble Garden Zone also qualifies; uber-steep hills, out of control tops, spikes everywhere, hideously placed spiked maces and crushing spiked pillars, and enemies that like to pop out of nowhere. Oh, and both the sub- and main-bosses of the zone like to collapse the level on you, midway through each act.
    • The final boss of Act 2 is outright irritating if you are playing Tails alone. Without Sonic to jump attack Robotnik, Tails' only option for a safe hit is to fly at Robotnik's ship from 4 o'clock to 10 o'clock to strike with his propeller tails. Robotnik's left and right side are protected by a rocket exhaust and a drill, respectively; since Tails is flying and not jumping in ball form, any strike from above will make him lose rings; and an attack from directly below is near impossible, because Tails' ascent speed is too slow compared to Robotnik's.
    • Sandopolis Zone as well, especially the second act, with the annoying ghosts and rising sand/timed switch door puzzles.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 4:
    • Act 3 of Mad Gear Zone, with an Advancing Wall of Doom to end all Advancing Wall Of Dooms.
    • E.G.G. Station Zone. The entire level is comprised of nothing but throwback bosses you fought before in previous zones/games, all of them having a "pinch mode" (read: the turned red mode); with most of them already in said mode. Not to mention that after you defeat the final boss, he pulls a Last Ditch Move that will kill you if you don't defeat him for good by attacking him at just the right moment. The best part? One of the trophies/achievements takes the difficulty of this stage up Up to Eleven by having you beat the entire stage without getting hit.
  • The portable Sonics have their own brand of Scrappiness. Cases in point:
    • Labyrinth in the first portable Sonic. As if the original wasn't evil enough, they mess with the palettes for the underwater sections, and Sonic actually feels slower than in the original.
    • Scrambled Egg from Sonic 2 (Game Gear and Master System). Unless you know the layout of all the vacuum tubes, it's essentially Trial and Error Gameplay at its worst.
    • Electric Egg from Sonic Chaos. Electrified floors, high-speed vacuum pipes that lead to suddenly-dropping platforms, and a mesmerising tileset that may distract you until it's too late.
    • Robotnik Winter from Sonic Triple Trouble. Apart from some slippery flooring and nasty speedtraps, the updrafts you need to use to climb up vertical shafts are notoriously unreliable, which often results in plummeting into an icy chasm.
      • Tidal Plant is even worse, as it takes place almost entirely underwater, it has a tricky section where you have to navigate a giant bubble up past spikes and enemies, and it's extremely easy to get hit and have to start the section all over.
    • Blue Marine in Sonic Blast it's entirely underwater with no dry land, air bubbles are spaced far apart, and the tubes can be very confusing to navigate.
  • Sonic Adventure:
    • Every single one of Big's levels. Being required to complete tedious fishing levels in order to get to the final boss in what's otherwise a platformer game that's supposed to emphasize speed? Seriously? They're not hard once you get used to the system, but they feel completely out of place in the game, a very Unexpected Gameplay Change.
    • If you're playing as Sonic, Sky Deck. Wouldn't be so bad but the camera just wacks out, and the controls sometimes glitch up on automated sections. Easily the most glitchy level.
    • Attempting to complete some of the A-Rank missions as Sonic or Knuckles can be downright nightmarish. As an example, the very first level of Sonic's, Emerald Coast, is straightforward for the C and B-Rank missions. Getting through it in the two-minute time limit for the A-rank, however, is difficult. And some levels just get worse, like the aforementioned Sky Deck and Lost World.
    • While the emerald hunting levels in Sonic Adventure 2 are unpopular with many, Mad Space, an extremely large level with uncooperative hints and Selective Gravity, deserves a special mention. Security Hall (another emerald hunting level) isn't too bad once you know it well, but until you do its very steep time limit is likely to drive you insane.
    • Mad Space isn't too bad in the main game; it's just long. Trying to get an A rank on it is pain incarnate.
    • Aquatic Mine is worse.
    • Death Chamber's not too bad in the main game, although the third and fifth missions are tough thanks to that Goddamn underwater door. Knuckles' portion of Cannon's Core, though...
