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lion lionson's Hack Soup

do you like them video games? what about those there romhacks? well pop on in here and talk about them then! what are you waiting for?!
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KobaBeach
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lion lionson's Hack Soup

Post by KobaBeach »

just a small dumping ground for my hack thoughts.

The Mario (Ping):
World 1
World 2, Leftovers and Final Thoughts

A Super Mario Thing (talkhaus)
World 1: The Beach
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Re: lion lionson's Hack Soup

Post by KobaBeach »

The Mario
Author: Agate (Puriny Ping)

World 1:
ピーチ城から脱出 / Escape from Peach's Castle:
A quick, simple, linear stage with the punchline in the second half. Nothing more than a quick humor themed stage. I feel that the Prototype Mecha Peach is a bit too much of a challenging/unpredictable enemy for stage 1 but, it's a romhack and the joke makes up for it. Graphics work is also pretty good.
Rating: Inoffensive. (2.5/5)

金づちマリオ ボツ? / Greenhorn Swimmer Mario (To Axe?):
A stage that's supposedly to be scrapped. A shame as it's competently designed even if the gimmick is simple, a quick and easy levelASM that disables you pressing B or A while on the air. The level is surprisingly novel for a water stage and even explains the gimmick in textboxes at the start to help get you up to speed, should you read Japanese. There's even two choices to approach the level, go for the offensive and use a shell that can go down in one hit should you not use the "kill by place next to you" technique, or go on the defensive and use a P Switch that won't damage any enemy, putting you at the mercy of the stage, but you won't be at the disadvantage of possibly losing your ability to progress. Honestly, I like this stage and I'm glad it made into a demo.
Rating: Pretty gud! (4/5)

急げ!稼げ!戦え! / Hurry! Score! Attack!:
My least favorite of World 1. The gimmick is a bit unclear, the stage opens with a textbox that explains the Time gauge is tied to the score and increases depending on it, but it's not it's not exactly explained in plain Japanese that the higher the score you earn at one point, the more it increases. The way of beating this stage is to go for combos, which is more cumbersome to perform than you'd think as gaining 1UPs and higher scores through combos is meant to be an advanced technique for more experienced Mario players and not exactly a core mechanic. The stage is also populated with Chucks which serve as an indirect obstacle, as they don't give you points and get in your way as a normal enemy. Enemy density is large with the gimmick at hand, but at times the enemies used feels a bit cheap at points, a lot of Green Parakoopas, a few sliding blue Koopas, at one point, shells being kicked in a cramped area. There's also no midpoint.
Rating: It could be worse! (2/5)

水辺に映る真実 / The Truth, Reflected in the Water:
Another creative stage, with a bit too much challenge. The gimmick of invisible blocks populating the area is pulled off in an interesting manner, though the screen real estate given to the reflections is basically half the screen so, objects in mirror may seem closer than they appear. Another problem is that the enemy choice is... Dino Rhinos and Chucks. Aka the most annoying enemies. With half of the screen taken up by the solution to the puzzle. It also has a secret exit, which has you swimming in the lake, as the screen turns upside down. It also has a death area at the top of the screen, which is annoying due to retaining the enemy selection with a few Cheep Cheeps. I do like the gimmick, and the little Gundam reference at the end of the secret exit, so I can't exactly dislike it as a whole.
Rating: Inoffensive. (2.5/5)

P DASH !!:
A fun stage, short and to the point. You have to catch an unwilling P-Switch, whilst avoiding failure switches that stun you in place. It has a reset door so as long as you don't fall in a pit, it's not a huge problem. It's good!!!!!!
Rating: Pretty good! (4/5)

ぐるぐる マウンテン / Spiral Mountain:
Another decent stage, the gimmick is a bit unwieldy as you loop back to the other side of the screen much earlier than you'd expect due to the limits of either Ping's ASM skills or the SMW engine, I feel like it's invisible teleport blocks hidden in each side of the stage? But it's generally pretty fair. It has a midpoint even.
Rating: Pretty good! (3.5/5)

