I just picked the one from KQ3 above because it's the one that really pissed me off when I played it.

Yea, "Falling Death" was a pet peeve of mine in video games. I always thought that “navigation exercises” (and the closely related “jumping exercises”) were just cheap tricks to extend the "life" of a game. Man I hated those.

And no, I don't believe your story about your friend who didn't know about saving the game...

Well it's true as far as I know. I saw him restart the game about a hundred times. He told me there was no save option and I hadn't ever played one at that time so I believed him. (When I got the game, however, I quickly discovered his error). He finally told me he beat it and that’s when I thought to tell him about how to save. He seemed genuinely surprised (though I am supremely gullible).

I don't believe anyone who's that stupid could play it all the way through in one shot.

Never underestimate the power of persistence, especially when combined with ignorance.