Explained · Troll platformers
The floor is lying. A short guide to troll platformers.
Some games want you to win. These games want you to laugh, scream and press restart. Where the genre comes from, and how to beat a level that is out to get you.
A normal platformer plays fair. If there is a gap, you see the gap. A troll platformer does not. It shows you an easy level, a flat floor and a door, and then it pulls the rug away: the floor drops, a spike pops up exactly where you land, or the door simply runs off. The joke is on you, and you are meant to laugh about it.
Where the genre comes from
The best known early example is Syobon Action from Japan, better known as Cat Mario (2007). It looked like a cheerful copy of a classic, but blocks fell on your head, coins killed you and clouds had teeth. In the same year I Wanna Be the Guy turned the idea into a famously cruel challenge. Both became internet legends, mostly through videos of people losing their minds.
Later the genre became friendlier and shorter. Browser games like Level Devil keep the levels tiny and the restarts instant, so a trap costs you two seconds instead of ten minutes. That is the modern troll platformer: short rooms, quick deaths, and a grin when you finally see through the trick.
"If it looks safe, it probably isn't."
Why dying is the fun part
In most games, dying feels like failing. In a troll platformer, dying is how you learn the level, and every trap is a little joke the level maker played on you. The first try is for finding out what goes wrong. The second try is for being smug about it. Because a restart is instant, you never lose more than a few seconds, so the frustration turns into laughing at yourself.
How to beat a troll level
Be suspicious of easy. A long empty stretch to the door is the biggest warning sign there is. Go slow the first time and stop just before an obvious spot, like a gap, a lone block or the door itself. Remember the traps: most of them sit in the same place every try. And look up, because blocks and icicles overhead are traps too.
Our own: Gotcha Gumdrop
Gotcha Gumdrop is our troll platformer, with a glass candy marble instead of a little hero. There are 36 levels in three worlds: Cookie Land, Ice Peaks and Choco Factory. Expect falling and fake floors, runaway doors, pop-up spikes, syrup that floods the level, controls that swap left and right, and lights that go out. Stars depend on how often you die, so you can still get three with a couple of deaths. It is free and runs in your browser on a phone or computer.
