| Name: | This Hack Needs a Name |
| Author: | yeahman |
| Added: | |
| Version History: | View |
| Demo: | No |
| Hall of Fame: | No |
| Length: | 118 exit(s) |
| Type: | Standard: Hard |
| Description: | Mario and Luigi find a strange new world where someone is in need of help. (Version 2023.1 - Various minor changes and fixes. Read the txt file for details!) |
| Tags: | epilepsy warning less exgfx |
| Comments: | 77 (jump to comments) |
| Rating: |
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1.55 MiB | 25,099 downloads
Comments (77)
Is there a 2023 version that doesn't have the jump sound removed? Having the regular jump sound gone whilst the spin jump sound remains feels really awkward.Nvm, figured it out, and now also understand why the jump sound was removed in the first place.
Also, someone mentioned they don't know how to replay the castle levels... L+R babeyyy!
But the aesthics are very cool, especially the final world. Had a ton of fun and never got bored or overly frustrated. A nice break from some of these brutal hacks
edit: if someone has an idea what the last exits I may have missed might be I'm open to spoilers in my DMs.
edit: I ended up just using the complete srm file to have a look at the final content. As far as I can tell there is nothing I missed, but you know how it is trying to get completion in a Mario World game.
This is one of my favorite hacks ever. A lot of people say the ending is weird, but I feel like its the perfect ending. This hack is a manifesto of level design.
This hack is one of my favorites from back in the day, so when i saw it had an update i immediately went to download it! haha
I gotta say, i don't remember that much from the old version since i played it years ago (maybe i'll replay it to compare the differences), but i love this new version! I can definitely tell some of the things that were changed (especially later on), and there are definitely some changes for the better!
The story in particular is much better and more involved now! There's a lot more messages, things happen for a reason which is explicitly stated, and i love how
The level design is still great! The hack picks up the pace rather quickly and manages to keep the levels engaging through its entirety! It keeps a pretty traditional style but delivers a lot of creativity and variety with it! It also gets pretty challenging later on, but hardly gets to the point of being unfair (aside from some jank). At the end it becomes pretty satisfying to beat some of the harder levels and challenges, without being that frustrating.
I also love the world themes and how much they reflect in the levels themselves, the Candy and Colorful worlds in particular reflect this to its best!
The aesthetics are on point, through most of the hack, the graphics mostly stay pretty vanilla (with the occasional chocolate here and there to add some decorations) but the use of palettes is wonderful! It's incredible how much can be done with some simple color changes or ExAnimation (I especially love some of the palette ExAnimation in the Colorful World)
Things can still get very flashy in some of the later levels, but it's more manageable now than it was in the previous versions.
Also, i love how the hack is packed with secrets! Basically every level has some kind of reward for exploration, going out of the given path, trying to do things differently, keeping items through it, and so on. The secret exits are also used very well so they're fun to find, and reward with some nice secrets or shortcuts! And i love the
Of course, as much as i love this hack, it's not perfect. It has got its own set of issues, some of which are definitely noticeable. Some i could mention include:
All in all, this was an absolute blast! I loved reliving an old favorite of mine, and it definitely still holds up as one of my favorite hacks, as this new version is even better!
I'll still most likely replay it with Luigi and see how that plays out. Definitely 5/5.
The story is incredibly dumb in an endearing way. You're given a pretty simple motivation with whatever entity is possessing the textbox wanting to be 'free', and the only way to free the entity is to go to the final castle and defeat the monster lying there. It's obvious this isn't the focus of the hack, but the way it's presented is great. Giving the textbox a personality that is with you throughout the game gives the hack a sense of companionship that not a whole lot of others have. Some of the dialog is pretty funny as well.
The real treat here is the level design. It feels like a really natural evolution of what vanilla Mario World was trying to do. You have a pretty standard first island, but then like the real Mario World it really opens up afterwards with a lot of alternative paths to help you reach the finale quicker. The difficulty escalation is really nicely done and the game only feels marginally harder than the original Mario World. I consider this a plus since I feel the original Mario World has a nearly perfect difficulty escalation. I never really found any of the levels unfair as a result. Said levels also have a nice variety of gimmicks and give you a lot to 'explore'. A nice example is one of the opening levels (Red Velvet Run) playing around with vertical scrolling quite a bit.
