Nobody knows what’s happened to him since Kaizo exploded on the internet.
It’s possible Takemoto still doesn’t know what he started. The hellish creation was a cheeky gift - the literal translation of the game’s title comes out to “Making my friend play through my Mario hack.” What Takemoto didn’t know then is that this sadistic offering would spawn an entire genre of trap-filled video games that have been watched millions of times on video sites like YouTube. The first Kaizo game, colloquially known as “Asshole Mario,” was released 2007 by a Japanese ROM hacker known as T. “Kaizo” Mario games are made to test even diehard Mario experts with precise jumping challenges where a misjudged pixel can mean the difference between life and death. Dying hundreds of times in a row is a part of the experience. Surviving a player-created Mario hack, though? Good luck surviving the literal first second, never mind crossing the end of the introductory level. Beating a Mario game is one thing - countless number of people have cleared an entry in Nintendo’s flagship franchise.
