#\D+ Name
^ YT Desc
* QC
$ Award?
COMMENT
#53 Not Gaslighting Mario
^ Starts shitposty, but grows quickly!
* Pass
$ Deepest Lore Award
This isn't a level. It's like four, so we gotta talk about all of them.
* Peak Level Design: This felt like a shitpost and started my expectations
fairly low. The fish fountain is kinda annoying, but the level peaks around
the p-switch area.
* Nothing to see here: A common name for levels in an LDC, usually just a
terminus. Still felt like a shitpost with weird features and kinda random
enemy placement
* Second Castle: Where's the first? This is where it takes the gloves off.
The two bowser statues combined with all the small obstacles was honestly
peak. Very clever stuff.
* Bouser: Map16 confusion. Still really good. Almost forgot about spinjumping.
Clever obstacles. Peak shineyness around the p-switch obstacle. Boss was
fine. Not a huge fan, but at least it only took like three hits.
* M's Inner Monologue: Plot! Not sure we needed denomow, but damn. A good wrap
up.
Honestly, I think I had most of my fun in the back half, but I'm not sure the
prank would have worked well if the first two levels hadn't smelled of
noobishness. An interesting package.
#57 A GRINDR ENCOUNTER
^ Listen carefully! Very carefully!
* Pass
$ Hear 'n Aid LP Award
First play. Got the H, but had to sleep.
I think I hate this. It's not badly designed by any means. Almost every
obstacle makes sense and can be solved individually...except where the saws
sound boxes overlap. Those are an inconsistent nightmare. I get the feeling
that the hacker may have gotten really good at cycling through it, maybe
always taking the same path when two are given. Not sure.
Second play. Actually beat it. Some cheating. Long story short, I don't think
I believe any of the bits were done out of cruelty. I found ways--painfully--to
disambiguate most of the saw noises. Some bits still felt a little cruel, but
definitely intentional. The donut block section in the second half where you have to spin jump to
hear the saws was tricky. Hated the saw right past the switch block.
As for the boss, this level did the thing I really kinda hate. I'm not a fan
of beating long hard sections just to die to a boss that I need to figure out.
Ended up turning on saw visibility (thanks Maks!) as my "save state" option.
Even visible, the level holds up, which is nice. The boss is fine too. Maybe I
need to work on my motion prediction. Prolly would help with Pinball...
Yeah, I still think this level is stressful and hard to stream. Maybe I'll
give it another shot offline.
Second play:
#42 Hunt the Wumpas
^ Even SMW supports the Wumpas Irradiation Compain now!
* Pass
$ QBASIC AWARD
Classic! Absolute classic! Hunted a few Wumpases back in my day. I think my
brother might have typed the whole thing in. Not sure. Anyway, it's a somewhat by the
numbers port from the era of BASIC programs, but it retrains the simple charm.
It's not the world's hardest game, but it was satisfying to bust out the pen
and paper to solve it. Good choices on the aesthetics. Kinda wish the "super
bat" was the giant swooper sprite, but the field of bats worked just as well.
Good show!
#15 OOPS! ALL BROKEN
^ Opps...shouldn't left it on the shelf where the cat could get it.
* Pass
$ Prolly not
It's a nice romp with a few clever bits. Kinda enjoyed figuring out which
sprite was which. Something about the firestream mole kinda weirds me out. A
tracking mole/bobomb hybrid could be pretty cool, though.
#4 Koopa City
^ The city I live in, the city of Koopas!
* Pass
$ Prolly not
A pleasant little romp. Was actually a really nice break after the second
session of A GRINDR ENCOUNTER. Lovely aesthetics and music. They fit well
together. Kinda wish there were some more obstacles than just here's some
Koopas coming at you, but this is a perfectly fine second level in a
theoretical Standard: Normal hack.
#49 Where's Wally
^ Why do the Brits call "Waldo" "Wally"? It's not a better name.
* Pass
$ Yes, but they should have to spot it in a giant image map before receiving it.
I found him! Took some doing. Wasn't expecting a port of the infamous NES
game, and I'm glad it wasn't. The first two screens got me a bit worried that
there'd be a load of find the tiny pixel man, but you took it in a solid QLDC
style direction.Except the maze. The maze was unsolvable. Found that quite disappointing.
Still, absolutely loved it. A++ Would Wally again.
#20 JRNY2BECOMDASTRNGST
^ Keep Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'
* Pass
$ Fred Durst Memorial Award
Christ, this goes places. Loads of dialog. Two custom bosses. A gun ASM that
isn't that one musket that allows for double jumping. Peter. Honestly, this level is
pretty dang awesome...except the 105 edit. Dang level made my eyes bleed. If
it wasn't for that, this'd be a straight 10/10. However, since I like my eyes
not full of blood, I can only give it a Three Dollar Bill, Y'all.
