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is a philosophy of
game design Game design is the process of creating and shaping the mechanics, systems, rules, and gameplay of a game. Game design processes apply to board games, card games, dice games, casino games, role-playing games, sports, Wargame (video games), war ga ...
, specifically platforming games, distinguished by a high degree of strictness placed upon the player's intended actions and movements through a level. This emphasis on precision, which manifests in the form of extremely-precise character movement (often enforced through subterfuge and purposefully hidden traps), requires the player to use high levels of skill and knowledge of the game's physics and
engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...
in order to accomplish tasks. The philosophy is most closely associated with ROM hacks of ''
Super Mario World ''Super Mario World'', known in Japan as '' is a 1990 platform game developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The player controls Mario on his quest to save Princess Peach and Dino ...
'' and with custom levels created in ''
Super Mario Maker is a 2015 platform game and game creation system developed and published by Nintendo. An entry in the ''Super Mario'' series, the game allowed players to create, play, and share courses based on previous ''Super Mario'' titles including ''Sup ...
''and''
Super Mario Maker 2 is a 2019 platform game and game creation system developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the sequel to '' Super Mario Maker'' and was released worldwide on June 28, 2019. The gameplay is largely retained from that o ...
'', but has been cited as an influence in other fan-made and original game designs. The term originally came from the Japanese ROM-hacking scene, where ''kaizo'' was used as a general term for all modified games.


Origin

The creation of ROM hacks for ''
Super Mario (also known as and is a platform game series created by Nintendo starring their mascot, Mario. It is the central series of the greater Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise. At least one ''Super Mario'' game has been released for every ma ...
'' games began in 1987 with the release of the Tonkachi editor for the
Famicom Disk System The commonly shortened to the Famicom Disk System, is a peripheral for Nintendo's Family Computer (Famicom) home video game console, released in Japan on February 21, 1986. The system uses proprietary floppy disks called "Disk Cards" for more ...
. While the device did not achieve commercial success, it included on one of its
floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...
s an option to modify a disk copy of ''
Super Mario Bros. is a 1985 Platformer, platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It is the successor to the 1983 arcade game ''Mario Bros.'' and the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series. It was origi ...
'', turning it into a ROM hack called ''Tonkachi Mario'', which can be considered a precursor to similar projects. Like later established hacks, ''Tonkachi Mario'' requires the player to be dedicated to understanding the quirks of the game engine, such as knowing about bugs in the programming in order to be able to pass through walls that are normally impassable. ''
Kaizo Mario World also known as ''Asshole Mario'', is a series of three ROM hacks of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game ''Super Mario World'', created by T. Takemoto. The term "Kaizo Mario World" is a shortened form of the title The series was cr ...
'' was released in 2007 by T. Takemoto on the Japanese platform
Niconico , known before 2012 as , is a Japanese video sharing service based in Tokyo, Japan. "Niconico" or "nikoniko" is the Japanese sound symbolism, Japanese ideophone for smiling. As of 2021, Niconico is the 34th most-visited website in Japan, accordi ...
. The first hack to officially use the phrase ''kaizo'' in the title, it introduced many elements that would become synonymous with the design style: "''kaizo'' blocks"—invisible blocks that are placed precisely where a player believes they should jump in order to punish their assumption, auto-scrollers that constantly increase in speed, post-goal obstacles (known as "''kaizo'' traps") that require the player to take a specific action before finishing, and "Ultra Star": a level consisting of extremely precise platform jumps and switches.


Rise in popularity


''Kaizo Mario World'' and early YouTube

T. Takemoto's video on NicoNico was reuploaded and shared on English-language websites under the title ''Asshole Mario'', and became a viral hit due to the extreme demands of the player and the humor in discovering all of the hidden traps. The first
Let's Play A Let's Play (LP) is a video (or screenshots accompanied by text) documenting the playthrough of a video game, often including commentary and (in some cases) a camera view of the gamer's face. A Let's Play differs from a video game walkthrough ...
has over 5.5 million views on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
, and Takemoto released sequels in 2008 (''Kaizo Mario World 2'') and 2012 (''Kaizo Mario World 3''), with the latter in particular being considered one of the most difficult ROM hacks to date, mainly due to the heavily modified Bowser fight which is based on random factors.


