A Second Mario Thing: free alex

[sedron]

I was playing Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door yesterday and just fought Macho Grubba, and I still couldn't remember the music in THUMP. Weird.

I think Smoldering Stones looks better because it was paired with THUMP for the video. A level's gimmick shouldn't kill you before you understand it, and even when you figure out that Smoldering Stones will kill you for not jumping enough, it's unclear how exactly it works (is it on all platforms, how long do you have, etc.) It does a good job of actual level design, with enemies being placed intelligently, as well as platforms, switch blocks and so on. My other gripe with the level would be that it's pretty boring from an atmospheric standpoint. It doesn't have an interesting aesthetic to compliment the gimmick or stage design.

THUMP was kind of like the opposite of Smoldering Stones in some ways. I think the aesthetic all of the way through was pretty neat, if simplistic. Macho Grubba's theme works surprisingly well, and the whole thing feels pretty outlandish. That said, there's no way that level design was okay. The first screen is a visual mess that leaves the player with little idea of where to go. The gimmick for most of the level limits the player's options, which is rarely a good thing (and I don't think it's the right choice here.) There are parts that offer too little leeway, and obviously the level outstayed it's welcome. The last section is particularly jarring, as it doesn't mesh with the rest of the level at all. The entirely new aesthetic would have been good for its own level. Tacking it on to the end of another level doesn't really help. There are totally good points in this level, but the bad is pretty bad.

[Grounder]

Oh man, trial and error game design combined with brutal difficulty and a rusty raocow.

[Money]

Has anyone else noticed how freaking tinny the sound effects (jumping, coins, etc) are? Is that in the rom, or is it just raocow's videos?

Yeah, I was gonna remark that the sound quality seemed to have taken quite a drop. I dunno what the cause is, though. It's enough to bug me, at least.

[Voltgloss]

THUMP has a tas made for it that is over three years old.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfivGVcdHno

Thanks. So there wasn't actually a secret exit or anything raocow missed? Huh. Then what's with the big ol' "NO"?

[Slit08]

Okay guys, I've got a few questions and things to say about A2MT.

1.) Was that ASM impressive level (apparently it has to be very impressive technology wise) that jesuiscontent worked on ever finished? Is it rather hard and does it use gameplay gimmicks as well (aside from technical and visual gimmicks)?

2.) I would be interested which game you guys consider harder: A2MT or JUMP? I heard JUMP does have some really, really hard Levels, but they start up showing in the late worlds as far as I know (world 6 onwards).

3.) What would you guys think of including a life farm level for raocow in an ips file? As I said a few Levels including his own ones could be a Thing so it would be nice if he could at least stock up on lifes.

4.) Were all the boss hallways finished? Were these hallways added to the appropriate Levels in raocow's ips?

5.) Was the final boss ever finished and will we see it/ him in raoco's LP? I remember this guy being in production for quite a while now and don't remember if he was ever finished.

6.) As I have previously said quite a bunch of Levels are really, REALLY well made. Some of These inlcude:

- The Megamari/ Touhou level. I'll admit it guys: this is probably one of my alltime favourite Levels in ANY SMW hack. It is hard yes, but never too unfair or unforgiving. It has nice visuals, nice Gimmicks AKA customn enemies and is very well designed.
- The DKC level. Another super well designed level with DKC Barrels that are not terrible to use in a SMW hack and two very distinct yet awesome areas.
- The "Art" Fortress. What an impressive level with a nice custom Boss from Kirby. Major props to the guy who designed it.
- The Bamboo Forest with the Grand Ninja Boss at the end. I love the visuals and I do love exploring these houses.
- The Kitchen level with the cat paws attacking you. Wow, just wow.
- Dark Side of the Moon. Visually impressive plus nice gameplay.
- The Train level.
- The Atari level.
- I like most of the visual gimmicky Levels: may it be the one level where everything turns black from time to time or the Black and White level.
- The Sky Fortress with the different coloured clouds.
- One of the easiest Levels, but certainly one of the most beautifull would have to be the Lake level. It's so calming.
- The level where you visit different dimensions.
- Demo's Hydrophobia has a neat concept, I love it.

