Top 20 HARDEST First Levels in Video Games

“Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” (1993)

Just like the movie on which it’s based, the second “Super Star Wars” opens on the frozen, unforgiving planet of Hoth. And in case the movie didn’t properly showcase its danger for you, the SNES game surely does. Whether you’re riding around on your Tauntaun on the surface or exploring Hoth’s caves, the opening level never ceases its bombardment of things wanting to kill you. Enemies divebomb you from all directions, deadly fauna tries to catch you off guard, and ice crystals form on the very ground you’re walking on. Honestly, it’s easier to just barrel through rather than contend with that constant stream. At least the boss is easy, as nothing else is.

“Resident Evil 4” (2005)

Both you and Leon Kennedy are in for quite the rude awakening when you first arrive in Spain. Leon’s search for the President’s missing daughter takes him to a quiet, rural village. Or, at least, that’s what it should be but none of the villagers are particularly pleased to see you. They’ll all begin to rush and attack Leon as soon as he gets close. Try to fight them outside and you might be swarmed by their numbers. Try to hide inside and they’ll break through the windows and doors. The intensity is increased significantly by the fact that you don’t have a lot to defend yourself with. And did we forget to mention the massive, chainsaw-wielding enemy that’ll kill you in one hit?

“NieR: Automata” (2017)

“NieR: Automata” is one of the most acclaimed games of the last generation, but its opening level is definitely a doozy. It’s a gauntlet of the game’s various genres, including hack-and-slash action and top-down shoot ‘em up. It makes sense for the opening to be harrowing considering its importance to the plot. However, this is just plain ridiculous. Not only is it a long level that ends with a grueling boss fight, but there are no checkpoints and no way to save. So if you die, which is entirely possible, you’ll have to start the entire sequence over. You can always lower the difficulty, but kicking a game off with this level of annoyance was certainly a bold choice.

“Fallout 2” (1998)

Tutorial sections can be hit or miss, though the Temple of Trials is a definite miss. Developer Black Isle was forced to include a tutorial section by publisher Interplay and it still brings up bad memories. Basically, it acts as a test to see if you as the Chosen One are capable enough to be a leader. How it does this is by seeing how you equip, use, and increase certain skills. Unfortunately, if you choose to increase the wrong ones, it can actually lead to you getting stuck. You have to increase the right ones to make it out. These days, there are plenty of guides telling you which skills to focus on, but it was a major disappointment initially.

“The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings” (2011)

The opening of CD Projekt Red’s second “Witcher” game sees Geralt of Rivia wrongfully imprisoned for killing a king. The prologue covers everything from how he got there to his escape, with cutscenes, dialogue choices, and combat in between. It’s this last bit that made the first level so difficult though. Players were only given a page of text to read through before having to deal with multiple enemies at a time. It was a pretty poor way to explain the mechanics, and it led to many players dying many times. This may have placed higher if CD Projekt Red didn’t issue a patch, fixing all the issues and offering a much more manageable way to learn the controls.

“Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader” (2001)

The blowing up of the Death Star is an iconic moment in “Star Wars.” However, when it was recreated in Factor 5’s “Rogue Leader,” the developers really made you work for it. Although you get a brief tutorial on controls, it doesn’t help with the onslaught of the first level. Destroying the towers as a first goal isn’t too bad, but then swarms of TIE fighters start coming after you. After destroying all of them, you’ll get to the trench sequence where Vader, who you can’t shoot down, starts chasing you. All in all, it’s a lot to manage without having time to get used to the controls. You also earn medals based on your time, and props to anyone who earned a Gold.

“Jet Set Radio” (2000)

“Jet Set Radio” is an early example of an open world game; it’s just a shame the tutorial has stopped so many from seeing it. Players control a skating, graffiti-spraying gang member in Tokyo. The first level issues prompts to get you used to the controls and, surprisingly, there are 21 tasks to finish before you can move on. Many of them are simple, but a handful of them have you perform a certain number of tricks in a row. The final challenge is an insane request of 50 tricks, all of which have to be performed while grinding. This actually requires you to know the level’s layout well enough to keep going because if you stop, it’s an automatic fail.

