as a kid I just accepted this, but I get the feeling that modern me woudl be grouchy about the whole 'advertising a secret exit but it being unable to get it immediately, having to wait for an unannounced and unadvertised event'
And this is making me realise that... the problem isn't the game but me, I think. Over time I might have built this collection of.. expectations maybe? I'm not sure how to phrase this.
I think the major hint that something happened and it's worth going back is going to the first level of Mount Teapot, seeing that it's Course #7 and going "hey what happened to #6???" with the resulting investigation finding the secret exit.
Granted, it's still not too terribly obvious, but at least it's not complete guesswork as to when the trigger happens.
I'd personally like to see Flooded Course 1, but I'd understand if you didn't want to bother replaying a level that has changed notably but not drastically.
That first death of hubris was well deserved. Also, those Thwomp things' spikes are instant kill in this one.
I didn't play through all of this one as a kid since I thought Wario was just some big mean gross guy that probably went around passing gas everywhere. Now that I'm older and know that's exactly what he is, I appreciate him more.
You know, I think raocow was either joking, lying, or wasn't being serious when he declared he is going for 100%. If that were true, he wouldn't be missing so many coins in these last few levels.
-Banned in Antarctica
Sebby19 wrote:If your life depends on throwing up, switch to the keyboard
Sebby19 wrote: ↑6 years ago
You know, I think raocow was either joking, lying, or wasn't being serious when he declared he is going for 100%. If that were true, he wouldn't be missing so many coins in these last few levels.
I don't consider getting the additional monies to be part of 100%, myself. Only the treasures.
Sebby19 wrote: ↑6 years ago
Nah, 100% is all the treasure, and at least 9700 coins, which will get you the best castle.
*Nasally* But as everyone knows, that is not the canonical ending.
I don't even remember playing this past Rice Beach, and while I've seen other LPs of it, it just seems kind of there now! Maybe it's just that Wario is slower than Mario or something. It's also weird having a Wario Land game follow traditional Mario rules with power-ups and sizes.
Thing is, I think raocow might just not like the "Wario gets a planet ending"? I mean, I don't know for sure, but that's the impression I got with how much he's not been too keen on getting it.
Also, the Wario getting a mansion is the canon ending.
To me, a true 100% would be first beating the game with the minimal number of coins/treasures to get the worst ending, and then grinding for stuff while beating the last level over and over to see every ending. That's probably not something raocow is interested in lol... I think it'll be the all treasures+exits category, and whatever ending he gets will be the end of the game.
FWIW spikes aren't instant-death for you so you could have tanked a hit to recover that key if you wanted. Not that I blame you for waiting until the second time around.
Personally I prefer Jet to Bull because (a) doubled walking speed, (b) much greater aerial control, and (c) you can actually do shit underwater. But they're both vastly superior to Dragon, yes.
Regarding hinting at secrets; I actually like having an obvious key and treasure to help find others you could have missed.
Especially with the end screen having things in order to help narrow it down.
Also happy newyear etc.
The "C" in the Pause HD bar stands for "Course". You were in Course 10 at the time, hence "C-10".
A fun thing to do with treasure boxes with Jet is to jump and shoulder tackle the lids directly, and then keep holding right so you land on top of the open box. Then you collect the treasure as it's on its way up out of the box, but it stops in place before making the death "thunk" sound and bouncing off the bottom of the screen. You actually earn an enemy-defeated heart for doing this. (The treasure is still collected as normal, so there's no worry about destroying it.)
It's also possible to do this with Bull, but the timing is notably more difficult.
Back when I said there was a particular stage I used to use to grind for coins to get the best ending, it's this one. The first stage in this video. I got pretty good at running through the stage quickly, getting 30 coins from each bird, and grabbing as many incidental coins along the way. And I did that over and over until I got enough.
It DOES look like gambling is the smarter way to actually do that.
You almost had it with just the hard hat! I'm quite impressed. I don't think I was ever able to actually time it properly with the hard hat (though it really shouldn't be that much more difficult than with the bull, since jumping during a dash gets the same height and distance for both hats).
