The 100 Hardest Video-Game Levels of All Time

The latest in pop-culture news, recaps, and reviews, plus close reads, profiles, interviews, and more from Vulture.com. [Brand Logo]( vulture lists [The 100 Hardest Video-Game Levels of All Time]( Dizzying shooters, agonizing puzzles, and water stages (ugh) that raise the question: Continue? Illustration: Diego Patiño Video games are natural predators. In the earliest incarnation of the art — the arcade cabinets scattered across movie-theater lobbies and dentist waiting rooms in the ’70s and ’80s — you’d exchange a quarter for three lives and a dream. A few minutes later, once those ghosts claimed Pac-Man’s soul, or after Jumpman tripped over one too many of Donkey Kong’s barrels, you were sent back to your mother, tail between your legs, in hopes that she had a bit more spare change left in her purse. This was the business model; video games attempted to separate kids from their allowances as efficiently as possible, which was most easily accomplished through the blunt force of difficulty. [read more]( Devour pop culture with us. [Subscribe now]( for unlimited access to Vulture and everything New York. The Latest TV Recaps • Succession: [Not Widely Liked]( • Barry: [A Sympathetic Soul]( • Somebody Somewhere: [A Tender Gesture]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Stories We Think You’ll Like [In Video Games, There’s a Fine Line Between Difficulty and Disrespect FromSoftware’s miserable, massively popular titles complicate what it means to “enjoy” a game.]( By Jordan Minor [The 100 Hardest Video-Game Bosses, Ranked From gods and zombies to a shark and a tree, the one trait they share is an ability to end your game swiftly.]( [‘Pedro, This Is Like the Cover of Playgirl’ An afternoon at Cannes with the young hunks of Pedro Almodóvar’s gay cowboy movie, Strange Way of Life.]( By Rachel Handler [At the Philharmonic, Dudamel’s First Is Mahler’s Ninth He delivers a showy 2-D performance of a 3-D symphony.]( By Justin Davidson [Killers of the Flower Moon Turns Out to Be the Simplest, Slipperiest of Things It’s not Martin Scorsese’s western, and it’s not another gangster epic. It’s his marriage story.]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Today’s Crossword]( Five-Across, Four Letters: The Mets’ old stadium. Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos:Getty Images, Everette [Into It With Sam Sanders]( We consume it all so you don’t have to. Photo: Craig Blankenhorn/HBO Max Samantha Irby knows how to write in many mediums. The No. 1 New York Times best-selling author has published several books of personal essays. She’s written for TV shows like Shrill and And Just Like That…, the Sex and the City reboot, and about what it felt like to almost turn one of her books of essays into a TV show itself. (Meta, in a very fun way.) Whatever she’s writing, Irby brings a singular biting humor and sneaky charm that has you laughing out loud even at seemingly unfunny topics. On the latest episode of Into It, she talked about her latest essay collection, Quietly Hostile, what it feels like to have to cast yourself for a TV pilot, and finding the humor in intestinal distress. [Read an excerpt of that conversation]( and listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts. [Read more from Vulture]( A newsletter of TV and movie recommendations. [Sign up]( to get it every week. [Get the Newsletter]( [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe](link.nymag.com/manage/588/optout-vulture?email={EMAIL}&hash=39357a76f6d08b16239fd2ffa65e9c6f¶m=vulture-daily) | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2023, All rights reserved