A Plumber For All Seasons (v2021-11-22) - Full Hack Releases

A Plumber For All Seasons is a hack I've worked on for a long time. The premise is that each world represents a different season — there's a Spring world, a Summer world, a Fall world, and a Winter world. (And some more!) What might set it apart from other hacks is that I made a lot of resources myself - all the graphics, a bit of ASM, and even some music here and there.

A Plumber For All Seasons features:

37 levels with 41 exits
almost entirely custom graphics, all of them hand-made
a focus on interesting, season-themed scenery and fun levels
an original soundtrack by some of SMWC's finest musicians
rewards and easter eggs for completionists

Changelog (see README for more details):

2021-11-22: fixed a bug introduced in the last version as well as some more minor things
2021-11-07: added a new song by Torchkas, made some more pipes two-way, and fixed a rare bug
2021-10-09: some difficulty balancing and minor bugfixes
2021-09-02: made it easier to enter destroyed castles, added a warning about old emulators incorrectly displaying color gradients, as well as some other minor fixes and tweaks
2021-07-27: made star coins save individually as you collect them (you no longer have to get them all in a single run! thanks to lx5) and fixed some minor gameplay issues
2021-07-05: fixed a star coin not spawning, as well as some minor visual oversights

DOWNLOAD
(latest version: 2021-11-22)

Thanks to Blind Devil, Dippy, Exodust, Giftshaven, HaruMKT, imamelia, Kevin, Maxodex, Moose, RednGreen, S.N.N. and Torchkas for generously offering their time and talent to make an original soundtrack. Not all of their work ended up in the hack due to time constraints, but I'm very grateful for the effort they put in, the wonderful music they composed, and the patience to even arrange some of my own amateur compositions.

Thanks to Anorakun, K.T.B., Kevin again, Ladida, Lightvayne, RPG Hacker and ShUriK KiD for beta testing the hack and hunting for bugs on multiple emulators on rather short notice. Without their test reports, this hack would be a lot buggier and less polished than it is.

Thanks to edit1754 for creating ScrollBars, an amazing parallax-generating tool that went shamefully unnoticed at the time of its release, which I might have been the only one to ever use, and without which the special effects wouldn't be looking half as special.

Thanks to Alcaro, Ladida again, Telinc1, TheBiob and Thomas, representative of the countless people at SMWC who helped me with various various ASM questions along the way. Extra special thanks to lx5, who went out of his way to write code especially for this project.

I honestly cannot thank you all enough.

And of course, thanks to all the people in the community who expressed their liking of A Plumber For All Seasons and kept me motivated to work on it!

Hope you enjoy playing it!

Man, it's still hard to believe that Seasons is, like, done done. After the dizzying amount of effort that went into this, it's easily going to go down in the books as one of the best looking hacks, and one that's really fun and accessible too.

It's unbelievable that the parallax effects are thanks to an obscure tool from 2011. Is it something that's comparable to EffectTool, or is it something that's maybe a bit easier to use on the 'Donkey Kong Country-esque HDMA" front? Either way, this whole hack is a dazzling commendation on it.

Other Submissions of mine!

This hack was quite an enjoyable experience, and it will be remembered for sure. I could talk about the hack more, but then I'd really just be parroting what everyone else has already said. So I decided to show you something I found.

video description if you don't want to look on youtube: Show/Hide

Emulator Used: Snes9x 1.59.2

I originally found this crash on my initial run through the game, which is odd considering how precise this is. I used tools this time just for things to be easier overall. You can crash the game in the original version as well as the slightly updated one.

I apologize for the weirdness at the bottom right, I just quickly removed a watermark after I used a video stitching service to combine my three recorded videos into one.

I have a tiny bug to report - all pipes have priority which looks really weird.

YY-CHR > Photoshop.

Originally posted by BlueToad

I have a tiny bug to report - all pipes have priority which looks really weird.

That's not a bug but intentionally done because of HDMA settings (main and sub screen) to avoid sprites (such as Piranha, Lakitu and others) going OVER the pipes.

Originally posted by Deeke

It's unbelievable that the parallax effects are thanks to an obscure tool from 2011. Is it something that's comparable to EffectTool, or is it something that's maybe a bit easier to use on the 'Donkey Kong Country-esque HDMA" front? Either way, this whole hack is a dazzling commendation on it.

It falls short of Effect Tool in some ways - it's purely for scrolling effects, it's missing instructions, and some of the features promised in the UI seem to not be implemented. (Not that Effect Tool doesn't have its own fair share of bugs from what I've heard.) However, where ScrollBars outshines any other tool is how easy it is to make "smooth" parallax, for lack of a better word. You can give each scanline its own unique scroll speed without having to manually edit each line - the tool lets you say "scroll this line at this speed, that line at that speed, and interpolate the scroll speeds inbetween". That there is the quasi-secret behind the 3D effect I've used in many of the backgrounds here. The lack of a readme means you do have to figure out for yourself how to use the tool, though. (Hint: the column headers are clickable.)

