*X3 WINNER CONGRATS TO ENJL* the one with the seasonal allergies

[LunarRainbowShyGuy]

- Level Comments -

71st Camp Pyromania: I was expecting to dislike a level based around Podoboo jumps, but once I figured out a good way to time when they would jump (which was to quickly say "ta" seven times) I found that timing the jumps wasn't too bad, although it did get awkward in situations with multiple Podoboos with different timings. I do still think I'd like it more if the Podoboos were modified to jump up faster so that the focus was more on the act of jumping on them rather than anticipating when to jump on them. Such a change would probably require parts of the level to be redesigned, although the parts that would need redesigning the most are the parts I feel could use some improvement, so I think it would probably be a good thing if they were redesigned.

I liked the idea of having Podoboos be attached to various enemies, but I feel like the implementation of this idea could be better. It starts with a Podoboo attached to a disco shell, which is paired with having to maneuver around tight spaces while making some precise jumps, which I feel isn't a great combination. Then there's the Podoboo attached to a coin cloud, where you have to jump on it right away before it leaves you behind, and once you do get on it you just ride it for a while while nothing interesting happens. Then there's the "Lakitu War Machine", which I just ended up tanking a hit to get through it as quickly as possible because it looked unreasonable to dodge. And at the end there's some Podoboos attached to a circle of Fuzzies, which I feel like has potential for something better than just being used for a survival room.

Incidentally, I was playing this level as Luigi, as I usually do, and I found that this is the sort of level that Luigi isn't the greatest choice for, to the point that I actually switched to Toad for the part between the first and second midpoint, which made that part much easier (once I got used to Toad having way more acceleration than Luigi). Also, I think you're allowed to enter this level as Peach, but I imagine this is probably impossible as Peach except maybe by abusing a certain glitch in SMBX that allows Peach to jump again in midair (although I don't know much about it except that it exists).

- End of Level Comments -

[Grounder]

not as big as MAGLX2

[Zephyr_DragonLord]

Yeah, every single clock with this one is earned.

70th - Into The Storm: This one was also played on stream. I still do like what the level's doing, but the flaws here are hard to miss. The single stormy background gets old fast, and the level's in slog territory. But the progression of power here was pretty darn solid. The boss isn't bad either, with nothing truly abysmal about this, though the space jump's going to make those hands cramp up. Good job, Lejes, you're showing us the power of the 7th Saga cast exploration.

Oh, and just because this is the MOST Metroidvania doesn't mean this is the only one in the contest.... Not that I would know, but just making sure no one gets any false expectations here.

[Crow]

Make a Good Lgame Context X3

[LunarRainbowShyGuy]

Not too long ago we reached the halfway point of levels, and now we've reached the point where the numerical value of the placement of the levels is lower than their scores (and soon we'll reach the point where the level placement is lower than the video number).

- Level Comments -

70th Into The Storm: This level kind of reminds me of "Green T." with how it involves exploring an area and collecting permanent powerups that help you explore more, and also due to the fact that I feel like this should be its own game rather than trying to be a single level. Except instead of being too short to fully explore all of the ideas it presents this level feels like it tries to fit everything it can into one level resulting in something that I feel is far too long for a single level.

Length aside, there are other issues I have with this level. A map would have been nice so that when I found something I couldn't do I could at least look at the map and say "I need to come to this spot later". There's also the way the space jump works, which even knowing how it works (you can only use it once you start descending) I was not a fan. It's been a long time since I played Super Metroid (or any Metroid game), but I think Samus has a floatiness to her jumps which probably makes the space jump feel better than it does for Mario here.

