Which one's better? Because I've noticed there seems to be more people going for the latter than the former nowadays, and I've always wondered why that is considering how many more things you can do with either 'hacking' or making a fan game from scratch.
Is SMB X gaining ground because it appeals to people who just want to make fairy simple Mario game clones, like the Hello Engine of old? Do people seemingly value the default stuff in SMB X more than the custom tools and add ons you can get for rom hacks?
What do you think?
Re: Super Mario World hacking vs Super Mario Bros X
Posted: 06 Nov 2012, 20:00
by yogui
Spoiler only because otherwise my post is too long.
List of pros and cons of SMWhacking and SMBX:
SMWhacking
+Best physics, since it's the physics from the original SMW.
+All of the things from SMW is here, if you want to make a game like SMW it's perfect
+A huge lot of custom things you can insert
+ You can create lot of awesome things with ASM...
-but you need the ASM knowledge for that, and rom have limits
-yeah SMW limitation: limited colors, less than 85 sprites per level, no more than 11 sprites on screen or less depending of level modes, limited number of levels, etc. There is a lot of things to think when making your game.
-Having to use a lot of different tools for each different things you want to add.
-If you corrupt your rom and didn't made a save, well everything is over.
SMBX
+Probably easier to get "into it". Also it's "less illegal" than a rom. No need to patch anything either.
+New graphics can be added with no limitation of space and colors (except it must be a gif)
+Music are mp3 quality and any musics can be added
+No limitations: Infinite number or levels, can have hundreds sprites on screen
+Lot of default graphics/musics/sprite/things to start, including 5 character and lot of power-up from various Mario games.
+The sprites in the engine can be easily modified
-However it's impossible to create new sprites, only modify sprite already in the engine.
-Also can't create new blocks, can't edit things you can edit with different tool or patch in SMW like the statur bar, the physics, the scrolling rate, no "layer 3"...
-In general, can't add new stuff apart from graphics and musics.
-No update of the engine since the author quit.
-The physics are not as good as SMW.
There is not one better than the other. It's just opinions. Some prefer hacking SMW, some prefer making a game with SMBX.
So yeah if someone just want to make a simple mario game when there is everything ready from the start, then SMBX is better. So for most people this is perfect.
But you know how to hack in ASM or if you'r nostalgic of SMW / prefer a more complicated engine with more sprites/blocks you can add / prefer SMW engine or prefer romhacks for other reasons, then SMWhack is better.
Imo I prefer SMWhacking but it's because I never made a game with SMBX or played a complete game made by SMBX. Even if I do I will probably still prefer SMWhacking since I started with that and I prefer the SMW engine.