#51 Ninjer Toortlz
^ As the French would call them, "Tortues Ninja"
* Pass
$ Most educational
Classic QLDC. Start with one bit of weirdness and amp it up. Loved the NES
Turtles framing. Kinda wish there'd been more of it. The Duo Lingo stuff was
funny, even if the bird died before I got to play this. The final section was
weird. Took me way too long to learn to adjust my height, but I liked that I
could choose the scroll speed. Nicely put together.
#36 apothicons servant
^ Oh boy! I love fish fountains!
* Kinda low effort
$ Prolly not
Kinda liked the shell riding. Could've done with more of that, but the best
strat was usually just running for it. Fish fountain made everything kinda
annoying and RNG. Not sure too much thought was put into this one.
#48 Do You Mind?
^ I definitely do.
* Pass
$ Hat on a Hat Award
This is a hat on a hat on a hat on a hat... Loved the first gimmick. Moving up
and down frames was actually pretty cool and adding the switches to force the
player to remember to set up switch state before exiting was a clever idea. Reminds
me of the game Recursed where you enter chests that contain themselves and
other such nonsense. The counting gimmick was kinda annoying, but not too bad.
The screen covering is where this one got annoying, but it was still
tolerable. The last section just kinda killed my enthusiasm. Reversing
controls is just lazy and it sucks. Without that I might've toughed it out
counting and swearing about stuff I can't see, but I just wasn't having fun
any more. Too much shit to keep track of. I can see this effort and artistry
here, but in the end, it's not for me.
#5 An unlucky day
^ Yoshi and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
* Pass
$ Prolly not
Really thought the whole thing was gunna be about trolling away the chance to
grow the Yoshi. Kinda wish it'd stuck with that theme, because the first half
was funny, but the second half was played very straight. The push upward was
funny though. Same for the final ORB troll. Nice little level.
#3 Dislike Heaven House of Boo
^ Yes, very unlike Heaven.
* Pass
$ Prolly not
Interesting choices. Without the music, I'd say this is almost a pretty normal
level. Atma Weapon's theme being played on the world's least put together tape player
was a good choice. Marking the kaizo blocks somehow didn't stop me from
hitting them at inopportune times. Maybe because of the Standardness of the
rest of the level? Not sure. The RNG egg spawns were cute...whenever they were
actually RNG. Kinda wished that'd had a larger impact.
#1 SMW-AF: Aesop's Fables
^ No sour grapes!
* Pass
$ Reading Rainbow
Fun stories. Wasn't familiar with "The Horse and The Stag", so that was new
and interesting. Loved the take on The Ant and the Grasshopper complete with
Credence accompaniment. The Ant and the Grasshopper was definitely the most
detailed. BRUTUS was awesome. Good adaptations. They were all enjoyable
reads.
#23 Bombshredder
^ Despite the name, no paper was harmed in the creation of this level.
* Pass
$ Bomberman Completionist Award
Not gunna lie. I was pretty worried on the buildup. Loved the serious
tutorial style leading up to the Kaizo demo...but so happy I didn't have to
even try that. Bombing down the corridor was actually pretty nice and
relaxing. Didn't even try do the staircase building. Sorry, just didn't think
I wanted to spend the time. Kinda wished you'd gotten the final victory lap
working, but it was still a cute level.
#37 Jank's Paradise 1
^ Man, I hate green beans.
* Pass
$ Cool Beans, Maybe
You know, I never knew green beans were so versatile. Especially for making
Mario fall through the floor. Kinda shocked there wasn't a screen wrap
section, actually thinking about it. Level was just about the right length.
Once I realized that the key to the whole thing was to always take the mean
bean, life got a lot easier and far less questionable. Still, kinda hated the
last setup. Well done for working under OLDC style constraints.
#43 Egg
^ Goes places. So many places!
* Pass
$ Strimmer Bait Award
I'll admit, the Undertale bit made me expect a very different level, but it
didn't stick. Compound silliness of the type I really do expect from Seg and
Donut. Didn't even bother hiding authorship, but it prolly would've been easy
to guess anyway. Lots of cute little bits. I liked the painting Phanto Luigi
thing. The cluster fishe were also clever. Kinda wish the whole thing was a
bit more jointed, but it wouldn't have been as silly. Short, but fun.
#54 Mario's URLAUB
^ So much fun I forgot to play!
* Pass
$ Prolly not
In all honesty, I kinda got bored partway through. It's a cute idea and
probably nostalgic for you, but ehh. If I wanted to watch a commentaryless
let's play, I'd go watch one. Undeniably questionable. Level and Design? Not
as much.
#19 a simple wood
^ Shadowgate's back! In pog form!
* Pass
$ MYSTery Award -- Top 3
A whole point and click adventure game! Really loved this one. The first two
puzzles came quickly, but that last one. Oof. Quite the Ursa Major that
one. Really fun. Love puzzles. Definitely play this one if you're a puzzle
person. Just make sure to bring your paper and pencil.
#41 Klee, Gat that Punch!
^ Didn't even have to roll her!
