Developed by Saurus and first distributed into arcades on the Neo Geo MVS system by SNK in 1997, The Irritating Maze might seem like an innocently humorous title for a video game, but it is in fact one of the mostly aptly-named video games of all-time…

Known as “Ultra Denryu Irairabu” in its native Japan, The Irritating Maze is – as the title implies – a maze game. One where you move a metallic rod through an electrified maze – viewed from overhead – and must avoid touching the sides, otherwise you’ll get an electric shock and have to start from the beginning again.

Unlike most Neo Geo arcade games, The Irritating Maze ran in a dedicated cabinet, with flashing lights surrounding the screen and an air spout that blew loud bursts of air at the player to surprise them whenever they messed-up.

It’s the predecessor to The Irritating Stick on the PlayStation, and is supposedly based on a real Japanese game show (which doesn’t surprise me as I’m reasonably familiar with Japan’s history of sadistic TV game shows).

Of course this being a video game the ‘electric shock’ is simulated and you don’t actually get zapped when you fail. The seriously irritating part, though, comes from the control method, and the fact that you have to start from the very beginning again if you touch the sides. The stick is guided through the maze using a trackball, which might seem like a fine idea, but is in fact quite troublesome. I actually played this game in MAME using a thumb-controlled trackball and really struggled to get anywhere. I also felt my arm cramping up after only ten minutes of play, which wasn’t very good. Moving through the maze quickly, in order to beat the timer, it seems is quite difficult.

A warning is shown on-screen at the start: “This game may be harmful to persons with cardiac disorder and/or pregnancy. People with such conditions should avoid playing the game.” Which I initially thought was sensationalist marketing bollocks, but it actually turns out to be fairly good advice, because playing this game is very stressful.

The Irritating Maze is nicely presented, with decent graphics and sound, and the concept and gameplay are okay, but it is a game that is VERY annoying to play! So much so that I really had to force myself to continue playing it to get enough screenshots for this article. After a few games I just wanted to play something else. It can’t have made much money in arcades back in 1997…

There’s also very little like it on the Neo Geo, but then again: that may be a good thing, because games like this are the opposite of relaxing…

Only try The Irritating Maze if you’re brave; are up for a potentially frustrating challenge, and are happy to tear your hair out due to repeated failings. Or are a masochist or a Zen Buddhist…

More: The Irritating Maze on fandom.com
More: The Irritating Maze on arcade-museum.com
More: The Irritating Maze on YouTube