I guess I forgot some but I hope you get my Point: this game DOES have lots and lots of neat stages, some of them being really impressive and far better than most Levels I have played in many other hacks. Sure, some of them tend to be a bit on the hard side but overall this game is far from being garbage (a fewlLevels, yes, as unfortunate as this sounds, but hey... it's okay). So sure, there will be some complaining here and there, yes there will be bashing, hate and harsh comments, but in the end it's an awesome game with an awesome concept. And let us not Forget:It's a fan game, People were not paid for it and still they put lots of time in it. And after all the talkhaus DID learn as can be seen with A2XT Episode 1 which is not nearly as hard as previous talkhaus Projects while still being challenging, but most of all fun. :)

One last question though guys: Do you have a link to the Version raocow is playing? I'd love to Play it myself with a working treasure System and all. :) Thanks!

[Jesuiscontent]

Okay guys, I've got a few questions and things to say about A2MT.

1.) Was that ASM impressive level (apparently it has to be very impressive technology wise) that jesuiscontent worked on ever finished? Is it rather hard and does it use gameplay gimmicks as well (aside from technical and visual gimmicks)?

You are either mistaking with someone else or overestimating how "impressive" I was trying to make that level, I was just trying to make a "shell cannon" basically (like those that exist in Hyper 6) but noone I asked could help me with it, and believe me I harassed them a lot of times haha. It's just that I started it when everyone's motivation for this project was starting to be close to zero so yeah. Oh well.
Also it was supposed to be one of the "sibling halls" you were talking about, very few of those were ever finished (I know for sure Cup's is, but that's it)

As for the rest, there was a level by schurmanator that was dedicated to life farming and was pretty funny but I don't know if it made it into the rom raocow has. BTW the OP of this thread has the IPS raocow is playing since you were looking for it.

The very final level, as was already said, is in a separate rom and raocow will play it at the very end

[KobaBeach]

I just want to see that one

Nitroid

level, hope that one's in the baserom

Apparently it got rushed to completion but w/e

[MrDeePay]

This game contains almost kaizo-ish levels

I thought that was one of the things that was supposed to have changed between ASMT and A2MT?

You can thank Tails155 for that, several of the bad levels (or at least two of the worst, in my opinion) were submitted under his watch.

I really really dug E-Man's level in comparison. It really showed how to make a really neat level with fairly simple enemies, and I think there were only three unique enemies in the whole thing (I consider the different direction thwomps to be the same entity)

If Smoldering Stones is the one I think it is (haven't watched the video yet), the gimmick in it was unnecessary since it didn't really add anything to the level. Just do a short hop every few seconds- that's it.

That remark rao made saying that this was apparently a Thwomp heavy game was confirmed pretty quickly, hey.

Yes, Thwomps are everywhere in A2MT- practically to the same extreme (or even greater) as Spingboards and P-Switches in a certain other collab.

[KobaBeach]

That would be my level. It's not inserted, but he'll be doing it. It wasn't really rushed at all?? We finished it two years ago and it's just like we wanted.

Oh, I just saw a video of it on Kaizoman's channel (dated January of this year) and the description said

It ended up rushed due to the initial deadlines and the amount of work that had to go into it, however, and ended up basically just being a switch-fest with a ton of cement blocks; a lot of the ideas, such as save points, shatter blocks, and additional powerups never managed to come out of it.

but whatevs

[MonkeyShrapnel]

I feel like this is one of those levels that overstays its welcome, if that last room didn't exist then the level length might have been more manageable.

The difficulty does seem a little high but that might be a mixture of raocow being rusty and playing the level too early on.

Hopefully raocow doesn't play another really hard level for a while so he can get used to the game again.

[S.N.N.]

Level ain't done yet. Dunno why you people think it is.

He sent me the level to beta test last summer stating that it was done and he needed someone (about 3-4 people, actually) to give it a play through. It took me about two hours of playing before I resorted to save states. If you're telling me he plans on adding even more to THAT, then a) fuck that, and b) fuck you.

b applies regardless.

[Pheonix]

For some reason when I tried playing THUMP years and years ago, something seemed to be missing and I couldn't actually get anywhere in the level. Looking at this, it seemed that was for the best.
...although to be fair I somehow managed to savescum my way through The Meaning of Sharp, which is probably even more of a mess than that level was. Guess I just have an issue with maverick/thwomp overuse.

