A2XT: It's Over

[sedron]

World 4 starts off strong with actual plot, funny stuff and a great level.

Rainy Day- Despite such an unassuming name, this has to be one of my favorite levels, and one of the more memorable ones to boot. The music was a great choice (side note, I believe the actual name is "Okhotsk Vanishes- Pursuit," from "Hokkaido Serial Murders." Minus Infinity doesn't really have original music.) The atmosphere as a whole was incredible, with awesome technical stuff like the weather effects. The design is well done, and while it is more difficult than the player is used to, it's not too big a difficulty spike. Wily is also a really cool boss, though he's easier to initially figure out if you've played through Mega Man 10. I just really like this level. Like, a lot.

[Maiku Wotaharu]

So there was a reference to "And Then There Were None".

I wonder if anyone in the dev team actually read the book.

Um, I have this in my collection...

[KobaBeach]

Soviet Not-Russia seems interesting~

The news report cutscene reminded me of Pulseman.
No digitized voices though.

The Wily Capsule boss seemed a bit "Carol-esque".
Still pretty cool, though.

I believe the actual name is "Okhotsk Vanishes- Pursuit," from "Hokkaido Serial Murders."

"Hokkaido Serial Murders: Disappearance of Okhotsk - Pursuit"

Disappearance of Okhotsk is the game's subtitle.

[sedron]

"Hokkaido Serial Murders: Disappearance of Okhotsk - Pursuit"

Disappearance of Okhotsk is the game's subtitle.

Oh, okay. Thanks for clearing that up!

[Alice]

The Wily Capsule boss seemed a bit "Carol-esque".

Doesn't Carol-esque imply a ton of waiting though? This one didn't really have a whole lot of waiting since the throw blocks spawned constantly.

[SAJewers]

I see raocow didn't update to v1.1

The world preview level certainly has some injokes in there, but other than that, a preview level only the foolish can die to, and an interesting use of lunadll for the rain sound (besides some timing problems) and the text on the second section.

The rain cutting out is because of the text boxes. When a Text box is up, everything stops, even LunaDLL events.

[ztarwuff]

Oh dear... I was very disappointed by the library to the point that I can't even remember the rest of the video. That clue! Why was it so explicit? I really hope that raocow forgets it by the time he gets to the level in question.

I'm not upset by the fact that it's a hint as to the secret.

I'm upset in that it spoils the gimmick. The level won't work as I intended if raocow is expecting it.

[Voltgloss]

Oh dear... I was very disappointed by the library to the point that I can't even remember the rest of the video. That clue! Why was it so explicit? I really hope that raocow forgets it by the time he gets to the level in question.

I'm not upset by the fact that it's a hint as to the secret.

I'm upset in that it spoils the gimmick. The level won't work as I intended if raocow is expecting it.

Could you help me understand your concern? Your level makes very clear to the player that yellow hurts at the beginning, and that blue hurts midway through.

My goal in writing the hints was to create hints that the player where the player has no idea what they mean or where the apply until the player has experienced something that matches what's described in the clue. Here, once the player realizes they are in a place "where yellow hurts and also sometimes blue", they'll have a clue to finding the secret.

Given that "yellow hurts" shows up in other places - like the SOW4 cutscene that raocow just saw - the player won't know they're in a place "where yellow hurts and also sometimes blue" until the level itself reveals that to the player.

[Joseph Staleknight]

Oh dear... I was very disappointed by the library to the point that I can't even remember the rest of the video. That clue! Why was it so explicit? I really hope that raocow forgets it by the time he gets to the level in question.

I'm not upset by the fact that it's a hint as to the secret.

I'm upset in that it spoils the gimmick. The level won't work as I intended if raocow is expecting it.

Could you help me understand your concern? Your level makes very clear to the player that yellow hurts at the beginning, and that blue hurts midway through.

My goal in writing the hints was to create hints that the player where the player has no idea what they mean or where the apply until the player has experienced something that matches what's described in the clue. Here, once the player realizes they are in a place "where yellow hurts and also sometimes blue", they'll have a clue to finding the secret.

Given that "yellow hurts" shows up in other places - like the SOW4 cutscene that raocow just saw - the player won't know they're in a place "where yellow hurts and also sometimes blue" until the level itself reveals that to the player.

Considering the level in question doesn't show up until the endgame either, I'd say raocow would definitely forget about the hint by then. So no worries there.