Palette choices are also wonderful too. It gives each level it's own unique identity and very rarely feel as if they're 'repeated' or feel too similar to one another. There's a lot of eye-candy with the foregrounds, and a lot of those come from the Vanilla Mario World with palette changes! It's a really nice balance between Chocolate and Vanilla that feels really well thought out in it's choices.
The gimmicky 'large yellow' secret levels were neat too. It was a really nice surprise to see them rewarding things like giving the player a portable spring for beating them. Really my only complaint is the first one on the first island advertising that you could save anywhere. As far as I can tell, what the game actually means by this is that you can return to this level and really quickly beat it for what's essentially a 'free save'. It's neat, but slightly cumbersome since the player has to travel all the way back to the beginning of the map and the level is a bit too long to make it a simple 'save anywhere' ability. I still respect what it's trying to do though.
Very fun! Visually it's a step up from the original Mario World without feeling it goes overboard, and it really feels like it respects the original game's progression with it's own spins (again, huge yellow levels on the overworld). Definitely would recommend as a beginner's hack (you just beat the original game and want something extra). The humor in the hack is a very nice bonus too.
Some levels can be very fun, some can be skipped entirely with a cape, some are slow and boring.
The worlds themes are fun. Overall quite recommendable.
Main issues I have are the music choice is sometimes just wrong like overworld music on a spooky mountain or in a cave and the World 8 Castle Checkpoint which never seemed to go away locking the Expert World, edited the rom for that quite a shame.
Secret exits are indicated well so I never found myself wondering "wtf do I go." I noticed a pipe that requires 117 exits. I have 116 exits on title screen, no clue where last exit may be, and shy of entering every level to check, I think I'll never know what's in that pipe.
Took ~7 hours to finish. Video of playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqvIHerHvausomtOCPel5DokC1huACq_t
Great job!
a true masterpiece
gonnagotta try!Literally every single sceenshot has something custom in it
Just letting you all know that I found a weird bug in W3 map.
Basically, don't press to go left from this spot, otherwise you'll get stuck.
I didn't finish the hack yet, I'm still playing it. I might review it after some days.
how can i play the world 8 castle again from the beggining? ive already beat it but whenever i try to play it again it start from the midway gate.. i really want to see whats in that path with spikes now that i have the star..
5/5
**** i usually dont like ghost houses much, and this hack have only few of them.. that said that ghost house from "Fright Star Land" is pure gold.. fkn amazing
I understand that some people can't handle the flashing (there's a lot of that in this hack), especially epileptics, but somehow, the flashing effects didn't do anything to me, and I really liked them!
My favorite world is World 1. I love desserts lol, and the amount of creativity was shown throughout the entire world. It was just so pretty to me. I like how I can get Yoshi at the "Start" level. Speaking of Yoshi, I noticed that most of the levels required only Mario/Luigi. I love using Yoshi, so I wanted to comment on that. It isn't a big deal to me, I just noticed that.
I also really enjoyed World 4. I liked Sky World from SMB 3, so I should have known that I'd like this world, too. It was well-designed
Star World was the most difficult world out of all of them. I used a lot of savestates for most of the levels. I really liked Super Star Land, though, and of course, I enjoyed the music xD
Puffy Star Land's music reminded me of one of the Donkey Kong games on the SNES... I believe it was the 2nd one. Either way, it brought back a lot of memories and nostalgia. Colorful Castle was well... colorful. It was pretty awesome, to say the least. I'm not good with reviews Dx but I'm trying at least!
Expert World was boss... Singularity made me giggle. Oh yeah - that darn message box! I love how it has its own personality! It made me smile at times as well.
Getting to play mini levels after entering the first tunnel on Red Velvet Run was a huge plus in my book. I got to play 21 more levels after completing 117. My favorite mini level of them all is The Multiuniverse (even though it isn't so "mini"). It kinda gave me that feeling of that one episode of Family Guy when Stewie and Brian went to different universes - one of my favorite episodes, actually. Anyway, this is one of the best SMW hacks I have seen, and I watched ninja boy play a bunch of hacks!
Now that I'm done with the positives....
I want to point out some glitches and graphical errors (I don't know if I'm using that those words correctly).
In World 3, after I completed "Sinking Feeling" the first time, I thought that it unlocked the pipe, so I pressed left. Mario went somewhere else on the map, and I had to load a previous state to where I wouldn't make that mistake again. I don't know when will be the next time you log onto SWM Central, and I know that this was released over a year ago, but I just wanted to say that for anyone else coming onto this hack after me.