    • Crazy Gadget. Oh dear heavens Crazy Gadget. It's bad enough that the first three-fourths are jammed with Bottomless Pits and Artificial Chaos, but the real kicker is the Gravity Screw segment. It takes place in space, so the whole place acts like a Bottomless Pit, the camera is at uncomfortable angles, and there are no directions on where to go when you flip the gravity-swithes so you might as well be flipping a switch or attacking an enemy on another wall only to fall to your death. Did we mention the segment also has Artificial Chaos?
    • There's a reason why Eternal Engine has its own trope, and that's mainly due to the fact that this level is long, difficult, and extremely frustrating, especially when your trying to get the A-rank emblems. And then there's its hard mode which is a whole different story altogether.
    • The levels Final Rush and Final Chase of Sonic Adventure 2 are some of the most irritating levels ever made:
      • You play Final Rush as Sonic, and you start out having to grind and jump between floating surfaces. The kicker: it's almost always over a bottomless pit, there is always Camera Screw at the worst possible moment, some of the surfaces will let you got RIGHT THROUGH THEM, and gravity can change its mind several times a second!
      • It gets even worse in the fourth mission (time limit). The level is set up in such a way that it actively encourages you to try taking faster routes. However, these routes frequently invoke the camera screw and can really make gravity pull SIDEWAYS! Even worse, it's a long level with tons of bottomless pits, so one slip-up and you die and have to restart from the beginning.
      • You play Final Chase as Shadow, and you start out grinding before coming to a platform. The bulk of the mission is about going between spinning gravity drums and platforms. Again, bottomless pits abound, and the most common enemies on the level are Demonic Spiders (the Artificial Chaos robots).
      • The level itself isn't too hard on the first mission (reach the goal). However, when you do it with a time limit, all the problems from Final Rush come into play except for the multiple pathways. There are still the issues with falling to your death, Camera Screw, capricious gravity, and the Demonic Spiders. Not to mention the sheer length of the level and the fact that dying means you have to redo the whole damn thing.
      • These levels themselves in some ways though mildly avert this trope. They are partially only as hard as you make them, so if you are cautious and go by the default and easiest path, they aren't too hard. However, god help you if you should attempt to use an alternate route.
    • Let's not forget the "Hard Mode" versions of Route 101 and Crazy Gadget.
      • The hard mode version of Route 101 is so difficult you cannot beat it with anything less then an A rank. You will always beat it with 1 or 2 seconds to spare if you are really really good. If you are not really really good? Oh no! I lost him!
      • The hard mode version of Crazy Gadget takes Camera Screw and Interface Screw to a whole new level. Not only do you get the picture inverted and the controls messed up, the hard mode version forces you to make homing attack jumps over bottomless pits and forces you to bounce up to rails you grind while everything is wonky.
  • Sonic Heroes:
    • The trolley ride in Bullet Station, and the Chaotix version of Mystic Mansion. The former has you control a trolley car through a Death Course with lasers and spiked balls everywhere. If you get hit once, your speed is drastically decreased. Twice and you lose the ability to steer, leaving the trolley to travel on a fixed path. The latter, however, has you putting out torches throughout the mansion. What makes it so hard? THAT GODDAMN SPIDER WEB. OK...you grind across the web, and Trial and Error Gameplay is in full effect; you have no idea if the path you grind down leads to torches or a Bottomless Pit. And if you're doing the second mission, the torches you need to put out are in the middle of the web and you need to jump off with good timing to avoid getting burned or falling out. Also, if you miss a single torch in either mission, you go all the way back to the beginning of the level. It certainly doesn't help that most levels in Heroes are much longer than Sonic standards.
    • Team Chaotix's second mission on Bingo Highway. Thought collecting ten casino chips was difficult When you are a pinball on a board riddled with instant death holes? Good, now collect all twenty of them!
    • Even worse is Team Dark's second mission on Rail Canyon to destroy 100 enemies in less than twelve minutes. This sounds easy until you realize that the level lives up to its name quite well, and about eight or more minutes will be spent grinding down rails with very few enemies to defeat which means you have to hurry if you want to find 100 enemies in time, to the point where you will probably have to make it to the goal ring which will send you back to the beginning of the level so that the enemies would respawn. It's like running a level twice in 12 minutes and destroying all of the enemies in your path at the same time.
  • Sonic Rush Adventure:
    • A pretty decent difficulty curve, but anyone striving for 100% Completion will shake their fist remembering the snowboarding mission. That level was awesome on its own, but with limited controls and a complete inability to stop moving it really feels like Fake Difficulty... that and the only way to figure out each checkpoint is by trial and error.