Anyway, before I start off, I want to give my thoughts to a few things I missed in writing up my experiences. Namely, EoW2 and the entirety of W3.

End of World 2 Cutscene: The Legend of Sheath: The Fall of Lunk (King1216): Sorry Lunk, but your Triforce is with another hero! Sorry, it had to be done. But yeah, a silly end to a silly interlude with Sheath. I found the Zelda credit roll especially amusing, as well as Sheath's "solution" for getting to Zelda herself when all else failed.

The Beach Episode Planet: My overall thoughts of this world are essentially positive ones. It was a very good place to exercise your skills before the next world and its difficulty spike, as well as a place with a quirky charm and sense of humor (especially on the eastern edge of the map with the trolling levels). There were a few bad spots here and there, but nothing too horrible this early on. Finally, I enjoyed the world's gimmick of going on a long trek to track down King Frog Bandito, culminating in a (not-so-)epic shootout at high noon. If I ever made a game or SMBX episode myself, I'd want a world like this too.

Now then, on to the levels (or level, extras, and intro) from today's video!

HUB - Storage Room: Why does that place have to be such a tease with all those inaccesible items? At least we can clone our powerups for later use while enjoying the sublime music. Also, looks like the Charlie Army has finally retired; let's hope it sticks!

CoNS - Library, NW Tower/Spire: Oh man, so many clues and hints! Though I'm sure many others would have already done so, I'll go ahead and cover the ones for the levels raocow already went through, numbering them according to the order they're placed while ascending (including the one near Marisa).

As for the level itself, I really liked the call-back to raocow's monastery-library level in terms of aesthetic design and content. I'm also thankful for the lack of enemies in this area, since it is supposed to be a place to relax and enjoy some fine reading. Can't wait to see raocow unlock the other half soon!

Demo [Rosemary/Roseclair?] and the Militarists (Demolition): Man, nobody can really agree on Demo's surname, can they? Other than that, this opening level sets the tone well for the future ones: a sudden jump in difficulty, all varieties of precipitation imaginable, and of course

the plot finding its antagonists for the first time and shit thus getting real

.

Oh, and hi there, General Yellowslime of the Goopa Army. How are you doing?
...Say again? Your name was Garish? Sure thing, Gen. Yellowslime. I'll remember that.

Start of World 4 Cutscene: RABBIT News at 10, Sponsored by McCain Fries® (Willhart): The media is getting rather partisan these days, isn't it? Ah well, at least we get some intel on who to track down in this world!

Rainy Day (Phoba555): Now then, onto an actual level! Already, I'm seeing some increased difficulty where the jumps are now just as important as the horizontal movement, in addition to all the stage hazards present (especially that fire plant). While I'm glad the spikes aren't actual MegaMan spikes but rather ordinary damaging spikes, I still found myself dying to them once before I got to the midpoint. Still, it definitely felt a step up compared to previous worlds.

As for Dr. Wily, while his MM10 shtick isn't well represented in SMBX terms, it was nevertheless pretty complicated to dodge all the clone's incoming shots and return fire to the real Wily (though after it goes long enough it ends up predictable). Granted, I cannot imagine myself playing it legitimately, but I still feel that pattern was really neat for a boss to have. The afterimages of the Wily Clone after the doctor's defeat were probably accidental, though, so that mars an otherwise meticulously planned boss fight.

And as promised from above, the first edition of Notes from the Spire:

2. "For Salad Bar by Otane Falls to finally be found,/keep the switch until the last of solid ground.": Ah yes, the Effervescent Salad Bar from This Sounds Accurate. I'm glad raocow got this one immediately, though since it's just one-ups (and the Hub has its life recharge pad) it probably doesn't matter at this point.

5. The Book of Meaningless Numbers: Yep, a filler book in a library full of clues. They're not all winners.

9. "Where deserted hell's lullaby is remembered (once forgot)/ Follow coins to your 'death' and the key you will spot.": Oh hey, there's the secret exit of Forgotten World We Just Remembered! It was still obvious without the hint, though.

10. "On your journey/ to the Canopy,/ After flooding a tree/ its roots you should see.": This refers to Canopy Journey, where (as I said before) going back down after breaking the dam reveals a hint for

The Fahren Furba Sidequest(TM)

.

Okay, enough words. This post is getting pretty long as is!

[ztarwuff]

Could you help me understand your concern? Your level makes very clear to the player that yellow hurts at the beginning, and that blue hurts midway through.

