History ThatOneLevel / NintendoWars

* The Hard Campaign version of "Orange Dawn" is notorious not for being overly difficult, but for how long and tedious it is. You play as Max on a map which can basically be described as one long winding choke point, along with a laser slowing you down that you're basically forced to build battleships to destroy despite how sub-optimal they are for him. It's telling that the limit for a perfect speed score is a staggering 27 days.

* "The Hunt's End" is the expected ClimaxBoss finale of the Yellow/Gold Comet arc. Yellow/Gold Comet is meant to bear the larger burden against Adder's forces while their ally must sneak around his flank to destroy the factory pipe. Adder is very smart in terms of using his factory unlike Flak and Lash from before, as he deploys a Battleship on ''Day One'' and doesn't let up. While there is a glitch where he doesn't send said Battleship your way in the original game, this has been swiftly rectified in "Re-Boot Camp". ''Immediate'' action is needed on Yellow/Gold Comet's part to counter these threats, and it's nigh-impossible to send troops to manually block the factory's way. Adder also sends forces against the other army, meaning that they'll also face heavy resistance in destroying the pipe.

* "Drake's Dilemma" is a generally unpleasant mission. There's fog of war, requiring the need to scout ahead for targets and threats. Drake's navy is located in a lake whose southern half is monitored by the large black cannons that need to be destroyed, encouraging reef-hopping for his Battleships. While Kanbei is here to help, he doesn't start out with many properties, prohibiting his army financially. Hawke wastes no time in sending all his available troops your way. Sending a Battleship to destroy the cannons posthaste is essentially a necessity lest his and Kanbei's base get overwhelmed by Hawke's offensive.
* "To the Rescue" might serve as a break from fighting against Hawke's forces, but you now you're fighting Adder as you race against his forces to save Sami's small army from getting destroyed by his massive army. You might have Eagle with a decent sized squadron of Battle Copters, Fighters, and Bombers, but you also have to worry about destroying four laser cannons that fire from all directions. The mission comes down to precise timing, as one wrong move can have your Bombers either crippled (either by the laser cannons or the numerous Anti-Air units) or destroyed, which would take a lot longer for the cannons to get destroyed. Sami's position is absolutely worthless as well, as she only has one Anti-Air (which is slightly weak already) and Adder's AI will make sure that your Missile Launcher won't hit any of his air forces getting in the way.
* "Rain Of Fire" is not as bad as the other aforementioned levels until you remember that you're fighting HAWKE next to an active Volcano. Memorizing the Volcano's fall pattern and exploiting that to your tastes against the AI is usually the difference between victory and waiting your ass out for a couple of In-game days.

** Yellow Comet is basically dead weight in this mission: They start with a tiny base, take forever to capture the nearby Airport since it's protected by a Minicannon, and are far away from the rest of the fighting. It doesn't help that none of their [=CO=]s are a good fit: Sonja doesn't help when there's no Fog of War, Sensei isn't much use since Infantry won't encounter much resistance and airfields in this area being nonexistent, and Kanbei's just impractical due to the low number of cities available. Ironically, Blue Moon, the one army that sits out of this mission, would have been a ''far'' more useful candidate in this position, with Grit's indirect power being useful for ending the mission decisively, Colin's discounts being incredibly helpful for the lack of resources, and even Olaf could have contributed with Winter Fury should it have become available. The only way to get some use out of the Yellow Comet army, cutting along the side of the map and destroying the pipe seam with Rockets, will complete the mission but result in a very low score. Paradoxically, this is also a good way to a high score, but you need to tightly coordinate Orange Star as a wall (since their losses don't hurt Technique), Green Earth to get one turn with multiple kills (for power), and Yellow Comet to end the map quickly for a Speed score, which requires far more forethought and choreography than even the most drawn out slug-fest.

* ''Blizzard Battle!'' is perhaps the one time [[StarterVillain Olaf]] puts up an actual fight. The map is a race to capture 12 properties, but Olaf is nearly guaranteed to claim everything close to his base within the first few turns, which put him ''one'' city away from winning. This means you can't let him capture a single city in your half of the map, and one of these starts guarded by a Medium Tank and regular Tank. You'd think pushing for that one quickly would be the way to go, but if you don't ''also'' commit units to the lower bridge Olaf will eventually send tanks over it, and you'll need to capture his city there for a shot at winning. And for once, Olaf's Blizzard power is dangerous, as it slows down your march to the cities. This is also the first map where the Power score is an actual threat, given that Olaf starts with two bases you can't practically threaten and has a higher income than you. The perfect speed requirement is ''very'' tight, too. Adding insult to injury is that Sami, who would otherwise be perfect for this map, isn't available yet.

