request grab-bag

[AUS]

Do an ascetic run of the Vips.

[peteyboo]

Or Hyper V/6

[raocow]

That mario 3 hack sounds pretty interesting.

I also just got a youtube pm featuring a few japanese hacks, might as well ask for opinions:

S. Mario
http://www7.atpages.jp/smw/view.cgi/1318407234/

Super Mario 16
http://www21.atpages.jp/nonoshimu/src/smw_0260.zip

OTL Mario
http://www7.atpages.jp/smw/view.cgi/1225510433/

I've always like japanese romhacks since that's more or less... well, some of my better projects, and I've always liked playing games that are not as readily available. And whatnot.

[Ashan]

I tried out the first 4 levels Super Mario 16, and while they were pretty long and decent looking, it seemed like the levels looked fancy, but that was all they had going for them. There wasn't much to the levels. It was just semi-simple levels with fancy graphics from other games (mostly Yoshi's Island). Also, I don't know what was going on, but throughout the entire fourth level it was buzzing like crazy the whole time. It must have been a glitch with the sound fonts.

Another problem I had was that with the Yoshi's Island graphics, it was really hard to tell that a bunch of the tiles were slopes, so I would keep screwing up jumps because I thought I was on a flat surface, when really I was on a slope that was slanted down in the direction I was jumping. Anyway, here are some screenshots:





Like I said, it's mostly just bland levels with Yoshi's Island graphics.
I'll try out the other ones and tell you what I think of them.

[peteyboo]

I played a bit of S Mario. It's... fun? Also it seems like it'll be really short (I think it's 3 worlds). But it's only short in name. Let's just say it starts you out with 99 lives.

I'll look into the other ones later.

[Ashan]

So, I tried out S. Mario, and while it was REALLY fun, I definitely doubt you're going to be doing this one, either. I only tried the first two levels, but... Uh... Here:

The fact that it starts you off with 99 lives should be enough of a hint to tell you that you'll want to use savestates, but let's continue...

Pretty crazy for a first level if you ask me.

You can't actually tell from the pictures, but from this point on, all the the plants shoot their fireballs at turbo speed.

Like I said, pretty crazy for the first level.

I just took this screenshot because I thought it was clever that the levels started you off where the last one left off at.

Disco hopping in the second level!

A Thwomp that's hidden above the screen! Hooray!

This is when savestates started getting spammed. And keep in mind that this is the second level!

This is where I stopped playing because I knew there would be no way that you'd be doing this without savestate abuse. And once again, keep in mind that the piranha plants fire at least 2 times their regular speed! Half the time they would fire before they were even on screen, so there was next to no reaction time to get yourself out of the way!

Bottom line: I don't think this will be the one either. Super Mario 16 looks like a better contender compared to this one, so... If the last one isn't any good, I think you'll want to do Super Mario 16.
Although, I DID actually keep the file because I think I'll play it in me free time sometime! If you don't mind using savestates, it actually doesn't have too bad of level design!

Edit: So, I tried out the last one, and I tried 3 levels:
The first was an automatic Mario stage
The second was a switch palace that served no purpose from what I could tell (it was just a one-screen level that you could exit out the sides of like Yoshi's House)
The third was one of those levels with the blocks that switch you between Mario and Luigi, but it was made so you could get yourself into impossible-to-get-out-of situations where you'd have to suicide, so... Yeah.

I'd probably recommend Super Mario 16, unless you're willing to make some savestate rule for yourself, then do S. Mario, because that was was actually decently fun.

[Ometeotl]

That Pokemon hack is such a waste of potential. If you're going to do that, go all the way and make all the enemies Pokemon, too.

[raocow]

See, that's kind of why that Pika Land doesn't interest me all that much, it's that... it really, really doesn't go far enough with its idea. At all.

Also: from what I heard, for all three games I've linked there, apparently they follow the Vip models of 'all the really neat, really gimmicky stuff is at the end'. Food for thought.

[Ashan]

Well, if that's the case, then I'd say go for Super Mario 16.

[The Doctor]

Well after about 60 lives I'm still on the beginning of level 2 in Mario S. It's incredibly well designed and it seems that the game was carefully crafted to be fully playable without savestates/rewinds, but holy hell is it hard. If the difficulty keeps increasing it'll make Hyper VI look like the original SMW. I'd really enjoy watching you play it, but it doesn't seem like what you're looking for.

... so peteyboo, any plans for after Hyper VI?

[peteyboo]

Haha I think I want to take a bit of time off of super hard stuff. I had three of those in a row (OoS with Cursed Ring, F-Zero GX, and Hyper 6, in increasing order).

I'll probably finish Skyward Sword (assuming, of course, that I'm not done it twice before finishing Hyper 6), and maybe do a lighter SMW hack. Maybe ASMT olololol

[AUS]

Assuming Hyper 6 doesn't go well, you could always do A2MT afterwards.

[peteyboo]

Didn't someone say that the final level was "100 times harder than anything in Hyper 6"?

Even if that's an exaggeration, that doesn't exactly instill me with confidence that any of the game is going to be not-super-hard.

[raocow]

Considering I like to play contrasts, maybe I SHOULD do S. ...

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[peteyboo]

I would strongly advise against it. It starts out hard and only gets harder. Your intro video would be interrupted 10 seconds in by death.

If you were to do this, I would save it until after Nitroid, use it as a b-side, and upload as you are able to complete the level (you will almost definitely never get more than one per video).

Even Hyper 6 started out with a few easy levels to get you hooked. Basically this game has the Japanese difficulty curve, but forgot to include the first five worlds.

