Super Mario World - Pandemonium Fortress 2 is one of those brutal-but-fair ROM hacks that turns the original game into a gauntlet of precision jumps and clever enemy placements. You'll recognize the bones of SMW here, but everything's been dialed up—expect sawblades in places you'd normally feel safe, and Yoshi suddenly becomes way more important than you remember.

First few minutes in, you realize this isn't your childhood Mario anymore. The level design forces you to actually use spin jumps and cape tricks instead of just breezing through. Died like five times on the first screen? Yeah, that tracks. But when you finally nail that pixel-perfect jump over a pit of spikes, it feels stupidly satisfying.

If you're into SMW but tired of vanilla being too easy, this hack's got teeth—just don't throw your controller.