Collecting things in video games can be a satisfying endeavor, scratching the loot goblin itch in your brain while inching closer and closer to 100 percent completion.
Some collectibles, such as in the case of Silent Hill 2 Remake, are meant to invoke nostalgia and reference games prior. Other collectibles are simply important to the game’s story and lore; but there are some that don’t seem to have that same impact at all.
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Sometimes, though, it can make players want to hit their heads against a wall, either for being too difficult or time-sensitive to collect or through various other inconveniences.
These games have those pesky collectibles, and unfortunately, the experience of gathering them all is not a fun task. If anything, it feels outright counterproductive.
Perhaps it might be worth it if there’s a good enough reward at the end of these collectible missions, but for these, that may not be the case either. Whatever it boils down to, players end up being thoroughly annoyed with these trinkets.
10 Pigeons
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Marvel’s Spider-Man is a fun, action-packed game based on the comics set in New York City — and true to form, there are a lot of pigeons. It just so happens that these pigeons become a nightmare for players later in the game.
This collectible has an in-game quest attached to it, titled Helping Howard. Upon meeting a man named Howard in Chinatown, he says that his pet pigeon, named Pidgy, is lonely and asks for help in reuniting his 12 other cousins with him.
Of course, being the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, players agree and begin their search, only to be met with an incredibly frustrating encounter. They are fast and hard to catch, being able to sharply turn on a dime and completely disorient players if they aren’t quick enough to follow.
The key thing to catching them requires being a near-expert at web-swinging. The mobility, grasping, the whole nine yards — all of it needs to be mastered in order to have a decent chance at catching these birds.
9 Golden Bananas
Donkey Kong 64
- Franchise
- Donkey Kong
- Released
- November 24, 1999
- Developer
- Publisher
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer
- Engine
- NEC VR4300
- ESRB
- e
- How Long To Beat
- 27 Hours
- Metascore
- 90
Donkey Kong 64 is notorious for its excessive number of collectibles. To this day, it still remains a frustrating classic to play due to the sheer amount that is packed into the collecting. It’s genuinely surprising, considering the limitations of the Nintendo 64.
One collectible in particular, the Golden Bananas, are particularly well known for their difficulty — and there are 200 of them. By collecting all of these bananas and taking them to the Banana Fairy Queen, players can unlock a secret ending cutscene after beating the game.
These bananas can be obtained through all kinds of means, including Mario Party-esque mini-games. However, these mini-games aren’t all fun, the worst of them all being Beaver Bother.
With frustrating A.I., limited movement, unbalanced fighting and a dozen other absolute migraines, it’s better to just avoid all the nonsense and watch the secret cutscene online.
8 Feathers
Assassin’s Creed 2
The Assassin’s Creed games are infamous for unnecessary collectibles. In Assassin’s Creed II, players become the assassin Ezio Auditore, who is widely regarded as the best assassin (and maybe even character overall) in the franchise.
His youngest brother, Pertuchio, was wrongly murdered at the beginning of the game, but not before talking about a sudden interest in collecting a bunch of bird feathers. He never tells Ezio why he wants these feathers, and it will never be known.
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Afterwards, Ezio’s surviving mother will be seen praying by Pertuchio’s feathers, stricken with grief over her baby boy. Players then have to catch all the other feathers to snap her out of her trance, which wouldn’t be an issue if it weren’t for the fact that there are literally 100 of them. They’re tiny, hard to see, hard to catch, and a complete pain in the butt to acquire.
Gathering all of them will give players an achievement along with the Auditore Cape, plus a sweet cutscene. But after everything that Ezio had to go through getting them all, it’s practically not worth it.
7 Flying Rats
Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV is a miraculously fun game with lots to do and discover, but unfortunately, there’s lots to be annoyed with as well. Most particularly, the “Flying Rats” that Niko goes around slaughtering.
There are a total of 200 flying rats — AKA pigeons — in the game that need to be killed in order to 100% the game. They can be killed by any method, but the hard part is getting to them.
These pigeons are an absolute nightmare to get to; they’re difficult to reach with wonky hitboxes that can’t be shot through. Sometimes, players will find themselves leaping out of helicopters in order to get a few because they got stuck or can’t be reached.
Killing them all rewards a trophy as well, but it’s almost certainly not worth the hassle that players have to go through in order to obtain it.
6 Stones of Barenziah
Skyrim
The Stones of Barenziah in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim are frustrating and easy-to-miss items, requiring tons of searching if one plans to get them in a single playthrough.
After obtaining one, players have to get the item appraised at the Thieves Guild, and it’s there that they learn that they’re worthless on their own, but incredibly valuable in a complete collection. It’s a set of 24.
At first mention, it doesn’t seem too bad, but it’s not until players are forced to hike with these stones in their pocket for the entire game. Since it’s a quest item, it can’t be removed from the player’s inventory, even if they’re not interested in participating in said quest.
Combined with the fact that they do have a carry weight, suddenly becoming over-encumbered is more prominent with each stone. These stones are hard to find and even harder to get rid of, making them a complete nuisance more often than not.
The rewards are rich and are worth the struggle for some players, but to others, they simply don’t have the time for all of it.