Games Done Quick

Many experienced players at the time assumed that the games were unlikely to be played through by human players, if at all, and that it was primarily a genre for tool-assisted speedrunning. As the games became more popular and accessible, however, more experienced players within the ''Super Mario World''
speedrunning Speedrunning is the act of playing a video game, or section of a video game, with the goal of completing it as fast as possible. Speedrunning often involves following planned routes, which may incorporate sequence breaking and exploit glitches ...
community began to attempt the games as a way to challenge their skills and break the monotony of record grinding. This led to the feature of ''Kaizo Mario World 1'' by dram55, a world-class runner of ''Super Mario World'' at Awesome Games Done Quick 2015 in 24 minutes and 36 seconds. This run served as the springboard for the inclusion of ''Kaizo Mario World'', '' Super Mario Bros. 3'', and '' Super Metroid''
fangames A fan game is a video game that is fan labor, created by fans of a certain topic or intellectual property, IP. They are usually based on one, or in some cases several, video game entries or franchises. Many fan games attempt to Clone (computing) ...
in following events, including notable runs by
GrandPooBear David Hunt (born April 11, 1985), known online as GrandPooBear, is an American video game streamer, speedrunner, and creator of Kaizo ''Super Mario'' levels. A Red Bull athlete, Hunt is primarily known for playing and creating levels for ' ...
, MitchFlowerPower, OatsandGoats, and individual and relay races of both full hacks and custom-created levels. Kaizo inclusions in GDQ events have served to inspire many to both play and create kaizo games, as well as generate media for both the marathons and the community.


''Super Mario Maker''

The ability for a player to make and play their own kaizo-style levels was extended to a much wider audience with the release of ''
Super Mario Maker is a 2015 platform game and game creation system developed and published by Nintendo. An entry in the ''Super Mario'' series, the game allowed players to create, play, and share courses based on previous ''Super Mario'' titles including ''Sup ...
'' in 2015. Prior to this, all games such as ''Kaizo Mario World'' were made using
Lunar Magic ''Lunar Magic'' is a level editor created by FuSoYa for '' Super Mario World'' that allows the user to edit and create custom graphics, blocks, sprites, levels, backgrounds, music, overworld maps, and full title screen and credits. The progra ...
, a ''Super Mario World''
level editor A level editor (also known as a map, campaign or scenario editor) is a game development tool used to design Level (video games), levels, maps, campaigns and virtual worlds for a video game. An individual involved with the development of game levels ...
, and distributed non-commercially via patches to players who applied them to legally owned copies of the game and played them via
emulator In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run sof ...
or through custom cartridges. With ''Mario Maker'', creative tools were given directly to players, along with the distribution and means to share and access creators and levels quickly. This, combined with the high sales for the game worldwide, led to a surge in interest in Kaizo, as well as an influx of players and creators looking for people to showcase their work. Early examples of Kaizo levels reaching notable mainstream attention include the creations of PangaeaPanga, whose "Pit of Panga" series of levels, including "P-Break" and "U-Break," would set records for playthroughs, clear rate, and viewership.


Livestream popularity and community

As Kaizo's popularity first started due to views and playthroughs uploaded to Youtube, it has continued in part through livestreaming and community participation on platforms such as
Discord Discord is an instant messaging and Voice over IP, VoIP social platform which allows communication through Voice over IP, voice calls, Videotelephony, video calls, text messaging, and digital media, media. Communication can be private or take ...
and Twitch. As the creation and distribution of ROM hacking is legally unable to be commercially monetized, many creators also participate in playthroughs and livestream events. Creators and players also come together to share new hacks, resources, and to mentor and encourage new creators within the genre. ''
Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...
'' describes the community as "friendly, competitive, and creative" with famous players alongside new players. The popularity of the subgenre remains strong, especially on video platforms such as Twitch and
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
. Well-known content creators, such as BarbarousKing, GrandPooBear, ThaBeast721, CarlSagan42, ryukahr, Shoujo, and PangaeaPanga, have several hundred thousand subscribers and regularly have thousands of live viewers.


