I have modified the list:
#5 "Void Temple" from An SMWCentral Production
Reason: The last of the void levels is ranked in this spot only because of the boss. Why? Well, the blocks that rain down on you fall so fast, plus they pound the ground! Also, due to the falling blocks, you may be in an unlucky position that makes the laser attack require pixel perfect precision to avoid. Ok, next phase. The attack where he flies across the screen gives you only 1/256 of a second reaction time to dodge, because you have no idea where he will appear until the moment he appears. All in all, the amount of stuff on screen that can hit you, plus the fact that you have to know the pattern in and out (in other words, memorize the pattern of SMW's random number generator), makes this the hardest custom boss I have come across.
#4 "Trent Reznor's Home" from Nine Inch Fireballs
Reason:
I don't need to explain why my level is so hard, because a bunch of other users have already done so. In the part before the midpoint, there is a place where you have to dodge 4 Luigi-boos, then get past some bouncing Marios. For some stupid reason, I chose to enable layer priority for the ribbon decorations, so a ghost might be hiding behind one of them. Also, the bouncing Marios require precise timing to get by. Inside the castle, the 4 doors are imbalanced, because door 1 is much harder than the other doors. Door 1 involves precise swimming, followed by some precise spin-jumping, and finally, some precise cloud-riding. Not to mention I was quite careless when creating the hitboxes for some of the lava tiles.
#3 "Rupture in Reality" from An SMWCentral Production
Reason: First of all, it was made by Raocow, and the difficulty was meant to match his insanely high skill level. Not only do you have to worry about fish that constantly try to kill you, but there is also a layer 2 scroll to confuse you even more. That scroll can also screw you over many times if you go the wrong way, which is basically a way of punishing players who have never seen the level before and don't know what to do. Finally, at the end of the level, if you go left, YOU WARP BACK TO THE FRIGGIN START! Now a lot of people say that Raocow does not know much about level design, but I will take the other side and say that Rupture in Reality is actually a very well-designed level. It was highly creative, and must have taken a lot of effort to build. Despite its difficulty, it is one of the neatest levels I have come across.
Alright, now we are getting into the top 2.
#2 "Sizzling Spires" from An SMWCentral Production
Reason: There are two main parts that seem to cause trouble. The block snake part requires really precise timing and movement in a couple areas. I actually felt like two of the flames should have been moved one tile right to make that portion significantly easier. And then there is the submarine part. It is enough that there is a lot to dodge, but it makes things worse when the hitbox is so confusing. Furthermore, I heard rumors that the creator used rewinds when playtesting, thus making Raocow the only proper playtester so far (unless I am mistaken).
#1 "Bowser's Starship" from The Second Reality Project
Reason: Let's begin. Ball'n'chain spinjumping, and to add insult, there is a statue at the end that spits fire. Later in the level, you have a room with spiketops and Puntin' Chucks. The fact that the level will not scroll unless you climb on the blocks allows for the highest chuck to score surprise attacks on you. Later on, there is a part where you have two blocks to jump on, each containing a sparky AND a ball'n'chain on it. Later, you have to jump off a bullet and enter a pipe, and you might hit somewhere near the side of the pipe, in which case you will fall and die. What's next? You have to jump off a koopa under a low ceiling. But a few seconds later, you do the same thing, but with added obstacles and 1 tile to squeeze through after jumping, meaning you have to time it almost perfectly! It is this one jump that I doubt was tested without savestates, as it would take a really skilled player (Raocow) to clear it. This is the non-kaizo jump that is the closest you will ever get to kaizo. Later in the level, you have to once again jump and enter a pipe, but this time with a ball'n'chain instead of a bullet. I know this must have taken a lot of playtesting, and the whole thing was actually good level design (except for that one koopa jump, I'm sorry, not to offend the creator, but that was a really stupid jump) and when I rank this as #1 in difficulty, by no means am I saying it is a bad level. If anything, it is the exact opposite, something that searches for the best players in the world.
So there you have it, I named what I think would be the 5 hardest non-kaizo levels. However, doing #3-#5 with rewinds will make the job really easy. Only Sizzling Spires and Bowser's Starship are difficult even with rewinds.
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