SMW Competition Cartridge Hack

[arnpoly]

I present to you a different kind of SMW romhack.

Recently I came across the Donkey Kong Country Competition Cartridge and played it for the first time. I really liked the different way they approached the game, and it got me thinking about what it would look like if this format was applied to SMW. So I decided to go ahead and make this happen, and attached is the result.

Click here for more information about the DKC Competition Cartridge

Essentially this hack is a hand-picked arrangement of the original SMW stages with the objective to score as many points as possible in the allotted time. The scoring system has been revamped to more resemble the system used in the DKC Competition Cartridge. It's a fresh take on the game we all know and love.

EDIT: Uploaded a new patch with a couple of updates. I changed the 1-up bonus rooms and also added a warp pipe in the bonus room that resets the game.

EDIT 2: The hack is up at SMW Central. Check it out here!

Hope you guys enjoy and thanks for playing!

[morsel/morceau]

I played it three times. My best score was 3005. Is that good? Am I capable of challenging those so-called 'pros' at Nintendo?

[arnpoly]

My personal best is 3670 but that is with an unfair advantage of knowing exactly how it all works. So yeah, 3005 is pro level!

[Jesuiscontent]

This is actually pretty addicting, as much as the Donkey kong version. My record was 3427. I think it would be interesting to see a TAS of this rom (aiming for the best score of course)

The points awarded for each things seemed quite balanced but I think you should get more points through lifes by jump-chaining/star kills and less through regular 1-ups mushrooms. As it is now the random 1-up bonus game in Donut plains 1 seems to influence a bit too much the score since it is, well, random. Or maybe remove that room altogether. Or replace it directly with a few 1 up-mushrooms, I don't know.

[arnpoly]

Thanks for the feedback, Jesuiscontent.

I kept the "chain-kill" point bonus kind of low strictly for balance because just in defeating that many enemies you get a lot of points already. I'm also afraid that if I increase the points there that it might become more efficient just to farm for points in certain areas instead of trying to progress through the stages. This is the reason why I didn't include Yoshi's Island 2 so that you couldn't farm for points at the start of the stage. Donut Plains 4 is the biggest potential offender here with a shell kill area and a star kill area, but I think both those areas are far apart enough not to be that convenient to farm. Anyway, there's probably a bit of wiggle room with the scoring there but not much in my opinion.

I never considered the bonus room in Donut Plains 1 just because it is so hard to get into without the yellow switch. Because of that I do think the reward should be...I guess more consistent than the chance of extra lives. I'm thinking if I do change the room that I would make it a small room with a 3-up moon inside.

[arnpoly]

Well, that is a great score! The new gold standard.

DKCCC flat out freezes when the time runs out...I think I can make it more polished than that. I'd like to put a warp pipe in that hooks back to the title screen.

[arnpoly]

Thanks for the offer, Alex. I wanna take a crack at it first.

[arnpoly]

I uploaded a new version of the patch and attached it in the OP.

In the end-game bonus game room I added a pipe that resets the game back to the title screen. I also redid the 1-up bonus rooms. No other changes were made and the scoring is exactly the same. I'm pretty happy with this version.

[arnpoly]

Yes I'm sure. Thanks again for the offer though. The warp pipe I added returns you to the title screen and resets the game and everything...exactly the effect I wanted.