- Name
- Masocore
- Aliases
Masocore
Through trial and error gameplay, complex game mechanics and intense difficulty, masocore games are specifically designed to frustrate players over and over again.
Concept Images Related Pages
Overview
I Wanna Be The Guy, a classic example of a masocore game.
Masocore (a portmanteau of "masochism" and "hardcore") is a theoretical video game sub-genre specifically designed to frustrate players by combining complex game mechanics with intense, seemingly impossible difficulty in special "trial and error" scenarios. Characteristics of masocore games include infinite lives (forcing players to retry sections of the game over and over in order to proceed), twitch gameplay, and confusing (and often conflicting) goals. Most popular in postmodern indie games, masocore games usually fall under the 2D platformer genre (though some bullet hell games often double as masocore games).
One of the most popular (and difficult) indie masocore game is I Wanna Be The Guy (Game), which parodies popular retro games while including intense platforming challenges that require near-pixel perfection and heavy memorization to complete.
Masocore is not to be confused with games that are difficult but do not include infinite lives or "trial and error" scenarios (such as the Mega Man (Franchise) franchise, which include difficult jump-related obstacles). Some masocore games such as Seven Minutes (Game) are designed around old gameplay concepts of their given genre that are mixed together in a way to exacerbate the level of challenge.
Games view all →]
- 10 Second Ninja X (Game)
- 1001 Spikes (Game)
- 20 Ladies (Game)
- Aaru's Awakening (Game)
- Aban Hawkins & the 1000 SPIKES (Game)
- Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures (Game)
- Celeste (Game)
- Cloak and Dasher (Game)
- Cloudberry Kingdom (Game)
- ClusterTruck (Game)
- Dead Dungeon (Game)
- Desvelado (Game)
- Dr. Oil (Game)
- Dustforce (Game)
- Electronic Super Joy (Game)
- Electronic Super Joy Groove City (Game)
- Fenix Rage (Game)
- Gabriel's Worlds The Adventure (Game)
- Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy (Game)
- Glam's Incredible Run: Escape from Dukha (Game)
- Hell of an Office (Game)
- Hercules (Game)
- Hexagon (Game)
- Horace (Game)
- I Wanna Be The Boshy (Game)
- I Wanna Be The Guy (Game)
- I Wanna Be The Guy: Gaiden (Game)
- I Wanna Take the Time Machine (Game)
- Ink (Game)
- Jumper (Game)
- Jumper Two (Game)
- KRUNCH (Game)
- Kid Klown in Crazy Chase (Game)
- Kid Klown in Crazy Chase 2: Love Love Hani Soudatsusen (Game)
- Listen Up! We Tried to Make “Those Games” Even More Extreme! Some Things Have to be Learned the Hard Way! (Game)
- Mechapunk (Game)
- Mighty Jill Off (Game)
- Mutant Mudds (Game)
- Mute Crimson (Game)
- N (Game)
- Ninja Gaiden (Game)
- Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (Game)
- Only Up! (Game)
- Pause Ahead (Game)
- PogoChamp (Game)
- Psychosomnium (Game)
- Pumped BMX+ (Game)
- Robbie Swifthand and the Orb of Mysteries (Game)
- Run: The World In-Between (Game)
- Seven Minutes (Game)
- Slick (Game)
- Spelunky (Game)
- Super Hexagon (Game)
- Super Meat Boy (Game)
- Super Meat Boy 3D (Game)
- Super Monkey Ball (Game)
- Super Monkey Ball 2 (Game)
- Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD (Game)
- Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania (Game)
- Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble (Game)
- Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll (Game)
- Super Rude Bear Resurrection (Game)
- Syobon Action (Game)
- Takeshi no Chousenjou (Game)
- Ten - Ten Rooms, Ten Seconds (Game)
- The Deep Cave (Game)
- The End is Nigh (Game)
- The Impossible Game (Game)
- There is No Pause Button! (Game)
- Tower of Heaven (Game)
- TrapAdventure 2 (Game)
- Trials Evolution (Game)
- Trials HD (Game)
- Utsurun Desu.: Kawauso Hawaii e Iku (Game)
- VVVVVV (Game)
- Velocibox (Game)
- Yolanda: The Ultimate Challenge (Game)
- You Have to Win the Game (Game)