* ''Blizzard Battle!'' is perhaps the one time [[StarterVillain Olaf]] puts up an actual fight. The map is a race to capture 12 properties, but Olaf is nearly guaranteed to claim everything close to his base within the first few turns, which put him ''one'' city away from winning. This means you can't let him capture a single city in your half of the map, and one of these starts guarded by a Medium Tank and regular Tank. You'd think pushing for that one quickly would be the way to go, but if you don't ''also'' commit units to the lower bridge Olaf will eventually send tanks over it, and you'll need to capture his city there for a shot at winning. And for once, Olaf's Blizzard power is dangerous, as it slows down your march to the cities. This is also the first map where the Power score is an actual threat, given that Olaf starts with two bases you can't practically threaten and has a higher income than you. The perfect speed requirement is ''very'' tight, too.

* ''Kanbei's Error?''. The normal Campaign version of it is quite easy, with the biggest challenge being ''if'' you're trying to unlock an optional series of missions that requires you to finish this mission and the two previous in a certain number of turns (and even that's not too hard). The Advance Campaign version, though, cranks the difficulty way, ''way'' up by giving Kanbei an assload of air units close to your starting position, which means he's likely to take out most of your units on Day 1 (especially given his boosted firepower). One might think you could just [[HoldTheLine wait out the airstrike]] and take out his air force one by one... but this is also a [[TimedMission capture-based mission]], and because of the way Kanbei's infantry is deployed, you automatically lose on Day 6 if you can't damage one of his infantry before then. Naturally, his infantry units are halfway across the map, and the aforementioned airforce makes rushing his infantry impossible. And because it just wasn't difficult enough even at this point, you've also got FogOfWar to contend with as well. All of this makes this mission borderline impossible without a day-by-day guide, exploiting the enemy AI[[note]]namely taking advantage of a design oversight involving Fog of War that causes Kanbei to park an anti-air unit on an uncaptured city, preventing his infantry from capturing it and effectively removing the time pressure[[/note]], or ''lots'' of trial and error.

** The two armies protecting Andy's flank are determined by various outcomes. The CO of the blue army is determined by which CO is selected for the mission "Max Strikes!" and if the secret mission "Olaf's Sea Strike" is unlocked if Andy was selected. The terrain surrounding the blue army's base isn't ideal; it's covered by mountains which railoads any ground units to take the long path around, which isn't helpful when it comes to protecting Andy's red army. This becomes a serious obstacle if the CO is Max, whose only compensation is the airfield to the north, which takes time to take control of. Grit, ironically, doesn't fare much better, as he can't really take full advantage of said airfield, and even with his increased indirect range, can't always be counted on to shoot down Sturm's forces from his position. Olaf, taking the more balanced approach, can't really do much with his Blizzard CO Power, as this will slow down his allies as well as Sturm.

* "The Hunt's End" is the expected ClimaxBoss finale of the Yellow/Gold Comet arc. Yellow/Gold Comet is meant to bear the larger burden against Adder's forces while their ally must sneak around his flank to destroy the factory pipe. Adder is very much GenreSavvy in terms of using his factory unlike Flak and Lash from before, as he deploys a Battleship on ''Day One'' and doesn't let up. While there is a glitch where he doesn't send said Battleship your way in the original game, this has been swiftly rectified in "Re-Boot Camp". ''Immediate'' action is needed on Yellow/Gold Comet's part to counter these threats, and it's nigh-impossible to send troops to manually block the factory's way. Adder also sends forces against the other army, meaning that they'll also face heavy resistance in destroying the pipe.

