I Hate Tomatoes! - Winter 2022

In a world where there are tomatoes and people who for some reason enjoy eating them, one man is kind of not about that life and is actively damaged by contact with them.

The message on the bottom left screenshot is taken from Paper Mario: Black Pit, go play it it's good.

I Hate Tomatoes! has been described by rom hack scholars and laymans as hybrid Standard/Kaizo hack. If you don't like Kaizo Butts, this may not be for you. Though if you are willing to venture outside your comfort zone and into hostile territory, perhaps there's a chance you'll find something to like there. In truth and with more sincerity, I've just been experimenting with vague ideas and seeing what comes out, regardless of what the end product is.

As this is a demo, I have decided to give the player free reign to experience any level in any order they wish, partially because I haven't settled on an official one yet. If my ability to do math is correct, there are 23 exits available in this demo. Almost all available levels have secret exits, with Old and Cold being the only exception because I ran out of time. I know nobody likes to read this fact when I put it out there so I'm going to make this nice and visible.

I am not using the red/yellow dot system to mark the amount of exits a level has. Not in this demo and not in the final.

A couple levels that aren't in a complete state managed to sneak their way into the overworld. They are marked as such and you can't do anything in them anyways. This is a reference to the old Sonic 2 Betas in which you could access levels that weren't done yet, and not any sort of error in the production process. Pressing Start + Select will let you leave them, as well as any other level for that matter.

There are many, many people who's contributions, direct or otherwise, helped lead to the creation of this hack. A comprehensive credits list will be available soon, I kind of did not leave myself enough time to do that right this second, but I can at least mention a couple people who's efforts helped me along.

-Ringo gets the biggest of shoutouts for volunteering to make an overworld for me. They made it beautiful and pretty within a few days before this event started too.
- Sonikku just by virtue of making all sorts of sprites that I ended up using would be enough to be mentioned here. He coded up a toggleable switch changing if you start as Super Mario or regular small Mario. Unfortunately, once I decided to install Instant Retry, this became sorta not useable because it changes your state on the overworld. I still appreciate him for doing that.
-meatloaf, Kevin, JamesD28 and definitely more I am forgetting in the immediate time frame, who helped me on the discord server whenever I would have an issue. If it wasn't for the kindness and knowledge you shared I probably would have given up on making anything and written it off for being too hard.
- Koopster, bebn legg, AmperSam, Anorakun, AppleBoy54321 and probably more for playtesting. Some of this was private and some of it was live in the voice channel but you helped me find things that needed fixing and adjustment. Speaking of the voice channel, there were a lot of you in there watching and offering commentary and I appreciate you too but I can't remember everyone and don't want to leave any single person out so you're a nebulous entity now.
-Speaking of nebulous entities, anyone who followed what I'd been doing in #showoff or on twitter and offered praise, commentary or ideas, you are great and amazing. Jammerjab gets a special shout out here for boosting my work both on the bird site and in his own server.
-I should probably save this for the actual credits list but Segment1Zone2 gets a shoutout here too for putting up with me badgering him for one port.
-Lastly and certainly not least, my wonderful amazing girlfriend zurrr has been encouraging every step of the way.

Get the beepis here! Thank you for playing or even just looking at this thread, and I hope you enjoy if you try it out.

While I'm not the biggest fan of kaizo I remember you posting screenshots of this some very interesting gimmicks and level design from what I saw.

You are challenged by Champion Daisy!

LAYOUT FOOTER:

I'll have to give this a try sometime soon. I've been watching your progress over the past few months and I really like the direction this project is heading in.

I like that all the levels share a universal theme of the "Tomato Blocks" but also how each level gets its own gimmick and theme to make them all stand out by themselves.

What I like the most is how you've stated it is almost just experimentations of ideas and honestly I feel that's were you can find some of the more creatively designed levels when it comes to SMW Hacking.
Part of the fun of hacking is trying out all the different resources and combining them together in a sense to see what fun experiences you can make for the player.

Can't wait to see it fully completed someday but for now I'll happily take a small demo that I can sample your hard work and effort.

Great Work.

Insert your typical "kaizo isn't my thing but I will give it a try"

Just kidding. I definitely will try this, not only for having the kaizo tag, but also for looking very fresh and interesting. Hybrid hacks are the future. As far as I can see from the screenshots the hack looks very promising, but I must ask, why in the Earth you hate tomatoes?

I offer my hand to give it a test and feedback if you need it.

While tomato isn't my kind of thing, I think I'll give this a go (jk tomatoes are the best)

Jokes aside, this looks real fun. I'm glad I could have a part in helping you sort issues out, looks like it was definitely worth it! I'm sure I'll have a fun time playing this when I get the chance, and I look forward to seeing the final release.

This hack is gonna revolutionize the tomato block

Check out my WIP romhack!

Very cool levels, everything is fine!

