35 Years Later, The NES Has The Hardest Video Game Level In History

Published Aug 28, 2026, 11:00 AM EDT Lee D’Amato is a writer born, raised, and based in Queens, New York. With collective thousands of hours in games like Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, Elden Ring, and The Legend of Zelda, he's now writes game features, guides, and reviews for Screen Rant, but has covered a wide range of topics, including ancient history, affordable travel, and overall health. The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) still boasts one of the most frustrating, hair-tearing video game levels of all time. Released across the US in 1986, the NES was the first home console to support multiple games sold separately, instead of being a dedicated console limited to built-in games. The NES was home to countless video game masterpieces, many of which live on through the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service today. Games like Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda spawned decade-spanning, inconceivably successful franchises that still get new releases today. But stray off the beaten path, and you'll find many an unknown game that has something fascinating and truly unique to offer. In this case, that's 1991's Battletoads, which introduced players to what might still be the hardest video game level in history. Battletoads' Turbo Tunnel Is Nearly Impossible Suffice it to say that Battletoads is already a blisteringly difficult game. There are lots of tight jumps across wide gaps, and you often need to time your inputs down to a fraction of a second. You've only got three lives to complete 12 levels, and you only get an extra one every 100,000 points. And, because the NES lacked a built-in save feature, if you couldn't complete the game without turning the NES off, you'd have to start over completely. Things ramp up significantly when you get to the third level, Turbo Tunnel. After a short initial beat-'em-up section, this stage has you racing through the guts of some massive creature on a hovering Speeder Bike. Suddenly, the goal becomes not fighting enemies, but avoiding obstacles and jumping off ramps, and you have to hit every single one perfectly to reach the end. The obstacles come on fast — some of them are even dropped from the sky by Rat Rockets while you're racing towards them. A few of them swing back and forth across the narrow platform, adding an extra dimension to the difficult imput timing. You effectively have to memorize the entire course over multiple runs, almost like learning a Dark Souls boss' moveset, and hit every input with frame-perfect precision to get to the finish line. Depending on who you ask, Turbo Tunnel is fondly or not-so-fondly remembered as one of the most challenging moments in video gaming, period. "Renting this game was rough because this was a wall I could never truly get past," said one Reddit user. "Harder than anything the Souls series has to offer," chimed in another. It has a reputation for a reason, and, along with the infamous prank calls that tormented GameStop cashiers and pawn shop owners in 2011, Turbo Tunnel is one of the biggest parts of Battletoads' retrospective reception. Crushing Difficulty Is Battletoads' Legacy Battletoads was praised in its heyday, and had two direct sequels released throughout the '90s. DIC Entertainment, the animation studio behind The Super Mario Bros. Super Show and the Legend of Zelda animated series, produced a pilot for a Battletoads TV show that never got picked up. A Battletoads reboot, with a more cartoonish art style, was released in 2020 to mixed reviews, although ScreenRant's Leo Faierman praised it as a worthy throwback to a once-iconic series. Through it all, though, Battletoads has been known for challenging players first and foremost. It's a relic of its time: hard games still exist today, but they don't make 'em like they used to. A game like the original Battletoads — with no save states, limited lives, and basically instant death if you mess up a single input on the third level — would be near-universally derided as unfair, janky, or just plain broken. One Reddit commenter described Turbo Tunnel as "Tough to master, but incredibly satisfying to beat." That may be the understatement of the century, but it's true enough. Maybe it's because enemy AI has improved, but games generally don't require that kind of rote memorization to complete anymore. They may be much more sprawling, immersive, and graphically impressive nowadays, but even today's toughest games have nothing on the Nintendo Entertainment System's Battletoads. Nintendo Entertainment System Release Date February 26, 2006 Episode Number 1 Season Awesome Video Games - Season 1