* Pass
$ Prolly not
Cute sprite level! Quite enjoyed figuring out how to place bombs exactly where I
wanted. Was tricky, but very satisfying, especially when wall clinging. The
coin collecting bit was a lot of fun. Kinda wish that'd been a larger part
of the level rather than a victory lap. Dunna much about Genshin, but you hit
pretty much all of it. Well done.
#9 Run-off King
^ Not sure about King. Maybe should've aimed for Prince or Warlord.
* It's questionable...but it's kaizo. Third section is straight up kaizo.
$ Prolly not
Coyote jumping is definitely questionable. Honestly, the first section wasn't
too bad. Good setups. Second section had a good back and forth thing
going...except for the boring bit right before the really effin' hard spinning
platform thing. I might've ground that out instead of cheating, but I'm damn
glad I did. The third section is straight up kaizo. It's just kaizo. No
thanks. Not with the gimmick. Boss was creative, but just seemed cruel. I
think your ideas have legs, but you really needed to cut back here.
#30 Fuzzy Dash
^ Absolutely Radical Fuzziness!
* Pass
$ Most Radical
Love the Fuzzy on a skateboard. Brilliant idea for an autorunner. Was kinda
worried when the box mentioned a time limit, but it never got really close to
a 90 second autoscroller, which was nice. Second half shook things up with the
transformation to Flappy Fuzzy as well as adding in the speed boost potions.
Kinda wish you'd played around with speeding up/slowing down a bit more in a
third section or something, but what's here was really fun. Good job!
#10 Super Little Guy That Can't Jump Very High
^ He's Just a Silly Little Guy
* Pass
$ Nobel Prize in Physics -- Top 3
The start was a cute troll. Never expect the playable title screen. Was worried
at first. Most low jumping level aren't great and usually just make things
you'd usually do kinda painful and jank. This level largely circumvented that.
By going in the--largely--one screen puzzle direction, you've made the first
low-jumper level I actually really enjoyed. But I like puzzles, so it's kinda
easy there. Loved the escalation with additional mechanics along the way. The
three rooms two pipes puzzle was ingenious. Reminded me of Recursed,
which I almost wonder if you'd played. If not, play it. It's that good.
Anyway, I loved the whole thing till the end--and even after with the bonus
puzzle! Wished that a few weird bits of jank didn't happen, but whatever, it
was fixable. Really awesome level. Will definitely be recommending this one to
people.
#34 FIND BLINKER FLUID
^ I prefer Boxes of Grid Squares
* Pass
$ Prolly not
Cute level. Very standardy. Kinda wished you'd done more with the dragon
coins, since they were all localized within the first bit of the level. The
lava jumps were silly. The cave section was pretty fun. I've got a beef with
your powerup gate though. Entering it big and riding a Yoshi kills you, which
kinda sucks. Level's short enough that it's not a big deal. The OBSTACLE
COURSE was kinda fun. Not overly difficult, but had a few fun ideas. Good
music choices.
#25 Mario Browses The Internet
^ Was a huge upgrade over my old 9600 baud modem.
* Pass
$ Eternal September Award
I actually used AOL around that time... There was a trick where you would
start the AOL browser and then just use IE or Netscape for your browsing. Good
times.
Anyway, loved the title screen and various aesthetics. Thought I'd be annoyed by
the whole hack resetting on timing out, but the level was short enough that it
wasn't. Really, I'd say the biggest issue was how simple it was. I'd've loved
some more involved kinda setups rather than just going as fast as your modem
could carry Mario. Ending troll was kinda funny.
#28 Wacky Mountain Starring Knuckles
^ Knuckles is definitely seeing things...
* Pass
$ Prolly not
Scrambling tiles is always a cute idea. Some of the enemy sprites were great,
like the Starman Koopas. Always switching bad things for good and vice versa
definitely messed with my head a bit, but wasn't too bad ultimately. Seeing
what else was swapped out as the level progressed was pretty fun. The smiley
coin Piranha Plants almost got me. Might've needed some dragon coins, even
just for trolling purposes. But it was still a fun romp.
#46 Arena Fighter
^ Kick! Punch! It's all in the mind!
* Pass
$ Kung Pow! Enter the Fist! Award!
Oh god. You've managed to import the experience of playing Zelda 2 into SMW.
That's...terrible. Like Ivan the Terrible. Impressive, but not something I
want to be associated with. I found the hit boxes to be wonkey till I finally
just assumed that it was the whole Mario body. Even then, punching some
critters--especially the Disco Shells--was kinda painful. Once we moved onto
sword and boardin' I found the hitbox to be a bit better, but the shield was
kinda weird.
Anyway, I don't think I had a lot of fun playing the level. Was pretty
frustrating, but I can definitely appreciate the effort put in. It's seriously
impressive. I'm just glad it stopped when it did instead of having like a 69
hit Bowser that throws hammers and bombs and fireballs or whatever.
#21 Mario's Unspecified Quest
^ "Unspecified Quest" is nothing like "King's Quest". Kinda like "Space Quest", though.