    • And that's just for missions. The regular game gives you the hell that is Sky Babylon Act 2. There is fire everywhere (you need to be careful as Sonic, though Blaze can just run right through it) and all of the hardest obstacles are immediately before the end of the stage, and dying more or less resets your score. This gets even more difficult when you realize that this stage has an obstacle that kills you instantly, in the form of a zig-zaggy purple line, whether or not you're holding rings, collecting rings, using a shield or invulnerable. In most places this would be less as important as it appears over bottomless pits, but at this point they surround incredibly touch sensitive rising platforms, enemies that both move and shoot, and the usual falling platforms. Even getting a good score on this stage is harder, as score and time requirements are harder than the last stage.
  • Shadow the Hedgehog:
    • It was considered by some to be annoying enough to begin with, but the level that really takes the hatred is Cosmic Fall, which forces you to jump between moving platforms floating in space. It wouldn't be so bad, except that the camera seems to be designed specifically to screw you over; every single time you jump the camera will spin randomly, making it impossible to see where you're going to land. And it has a time limit, too.
    • Any mission where you have to destroy a vehicle before it gets away is outrageous, particularly the Dark mission of Air Fleet and the Hero mission of Iron Jungle. Every single shot counts, some vehicles can retaliate, and God forbid you die; you reset to the last checkpoint touched, but the target vehicle doesn't, meaning that by the time you respawn, the vehicle will be so far ahead and so close to escape you may as well restart.
    • Mad Matrix, especially the Dark and Hero missions. It's painfully easy to get lost in the circuit that connects the towers; on the Dark mission, you have to spend pretty much the entire level in that circuit, as it involves detonating bombs that are in the circuit. And there are no less than 30 bombs to set off, and you pretty much need to go through every last inch of the circuit as the bombs are distributed pretty evenly. In the Hero mission, you won't need to use the circuit as much, but you still will need to make a lot of trips through it to get to all four towers (OK, actually three, as you've already activated one by the time you get to the circuit. Doesn't change much, though). And the towers themselves? If you don't have a gun, then one tower becomes literally impossible to clear, as you have to align panels while you're on a moving platform. If you don't have a gun, you can't open the gate that's in the platform's way; in other words, you die.
    • Two of the ARK stages The Doom and Lost Impact are incredibly frustrating. The missions require killing or saving researchers or artificial chaos or GUN Troops prove to be very difficult due to the stages being very expansive and maze like, and with no radar or any kind of map (though apparently there was a map that was Dummied Out) it's a major case of Guide Dang It. One stage even has a glitch in a mission that makes it impossible to complete without retracing to a previous checkpoint.
  • |Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 is all in all an epic exercise in frustration, but the core of it is Radical Train. To prove it, here's pokecapn's epic struggle upon it, which lasted an hour of absolute mach speeding, switch-busting, rail-hating, train-raping, loading-masturbating anguish.
    • And even Radical Train pales in comparison with End of the World: take the already near-unplayable game and add in mysterious sucking instant-death spheres...
    • Some of the combinations of characters and stages for End of the World are ridiculous, too. Tails in Crisis City? Silver in a quicksand-heavy portion of Dusty Desert? The former also has the instant-death spheres hanging over a pit that you have to fly over. And they're the vacuum variety. Argh!
    • Aquatic Base. It's not as difficult as Radical Train...for the most part. Then you get to the metallic sphere hanging over a Bottomless Pit; you jump on the sphere and (attempt to) ride it to the other side of the room. It takes longer than it should to get it to start or stop moving, and if the sphere takes even one hit, it pops and you fall to your death. The ending portion of the stage also bathes everything in a red glow, making it impossible to see some of the enemies.
  • Sonic Unleashed:
    • Eggmanland, ESPECIALLY the 360/PS3 version, where you're forced through 45+ minutes of non-stop Nintendo Hard suffering. The stage seems like a normal (if incredibly difficult and requiring pitch-perfect timing) daytime Sonic level at first, but then you hit the first hourglass and switch to Werehog form - and that's when it hits you that you're going to be switching between Sonic's two forms a lot during this level, and given that Werehog levels on average take about 15 minutes, you can tell this is going to take ages before you finally hit the goal ring. Indeed, given the number of times you switch between Sonic's forms in the final level, it's really something like five or six levels in one. Even subsequent runs, after you've learned the stage, can take upwards of 20 or 30 minutes. To add insult to injury, the very last challenge in the gauntlet from hell is a Werehog brawl against two Dark Titans. Eggman really didn't want you getting through this one.
