“Mario Makerhas really provided an opportunity for very sadistic individuals, like this man playing right here, PangaeaPanga, to create horrifying levels for our amusement,” speedrunner Carl Sagan said during the gaming marathonAwesome Games Done Quick 2016.

I only managed to catch a few of the speedruns live during the week-long event, and one of them happened to be theSuper Mario MakerHard Level Race. What luck! The segment was wild: two teams of skilled players soared through some of the most imaginatively difficult user-made levels like they were nothing at all. Practice, practice, practice.

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Panga’s notoriousP-Breakshowed up, much to my delight. “It was at one point considered the hardest level that had ever been made inSuper Mario Maker,” said Sagan. “…out of every about 10,000 attempts, it gets only one clear [fromMario Makerplayers]. And honestly, probably about half of all those clears are just us four beating it over and over again.”

Another runner, GrandPOOBear, chimed in: “Yeah, my first time through P-Break was 27 hours.” That’s 27 hours to beat a single level, and here they areracing in it.

A battle scene in Battlefield 6 Open Beta

Many of these nightmare creations were inspired by the ultra-hardSuper Mario Worldrom hack Kaizo Mario. With that in mind, I’d also recommend this trip through Kaizo Mario Bros. 3:

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A snap of the upcoming MESA update in PEAK

Naked Snake sneaking around in MGS Delta.

Battlefield 6 aiming RPG at a helicopter

BO7 key art

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Milla Jovovich portraying Alice in Resident Evil 2002, wearing a red dress and holding a gun in her hand.