Flappy Birds and Unfair Mario Makes Me Rage: Aziz Talks

Will PETA be upset if I used these suits?
Worst Power-ups ever!

Over the last couple of weeks I've been playing a couple of games that are designed to be both addictive and difficult or mind numbingly frustrating. These games are Flappy Birds and Unfair Mario (and a little of Cat Mario). While I was playing them my phone nearly went through my T.V and my laptop nearly went through the window. Both of these games have gone viral but why the hell do we play these games?

Unfair Mario is based on Mario (I know, you’re surprised right?) you try to get from left to right without dying. Easy enough right? The twist is that the developers hate you and decided that Mario wasn't hard enough and peppered the levels with traps. I saw SmoshGames (SmoshGames YouTube Channel) playing it and thought I’d give it a go myself.  How difficult could it be? Well I spent a couple of hours playing and managed to get to level 9 and died several hundred times. I live alone, so I spent most of the time shouting and screaming and swearing but I couldn't stop playing. It’s addictive and I every time I got to the end of a level I felt a sense of accomplishment and the closer and closer I got to the end the more I couldn't stop playing. Eventually I had to leave so I intended to finish it when I got home and the game is supposed to save. When I loaded it up I came back to this:

Fuck you game, just fuck you

So, yeah, I got pissed off and didn't finish the game.  Why did I spend so long playing a game that frustrated me?  I was a Sega kid so I didn't play much Mario but my Game Boy meant I still felt nostalgic and I imagine the main demographic of the game is people that gamed in the late-80s to mid-90s. Maybe it’s because it gives you an emotional response. I mean that’s why we watch horror films, we get scared and it gives us an adrenaline rush so we watch them. Or maybe it’s because we feel a sense of accomplishment when we beat the game.  

With Flappy Birds you tap the screen to fly through Mario pipes and don't touch anything. There is the high score, I’m not going to lie I was proud of my 37 and disappointed when my friend facebooked that he had 96 and I carried on playing to try and beat him (unsuccessfully, I might add). The most successful phone apps are simple (think Angry Birds and Candy Crush) because they’re accessible to casuals and non-gamers but this game is insanely difficult, which seems to frustrate people more than entertain them. I first saw the game when Shanna Malcolm (Shanna's YouTube Channel)  spent 7 minutes getting a score of 1 and doing about as much as yelling as I did. I blame her for my addiction to the game however irrational it is.  I eventually got a high score of 70:

This was definitely not the most productive thing I did that day... 

Even though I’m still playing it I don’t seem to be getting anywhere near 70 and I feel a sense of failure every time, but I still play it and probably won’t stop anytime soon. Or maybe I’ll sell my phone since the developer decided to get rid of the app.

I have an Xbox One and an Xbox 360 as well as a healthy steam library and yet I spend hours playing these games. Honestly, I have no idea why I play these rage inducing but I don’t plan on stopping. Maybe I have spent too much time on the internet and enjoy causing myself pain or maybe these games are just addictive, simple time-sucks that waste my time when I can’t be bothered thinking. Hey, at least it isn't Farmville. If you want to play Unfair Mario there's a link below. If you want to play Flappy Birds, you can either go on Ebay or download one of the MANY rip offs. If you know why these games are so popular let me know on Twitter.

Unfair Mario: Click me to RAAAGGGEEE
Smosh Plays Unfair Mario AAAAAARRGGGGHHHH
Shanna Malcolm plays Flappy Birds: Click for fails