Top 10 Hardest Super Mario Games

Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels was the second game in the Super Mario Bros series. It was initially titled Super Mario Bros 2, also known as Super Mario Bros: The Most Levels. However, it was only released in Japan, as Nintendo believed it would be too challenging for American players. Instead, a reskin of Doki Doki Panic was provided to American players under the title Super Mario Bros 2. This reskin featured Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad as playable characters.

Eventually, the true Super Mario Bros 2 became available to players, and it proved to be significantly more difficult than the American version. It closely resembles Super Mario Bros in terms of appearance and controls. This similarity led players to think of it as downloadable content (DLC) or extra levels for the original game, when in reality, it is an entirely distinct game. It is notorious for its high level of difficulty and is considered one of the most challenging Mario games ever.

The game introduces new elements such as the Poison Mushroom, which appears as a power-up but is actually detrimental. It causes the death of small Mario/Luigi and inflicts damage on normal or fire-powered Mario/Luigi. Additionally, the game features backward warp zones, wind mechanics, and four additional worlds labeled A, B, C, and D. Enemies are more aggressive, and some, like Hammer Bros, are tougher compared to the first game.

Notably, some levels incorporate invisible blocks that can aid or hinder players. There are instances where players need to navigate specific paths within castle levels. Failure to do so results in looping gameplay. The game's cover screen bears the phrase "FOR SUPER PLAYERS!" indicating its intended audience of those who have mastered the first game.

Despite being challenging, Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels has found its place in gaming history. It was featured in Super Mario All-Stars and is accessible through the NES version on Nintendo Switch Online... more

Hardest game ever. Harder than The Lost Levels. I hate how in (SPOILERS) Bianco Hills, they introduced levels like Secret of the Dirty Lake and Red Coins on the Lake way early into the game. And don't get me started on Yoshi.

Although they were hard to use, Super Mario Sunshine was the first game I ever played, and it is one of my favorites.

Just started playing this game and it's the hardest Mario I've played next to The Lost Levels. They start throwing difficult levels at you early, and me being stubborn tried to beat them, but I need more practice first. Lol.

Yes, it's the best. The game plays like a casino game as you have to know when to hold 'em, fold 'em, walk away, and run, as they say. When I finished it as a child of 8, I had to leave the NES on overnight, take breaks, skip some levels, and most of Sky World.

I cannot remember if I had 1 or 2 lives remaining when I defeated Bowser, but it was that close. A good Mario game for any fan of Mario. Part of the magic was movies, advertisements on TV, and magazines. This game had a hype that, frankly, it deserved.

The game is very difficult. Although very unique, this is one of the Mario games where it is not possible to blow through levels with no remorse. It requires the player to time every jump, use "pocket power-ups" wisely, and decide whether it's worth it to grab that 1-up or not.

The game gets increasingly difficult, so make sure to save your P-wings for the final levels.

The enemy placement is stupidly difficult!

One level is simply long as heck!

The first 3D Mario, and it shows. It's easy to take for granted how difficult it is when watching it be speedrun by grandmasters on GDQ, but for casual players, you'll be spending most of your time fighting (and being killed by) the camera doing what it wants.

Hardest 3D Mario only due to the fact the camera angles are awful. Also, the flip isn't as responsive as in the newer games.

What the hell were they thinking when they made this?

This is the hardest Mario game I've played in my life! I'm still stuck on the first world. New Super Mario Bros. U is the second hardest. Super Mario 64 is a piece of cake, and Super Mario World isn't too hard either. Super Mario Sunshine isn't even as hard as New Super Luigi U!

I don't know if it's just because I'm an excellent gamer, but I've literally had Super Mario Galaxy for less than a month, and I've already beaten the final Bowser battle, with only 50 stars left to collect! You don't know a truly hard game until you've played NSMBU or NSLU!

What makes New Super Luigi U so much harder than NSMBU is that you only have 100 seconds to complete each level. It's impossibly hard!

This is harder compared to the later entries due to the more limited controls.

