And here it is. Those who've followed me on other sites have seen the screenshots and posts about it, but here's my Talkhaus topic for Mario's Nightmare Quest.
Aka my current work in progress SMW ROM hack. It's a bit different to others people have made, so read on and find out more...
The Story
One day in the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario and Luigi were travelling home after an adventure. But on the trip to Princess Peach's Castle, a mysterious portal opened up near them and sucked them into a strange and illogical world far, far apart from the reality of the Mushroom World.
Can the bros figure out where they are and find a way back home? And who is trying to attack them anyway?
Of note, neither Bowser, Peach or the Koopalings make any appearances whatsoever. Not one.
Game Structure
The game structure is different, in that it's non linear. There are five worlds accessible from the start of the game. These are simpler areas with less chocolate elements. These then lead to five more worlds, which have more chocolate content. So for instance:
World 1 (grass) -> World 6 (forest)
World 2 (athletic) -> World 7 (desert)
World 3 (snow) -> World 8 (haunted house)
World 4 (water) -> World 9 (Hyrule)
World 5 (war zone) -> World 10 (toy land)
The final world is then unlocked by completing the levels in the other 10 worlds. The switch palaces are purely used for optional bonuses.
Of note, despite some crossover style elements, this is entirely Mario style gameplay and level design. There are no mine carts, no Sky/Marine Pops, no guns, no RPG elements like turn based battles or magic systems, Very few, if any, enemies take more than one or two hits to defeat.
I'm also trying to avoid any ideas already used by Brutal Mario, VIP, ASMT (or its sequel), Mushroom Kingdom Fusion, Mario Fusion Revival, etc.
The Screenshots
Here are some screenshots. Many are outdated, but I couldn't easily replace them with new ones (so try and ignore any glitches, since background issues have probably been fixed since the picture was taken).
Note: They're now in a spoiler. Click to open it, and be prepared to wait about ten minutes for all the pictures to load.
None, because I know that videos are the surest way to draw attention from the one group you don't want paying attention to your fan projects.
Release Date
The current release date for this project is unknown, but perhaps sometime in 2015 is likely.
Random FAQs
Does this have anything to do with your previous ROM hacks?
No. Mario End Game tried to be like a Japanese hack, and ended up being way too close to Brutal Mario. Mario's Christmas Adventure was a fairly well received seasonal game which tried to play out more like a fan game than ROM hack.
This project is... something else entirely.
It's planned as a fancy yet fairly traditional Mario game which doesn't fall into too many cliches.
How difficult is this game?
It's meant to be fairly easy. Lots of power ups and checkpoints exist, and neither Elite Koopas, Homing Bullet Bills or N00b bosses are present. Yes really. It's a whole SMW ROM hack with both chocolate content and ZERO homing bullets.
I'm really, really trying to avoid the ridiculously high level of difficulty that was the main issue people had with Mario End Game.
Is this a crossover?
Sort of, but not really.
It's basically like the SMW equivalent of Super Mario Fusion Revival; a game where Mario and co explore unusual worlds loosely inspired by other series but with entirely traditional Mario style gameplay.
So in other words, you'll see levels which feel like they're from a familiar series, but they won't be explicitly designed as the same place, and the gameplay will never stop being Mario style platforming.
So yeah,there's my latest project. Thoughts?
Other topics:
http://www.fusiongameworks.net/smf/inde ... 669.0.html
https://www.the-gcn.com/topic/2875-mari ... are-quest/
http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.p ... 888.0.html