* Pass
$ UnJumpman Award -- Maybe top three
It's impressive just how far the hacker's taken this one gimmick. Airlocking
Mario's speed in the air feels cruel...then I remember this is how his jumps
work in the OG Donkey Kong. It's kinda fair. The water section was prolly the
most evil. Only being able to swim straight up is so limiting, but you managed
to find some setups that made it interesting. The autosroller was also very
evil. Wasn't expecting the Magikoopa spawn along with the RNG ghost
placements. Glad it tuned down a bit before the, frankly, befuddling ending.
Really clever level. Well done!
#44 Super Mario Worldle
^ Food% this hack. Think about it.
* Pass
$ Most Online -- Maybe top 3
Lovely concept using Geoguesser style online games as a template. I'd almost
suggest you should make a Mario Guesser site. Have spots from random Mario
games. Maybe even hacks. Could be cool. All I'm saying. There are some killers
in here. Subareas I haven't been to in a very long time. Also mixed up the
block snake levels. Even with some cheating, could only get to 25. Not sure if
there's any ending. Will update with another playthrough if so.
#33 ~ Sinus ~ ± Plus Minus ∓
^ Mathguy: Your mission is to collect numbers that sum from one to ninety nine in each level, respectively. And beware the devious Mr. Glitch. He'll shove you out of the level, if you are wrong.
* Pass
$ Fields Medal
I actually kinda liked this one...till about level 50. That being said, after
a while I stopped trying to be smart about preplanning and routing around. It
turned out that blundering around was faster...which isn't great for a puzzle
hack. Maybe my arithmetic just isn't good enough. I dunno. Still, I did have
fun for a while. Just wish there was something to shake up the pattern after so
long. Some of the levels that had custom layouts with clever solutions I
really enjoyed, but the grid with numbers seemingly randomly strewn about got
tedious. Maybe adding more operators? Oneways? There's gotta be something.
Just...as a puzzle enjoyer I left this one kinda disappointed.
#31 Triangleful Heaven
^ Triangle Mario always beats Particle Luigi
* Pass
$ Right, but Triangular, Stuff Award -- Maybe top 3
Triangles...Mario's true nemesis. Always a bit jank and fiddly. Love the
custom sprites. Triangle chuck and Swoleangle were great too. Fun little
story. Both endings. Kinda wished there'd been an indication that getting over
50 affected the ending. Doesn't matter. Still cool. Lots of good setups and
some fun variety. Though the infinite small triangle wall climb was pretty
annoying. Anyway, really good level.
#18 Galactic Colours
^ The colours Mario! The colours!
* Pass
$ Mario and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Award
Solid concept using the different colours of terrain and pipes to throw the
player off. Most of the setups were fine and fun. Really hate single tile
water. It's just...not fun. Might just be me. Would have liked a bit more
signaling in places where there were blindish jumps, usually around a Red
Koopa or Amazing Flying Platform, but honestly, these are pretty small
complaints. Solid level.
#38 pesky greedy obese omnivorous lemons
^ The Pacman who ain't no Whack Man!
* Pass
$ Pac-Mania Award
Jesus. This level truly explores Pacman in all his glory...maybe minus Baby
Pacman's combination of arcade game and pinball machine. Honestly, almost any
half of this level would've been a solid QLDC entry. I almost wonder if it's a
bit too long. The least fun bit was definitely the large pacman section. Some
of those bits were really hard to read. I even got softlocked right before the
midway. Which I guess was fine. Start+select was enabled even if I didn't use
that.
Anyway, I kinda wish it'd been one or two sections shorter. The quiz bit felt
out of place and didn't really make sense with the rest of the level. The
ghost bit, too, kinda felt tacked on, but was at least closer thematically.
Anyway, I still had fun. Good enough.
#40 push button, receiv
^ Instructions unclear. The room is now full of health packs.
* Pass
$ X-DURABLY Award
Puzzles. Love puzzles. Fun level. A few of the rooms were a little obtuse or
contained unnecessary information. Kept looking at my Famicom controller hoping
the colors would be important on all the wrong rooms. Gunna spoil a bit here.
You got me in the coin snake room. Using coins as a marker was an
interesting choice, but it definitely got me going down the wrong path. Same
kinda thing with the directions the Koopas were facing in the Spiney/koopa
room. Tripped me up.
Other than those complaints, I actually had a pretty good time. Solid puzzles
for the most part. Well done.
#55 You are Just a Blue Switch
^ Do not press the yellow...wait a sec.
* Pass
$ John Madden Switch of Excellence -- Maybe 3
Dang, that was obvious. The gimmick is so simple, but works so well. My only
complaint, really, is the Only Up Mutated Football section...and even then,
mostly because of jank relating to those hitboxes or killing the football and
then dying to it a frame later. Since Daizo already addressed that, I'm pretty
okay with it. The Castlevania references were funny, and it was nice to shake
up the formula with removing the L/R controls. Boss was fun. Was worried when
I saw nine hitpoints, but he had some good tells even if I can't seem to
listen. Really Questionable, but very good level.
