While names have been provided for convenience, all judging was done blind. This HTML file is just an enhanced, better looking version of the original txt version.
Which of course changes in the second half. I'm not sure world wrap really fits with the theme, but it was definitely a fun choice. Also, glad it was a proper ASM wrap rather than tons of greenbeans. If I had any criticism, I think the second half was a lot easier than the first. The bombs and munchers are dangerous, but not dangerous enough to pose a real threat with how powered up I was at that point. I think you could have tightened up some of the setups to compensate for the lack of kill plane. Not really sure. But the fact is, I died plenty in the first half and not once in the second, this it's a pretty minor complaint.
Dragon coins were well placed. Encompassing both a reward for more careful platforming and serving as milestones.
Anyway, go play this one. It's pretty and pretty fun.
Would have been cool if the hammers actually did kill the moles, but alas.
Well placed midway. Never felt like I had to redo too much.
The dragon coin placement was really clever. Can't get the first one without being big. Others require clever timing. Never quite got the fourth one without dying. Adds some challenge while also serving well as mile markers. Might've been my favorite bit of the level.
I think you would have benefitted from adding some dragon coins or something to maybe force some other transfers between the two halves. Would have allowed you to spread out some of the more intense obstacles. Not sure.
Would have liked a few more sections, given how often there were midways/the reset door. The idea has legs, but I could definitely feel that it pens you in quite severely.
I really liked the Dragon Coin placement though. Good spots that served as both mile markers and little extra challenges to grab them without getting hit.
Also, having Yoshi as the major powerup for a level without doing Yoshi setups is a bit odd. Not sure about that one. Kinda wished you'd found some setups with the red Yoshi to justify having him around. The redness didn't really make a difference and kinda hurt your theme a bit.
Anyway, love the simple concept. Self destructing levels have a long and storied past, but this one does that history justice. Starts off showing exactly what to expect and then runs with it. Loved the dragon coin placement. Always just a little off the beaten path, but it makes routing through the level just that wee bit more dangerous.
Midway troll's also classic.
Adding faster Holy Men in the second half was a good choice to shake up the pattern a bit. I'm kinda torn between this level being exactly the right length or if it could've used a bit more. Not sure. Either way, what's here is enjoyable. Definitely would recommend this one.
The first room introduces the concept gently. The second builds upon it stylishly, though the ending to the second room confused me. I think there was a puzzle there? It didn't seem to work right when I played through. Either it was somehow broken or I solved it by accident. Either way, odd.
The third room was...tighter than expected. Maybe I'm just bad at coloring in the lines, but it felt like it dragged a bit, especially because you couldn't stop and wait at any point.
The fourth room really took the cake. A discoshell hat is both stylish and functional. Led to some interesting interactions. The ending is just a little trolly, but that works well in the framework of the level.
Yeah, this one's really cool. Go play it.
Really appreciated that you couldn't cheese that bridge by spin jumping on the grinder. Definitely felt some SMW hacking experience there.
If anything, I think I'd like to have seen a few more sections, given how short they were. The level kinda ended when I was getting going.
The flipper is cute. Wonder if it was ripped from somewhere or hand drawn?
Anyway, this is a case of taking two simple concepts and running with them to create unique and interesting setups. Always appreciate a level like that.
Room three can be defeated by just holding right, which is kinda funny. Also, I noticed that the text at the beginning isn't correct. A/B are definitely still enabled for both bounce height and regrabs. Not complaining. Life's weird without those.
Aesthetics are simple, but fine. The blocks convey the concepts well.
That being said, the aesthetics are top notch. This good blend of vanilla backgrounds and well chosen off the shelf graphics really works. FF6 music suits it well.
The best part was the dragon coin placement. Required some exploration to find them all, and some of them had some fun little fakeouts.
If this was the first ghost house in a Standard: Easy hack, it'd be a perfectly fine level, but for this contest, it was just not quite enough.
You've centered the entire level around the plants more or less, which kinda works. The block escort missions are kinda cute. You could choose to play them straight, or clear the path and go back to get more blocks. It's nice that there's a choice. Adding Thwomps and sparkies in addition to the red Piranha Plants was an interesting idea, but it mostly just makes the player wait for cycles to line up. A couple of cycles together is perfectly fine, but lots on top of eachother can make the player start looking for epicycles. At least with the blocks to clear things, you didn't make it too annoying to wait or kill most obstacles.