''Pokémon Kaizo''

The ''kaizo'' series of ''
Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise consisting of List of Pokémon video games, video games, Pokémon (TV series), animated series and List of Pokémon films, films, Pokémon Trading Card Game, a trading card game, and other related media. The fran ...
'' games (especially ''Emerald Kaizo'') started to grab the attention of YouTubers and Twitch streamers in 2019–2020, as channels such as ChaoticMeatball and zwiggo started to upload challenge runs using mono-typed teams and other restrictions. These games are known for having enemy trainers with complicated teams and movesets, forcing the player to fight most trainers, who are often optional in the original games, and limiting resources for the player. This includes preventing them from using healing items in battle, only allowing them access to under-powered Pokémon against much stronger enemy teams, and limiting access to powerful moves such as stat-boosting moves, forcing them to strategize against enemy teams rather than casually play through the game. They are also known for having difficult and complicated overworld puzzles. Other ''kaizo'' games include ''Blue Kaizo'' and ''Crystal Kaizo'', while advanced difficulty ROM hacks such as ''FireRed'' hack "Radical Red" and ''Emerald'' hack "Run & Bun" are often associated with the ''kaizo'' series due to their similar level of difficulty. In May 2022, the YouTube channel Pokémon Challenges uploaded a video titles "How I Beat the Hardest Pokémon Game Ever Made", detailing his 151st (and final) attempt to beat ''Pokémon Emerald Kaizo'' while following the "Hardcore Nuzlocke" challenge rules, meaning he had to permanently store all fainted Pokémon, only catch the first encounter in each area, keep his Pokémon levels under a self-imposed cap, and restart the run should he lose a battle. This video features other YouTubers such as WolfeyVGC and Jaiden Animations and has accumulated over 7 million views. Since his victory, multiple streamers and YouTubers, such as WolfeyVGC, have also completed "Hardcore Nuzlocke" challenges of ''Emerald Kaizo'' and beating the game has become a status symbol within the Nuzlocke community. In February 2023, Twitch streamer Prouty completed a "Hardcore Nuzlocke Deathless" challenge of ''Emerald Kaizo'', meaning that not a single one of his Pokémon fainted during his run. This run was celebrated by Pchal, who made a video in December 2023 breaking down this run.


Design philosophy

The primary attribute of ''kaizo'' design philosophy is restriction - in contrast to regular platforming games, where players may have freedom to repeat and try multiple techniques to reach the desired objective, ''kaizo'' design intentionally focuses on taking away time and opportunity from the player in order to force a specific solution and specific method of execution. Beekaay, an SMW Central moderator, explains the motive and intent behind ''kaizo'' design as follows: A hallmark of ''kaizo'' gameplay is the frequent and repeated death of the player in the course of the playthrough, even by highly skilled players. This constant cycle is considered part of the learning process, and many ''kaizo'' games do not punish the player beyond a forced restart (that is, there is no reduction of score or limit on total lives).


Scholarly review

Game design, mass communication, humanities, and new media scholars have used ''kaizo'' design philosophies as a subject for analysis in the relationship between players, level designers, audiences and the motivations and rationale for making and playing video games. Wilson and Sicart consider the ''kaizo'' philosophy among examples of "abusive design" in video games—a deliberate, violent break with established conventions in game design and a resulting artistic approach to the medium:


Selected examples


''Super Mario World''

At present, more than 988 ''kaizo'' hacks of varying difficulty have been approved by SMW Central, which has hosted and approved ''kaizo'' hacks since 2014.


''Super Mario Bros. 3''


Other notable examples


References


Further reading

* * * * * *


External links


SMW Central - Primary home for Kaizo Super Mario World hacks and resources

Maker Teams - Hub for Kaizo Super Mario Maker creators of varying interests and subgenres

Metroid Construction - Primary home for Super Metroid hacks and resources
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