Working my way through the TG-16 library, I've seen a few patterns of late - there seem to be a lot of games where the difficulty goes from reasonable, even easy, to suddenly cripplingly difficult from one level to the next. I'll share a few examples below, what other ones am I missing?
YO, BRO: You go from a handful of stationary hubs you have to defeat in one level to the dreaded Amoeba stage in the next. Where to begin...the amoeba are EVERYWHERE and they split and multiply the longer they are around. Normally you're killing around 6-8 enemies per level, but on this stage you'll kill at least 20 if you're ignoring saving kids and just going for the enemies. Having a ton of enemies to kill is bad enough, but there are a bunch of other factors working against your favor as well. There are now two dogs that, err, hound you down throughout, really slowing down your takedown of the amoebas. What makes it worse is that the majority of amoeba are in the docks close to the water, where maneuvering is difficult without falling into the water and dying, and also you cannot kill them with a regular shot because they will be sheltered by the docks or posts. Thus, the only way to really destroy all the enemies is to use your powerup weapons like the bazooka and homing missles - but those weapons are finite. Realistically, you only have one shot to defeat the level. If you come in with 17 lives that's fine, but once your stock of specialty ammo runs out (and this is assuming you've hoarded all the ammo from every level prior without ever using a single bullet) it will be impossible to complete the level and you will have to start over. Lastly, you'll be making a dent on the amoeba and getting close to clearing the stage, but because of the sheer quantity of bad guys on this level your time will inevitably run out, causing the craters to start falling at a quick pace to the point where you'll be killed from above if not from all the other enemies on the ground before. I really like this game despite the awkward controls, but the unreasonable difficulty spike on this level is maddening - I still can't get past it. "You like pain?"
CYBER-CORE: Stages 1-6 are a breeze, possible to complete without dying even once. Stage 7 becomes a little more challenging but it is still very beatable after a try or two once you learn the layout of the enemies. Stage 8, though, is an all out struggle to survive as little homing blue stars come from every which direction to pulverize your ship. It's waves upon waves of attrition until you're down to your last life trying to hang on - and then the final boss arrives, which has probably 3 times the hit points of any of the other bosses before him (her?). Even when you learn the patterns of the blue stars and the way to dodge them, there's still a large element of luck and chance because of the sheer number of enemies. It's brutal!
WORLD COURT TENNIS: I love this game, it's one of my favorites. The quest mode is such a cool twist on the typical attack-based RPG. Yet, the end boss is such a momentous increase in skill over everyone else you've played to that point that it nearly breaks the game for me. The green king has this superhuman speed, both in movement on the court and the speed with which he serves the ball. Even with all the extra powerups to slow his serve and increase your base stats, it's still a real workout, and the way the game makes you switch sides between sets makes it very tough to master (for me, I can keep up playing on the bottom, but when I'm at the top of the screen my timing gets all messed up).
What about you guys?