    • The Wii/PS2 version can also be a pain in the arse-- instead of one Marathon Level, it's split into one Sonic stage (and subsequent missions) and five Werehog stages. The latter can actually be somewhat enjoyable, but the day stage is flat-out ridiculous at times.
    • It's just one bottomless pit after another in Adabat's Werehog levels. The last act in the Wii version (Heavenly Ruins) can be brutal, particularly the battle at the end[2].
    • Then there's the daytime level of Holoska in the X360/PS3 version, specifically the parts where you have to run on water, but you have to make sure to hit almost every single dash panel to not end up drowning.
  • The Tornado Defense acts, due to the unintuitive controls, enemies swarming on all sides, and the time limits for the Egg Cauldron battles.
  • Sonic and The Secret Rings:
    • Dino Jungle. It feels so out of place, and that egg mission doesn't help...
    • First, take a level which is literally a giant, bottomless, pit, then add some visually interesting platforms, lots of grind rails, strong winds, and for good measure, toss some spiked Air Launchers among regular ones, so that the player has to learn where the lethal ones are, lest they want to see Sonic fall to his doom. Finally, add a couple of tricky platforming sections, combine it with a fiddly control scheme, and ta~da!: You have the Levitated Ruin levels from Sonic and the Secret Rings.
  • Sonic and The Black Knight:
    • The first Dragon's Lair stage from Sonic and the Black Knight. Fallaway floors to bottomless pits that are impossible to see coming. Endless swarms of enemies whose sole purpose in life is to block all of your attacks and then knock you into said bottomless pits. Giant armored titans surrounded by those endless swarms of enemies whose sole purpose in life is to knock you into the bottomless pits. Oh, and there's a time limit.
  • Sonic Colors:
    • The DS version brings us Asteroid Coaster. It is the last of the 6 main levels, and by far the cheapest. There is this green goo everywhere which acts like a bottomless pit even if you're nowhere near a bottomless pit. The purple wisp is good to use but if you run out of it (it hovers and sucks stuff in) you'll just fall in the goo. Often you also get chased by giant dinosaur heads, which instantly kill you if they touch you. Worst part is, sometimes these sections have the "press R to slide under the barrier", which you would never get first time, same with a point where you have to jump up or get owned. And then there's the falling rocks which hurt you and impede your progress, unless you're boosting. And sometimes you'll have to use the slide then as well repeatedly, which runs the risk of you getting hurt. Also there's a few actual bottomless pits which appear at the worst times.
    • The Wii version of the level can be a pain in the arse too, thanks to our good friend, the Gravity Screw.
    • Act 3 of Planet Wisp in the Wii version can be annoying towards the end. It's incredibly easy to either miss the small platforms, or have the Cube power run out while you standing on the solid blue boxes, leading to you plummeting into the toxic waste to your death. It's actually a really short level, but having to do this part over and over again (as well as several of the Red Rings being all over that particular area) can ruin your score, because the timer doesn't reset to what it was at the checkpoint when you die.
  • Sonic Generations:
    • A few irritating missions, but for the main levels, Crisis City Act 2 (the Modern Sonic act) is particularly tricky first time due to bottomless pits and a lot of lava, as well as enemies being sometimes tricky to hit. It culminates in a section where there's geysers all over the roads and a tornado throwing cars and rocks at Sonic. Act 1(Classic act) can also be tricky due to the tornado that eats you up if you're within it at the wrong time, and having to jump on irregular platforms including cars and parts of buildings while a strong gust blows you back.
    • Planet Wisp is also tricky, but that's more a case of being a Marathon Level than actually being ridiculously hard. Act 1 does have it's issues though, mostly because it's 90% reliant upon the Spike Wisp from Sonic Colors, only it handles a lot worse than it originally did in that game.
  1. ↑ (in reality this is because the game was supposed to have an extra Zone which was cut and thus the nearly completed act was included in Metropolis Zone)
  2. ↑ Waves of Fright Masters, set over an area comprised mainly of floating platforms that drop after you step on them. It's quite easy to fall off, and lord help you if you want to climb up and collect the secret item while all of the Dark Frights are dogging you.
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