Sunday, May 15, 2022

Review: A plumber for all seasons

 
Finished in ~3h30
 
 A hack that's been on the work for for 9 years. This hack's main feature are the mostly completely custom made graphics by WYE along with some ASM and a neat season gimmick to deliver an unique experience.

WYE love to put his logo into the ground graphics.
 
So first the aesthetic. It's just wonderful, all the tricks were used to make is looks as good as possible. The beautiful custom graphics, but the clever use of layers 2/3, parralax and so on. Each level has a unique appearance that fit well with the seasons. The custom musics are new too. They are nice, albeit some are a bit forgettable. The underground theme is my favorite, while I think the first castle theme would fit better a mountain. Still, very nice.

The snow's getting thicker.

The season gimmick is you have to play 8 levels on an island, 4 times for each seasons. But the levels are completely different between the seasons, only the theme remain. For example the fourth level is a forest level, but it looks different in each season. Light green with flowers in spring, rainy in summer, orange in fall and frozen in winter. Each world has also it's set of new enemies like some flowers in spring, although koopas are present everywhere, and a bit too much of them, but they are the classic enemies. The gameplay is classic SMW, a few change here and here that aren't bad. The cape is replaced with a raccoon leaf, but contrary to other hacks you only need to hold the jump button to fly and fall slowly, which is much better on the hand. The dragon coins (star coins here) are still 5 in each levels, and you must get all of them for 100% completion, which isn't hard and when you collect them once they stay collected forever.

A good raccoon tail finally?
 
The levels are fairly linear, with some detours and small little challenges to get the stars coins which are good. The few secret exits were also nicely implemented. Some levels have unique sprites or gimmick that makes playing them really fun. Even the more classical level, due to the unique aesthetic and season theme are refreshing to play. There was a lot of creative setups, except maybe a bit too much use of blocks on the ground you need a koopa shell to hit them.

I need 99 lives? Say no more fam. I won't spoil what it unlocks.

The game in intermediate difficulty on smwc, which is easy for veteran SMW players. I admit I breezed through most of the level, 100% the hack with it's 41 exists took me only 3h30 to complete, but it was still very fun. If you're looking for a short or easy hack with classic gameplay and extremely charming atmosphere, I definitely recommend this one.

Autumn best season don't @ me.

Rating: 
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Amazing, must play
 

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