[ON HOLD] Super Pika Land Ultra: Chocolate Version By Doownayr89 - Featured Hacks

Link

This is by far one of the more charming hacks out there with the shear amount of Pokemon that are represented in this hack.

A few things that stood out the most are 1) the use of ExGFX in both the building of the levels and the complete overhaul of the sprites showing just how much effort was put into the creation of this hack, 2) the curve of this game is pretty much perfect starting very easy and gets the player accustomed to the new enemy graphics but picks up and becomes a great challenge by the end, 3) The level design is outstanding where nothing feels randomly placed, over crowded or overwhelming. When playing I never felt that a death was the games fault but due to my own mishaps.

And lastly and the biggest thing is it was just flat out fun to play, though it had frustrating parts I didn't want to just put it down I wanted to overcome the places I had trouble on which is not something you can say about every game out there.

By now it's probably obvious how I'm leaning on this but I feel that this should be featured but it's not just my call.
How do you feel about this hack? Do you agree or disagree? Feel free to post below with your thoughts.

Deadline October 1st 2016

You have my approval.

BANANA SLAMMA.

Originally posted by Pixel-Gon Gamer

You have my approval.

You have to explain why you think this should be approved

Not just go "I think this should be featured."

Hack・Ports・ASM・"Uploader"

I remember playing this hack a few years back, and hell, I actually still have it in my folder. I'd say it still holds up to this day for me. The level design was indeed a very enjoyable experience and the levels felt unique and charming. The didn't feel generic to me, especially with the additions of the different Pokémon and gimmicks scattered throughout; I remember not expecting much coming in, but coming out of it rather impressed.

As ninja said, it represents quite a lot of Pokémon, but what I found more impressive was the fact they were carefully used (for the most part) having flying types appearing in sky based stages and etc. There are a few odd choices here and there, but for the sake of level design, I'd say that's no biggie.

The graphics are nice for the most part, and I especially like Pika/Raichu's sprite. It's nice you even took the time to keep the hitbox consistent between the different forms, since many other hacks don't do that. For the most part, I'd say everything fits together quite well; that said, there is a bit of clashing going on and a bunch of inconsistencies here and there, but it's not enough to completely destroy the hack, which I'd still say is worthy of a feature. Definitely one of the more memorable hacks I've played in my time.

This hack is really amazing in all aspects!
Everything is well presented and executed, it's got a simple but efficient story and it's overall a fun experience. If "chocolate" is still a relevant term, this hack is the best example to give.

~

The levels are great. It's impressive how creative simple blocks were used in the levels along with other fairly recognizable resources from this site, making to interesting and fun gimmicks. Something interesting to note is that the Pokémon type for enemies does change in some levels which is a neat touch. You also happen to walk into enemies being used in unusual ways, reskinned, like the Blargg, which is surprising at first, but very clever.

The level scenarios are beautiful. The graphics are great although sometimes inconsistent but along with good music choices they made levels fun to play, and it was interesting to see ports like SMK's Vanilla Lake being used for non-icy levels and still being fitting, of course, due to how the port sounded like in the hack.

And the overworld... I personally like it when people make usage of Switch Palaces needed in order to proceed to the last levels of the hack, although they weren't really hidden or anything - it's just a good change of gameplay to me which I appreciate to see in hacks. However,

getting to do the Star Trials to get to the actual ending was neat!

and it felt funny that I already had done these before I was told to.

Lastly, playing as Pikachi/Raichu was fun. Good to see the hitbox was changed accordingly and replacing the cape by a double jump powerup was well-welcomed for a different but still good gameplay.

~

Even though I've praised the hack a lot above, I don't think it should be featured, at least not yet...
There are a few overlooks I hadn't noticed when playing this hack in the past, and unfortunately one of them breaks the game. Here are the not-so important ones.

For what's important: the music in Gigavolt Gauntlet is fun and nostalgic to me, like a lot. But unfortunately, if the player dies in that level the death theme doesn't play and as it looked like to me, I get stuck to a black screen and am required to reset the ROM. It's a big problem, mainly when that level is

the last one before the credits, long and difficult

. I used Snes9x 1.53 but I'm not sure if this has only happened to me so far.

~

The hack is great, very fun to play and all, but that issue mentioned really is something.
I say to not feature, at least not for now. It should get a "fixme" tag and when the hack gets fixed I'll gladly change my vote to have it be featured. For now, I don't think a hack should be featured having such a dangerous overlook.

What Mirann pointed out is very legit. That's why I decided to go ahead and add a rule which clarifies that the hack must work on all major emulators.

In case this gets featured by the deadline, we'll be holding it, waiting for someone to fix it. Only after it, the hack will be featured.

And it's over!
According most of the opinions, the hack will be featured!
Athough, since it has a fixme tag, it will be set "ON HOLD" until someone will fix the music issue.