My goal in writing the hints was to create hints that the player where the player has no idea what they mean or where the apply until the player has experienced something that matches what's described in the clue. Here, once the player realizes they are in a place "where yellow hurts and also sometimes blue", they'll have a clue to finding the secret.

Given that "yellow hurts" shows up in other places - like the SOW4 cutscene that raocow just saw - the player won't know they're in a place "where yellow hurts and also sometimes blue" until the level itself reveals that to the player.

Perhaps I'm overthinking it and as Joseph said in his previous post, there is a high chance he will forget.

The level is my first very attempt at coercing the player into doing what I want them to do. It is my first attempt at psychological manipulation. It sets out to do two things:

1. Prime the player to avoid anything that is yellow.
2. Test how strong any association is by switching yellow with blue.

However, I have noticed that if someone is aware of how the experiment works before they attempt it, they will not act the way they're meant to.

For example, the basketball test. People are asked to keep track of how many times a basketball is caught by people wearing white shirts as opposed to black shirts. They're so intent on the task, that they're unaware of the sneak surprise in plain sight. If the person is, however, aware of the surprise's existence, then the test no longer works because they're actively looking for it.

Likewise, I was and am still worried that the level won't work in the way I want it to, because raocow is now aware of the gimmick switch before it happens. Will his reactions now be a result of the fact that he knows about the level beforehand or will it be a genuine result of my level design?

Don't get me wrong. The level still works even with my concerns. It certainly won't affect raocow's enjoyment of the level or anybody else's for that matter.

Mind you, it's probably my fault for making the secrets in my levels so damned obscure. raocow barely noticed the one in MAKL Vanilla even though I was sure he would do. Then again, as I hadn't used any pipes, perhaps it was to be expected that he wouldn't notice it.

[Validon98]

In response to ztarwuff's worries...

To be honest I actually remembered the hint once I got to Pavlov Gold, if only because I knew there was a secret, so I unintentionally ruined it for myself. However, in the case of the level, I don't think the association test would work even without the hint, because you'll notice very quickly that blue is killing the furbas in the second half. Either way I kind of think the test doesn't really translate too well to a level because if you suddenly switch things out like that, it's unfair to the player in one aspect: Something should be made to be beatable blind, and while your level does show that yes, blue suddenly hurts partway through, it feels like your intention is for the player NOT to catch that, which, to be honest, is a little cruel. Maybe that's just me, I don't know, but that's my opinion on it, if it is a kind of weak opinion.

[docopoper]

If you know the original Yellow Hurts gag it really won't catch you off guard at all. Thus it probably won't catch raocow off guard anyway either.

[Sebby19]

my experience with ztarwuff's level was more what he wanted. I had to stop myself from jumping to places when the gimmick switched.
I also remembered that while there WAS a hint for this level, I forgot what the hint actually was.

Plus, there's the fact that there are 18 other hints to simultaneously remember, and they are not in order.

[Phoba]

I love what everyone has done to fix up Rainy Day, the cut off by the rain, the Wily health bar, and the optimization is pretty fantastic!even though i pretty much abandoned it after a couple of updates.

I am loving this game, with its hub world, and clever levels. I tried not to see too much of people streaming the game, but it's just amazing. Can't wait for raocow to get to the later worlds. (also the dr.wily clone coming back after the leek pops up was me being stupid, same with the maglx boss battle)

[tigermoon]

Oh dear... I was very disappointed by the library to the point that I can't even remember the rest of the video. That clue! Why was it so explicit? I really hope that raocow forgets it by the time he gets to the level in question.

I'm not upset by the fact that it's a hint as to the secret.

I'm upset in that it spoils the gimmick. The level won't work as I intended if raocow is expecting it.

The level has a sign that more or less spells out the gimmick right before the player would even encounter it. Generally speaking, raocow makes a good point of reading every sign present, so I don't think he would've fallen for it anyway.

[YelseyKing]

All right, it's that time again!

WORLD 3 FAVORITES!

*killer guitar riff so loud it blows out all the windows within a 20 mile radius*

Favorite: Plains of Ulysses Mad. This was actually a difficult decision, because World 3 has been my favorite overall thus far (I just finished world 6 in my own playthrough). But given my MAGLX level, it should be clear that I like fakeout stages. The falling landmasses got me a few times, but and I also got caught by the fake deaths inside the ghost house... but I loved the stage overall, and the aftermath, with LOL appearing on the map, then the silly sub level... yeah, it made me smile.

