Craziest sudden difficulty spikes you experienced in games?

[elbanano]

I don't have many examples, but in Golden Sun Dark Dawn the whole game was very easy, but then the final boss does multiple attacks per turn, apply debuffs to everyone, heals himself and removes the debuffs you apply on him, why?

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Oh! And the Tony Hawk games usually go from 'here's how you use the camera' to 'INSANE STUNT REQUIRED TO PROGRESS!' at the drop of a hat.

 

[Rocket2049]

Weird! I beat matador on the first try, though I just happened to have for breath...

was it the remastered? was it on normal?
not saying you couldn't get very lucky with crits and not missing or matador missed a lot.
or some other strat that i couldn't find anywhere online
i wonder if it was just harder on remaster cause i was SUPER struggling on that fight, i wouldn't have beat him WITHOUT the hours of grind RIGHT before him, i don't see how, any demon that was good for him NEEDED me to level up (to have the right demons)
i'm never blindly playing any game, always using guides, every guide i found wanted me to use a demon i was about 8 levels under for.
it went form "okay little tough game" to "nah now you grind 8 levels cause F*** you"
i saw my brother die to him on easy mode and he quit right then and there (he also beat SMT4 prior)

 

[WokiBakoki]

I would say the Lunar phase of Terraria, that is after beating the Cultists. Being the final intended challenge of the game, it's less offensive of a spike sure but it's my least favorite part of the game.

 

[contrail_]

was it the remastered? was it on normal?
not saying you couldn't get very lucky with crits and not missing or matador missed a lot.
or some other strat that i couldn't find anywhere online
i wonder if it was just harder on remaster cause i was SUPER struggling on that fight, i wouldn't have beat him WITHOUT the hours of grind RIGHT before him, i don't see how, any demon that was good for him NEEDED me to level up (to have the right demons)
i'm never blindly playing any game, always using guides, every guide i found wanted me to use a demon i was about 8 levels under for.
it went form "okay little tough game" to "nah now you grind 8 levels cause F*** you"
i saw my brother die to him on easy mode and he quit right then and there (he also beat SMT4 prior)

I was playing the ps2 PAL version (lucifer's call, featuring Dante™ from Devil May Cry™™™), and I'm pretty sure I picked normal difficulty. Matador might have beaten me once or twice (it was a while ago, so I don't remember too clearly) but I shrugged that off and kicked his matador ass
Maybe the difficulty varies across versions? Wouldn't be the first time this has happened.

 

[KamakoKamako's icon]

Digital Devil Saga 2's EGG Facility
Prepare to be teleported between multiple near-identical looking floors super frequently, tackling tough enemies with sparse healing zones.

The Cerberus boss fight on level 3 of Devil May Cry 3 (especially the original version) - BIG jump in difficulty. If you've just been skating by up til now, this fight is where your journey ends.

The second Jungle stage in Taz-Mania and the second Mole World stage in Taz: Escape from Mars. I don't know why Taz games from that era were programmed to be so masochistic, but it certainly makes the games more memorable.

 

[Rocket2049]

I was playing the ps2 PAL version (lucifer's call, featuring Dante™ from Devil May Cry™™™), and I'm pretty sure I picked normal difficulty. Matador might have beaten me once or twice (it was a while ago, so I don't remember too clearly) but I shrugged that off and kicked his matador ass
Maybe the difficulty varies across versions? Wouldn't be the first time this has happened.

apparently the Japanese FIRST release of nocturne had NO FIENDS (like matador) and no amala dungeon, but somehow it's harder overall lol.

btw i'm on Remaster ps4 version if i didn't mention, on maniax mode (mode with dante really the only difference) and it's actually very slightly, easier than PS2, just little improvements and QoL things but it sure helps (not really changing enemies or demons at all)

side note, remaster SMT nocturne has a easy mode (merciful, its a DLC but its a toggle difficulty at any time, alongside normal or hard.
but it's SO WEIRD, the enemy encounter rate DROPS on merciful, almost 1/3rd of normal!
you get 3x exp and 5x macca but, since you only do 1/3rd of the fights it's just... evens out?
so confusing and makes it HARDER to recruit specific demons really.

 

[Megarockman _1987 Megarockman _1987]

Damn, Double dragon 3 nes version,
In the FIRST STAGE all enemies makes MUCH damage, two hits and you lost 20% of life.
In captain Tsubasa 2, after pass the first chapter (Sao Paulo team) the games start to hate you, the CPU Spam the super movements, the states of your playes aren't enough and the characters with super shots get tired very quickly
Magus castle, Chrono trigger
Damn bro I played it 1 year ago and I still in this point

 

[Rocket2049]

Damn, Double dragon 3 nes version,
In the FIRST STAGE all enemies makes MUCH damage, two hits and you lost 20% of life.

well if you play the japanese double dragon 3 you have:
10 point more HP on each character
and less enemy count, very noticeable
i never beat US DD3, but i beat japanese DD3 first try, they made US version unfair basically.
DD2 you can see the real ending on easy mode japanese version and can continue on stages!

streets of Rage 3 is STUPIDLY HARD in english versions, it's FORCED to a higher difficulty
every difficulty is 1 higher, english easy is normal japan, english normal is hard from japan, etc.
and every boss has about 2x the HP on english version,

 

[Rakoniomm]

The one I'm remembering right now is Fire Emblem Awakening the last 5 or so missions difficulty spike was so sudden and quite frankly BS due to it I dropped the game (ﾒ` ﾛ ´)

 

[Shihainin]

Going from playing against friends in chess to playing against bots in chess

 

[Megarockman _1987 Megarockman _1987]

Going from playing against friends in chess to playing against bots in chess
View attachment 179807

True, I've been playing Windows 7 chess and I still losing

 

[ArchienineArchienine's icon]

The last level of Super Mario Land 2.
I mean, the rest of the game is easy but the Wario's Castle is a big difficulty spike.

 

[dmoc545]

True, I've been playing Windows 7 chess and I still losing

dont forget that the first time a bot beat a human in chess was like the 60s and he was the world champ,dont be suprised man,they have too much to be losing

 

[Megarockman _1987 Megarockman _1987]

dont forget that the first time a bot beat a human in chess was like the 60s and he was the world champ,dont be suprised man,they have too much to be losing

You're right man, chess bots are so crazy
Also I remember when the Atari win against chat gpt and Gemini in chess