What is, in your opinion, at least one of the most dangerous/deadly video game obstacles?
One of the worst for me is the two deep-penetrating spiked chandeliers in Marble Zone act 3 on O-R 1991 Sonic The Hedgehog. Why do I say this? Because if you get caught under them at the wrong time, the consequences could be quite horrendous!
What I mean is this: if you do not have a shield on, and one of these things comes down on you, it not only takes your rings, but kills you at the same time. The animation thereof drives the point home too: you see your rings in a tight cluster behind you, and you see your death throw sprite at the same time.
If you do have a shield on, the effect is similar, but not quite as embarrassing; all you see in that case is your death throw sprite.
I’ve been a victim of these traps both ways, and that is why I seldom even attempt the possible shortcut on Marble Zone act 3; I know it could save time, but I’d much rather take time and be safe, than risk a quite embarrassing death.
The most dramatic for me was the literal leap of faith in one of the original Super Mario levels, where you had to take a leap almost as long as you could to land on a tiny platform that was waaaaaaay off the screen, falling to your death otherwise. It was pretty intense having to trust that the platform would appear when it should.
Not sure if this is quite an “obstacle”, since it’s an entire level… but in Chip’s Challenge, there’s a level called “The Jumping Swarm”. The only enemies on the map are Walkers, which move in a straight line until they hit an obstacle, and then turn in a random direction and continue moving in a straight line. But this level has them being constantly generated, one every couple of ticks of the game clock, and gradually filling up the level. Meanwhile, they’re bumping into various obstacles and each other, and turning in a random direction each time, so that it’s impossible to predict where they’ll be (you can estimate some probabilities of where they’re more likely to be, but that’s it). Even aficionados of the game who try for the absolute possible highest score typically retire entirely from that level, once they’ve managed to beat it a single time.
Oh, and I should also mention that any contact with an enemy is instantly lethal, and there’s no way to kill them other than some environmental hazards (which are completely lacking on that level).
The hardest I can think of is a level in the excellent Ori and the Blind Forest: having restored the water temple, it suddenly floods, and you have to navigate ahead of flooding waters and falling stalactites and boulders. It requires some split-second timing that took me entirely too long to develop. I was reassured later to hear other people talking about what a pain in the ass that level was.
How about Mario in I Wanna Be The Boshy? This guy makes it look easy, but it most defenitely is not. They say Sonic is even harder when you get that far, but I have never gotten past Mario…
It is, 149 levels of serious thinking and quick finger-work. The worst level of all is “IceDeath” (140). No way to do that except lots of trial and error and to keep record of the correct steps.
One that looked bad, but wasn’t actually: The start of the Doom 2 level “Barrels of Fun”. You start off surrounded by explosive barrels, out to a great distance. Every square inch is within range of enough barrels to kill you, and they’re close enough to each other to cause a chain reaction. And just after you enter the level, a door will open up to reveal a monster that will shoot at you and hit some of the barrels.
My freshman-year roommate thought that was the best Doom level ever, because the only way to get past it was to cheat, and he liked being reaffirmed in his notion that cheating was great. Yeah, that’s the kind of guy he was.
But really, even though every spot you can get to will be in range of an explosion, they’re not all in range at the same time. So if you just go forward a little, and then immediately zig back, you can manage to avoid all damage.
In the final boss level of Crysis you get swarmed by at least a dozen aliens. Not only that but once every couple of minutes the big alien shoots rays at you which kills you instantly if you’re not standing in exactly the right spot. Not only that but by the end of the game you’re really low on ammo. I must have been killed a couple of dozen times before I finally figured out a good strategy.
After trying for hours I finally beat the final boss in Donkey Kong Tropical Country Freeze by accident.