リゾートビーチ / Resort Beach:
A GFX showcase level. Despite the average level design, the graphics do help bring this level together, from the Chucks playing volleyball, to the blindfolded Ninjis as well as the floater Koopas and snorkel Galoombas. The stage graphics have a more pastel aesthetic to them, whilst the enemy graphics do fit well with the SMW style. I had fun.
Rating: Pretty good! (3.5/5)

名前決め兼ねちゃう / Can't Come Up With A Name:
A level inspired by the tunnels in an early Yoshi's Island stage. Done with an easy touch layer 2 and it disappears gimmick, turning into a don't touch layer 2 and it disappears half way through. Again, a decent stage, just a bit unremarkable. Does its work and does it well.
Rating: Inoffensive. (3/5)

イギ―の監視塔 / Iggy's Watchtower:
This stage is a bit all over the place. Ping seems to advise the player to skip it with the goal orb at the start but I played it through anyways. The mechanic of the blocks that can only be passed depending on position relative to the net is novel, but the stage doesn't explore it enough. It seems that Ping had trouble getting everything to work together as a textbox later in the level complains about how annoying the Thwomps and Net Koopas are to use together. It's to the point where it seems like the second half can be mostly ignored altogether, possibly unless you go for the Dragon Coins which, I didn't. Oh well.
Rating: Inoffensive! (3/5)
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Re: lion lionson's Hack Soup

Post by KobaBeach »

The Mario:
World 2:
マイペースな地面さん / Monsieur Ground Goes At His Own Pace:
A harmless short Layer 2 level, nothing too extreme is asked from the player.
Rating: Pretty gud! (4/5)

REFLECTION ROOM:
Oh god. This is a stage that I almost had high praises for but... Okay so this stage is about Item Memory. I don't know exactly how it works but I feel like its how SMW has separate Item Memory slots for each stage. If two sublevels have matching Item Memory, things that get collected in one, can affect other blocks in the other one. Or something. This level is extremely creative with its use of that flaw in SMW's engine. I'd have added a textbox at the start, explaining that and the ability to jump in clocks to swap between reflected and normal though. The normal exit is stupendous, one of my favorite levels. But the secret exit...

You have to go up to the place where there is a turn block surrounded by brown blocks in the normal room, jump into the reflected room and use a coin snake exclusive to that room to clear out the brown blocks by placing five coins under where the turn block is, which clears out the blocks surrounding it. Then you have to lug that P-Switch all the way back to the start pipes from the normal room to the reflected room, as the clocks don't allow you to carry objects, but you must be careful to not clear the second column of coins to the right of the pipes, you have to go above through the little alcove both times before you reach the reflected room, as they cover a bunch of wooden blocks that don't allow passage. Then with the 99 Wahooseconds you have, you need to take the P-Switch back where the intangible blue door is in the real room and go in.

You also need to uncover certain coins to make sure you get passage back to the pipes and towards the blue door. But the big problem here is that the very start of the reflected room requires a ON OFF Switch to get through. What do you do then? Running start and jump through the Boo Circle, Leroy Jenkins style. You'll never miss. It feels like horse shit. It's such a stressful and irritating exit that it brings the level down.
Rating: Inoffensive. (2.5/5)

おまけ・プクプクの逆襲 / Bonus - Cheep Cheep's Revenge!:
A weird mini game of sorts, it basically works as a sort of endless fish generator where the goal is to amass the highest number of Cheep Cheeps defeated. You can go in as normal Mario, fire Mario or cape Mario and start at any level up to 9. It's a neat idea but it's not very entertaining to me and I don't see the point in it, oh well.
Rating: Inoffensive. (3/5)

困った時のPだのみ? / Should I Only P When I Need To?:
Another simple stage, an athletic stage with the gimmick of it allowing multiple places to use your P-Switch, but none of them are exactly mandatory other than getting the message at the start of the stage for the secret exit. Not a bad stage actually, I had some fun!
Rating: Pretty gud! (3.5/5)

おまけ・マリオとワリオ(いない) / Bonus - Mario & Wario (is not here):
A novel stage, giving you control of Wanda and having you guide Mario through out a series of stages to the NEXT signpost. Sadly this stage is bugged and it glitches out like five stages into the left door, spawning bugged sprites when breaking cracked blocks. It also has no midpoints so, redoing lost progress is a huge pain in the ass. A shame because it's really inventive and has some nice ideas. Apparently this glitch also happened to raocow so, I don't think it's fixed in any demo of the game sadly.
Rating: Inoffensive (3/5), would be higher if I could finish it.

