Top 10 Most Frustrating Mini-Games in Video Games

By Jef With One F Tue., Jan. 22 2013 at 6:00 AM

4. Okami (Blockhead Grande): The Blockheads are recurring demons in Okami that look like walls. Two of them have to be defeated to progress, but the third is optional. The only way to kill them is to hit weakpoints in a certain, randomly-determined, order. On Blockhead Grande, there are eight of the damn things, and strategies range from having a friend remember half of them for you to actually marking on your screen while the game is paused with a sharpie to keep track of which spots in what order.

3. Super Mario RPG (Yoshi Racing): I admit this one is personal. The Yoshi Racing segments are pretty much completely ancillary to the rest of the game, but what Mario fan misses a Yoshi appearance? Yoshi's Island is being ruled by a bully you have to race, but instead of a course you have to march in rhythm to a song.

I actually spent almost $30 in the '90s on the phone to game counselors trying to get someone to explain the how the hell the rhythm worked. It doesn't follow the song at all and just mimicking the "one-two, one-two" instructions from the tutorial doesn't seem to work either. As an adult I've beat it, but I still have no idea how.

2. BioShock 2 (Hacking): Hacking security systems in the BioShock series is as essential as it is annoying. The first game used a pipe game, but the second one used a color matching game that was shown to be impossible to win if you were colorblind. Even though BioShock is one of my favorite games, I had to experience the sequel in playthroughs on YouTube simply because it never occurred to the makers that ten percent of all makes would be unable to use their already obnoxious mini-game.

1. Final Fantasy X (All of Them): Final Fantasy is full of mini-games. Some of them are awesome, some of them are mediocre, and some of them are so bad I'm convinced they were put in play to punish us. I'm looking at you Tetra Master from IX.

Then came Final Fantasy X, and apparently Satan was hired to construct their diversions because almost every single one is an exercise in deliberate malice against a player. Blitzball is an unplayable mess that takes forever and is proof that the last good sports game Square is responsible for was Rad Racer. Still, if you want to take Wakka to his highest level and get his ultimate weapon you'd better get good at it.

Then there's butterfly catching, which in addition to being very hard is about the dumbest premise for a mini-game ever in the series. Even that pales next to the Lightning Dodger needed to get Lulu's ultimate weapon. It takes almost an hour of completely uninterrupted play to manage, requires perfect timing, and a single mistake takes you back to the beginning. You have to dodge a ridiculous 200 bolts to get the Venus Sigil, and it makes the jump rope game from IX look easy in comparison. Seriously, how can someone who hates video games so much be put in charge of making them?

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Joey.C

I woulda put the early IX minigames pretty high. I swear that jump rope didn't have a rhythm and I didn't know anybody in school that could get all 100 nobles impressed, those elitist douches.

X wasn't too bad, but I agree that several significant sigils were immensely difficult to obtain unless you read some guides and did some homework. The Thunder Plains in particular had a certain spot that lightning was more predictable and only took about 20 minutes, but it was best attempted only after you got the No Encounter ability and a good source of caffeine in you.

jrayderr

I didn't remember the Blockheads because I had them blocked from my memory.

FattyFatBastard topcommenter

The Yoshi one was about timing it to the music, but it had to be exactly right. If you go back and play it trying to hit the button when you expect to hear the beat, you will pass it. Don't even pay attention to the screen. Just hit the buttons like they were an instrument.

redneck3

What? No mention for the harp-playing in Zelda: Skyward Sword?

J.A.Justice topcommenter

That card battle game from Final Fantasy took me four or five attempts to figure out and just 4 or 5 more to figure out I hated it. I still played it like 600 times.

JefWithOneF topcommenter

@J.A.Justice In IX it's because no matter what happens the attack power of a card is still randomly generated. Plus, at the time they teach you to play you likely have about 10 crap cards, including a rare Genji or Cactuar, so you get your ass handed to you. Ugh, the only reason I didn't include it was because I couldn't let X off the hook and didn't want to go into FF overload.