The Bizarre World of Kaizo Games

Impossibly difficult, player-created games are quietly conquering the internet

I recently played the kaizo hack known as Invictus. In just 30 minutes, I racked up 100 deaths — I didn’t even make it to the first checkpoint. Over the last two months, I’ve played more than 50 platformers while working on my next book, and this is the first time I’ve completely stopped dead in my tracks. As my sore hand recovers, I’m left asking this question: is “kaizo” good game design?

What is kaizo?

Kaizo games have become an increasingly popular sub-genre of sorts (they are typically derived from platformers). Originating first with a title called I Wanna Be The Guy, the kaizo concept has since evolved into its own distinct design language. While Super Mario Maker represented the first time that mainstream audience would be exposed to the idea, the original Mario games have been spun off as kaizo experiences for years now. Creators have been using Super Mario World as the canvas for a wide variety of unique and super-difficult games. Specifically, creators take the original game’s ROM file and modify it to create a kaizo experience.

The fundamentals of kaizo are simple: the idea is that you’re playing incredibly difficult levels built in the general style of the…