Originally posted by Minish Yoshi

This hack was quite an enjoyable experience, and it will be remembered for sure. I could talk about the hack more, but then I'd really just be parroting what everyone else has already said. So I decided to show you something I found.

Thanks for the report! This is actually something I've noticed a couple of people run into, and added to the "known issues" list in the readme, but couldn't hunt down. It seems to be related to Lakitu spawning a bale, since that frame is always when it happens. I didn't look into it yet, and I wasn't too worried about shipping it with the bug present because it's relatively rare, but I agree it's worth fixing if I'm at all able to. It's good to know it's not an obscure, real-hardware-only bug, in any case, so I have a chance to investigate it.

Originally posted by Ice Man

Originally posted by BlueToad

I have a tiny bug to report - all pipes have priority which looks really weird.

That's not a bug but intentionally done because of HDMA settings (main and sub screen) to avoid sprites (such as Piranha, Lakitu and others) going OVER the pipes.

I don't think that's the case. If so, wouldn't everything have priority?

Either way, priority looks bad.

YY-CHR > Photoshop.

Yoshiatom's Post

Alright, I just 100%ed this hack and since I constantly praised what I saw the WIP thread (and somehow I didn't end up posting anything in the C3 release thread) I think I should give my thoughts on it here.

In short, this hack was totally worth the wait. Alongside the graphics being beautiful the levels nails the standard Mario level design without ever feeling bland and always having something interesting either design or gimmick-wise.

One thing I never saw coming from the threads though was the soundtrack. Whenever I was playing the hack just when I thought I had heard the best track in the game a new one comes along that blows the last one out of the water. Serious props to the people that composed the OST for this hack.

If I had to make critiques, like a few other people I wasn't the biggest fan of how the hack handled star coins, and while I could live with it most of the time (it was kind of annoying in the special world and the final level though) I found it really agrivating how if you picked up the checkpoint and died while trying to get the coins, you have to beat the stage just to be able to try getting the coins again since the checkpoint saves and there's no way to clear it without beating the level. It would be nice to have a button combo or something to force a start from the level's begining.

I also felt the Fire Flower felt very underclassed compared to the Raccoon Leaf in this hack, there's a lot of enemies that are immune to it, such as the snowmen in World 4, which feel very odd as they're both, well, snowmen and the snowball-throwing variant are IMO one of the trickest enemies to deal with in the game. I get they're supposed to be bulky but they could have had the 5-fireball requirement Chucks have. Meanwhile the leaf can take out a lot of these enemies and helps with platforming, to the point where in the final level I always picked it instead of the Fire Flower.

On a more minor note, I found it odd that exits aren't marked on the overworld in any way (it only really matters in World S since you don't unlock new paths/levels in it, but still). I also couldn't get past the first Pitchn' Chuck in the final level without taking damage, as it always seems to jump just high enough for you to take a hit.

Those critiques aside, I loved this hack. In some regards it feels like a cumulation of SMW hacking as a whole and I really hope people feel inspired to follow in it's footsteps. Stellar work!

Layout by Koopster!
Same goes for titles, don't try abusing loopholes!

<DeputyBS> I knew it
<DeputyBS> alcarobot is taking over the world through his truck dealership franchise

Thanks for the feedback, glad you enjoyed it! It's always interesting to see what points people bring up that I didn't even consider. I'll definitely try and keep in mind all the gotchas I've seen people run into so far for whatever project I'll make next, though it's always hard to predict what'll be an issue beforehand.

Originally posted by yoshiatom

If I had to make critiques, like a few other people I wasn't the biggest fan of how the hack handled star coins, and while I could live with it most of the time (it was kind of annoying in the special world and the final level though) I found it really agrivating how if you picked up the checkpoint and died while trying to get the coins, you have to beat the stage just to be able to try getting the coins again since the checkpoint saves and there's no way to clear it without beating the level. It would be nice to have a button combo or something to force a start from the level's begining.

Yeah, I've actually seen so many people mention it that I decided an update would be in order. A new version is on the way which, courtesy of lx5, saves each star coin individually as you collect it. It's about ready, it just needs thorough testing.

In my opinion at least, I would think the "all star coins = beaten" approach would be much more okay if fire flowers weren't so dangerous to use, because most of the time that's the real problem with it due to how you use shells or enemy bouncing to get them. Now I'm not expecting you to restructure the game to lack the powerup, so I'd be more okay with saving your current amount of dragon coins only through collecting the goal orb. That prevents people from just collecting the star coins without "trying" to get them risk free (suicide to pit or pause/select for each one), but it's less punishing to have to get them all again because you found out you missed your chance to get one of them and you can't go backwards, so beating the level feels less fulfilling.

