5 First Levels That Almost Made Us Throw the Controller

There’s a strange romance to games that start you off with a wall of fire. Most titles ease you in, let you get the feel of the controls, then gradually turn up the heat. A handful, however, decide to shove you straight into the deep end, hoping you’ll either learn fast or simply give up. Below are five opening stages that have earned a reputation for breaking spirits before the adventure truly begins.

5) Contra – Level 1
Even if you’ve never touched a joystick, you’ve probably heard of the Konami Code. Back in the arcades, most players entered it just to survive the onslaught of Contra’s first stage. The moment the level loads, you’re bombarded by a torrent of enemies and bullet patterns that leave almost no breathing room. A few power‑ups appear, sure, but they’re more like a glimmer of hope than a solution. Die too often, and you’ll find yourself restarting the same chaos over and over. Those who power‑through are rewarded with one of the era’s most beloved run‑and‑gun experiences – but only after they’ve earned the right to call it "hard" instead of "unfair."

4) Ikaruga – Chapter 1
Ikaruga takes the bullet‑hell formula and adds a twist: polarity. Every projectile is either black or white, and you switch your ship’s color to absorb the matching hue while dodging the opposite. The mechanic sounds elegant, but mastering it on day one is a headache. The first chapter, marketed as "the easiest," still expects you to weave through dense patterns while juggling polarity shifts. Many players quit in tears, yet those who persevere are treated to a beautifully orchestrated crescendo by the final stage, where the game finally lets you bask in the mastery you earned.

3) Ninja Gaiden (2004) – The Way of the Ninja
If you ever wondered what it feels like to be thrown into a furnace with no instruction manual, the opening of 2004’s Ninja Gaiden is the answer. You start sprinting through Kyoto with Ryu, and the game drops enemies on you faster than you can process the controls. There’s no hand‑holding; you must discover the timing of blocks, rolls, and combos on the fly. After a brief lull, the enemy count explodes, and a nunchaku‑wielding boss appears, prone to brutal, unblockable grabs. Surviving this gauntlet feels like an achievement in itself, and it sets the tone for a series that has never been for the faint‑hearted.

2) Superman 64 – The Rings
Superman 64 has a legacy as the poster child for poorly executed games, and its opening ring‑flight sequence embodies that infamy. Lex Luthor has somehow trapped Superman’s friends in a digital Metropolis, and the only way to rescue them is by soaring through a series of floating rings within a strict time limit. The controls are clunky, the camera spins like a dizzy carnival ride, and the rings seem placed to punish rather than challenge. The graphics are so dated that the whole ordeal feels like a bad dream you can’t wake up from – a perfect storm of frustration and absurdity.

1) Driver – Parking Garage Tutorial
The tutorial for Driver is a masterclass in "why‑would‑they‑do‑that?" Instead of gently introducing you to the car‑chasing mechanics, the game thrusts you into a cramped parking garage and demands you complete a series of precise maneuvers before a relentless timer runs out. The problem? No on‑screen prompts. You have to dig into the menu for instructions, then scramble to execute them without racking up damage. It’s a nail‑biter that feels disproportionate to the rest of the game, which, once past that nightmare, is actually fairly forgiving. The tutorial’s cruelty turned many would‑be drivers away before they even saw a single city street.

These opening levels prove that a game’s first impression can be a make‑or‑break moment. Whether you quit out of sheer exasperation or push through to savor the payoff later, one thing’s clear: developers sometimes love to test the mettle of their players right from the start.