[MrDeePay]

Level ain't done yet. Dunno why you people think it is.

He sent me the level to beta test last summer stating that it was done and he needed someone (about 3-4 people, actually) to give it a play through. It took me about two hours of playing before I resorted to save states. If you're telling me he plans on adding even more to THAT, then a) fuck that, and b) fuck you.

b applies regardless.

....I got sniped by this guy for the Fire/Ice castle and apparently needed a ton of resources and never onced showed a shred of progress?

[S.N.N.]

yeah that's pretty much what happened

He's a capable designer, but holy shit he never really shows it. Instead he makes these massive gauntlet-styled levels that are next to impossible.

[yogui]

Quote in spoiler because too long (but it's not an actual spoiler)

Okay guys, I've got a few questions and things to say about A2MT.

1.) Was that ASM impressive level (apparently it has to be very impressive technology wise) that jesuiscontent worked on ever finished? Is it rather hard and does it use gameplay gimmicks as well (aside from technical and visual gimmicks)?

2.) I would be interested which game you guys consider harder: A2MT or JUMP? I heard JUMP does have some really, really hard Levels, but they start up showing in the late worlds as far as I know (world 6 onwards).

3.) What would you guys think of including a life farm level for raocow in an ips file? As I said a few Levels including his own ones could be a Thing so it would be nice if he could at least stock up on lifes.

4.) Were all the boss hallways finished? Were these hallways added to the appropriate Levels in raocow's ips?

5.) Was the final boss ever finished and will we see it/ him in raoco's LP? I remember this guy being in production for quite a while now and don't remember if he was ever finished.

6.) As I have previously said quite a bunch of Levels are really, REALLY well made. Some of These inlcude:

- The Megamari/ Touhou level. I'll admit it guys: this is probably one of my alltime favourite Levels in ANY SMW hack. It is hard yes, but never too unfair or unforgiving. It has nice visuals, nice Gimmicks AKA customn enemies and is very well designed.
- The DKC level. Another super well designed level with DKC Barrels that are not terrible to use in a SMW hack and two very distinct yet awesome areas.
- The "Art" Fortress. What an impressive level with a nice custom Boss from Kirby. Major props to the guy who designed it.
- The Bamboo Forest with the Grand Ninja Boss at the end. I love the visuals and I do love exploring these houses.
- The Kitchen level with the cat paws attacking you. Wow, just wow.
- Dark Side of the Moon. Visually impressive plus nice gameplay.
- The Train level.
- The Atari level.
- I like most of the visual gimmicky Levels: may it be the one level where everything turns black from time to time or the Black and White level.
- The Sky Fortress with the different coloured clouds.
- One of the easiest Levels, but certainly one of the most beautifull would have to be the Lake level. It's so calming.
- The level where you visit different dimensions.
- Demo's Hydrophobia has a neat concept, I love it.

I guess I forgot some but I hope you get my Point: this game DOES have lots and lots of neat stages, some of them being really impressive and far better than most Levels I have played in many other hacks. Sure, some of them tend to be a bit on the hard side but overall this game is far from being garbage (a fewlLevels, yes, as unfortunate as this sounds, but hey... it's okay). So sure, there will be some complaining here and there, yes there will be bashing, hate and harsh comments, but in the end it's an awesome game with an awesome concept. And let us not Forget:It's a fan game, People were not paid for it and still they put lots of time in it. And after all the talkhaus DID learn as can be seen with A2XT Episode 1 which is not nearly as hard as previous talkhaus Projects while still being challenging, but most of all fun. :)

One last question though guys: Do you have a link to the Version raocow is playing? I'd love to Play it myself with a working treasure System and all. :) Thanks!

2) I would say A2MT, but JUMP has pretty hard levels too.

3) If raocow really want a live farm, he can always had one himself by editing the rom with lunar magic.

4) Not all. Don't remember if there is a few or a lot of unfinished bosses.

6) The lake level, do you mean The happy lake ? That's my level, thanks.

[limepie20]

Oh yeeeaah. That's right.

