Back in 2014, after deciding not to keep it exclusive to my own hack, I released the DKC Styled Sprite Status Bar patch. I'd been collecting requests and suggestions for a "next version" I kept promising, but the only updates I made were small fixes.

Earlier this year (motivated by the C3 podcast), I took the time and gave it what feels like a complete overhaul. I think I'm justified in calling it:



Although it's still represented accurately by these four-year-old screenshots, this new version has lots of improvements and new features! I'm surprised how many of the suggestions people have made I could implement.

Changes:

• (new) Added an option to show all counters when the game is paused (finally got this working! thanks to p4 and Ladida for the help!) (see GIF 1 below)
• (new) Made it easier to disable the status bar on the title screen and in the intro level (via defines; both are disabled by default)
• (new) Added options for independent sliding-in and sliding-out speeds (see GIF 2 below)
• (new) Added options to make the counters appear and/or disappear instantly instead of sliding in/out (see GIF 3 below)
• (new) Added options to show all counters on getting a midway point and/or goal point (see GIF 4 below)
• (new) Added an option to show all counters when the player is idle for a while (see GIF 5 below)
• (new) Added SA-1 compatibility (thanks to MaxodeX for converting the previous version!)

• (fix) Fixed a bug where a Game Over would send you to the overworld with 99 lives and no "continue/end" menu (thanks to imamelia and Gamma V for reporting this!)
• (fix) Fixed a bug where a couple of sprite tiles would disappear when a message box was on screen (thanks to LX5 for reporting this!)
• (fix) Fixed a typo that made all counters except the reserve item ignore the !CounterSpeed define (it had been useless all that time!)
• (fix) Fixed a bug that would glitch mode 7 boss battles (thanks to Gamma V for reporting this, and to Ladida for helping me fix it!)
• (fix) Added compatibility with the VWF Dialogues patch

• Actually named the thing DKC*R* Styled Sprite Status Bar like I intended all along
• Tidied up the ASM file visually
• Moved defines and options to a separate file
• Added a .palmask file for the palette
• Minor technicality: Changed the timer code so it only counts down when a counter is fully visible

This update is probably somewhat of a fluke — after this release, it's not a project I want to focus on maintaining, let alone keep adding features to. However, if you come across any game-breaking bugs (especially if they were introduced in this version), let me know, and I'll try and fix them!



 

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Thanks for the feedback!


Yep! Most of the hijacks are the same and none are left lingering, so all the old stuff should be overwritten. (Let me know if it doesn't though!)


If you tell me exactly what to change, sure, that sounds reasonable. Though at that point you might as well submit an update yourself, right? I grant you permission to anyway.

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Yep, it uses sprite tiles. It used to not play well with mode 7 bosses, but as of this version it works, or at least doesn't obviously glitch (though I had to disable everything but the reserve item).

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