Runner up: Load Bearing Bricks. Though challenging, I loved the gimmick, and figuring out clever ways to stop the goopas from destroying their own fort. Amusingly, despite the frantic pace, I found the second half a good bit easier than the first.

Least Favorite: Forgotten World We Just Remembered. This decision comes more from a personal experience than of anything that happened to cowrao, or really, anything the stage itself did or didn't do. It took me a long time to find the secret exit here, due to the fact that I was taken by the red herring of the bombs and breakable blocks. I didn't notice the coins over the pit (until I broke down and checked the editor, finding a secret room but not necessarily its entrance), and was sure that the key was going to be in a random, unmarked block... probably one of the really inconvenient ones hanging from ropes near the bottom of the screen. So I wasted a *lot* of time there, and it just kinda made me dislike the level. Which I admit is unfair, because the stage itself was actually good overall... eh, can't change the past.

Also: I have my pick now for least favorite world 6 stage. Urgh.

[Voltgloss]

Least Favorite: Forgotten World We Just Remembered. This decision comes more from a personal experience than of anything that happened to cowrao, or really, anything the stage itself did or didn't do. It took me a long time to find the secret exit here, due to the fact that I was taken by the red herring of the bombs and breakable blocks. I didn't notice the coins over the pit (until I broke down and checked the editor, finding a secret room but not necessarily its entrance), and was sure that the key was going to be in a random, unmarked block... probably one of the really inconvenient ones hanging from ropes near the bottom of the screen. So I wasted a *lot* of time there, and it just kinda made me dislike the level. Which I admit is unfair, because the stage itself was actually good overall... eh, can't change the past.

Did the library hint not help?

[YelseyKing]

Least Favorite: Forgotten World We Just Remembered. This decision comes more from a personal experience than of anything that happened to cowrao, or really, anything the stage itself did or didn't do. It took me a long time to find the secret exit here, due to the fact that I was taken by the red herring of the bombs and breakable blocks. I didn't notice the coins over the pit (until I broke down and checked the editor, finding a secret room but not necessarily its entrance), and was sure that the key was going to be in a random, unmarked block... probably one of the really inconvenient ones hanging from ropes near the bottom of the screen. So I wasted a *lot* of time there, and it just kinda made me dislike the level. Which I admit is unfair, because the stage itself was actually good overall... eh, can't change the past.

Did the library hint not help?

It would have, but I didn't find the library until *after* I'd cleared the stage. It's basically my own fault, like I said.

[YelseyKing]

All right, world 7 is off to a horrible start for me... Another rant ahead, though less angry and more critical. Warning: Long.

"Spin! Pierce the Heavens!" is, as raocow would call it, a YouTube level, plain and simple. It's short, yes. But that doesn't excuse the fact that it's a spin-jump-off-everything level, while avoiding bullet bills, homing goopas, and then having to make a near blind jump. Maybe there's another intended way to complete it that I'm not seeing, but I don't know. That secret side path near the beginning is utterly pointless beyond shock value, and does not need to be there at all.

Then there's "Island Place That Somehow Floats". The main stage is pretty good. Just a standard romp-y platform level; perhaps a bit on the easy side, but I figured it was to act as a breather level after the previous one... and to that end, it was. Unless we're talking about the secret exit, which really makes me question *why*, since in order to find it, you'd have to basically know a lot more about SMBX than the game itself necessarily teaches you.

First, you're asked to slip through a narrow passage ahead of a skull raft. It's not even readily apparent there might even *be* anything over there, for starters, but I'll give Mario players the benefit of the doubt and assume they'd look in every nook and cranny for secrets, which is how I came across it.

In order to get through this passage, you could let the skull raft push you, but as there's only a one-square safe spot on the other side, you'd need pixel-perfect timing to jump just after it pushes you through, or you'd be pushed into the lava and die. You could slide under it normally, and use the "slide glitch" to take you across, but that's getting into glitches... which the stage requires later, anyhow, as if you try to sneak in small, which would appear to be the obvious solution given the layout of that spot, you can't do anything... which leads me to my next point:

Yes, sliding through small gaps is a well-known glitch throughout the Mario series... but it's still a *glitch*, and is something not everyone is necessarily going to be familiar with (and I recall it's been said that this game was meant for the general public, and not just intended to be set up for a raocow LP). Complicating matters further, this glitch/mechanic seems, at least to me, to be very inconsistent in A2XT, although I admit I'm not 100% sure if this was some LunaDLL trickery or if it behaves the same way in the vanilla SMBX engine, but it doesn't even always necessarily *work* the way it seems like it should. Sometimes it'll let you slide through walls, but more often I've found that it just pushes you out the "proper" way no matter what direction you're facing. And of course, there's the issue of those who aren't super familiar with SMBX, but *are* familiar with SMW, in which attempting such a thing leads to little more than efficient death.

