Platform games are perhaps the most iconic video game genre, as they’ve produced a host of classic video game characters. Even other genres have either spun off from platform games, or use some of their elements for their challenges, like Metroidvania games, or first-person adventure games.
They’re often seen as being beginner-friendly thanks to their cuddly mascots. However, some games ramped up the challenge, where players had to be more precise with their platforming. Then other games wanted to test players on more than just precision, as their different traps, gotcha moments, and other features took them straight to platform hell.
9Spelunker
Introducing the Mr Glass of Platforming Mascots
The originalSpelunkermight be the first platform hell game. Particularly its NES port, where its cave-exploring hero could be killed by anything and everything. He can be done in by bats, ghosts, his own flares, and falls longer than his own height. Which means he could die in midair to falls evenDonkey KongMario could survive. MakingSpelunker’s protagonist “the weakest hero in video game history” was certainly one way to extend its 6-level runtime.
The Atari and arcade versions offered more mercy via some additional power-ups. Yet the NES game would go on to be the most influential version of the game. Its difficulty would inspire the roguelike platformerSpelunky, theSteamWorldgames, and even a remake inSpelunker HD, and a belated sequel inSpelunker World.
Pretty much everyone online knows the story now: “Super Mario Bros 2was a reskin ofDoki Doki Panicbecause the actualSMB2was too hard for Americans to complete”. When it was remade forSuper Mario All-Stars, it was renamedSuper Mario Bros: The Lost Levels, whereits difficulty became part of its appeal. The new name feels more fitting, as it feels more like a bundle of extra levels for the original game than a standalone sequel.
The Lakitus and Hammer Bros are bad enough, but it adds new, more dastardly challenges that have rarely been revisited by the series. Like heavy winds that players have to jump through to reach the next platforms, or Poison Mushrooms, which will do the opposite of powering Mario up. It’s no use looking for warp zones too, as some will send Mario back to the beginning of the game.
7Kaizo Mario World
How a ROM Hack Became a Shorthand for Platform Hell
Still, Nintendo did at least want regular players to beatSMB: The Lost Levelsby giving it a difficulty curve (albeit with a high base level).Kaizo Mario Worldis another matter entirely. It’s technically 3 games, each one a ROM hack ofSuper Mario World, that T. Takemoto made to test his friend R. Kiba (or test his friendship with him). The games then hit the internet after that, where its infamy went global.
Kaizo Mario Worldbecame the flagbearer of platform hell games, as each level hides traps players wouldn’t expect. Like needing to spin-jump on certain enemies to get across hazards, or jumping carefully in case there was a hidden block ready to shunt them into oblivion. It’s since inspired a litany of ‘Kaizo’ games, fromKaizo Mario 64toKaizo Minecraft.
Games made to deliberately test people’s skills and patience must’ve been en vogue in the late 2000s, as Michael ‘Kayin’ O’Reilly madeI Wanna Be the Guyaround the same time T. Takemoto was working onKaizo Mario World. But the latter tested players on how well they knewSuper Mario World.IWBTGintentionally sets out toscrew with the playerinstead.
Players must help The Kid become The Guy™ by jumping around pits and spikes, while shooting at enemies and some gigantic bosses with his tiny gun. The platform puzzles were tricky enough, as if the sea of spikes didn’t get them, itsKaizo-esque traps would (e.g. objects falling up into them instead of down). Its infamy has ebbed since its heyday, but its legacy lasts via its fanmade remake and the host of salty YouTube videos it inspired at its peak.
5Rick Dangerous
Giving European Gamers PTSD Since 1989
SMB: The Lost Levels,Kaizo Mario, andSuper Meat Boywere all intentionally made to be tricky games. But it’s not often that a developer makes a game difficult by accident.Rick Dangerouswas made by Core Design as anIndiana Jones-inspired adventure for MS-DOS and a host of microcomputers, where it possibly invented Kaizo traps decades beforeKaizo Mario.
Core Design playtested it themselves and got good enough at it to know how to get around its traps. Players at home didn’t. They had to deal with arrows coming out of nowhere, spikes that blend into the background, aggressive enemies, and more from scratch. They only had 6 lives to work with too, and no continues. Once they were gone, the game was over.
4You Have to Win the Game
A Task Easier Said Than Done
Unlike the other entries on this list,You Have to Win the Gameoffers some mercy in that it’s a free-exploration platformer. Players can take any route they like towards the end,and unlike Metroidvanias, they don’t need to gain one ability or power-up to progress further. They could hop through its C64-looking monochrome levels in a breeze.
But if they wanted to beat it 100% and find its most valuable treasures, they’d have to go through every screen in the game. They’ll turn what seemed like a tricky, but harmless platformer into one that’ll test their precision platforming skills to the brink. Especially if they play it in YOLO mode, where they’ll only have 1 life to get around its spiked floors, fragile floors, and leaps of faith.
For everyone turned off by platform hell games, there are some who love hanging out in its deepest layers. Some even go on to make their own intensely challenging platformers. Like1,001 Spikes,which was inspired by games likeChallengerandRick Dangerous, complete with plenty of traps to catch players short. If players know what they’re doing, they can beat its levels in less than a minute each.
But that requires knowing where each spike trap is, which walls will fire out lethal darts and which ones won’t, and which falling block is a hazard and which one they were meant to ride on to get to the next section. Learning will eat up most of the player’s 1,001 lives until they run dry. It’ll also test people’s wallets if they want a physical copy of the game,which is hard to come bycompared to its digital editions.
Created by GR3 Project in 2006,La-Mulanawas made as a tribute to MSX games a laMaze of Galious. It was also made because its developers thought then-modern games lacked difficulty, and players needed something that really tested their skills. They can go in any direction they like in the game, but they might not like what they find.
The base game is difficult enough, as players have to think twice about how to navigate each hazard. But no amount of thinking will save them from the invisible pits, homing spikes, and hidden traps in its Hell Temple. For an extra kicker, the temple’s final puzzle requires beating it all over again from the beginning to solve it. Some challenges just aren’t worth completing.
Meat Boyleaped out from Newgrounds and onto store shelves asSuper Meat Boyin 2010. Unlike its Flash-based predecessor, players had to tackle 300 levels of gradually increasing difficulty to save Bandage Girl from the nefarious Doctor Fetus and his minions. Even by the standards of its rivals, it drove even the most placid of playersinto intense rages.
That said, the game offered some mercy, as its levels were short, and players had infinite lives to try them as many times as they liked. It didn’t pressure them with limited lives or cheap traps. But they’d still have to master all of Meat Boy’s abilities, from wall-jumping and sliding, to his floaty jumps, to get around spikes, circular saws, and more to beat the game. The trials are fair, but the player will make a ton of errors along the way.