SUPER JUMP:
This stage is weird. You press R to activate a targeting cursor, press L and you'll appear where the reticle was at. There are also blocks that go on and off depending on when you teleported, if its an odd or even amount. I don't get it.
Rating: Inoffensive. (3/5)

ULTRA SUPER MARIO:
Fuck yes. This is the best stage in the demo. The gist here is that you have this giant fucking Mario chasing you down and you have to run away from it. However, another thing you can do is toss shells at it. Tossing every single one of the shells unlocks the secret exit, which reveals a star that leads to nowhere as of this demo. Outside of the stage being too relentless, it feels like it's punishing the player for playing it quickly which you are wont to do in a chase stage like this, it's a really neat usage of Layer 2 and ExAnimation.
Rating: God-tier. (4.5/5)

底なし洞窟 / The Bottomless Cave:
A neat looping stage that loops vertically this time. My one complaint is that it's too long and too hard, the midpoint felt like it should have come sooner. In a stage this disorienting, I feel like you have to throw the player a bone and tone down the difficulty, but that's just me, I guess.
Rating: Pretty good! (4/5)

じごくの沙汰も金しだい / Money is the Best Lawyer in Hell:
Terrible. Absolutely terrible. The gimmick of this stage is that you have two modes. Yeeting out a coin snake, and activating a P Switch. The amount of time is dependent on the amount of coins you have currently. However this stage does not provide you with proper mushroom or money and it's far too long. I had to use savestate checkpoints because it just dragged on. It even has a kaizo trap. No.
Rating: Hot garbage. (1/5)

モートンの兵器研究所 / Morton's Weapon Research Facility:
Eh. Still suffers from the powerup and midpoint scarcity issue, this time only providing a midpoint before the Koopaling boss. And in a hectic stage, with next to no moments of respite, full of very active enemies (introducing Mecha Koopa 2.0, a new variant of the Mecha Koopa which can either use a shield, or fire a laser), it's just too much for most players. I could stomach it but even I felt like it was too much.
Rating: It could be worse! (2/5)

Leftovers:
ドッスン 大家族 / The Great Big Thwomp Family:
I don't know if this is a Clannad reference but this stage gives me nightmares. Three areas, an extremely hectic stage with again, no moments of respite, and barely any safe spots, nearly no mushrooms, a midpoint only at the end of the second area forcing you to do, one Thwomp, Thwimp and Ball n Chain filled stage, as well as another Thwomp infested stage with even larger Layer 2 Thwomps and Thwimps as custom L2 crushers. And should you die at the boss, a Reznor quartet surrounded by L2 Thwomps and Thwimps with a few pits just two dick you over should you bonk your head on the Reznor platform's weird hitbox, you have to do the longest Layer 3 crusher autoscroller I have ever experienced, filled with so many crushers it feels like CBT in Mario form.

This felt terrible to play savestateless. It is the worst stage in this entire hack. There's so much effort, but it is such a pain to the point that it feels a bit wasted.
Rating: Hot garbage (0.5/5)

Retrospective:
This hack started really promising, like a more evolved Brutal Mario, but by stage 3 there was the brewing of bad news in the background. As the demo went on more and more of Ping's level design flaws started to show, namely his lack of powerups, his lack of midpoints, which I understand, due to the lack of multi midpoint technology, but in that case you might as well just shorten the levels, his Massive Girthy Length, and his obsession with not allowing respite as a sort of difficulty.