One thing I would have liked to see is more upgrades to Mario's offensive capabilities, since there are areas where this is a very combat focused level, which are areas that I found to be a bit of a slog to get through; even with all the upgrades to Mario's fireballs it still takes a while to take out large numbers of enemies, and so I found combat to involve me mostly just keeping my distance and slowly advancing as I defeated the enemies. Granted, there is one powerup that raocow didn't find (

it allows you to basically trigger a pow block on demand

) that probably would have made the last section more enjoyable, but I didn't find that until after I had opened the shortcut to the boss, at which point it loses most of its usefulness. Even with that powerup existing I'd still like to see more upgrades for the fireballs to make things better for people like me that didn't find it.

Another thing I would have liked is renewable sources of health. Really I see little reason why checkpoints shouldn't just fully heal you when you touch them, except that enemies don't respawn unless you die, but I feel like there must be some way to make the enemies respawn without requiring a player death.

- End of Level Comments -

[ano0maly]

Make a Good Lgame Context X3

You could've just said "Make a Game Level Contest X3" (and spelled 'Contest' correctly)

D-

I actually think the space jump in Into the Storm works as well as it does in Metroid games - but to put that another way, it's just as janky, or at least takes getting used to, in Metroid games as it does here. Long ago in Super Metroid Legacy, raocow was told that it's like a yo-yo, and that still applies here. You have to wait until you start descending a bit, which means you don't get a lot of net height gain when you're trying to ascend, and you need to go up gradually. But in Super Metroid it's actually worse because afaik 1) if you fall for too long it just outright stops working and 2) if you're in standing position you can't go into somersault midair. It's easier to use in Fusion and Zero Mission I think.

[7TC7]

So far, this seems like the world of "Rameau likes everything slightly less than the other two" levels, but probably more realistically the start of "two out of three judges enjoyed this" levels.
I wonder if this trend will hold, or if we will get a more even, middling score distribution, before we reach the "all three judges enjoyed this" levels.

[LunarRainbowShyGuy]

- Level Comments -

69th Time of the Tweeter: I really liked the gimmick of having time stop while you're holding a Tweeter, but unfortunately it felt like it was barely used. There's even a long stretch in the section with the second and third midpoints where there just aren't any Tweeters at all. The rest of the level was alright I suppose, but I really would have liked to see more done with the Tweeter gimmick.

68th Bubbling Koopas in the Natural Sky: This level did indeed feel like a more traditional Mario level. I personally wasn't a fan of the bubble riding section before the midpoint, particularly when it came to collecting the star coin. If you leave the bubble to grab the star coin it's difficult to get back onto the bubble unless you went way ahead of it, which is something that feels rather unsafe with that spiny there. I also agree that those falling cloud platforms toward the end aren't exactly a great addition, although fortunately I barely managed to avoid dying there. The objective of killing all the Koopas in the last section seemed a bit odd given that you don't really have to go out of your way to get to any of them, but it at least doesn't make the level worse. Overall I'd say this was an alright level, but there are some flaws that I'd say aren't exactly insignificant.

- End of Level Comments -

[Zephyr_DragonLord]

There's so many interesting permutations of what people did wrong making these levels... it's fascinating, yet they are all still incredibly playable.

69th (nice)- Time of the Tweeter: I like the gimmick a lot, and it's used in cool ways, especially at the end, but the rest is filled with confusing things and decisions. The mushroom block indicators, while consistent, are not really introduced in a way that makes them easy to remember or even figure out in the first place. The mushroom block stuff is also kind of cool, but the two gimmicks don't feel terribly connected at all, which makes the whole experience... bizarre, but not bad.

68th- Bubbling Koopas in the Natural Sky: Now this level is just flat-out confusing, but it does have some satisfying platforming to its name. Though this one is also plagued with questionable decisions, mostly in midpoint density and a few confusing obstacles. The secret star to end the koopas also feels kind of... there. It hurts the level a bit, but not that much. Not bad, but needs some polish before it becomes great.

