⚠️ Please Read⚠️ I feel like I need say this as I didn't mention this in the video. Yes. I understand using the radar when battling Big Man makes the fight incredibly easy. HOWEVER, my first few playthroughs I did not use the radar as I was fully aware that it makes the battle very easy. Without the radar it's pretty difficult to keep track of all the manta rays as I don't know which one of them is Big Man. Not to mention they blend in with the ink which makes them even harder to track. I based my judgment on my first few playthroughs with vanilla gear, not the fully upgraded gear you see in the video (This includes the radar). Glad I could clear that up 😀 Also for those wondering why Target Town wasn't on the list it's because I thought the stage wasn't that bad.

Big man’s fight was pretty easy imo, Frye was definitely the hardest deep cut member

The time limit in 'The Enemy Ink is Lava' is to prevent players from cheesing the limited ink by spreading it slowly with the tiny spread caused by going into squid form.

the ink rail target mission with the Bow is by far the HARDEST i've encountered, it's hella difficult, especially that end. Everything else except the final mission was a cake walk.

The top two better be After Alterna and that target shooting one with the bow

I will say, Inner Agent 3 was harder than After Alterna, because after I beat it, I went back to Splatoon 2 to beat him and it took me a lot more attempts than After Alterna, and my heart rate was much higher. I'd say After Alterna's difficulty would be in between Girl Power and Inner Agent 3.

the ultra stamp + octoballer stage with the specials you had to pick up drove me crazy. The timing was so unbelievably tight

I honestly loved After Alterna. It’s a neat stage because it tests your abilities in each aspect of the game. Not saying it wasn’t ridiculously hard, but it was still kinda fun

I forget the name of the stage but the one where you're on a rail and have to hit EVERY SINGLE BOX without missing any with no checkpoints is definitely number two for me. Also Big Man was honestly really easy for me. Did it first try.

I love how After Alterna took me over an hour to beat and most of the time spent was on the first section 💀

I didn’t struggle with Big Man or Girl Power Station 2.0 in After Alterna For Big Man, if you’ve upgraded your suit, the sensor highlights the real Big Man with a red cursor. As for the Octolings, I just hid in the corner and waited for them to come to me. Took em out one by one. Didn’t even bother with the canned specials, splashdown did just fine. However the first and second sections of After Alterna were hell. Never want to touch that stage again.

I actually like how after alterna gave us a true challenge without it being gimmicky and overly hard like inner agent 3 was. I love when games such as the Mario series give you a gauntlet style finale level. Did it make me rage any less? No it did not. But I still loved that we had something to do in the end.

the second hardest for me was the bow grind rail one. Its so hard and I can't beleive its not on the list

My hardest stage besides After Altera was One-Way trip through Target Town! with the Tri-Stringer. Without motion controls, that stage was a pain in the rear as I kept missing and some burst shots wouldn't reach my targets while I'm moving away from them. Somehow I got through Deadly Dance Hall Jump, Jump! on my first try probably from my past experience with shockwave attacks from other games like Skylanders Trap Team's Nightmare Mode. Now for After Alterna, when i reached the end of sector 1 with the moving platforms that loop into the water I found out my ink doesn't wash away like the rotating floors at the beginning. So I made sure I ink my whole path with both the floors and walls of each platform thoroughly covered before starting my approach. I actually enjoy big showdowns with Octarian Octolings and was wondering about the lack of them as the only big one i went through had a foggy path. Then I reached the final sector of After Alterna and it didn't disappoint. The part that got tough there was when they started using specials but my radar can find them no problem. Now I can proudly wear the gear reward and read [][][][][][][][]'s story whenever I want.

i think beating most of the After Alterna sections really just depends on how well you mastered the things the game has taught you thus far and general gamesense. The one thing I can critique though is the third wave of the fourth and final section: I had enough Ink Savers to throw 2 splat bombs at the opponents so i could create distance between me and them, and often times, one was bound to hit. I also had to dodge a lot by inking under myself. While I felt VERY satisfied for beating the whole thing, the final section just felt like I was exploiting the AI rather than solving it with just skillful play. I don't guarantee what I did would work for every situation (and i'm NOT going back to test it lmao) but yea

for Big Man boss, using smallfry as distraction is very helpful especially upgraded smallfry

i found big man to be the weakest boss, he felt like a bit of a joke? frye and shiver gave me a harder time, even after replaying them. the hardest stages for me were the on-rail shooting ones, especially the one where they give you the bow. the ending of that one got me sooo many times

Aside from After Alterna, the level that gave me the most trouble was "One-Way Ride Through Target-Town" with the Tri-Stinger. I spent HOURS on that damned rail, trying to get every box, but no matter what i did, i always lost. I only got to the end 4 times out of the dozens of attempts, and i only got it on the fourth try from sheer luck.