I can't speak for the other 3-D Marios, but the major bosses of Odyssey were actually a lot of fun, particularly the boss of the Ruined Kingdom.
SpoonyBardOL wrote: ↑6 years ago
Back when I said there was a particular stage I used to use to grind for coins to get the best ending, it's this one. The first stage in this video. I got pretty good at running through the stage quickly, getting 30 coins from each bird, and grabbing as many incidental coins along the way. And I did that over and over until I got enough.
It DOES look like gambling is the smarter way to actually do that.
Yeah, Course 12 allows for the highest non-gambling optimized coin score of all levels, coming in at (I think) 358 coins if you do everything correctly. I think Course 6 is probably more efficient, though; even though it's only 91, it's over a hell of a lot faster.
The first 3 Wario Land games were so cool with how there would be these things you'd do in other levels that would cause overworld events that would affect other stages. In fact that was basically the whole progression system in 3.
Ashan wrote: ↑6 years agoThe first 3 Wario Land games were so cool with how there would be these things you'd do in other levels that would cause overworld events that would affect other stages. In fact that was basically the whole progression system in 3.
???
That never happened in Wario Land 2.
-Banned in Antarctica
Sebby19 wrote:If your life depends on throwing up, switch to the keyboard
I think Nintendo does "secret exit at the end of the stage" so often not because they don't respect the player's time and it's bad design or anything, but rather because they have a different idea of how the player will progress through the game. It's expected in Romhacks now or at least the way raocow plays them that the player sees the red level spot and immediately looks for the exit, so much so that there's sometimes warnings to the tune of "btw don't bother looking for the secret here until you've gotten all switch palaces, okay?".
I don't think Nintendo wants you to do that at all. Instead, you're supposed to play through the game casually one level to the next until maybe you get stuck somewhere, then just play an old level instead and discover a secret there! Or you play until you realize that there's a chunk of level numbers missing and decide to look for them somewhere.
In SML2, the secrets were not even "real" levels, just coin or life farm spots. So a clear bonus for people who figure out a new way to clear a stage, but not, like "required" for any kind of 100% completion.
In SMW, they unlock different paths to the end which can be huge shortcuts. The latter especially is probably not the "intended" way to beat the game - I do think they want you to ultimately see all the levels - and my evidence is that especially early on, the secrets require switches from later in the game. Or clever usage of the cape. Discounting that, you HAVE to come back later, especially as a kid who doesn't quite know how to fly correctly (I still don't, haha).
When I first played all these games, I was honestly struggling a lot because I've never been a whiz kid at videogames. So I would get frustrated in maybe World 3-4 already, but the game was still FUN, so I'd go back and just play a previous level because I simply liked playing it. And I was super grateful that you could even have an added purpose to replaying a level beyond "it's fun"; maybe this time, the tenth or twentieth time, would I finally figure out how to access the key all the way up there???
In these cases, it really doesn't matter that the secret exit is all the way at the end. I want to replay the level ANYWAY. I've since gotten more anal about doing everything in a level first go because "I'm good at videogames now" and "who has time to constantly replay this", but I've actively tried to wean myself off the habit again, because honestly? It's more fun to just blast through and get better at the game in question first, THEN look for secrets. It doesn't have to be in platformers, it's the same in DOOM 2016 with its many secrets, and it extends to trying to absolutely stealth no alarm no kills everything in Dishonored or Deus Ex: Human Revolution. If the game is good enough, I'll replay it anyway, and THEN I can do these crazy challenge things. If not, a single playthrough where I just fucking shoot enemies in the face when they see me is fine and fun.
Not saying that raocow should stop looking for everything in a level first thing; it's perfectly fine in an LP context and I like watching him look for secrets. But I think the "ugh secret exit at the end" is a little unfounded for the official games. For the romhacks, I totally get it, however; they are often clearly designed with the idea that players would get the exits asap in mind, and those should be designed accordingly.
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