Do you have what it takes to be The Guy?

March 11, 2008 11:24 AM

I Wanna Be The Guy is an insanely addictive and sadistically difficult independently developed video game that takes you on a wacky romp through some truly brilliantly designed stages. Along the way you have to best gaming history's most perilous adversaries, like a Giant Radioactive Zangief.

It's gotten some great acclaim from indie gaming bastions such as TIGSource and Destructoid.

If you enjoyed watching (or, God help you, playing) Kazio Mario World or Jinsei Owatta (both previously), then you should love I Wanna Be The Guy.

Watch copious YouTube footage of the game here.

Or read more about it and download it here. Via

posted by aftermarketradio (20 comments total)

that link doesnt work for me.
posted by fuzzypantalones at 11:52 AM on March 11, 2008

hm. is the site down already?
posted by fuzzypantalones at 11:54 AM on March 11, 2008 [1 favorite]

the giant mike tyson is clutch.
posted by shmegegge at 11:58 AM on March 11, 2008

Oh, FUCK that falling star at the end of the fourth screen of the demo. I don't know if I have the patience for this. Too much strict memorization and trial and error. Pretty cool look, though.
posted by painquale at 12:06 PM on March 11, 2008

I saw Giant Radioactive Zangief and immediately downloaded it. Then I clicked [more inside] on this FPP and saw it compared to Kazio Mario and watched the youtube vid. Now I feel like a huge dick for wasting the designers bandwidth, but my dickitude is tempered by the his ass-osity in programming an unplayable game.
posted by bunnytricks at 12:07 PM on March 11, 2008

I just want to be clear that that guy who uploaded the run through videos of himself playing I Want to Be The Guy should be the first one up against the wall when the revolution comes. That is the most annoying video of all time.
posted by shmegegge at 12:11 PM on March 11, 2008

But then I have to fight giant Mike Tyson, which cheers me up and keeps me going.
posted by painquale at 12:16 PM on March 11, 2008

I think the videos are hilarious, but I don't really Want to be the Guy.
posted by demiurge at 12:17 PM on March 11, 2008 [4 favorites]

Watching the videos, I have only one response:
Jesus H. Christ.
posted by eurasian at 12:36 PM on March 11, 2008 [2 favorites]

This game has "Fuck this, I'd rather try to meet girls" written all over it.
posted by RakDaddy at 12:46 PM on March 11, 2008 [8 favorites]

Giant green Zangief WHY?
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:52 PM on March 11, 2008

Sweet Jesus I miss my megaman.

I need to get a working television...
posted by Navelgazer at 1:18 PM on March 11, 2008

I think the videos are more fun to watch than actually playing it.

Here's Part 1/30 of someone playing it on Very Hard. The commentary is a little ... horrible, though.
posted by griphus at 1:25 PM on March 11, 2008

About 10 seconds of one YouTube was all it took for me to bail. Oh, puh-lease.
posted by dhartung at 1:39 PM on March 11, 2008

Heh. The giant radioactive Zangief is named Kraidgief. That's even better.
posted by rlk at 2:01 PM on March 11, 2008

This game is a work of sadistic beauty. No matter what setting you play it on, it will be as hard as any game you've ever played, and if you have an appreciation for these kinds of things you'll start to laugh out loud at some of the more clever traps, even as you gnash your teeth in frustration. It's almost like a nightmare version of nostalgia, where all the hardest victories of a childhood wasted on video games come back to be faced again with no room for error.

Check out Nikumatic for better videos than the ones in the other youtube link. These are short, no commentary videos of a prefect run through the game. Some of the level designs, particularly the stretch after Mike Tyson, are hilariously twisted.
posted by CheshireCat at 4:11 PM on March 11, 2008 [1 favorite]

So many adverbs, so little time.
posted by Curry at 10:07 PM on March 11, 2008

This game is so dick.
posted by m0nm0n at 8:53 AM on March 12, 2008

Yes yes yes oh my god yes make it hurt aaaauhhn.

This is a nice, fun game.
posted by cog_nate at 10:21 PM on March 14, 2008

ARGH! Despite saying upthread that I don't have the patience for this game, I stuck with it to see how far I could get on Hard mode. After much teeth-gnashing and brow-furrowing, and having racked up 3940 deaths so far, I managed to make it to The Guy. But I just. Can't. Beat him.

There's no way I'm quitting now! The time I spent perfecting my wall jumps was probably originally intended by Fate to be when I'd meet the woman I'd eventually marry. If I'm going to throw away a future of happiness and compassion, there's no way it's going to be for a video game that I can't beat. You hear that, The Guy? It'll be for a video game that I finish!
posted by painquale at 7:44 PM on March 17, 2008 [2 favorites]