But glitch requirements aside, once you're *through*, there's absolutely no hint as to what you're supposed to *do*. It's a Bowser battle (admittedly with Mario replacing Bowser for humor reasons), but there is no lava beneath the bricks, no objects appear during the "fight", and all you're given are mushrooms, so that basically rules out every way you'd expect to defeat Bowser.

Near as I can figure, the *intended* method seems to be to get him low enough so that he can't jump high enough to reach the upper platform, thereby falling into the lava, but not only is this is absolutely not obvious in the slightest -- being a mechanic that I didn't know existed *at all*, and actually had to test out myself in a separate project just to make sure it even *worked* -- it's extremely difficult to set up in such a way where Bowser cannot get out, but the player can. If he's destroyed too many blocks on either side, you are screwed, and there's little you can do about it.

Maybe I just haven't been around the block enough, but I can't recall *ever* seeing a Bowser battle handled this way, so I'd assume many others wouldn't have, either, and the stage doesn't give you any idea this is even possible. You'd need to have a somewhat advanced working knowledge of the engine to have the slightest idea how to win that fight, and that's just... not good design, by any means. To top it all off, no further powerups provided in the fight itself, meaning you have two chances to mess up, and no more.

Yes, you *can* beat the boss with Sheath, but since Sheath cannot actually get through the passage on her own, you'd need to reach it as someone else, hit the midpoint, then die and switch to her on the world map... and given the way the game filters characters without warning sometimes, one may just assume this wouldn't work.

I realize this is late game, and also optional, but that's really no excuse *ever* for making the player do something that requires outside knowledge of glitches and engine limitations in order to complete something.

It's just disappointing to see such things get greenlit in what has otherwise been an excellent, and heavily, heavily quality tested game. Yes, I'd expect difficulty in the latter parts of a game, but not *this* kind.

[Zygl]

world 7
[...]

"Spin! Pierce the Heavens!"

...I literally cannot do world 5, apparently, I've gone into 6 and 7 thinking they were 5 assuming that level's actually in 7.
No comment on any of the actual content of your post because I don't want to spoil anything for myself, but seriously why is this a thing.

[Willhart]

All right, world 7 is off to a horrible start for me... Another rant ahead, though less angry and more critical. Warning: Long.

"Spin! Pierce the Heavens!" is, as raocow would call it, a YouTube level, plain and simple. It's short, yes. But that doesn't excuse the fact that it's a spin-jump-off-everything level, while avoiding bullet bills, homing goopas, and then having to make a near blind jump. Maybe there's another intended way to complete it that I'm not seeing, but I don't know. That secret side path near the beginning is utterly pointless beyond shock value, and does not need to be there at all.

Then there's "Island Place That Somehow Floats". The main stage is pretty good. Just a standard romp-y platform level; perhaps a bit on the easy side, but I figured it was to act as a breather level after the previous one... and to that end, it was. Unless we're talking about the secret exit, which really makes me question *why*, since in order to find it, you'd have to basically know a lot more about SMBX than the game itself necessarily teaches you.

First, you're asked to slip through a narrow passage ahead of a skull raft. It's not even readily apparent there might even *be* anything over there, for starters, but I'll give Mario players the benefit of the doubt and assume they'd look in every nook and cranny for secrets, which is how I came across it.

