Hoo, boy...well, I can say one thing: you guys did make it feel like the VIP series. But that's not meant as a compliment. I can't say I liked the redrawn sprite graphics...I personally thought the redrawn sprites in VIP looked hideous, and while I can certainly appreciate the work done on them, I still don't much care for drastically redrawn sprites, and this hack was no exception. Another hack that it reminded me a lot of was The Second Reality Project (Reloaded)...and that's not a compliment, either. At least I got through two whole worlds of TSRPR before giving up on it. I played only the first two stages of ASMT before quitting. And unless you guys somehow screwed up and accidentally placed some of your levels intended for World 5 in World 1, I'm not picking it back up. I mean, really...munchers on the sides of platforms that you have to jump across on Koopas, a P-switch with no indication of where it should be used and a reset door that is several screens later, swimming through water with jumping fish in it...what kind of depraved person puts all these things in
1-2?! (I also noticed a discolored tile in 1-2, but that was the least of my worries.) I didn't even make it far enough to see the ASM hacks.
Now, of course, I don't think
everything about this hack was bad. It certainly shows some effort put into it. Some things I noticed or at least have heard:
++ The overworld. I like the overworld very much, maybe even more than SMWCP's. If the levels were as good as the overworld, you'd be smokin'.
++ Although I didn't get to see it, I've heard the ASM in this hack is amazing. I messed around in Lunar Magic and tested out the second boss, and it was interesting enough, albeit laughably over-difficult like everything else.
+ The redrawn graphics. Sure, I would
rather have seen the original ones, but just taking the time to make those is worthy of praise.
+ You left the hack unlocked. It's a petty thing, true, but I
despise locked hacks, especially when they can't be unlocked with RLM. (I should organize a boycott of hack locking by getting people to refuse to play any that are locked.)
So...good hack, I'd say, but the level design could definitely use some work. It reminds me of something somebody said about Mega Man X5 and X6...although it probably gets more fun after repeated playing, it doesn't make a very good first impression.
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I'm working on a hack! Check it out
here. Progress: 64/95 levels.