5 Riddler Trophies
Batman: Arkham Knight
The Riddler Trophies in Batman: Arkham Asylum are a fun, creative collectible that truly makes players genuinely feel like the world’s greatest detective.
These same trophies in Arkham Knight, on the other hand, are an absolute nightmare. There are 243 trophies altogether, and players can’t get the game’s True Ending until Batman collects all of them.
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Fans of Silent Hill tend to be hungry for more horrifying games similar in style — maybe with the fog not included.
Unfortunately, it’s not just the massive number of trophies that annoys players, but it’s also the way that they’re obtained. Sometimes, the riddles are convoluted and make no sense, the timed trials are impossible, and many others are frustratingly difficult to access.
Having to race in the Batmobile is already frustrating for skilled players, too, so it’s even worse for those who don’t fully grasp it.
Unlike Arkham Asylum where each addition to the Riddler Trophy collection is a reward, each addition in Arkham Knight feels like a nuisance.
The Riddler’s inferiority complex remains outright obsessive, his insecurities becoming clearer and clearer with each trophy Batman has to race and find. It’s a pain, and one that many players just ignore when playing the game, True Ending be damned.
4 Coffee Thermoses
Alan Wake
Some collectibles, such as the Coffee Thermoses in Alan Wake, will leave players questioning what they’re even doing all of this for. There are a total of 100 Oh Deer Diner Coffee Thermoses scattered around the map in all six chapters.
That said, this also means that if players miss a thermos, they won’t be able to complete the collection unless they replay the entire game – replaying the chapter will not be enough. Granted, the game warns when players hit the point of no return in chapters, but it’s still frustrating when thorough players miss just one item.
They’re small and easy to overlook, especially in this dark, horror world. Even more frustratingly, they’re simply a collectible that references Twin Peaks. That’s it. There is no reward for collecting these things other than an achievement, making the intense effort to find these items completely arbitrary.
And if one is forgotten? Players are simply out of luck and have to start again. It’s horrid.
3 Korok Seeds
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Released
- March 3, 2017
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Engine
- Havok
- ESRB
- E for Everyone: Fantasy Violence, Use of Alcohol, Mild Suggestive Themes
- How Long To Beat
- 50 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- no
- Metascore
- 97
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- yes
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
- Cross Save
- no
- Cross-Platform Play
- no
When the Korok Seeds were first introduced in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, they were a lovely feature that allowed Link to upgrade his weapons and clothing slots. It takes an insane 441 seeds for Link to fully upgrade his inventory, but that’s not where the collection ends.
There is a staggering total of 900 Korok Seeds throughout the Kingdom of Hyrule, and there is genuinely no other benefit to collecting them all.
It feels like a rushed collectible that was designed to laugh at players, as those who do take the tedious collecting seriously are given no real reward. Instead, Hetsu, the maraca-wielding Korok, gifts Link with The Gift of Friendship – which is, in reality, a pile of Korok poop.
It was meant to be a joke, but if anything, it comes off as blatantly insulting. A collectible that had the potential to be something amazing in terms of mechanics and fun turned into a fruitless chore.
Every single “ya-ha-ha!” becomes an irate annoyance, and it’s simply not worth the spit in the face if Link’s inventory is already fully upgraded.
Just saying, taking out frustration on the Koroks in Tears of the Kingdom continues to be therapeutic after dealing with that nonsense.
2 Musical Notes
Banjo-Kazooie
- Released
- June 28, 1998
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- ESRB
- E for Everyone
- How Long To Beat
- 11 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- No
- File Size Xbox Series
- 576 MB (November 2023)
Banjo-Kazooie’s musical notes remain one of the most notorious infuriating gaming collectibles. With a disorienting 100 musical notes in each level across nine total levels, that means that players have 900 total notes to collect. The worst part is that it’s all for nothing.
It doesn’t stop there, either, since these musical notes can’t be taken outside of the platformer’s world. So, this means if players die or leave the world, they have to redo the collection all over again.
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It’s not just for the world, either, but for the entire game, meaning that if players hop out of the world in the ninth level, they will have to go back to collect all the other 800 musical notes before they can get the remaining hundred. Saving the count was apparently too advanced for the Nintendo 64.
When the game was re-released on Xbox Live Arcade, and given a couple much-needed patches surrounding these notes. The XBLA version of the game grants an achievement for collecting them all, and it saves the total count, giving players some desperate breathing room.
Even still, for those who prefer to play the classics on their original consoles, they’re in for a terrible time with the musical notes.
1 Flags
Assassin’s Creed
Assassin’s Creed, unfortunately, will never learn when it comes to horrendous collectibles — stemming all the way to the first game with the 420 flags.
There is no in-game reward that’s unlocked upon completion, and there’s not even a reward for most game consoles. The only exception is the Xbox 360, which grants an achievement to players who collected them all.
These flags are incredibly hard to find and there are far too many, with no way to keep track of where they all are. Players have to manually scan through their map to make sure they’ve covered all grounds, and even then, they’re still likely to miss a few.
It’s frustrating, tedious, and not even worth the effort in the game. Players could have everything completed, but they’re missing just one flag — cue losing your mind.
Thankfully, backtracking is allowed, even after beating the game, so players are able to do this if there’s literally nothing else left.
Even then, it might just be better to start a new game.
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