In order to get through this passage, you could let the skull raft push you, but as there's only a one-square safe spot on the other side, you'd need pixel-perfect timing to jump just after it pushes you through, or you'd be pushed into the lava and die. You could slide under it normally, and use the "slide glitch" to take you across, but that's getting into glitches... which the stage requires later, anyhow, as if you try to sneak in small, which would appear to be the obvious solution given the layout of that spot, you can't do anything... which leads me to my next point:

Yes, sliding through small gaps is a well-known glitch throughout the Mario series... but it's still a *glitch*, and is something not everyone is necessarily going to be familiar with (and I recall it's been said that this game was meant for the general public, and not just intended to be set up for a raocow LP). Complicating matters further, this glitch/mechanic seems, at least to me, to be very inconsistent in A2XT, although I admit I'm not 100% sure if this was some LunaDLL trickery or if it behaves the same way in the vanilla SMBX engine, but it doesn't even always necessarily *work* the way it seems like it should. Sometimes it'll let you slide through walls, but more often I've found that it just pushes you out the "proper" way no matter what direction you're facing. And of course, there's the issue of those who aren't super familiar with SMBX, but *are* familiar with SMW, in which attempting such a thing leads to little more than efficient death.

But glitch requirements aside, once you're *through*, there's absolutely no hint as to what you're supposed to *do*. It's a Bowser battle (admittedly with Mario replacing Bowser for humor reasons), but there is no lava beneath the bricks, no objects appear during the "fight", and all you're given are mushrooms, so that basically rules out every way you'd expect to defeat Bowser.

Near as I can figure, the *intended* method seems to be to get him low enough so that he can't jump high enough to reach the upper platform, thereby falling into the lava, but not only is this is absolutely not obvious in the slightest -- being a mechanic that I didn't know existed *at all*, and actually had to test out myself in a separate project just to make sure it even *worked* -- it's extremely difficult to set up in such a way where Bowser cannot get out, but the player can. If he's destroyed too many blocks on either side, you are screwed, and there's little you can do about it.

Maybe I just haven't been around the block enough, but I can't recall *ever* seeing a Bowser battle handled this way, so I'd assume many others wouldn't have, either, and the stage doesn't give you any idea this is even possible. You'd need to have a somewhat advanced working knowledge of the engine to have the slightest idea how to win that fight, and that's just... not good design, by any means. To top it all off, no further powerups provided in the fight itself, meaning you have two chances to mess up, and no more.

Yes, you *can* beat the boss with Sheath, but since Sheath cannot actually get through the passage on her own, you'd need to reach it as someone else, hit the midpoint, then die and switch to her on the world map... and given the way the game filters characters without warning sometimes, one may just assume this wouldn't work.

I realize this is late game, and also optional, but that's really no excuse *ever* for making the player do something that requires outside knowledge of glitches and engine limitations in order to complete something.

It's just disappointing to see such things get greenlit in what has otherwise been an excellent, and heavily, heavily quality tested game. Yes, I'd expect difficulty in the latter parts of a game, but not *this* kind.

Spinjumping is a different kind of challenge. Testers did not have problems with it and it is well designed around the gimmick, utilizing it with variety of different ways. The little secret at the start was not removed, since it makes the level more original, and removing it would not really acomplish anything.

The secret exit on that other level is hinted on the library very clearly. It being out of the way was part of the joke and the level itself was fairly short.

[Leet]

Maybe I just haven't been around the block enough, but I can't recall *ever* seeing a Bowser battle handled this way, so I'd assume many others wouldn't have, either, and the stage doesn't give you any idea this is even possible. You'd need to have a somewhat advanced working knowledge of the engine to have the slightest idea how to win that fight, and that's just... not good design, by any means.

The fact that there hasn't been a Bowser battle handled that way is why I like it. I'm familiar enough with how Bowser works to know he jumps diagonally, not up and then over or something like that, so it was a clever but not too hard to challenge to figure out what to do. Maybe I'm weird but it was pretty basic a conclusion to come to for me. Idk

[YelseyKing]

world 7
[...]

"Spin! Pierce the Heavens!"

...I literally cannot do world 5, apparently, I've gone into 6 and 7 thinking they were 5 assuming that level's actually in 7.

Huh? I'm not sure what you mean there. Maybe I've got the worlds mixed up?

I'm assuming the city planet is world 5, the cave/lava planet is world 6, and the gas planet is world 7, since that's the way they seemed to be laid out in the transporter room... If I'm wrong, please correct me. The stage in question is the first (real) one on the gas planet.

No comment on any of the actual content of your post because I don't want to spoil anything for myself, but seriously why is this a thing.

Well, you'll notice I didn't go into great detail about it, because it wasn't really *that* bad. That was just spur-of-the-moment anger, I think. Maybe being the *first* level of a world may be a bit much for what it is, I suppose... or maybe I'm just really terrible at spin-jumping. That said, I'm genuinely not sure what you're supposed to do at the point early on where there's a vine leading upwards through an endless wave of Eeries. Unless I did it wrong, you don't seem able to spin jump off either note blocks *or* vines, so what I had to do was basically take a blind jump from the top of the block onto the cannon below it, either tanking the hit or hoping you miss the Eeries.

