"King Boo's kingdom" by andreifurlan

File Name:	King Boo's kingdom
Submitted:	2015-02-01 04:49:28 PM by andreifurlan
Authors:	andreifurlan
Demo:	No
Featured:	No
Length:	10 exit(s)
Difficulty:	Kaizo: Hard
Description:	my first hack, I hope you enjoy Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/MrAndreifurlan

This hack needs a lot of work.

First off, the screenshots you posted in the submission are very pixelated and are of low quality. It looks like you took them using an outside program. You should take screenshots using the emulator itself (Press F1 if you're using ZSNES, F12 if you're using Snes9x). Bad-quality screenshots immediately give a bad impression of your hack.

When it came to level design, you had some creative ideas, but they were thrown in between a lot of boring and uninteresting platforming. For example, in stage 3, "Running on Death", you had an exciting shell puzzle followed by a section where you grab a star and just run across piranha plants. However, in stage 2, "Piranha Cave", I thought the sparky puzzles looked fairly interesting, you can definitely build on that idea. I also really liked the part in stage 6, "Winged Despair", where you tossed a throw block between two blue koopas who pushed it back and forth to each other, while Mario bounced on it trying to guide a disco shell above him; this was a very intense obstacle and there should definitely be more creative bits like that one throughout the hack. Think beyond just "jumping from one place to the next", or bouncing on enemies/shells, and think of cool puzzles like the one I mentioned above, that have multiple elements to make them a discrete challenge of their own. Also, for the record, I would recommend scrapping the "kaizo training" stage at the beginning, it really isn't necessary.

As for the graphical designs and layout, they're very unappealing. I suggest you refine the layout, as you have blocks and tiles placed in random spots at times, and there's a bunch of empty space around every stage. Also avoid having floating and stacked piranha plants and cut-off, as they look odd.

Graphical and visual problems also exist in the overworld. This overworld is all over the place. First, you have no events, which already makes it feel incomplete. Second, there's a lot of cut-off, the waterfalls aren't coming from any water source [1](plus the level tile floating in mid air), and the shape of the grass plains doesn't match the shape of the island itself [2]. The overworld needs a lot of touching up.

Lastly, a few more minor things:
-[3] The vine cuts off the tree tiles.
-[4] There's nothing stopping the player from swimming underneath the level in stage 4, "Dead Ocean".
-[5] Why is there a blank message box here?
-[6] Be aware that message boxes mess with layer 3.
-[7] Please put the switch on the ground, this look weird and is unnecessary.
-You should edit your writing. There are a few typos and grammar errors. For example, I'm pretty sure the stage name "Sheels Everywhere" should be "Shells Everywhere".
-You don't have to fly the entire way through the final boss. You can just get up to the throw blocks and stand on them until you're ready to throw them.

So yeah, the verdict is rejection. This hack needs a lot of polishing and re-designing. I suggest you take a look at some of the hacks that have been accepted, to see what it is that we're looking for.