ALT TEXT: the issue with the footballs is I didn't include a specialized check to read if the sprite is dead or not since it's two separate hitboxes
#6 Once in a Moon Room
^ When the Moon hits your Mario...
* Pass
$ 58 Moon Salute -- Maybe top 3
So very simple, but so brilliant. Moon rooms are such a staple of the LDC
genre. Honestly, this, minus the silly bits at the ending, could've been a
solid CLDC level. Anyway, love little room challenges, and it was nice that
the level was up front that missing a few would be fine. I got them all, but
it was nice to know you could choose your shots. The little rewards were a
nice surprise as the level progressed. Especially the music box. Endings--all
three of them--got a laugh out of me. Really well done!
#35 Memory Leak
^ And I thought I'd used Valgrind correctly!
* Pass
$ Say You're Going to Give Them One and Totally Forget About Doing It Award
Dear lord. This is not my kinda thing, but I have to respect the effort. Spot
the differences in low light with creepy RNG things happening is a fine
concept, but at least with my setup, an eye bleeding experience. There's a lot
of subtle changes--some of which I definitely missed, none of which I'll
spoil--and some I only saw like once. Definitely interested in how this one was
implemented.
#26 priority problems
^ Can't © Mario World
* Pass
$ John ©Ena Award of Excellence
Messing with background priority. Classic. Was worried at the start that this
could drag on and on, but it didn't. Good use of the various priority modes.
"Funky, but worse" got a laugh out of me. Not sure about
the jumpscare saw dude, but I liked that he shook things up. The final room
was really silly, but I'll be damned if it didn't get a solid laugh out of me.
Classic QLDC shenanigans.
#7 Groovy Ground
^ Level terrain's taking a sports day!
* Pass
$ Bouncy Castle Award
Attaching layer 2 to sprites isn't the newest idea out there, but danged if
it's not still cool. Dunno why it's always bouncing footballs though--except
when it's the third egg. Aside from the third platform, which always seemed to
high bounce when I wasn't ready, the level was pretty navigable without
relying too much on luck. I do think it might have been nice if it'd been a
bit longer or explored attaching the layer to different sprites, but what's
here is nice.
#59 garbage dayb
^ I can't believe they replaced the key with Lakitu's head. What will his wife think?
* Pass
$ Trophy, But It's Just a Blue Mole Spawn Sprite
Corrupted graphics aren't anything new for QLDC levels, but gotta say
combining them with quizzes actually kinda works. The only issue I had was that
frequently, I just wouldn't know the official LM names of some of the platforms,
but that's not a huge issue. The translation table VRAM bit at the end was
pretty funny. Loved the actual ending. It's a pretty simple level when you get
down to it. Kinda wonder if it was done under severe time pressure... Doesn't
matter. Had fun.
#47 Obasan-Koroka
^ Oh look! Gunstar Heroes!
* Pass
$ NOT Cool XOR Cruel
Fun level! I'm not sure if it was meant to be an homage to worldpeace's Cool or
Cruel, but it's the kinda level that'd show up in a hack reenvisioning such
levels. Liked the sprite variety. Loved the two bosses. There's something to
be said for simple bosses between sections. Might have been miffed if I'd died
and had to replay the level, but that wouldn't have been too bad here. It's a
bit simple, but it's got some solid style. Also, love the world map.
#39 FLY aka Breaking.Bad.S03.E10.1080p.WEBRip.x265.mkv
^ "I'd say this is horrifying, but its actually horri-fly-ing." -- FridayFables
* Pass
$ Small Baggie of Blue Sugar Candy with a Novelty Fly in It Award
Christ, I definitely didn't fly through that one. Had to be informed about the
reference, since I've only ever seen the first episode of Breaking Bad, but it
seems to track the plot well judging by the random audio samples. First
section was fun. Had some Getting Over It vibes. Second section was kinda
painful. The floaty fly jumping combined with wind and some hard to read
setups. Having a mushroom was nice, but you couldn't really call your shot
with it. I wanted to use it to cheese the moving platform plus Ball and Chain bit,
but it seems like you can't. Third section required a lot of pain and
suffering to get just right. I get the feeling this hacker is more of a Kaizo
kinda person. Guess I also wasn't happy with some of the important bits being
almost off screen in the first section...and the mushroom eating block bit in
the third section felt the same way. Challenging, and I'm so glad I'm not
going to hear "turn the ventilation up" ever again.
#24 Paranormal Mario
^ And I still haven't found Waldo...
* Pass
$ Boo Shroom Award
Spot the differences! Never played a non-SMW hack version of "Find the
Anomaly", but it seems like an interesting genre. Honestly, keeping the
changes--and lack of changes--in my head was a bad way to go. Should've taken
notes given there was no RNG. Kinda wish there had been. Would've felt more
true to the horror genre maybe? Still kinda sad the Trash Can wasn't used for any
change. But you definitely explored the space of the level you made,
barring that object.