“Ikaruga” (2003)

Some tough opening levels stand out as odd while others prepare you for what’s to come. “Ikaruga” is a shoot ‘em up with a unique polarity mechanic. Switching your ship’s barrier between black and white has you absorb one bullet color and get destroyed by the other. Similarly, firing the right bullets at the right enemy deals twice as much damage. One might think it would ease you into this, and one would be wrong. The screen is almost immediately filled with enemies, who fire so many bullets that the simple choice between black and white becomes exceptionally tough. It’s still the easiest level in the game, but only because the rest of it is so crushingly difficult.

“Dragon’s Lair” (1990)

“Dragon’s Lair” became an arcade hit thanks to gorgeous animation and high difficulty that kept people coughing up quarters. When it was ported to the NES, it lost the animation but kept the challenge. That much is apparent from the opening screen, in which hero Dirk must make it across a drawbridge. The sequence has become infamous for the pixel-perfect accuracy required to move through the obstacles. In the North American version of the game, your movement is incredibly stiff. Adding to the frustration is the placement of the dragon enemy and your knife projectile, useless unless you’re standing in the exact right spot. For added fun, everything except the bats kill you in one hit, even touching the door.

“Another World” (1991)

Surpassing even “Dragon’s Lair”’s first level in how many things can instantly kill you is “Another World.” In this PC adventure game, you play as a scientist who is teleported to an alien planet. Just how hostile the local wildlife is becomes obvious instantaneously. When you land in a pool of water, tentacles will pull you down unless you immediately start swimming. From there, the trial by fire only gets tougher. Leeches will be sliding around above and below, and a beast will chase you across several screens. There are no hints in how to survive, so everyone spent their initial playthroughs dying left and right. That’s actually how the whole game is.

“Cuphead” (2017)

“Cuphead” is a hard game through and through, but at least it makes things clear to you from the get-go. Unlike the majority of levels in “Cuphead,” Forest Follies is a run-and-gun stage. It forces you to adjust to the game’s high difficulty or die trying. And die, you will. There will be hordes of enemies barreling your way from every direction, many of which have unique, though equally annoying, qualities. From the tulips that can shoot homing projectiles to the acorns that dive bomb you, it’s a wave of death that’s a lot to take in. You might even fall into one of many pits just trying to avoid everything. Plus, it’s not as if the game is nice enough to give you checkpoints.

“The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants” (1991)

We’d hope that a Bart-centric video game would get us into some wacky shenanigans. But when it comes to this sidescroller, it’s a bit more trouble than it’s worth. As Bart, you’re in charge of foiling an alien invasion. In the first level, you do this by spray painting purple objects since the aliens need them for their ship. Of course, making this harder are a bunch of tiny aliens that will kill you on contact. Further adding to the difficulty is the fact that you’re given no prompt to go into shops, nor how to use the items you can buy there. Unless you know exactly what you’re doing, you’ll spend a lot of time wandering around.

“Back to the Future Part III” (1991)

This movie tie-in only has four levels, but good luck making it past the first one. It recreates the moment in which Doc must rescue Clara before her wagon crashes into a ravine. While it’s a short but thrilling scene in the movie, it’s an absolute chore here. As Doc, you must race across the desert, avoiding obstacles and enemies so you can make it in time. Pits, cowboys from behind, birds, and bouncing boulders are all things you must contend with. Every time Doc gets hit, which will happen a lot, he falls to the ground before continuing the chase. It only takes a couple of hits until it's impossible for you to catch up, making for a lot of frustrating restarts.

