Masocore is a video game subgenre with a focus on intense difficulty, often featuring complex or unfair mechanics.
[1] Unlike classic games, masocore titles often offer infinite lives, encouraging the player to try over and over again with little friction.
[2] Some of the first masocore games were created out of nostalgia for classic titles, such as Castlevania, Mega Man, and Ghosts n' Goblins.
[3] The term was popularized by the gaming blog Auntie Pixelante, there attributed to an unknown SelectButton forum member.
[2] Other notoriously hard titles include I Wanna Be the Guy (2007), Dustforce (2012), Geometry Dash (2013), 1001 Spikes (2014), and Celeste (2018).