This is something I've been working on for the past couple of weeks or so, but the ideas started forming around the time I finished, or was close to finishing, my entry for the Overworld Design Contest. More often than not, my design contest entries get integrated into hacks. Why should my OWDC Overworld be any different. Still, the hack needed a plot. What would it be though?
I'm not opposed do doing the standard "Bowser kidnapped Peach for the 9001st time" plot. I am, after all, a traditionalist hacker, and that plot is as traditional as it gets for a Mario platformer. I then thought about SMWC itself. More specifically, I thought about the Hacks section, and its abundance of Kaizo hacks. I have nothing against the people who make these hacks or play and/or livestream them, but I'm personally not a fan of the Kaizo genre. With that in mind, I decided that Bowser's evil scheme for this hack would be trying to turn the Mushroom Kingdom into a Kaizo world. In other words, Bowser is involved in a Kaizo Conspiracy.
As if that weren't meta enough, I also decided that, in order to carry this plan out, Bowser would steal the magic wands from 7 Guardians, each of whom is based on a long-time member of SMWC. With the exception of one, I haven't yet decided if they'll actually appear in the game. Some candidates could be:
Jim Yoshi (Jimmy) - Guardian of Sound
He would likely be a Yoshi with headphones on. I seem to remember Jimmy once having a profile pic matching that description. He always struck me as a Yoshi fan, what with his Bowser Strikes Back OST making heavy use of Yoshi's Island samples and gravitation toward the Yoshi's Island hacking scene.
King Essenenn (SNN) - Guardian of Order
Whether or not he's actually royalty is debatable in-universe, but his inspiration is often drawn wearing royal garb, and he was an admin here for a while. He'll be donning a cape and crown here, but I haven't decided whether to give him a beer gut or have him permanently holding a bottle of booze.
Al Caro (Alcaro) - Guardian of Reason
I'd likely depict him as a robotic Shaymin. Beep.
Peter A. C. (Pac) - Guardian of Artifacts
Pac is probably best known, at least to me, for ripping a lot of graphics from Super Mario All-Stars and using them to try to recreate past Mario games in SMW with the limitations of early-to-mid-2000s SMW hacking. I'd likely have him be a Pac-Man with one of those rainbow afro clown wigs.
Azure Dee (Devazure - Guardian of Landmasses
He'd likely be a pink Bandanna Waddle Dee with a rainbow bandanna to represent Gay Pride since he's gay. He's Guardian of Landmasses because his specialty is Overworlds.
Blueberry Danish (Kieran Menor) - Grand Guardian
I gave him the name Blueberry Danish because he's from Denmark, seems to like the color blue, and is known for being a Brony. I wanted the name to sound like a My Little Pony name to reference that. He'll likely be visually manifested as a Pony if he and his fellows show up in a cutscene.
That's 6 of the 7 Guardians. Keep reading to find out about the seventh!
Before we meet her, though, lets look at a level or two.
1-1 - Here We Go Again!
It's the typical happy, inviting first level. I made a video, but I should probably hold off a bit on showing it because it contains bits of my Overworld.
1-2 Into the Wild Green Yonder
It's not "officially" going by that name yet, but will as soon as I apply the extended level names patch.
Gemma T's Pitstop
Here's that seventh Guardian! Meet Gemma T, Guardian of Creation. The others were likely taken by the Koopalings along with their wands, but she managed to get away and now serves as this hack's Toad Expy as well as an Author Avatar. She allows me to be a bit self-indulgent in this hack.
1-3 - Earthy Caverns
This is your typical World 1 cave level, but you might find something here that's more than meets the eye!
Gemma T's Back Room
This is what's behind that door in Gemma T's Pitstop. Those shelves look pretty barren, at least at the moment. That brings me to the most self-indulgent, and ambitious, gimmick in this hack. There are 16 collectible Transformers scattered throughout the game (2 per World), When you find one and collect it, it will appear on the shelves, like the one already present. There's a little bit of interactivity to these little bots though.
Pressing UP in front of one brings up a bio screen for the character it represents. I currently have 7 of these done.
1-S - Yellow Switch
Once again, Switch Palaces are contained in otherwise normal levels.
1-4 - Goom-Bounce Garden
This level is centered on Pea Bouncers, which, in this game, can bounce sprites as well as the player. Not all of them are the Pea Bouncer sprite, though. Some are blocks. and some of those only bounce enemies. This was mostly done to avoid the usual issues associated with having a lot of sprites on the screen in a non-SA-1 ROM.
1-F - Giga-Goomba's Fort
Goomba Towers, Giant Goombas, and Goomba-Generating Pipes can all be found here. It makes sense considering the boss is a Goomba. I had to dig the guy out of a legacy sprite archive and Trashkas him because he didn't survive the last sprite remoderation. SMWC! I NEEDED THAT!
1-5 - Donut Walk Away
1-C - Iggy's Castle
It's a typical end-of-world castle. It's not too tough, considering that it's only World 1. Iggy's a pushover if you have fire power. Gotta love Swag Kills!
Quintesson Judge: Silence, or you will be held in contempt of this court!
Hot Rod: I have nothing but contempt for this court!
- Transformers the Movie (1986)