#45 Mario Goes to Hollywood
^ Hollywood just ain't what it used to be...
* Pass
$ Academy Award for Best Cinematography -- Top 3, Definitely
Loved it! All three sections used solid camera based gimmicks. The wobbly
camera in the ghost house was hilarious, and had some good obstacles
involving the camera's location as it bobbled around. The "death line" was a
really nice touch to clue the player into where things were safe and where
they weren't. The beer area use the classic underwater physics, but drove the
point home with some funny coloring and drunken HDMA effects. Finishing with
a portrait camera phone bit where you're timed by the battery was the cherry
on top. Had a blast from start to finish.
#2 The Intuitively Fun Dimension Castle
^ Wait...a Castlevania level without Bloody Tears?
* Pass
$ Bloody Tears Award
Lovely lore. We need more Evil Lobsters in the world. We usually only have the
Rock Lobster. Anyway, this level has a lot of lining-up-mutliple-cycles kinda
gameplay--especially the Brazil section, which I'm not a huge fan of. What I
can't deny is that the sublevel themes were really creative, though I think
the Castlevania from Memory section was straight out of Boxman Tano. That part
was kinda painful, even if I loved seeing Philip again. The autoscroller
especially. I'm not sure why you felt the need to make everything a killblock
instead of a hurt block in the slow moving section. It makes having an extra
donut seem really superfluous. Just found myself confused by the choice here.
Lastly, the big boss. I actually really loved the fight. For some reason, it
reminded me a bit of Ecco the Dolphin, aesthetically. Was a fantastic climax for
the level. Credit level was well done too. It was a nice sendoff.
I've got mixed feelings about this level, but I think, ultimately, I had fun.
#56 eye of the dog, impregnable gaze
^ It's a nice dog picture
* Pass? Not really? Low effort?
$ Prolly not
This is literally nothing. Like...not in a bad way, but in the way that a lot
of conceptual artists kinda get up their own butt and start producing pieces
that consist of a bit of cling film stapled to a piece of cardboard with a
name like "dusk in september (37/69)". It's a cute, low effort entry.
It's a nice dog picture. That's pretty much it, though.
#58 Neo Cappy City
^ Mario's going to the club to get some DDDs.
* Pass
$ Most Kirby without having Kirby in it Award
Honestly, I'm not sure I liked this one. Coin collecting can be a good
mechanic, but I think this level suffered a bit from not using those coins
for more cluing. Like, there's a lot of spots where I just wasn't sure where
the floor was going to be. A lot of them. A few coins around there would have
helped with the blind jumps, especially in a level where you have to explore
the vast majority of the space to beat it. Just got a bit frustrating, but
some of that was a skill issue. Or attention issue.
What I did like were the NPC Waddle Dees. Those were somehow pretty inane, but
enjoyable. The weird gamer one was relatable. Others layed down some
interesting lore. And then there was the dude who wasn't sure when a sword is
just a sword. Definitely a weird one, him.
#52 Gravel Grapple
^ Three exits? Boogies? Witchcraft!
* Pass
$ Most Exits So Far Award
This one's a humdinger. Three exit levels are hard to pull off well because
the concept kinda needs to support three kinda separate paths in the level.
Frequently--even with two exit contest levels--you end up with a kinda
mishmashed level where a sublevel that leads to the secondary exit doesn't
really share a gimmick and could have been its own level when fleshed out. I
kinda feel like you had two ideas here: the wallrunning based on switches and
the keyhole autoscroller. Either of these would have been fine on their own,
but combined...not sure. Adding a second boss was also a bit silly. The
gimmick wasn't really usable in the crystal room. Then there's the Boogies.
I'm still not sure what to do with them. They're a weird sprite. Would've
loved to learn how to extract a 1UP from them, but it never quite worked.
Having a boss that requires beating a long section and not placing a midway is
one of my least favorite Standard difficulty tropes, and this level kinda did
that with a boss that wasn't trivial to beat, especially because of the
interaction between the Boogies and Mario's fireballs. Kinda glad I found some
cheese, because beating that on its own when I have a minute of level between
attempts would've taken a while. There's lots of parts to like here, like how
the dragon coins are hidden, but it needed focus.
#17 Pachinko Palace
^ "He who gambles picks his own pocket" -- Fortune Cookie
* Pass
$ Gamblers Anonymous One Day Chip
Gambling is tricky. The first floor had a few fun ones. Actually got the
Magikoopa Gamba jackpot. That was cool. Pachinko, in both its variants, was
pretty fun. Blackjack was...confounding till I noticed the coins. Entering
with some coins the first time didn't help. Pick-a-pipe is silly, but
enjoyable. Getting 100 lives wasn't too bad.
High roller area is where it gets interesting. Did Irritating Mario once.
That was enjoyable with the layout I got. The Arena was pretty cool. Never a
bad idea to 100 Rooms of Enemy (LINK) your hack. Maze was my jam, to be
honest. Liked that there were a few differing layouts. But honestly, 500 was
just a lot. Kinda wished it'd cut off a bit lower--though this is kinda my
fault, since I had a small reset. So glad you added lives to the save file.