It's a sort of difficulty fostered by the VIPs, but I feel like it's a touch too much. At least for myself. It's very much a shame too as the gimmicks are some of the most creative and well thought out level mechanics in a hack from 2009, but the stages are just so demanding of the player that it feels a bit cruel. The above (this stage is bad etc) is all my opinion, but in the end it's a bit of a tragic hack, very much a visionary work and had a lot of creative ideas bolstering it, but held back by its punishing difficulty barring all but the most expert players or savescummers.
Final Personal Rating: Inoffensive. (3/5)
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Re: lion lionson's Hack Soup

Post by KobaBeach »

A Super Mario Thing: Demo's Journey:
Author: viewers like you

FULL DISCLAIMER:
im skipping any and all dialogue. i play a lot of rpgs but this is just nonsense lol

World 1: The Beach
And So It Began:
A simple beginning stage. A nice romp.
Rating: Pretty gud! (3.5/5)

Water Water Everywhere:
A stage that used to give me trouble. The muncher placements are terrible and the stage is generally a sort of. Jank item babysitting puzzle. But I've played worse.
Rating: Inoffensive. (3/5)

Crossroads to the Red switch:
Lowercase s. Another romp. Nothing special. The Arena styled secret exit doesn't add much.
Rating: Inoffensive (3/5)

Red Switch of Puzzle:
A five screen "puzzle". One time I managed to get the key yeeted beyond the turn blocks when trying to hit them.
Rating: Inoffensive (3/5)

I Need To Breathe!:
A noteworthy stage and an early showcase of the difficulty of the game. Rising an entire vertical level in like 100 Mario units isn't the easiest thing especially with a bunch of enemies and rock formations in the way.
Rating: Pretty gud! (4/5)

The Worms' Cave:
Another muncher filled stage, but with cramped constricting paths, and kind of awkward positions for the worms. Ducktales music.
Rating: Inoffensive (2.5/5)

Charlie's Glue Factory:
A simple bite-sized castle stage with the lava tinted a greyish tone for the glue. Most of my deaths were from the Charlie Horse footballs. Easy, but does a good job providing presence.
Rating: Pretty gud! (4/5)
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Re: lion lionson's Hack Soup

Post by KobaBeach »

World 2: The Woods
Bouncing Brigade:
Honestly a fun level, the secret exit was pretty fun.
Rating: Pretty gud! (3.5/5)

Firehazard Canopy:
yikes. had less trouble on it this time though
Rating: It could be worse! (1.5/5)

Overgrown Fortress:
A somewhat disjointed series of levels all bunched up together. Not bad, let it pass.
Rating: Inoffensive. (2.5/5)

Down the Poison River:
Despite what the common folk thinks, the water here is not potable (it will kill you). Other than that, it's a so-so rail lift level.
Rating: Inoffensive. (3/5)

The Cave Where The Crystals Are:
blue cave can you tell i ran out of things to say with most of these
Rating: Inoffensive. (3/5)

Yoshi's Were-House:
A weirdly aimless little house. Very linear. The crusher area got me a few times. After it is a weird fake pipe loop of sorts. ???
Rating: Inoffensive. (2.5/5)

The Switch Where Yoshi Jumps A Lot:
It's not a pipe maze. That's it.
Rating: Inoffensive. (2.5/5)

Afraid of Something Unseen:
A worse copy of the Night of Being Afraid of Something Unseen stage in VIP4. When you have blocks that are just solid at one point but not the other and bullet launchers coming out of thin air (and I think some are homing?) you have a huge problem.
Rating: It could be worse! (2/5)

Emerald Stronghold:
This stage sucks. You have to basically chase an egg, at one point hoping it goes the correct path because the other one requires god tier reflexes and whenever it falls back down from a hop it freezes you in place if you're touching the ground, if it goes off screen you are teleported back to the start. It's annoying. And the boss fight isn't much better. Good luck landing hits on that 16x16 sprite that's going 78 kilometers per second, fucker.
Rating: It could be worse! (1.5/5)

Noah's ARGH!
Cute stage.
Rating: Inoffensive. (3/5)
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Re: lion lionson's Hack Soup

Post by Skye »

.
Last edited by Skye 3 months ago, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: lion lionson's Hack Soup

Post by KobaBeach »

Skye wrote: 3 years ago Noah's ARGH is a 5/5 level.
You make a very good argument.
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