- Checkpoint starvation. In my eyes, it usually makes a level or game as a whole way more difficult than necessary. I'm not saying to plop down checkpoints every five steps, but maybe place two or three in a level depending on how large it is.
- Extended sequences where you're having to tediously jump on a bunch of really tiny platforms over a bottomless pit or other hazard. It's challenging, but for all the wrong reasons. An example of this would be those Super Mario Maker levels where the creator opts to put a bunch of 1-tile blocks spaced between each other over a pit. In my eyes, bigger platforms over a pit but with obstacles in-between them are the way to go.
- Difficulty spikes. A gradual increase in difficulty allows you to adjust to how the game plays while also bettering yourself over time for the challenges ahead. Difficulty spikes on the other hand can stone-wall you and make you feel like you can't catch up to the sudden increase of skill required.
- Similarly, games that start out difficult right out of the gates and don't even try to ease you into how it plays. Stuff like this makes it really difficult for me to get into the game in the first place.
- Unless it's one of the last levels in the game, levels that are ungodly long without a chance to save, especially if a lives system is in place. Just from recent memory, Native Fortress and Sunset Vista from the first Crash Bandicoot are offenders of this.
- This is more of a personal preference, but I've never been a fan of games where it's almost purely online multiplayer with little-to-no offline content to speak of. As someone who usually detests playing with other people due to how toxic online gaming communities can get, I usually avoid games like this as a whole. I'll also add that I more often than not don't feel like my skill level can compete with more serious players, so I usually try to save myself the embarassment, haha.