Lastly, plot. Loved the Hackers references. Solid music. Peach with sunglasses
indoors, staring at her computer. So 90s it hurts! Bowser was a surprise, but
not a terrible one. Felt anticlimactic after all that. Kinda wish there was a
small epilogue or something. Still, really cool level.
#60 Key to Success
^ Nothing succeeds like success!
* Pass
$ Confounding Use of Yoshis
A one room puzzle! I love these! Had a decent amount of fun puzzling out
exactly what to do here. First third came quickly. Second third was harder,
mainly because I ignored some of the tools I'd been given. The third
third...well, I found the secret unintended ending, which was also pretty
puzzling. Guess wings and doors don't go together. Once I finally put it all
together--the right way!--it's a pretty impressive puzzle using mostly vanilla
tech, I think? Well done if so! If not, I'm curious what chocolate was used.
Hope you make more of these.
Also, appreciated the shoutout!
#14 Scary Castle Maze
^ "Utterly confounding" -- patcdr
* Pass
$ Prolly not
This is an oddly confusing level. Like, I felt like I was back in 1993 playing
through Mario 3 as a child. Namely, the World 8 Fortress with all the doors.
You've got to figure out the right combination of doors and press a P-Switch
to reveal the correct path out. It's not easy without a map or taking some
notes, cause some of the doors take you in loops or throw you in weird places.
Somehow, you've captured that...but I'm not entirely sure it's intentional.
The level's got three different ways to get to a specific location. Not sure
why. Not sure which was the intended one. It's got a P-Switch door that takes
you to an unexpected place--namely the same location. There are extra keys so
you can cheese the whole puzzle, but ignoring that, the intended route kinda
makes sense? Like, I see what you were going for. It just...wasn't necessary
because of the extra resources. The ending was odd too. Not sure if it wasn't
tested, but the goal tape doesn't work. Basically, this feels unfinished, but
that kinda...works? It's an odd level. Not sure what to think here.
#8 Abusation
^ Why have one level when you can have six?
* Passes, but man a lot of this seems Kaizoy
$ Prolly not
Jesus. This one's a bear. Six uniqueish sections is a lot of level. Most people
would just have one or two--maybe three--sections based around the same few
concepts, but you've taken this to 11. There are parts I really liked. And a
few really clever setups...but I definitely get the feeling the feeling the
hacker is more of a Kaizo sort of person. Honestly, the setup with the Creeper
and the Bob-omb in the sixth section was really cool...but was also very
Kaizo. I think the sections I had the most fun with were prolly the first
one and the fourth one. The fourth one utilized the Slopemole really well.
Classic QLDC style nonsense.
Really, I just found myself wishing for two things:
1: More exploration on some of the concepts you've been playing with, rather than adding new ones.
2: Sanding off the rough edges. There are a lot of rough jumps and awkward
parts that would have usually been sanded off by testing. I did notice a
lack of credited testers. Not sure if it's an oversight, but there were
definitely parts where testers might have convinced you to raise a ceiling a
tile or lower a floor or add an extra tile for slop.
There are good ideas here, but they just needed focus and refinement. Less is
definitely more in a lot of LDCs. You provided a lot, but some of it was
annoying filler--like the whole start of the third section--where the player
is waiting for things to happen or for cycles to align. Some of the setups once
the player gets past those parts are really fun. Just...needed some testing
and smoothing over.
Also, the original patch wasn't completable on the sd2snes or better
emulators. Shout out to ASMagicianMaks for fixing up a few blocks' ASM.
#16 FLiPPeD NoTE
^ YEAH WE LIKE WAFFLES!
* Pass
$ Flip Note 2D
Short and simple. Never actually heard of Flip Note before this level. Kinda
wonder what I missed out on. Anyway, this is a pretty straightforward romp. I
like the hidden 1UP in the pipe room, but otherwise there's no exploration.
Some Dragon Coins might've helped. The troll at the end was really good too.
#27 ε
^ Mario's feeling clear headed today...and clear bodied...
* Pass
$ Transparent PNG
I want to like what you've done here. Making Mario invisible, but leaving the
weird little extended sprite tells is clever. The first half of the level, I
actually liked quite a bit, but also didn't use the tells so much as just
intuiting where Mario should be with a low enough error rate to just play the
level. Though dust was required for the rope gates.
The water section was...not my favorite. I'm not sure I understand the bubble
mechanics well enough to really use it as a way to place Mario's location on
the screen. Adding in load a spikes and a broken midway--found a work around,
which was cool--I don't think I found it much fun. Questionable? Hell yeah!
But not fun. Reznor was just kinda there. Being invisible there definitely made
them harder. Wish there was a checkpoint for that when I fell off.
Anyway, it's a cute concept. Just not one I enjoy.