The first one was the first level in gaming where I actually pushed myself to take a break before trying again. Due to anxiety and bad emotional issues, I can’t bear doing time limit-related levels. The target one with those balloons was kinda easy. I hated the ones with the bow because it made me realize how easy you can miss with trying and the arch and wide space the shots have. I despise error trials with every fiber of my body. Big Man, as much as I hated battling him, made me respect him actually. Also, keep an eye on the manta that uses the weapons. Eternity… more like… Alterna-ty. I’ll see myself out

big man's fight is hard at first but then I realized that the real big man is marked with a red square and it became 100x easier. Also knowing you can shoot the torpedos helped. Same for Frye's fight, you can see which eels are decoys because they are marked with a yellow square but the ones that hit her are marked red.

For me, Agent 3 was definitely much harder than After Alterna, that fight totally broke me and when I won it was the most satisfying thing!

For Big Man's boss fight, burst bombs are your friend, especially if you've upgraded them for reduced ink consumption. They quickly let you make space to swim and don't take a lot of precision, so you can just panic toss them and make a path out if you get swarmed by clones and bombs

From my experience, I kinda liked After Alterna. It felt like a review for everything you went through in the campaign. The only issue I have with it is the third phase of the Octoling area. Living through all those specials felt like RNG.

After completing the octo expansion I was excited to see they upped the difficulty to the hero mode. I struggled with a few stages mostly time trials and error and after alterna. Like seriously 60 balloons in 60 seconds, give me a break. I feel like they incorporated ideas from the octo expansion stages they decided not to use. With the limited ink stage with all the enemies, I thought it was going to be a longer stage so I walked through and around enemies until I had a posse following me with a full ink bar at the end.

The only ones I really found difficult were "deadly dance hall" and "the enemy ink is lava", the second one being really frustrating to me

Frye was hardest Deep Cut fight imo. The Ink is Lava level was also hella fun and not too hard. My hardest were Time Trial And Errors with Squiffer, Those Arent Birds with Squiffer and Target Town. (After Alterna too ofc)

Surprised the stage where you have to make a shape out of the boxes isn’t on here- that took me FOREVER

The true treasure were the heartattacks we had along the way.

in my opinion almost any stage with a squiffer option is the hardest as charge times can be very annoying and especially for people that don't main chargers not seeing the recital all the time is annoying as hell

Nintendo really said no to new players with this hero mode, it is almost similar to octo expansion ,I'm surprised I even beat all the levels ( excluding after alterna)

I am honestly ASTONISHED that One-Way Ride Through Target Town isn't on this list. That level is SO FRUSTRATING I SWEAR TO GOD.

The thing is, I had to do all the stages in the game with EVERY weapon available because I thought that’s how you 100% it

Great video, surprised to see that One Way Through Target Town was nowhere on this list! I'm not saying it was hard myself (it was hard the first time then I keep doing it with either no deaths or one death the other times) but most people call it their personal hell. What would be your honorable mentions if any, actually? Also, a tip for anyone doing Target Town: For Stringers: Use the explosions with charged shots. One charge still gives explosions, but two charges makes them compact for better aiming. For Rapid Blasters: This is the easiest choice. Use it. For Splatlings: IDK. I don't like using splatlings, but I'd still believe rapid's the easiest for this stage

as someone who 100% all 3 Splatoon games, the only hard part of after alterna was the octoling fight part. inner agent 3 was definitely harder

Swap big man’s fight with a one way trip through target town, and you’ve got yourself a list.

As someone who 100% Splatoon 3’s story, I can confirm that these were the most painful stages to go through

After Alterna was really easy for me so I'm surprised people found it so hard, after the first section it was a breeze I'm just surprised you didn't include the tri stringer level, by far the hardest and most rage inducing level in the series

Big man was easy Ngl

I cannot deny that After Alterna is do or die, but you can't deny that it was cool that they decided to make a Champion's Road for Splatoon.