[Ashan]

If none of those 3 hacks are doing it for you, there's always that SMB3 hack that you could do as an A-side. I don't really know much about it since I haven't actually played it, but I read a few snippets of the 'review' that was linked (and by that, I mean I pretty much just looked at the screenshots), and from what I saw, it looked pretty neat.

[anonymousbl00dlust]

another vote here for S mario. raocow hasn't done a hard-ish mario romhack in way too long.

come to think of it, S mario is too easy. raocow should do a save-stateless LP of the root 3 series.

[ano0maly]

I hope you were sarcastic

[anonymousbl00dlust]

I hope you were sarcastic

I'm serious. Sucks for you I guess.

If none of those 3 hacks are doing it for you, there's always that SMB3 hack that you could do as an A-side. I don't really know much about it since I haven't actually played it, but I read a few snippets of the 'review' that was linked (and by that, I mean I pretty much just looked at the screenshots), and from what I saw, it looked pretty neat.

raocow tried to do a run of Mario Adventure (one of the most well received SMB3 hacks ever) like a billion years ago and quit out of boredom.

EDIT:

So I just got finished beating the first 2 levels of S mario, and my conclusion is as follows... Ashamaril is bad at super mario world.

Seriously, you people treat raocow like he's some amateur. Getting to the first savepoint in mario S took LESS than 5 minutes; 4 or 5 deaths at most. raocow is not retarded, and he's not going to break down crying at the slightest sign of difficulty.

From what I've seen so far of mario S, it's got creative level design, fair and well crafted difficulty, and a lot of character.

Like, I'm genuinely sorry to bark at you all like that, but I mean come on. You're all shooting down a great game because you assume raocow has the same patience/skill level as you do. This is significantly less difficult than Kouhai, , or the mario. Give the guy some f*cking credit.

[peteyboo]

Umm... I'm the one who's playing Hyper 6 right now. I think I'm in a position to say things about difficulty.

It's not so much that it's too hard. It's that there is no learning curve. It just doesn't seem like the kind of thing I'd want to do, and I don't think it'd make for a great main LP.

Edit: Also, the first save point is after the first level. Five minutes for a relatively short level means a lot of deaths.

[The Doctor]

The guy does have a point though. I've beaten the first three levels now (toolless) and it's really not that hard. I wouldn't say Ashanmaril is bad at Mario, but certainly below raocow's level. I think raocow could handle it fine if he's in the mood for some Super Meat Boy quality difficulty -- you're going to die a hell of a lot, but you'll rarely get upset.

[raocow]

I really really feel like trying that thing, honestly.

I AM kind of in the mood for something really difficult. I've had a few easier games, and the difficulties of the recent ascetic videos have showed me I missed that a little. If someone would abuse lunar magic or whatever to translate some text for S., that would be grandiose~

I'll do the Mario 3 thing after that, I think. I just want to do a smw hack now, after the vanilla game. It seems like proper timing.

[anonymousbl00dlust]

Umm... I'm the one who's playing Hyper 6 right now. I think I'm in a position to say things about difficulty.

It's not so much that it's too hard. It's that there is no learning curve. It just doesn't seem like the kind of thing I'd want to do, and I don't think it'd make for a great main LP.

Edit: Also, the first save point is after the first level. Five minutes for a relatively short level means a lot of deaths.

I'm playing hyper 6 right now as well, and i've started a toolless run of springboard and shells (I'm actually planning to post a thread in the next few days!). I'm pretty much at your level. Not necessarily better, but definitely equal.

I see your point with the weird difficulty curve, but honestly, come world 3 (yeah, between posts i've been playing lol), the game gets harder. There is a curve, it's just a little jittery.

As for the save point thing... I honestly didn't notice the first one. So I meant 5 minutes for two levels, 4 or 5 deaths each. That's still more than an easier hack would offer, but my point is that it wouldn't get in the way of raocow's train of thought.

I really really feel like trying that thing, honestly.

I AM kind of in the mood for something really difficult. I've had a few easier games, and the difficulties of the recent ascetic videos have showed me I missed that a little. If someone would abuse lunar magic or whatever to translate some text for S., that would be grandiose~

I'll do the Mario 3 thing after that, I think. I just want to do a smw hack now, after the vanilla game. It seems like proper timing.

Hooray!

[Ashan]

So I just got finished beating the first 2 levels of S mario, and my conclusion is as follows... Ashamaril is bad at super mario world.

The first two levels weren't that hard, but I was worried about how it would get near the end game.

I wouldn't say Ashanmaril is bad at Mario, but certainly below raocow's level.

I can't suck THAT much. I managed to beat Vip4 without any savestates, so that's an accomplishment that I pulled off that raocow wasn't able to do.

Edit:

You're all shooting down a great game...

I never said it was a bad game. In fact, I said that I kept the file because it looked like something I wanted to play on my own time. You're kinda jumping to conclusions in saying that I said it sucked.

Editagain: Oops. When he said I wasn't as good as raocow and I said "I can't suck THAT much", I didn't mean that raocow sucks. I'm just saying that me and raocow have to be somewhere around the same skill level.

[peteyboo]

I mean, whatever, of course he can do whatever he wants. I'm just not sure how a hack that starts out at a brick wall and expects you to climb it onto a field of broken glass is going to work.

I'm probably just too impatient, but if you seriously got two levels done in 5 minutes, then maybe you should do the LP instead. That first level isn't too bad, but you only get one powerup to do the whole second level. It's nuts.