Submission Link
I... can't believe I had to play this one again, lol. I played it back in 2016 and thought it was nice, but let's see how it holds up now that I changed my views in level design.
It's a hack whose principal "gimmick" is the fact that you can take separate paths all the way in the OW, kind of like SMW did with the star road. It's something you don't really see in hacks nowadays, most hacks don't really involve secret exits in the way this hack does. It's good, to say the least.
But the levels I feel are a totally different story.
Most levels don't go out of using the standard enemies as means of obstacles: bullet bills, chucks of all varieties, koopas, munchers, monty moles, piranha plants... Munchers are probably the most used obstacle, and it's weird to find a level without them. We have them in different varieties: normal, instakill, dead, reskins of other blocks... the instakill ones are generally used to add more challenges to some levels, and while challenge isn't bad, I personally think it shouldn't just be go doing precise plataforming while avoiding one-hit-kill blocks. Some levels feel really uninspired because of this: generally all of the ones that involve going around on vines while avoiding parakoopas and munchers, or having to wait for a spiny to be able to cross. The level usually never try a new gimmick other than just getting to the goal; altough there's a level where you have to hop on dead munchers while avoiding the live ones, or other where you had to get P-Switches with a lakitu cloud in order to progress. Other than that, standard platforming action. Some thing I concede to this hack is the usage of Yoshi, it's usage is consistent and for some secrets you'll need it. Not something you see in hacks, either.
The difficuly is usually a fair challenge. I think that the curve is kind of screwed however; the secret path in world 1 has a really ridiculous spike in comparison to some levels in world 3 for example. I think the main problem with the hack becoming gradually easy is that you can farm lives pretty easily later on, on Vine Muncher Wall and other levels. One-tile jumps are really common too, especially on the latter levels.
The aesthetics don't go more far than custom palettes. Most look decent, however some really need some look. Bright BGs or weirdly colored FGs - it's still unpleasant to look at.
Now for some issues that caught my attention or other things:
- Forced hit here.
- You can go up the first mushroom in Muncher Vine Wall and get stuck. 1, 2.
- Does this keyhole need to be on this position? It can be hard to reach for some.
- I legit didn't know this was supposed to be a door. The indication is pretty poor.
- This reznor keeps stuck on the air.
- You can skip the second part of the Red Switch Palace, simply by swimming on the 'lava'.
- If I spinjump a bullet bill on Ludwig's fight, this happens.
- How was I supposed to know this was going to kill me? In the original Mario world, the launcher doesn't kill you.
Overall, while it's a hack that might've been great for the period it came out, I feel like this isn't really worthy of the featuring status. I'm leading for a reject, but how about you?
Deadline: February 11th (you can ask for an extension if you wish.)
I... can't believe I had to play this one again, lol. I played it back in 2016 and thought it was nice, but let's see how it holds up now that I changed my views in level design.
It's a hack whose principal "gimmick" is the fact that you can take separate paths all the way in the OW, kind of like SMW did with the star road. It's something you don't really see in hacks nowadays, most hacks don't really involve secret exits in the way this hack does. It's good, to say the least.
But the levels I feel are a totally different story.
Most levels don't go out of using the standard enemies as means of obstacles: bullet bills, chucks of all varieties, koopas, munchers, monty moles, piranha plants... Munchers are probably the most used obstacle, and it's weird to find a level without them. We have them in different varieties: normal, instakill, dead, reskins of other blocks... the instakill ones are generally used to add more challenges to some levels, and while challenge isn't bad, I personally think it shouldn't just be go doing precise plataforming while avoiding one-hit-kill blocks. Some levels feel really uninspired because of this: generally all of the ones that involve going around on vines while avoiding parakoopas and munchers, or having to wait for a spiny to be able to cross. The level usually never try a new gimmick other than just getting to the goal; altough there's a level where you have to hop on dead munchers while avoiding the live ones, or other where you had to get P-Switches with a lakitu cloud in order to progress. Other than that, standard platforming action. Some thing I concede to this hack is the usage of Yoshi, it's usage is consistent and for some secrets you'll need it. Not something you see in hacks, either.
The difficuly is usually a fair challenge. I think that the curve is kind of screwed however; the secret path in world 1 has a really ridiculous spike in comparison to some levels in world 3 for example. I think the main problem with the hack becoming gradually easy is that you can farm lives pretty easily later on, on Vine Muncher Wall and other levels. One-tile jumps are really common too, especially on the latter levels.
The aesthetics don't go more far than custom palettes. Most look decent, however some really need some look. Bright BGs or weirdly colored FGs - it's still unpleasant to look at.
Now for some issues that caught my attention or other things:
- Forced hit here.
- You can go up the first mushroom in Muncher Vine Wall and get stuck. 1, 2.
- Does this keyhole need to be on this position? It can be hard to reach for some.
- I legit didn't know this was supposed to be a door. The indication is pretty poor.
- This reznor keeps stuck on the air.
- You can skip the second part of the Red Switch Palace, simply by swimming on the 'lava'.
- If I spinjump a bullet bill on Ludwig's fight, this happens.
- How was I supposed to know this was going to kill me? In the original Mario world, the launcher doesn't kill you.
Overall, while it's a hack that might've been great for the period it came out, I feel like this isn't really worthy of the featuring status. I'm leading for a reject, but how about you?
Deadline: February 11th (you can ask for an extension if you wish.)