Chifeture: After alterna is not a good idea 3d mario devs: they just did what we always do

Bro what big man was the easiest boss imo

10 - annoying but doable 9 - i found dapples to be the easiest one for this level 8 - i found splatpro easier, also yeah some of these stages infuriate me, like i dont really get mad at bad teammates and losses (which is weird cause i hate bad teams normally, splatoon built different i guess) but the story stages and the perfection some of them require absolutely drive me up the wall. 7 - i didnt have any issue with this once i switched to motion controls, i originally did all of story/kettles (not secret) with sticks. (single weapon type, i revisited them with motion controls though) 6 - tapshots work better for the splatling on this, dont have to charge it much, just spam squid swim and tapshots, still an annoying level... 5 - I HATE THIS LEVEL, ITS SO DAMN PRECISE WITH SQUIFFER. (piece of cake with the others.) 4 - tapshot and swim, the chargeup chugs your valuable time. (same with squiffer bs above), flooders are a mix of RNG and pattern. 3 - i thought this one was fine actually, im just good at bankshotting curlings i guess. you can also squid jump out of the ink pretty far. 2 - this one was SUPER easy for me, get hero suit upgraded to see markers and big man goes down quickly. (oh wait, you do have the upgrade in the video, the red target is the real big man. (EDIT: i found your comment below on vanilla gear) ) 1 - part 2 of after alterna is brutal, but im surprised you didnt put target town on this list, the bow part is ruining me, i beat splatling and blaster parts though. i wish after alternas 4th stage octoling fight was redoable by itself, i enjoyed the pvp training. protip for some of the walls, hold squid surge and you can stick to the wall and move freely.

that sinking feeling had me on edge 😭 i thought the water was gonna rise but then the PLATFORMS STARTED GOING DOWN?? I was literally rushing and stressing so much ☠️

The true final boss: ONE WAY RIDE THROUGH TARGET TOWN: RECOMMENDED WEAPON? B O W

I looked up at first of any hardest levels in splatoon 3 but there was none until this came up in my recommendations, thx

Surprisingly I actually completed That Sinking Feeling w the mini spaltling first try. My heart was racing by the end, but boy I sure did complete it

4:38 my way of coping the stress of falling off a rail of ink in a kid’s game as a sentient squid kid holding a weapon that shoots ink

This really shows how different everyone's opinion can be

Sensor really helps with the big man stage as it pinpoints the correct manta ray to hit with a red color

I personally don't think after Alterna was that hard! the rail grinding section was pretty difficult and the last section was HELL but the other two I just found kinda easy... but I understand that some people could struggle on it.

I finally finished last night after alterna after months of trying! I somehow got lucky and got through the ink rail section in one go. The octoling section took me an hour and a half 🙃🙃🙃 also when I first played story mode all the deep cut bosses took me like 10-20 mins but playing them again took less than 5 mins (Frye less than 2 mins). It's fun to see the progress you make

“Those Aren’t Birds” with squiffer is literal hell. Yes, you do have a long range, but you get *one* shot or else death. Plus, it’s a pretty expensive mission and my accuracy sucks. #1 for me.

I know there’s something special for completing the story mode and After Alterna, but do you get anything for getting every collectible, getting rid of all the fuzzy ooze, and completing every stage with all the available weapons? Also, please let me know if there’s anything else to do in the story mode, since when I completed After Alterna I thought that I was done and haven’t touched it since.

Bro why do u not even have 1k subs u deserve so much more!

"Splatoon is not known for its difficulty" People who beat inner agent 3: *are you sure about that*

Might as well do my top 10...again: #10. Conserve Ink-Splat Sustainably #9. Easy Ride, Tricky Targets (with the Splatling) #8. Bet You Mist Us! (with the Blaster) #7. Return of the Mammalians #6. Those Aren't Birds (with the Squiffer) #5. One-Way Ride through Target Town (with the Tri-Stringer) #4. Enter the Stamp Gauntlet (with Canned Specials) #3. Time Trial & Errors (with the Squiffer) #2. The Enemy Ink is Lava! #1. After Alterna

what’s the name of the song you used in the beginning of the video? i have been trying to find it since the game came out