There's nothing superfluous in this level. Everything has a purpose and serves it well. You get taught right up front that we're gunna be playing stacks and switches and that concept runs through the entire level. Never really gets old either. The variations on those themes work well, though I did get a bit tired of the back and forth switch setup by the poor hammer bro.
I really enjoyed this one. Lots of good puzzles. Some very pleasant setups. The finale with the falling spider just adds to the greatness. Couldn't quite make out the iconography at the bottom of the level. Wonder if that'd be an author spoiler if I did.
The ending is probably the most confounding bit. I'm not sure if there was a special p-switch or if doing a p-switch jump ends the level or if it's a sprite count thing. Really, this whole level just left me kinda confused.
Like, good concept, but the execution wasn't quite there.
Would have also liked to have seen some more variety in what you needed to do. Just finding the switch every level got a bit stale.
Anyway, take your time and make a whole hack like this. I'll play it.
And I did find the midway and ending trolls kinda funny. At least you gave an out for both, by having the number platform within reach of the landmass under the midway. And adding a Bullet Bill generator at the end was an inspired choice that took the ending troll from kinda mean to really cool.
Yeah, this is just a really good level. Go play it.
Also, would have been nice if the level was a bit lower so we can see the other clouds in the background. Most of the time, we're just looking at blue.
This is a very linear, almost autoscroller like level. Some diversion would have been nice. Maybe a bonus room or something to seek out.
Also, this is one of the most on point style wise Mario sprites I've ever seen. Dunno if you made it yourself or ripped it from somewhere, but it looks great in the full Yoshi's Island aesthetic. The level looks fantastic too.
That being said, the level itself is pretty fun. There's some jank with the KooPhD sprite, but it wasn't too bad. The midway is placed a little oddly with some waiting before you can get back into the meat of the level. Might have been better placed after the pipe.
There were some parts where the bomb throwing mole is placed just offscreen and it's hard to react to the thrown item you're not expecting. That mushroom behind the bomb bombs right after the midway is a key example.
Kinda uneven, but I can definitely say the level looks great.
Anyway, the puzzles are well designed. Every level has a logical solution. No guessing is required, just keen observational skills. Really enjoyed the p-switch one, because I think it could be solved by either visual or audio clues. Dang clever.
Midways are placed well. Even if you were missing a trick or two, having to guess a path wouldn't be the end of the world. And the troll at the end was an absolute master class in Pavlovian conditioning. Well played!
Pretty sure the hacker picked the oil/water gimmick first and then saw where that
took you. Every area exploits the mechanic well, without it ever feeling
superfluous. Starting with shells and keys, keeping Mario from spin jumping or
forcing Mario to kick a shell he may not want to kick and then moving to
living Goombas was inspired, given it forces a timer without making it all
explicit that you just
can't get rid of the bombgoomba.
Dragon coins were placed very well for this sort of level. Either requiring a little bonus puzzle to get or exploring just a bit off the beaten path. They just add some extra joy to this sort of level.
On the other hand, the health system wasn't quite necessary. None of the sections were really long enough to justify it. Didn't detract from the level, but it's ultimately a minor quibble.
Go play this one. Seriously. Might just be my favorite of the contest.
Really solid level. Good use of the ball theme. Some interesting setups involving, shockingly, balls. A good mix of tight timing and some more sedate sections where you can take your time and work out what you want to do. The long rolling ball section was almost cheesable, which was kinda nice for learning what you need to do there.
The second section didn't really introduce anything new, but did give some cute timing setups to overcome.
The star of the show is definitely the ball yo-yo section. Kinda wished there'd been a second section full of that to play with. Could have been cool. Maybe even doubling it up. Dunno. The last section definitely felt shorter than the other ones, even with having to double back.
Almost felt like this needed a boss to cap it off narratively, but 24 hours definitely wouldn't allow for that...
Still, this one's cool. Definitely would recommend.
Using only moles and mole related sprites was gutsy, but I feel like it held you back a bit. The throwing moles really can't do too much damage in an autoscroller given how they target the player's current location. Still, I admire the pluck.
Really enjoyed the aesthetics. You've embraced the flatlaned with this one.