** While "Re-Boot Camp" allows for a manual selection of Andy's allies in this mission, including the option to pair up Kanbei with a Green Earth CO, this comes with its own SadisticChoice: With Sturm's CO power all but annihilating a clump of units, one must continue to sacrifice units to take the heat off the front line, which may be Andy's units caught in the thick of it, Kanbei's expensive reinforcements, or Green Earth's relief force. Blue Moon's troops at least acted as obvious fodder for this strategy, but it's quite tragic to see actually useful units be subject to Sturm's CO wrath.

* Sonja's set of missions shows what happens when Yellow/Gold Comet gets serious in their tactics. Facing Sonja as an enemy in of itself is a source of ParanoiaFuel, with her units' HP counts being obfuscated and her CO Power negating any means of hiding in the fog of war. The first mission with Max is a mere warmup to how brutal Sonja can make your day, with many an indirect unit hiding in the woods. The following mission with Sami is where things get hair-raising, with the objective of capturing properties becoming an immediate loss if Sami doesn't act fast. And while Andy's mission is more straightforward, Sonja doesn't relent with the units she starts with. It's a common strategy to [[DoWellButNotPerfect intentionally]] take it slow in ''Kanbei's Error'' simply to skip these encounters in the original game, provided the player plans to do the Green Earth missions a certain way for the final mission ahead in lieu of not having Kanbei available.

* However, the level that stands head and shoulders above all is [[BrutalBonusLevel Rivals]]. Merely accessing the level requires a GuideDangIt by defeating all 4 Green Earth Missions as Sami, one level of which, Wings of Victory, is ThatOneLevel unto itself. Proceed to defeat Sturm in the final mission, after which Eagle will challenge Andy to a "friendly" showdown. The map is wide, traversed by narrow bridges and islands, and you are given three foot soldiers, a small base, and are a long way off from the nearest neutral bases, which will ''not'' be neutral by the time you reach them seeing how Eagle starts with footsoldiers within capturing distance of them all. You are forced to play as Andy, one of the game's worst COs due to his lack of any noteworthy strengths and his completely lackluster power. The ''normal'' campaign version is harder than the majority of the Advanced Campaign missions because Eagle owns more cities with which to build an army at the start. The Advanced Campaign version? Eagle has all that, ''plus'' a massive starting army, including a sizeable air force that ''will'' be overrunning your base in only a few short turns. You've also got Fog of War to deal with now, which in this map is nothing more than a blatant handicap to your army since there are absolutely ''zero'' forests to hide in, removing your only recourse against [[TheAllSeeingAI an AI that flat-out ignores the fog]]. In both instances - but ''much'' more pronounced here - Eagle is using Lightning Strike, the best CO Power in the game. And with all those expensive air units you need to destroy, he will have ''very liberal'' use of that power. It gets to the point that the only way to defeat him is days (as in ''literal 24-hour days'') of trial and error. Even then, you will still find yourself repeatedly picking your teeth up off the floor as Eagle's unstoppable mass of bombers, fighters, medium tanks, battle copters, and rockets steamroll their way over you again... and again... and again....

