Review: Play to win

 

Finished in 100 minutes.

I wanted a short and easy hack to finish the week-end. Picked one at random on smwc that doesn't looked vanilla, let's see what it has.

Very nice map.

It's as I would call it a hack resourced from smwc, in that most if not all external content (graphics, musics, sprites) are taken from smwcentral resources section. That is not a bad thing, my hack is the same in that regard. The question is how it was used. In the aesthetic department, it's great. The graphics are really nice looking, and the musics good too. Every level has it's own aesthetic and most of the time their own sprites that makes each one unique. Although the hack author must love jumping piranha plants. The choice of custom sprites are also great...

 

Jumping piranha plants, the hack's fetish sprite.

 

Except the bosses. They aren't very good. Using smwc bosses is not bad, but there should fit with the game. First boss is Iguy, but then Mooser? There's no coherence between the bosses, nor between the levels. Only world 3 fits has there's a thwomp boss in a thwomp level. Thwomp boss is lame but at least it's not the old bomb version. Special mention to the piranha plant boss that is just a bad boss and glitchy as that. Please don't use it, this boss is bad.

You suck!

About the level design, it's good. It's linear, platforming romp that you breeze through, and it feels good. And when I say linear, I do, there is literally only one secret exit in the game. I would have liked a bit more, at least 4 for 4 switch palaces. The game is easy, but a bit too much. Especially, there's too much powerups, making enemy obstacles not threatening enough as the levels are full of powerups blocks (with only flowers).

 

Despite the graveyard aesthetic, it's an athletic level!

 

I may sounds negative, but negative points are easier to pinpoint. In reality I liked this hack. It's just a fun romp that you can enjoy without thinking. I wish it was a bit harder and with better bosses or no boss at all, but it was a fun time anyway.

Rating:

⭐⭐⭐

Good

Review: Yoshi's Crack House

 

What the...   (completed in 70 minutes)

 

As I was browsing my "to be played one day" romhack folder in search of a short hack to play, I stumbled into one called Yoshi's Crack House. Not remembering when I downloaded it or what it was about. With a name like that I wasn't expecting much. But...

 

That's the sort of OW I would make.

This was a surprisingly enjoyable hack. It's a "joke" hack in that it has funny and vulgar story and text, but it never goes too far offensive (for me at least). In fact I think it could have went harder some times, especially the ending that was a bit of a wet fart like most joke hack. A funny final cutscene after the final boss would have been cool. But for the rest of the story, it was kind of funny. Not extremely humorous but funny and original enough.

 

Challenging enough.

And the the game part, it's good. The level design is challenging but fair and good platforming. It doesn't innovate but it's strongly decent and offer a good time. There's a bit of a difficulty spike at the end, but the sections are short and there is instant retry. In previous levels there's enough powerups too.

The boss are kind of meh, they are just boss taken from smwc, nothing new. I admit I found kind of funny to have an epic touhou music just for that stupid overused thwomp boss.

bread

Overall I enjoyed my time playing it, it's a good short hack with stupid humor attached to it.

Rating:

⭐⭐⭐

Good

Review: SMW Gaiden

 

World 1-7 in 13 hours (in a row 😵), world 8 in 6 hours, special world in 3 hours (with some feathers)

 

 SMW Gaiden is a collab with a new team comprised of old school SMW hackers, some relatively know. This hack aims to be some old school challenge, let's see what it has. Sorry if I lack details, I made this review a while after I finished the main game.

Yuck! Plants everywhere!

One look into the game and you can feel the old school. Sort of. Let me explain: the graphics are mostly vanilla, with new palette, mostly well done but a few questionable. One thing that I hate, is the music. The game only use musics from SMW and SMB:AllStar for that retro feels. I'm fine with SMW musics but I'm not a fan of SMWAS ones, it get tiring to hear them after a while. Also only the level have retro musics, the OW has nice custom musics, so the contrast really feels weird. It could have made the levels stand out more. The fact that all the level have generic names doesn't help. The overworld is very nice though.

Weird rhino palette.

The game has few custom sprite, and only retro one. And the mark of fabric of this hack are piranha plants / venus fire plant. They are in EVERY level, and I'm not exaggerating. I understand the idea, really. But that doesn't means I enjoy this decision. It's an annoying sprite and having it in EVERY level gets annoying. It's not even a modern one, it's the old school venus that means upside down always ignore Mario and comes out. They could have at least used modern one with red stem venus to mix things / identify them better. About sprites, most common sprites in the games like koopas, spinies, etc. have slightly different properties, in that they are quite faster. This is a nice change to shake things up. Strangely, the exception are the SMB3 hammer bro that throw less hammer than the typical custom sprite. It's an annoying sprite so I won't complain. Also it's green here.

And despite being classic, the final boss is custom. It's a really impressive custom boss, but it makes it contrast with the classic feel of the hack even more.

Even underwater, PLANTS!

But beside the overuse of Venus, the level design is great. It's classic, but the obstacles are well put together, it's challenging but fair. It's the typical linear Mario platforming, but very well polished. If you're good at Mario, seeing all those enemies (mostly plants) and blazing through their fireball is a lot of fun. The game has a few secrets, but overall the levels are simple and neat.

Some postgame levels are a bit of a pain though. Thankfully powerups aren't filtered. You can even bring Yoshi, though they greatly reduced the timer before he eats items in his mouth, so you can't grab a blue shell and fly.

Two plants one pipe?

The hack feels classic but also mixed with modernity, and seeing those modern aspect sometimes feels like missed opportunities, like how the OW have custom musics but not the levels or a few custom sprites. The hack having a fetish sprite (the plants) seen in every levels is kind of interesting but may or may not be annoying. However, the great level design makes for some fun challenge and it is a superb hack if you're looking for good old fun Mario platforming.

 

Even in your switch palace, PLANTS!

 

Rating:

⭐⭐⭐

Good

Fkuc