Bring Back Maximo, The PS2 Game Where Death Came At A Cost (2024)

The PS2 was a good console to all of us. Thank the Gods that the bountiful blessings of that era are slowly being brought back a little at a time, with collections and remasters galore. Yet for all the meals I eat, my soul still hungers, and balefully calls just one word from its dark recesses. That word is Maximo.

Released for the PS2 in 2001, Maximo: Ghosts to Glory is set in Capcom's Ghosts 'n Goblins universe. In the spirit of the series, Maximo was a cutthroat, punishing 3D platformer in an era when kids knew that “Continues” were a privilege, rather than a right. If we went to bed knowing we had at least one life left on our save file, we were grateful. I am loath to live in a generation where games are being labeled “Souls-like” rather than the historically correct “Maximo-like.”

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Maximo wasn’t just punishing in the way we think about Souls games, where we can lose experience and valuable time to unforgiving monsters. It was punishing in the way Diablo deletes your 60-hour save file in hardcore mode. The difference there, of course, was that Diablo let you choose your difficulty level. Maximo had one difficulty: Ultimate Hell Mode (which in the menu was simply labeled as “Start New Game”). Maximo’s first level tauntingly starts you out in a little gated safe zone that houses an item that will cost you 500 koins (for context, you could collect everything in the first level and end up with less than 250). This powerup, which would take you 20 minutes to grind for, could be completely lost upon even one death.

Like Ghosts 'n Goblins before it, Maximo’s difficulty isn’t just a selling point, it is the point. Whereas dying in Dark Souls is your fault and yours alone, dying in Maximo sometimes isn’t your fault at all. A clumsy camera, combined with our hero’s plodding movement and short move list, insists on making the game more sadistic than the monstrosities trying to kill you. Remember those narrow corridors in Demons' Souls where your weapons would bounce off the walls if you swung them too wide? They appeared here first. The only control you have in the brooding swing of your sword is the choice between a horizontal or vertical slash. Either choice is underpowered and will take a few swings to kill most enemies.

Walking on “unholy ground” has skeletons reaching for your warm body the way a BT climbs on you in Death Stranding. Skeletons and zombies spawn out of sight, while Ravens swoop down from above to steal your precious Koins. This is the only game you’ll ever play where Continues become more expensive each time you die.

If you can’t afford another Death Koin for the Grim Reaper, he stabs you with his scythe and deletes your save. There is no carry-over. You don't get to keep your progress, or any tools or items you've acquired. All you get to do is call your mother and sulk for thirty minutes while she ponders why you're wasting your time with this toxic relationship. When you've given up looking for answers, you can start a new game from scratch and hope you'll do better.

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The US-based developer of Maximo, called “Capcom Digital Studios” (later renamed Production Studio 8), was tasked with making a game in the Capcom IP of their choosing. They landed on Ghosts 'n Goblins, but Capcom wouldn’t let them use the name (there are no official statements regarding this, but rumors are that a controlling executive team in Japan prevented them from using any of the names or likenesses.) That forced the team to make a sort of spiritual reboot of the series and take some creative liberties with their world and characters. So we have characters like Grim, the keeper of the underworld, who is a smart-mouthed sidekick with job insecurities. Or Maximo himself, a studly alpha with a single-minded desire to save his one true love, ignoring the advances of every other damsel in the world that throws herself at him.

The game sold just well enough to justify a sequel, but the second game couldn’t secure enough Koin to guarantee a third. Concept art and gameplay footage were leaked years later to show that a third game was at least being considered and worked on, but the American studio was closed before the dream would be realized. It’s a shame too, as the second game presented a symphony of improvements that transformed it into a completely different game. Maximo Vs. The Army of Zin was a reimagined concept that introduced faster combat, more forgiving platforming, and a more humane difficulty. It expanded the world, introduced characters and kingdoms, and established Maximo's reputation as a critical PS2 darling. It was a sequel in every sense of the word: bigger, bolder, grander.

Footage of the third game suggests a flintlock rifle, more mature themes, and a hub city that the adventure would revolve around. Instead the project was set aside to prioritize the creation of Final Fight: Streetwise, a 3D spinoff of the classic fighting game. Maximo would be re-released on the PS3 through the PlayStation Store, but tragically hasn't made it over to the PlayStation Plus Premium library on PS4 and PS5 (though I continue to hold out hope).

The PS2 was a fascinating, strange time in gaming. Japanese companies had a hard time understanding what American gamers were interested in, and Capcom was struggling to sell anything in the west that wasn’t Resident Evil or Street Fighter. As amazing as Maximo was, the first two games didn’t catch on like they should have.

Today, the world of gaming is very different. Long-dormant franchises are being revived all the time, but I'm baffled that we live in a world where we get a remaster of Kao the Kangaroo, but not Maximo.

Until I can get an announcement from Capcom, my sadness persists. I’ll sit in my bitterness forever; too stingey to buy a PS2 or PS3 to enjoy these games again, too honest to enjoy them through scummy emulation, too proud to move on with my life. Capcom, you’ve revived the worst of the Mega Man games, so how about revive the best platformer you ever made?

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