Spinjumping is a different kind of challenge. Testers did not have problems with it and it is well designed around the gimmick, utilizing it with variety of different ways.

Well, I mean, don't take this the wrong way or anything, but just because a handful of testers didn't have any issue with it doesn't mean that complaints about it after the game is released aren't legit. Honestly, I can't even see any good way of improving it, except for doing something about that blind jump I mentioned... maybe I missed something. I dunno.

The secret exit on that other level is hinted on the library very clearly. It being out of the way was part of the joke and the level itself was fairly short.

Yeah, finding the secret path isn't *such* a big deal. I was more annoyed with how counter-intuitive the *boss* is. Also, the library has its own issues. Namely, it's pretty far out of the way, there's no order to the books, and it can be hard to figure out what relates to what sometimes. Still, if I missed something obvious there, I do apologize. I'm not a monster, after all. (Although I *do* use the "Patient" setting on Yoshi's Island, which according to raocow *makes* me one... hmmmm... )

As for that side path... ehh, it's not a big deal either way. It just needed some kind of reward, even just a 1-up or something, since as it stands, it basically serves little purpose except (other than to just be weird and creepy) to possibly cause you to lose a powerup.

The fact that there hasn't been a Bowser battle handled that way is why I like it. I'm familiar enough with how Bowser works to know he jumps diagonally, not up and then over or something like that, so it was a clever but not too hard to challenge to figure out what to do. Maybe I'm weird but it was pretty basic a conclusion to come to for me. Idk

I agree it was definitely interesting and clever, but *because* it was so unusual, there needed to be *some* kind of hint as to what to *do* there. And perhaps an opportunity to gain more powerups, since that battle seemed like it was intended more as a puzzle than the survival marathon it ended up. Again: From what I was led to understand, this game was ostensibly meant for all kinds of players, not just Mario veterans or those who find the Vip series too easy.

Really, I hate sounding so negative, and I don't want to criticize anyone overly harshly, because outside of a few stages here and there, I'm genuinely loving A2XT, and I wholly admit that most problems I've had are my own doing. But, these are just some opinions I have, and I really don't want or mean to offend/insult anyone...

[Doctor Shemp]

You shouldn't feel like you can't express your opinions honestly about any part of the game. If you dislike something, you should say so, and if someone is offended by any negative reception of their work then in my opinion they have no business making that work at all. The moment you think you're above criticism is the moment you start making crap. That's not to say you should follow negative reception blindly if it's outweighed by positive reception though, any more than you should follow positive reception blindly if it's outweighed by negative reception. Listen to everything and try to please the greatest number of people.

That said, I am of the opinion that the discussion in this thread should be about the point in the game that raocow is up to (at least roughly), not significantly before or after that point. More general discussion should be in the game's release thread in the collab section. However, as I said before, I don't have any moral authority to impose that preference. It's just a suggestion to keep things more relevant.

[Voltgloss]

YelseyKing, you are correct that the levels you're talking about are in World 7. Zyglrox, I don't understand your post - are you saying that you can't access World 5 for some reason?

As to SMBX game mechanics:

You can spin-jump off of vines. That's how you handle the Eeries in Spin! Pierce the Heavens! That part does not require a blind jump.

And FYI, Sheath can fit through one-block high gaps if she crouches. It LOOKS like she won't fit, but she will. I agree this is not at all obvious - nor is it required.

As to the library:

The library's books are purposely out of order. If they were in order I think it would be too obvious which hints correspond to which places in the game. Once you'd seen Island Place That Somehow Floats, was it still not clear that the clue about a place with "red girders that somehow float" was talking about that level? I made that clue explicitly explain how to properly do the wall glitch specifically BECAUSE the game didn't otherwise teach that to the player. If the clue did not serve that purpose, please let me know what was wrong with it so I can do better next time.

As to the library being out of the way: the library's hints are all to secrets. Nothing on the main path requires figuring out something that the library clues. So a player can complete a World's normal path, go back to the library, and reread clues that match up with levels they've recently seen.

Alternately, the player can write down the clues in real life so they don't have to revisit the library at all. Would it help, in future episodes, for the library (or library equivalent) to expressly tell the player to write down the clues?