[PSI Ninja]

I actually think the space jump in Into the Storm works as well as it does in Metroid games - but to put that another way, it's just as janky, or at least takes getting used to, in Metroid games as it does here. Long ago in Super Metroid Legacy, raocow was told that it's like a yo-yo, and that still applies here. You have to wait until you start descending a bit, which means you don't get a lot of net height gain when you're trying to ascend, and you need to go up gradually. But in Super Metroid it's actually worse because afaik 1) if you fall for too long it just outright stops working and 2) if you're in standing position you can't go into somersault midair. It's easier to use in Fusion and Zero Mission I think.

Yeah, in Super Metroid, you can Space Jump once you've attained a certain falling velocity when somersaulting. If you fall for too long (i.e., reach the maximum falling velocity), you can no longer Space Jump. Ostensibly, the Space Jump in Into The Storm is inspired by the one in Super Metroid, but there are some differences. If you fall from a great height in this level, you can still activate your Space Jump at the last second. Also, I experimented with the Space Jump in this stage, and noticed that you can button mash to gradually gain height. You can button mash to do Space Jumps in Super Metroid, but you won't gain height (unless you're moving through a liquid). In both cases though, you're expected to time successive Space Jumps while keeping the jump button held long enough to gain as much height as possible.

As for raocow not enjoying how the 2D Metroids play, maybe it's a control scheme thing? I didn't care much for the default Super Metroid controls, where X = Shoot, A = Jump, and B = Dash. Coming primarily from a Mario background, I found that R = Shoot, B = Jump, and Y = Dash was more natural. But by putting Shoot on R, you have to sacrifice one of the Angle Up/Down buttons since you can't rebind those to anything other than the shoulder buttons in-game. Don't remember if raocow had a custom control scheme or not though.

I also had issues with the falling cloud platforms in Bubbling Koopas in the Natural Sky, but for a different reason. While the first cloud platform indeed caught me off-guard, I still managed to make the jump at the last minute. But after dying later on in that section, I kept bonking myself on the upside down pipe when doing that same cloud jump again. For me, the knowledge that the cloud would fall might have been a detriment, because I would keep overcompensating by jumping off of it too early.

[Mata Hari]

Why do the solid-to-Toad blocks in the first level have Goombas on them and the solid-to-NPCs blocks have Toads on them

[Rednaxela]

Why do the solid-to-Toad blocks in the first level have Goombas on them and the solid-to-NPCs blocks have Toads on them

The iconography has always been to be themed based upon what is allowed through the filter block, not what it blocks. It's always been "passthrough to X" not "solid to X". This goes back to original SMBX 1.3 character filter blocks where they'd be themed after the character they allow through. When npc-passthrough block were added, goombas were chosen as the 'representative' of npcs.

[Mata Hari]

I would personally find it more intuitive if it were the other way around, since player character iconography generally means 'good thing' and enemy iconography generally means 'bad thing', and blocks being solid is usually better for you than being pass-through. Even when it isn't, I would expect blocks with player icons on them to actually interact with the player. With the original SMBX character blocks it was different because they would be visibly solid when they were impassable.

[Rednaxela]

I feel like the bigger thing is, maybe it would be good if the npc-passthrough blocks visually appeared mostly solid. If that were simply the case, it would line up with "visibly solid when they were impassable" as you say.

[Mata Hari]

Sounds good yeah

[Mata Hari]

I'm trying to be helpful rather than bitchy so just tell me if I'm sounding bitchy aight

[Grounder]

true art

[Zephyr_DragonLord]

Yep.

BOSS: 12th - Sister's Symphony: This is a pretty fitting use of these Celeste tracks. The dialogue's a little barebones (until the end), but it works. The scenery itself is lacking, but the overall design is good. The main thing this lacks is presentation, and it's probably the only real thing holding it back from greatness.

???? - True art, it'll sell for a million dollars. honk

[PapyrusSemi]

Ladies, gentlemen, non-binaries, beings with no biological sex or chosen gender, nemeses whom I am only addressing for the sake of formality, I feel the need to mention that we have reached two full months of non-stop MAGLX!