This was actually better than I remembered. The story with this level is that it's basically my first real smw level ever. The only things I ever made before it were joke hacks and shit hacks. Being my first level, of course I choose thwomps because that's the easiest most beginner sprite. Also yeah the last two sublevels definitely shouldn't have been there and go against my philosophy of keeping one theme. I probably would give it a 1 or 0 out of 5 for focus in magl today. But yeah most of this stuff seems kinda amateur like the first room was originally a big puzzle or something and then when people said it sucked instead of redesigning it, I left it the same and just took out puzzle elements. And there's similar stuff with other parts of the level. I don't know what's up with that weird cloud puzzle at the end either.
Also I don't remember 'A Beach' that much either, and it might be too long or something like this too. I don't remember, we'll see. But yeah that was really fun watching this get played.

3.) What would you guys think of including a life farm level for raocow in an ips file? As I said a few Levels including his own ones could be a Thing so it would be nice if he could at least stock up on lifes.

There is one! It's called Nezumi's farm or something and it's on the bottom right of the overworld. raocow, go there!

[Cryomundus]

How to make a level into pure shit with a bad gimmick
By
Talkhaus

Brought to you by video #2!

[MrDeePay]

THUMP didn't have a bad gimmick so much as its execution was awful and the level wore out its welcome not long after the checkpoint. Restraint helps. A coordinator willing to say "No." also helps.

Based on what was said in the video, here's the apparent lineup for this LP barring Switch Palaces. This list also ignores levels that need to be played independently. Spoilered due to sheer length.

A Menagerie In Glass
Smoldering Stones
THUMP
Deja Vu
Farenheit Something
Tangled Grounds
Woodchuck Woods
Nezumi's Farm
Heatstroke
A Gelatin Factory
Punctuated Time
Ye Olde Spookhouse
Irritating...
Something to do with layer 2
Aerial Athletics
Lakitrouble in the Lakitundra
Phase Out
Time Will Hide Your Way
Skyway to Wonderland
The level of ghosts and slippery floors
Air Arena
Chilly Ice Cave
Moonlight
The Meaning of Sharp
further over there
Super Vehicle 00C Onwards to Moscow
betrayal rock
Down to Green
Sky Castle West
Calm Forest
P-Switch Beach
Where am I?
Intertwined Plains
Running Like Clockwork
Demo's Hydrophobia
The Deadly Ninja Assassin Squad
happy lake
I need a P!
Dairy Disaster
A Layer 2 Romp
Coin Town USA
no secret exit here
Mad Science Laboratory
Thwomp Ahoy
Into the Sky Castle
Land of Illusions
Wrathful Romp
Adamantium Castle
Dodge the Beefsteak
Dark Side of the Moon
A.D.D.
Sodium Fortrate
Mail Delivery!!
Undermoore Passage
Cumulonimbastille
Skythorn Valley
Forest of Realism
Forest Fever
Starlight Resort
Mansion of Onoffness
A Beach
Light and Darkness
Crazed Crayon Combat
Violet Velocity
LBS
Thwomp Garden
Block Fort
Dancing with Shells
Painting the Treehouse
Demo's Wondrous Pitfall!
A Stroll Beneath the Stars
Sagan Leagues Above the Surface
Demo Kong Country
Magical Lava Zone
Unpleasant Intruder
Flooded Village
So close, yet so...
hey there sewage castle
Verdant Varmit
P.Key Castle
Multi-Tier Hillside

Okay guys, I've got a few questions and things to say about A2MT.

1.) Was that ASM impressive level (apparently it has to be very impressive technology wise) that jesuiscontent worked on ever finished? Is it rather hard and does it use gameplay gimmicks as well (aside from technical and visual gimmicks)?

"jesuiscontent" doesn't show up anywhere in the list, so I assume no.

3.) What would you guys think of including a life farm level for raocow in an ips file? As I said a few Levels including his own ones could be a Thing so it would be nice if he could at least stock up on lifes.

A simple hex edit will do the job much quicker than trying to make a farming level.

4.) Were all the boss hallways finished? Were these hallways added to the appropriate Levels in raocow's ips?

All of them? Probably not.

5.) Was the final boss ever finished and will we see it/ him in raoco's LP? I remember this guy being in production for quite a while now and don't remember if he was ever finished.

No.