The one i struggled with the most where the rail grind level where the boxes spin around each other as they follow your rail, i had some difficulty with the after alterna rail section but only because i kept running out of ink one one specific section, once i learned i needed to submerge whenever i wasn't shooting to keep my ink tank full it was very easy like the rest of the level

Anybody have any tips for after alterna? I NEED SO MUCH HELP WITH EVERY GOD DAMN SEGMENT HELP

Chiaroscurist is pronounced Chee-arrow-scure-ist. I honestly found the second part of After Alterna to be the hardest part of that level for me. The last spiral always got me and once I got past it, I absolutely fluked the ending. Great content. I just discovered your channel and subbed.

It's always the time trial levels that are the hardest. You have to hit all the balloons without messing up or else you'll lose valuable time, which causes you to make more mistakes with how much you can't mess up. I consider the rail grind levels time trials too, considering... Well, you only have until the end of the rail, which is a set time.

Big man’s fight become laughably easy with te enhanced sensor

I'd heard about deadly dance hall before playing it and was really nervous, but I beat it first try and then beat it again after a couple more tries. It was super surprising, but I guess I wasn't moving around much

I was incredibly surprised to not see One way ride through target town with Tri-Stringer on here. Especially since you included another much easier rail grind mission.

Big Man's boss fight being a callback to Mario Sunshine was pretty cool

The enemy ink is lava is a hard stage, but you know what's harder? Playing it with joycon drift

Time trial and error with squiffer is actually not that hard, the problem is thinking about it as a charger. It pops the ballon without even charging making it easier to pop balloons in succession towards the end and consuming less ink. Once I realised this I cleared it immediately.

Fact: After alterna is the hardest mode because at the end you face kelp octolings, and the last wave of them features wave breakers and you only get ONE set of armor

*You literally triggered me with #10. Thank you for the pain.*

Any "break all the targets on the rails" is the hardest😭

the hardest was the target for me. I was so glad that I beated it. It took me like 2 hours to beat it and get the bear headbands.

I have no clue why but Splitting Crosshairs with the slosher was an absolute nightmare for me and is the honorary #11 spot in my eyes

„The enemy ink is lava” was a nightmare for me. IDK, I always had to slip and end up in the enemy’s ink. And I can’t really throw curling bombs…

I found "One Way Ride Through Target Town" (Site 5, Kettle 7) way more difficult and frustrating than "Easy Ride, Tricky Targets". For one, "One Way Ride" has no checkpoints. And the ink rail ride is about 1.5 mins long. So if you mess up and miss breaking a target, you go all the way back to the beginning. The second is the last 2 groups of targets requiring a jump-and-shoot technique. This requires the most accurate precision and timing of your shots so that it breaks all the last 2 groups of targets or else you fall straight into the water.

Time trial and error’s is a night mare thanks for putting it in

Your so underrated, you deserve so much more subs then 900.

epik u got 1K subs good job

What's the name of the song that plays during Easy ride, tricky targets ?

I remember playing Mike Tysons punchout on the famicom as a kid. Over 30 years later and Nintendo do it again. Funnily enough some of the bosses feel like on punch out when you are facing them head on and wait for a clue to take your turn

I just finished beating the stages with all weapons and this is a good list even though I don't agree with all of the choices. Like a lot of other people I'm surprised one-way ride through target town with the tri-stringer isn't on the list, that was the hardest stage besides after alterna for me.

If I ever hear octoling rendevous in the dlc for this game I'm going to start having flashbacks to after alterna immediately

11:40 It is actually easy to keep track of the correct shadow, assuming you're prepared. If you buy the sensor upgrades, the correct one will have a pink icon on it while the others will be yellow.

“The splatoon series isn’t known for its difficulty.” Octo expansion:

any level with a "shoot the balloons in the time limit" or just where youre under a limit i skip cuz i know ill fail. i have a slow reaction time due to autism or something and i dont think ill be able to complete those levels unless i practice a shizton

It's funny, when you think about it, Big Man's boss fight is literally the Manta Storm boss fight from Super Mario Sunshine. Even the ink is almost the same color.