#13 Super Mario and Their Madness on Dreamland Which Means Nightmares
^ All is going to nuts! And why I'm feeling stronger?!
* Kaizo. Not sure about this one.
$ Prolly not
Honestly, I actually liked this level a lot...before the gun part. While not
easy, all of the prior sections were readable. Sure, they're very Kaizo
styled. Really, where this level lets us down is just
not testing enough. I'd rather've seen a cliffhanger to the plot upon reaching
a point in the gun room. Though the message box troll was really good.
Basically, it's not fully cooked. Maybe when it's done I'll take another look,
but for this contest, it's...just neither complete enough nor the right kind
of level for this contest.
#22 SMW Kart Cup
^ Always pick Yoshi. Just gotta!
* Kinda broken, which is a shame.
$ Prolly not
So, this is an interesting idea. I like the race concept, but three laps of
the same area, especially when you can depopulate that area of danger, is a
bit much. Kinda wish there was a bit more to it. A tight, per room timer would
be fun. Maybe a race against a sprite. But I can appreciate the largely vanilla
experience this provided...for the first half of the proffered tracks. Sadly,
there's a softlock in Koopa Beach, so we only got to see some of what you
did. Bit of a shame really. Wonder how Rainbow Road would've cooked out. In
its SNES incarnation, it's killer. Would've been nice to have seen if this one
followed suit.
#32 blblblllbblblbl
^ On after Dennō Senshi Porygon, is the Simpsons episode with the Japanese Seizure Robots!
* Low effort. Painful aesthetics.
$ Prolly not
I don't like this level. It feels like it was thrown together in a few
minutes, possibly by the hacker's cat. Like, between the seizure inducing
palette cycling, the dang near invisible baseballs, and the general nuisance of
Magikoopa, I just wasn't having fun. Getting Over It levels generally ply
their trade on letting the player learn a path and get skilled at going
through it...and this one just lets the path get destroyed when Magikoopa
decides to eat some of it. It's just annoying. The P-Switch troll was kinda
funny, at least the first few times. So glad I didn't need to schlep it up to
the top.
At least it's short. Thank goodness for that.
#29 Frozen Lake Reverse
^ Today, Mario learns all about being an inanimate balloon!
* DQ'd already
$ Prolly not
This one was DQ'd before I played it. There are some good ideas here--mainly the puzzles with the
balloon state--but the implementation is really rough. Not sure why holding a
direction was required, but removing that would help a lot with those tight
jumps. Faster retry and more checkpoints as well.
#11 Game of Y-O-S-H-I
^ It's fun game and a stupid horse.
* Pass...the ball!
$ Sports participation trophy, but a nice one
Fun concept! Got my buddy Squiggles to come over and we played around. We
didn't really play HORSE or YOSHI, but we had a grand time just goofing
around. It's not so much a level so much as a playground. You have to make
your own fun!
This took me back to the ol' elementary school days where you make up silly
rules for a race. Like: spin around the merry go round three
times, jump off the swing, run up the slide and then you win! Nothing
important, but it feels fun and wears you out.
As our player 2, here's what Squiggles thought:
It definitely has a target audience and there can be some clunkiness hitting
Select when you want to start the timer, but it's Calvinball.
#50 Super Mario Bros. The Lost Media
^ This was just silly.
* Pass, but meh. MSU-1 and AI aren't good for how they're used here.
$ Prolly not
Honestly, I'm not sure about the use of MSU-1 being original here...
That being said, I kinda liked the completely fake journey through Mario's
timeline. The parallax thing was kinda cool. The New Soup area was...not great.
Not sure why the copy and paste, but then it FNAF'd so whatever. I guess this
entry just makes me feel old. Didn't really get the jokes, but I'm like 403
now in Internet years.
Some good ideas. Some questionable implementation. Very shitposty.
#12 Snyper IV
^ Way better than Snyper III, but not quite as good as Snyper 7. Weird how that works.
* Pass
$ Super Scope of Victory
Long story short: this entry probably shouldn't have been played on a real
SNES with the Superscope. Definitely some lack of testing for that, given the
issue of the gun sometimes just not wanting to fire if you're pointed at a
darker part of the screen.
The autorun section definitely suffered from the gun's lack of precision when
dealing with that six tall Bullet Bill stack. I played with Turbo on after a
while. Not sure if it's possible without.
The troll at the end was pretty good. Wonder how you get the Good Ending.
Basically, this is a solid gimmick, but the Superscope, unlike the zapper,
kinda sucks in general. Not your fault. Just is.
#61 It Snakes Too
^ It's a shame this one got DQ'd due to brokenness/lateness. Prolly would've been top 3 for me.
* DQ'd before the contest started due to brokenness/lateness.
$ Prolly not
It's a shame this one got DQ'd due to lateness. Prolly would've been top 3 for
me. It's a great concept. Not sure I'd want a whole hack's worth though.
As our player 2, here's what Squiggles thought:
This thing is great. For destroying friendships. But really, find someone and run through it - it's worth it.