* However, the level that stands head and shoulders above all is [[BrutalBonusLevel Rivals]]. [[spoiler:Merely accessing the level requires a GuideDangIt by defeating all 4 Green Earth Missions as Sami, one level of which, Wings of Victory, is a ThatOneLevel unto itself. Proceed to defeat Sturm in the final mission, after which Eagle will challenge Andy to a "friendly" showdown.]] The map is wide, traversed by narrow bridges and islands, and you are given three foot soldiers, a small base, and are a long way off from the nearest neutral bases, which will not be neutral by the time you reach them. You are forced to play as Andy. Your foe starts with foot soldiers and a very strong base. The normal campaign version is harder than the majority of the advance campaign missions because Eagle owns more cities to build an army from at the start. The advanced mode of this mission? Your foe starts by owning the nuetral bases. And forward infantry. And an air force. In Fog of War. And both times, but much more pronounced here, he is using Lightning Strike, the best CO Power in the game. And with all those expensive air units you need to destroy, he will have very liberal use of that Power. It gets to the point that the only way to defeat him is days (literal, 24-hour segment DAYS) of trial and error. And then you will still be crying as the mass of unstoppable Bombers, Fighters, Medium Tanks, Battle Copters, and Rockets roll over your base. Again. And again. And again.
** There is a guide. It shows you exactly how to defeat the mission, by exactly, tile-by-tile, day-by-day, telling you how to fend off his attack in such a way, that allows you to escape with a few transport copters and infantry, while he overruns your base so thoroughly that you are actually depending on him saturating your properties, hoping that his own units block his infatry from taking your HQ. You then must execute a perfect suicide run for his HQ. If everything goes well, you triumphantly stand upon a shattered Green Earth HQ, a half-damaged infantry your unit on the map, and 30-some game-days of anguish behind. However, [[spoiler: Even this exhaustive strategy guide [[UnintentionallyUnwinnable doesn't work 100% of the time]]. Sometimes, Eagle will move his Battle Copter in a way that makes the entire strategy futile. Many, if not most, of the games have a randomized AI routine that is set when you first enter the Advance Campaign 22 levels earlier. This determines whether Eagle in ''Rivals'' sports a minuscule AchillesHeel, or if he is quite simply unbeatable.]]
** The only other way to have any hope of surviving this ordeal involves [[ArtificialStupidity exploiting the AI]], specifically attacking a specific unit at a specific place with a mech and hoping it does exactly 7 damage (less and it'll try to attack again, more and it'll retreat) so that it just stays where it is forever, completely negating one of the two land fronts. You'll still have to deal with Eagle's aerial onslaught and a land assault from the other side of the map, but all in all it takes the mission from "flat-out impossible" to "extremely difficult, but doable". However, if the RandomNumberGod hates your guts, you're screwed.

** The army to the east takes a ''far'' more important role, and takes a ''far'' more volatile approach to who becomes its CO. There's a road that leads to Andy's base far more quickly than the eastern army can, and there's an airfield that's a bit closer too. Fail to meet any of the conditions listed below, and you're stuck with Sami, whose direct units are inferior and whose capturing talents are redundant in this mission. Unlock the secret Yellow Comet missions starring Sonja, and Kanbei takes control, who starts off with some heavy-hitting tanks that will be enough to protect Andy. The issue here is that in the Advanced difficulty ''Kanbei's Error'', as stated above, is a bitch and a half to complete (and Sonja's missions aren't much better). Complete all the Green Earth missions as Sami, and Eagle controls this army. This sounds like the ideal strategy, as there are no naval units in this mission, and Eagle has a complete advantage with the airfield nearby. Of course, this all leads into the BrutalBonusLevel ''Rivals'', listed below. Ironically, the "safest" option would be to complete the Green Earth missions as Andy, which leads to Drake being the CO here, which sounds like an awful option given the parameters above, but is ''still'' better than Sami as at least his tanks are average and he starts with enough to help out adequately (without having any middle-finger caveats like with Eagle).

* Crystal Calamity. Your first objective in the level is to fire off all nine Silos in the level whilst operating under a ''real time'' timer in an otherwise ''turn based'' game. The TimedMission is one thing, but if the enemy secures even ONE Silo, you lose. What's worse than ''that'' is that if you spend too much time fighting and do too much damage to the enemy forces you charge their special moves, leading to the very definite possibility of an enemy tag break that grants Black Hole ''two'' turns for each unit meaning they'll almost certainly reach at least one silo. Talk about FakeDifficulty. Plus on [[NonIndicativeDifficulty Normal Campaign]], Black Hole could send the Black Bomb toward red team and [[LuckBasedMission screw you over that way]] [[CharacterSelectForcing if you didn't cheap out a Day 1 T-Copter]]. And it doesn't even end there, as there's a second objective once the first one is done, and if you mess up there, you have to ''repeat the whole thing again''. The level is so bad that Webcomic/TotallyFlaked mocked it mercilessly.
** It's hard enough just to ''beat'', but if you're going for an ''S-Rank''? Prepare to do this mission over, and over, and ''over again'', [[LuckBasedMission praying things go right the next time]].

** There is a guide. It shows you exactly how to defeat the mission, by exactly, tile-by-tile, day-by-day, telling you how to fend off his attack in such a way, that allows you to escape with a few transport copters and infantry, while he overruns your base so thoroughly that you are actually depending on him saturating your properties, hoping that his own units block his infatry from taking your HQ. You then must execute a perfect suicide run for his HQ. If everything goes well, you triumphantly stand upon a shattered Green Earth HQ, a half-damaged infantry your unit on the map, and 30-some game-days of anguish behind. However, [[spoiler: Even this exhaustive strategy guide [[UnwinnableByMistake doesn't work 100% of the time]]. Sometimes, Eagle will move his Battle Copter in a way that makes the entire strategy futile. Many, if not most, of the games have a randomized AI routine that is set when you first enter the Advance Campaign 22 levels earlier. This determines whether Eagle in ''Rivals'' sports a minuscule AchillesHeel, or if he is quite simply unbeatable.]]

