The video game, available in the Apple app store on iOS devices, is essentially a nightmare version of the original platform game Super Mario Bros. As you run and jump your way through a castle-like maze, a never-ending series of spikes, flames and other booby traps appear out of nowhere to take your life, forcing you to start over. For most people, it’s pretty much impossible to beat and leaves you feeling very irritated and frustrated. If you play trap adventure you will find it to be the most frustrating game you have probably ever played.
“Trap Adventure 2 may look like a Super Mario Bros. clone, but it uses that familiarity against the players,” wrote Blair Marnell on Nerdist. “Every tactic that would have worked in Mario’s adventure becomes a death trap in this game, as the stage turns against the player at nearly every opportunity.”
McWhertor, of Polygon, had a similar take: “Oshiba’s Trap Adventure games lean into subverting the player’s expectations, making presumably safe platforms into lethal traps.”
Kataku’s comments section was also full of praise for the developer.
“Whoever designed this game thought of everything,” one reader wrote. “I don’t think it would be half as funny without that degree of prescience about player behaviour.” Playing this game will drive you insane and make you want to throw your phone out the window.
Oshiba, on the other hand, takes a modest view of his creation. “It’s terrible,” he tweeted, “so I won’t recommend it.”
TrapAdventure 2 -Hardest Retro Game – HIROYOSHI OSHIBA
Trap Adventure 2 is a painfully difficult iOS game. Download and try for yourself – https://t.co/JBvlzWtPuQ pic.twitter.com/omklWy5FT4
— GIFCOP (@gifcop) January 28, 2018
Traps will do