Link to hack

A YouTube link to the remade Gnarly below, just to give people an idea of the game. Tons more if you check my profile there.

Gnarly YouTube video

A few pics:







It is, in essence, a "Lost Levels" styled hack, in that there's no real update to the graphics and little in the way of new items or enemies that were not already in Super Mario World, but there's a steeper difficulty curve (though the first two worlds are still mostly easy) with some levels, especially the Special Zones, requiring near perfect platforming or unconventional - some may say unfair - tactics to win. Don't know how in/famous these types of hacks are here, but since the whole game has also been remade with a full 96 exits and they generally are larger levels (though the timer never goes above 400 seconds, so they're not overlong I think), it should still be a pretty full game and (I hope) enjoyable for those interested.

Feedback, both positive and negative, in regards to the level design and such are of course appreciated. There's a lot of creativity with many of the hacks looking at the threads here. Now that I'm finally finished with my own hack, maybe I can take a look at what other people have submitted.

I haven't played it yet but by judging from the screens and some of the videos especially, I would say it is indeed very hard here and there, but also very clever and not totally impossible or something, and besides the fact that there isn't ExGFX used it really looks good. I was just talking the other day that I can hardly see that much effort put in hard hacks which just places munchers in the air and everywhere else to make things hard, along with a very limited way of "designing" levels, so it's great something like this comes out.

The only thing I would have suggested is creating a new overworld along with new level names. But other than that, I'm sure I'll check this one out.

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I think 3 things :

- level design definitely shows high potential : carefully thought challenges with originality.
- however it also seems to have a huge flaw : challenges are impossible for someone who doesn't know everything he has to do nearly by heart, unfair deaths EVERYWHERE.
- but it's impressive that you've been making this many levels with such a level of quality.

I really think it's WAY TOO HARD from all the videos I've seen. It doesn't demand only skill but also luck in some parts and knowledge of the levels, which are 2 things that people don't like to need when they play a level. I've done levels way easier than that in my short 6 levels hack and quite a few people said they found it too hard to be maximum fun.

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I made the hack Tsunami Island
Check it out !

Thanks for the feedback. I did consider making a new overworld for the game since that would have allowed for more creativity in creating multiple routes as well as it just looking nice. The only real reasons I can say I didn't is because it helped keep to the theme of this really being a lost levels equivalent of Mario World, with many levels even echoing the old design themes of Super Mario World but changed or twisted up in various notable ways. Keeping the old overworld helps reinforce that focus a bit.

If I ever made a second hack, I certainly would create a new overworld and use ExGFX, along with other tools to make something much different from this. Still, even with this fairly simple focus, it still took me a few years to test and retest every one of these levels, getting others to test them, as well as just coming up with all of the ideas for the levels, sometimes scrapping whole levels and ideas and remaking them. Doing it again wouldn't take as long, so it would be worth experimenting with everything else the editor can do.



There is a try and die element some of the harder levels, mainly the Special Zone, though I figured that kind of cruel design was OK in a more optional setting since people were probably looking for it. As a general rule however, I did still try to keep things mostly fair. I tried to have coins indicate paths on blind jumps if needed and even on the Special Zone I didn't, say, put invisible blocks over pits or something with the intent of killing you, even if I don't think it's likely that people can beat most of those levels without a number of deaths.

Even a level like, say, the remade Choco-Ghost House's puzzle (which I won't spoil, but I have a video of it), will have hints in the design on the fake path that clue you into what you need to do, with coins suggesting the correct jumps when you have to start gambling your life.

Don't think you need luck to beat the levels either, in that some parts may be impossible on probability. The correct strategy should always get you through. The worst I've seen is a necessary sprite platform disappearing if there's a build-up of too many enemies from a generator or something, mainly but still uncommonly on Butter Bridge 2.

It is very hard later on though, and you might be right that it could be too hard for a lot of people to fully complete and have fun with it. Only thing I can say on that is that I have beaten every level little without save stating unless it specifically forces a power up (only the case with secret paths/exits) and that not every stage is ridiculously demanding. It is consistently beatable, though maybe unfairly so at the hardest points.

FPI: They aren't there specifically to be hard bro. And the VIP series even does it in a few spots. And those have so much work put into them that it isn't even funny.

I really like this. The level has a cute gimmick.

I don't understand people who get mad when they die to something unfair. Like most of the time it's clever so why not just laugh and either make a savestate or do it right?

It looks something that a person of a high playing calibre could beat, it relies on skills which not many know, which is the only thing i have to pick out about it, but other than that, good job

Hi!

I played your hack the last days and finished it to Bowser. The special world is indeed very hard, did not even got the first level behind me.

Special good things:
- The forest of the 4 seasons! I love that level so much an it seems to has so many pathes - like to play it again and again.
- Some levels who DO NOT resemble the old levels (for example the star roads - I expacted star levels, but you surprised me)! =D
- The Bowser castle! That was so hard, I had to try it about 30 times!!! But fun!
- Some of your keys are soooo tricky hidden. OMG that was so exciting.
- BEST THING EVER: Everything and part is from the original Mario world. NO custom blocks, alomost NO new palettes, NO new sprites. I LIKE THAT! ^__^
Did the same in my hack that will be finished in a few days (beta playing).

Negative:
- A few level designs were not... "astetically". I mean tiles looked displaced and such.
- Some levels and parts are annoyingly hard... sometimes I just fly with blue Yoshi over them.


Very, VERY good Mario World Levels, you are a genius in design!!!

And you are skilled in playing, too.

WOULD you play my brandnew Mario World levels with 96 new exits and a complete new level design in every world of dinosaur land? Would ya? ^_^

Glad to hear you liked it CargoOfDarkness. The forest stage I remember being more difficult than most to make sure it could still be fairly open-ended but not obscenely broken, overly easy, etc. if you stray off the intended path in trying to beat the level. That and I've always liked games that could reimagine the same area in somewhat different but creative ways, the four season stages in Kirby Super Star, Click Clock Woods in Banjo-Kazooie, or to an extent the whole of Oracle of Seasons for example, and the level was a bit of a tribute to all of those levels/games.



Probably. What game is it?

Wow, that looks hard. I like challenges, but like some said above: dying to something that requires perfect timing and luck kind of annoys me, but it looks so fun...

It looks fine but I wouldn't recommend remaking levels. I wish we had some real lost levels hidden inside the ROM.

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My opinion on LOOKING at this hacks (ill play it soon) is -
'What Kaizo Mario Would Be Like If The Guy Actually Tried To Make His Levels Look Good'
So yeah, ill give it a shot.

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One other thing I guess I should mention, and perhaps it's my fault for emphasizing the challenge of some of the levels, is that it's not just a difficulty hack. Many of the levels, especially early on, I feel most people would probably classify as easy to mid-range difficulty. Also, with the exception of some of the Special Zone stages, there isn't really anything that rivals Kaizo in difficulty, and there certainly isn't anything that would match a few of the cruel, nitpicky puzzle-hack videos you could watch on, say, ProtonJonSA or AzureBlade49's profiles at YouTube that make Kaizo look like a joke.

I do think it's important that I note the difficulty of some of the later stages, just to warn people who want to play. But I also designed many of the levels with multiple paths and different play styles in mind, and filled many of the levels with a good number of secrets to check out. Just one example from my videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaCTfx4zGtE

That's why I compare it to the Lost Levels. Because even if it mirrors the original game a bit and is more difficult, there is still plenty more to the level design than just challenge.