That's two whole months of orbiting Not Mario Odyssey Earth aboard the Satellite of Semantics, two months of silly jokes, two months of pure nonsense, and above all, two months of empirical proof that God is dead, and

the Tier X level in today's video

is a great example.

[Grounder]

Ladies, gentlemen, non-binaries, beings with no biological sex or chosen gender, nemeses whom I am only addressing for the sake of formality, I feel the need to mention that we have reached two full months of non-stop MAGLX!

That's two whole months of orbiting Not Mario Odyssey Earth aboard the Satellite of Semantics, two months of silly jokes, two months of pure nonsense, and above all, two months of empirical proof that God is dead, and

the Tier X level in today's video

is a great example.

What do you mean?

Mike is right there. honk

[Crow]

once again: evidence that kamirex blast is peak SMBX level design

mike even agrees!!!

[LunarRainbowShyGuy]

- Level Comments -

☆ 12th Sister' Symphony: I had an alright time here, although I feel like the first two phases could use some improvement; I agree with Sturg that they could use more attacks. The first phase felt like an easy version of a Yellow Devil fight, and the second phase was just a Charging Chuck that throws easy to avoid projectiles once in a while (although I do appreciate there being a warning that a projectile is about to be thrown). I feel like both of these phases have more health than necessary, and I feel like if they're going to have this much health it would be nice to have a wider variety of attacks. The last phase was more interesting than the first two, although it did feel more like a level than a boss fight at that point. I do appreciate just getting sent to the start of the section when you get hit so you don't have to worry about dying.

Sturgirex Blast [the level name showed up in the pause screen]: Oh man, it's a hard mode version of "kamirex blast". I also got stuck in the corner at the start, but I stubbornly refused to restart, resulting in me playing the game at a whopping 6 frames per second by the end.

- End of Level Comments -

[Le Neveu de Rameau]

Sturgirex Blast [the level name showed up in the pause screen]: Oh man, it's a hard mode version of "kamirex blast". I also got stuck in the corner at the start, but I stubbornly refused to restart, resulting in me playing the game at a whopping 6 frames per second by the end.

To be fair, this is how you get the best ending.

[Draexzhan]

I can't believe there's Sturg flavored skittles now.

[LunarRainbowShyGuy]

- Level Comments -

67th Blazing Grindworks: I found this to be a fun little level. There's something I like about the message box saying that you can spin jump on saws, seemingly in case of the unlikely situation where someone doesn't know that you can do that and this is the first Mario level they've played where it's required. The one complaint I have is about the saw you have to ride up in the rising lava section that both Zatsupachi and Rameau mentioned, but other than that I though this level was pretty alright. Also, for some reason despite the author's notes saying "Mario or Luigi is recommended", and the hub allowing you to enter as Luigi, the level itself seems to automatically change you to Mario.

66th Volcano Canyon: I also found this to be a fun little level, although in this case it's perhaps too little. I really like what's here, I just wish there was more of it.

65th Let's Clean a Snowglobe: I found this level to be alright, but I do have some issues with it. First of all there's the enemies that you can grab from the side and only from the side, which I feel like really needed to be introduced better. I only figured it out when I got hit and tried to walk through one while I was invincible. Then there are some clear pipes that just kill you, including the one right at the start of the second section, where freezing the enemy at the top and throwing it through the pipe seems like the natural thing to do, but if you do that then you lock yourself into an unwinnable situation.

There's also the challenge the level presents of not getting the checkpoints, which gets you a moon if you do it, but I feel like this level would be better off without it. At the very least I would have liked it if the level just explicitly said what the reward was so I could decide at the start whether it was worth doing. As it is I ended up doing it, but it just made me go through the first part again each time I died after the checkpoint, which felt rather tedious given that the first part isn't really difficult once you know what to do, just time consuming. And when I got to the end I found myself feeling that I would have enjoyed things more if I had just used the checkpoints.

- End of Level Comments -