THIS. To hell with water levels!
Screw you, Donkey Kong Country! I didn't see that freaking octopus! Go to hell, Super Mario World! Tell that fish to go back to sleep! Bite me, Ocarina of Time! I can't find where I'm going in this sunken temple and I hate having to equip and unequip these boots!
I could go on, but I'll spare you guys.
Also, I don't know if any of you have played Black Belt (Hokuto no Ken in Japan) on the Sega Master System, but if I had to pick an actual nemesis that isn't a level type, it is, without a shadow of a doubt, Wang from Black Belt. Yes, his name is Wang. The humor was lost on my 5-year old self. It was a very challenging battle to get through this 10-minute long game. You had to go through a E. Honda ripoff and some old master of combat in a mask named Oni who is next to impossible, only to make it to Rita, Wang's right-hand-woman, who will kick your ass back to stage 1 if you aren't careful. It took me ages to finally beat Rita and get to Wang. But one day, the day finally came...
Wang. The epitome of my frustrations. The embodiment of my pain. Evil made flesh. And the last defense of...uhh...whatever we've been fighting against this entire game. I knew the chances of my making it past E. Honda, Oni, and Rita were slim-to-none, and it all came down to this final moment. I put my game face on.
The battle raged on for what seemed like hours, exchanging blows, avoiding attacks, displaying our in-depth knowledge of the martial arts. Every time I struck Wang, he struck me back, our health remaining even throughout the fight. It came right down to that last bit of health. A tiny tick of health for each of us. One hit later...and the winner would be determined. A threw out a kick, he avoided it! He sent a kick toward me, and I jumped away! I arched my foot out, landing it square into his head, knocking him backward!
...And still...he came at me.
But how could this be?! He had only a tick of health left! I hit him! The fight raged on, my nerves catching up to me. Mistakes were being made. Mistakes I couldn't afford. Panic set in. I landed another kick on him! His health did not go down. Again, he came at me. Then it happened.
Pow.
He struck me right in the face with a punch. I watched in silent horror as the protagonist, Riki, fell to the ground. Dead.
Game Over.
I never made it back to Wang. For weeks I tried and for weeks I was taken down by E. Honda, Oni, or Rita. Time passed. New games came along. But the memory of Wang and the fact that he still lives haunts me to this day...
Spoiler It wasn't until YEARS and YEARS later, about two years ago, that I played Black Belt to see if it was as hard as I remembered. It absolutely was. I learned that the reason it was so hard was because certain bosses could ONLY be beaten with certain moves. The only way to kill Wang was with a straight punch to the face, one of the hardest ways to hit him, hence why I continued to strike him and he didn't die. I did eventually defeat Wang, and honestly, for a Sega Master System game, I wasn't expecting much, but http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy67fdW828o&feature=player_detailpage#t=247s was totally badass and made it worth it.