At the end of Ocean Interboo, if you hit the tape of the goal post, the entire screen glitches up... I don't know how to word it out correctly. For example, when I hit the tape, the boos turned into these weirdly striped boxes and the screen was striped up as well. It really bothered me, too (glitchy graphics have always bothered me badly). When you go back to the Overworld, it's just a mess lol. The extra items box disappears as well. However, if you just go through without touching the tape, nothing will happen... Kinda odd if you ask me.
There are a bunch of other glitches but I think that's mostly because Yoshi wasn't meant to be on a bunch of those levels. Oh yeah - the game crashes after the credits.
Other than those few problems, I rate this game a 5/5 stars
Coal Ore from Minecraft!
It says NO, not YES! So don't say things if you don't know what you're talking about.
This hack is incredibly fun. It does not deviate far from the classic SMW that we all know and love, and the level design is great. It has a great difficulty curve, starting out not too hard, then bringing the challenge on in a fun way. There is not much of a plot, but Mario is rarely about the plot; it's always been all about the gameplay, and the gameplay here is top notch.
The vortex level in the colorful world is definitely my favorite. The surprise item you get adds a great extra to the game.
If I could give this 50 stars I would. This is everything I look for in a SMW hack. Awesome job!
The map is very well designed, surprises are legion and levels themselves are very fun. Each world has a different well-thought theme, which is very fun to play. My favorite is World 1, Candy Land ^.^
The difficulty curve is OK, some levels are very hard at the end (especially Star World), but I figured out how to find the 117 exits without using the least savestate, which is my manner of playing and enjoying hacks.
I have just a little question about Pipe Dream level in World 2 : searching for a secret exit, I was able to fly until the very end on the screen, far behind the goal line, and I found some pipes, P switch and bonuses. It seems that it can be accessed through a pipe, but I couldn't figure out which pipe it was, having trying each. Is this a sort of bonus zone you finally wouldn't linked to the level itself ?
Besides, I have totally enjoyed this game, congratulations man !
10/10 Thank you !
Natsu
Having played through all 117 exits, I can definitely say I thoroughly enjoyed the entire hack the whole way through.
The levels have some really nice design that's definitely similar to the original game it's based off. Simple level gimmicks, a great difficulty curve, unique world themes and a unique plot makes this a really cool hack to play through.
Aesthetics never deviate from SMW's style, usually taking custom graphics from Super Mario All-Stars' SMB3 port. It's never unpleasant to look at, and keeps a single style throughout the whole thing.
Music...well, I would have preferred more custom music, but maybe that's just me.
Plot is consistently referenced at least once a world and the message box has a personality that's actually visible. A lot about the characters involved is left up to player interpretation - such as how the message box is able to
This is a memorable hack that's a ton of fun and very similar to the original SMW. I highly recommend at least giving it a shot - you definitely won't regret it.
90% (5/5)
Why is this the demo
Well it loks full hack
117 exits
Its alot for an demo
But w1 its too short
Levels
W2 i busy with flying puzzle level
You requere to fly though the small jump area
Where i cant jump up
Even with flying its inposseble
You tell me it isnt flat ive beaten the first level in one time even 2nd level
Its too easy
Ahd flat
W1 its too easy for normal hack
Please read below good
I will stream monday evening
To xhow you
Its empty
Areas in there
Www.twitch.tv/woutersmits
Take a good look at it
One puzzle area ifs too flat on first forest level
Its emptu jump and run full with jumping on tree stronk
The rest you can Block the path
If you dont watch out
You cant. Go on
There's no reset door at all
Take a good look at it
And no ive beaten w1 i at w2 now
By the first forest level
You need realy to watch out otherwise yourve always trapped
I will show you monday
Renember to read my review good
I wish you good luck and enjoy yourzelf too
the horror
first shorthest level too easy too beat too flat
blind ending there's no suprice afther all
its too flad empty
it isnt fun
is too easy
please change levels so its fun
not flad and empty
EDIT: And it is featured!
This is my first review... The hack is very good and I liked it too much because of mainly the design of the levels. They where well detailed and fun.
Also the story was quite nice... Setting free the one that's inside the message box. Many messages made me laught much too!
The overworld also was very interesting but in a hack I particularly don't mind much the overworld.