The controls and the weird drifting make this so hard.

As with Super Mario Odyssey, it is easy to beat Bowser but impossible to get all 120 Power Stars.

I have this game, and I couldn't pass several levels, but my younger cousin played it and he passed those levels when he was only like 9 or 10 at the time.

He gave me some pointers, but I still failed.

Grandmaster Galaxy: The Perfect Run. I have only beaten that level twice in my five years of playing the game. SMG2 is one of the greatest games of all time, however.

The motion control levels are frustratingly hard.

Yeah, I got stuck on the knight guy, and a few others after that were difficult too.

It's possibly the hardest Mario game I've ever played because I needed a walkthrough to figure everything out.

Easy at first, quickly gets difficult later in the game. Turtles are effectively bombs.

This is number one material for sure.

This game is 32 levels long and forces you to replay the entire game if you fail too much. That's why it's the hardest.

This game should be #2. World 8-3 is crazy. It's a matter of chance whether you're going to survive those Hammer Bros.

Not too hard, I've beaten it twice.

Trolls, enemy spam, yes! A level which kills Hammer Bros!

Why is this not number one? This is so hard because no one knows how to make a Mario level.

Maybe this is a "me" thing, but I found the controls in this game to be pretty funky and slightly out of control and had trouble adjusting to them. Plus, I can't figure out how to work Cape Mario correctly.

Very challenging, especially the Star World levels.

World 9-7 is difficult on its own, but trying to get the star coins is like herding cats. You can get the first and even the second one fairly easily, but the third one is insanely difficult. Why this game is below Sonic and Mario at the Olympic Games (at the time of writing this) is beyond me.

Yeah, I beat every level in the game with all Star Coins except for 9-7, which I still haven't beaten even to this day. Probably the hardest 2D Mario level (that wasn't a Mario Maker level) that I've ever come across.

Same. I found 9-7 easy to beat without the star coins, but completing it with star coins is like trying to earn £1M in just a month. But I finally did it and now have all the star coins from the whole game. Yay!

But I do have to say 9-8 was just way too easy with or without star coins. Geez!

New Super Mario Bros U: fairly easy up to the 6th world. Then it gets really hard, and, in the 8th world, it is just almost impossible. New Super Luigi U: very easy with Toadette or Nabbit, but from the 5th world onwards, it's just undeserved punishment.

Boost Rush: Very cool mode, 11/10.

Challenges: don't even want to talk about them.

Coin Battle: 6.8/10. Just average.

Coin Edit: Boring as hell. -11/10

It is kinda challenging in World 9. It took me a long time.

Impossible, especially the secret Dark Side moons and Darker Side.

Easy to beat Bowser but impossible to get all 999 Power Moons.

No way, this was super easy! SMO's Darker Side is easier than SMS's Bianco Hills!

Almost all the Mario games are too easy, but this one is so hard.

This game is fun, but it can be challenging, especially Champion's Road on World Crown. There are no power-ups, and I died like 70 times so far without making it through the whole level.

This is a piece of chaos, but it's worth it.

Feels difficult to win. Every 3D level I went through took 100 days to win.

The most strategic game based on X-COM. This game is like X-COM in later levels when it starts to kill all three of your characters in half a turn.

This game is just brutal. I didn't even defeat Bowser until 2022!

The regular worlds are super easy, and the early specials are easy, but the later worlds, such as Special 6 and Special 7, are so difficult.

It is easy at first, but when you beat Bowser in World 8, you go to the special worlds, and they are hard.

Up until S5, it is easy. From S5 onwards, it gets brutally difficult (especially S7 and S8).

If you add up all the online courses this game has, it's number one since Nintendo announced there are 10 million courses uploaded to the game. This means SMM1 is number two because it only has 7.5 million. Then the 3DS port of SMM1 is number three because it has the same courses from the Wii U version, although some are blocked. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels is number four.

Super Mario Maker 2 is very difficult. I love it.

Personally, I think this game has the best storyline out of all the Mario games, and it's challenging at times.