“Contra” (1987)

If one of the most famous things about a video game is a code that gives you 30 lives, you can bet it's hard enough to need it. The opening Jungle level of “Contra” is iconic, but a big part of that legacy is because we all kept dying on it. In typical old-school fashion, you have a one-hit health bar. “Contra” wastes no time mounting an assault against you with bullets whizzing past from all directions. It’s hard enough contending with regular enemies, but the level ends with a boss fight against a heavily fortified door. And, of course, there’s never a pause in the gunfire. It’s a matter of memorization to know when not to get hit.

“Superman” (1999)

Often considered one of the worst superhero games of all time, “Superman” on the N64 has an infamous opening level. With his allies trapped in a virtual version of Metropolis, Superman must meet Lex Luthor’s demands to save them. Lex begins by forcing Superman to fly through a bunch of rings around the city. Why? Who knows, but the combination of extremely poor controls and a very short time limit has made it the most well-known section of the game. If you complete the rings, you then have to stop two cars from crashing, again with a very short time limit. On a failure, you go back to the rings, and if you succeed…it’s on to a different set of rings. Ugh.

“Nioh 2” (2020)

And here we thought the first “Nioh” was hard. The Village of Cursed Blossoms, once thriving, is home to a bunch of pissed off humans and deadly Yokai all waiting to rip you to shreds. One of the Yokai is the boss, Gozuki, which you’ll encounter before you have any good weapons or armor. It’s best to come back to it later, but not knowing that resulted in multiple quick deaths. However, even the non-boss enemies can overwhelm you, like the nimble but powerful Enki. To make matters worse, you’ll also cross over to the Dark Realm, where even more powerful Yokai are waiting. Needless to say, you’ll be dying an awful lot.

“Bloodborne” (2015)

To be fair, every one of FromSoftware’s Soulslikes is extremely difficult, a fact made aware to you during the opening of each entry. But there are a handful of factors that makes “Bloodborne’s” a bit tougher. The focus on Horror works wonders for enemy design, making them far more intimidating than enemies found in other opening levels. Additionally, while there is magic in “Bloodborne,” you have far fewer tricks to rely on during your initial encounter with Yharnam. Twisted humans and nasty beasts wait around every dimly lit corner. And if they don’t get you, one of the two bosses will. Not only does it look like you’re trapped in a nightmare, but it feels like one too.

“Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts” (1991)

Several games in this Capcom series open with a haunted graveyard, but we’re giving love to one of the Super Nintendo’s most punishing releases. With an increase in graphical power came an increase in how many enemies could fit on one screen. Therefore, it’s best to constantly keep attacking lest you be overrun by zombies, werewolves, or other spooky enemies. While this game did introduce a double jump, it doesn’t help as much as you’d think. The landscape shifts unexpectedly and enemies are almost always popping out of the ground. Meaning, you’ll likely double jump straight into damage anyway. Plus, you die in two hits unless you find Golden Armor, which increases it to 3.

“Ninja Gaiden” (2004)

“Ninja Gaiden” was always an ultra hard series, which is why the opening of Team Ninja’s revival was so impressively challenging. The Way of the Ninja sees hero Ryu traversing a mountainside fortress full of other ninjas. There is no tutorial, which isn’t so bad with the intial trickling in of enemies. That doesn’t last long, though, and your palms will soon grow sweaty with how many blocks, rolls, and attacks you must perform to stay alive. On a first try, or realistically far more, you’ll struggle to learn the mechanics. These ninjas are out for blood even on Normal mode. Topping it all off is a nunchaku-wielding boss with a tendency to perform unblockable grabs.

“Driver” (1999)

You’d think a driving game would have a pretty straightforward tutorial. Unfortunately for many gamers in the late 90s, the developers behind “Driver” thought otherwise. It gives you a list of techniques to pull off in a parking garage, including a 360 turn, a reverse 180, and whatever the hell a Slalom is. Being in a parking garage, you don’t have a lot of room to maneuver in. And if you damage your car or others around you too much, you have to start over. The kicker is that you only have 60 seconds to complete the list. This ridiculous opening section is now what most of us remember “Driver” for, and those memories are obviously not very fond.