I'm currently up to the Winter world, and I am really enjoying the hack. This is one of the bigger issues in the hack, and I'm glad it's being addressed. I do believe that there's a less "cheesy" way of fixing the issue, which is why I suggested the "orb = save current amount" system.

Want progress on 100 Rooms of Enemies: The Nightmare Edition? Go here to see.

(rip my other userbars momentarily)

I agree with Daizo Dee Von here, it's always annoying when you throw a shell to only immediately fire it.

YY-CHR > Photoshop.

I'll argue the opposite - I like how A Plumber For All Seasons handles the star coins because having to collect all 5 in one-go is something I see as a feature alongside getting a 100% completion of star coins because the levels are mellow and accessible enough for a wide range of skill levels regarding players who played Super Mario World and its hacks since the level design of this hack is generally is at the level of difficulty comparable to the original SMW.

The comparable difficulty to SMW based on the way the levels are constructed I believe that the way the Star Coin system is arranged currently helps as an optional challenge for those who want said challenge in which then the hack challenges you, the player to play the levels well with the ideas and themes each level in the hack brings to the table. If you mess up in getting the star coins in a single run with taking the above said into account, that is not the fault of the star coin system as-is but rather you, the player playing the hack, as I recall that nothing in the hack is actually designed in a way that is cheap and unfair to the player, from my experience playing it during C3. If any exist, one would be hard-pressed to find it.

The Star Coin system as-is feels rewarding for me, as the player, to collect them all 5 Star coins in one-go per each stage, for a hack that already is very accessible and well-designed.

Modern Redrawn Mario Bros. 1.5 (last update - February 14, 2023, some new bonus frames, tons of minor touchups to various poses)

On Pixel Art Requests: Depends on what it is and if I have the time for it. If its complex and I don't have the time, don't expect me to accept it.

Projects I support:

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[19:43] <StrikeForcer> I also want to say that "because everything on the internet is definitely true!" is a derailment tactic that serves as a shorthand change for "I dont accept the facts"

[19:44] <StrikeForcer> When the information posted clearly is fact-based.

Honestly, I don't agree with the above. And there is always the risk that when you die after you get the midpoint the star coins are not saved. It's even worse when you can't go backwards.

YY-CHR > Photoshop.

I'm in Summer world and so far this is awesome. Your original art is lovely and I can tell you had fun and worked super hard making this! Also, not a big problem or anything, but some constructive criticism I'd have is: The art is so beautiful, it's begging to have an original Mario sprite to fit in with the rest. Also with the amazing original music, the game is also begging to have original or altered sound effects rather than the standard SMW ones.

But like I said, not a real problem. The hack is superb and really does feel like it'll go down as one of the sleekest ever made on here. It's relaxing and aesthetically great, as well as challenging and charming.

My first actual time playing a ROM Hack, and what a good one to start off on. Kind of reminded me of my time playing Kirby's Adventure, especially with scouting out some of the secret exits.

I do have a question though—I beat the game and have almost 100%'ed it, but failed to get the star coins in the summer castle level. For whatever reason, after beating the game, I still can't re-enter the castle levels, so I am thus locked out of both it and the final level. Is there any way this could be fixed? Again, stellar job with this.

Originally posted by icrawfish

I do have a question though—I beat the game and have almost 100%'ed it, but failed to get the star coins in the summer castle level. For whatever reason, after beating the game, I still can't re-enter the castle levels, so I am thus locked out of both it and the final level. Is there any way this could be fixed?

You can re-enter destroyed castles by pressing L+R. It's that way in the original SMW, and it's kind of a weird mechanic when you think about it, but it never occurred to me to change it until way too late. Unless any more game-breaking issues turn up that warrant another major update, I think I'll be leaving it like that. You're definitely right though, it's pretty unintuitive at first!

Ah, my apologies, I'm used to SMA2 where all the castles re-unlock after you beat the game and enter normally, so I didn't realize that, haha. Just finished the rest of the game, thanks!

Thanks for making such a great hack! Every aspect of it blew me away, and I'm amazed something like this is possible.

Especially huge props for the graphics!

Glad you enjoyed it!

I should probably make a proper announcement here that version 2021-07-27 is now out (same download link as before). It has a couple fixes and general QoL improvements, the biggest one being that (thanks to lx5) star coins now save as you collect them! You no longer have to collect all five in one go.

I didn't think this would be necessary when I released the first version, but I've seen so many people mention this as their biggest complaint, and watching a couple playthroughs convinced me that this is a big deal after all. It's a relief to have the improved version out now - I've already watched two playthroughs of people playing the update, and it was clear to see their experience would have been much worse if the coins hadn't saved.

Thank god the star coin issue has been fixed. That's all I have to say.

YY-CHR > Photoshop.