6.) As I have previously said quite a bunch of Levels are really, REALLY well made. Some of These inlcude:
- The Megamari/ Touhou level. I'll admit it guys: this is probably one of my alltime favourite Levels in ANY SMW hack. It is hard yes, but never too unfair or unforgiving. It has nice visuals, nice Gimmicks AKA customn enemies and is very well designed.

Drags on for too long to have only one checkpoint and enemy spam can be very overwhelming.

- The DKC level. Another super well designed level with DKC Barrels that are not terrible to use in a SMW hack and two very distinct yet awesome areas.

One level that should really be two and the broken blocks that crash the ROM should be fixed or played independantly.

- The "Art" Fortress. What an impressive level with a nice custom Boss from Kirby. Major props to the guy who designed it.

Boss gets overwhelming with all of the spam.

- The Bamboo Forest with the Grand Ninja Boss at the end. I love the visuals and I do love exploring these houses.

Drags on for too long, lobsided checkpoint, ambush-based gameplay is executed poorly.

- The Kitchen level with the cat paws attacking you. Wow, just wow.

Tileset is confusing at times with its ledges.

- The Atari level.

Abuses mid/end-jump traps, claustrophobic gameplay.

- I like most of the visual gimmicky Levels: may it be the one level where everything turns black from time to time

Execution could be a lot better on that level.

- The Sky Fortress with the different coloured clouds.

I remember one of the sky fortress levels (I think there was 3-4 of them.) being very boring and another having a very strict time limit. ...and one feeling very slapped together.

One last question though guys: Do you have a link to the Version raocow is playing? I'd love to Play it myself with a working treasure System and all. :) Thanks!

It's in the first post.

[Cryomundus]

Any gimmick that relies on restricting or changing or a player moves is terrible. Period. To use it in anything complicated just makes it so much worse, as it works best in simple situations.

Seriously, how many times have you run into a gimmick like this that's actually fun? Almost all of them wind up frustrating the player by adding artficial difficulty, since it's not you but the game that's in control, thus denying you the ability to properly time your movements.

Also THUMP is stage 3. The hell talkhaus.

[Clamestarebla]

THUMP isn't stage 3. raocow's just playing them out of order

[Cryomundus]

THUMP isn't stage 3. raocow's just playing them out of order

Oh.

Dammit misread the list. Thought it was the one with expected level progression. Is there one?

[Clamestarebla]

Just look at the map. Page 4

[Jesuiscontent]

"jesuiscontent" doesn't show up anywhere in the list, so I assume no.

Yeah as I said in my previous post that level was never finished but I should still show up on the list next to "dancing with shells"?? unless you ctrl+F'd it and my username was misspelled which is very possible

Seriously, how many times have you run into a gimmick like this that's actually fun? Almost all of them wind up frustrating the player by adding artficial difficulty, since it's not you but the game that's in control, thus denying you the ability to properly time your movements.

I don't know one million times maybe?? I mean it's used in pretty much every video game ever and nobody complained about it. To use a super known example I always liked the that one level in DKC2 in the misty world where the wind goes crazy left or right at various points

The "gimmick" in limepie's level was fine, it was some individual sections that needed some toning down

[MrDeePay]

Any gimmick that relies on restricting or changing or a player moves is terrible. Period. To use it in anything complicated just makes it so much worse, as it works best in simple situations. Seriously, how many times have you run into a gimmick like this that's actually fun? Almost all of them wind up frustrating the player by adding artficial difficulty, since it's not you but the game that's in control, thus denying you the ability to properly time your movements.

They can work, but the designer has to be very careful with it and should only be reserved for people that know what the hell they're doing. Most of the time though, they fail catastrophically.

This being Limepie's first true (SMW) level was just a disaster waiting to happen.

Also THUMP is stage 3. The hell talkhaus.

Talkhaus isn't that foolish.

Yeah as I said in my previous post that level was never finished but I should still show up on the list next to "dancing with shells"?? unless you ctrl+F'd it and my username was misspelled which is very possible

"Jesuiscontent" is listed. So yes, misspelled name.

To use a super known example I always liked the that one level in DKC2 in the misty world where the wind goes crazy left or right at various points

Gusty Glade's wind was executed well, however.

[Leet]

well um

well

THAT happened

man those last two parts felt so tacked on