* ''Waylon Flies Again'' is considered one of the hardest non-boss missions in the entire series. You start off with NO factories or airfields - which your opponent DOES have - while the enemy has a HUGE air force ready to attack. The [[ArtificialStupidity AI]] has an inadequate amount of anti air only to slow them down while your one Anti-Air in the center - and, inevitably, your infantry surrounding the center - get [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill bombed to Hell.]] And if the AI loses all its units, you lose. Anyone who thought that Waylon's CO zone sucks will probably stop laughing when he hops into a stupidly-hard-to-kill Bomber that wreaks havoc on your units. The one redeeming factor is Will's ShutUpHannibal to Waylon on the 2nd or 3rd day, his second SugarWiki/MomentofAwesome in the game.
** What's that? Look for a day-by-day guide? Thanks to how Waylon's programmed in this stage, ''there aren't any''. Waylon's actions are completely random, making a day-by-day guide impossible to consistently follow; even the best FAQ can only plot his actions up to about Day 4 before they have to give up.

** Said Day-To-Day guide is pretty much the only way to complete it, and even then only if Caulder feels like following it. For instance, if he uses a Fighter instead of a Duster, you're screwed because he's only able to target your precious bombers instead of being distracted by other units. Also, said guide completes the mission in around 10 days at most. At a certain amonut of days, he will generate Seaplanes, which hit your units hard and without restriction. If you don't win by Day 13, Caulder pretty much tells you to give up. Now that's nothing uncommon for video game villains, but unlike most others, he's not bluffing. It's possible to beat it after 13 days, but good luck getting a half-decent rank. This level requires you to beat this level fast and strategically.

** Jay Islands is a four-way marine battle of attrition in Fog of War where you're constantly taking one step forward and two steps back. There doesn't appear to be any comprehensive day-to-day guide for Jay Islands online, probably because winning it takes equal parts patience and blind luck.

* Pincer Strike. So many units, so many indirects, so much forest, so much fog, so much possibility of a Tag Break involving Drake, whose Super CO power does 2 damage to all your units and cuts their fuel in half. Not good for you. You're mostly better off barely bothering to tackle the enemy's naval force, believe it or not. Making it even more annoying is that Drake will occasionally decide to just spam his regular CO power instead of saving up for a Dual Strike, making you slog through the fuel-halving even more often. Unless you brought along Jess to counter Drake's power with her own (though it only helps her army: the other is SOL) and/or Sasha to shut down Drake's power with Market Crash, this fight becomes a ''literal'' stall-fest (for your side, anyway) in short order.

* ''Sunrise'': The Nest provides explosive bombs to rip apart your units at the most inconvenient times, infinite free units which can whatever Caulder damn well pleases, and lasers covering ''rough terrain'' to keep your forces spread thin and repeatedly suffer the abuse. And it's made worse that Caulder, with daily healing and ridiculous combat boosts to anything near enough his unit or just his unit itself, makes [[GameBreaker Sturm]] look like a JokeCharacter. Watch as a Duster with him loaded effortlessly destroys your ''Fighter''. It's amazing how the level has a consistent Day-To-Day guide on Website/YouTube that makes it so easy to beat. Oh, and here's the best part: you have to repeat the level 10 times to [[HundredPercentCompletion get a certain medal]].
** Said Day-To-Day guide is pretty much the only way to complete it, and even then only if Caulder feels like following it. For instance, if he uses a Fighter instead of a Duster, you're screwed because he's only able to target your precious bombers instead of being distracted by other units. Also, said guide completes the mission in around 10 days at most. If you don't win by Day 13, Caulder pretty much tells you to give up. Now that's nothing uncommon for video game villains, but unlike most others, he's not bluffing. It's possible to beat it after 13 days, but good luck getting a half-decent rank.