Some of these I did with the weapons you listed for their first times, for example the dapple dualies with the flying target block level or the mini splatling with the sinking level, and I thought it was more fun

The fact that the grind rail balloon popping stage with the tri-slinger isn't on this list is insane

The enemy ink is lava has a time limit to avoid players cheesing by squid bagging through to make a trail. Though it's super forgiving as if you mess up one throw or two, doing so will still have lots of spare time

"those aren't birds" reminds me of volleyball and i loved it so much

i will sya that fo deadly hall jum jump it get SIGNIFICANTLY harder when you try to go for the eggs becuase once you get the first batch you get 2 more that spawn and then 3 more spawn all in diffrent locations and because i cant help myself i spent A LOT OF time trying it over and over to get ALL 6 of the eggs, the hardest part was getting the last 3 egg containers and surving the last 15 secs you need to pass. On another note also found out its a great way to farm eggs (i think) if you die after getting all 6 (which isnt hard) you get to keep it (i think) after you die so late in the level too they give you some pity eggs (not sure about this). BUT that means that you get 150 eggs in under a minute i didnt notice until after a couple of tries. you do lose 30 eggs because the level has a fee but i thinks its still good. also because they only give you one Life in this level once you do beat it you keep 150 eggs and get the first time bonus completion eggs & the reward too (i forgot how much they give you) when i finished i had around 4,000 eggs i think

Your very underrated I thought you had like 1M subs you should have 1m subs tho!

Tips for the mentioned stages (i guess) 10: avoid eggs and stay at your corner so you can predict the shockwaves 9: dodge roll to move and splat the orange target faster 8: don’t shoot balloons with a fail balloon below them and if you have to, shoot one shot at a time 7: try all other weapons first to get a feel for the target positions and shoot a little ahead of the moving targets you can cancel your shots midway by pressing ZL (swim form) to charge your next shots 6: ignore all enemies except octosniper, get armor to tank more hits 5: burst bomb 3 target groups to save time and refill lots of ink at one go swim to your destinations as well to refill ink 4: get into the maze ASAP so that flooders do not ink the place Learn the map layout to ensure you get all eggs but beware the random flooder AI 3: the ink is a clue build momentum in squid form before moving from one puddle to the next 2: Get Sensor. Red = Real. Yellow = Fake. also the fakes attack too make sure to refill 1: Max your hero gear. The camera viewpoints and the Areas Of Interest on the map indicate where Sardinium may be. As After Alterna is expensive, 100% all of the previous stages to obtain eggs for spending. Then, complete ‘Bet You Mist Us!’ And ‘Stamp 'Em Out’ before attempting as they are the only Fuzzy Octolings. Lastly, learn to Squid Roll and maybe play some multiplayer. Those fuzzy octolings are dangerous. When you complete this stage, go outside and take a nice soothing break, you deserve it.

For number 5 you can cheese this by just tap shooting the ballons. It doesn't need a full charge. A tap shot is enough which saves ink and time.

How do you have white ink in the inkrail target stage? lol

Were is the bow rail stage? And after Altena is way to ez because it have to many checkpoints

Big man is so easy. Even easier when you realise that the red target shows which one is the real one.

6:55 i was SHAKING after i beat this level with the squiffer. in my opinion, next to after alterna, this is the most terrifying and hardest level (squiffer). even 2 levels after i beat it completely i was shaking 10:45 i found big mans boss fight extremely easy, the only boss that made me rage and start over was shiver, since i was unable to upgrade my weapon and it seemed that was required, but i beat it! i actually dont remember a lot from big mans except for shooting the tiny rays. i expected more, really

Need help? Time trial and errors: With squiffer, yes just spam, but use the burst bombs for large quantities of balloons. Compulsive collector: 1. Make a map of the entire lay out 2. Make a good route to take. 3. USE BURST BOMBS (ps. Aiming the bomb in a certain way could collect a trail of eggs similar to the charger) BIG MAN boss: Burst bombs are your best friend/curling bombs splash down will help a lot, the perk that let's you mark enemys when in squid form will also help to much (ps. The shadow with a red mark is the real BIG MAN) After alterna: Kneel down and start praying. SMALL FRY IS A FAT HELP AGAINST THE OCTO SEGMENT. I hope this could possibly help y'all.

throughout After Alterna I was squid jumping and wall hugging and rail riding just crying to myself “please just give me a checkpoint”

I'm honestly shocked you didn't put one way ride through Target Town on this list considering how much of the community I've seen complaining about it.