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The Treasure Hunt

Super Mario World Hacks → The Treasure Hunt

Submission Details

Name: The Treasure Hunt
Author: Joshua
Added:
Demo: No
Hall of Fame: No
Length: 39 exit(s)
Type: Standard: Hard
Description: One foggy night, the legendary explorer Mario is shipwrecked onto a remote chain of islands. However, his fortune changes when he realizes the islands were in fact his original destination: the secret resting place of the legendary treasure of the Seven Eggs. And while a local tribe of Yoshis offer their assistance to Mario’s quest, Bowser and his minions set out as well to find the treasure for themselves…

This is an almost-vanilla hack with an emphasis on exploration and puzzle solving in addition to being a platformer. With the exception of a custom title and a few custom blocks, the hack reworks enemies and blocks from the original Super Mario World in ways not used before.

A project I worked on during my high school years sometime around 2007, this is my hack’s final release with slightly more than 3 completed worlds to explore: the lush tropical paradise of Yoshi Isle, a withered and desolate Drought Valley, a dizzying high Airy Archipelago and a mysterious and dangerous Volcano Bay. The last of the four worlds is unfinished, as is an all-but-inaccessible “Star Road” of sorts, but despite this there is much to discover in this adventure.

(A known issue is that extra lives are too abundant due to a 3-Up moon hidden in each level. The moons were a placeholder item for a custom collectible that never ended up seeing the light of day.)

In addition to the 24 full levels and 5 secret bonus stages of the Treasure Hunt, at the end of the adventure you can find the stage “Tidal Swamp,” my entry to the very first Vanilla Level Design Contest back in 2008, which ended up taking home the bronze.
[ http://www.smwcentral.net/?p=viewthread&t=5552 ]
Tags: exploration gimmick puzzle vanilla variety
Comments: 11 (jump to comments)
Rating:
3.8 (13 ratings)
No rating
Download 140.29 KiB | 2,112 downloads

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Comments (11)

Hog-Nose Link
This one's a blast. Its not the flashiest, and its a little rough around the edges, but this hack is full of creative level design. The overworld, while sticking to the vanilla tile sets, is memorable and unique too. The puzzle and gimmick levels were a highlight for me, featuring
a koopa shell race, a water level puzzle, and a yoshi's tomb where you "unlock" the feather powerup.

The only hang-up I've got about this is that it was never finished.
Pedroalone Link
Funny how the most original smw hack I've ever played is almost 100% vanilla. I've never seen someone approach smw level design like this guy. Was my favorite hack back in 2012 when I first played it, still is, now, 8 years after.
uhhhhhseimmysimmy Link
how do you get to this to work? most rom hack files are ip's wich don't work with any emulators
NatsuFireball Link
Hello Joshua,

As others said, this is a wonderful hack ! Level design, overworld and even scenario are great. You must have spent so many hours doing this great job... especially if it's a very old hack ! I particularly loved the idea of the race against Koopa the Quick, what a great idea =]

Difficulty is OK, not too hard though, I figured out to find all 39 exits without using savastates. Some passages are more tricky, but totally feasible.

The only thing I had sometimes some trouble with was the text boxes : indeed, as I am french it was sometimes hard for me to understand some specific US expressions, so I spent quite some time on dictionaries ha ha =]

10/10 (5 stars) thank you very much dude =]

 Koopster Link
This hack is amazing! The level design is extremely creative, especially for something that's almost fully vanilla - every level stands out. Considering how old this hack is, that is saying something.

I really wish this was finished D:
Joshua Author Link
h.carrell: I think I blame college mostly. Crazy higher education getting in the way of my Mario level making :)
h.carrell Link
why do u end the hack at w4
SketchNI Link
A very good hack. It's not as hard as some of the other "Hard" hacks but it's very enjoyable. Especially the levels that are more puzzle-like than the rest.

4/5 - The extra point will come when the hack is finished - if you ever do finish it!
Joshua Author Link
Artissimo: Haha, thanks for noticing. Eight years later and I can still remember how much of a pain that was to make. XD

Wakana: Thanks for the feedback and catches! The Yoshi coin glitch happened when I tweaked the hack after five years of being out of the SMW hacking game... I forgot Yoshi coins had that quirk.

The hack download has been updated with a corrected version: the Yoshi coin has been adjusted and the ledge in Pow Switch Heights has been redesigned to not glitch out the block snake. (It's still possible to make an infinite snake though, there's not much to be done about that.)

Glad you all are still enjoying my game!
Artissimo Link
FINALLY! A hack with a custom-made title! You have no idea how many hacks I've seen with cheaply-done titles that have no time spent on them. It's worth praise from me at least.
 Wakana Link
Amazing hack here! I felt a bit sad knowing that this isn't an actual finished hack, yet it does a great job at entertaining the player. The design is the main factor here, handled in a way that is better than the average hack I believe.
This hack is totally worth accepting, although I must point out that there is one particular major error you may consider fixing this yoshi coin placement in PARCHED HILLS. You placed it right on the screen boundaries, and it gets cutted when you collect it, together with the fact that it gives you lots of lives. Also relevant this situation here. If I were you, I'd avoid creating messes like that.

Despite these two issues, this hack is pretty good overall. 4/5.