1. "Green Hill Zone Act 1" by TRSF Lucas
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The opening level of Sonic the Hedgehog isn't particularly difficult or notable when it's in the context of a quick and seamless Sonic game, but when it's been painstakingly recreated in Mario (complete with Sonic sprite and sound effects), and you have to slow down and really do some honest-to-goodness platforming, it becomes a little more tricky.
2. "Super Mario Boy" by GameXplain
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Super Meat Boy was already a super-difficult take on classic platform games like Super Mario Bros. but now GameXplain has done flipped the script and made a punishing remake of a punishing remake of a classic franchise.
3. "Mega Man 2 - The Full Game" by ZMerik
4. "The Goomba: A Sad Tale of Madness" by Theorymon
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This level is as close as anything in the Mario universe is going to get to being called "kafkaesque." You play the level as an ill-fated goomba who is forced to watch as your fellow goombas (goombi?) meet their Mario Maker over and over and over again.
5. "Choose Your Torture Slippy!!" by Vaddix
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Make your way through a level that is specifically designed to chew up Slippy Toad from Star Fox franchise and spit him out. The worst part is that if Slippy manages to get past all the slamming Thwomps and gnashing Chain-chomps, his glory is stolen away by Fox McCloud at the very last second. Typical.
6. "Will You Save Your Son?" by Geoff!
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"Will You Save Your Son?" is a parody of the recent run of darling indie titles that take themselves too seriously. (Games like Braid, or Journey, or The Unfinished Swan, or any other game that has been described as "artsy".) Mario faces many moral crises as he tries to save his son, and in true indie art-game fashion, there's a real (lame) twist at the end of the level.
7. "Literally, Longest Map Possible" by Owen
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Just plain tedious.
8. "Darude - Sandstorm" by Sporky
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I can't think of any other song that could be recreated in Super Mario Maker that would be more irritating to listen to than '90s trance hit "Sandstorm" by Darude.
9. "All the costumes unlocked! :)" by Kocobé
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...oh wait.
10. "Ultimate Expert Challenge" by Adrylek
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I'm not sure if professional Mario playing is a thing, but if it is, I don't even thing the pros would be able to make it through the "Ultimate Expert Challenge."
11. "Panga's Revenge: Skyzo" by PangaeaPanga
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PangaeaPanga has made a name for themselves already thanks to the punishing difficulty of their levels. Most of the courses require pin point accuracy and timing, and "Panga's Revenge: Skyzo" was the frontrunner for "most difficult Super Mario Maker level. That is until PangaeaPanga went and created this next horror show...
12. "Pit of Pange: P-Break" by PangaeaPanga
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When you create a level in Super Mario Maker and you want to upload it for the world to enjoy (read: suffer through), you first need to beat the level just to prove to Nintendo that it can be done. "Pit of Pange: P-Break" is already infamous because it's only ever been finished by one person, and that's the person who created it.
13. "ちょうせんじょう" by OGTY
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Just watching the first few minutes of this run through is painful enough. I don't know who would subject themselves to this type of torture. Just for giggles, I ran the title of the course through Google Translate:
