The Second Reality Project

I strangely prefer this to the reloaded version. The reloaded version is obviously better, but I just like the cohesiveness of vanilla graphics and how archaic this feels. Plus I don't like the redrawn graphics. (at least Mario doesn't use the redrawn gfx.) Man though, these levels get looooong at the end. Way too long.

Thought to be one of the earliest full hacks ever released, this hack ain't too bad. I only played the SNES version which had pretty decent overall design other than minor gameplay quirks for the time (slowdown and blind jumps being the most dominant). The final castle was ungodly long and single-handedly pushes this towards the Very Hard difficulty. Was a fun time overall though.

The final exit count is only 92 after beating the final boss, but I counted 95 technical exits in total.

An interesting curiosity but with Reloaded available, there isn't much to experience aside from some blistering difficulty and a rather charming use of early world map hacking.

This was one of the first hacks I've ever played, and it's a massive nostalgia bomb whenever I see anyone play either this or the Reloaded version. For its time, this hack has got a lot of really interesting ideas and FPI worked really well around the high limitations that the first versions of Lunar Magic used to have.

I only played the SNES version which has midways and a few levels have been changed to make them more manageable for the average player. I heard stuff that the final level in the original version is notoriously difficult, and way harder than the rest of the hack. It also had no checkpoints what made a lot of levels much more punishing.

Overall this hack was really good for its time, but don't expect anything groundbreaking when playing it now. Normally I'd recommend playing TSRPR instead, unless you'd like to see how FPI's work has evolved over time.

Very old and classic hack that was honestly pretty good for 2002. Majority of this hack is pretty innovative and reasonable, but then you get to the late special world levels. They are very long and borderline ridiculous. Completing Bowser's Starship without savestates was probably one of the longest and hardest levels I've ever done. It took me a few days of full dedication to beat that.

Overall: the hack is good, but the special world stages will make you cry. If any of you are interested in FPI's work, I highly recommend playing the reloaded versions instead. 100% this without tools just isn't worth it imo

5 star because how old and good it is for that time

Definitely a very hard hack due to lengthy levels. 4/5

Difficulty changed from Hard to Very Hard. Very Hard didn't exist when this was initially accepted, and is warranted given the extremely long and unforgiving levels towards the end of the hack.

This is very impressive for a 16 year old hack. I could only imagine how hard this was to make at such a early and primitive time both online and technologically. This was very influential on the SMW community. Solid 5 stars.

I really want to know...
HOW someone could do something like that on 2002??IT WAS SOOOOOO MUCH AHEAD OF IT'S TIMES from any other hack released(until 2002,at least)!
Level dsign is so good:much more better than standards of today(with all respect of all brave SMWhack developer on this site^^)and is much more difficult than many actual hack's.But is always fun,always so fresh with ideas...is a great pleasure to play it without savestate,even if sometimes you have to go a look on Youtube to see some secret exits location...
the graphically modified areas is so good to look even if today we have some eyes' tastes a lot superior to this.
And the original OST...gives to some Castles,some magic appeal^^they're so epic with the legendary Castle Theme:such a satisfation to complete some of them^^

For me,is one of the best hack I ever seen^^
I want to give an hand to FPI to create this monumental symbol of SMWhacking world.
5 stars are not enough to this,but I'll give it even if i am at half of this hack.CONGRATULATIONS,this is a true videogame that should be played more and more times^^

P.s:3.7???How is this possible to have a so low rate???

I'm the 1000th downloader!

Impossible clear Final level........

For a hack released in 2002, this is impressive. In an era of absolutely no standards, the level design has had a lot of thought put into it, which is probably why it translated so well into a remake with minimal changes. Most of it was very fun to play.

However, if you're not using savestates, do yourself a favor and play the SNES version (or the Reloaded version, which is based off it). Most of the game is doable if you're reasonably skilled, but the difficulty spikes severely at the Great Airship (which is the level where I finally gave in to using savestates). And don't get me started on Bowser's Starship. Are you one of the best SMW players in the world? Well screw you, you're still not beating it. It's that hard.

Overall, 4/5.