The level with the tides (on layer 3) had some slowdown but it occurs in almost all hacks with this layer 3 setup.
One bad point is, however, the "bosses" of the castles... Only using throw blocks to reach the end of the rooms? Even at the end were always a standard goal point, which doesn't fit very well on castles but it's only my view. That's the only thing I didn't like, anyway.
Other cool thing was that we could put some extra stuff in the item box! I love that, and my hack is gonna have that patch too. It would have been nicer if there were some extra items, thought. There were a few only.
Anyway, like I said at the beginning, I loved this hack, and give it a 9.
Works fine for me, and I've been playing through the postgame content. You sure your ROM is clean?
Overall, this hack left a positive impression on me. I would recommend it, but it isn't without its flaws. I'd like to leave a positive aftertaste with my review, so I'll start with the things that I feel are hurting the quality of the hack:
The Ungood:
-----------
1. The special item you get in world 7, while an amusing and interesting item, leads to some significant confusion if you use it in a stage where it isn't necessary. Left me looking for a secret exit in all the wrong places in one level. More importantly, the "Also, you may want to have a savestate or rewind key." is not something I want to see in a hack I'm playing. I don't care to be invited to use cheats to play your game without things being tedious. It'd be better to make it less of a chore to get the item again than to ask the player to cheat at your game.
2. The disabled Start+Select seems like a needless restriction that just slows the player down during the less enjoyable process of scouring the world for missed exits. Face it, if someone's gonna life farm, they're going to find a way. With the several top secret areas, it's not like leaving a stage with a powerup is going to give someone that much of an advantage. It just makes things more tedious, which is kind of a bummer.
3. The overworld pathing between star world and levels leading to them is quite misleading. In star world, if you don't have the secret exit, the path to the star (Even if you can walk it) isn't completely drawn. On the overworld, the path is drawn if you unlock it from star world, and this makes it super hard to tell was what the 1 exit that I was missing. Seriously. I wandered around for like 2 hours. That's no good. Not sure what you can do about this, but if there's anything, it would be hugely beneficial.
4. At the moment, there are still some flashiness issues that I could see posing a problem for people sensitive to that sort of thing. Namely: Clearing a stage in colorful land causes significant flashing and flickering during the fanfare. The environment is nice and all, but the flashing is really not. As of this moment, the current version available for download also features very significant fullscreen flashing in the stages 'Singularity' and 'Corrupted Castle'. This is especially flashy, and worthy of an epilepsy warning. I'm aware that changes to these stages have been made, and I'll remove this bit when the version available for download reflects these changes.
4b. Having finally found the exit I was unable to find, I played the 100% postgame - The flashing is obscene. This is absolutely 100% pure seizure material. I've put my flashy warning back in full force until that gets addressed.
The Middle of the Road:
-----------------------
1. Special world is, aside from a couple of stages, easier than most of the late game. Considering it says "EXPERT!" along the top, I felt kind of mislead.
The Good:
---------
1. You used secret exits sparingly. Whenever it was that I got the secret exit for a stage, there was generally some value to it. A shortcut, a switch palace, etc. Your secret exits don't feel like filler, and that's a tough thing to pull off. Especially in a hack with so many exits. Very nice work there.
2. The bonus stages with special items were a nice touch. It's fun to be given various items to mess around with, and try to find unconventional solutions to some stages with. They definitely feel rewarding to visit at least once.
3. The level design as a whole is enjoyable. Worlds are themed, and the levels feel like a part of the world they are in. The stages play well, they are fair, and they are fun.
4. The audio and visuals are very nice. The game is pleasing to look at (Save for the few flashy areas) and listen to.
The Summary:
------------
Even with the things I've mentioned that kind of hurt the hack's quality, it's definitely still a well done hack. It could be improved on, but despite its length, (Aside from getting lost with 116 exits) it definitely doesn't overstay its visit.
Nice work, I hope to see more from you in the future, hopefully with some consideration of some of my criticism.
I'll think of some after I play it
UPDATE
I have now found the 99 standard exits, but cannot find the special /expert star world. I can see the blanked out star in Star World which will take me there but cannot find the hidden exit to take me there. I have tried the message box in every level of the game (annoying to have to do if I'm honest) and only one hints at me about the expert world, but when I follow it's hint, I'm still left clueless as to what to do... Anyone point me in the right direction? Cheers.