List Soundtrack - List Hacks

Mega Man X3 OSTs

In spite of what my constant rewinding in the VC may imply, this was actually pretty fun to go through, especially with you being there and watching me play it, and offering developer insight.

Glad to see it in a releasable state. I'll definitely have to go through it again and see how the changes affect the levels-- the giant spring already looks very promising. Also, Mirann did a fantastic job with that overworld.

Looking forward to canyon.mid :happee:

haha
i playtested this

I'm glad I was able to contribute to this hack in a way - all the stuff you've showcased in the Discord about it seemed very fun. I've tried a couple of levels myself and they're entertaining even for a bad player such as myself, so I think the more skilled people will have a good time with this!

Hey, I watched this hack on stream last night! I don't like Kaizo much, but I bet for those who do, this will be a pretty neat hack! (I also don't like tomatoes much either...)

I was about to playtest this, but to be honest.. and I'm not proud of this in the slightest, I forgot about it...
I have sinned!

Jokes aside.. I've yet to play this masterpiece, the tomat hacc!
From what I've seen of it, it's really fun, so if I find time for it, I'll definitely check it out!

Tomat4Life

A really tough hack, but very satisfying for play, at least the levels I managed to beat. I'll take a look at this next build very soon. Tomato blocks are more scary than munchers. Why are they so angry, Nope? Who hurt the tomatoes?

Two things I wanted to bring up. First, good shit—tomatoes are garbage and I also receive damage upon touching them. Second is that I like the little Black Pit reference in the second to last screenshot.

For real though, I have a difficult time with Kaizo since I'm just flat out not really good at SMW, however this project looks compelling enough for me to disregard that with what you've shown here. You've got some really fun-looking setups going on from what I can see, and the visuals are cute and look polished. I've gotta get a new USB controller first, but I definitely plan on playing this when I get the chance.

Thank you for the kind words everyone

Originally posted by Alex_X8

why in the Earth you hate tomatoes?

I don't like their taste or texture on their own. I could only ever eat tomatoes as part of a sauce on something else, like pizza.

Originally posted by Alex_X8

I offer my hand to give it a test and feedback if you need it.

After you've given it a play if you want to share your thoughts I would love that.

Originally posted by JupiHornet

This hack is gonna revolutionize the tomato block

I sure hope so, I would love to see other people use them if they felt inclined.

Originally posted by Anorakun

Why are they so angry, Nope? Who hurt the tomatoes?

That's just their natural state of being that we don't get to see because farmers are out there every day making them safe enough to touch and eat.

Originally posted by Chester

(I also don't like tomatoes much either...)

You are a tomato.

The legend of tomato.zip is finally here! 🍅 I'm still working through the play-testing but should be a nice hack when it comes out.

I updated the patch in the original post with a couple tweaks to things I missed. That in it of itself is hardly worth a bump so I have some more screenshots to share of the secret paths.

If you want to know exactly how to get to them all, I have a list.

Farmer Snifit's Tomato Patch: Enter the first pipe, then enter the second pipe, then hit the tomato block in the middle of the five on the right, then use the P-switch to go all the way to the left and enter the pipe.

Speedrunner's Beach: At the start of the level, toss the Goombud as high as you can, lined up with the palm tree. After a few seconds a P-switch should fall down. Bring it where the first grey rock is and press the switch to make the door appear.

The Ocean? What Ocean?: By the first steep slope, go to the upper platform where the Cheep Cheep is, then return to the steep slope. A Blurp swimming to the right will appear, ride it into the wall.

Acquisitive Canyon: Collect every coin up until the one way wall to the right (69 total). Return to the one way wall pointing down, and run into the tomato blocks there.

Cave of Trails: In the second area, create an opening in the coin trail near the door such that you can go past it. Hit the P-switch and use a running jump to go to the right.

Richard and the Spring: At the start of the level, make the Fuzzy fall off the line guide to the left.

66 Kontest Lane: After the midpoint, go to through the door and get under the platform with two columns of tomato blocks. You'll return to the start of the level. Find the clock that points to 3am, and press up.

Staff Infection: At the first midpoint, fall down below. Get a running start and spin jump, bouncing on the Lil' Sparky to cross the gap and get the moon. Return to the start of the level in any manner, and you will be able to go through the blocks that look like they have a moon on them instead of a star.

Propeller Block: At the midpoint, slide under the tomato block and fall down.

So Sadistic It's Unrealistic: At the part with the pipe cannon, use a running jump to continue to the right instead of taking it.

Priced Out City: Get 16 or more coins to pass the gate before the midpoint.

I feel personally and directly attacked by this hack.

Love the aesthetics! Looking forward to seeing the final full release of this

Originally posted by TomatoPhalanges

I feel personally and directly attacked by this hack.

SORRY

Anyways since this event is going to be wrapping up soon I figure I'd drop a link over to my thread in the WIP forums if anyone would like to follow the continuing progress of the hack.