#25:
I'm growing to hate bumpties... Not your fault though. A weird mash up of
a more standard troll level style and a quiz show, though I suspect the latter
was rigged. First half required some silly precision for like...one of the jumps.
Loved the fast muncher vine things, and kinda wish that you'd explored non-munchery
ways to use them. Questionable music choices in all the best ways.
#01:
Feels like this was made by one of the Sickos World people, especially because
of how you handled the introduction of the gimmick. Greed is a great motivator,
and at least here it's being used for education. Love it. Both halves are fun with
setups based around the gimmick. Second half felt longer to me, for some reasons...
Anyway, would definitely recommend. It's a fun level.
#20:
I loved the concept. My hands hated it. When it was at its best, the puzzles
were a lot of fun and quite enjoyable. The wall jump blocks...I dunno. I hate
those at the best of times. The final stretch was a slog that went on a bit
longer than I'd've liked, but it was also cheesable because 5 high block jumps. Wish
I'd noticed/been informed sooner.
#27:
The worst of 2012 combined with the worst of 2022. Absolutely perfect. The
first room was kinda annoying with the layer3 nonsense and Pendulum-like
music. Really captured the PRO MLG feeling of
the time. The kaizo rooms were cute, short and fair. AVGN yelling fuck and
shooting was honestly pretty damn funny. Good callback. Didn't care much for
the amogus boss though. Thankfully, you didn't drag it out to like 15 hits.
All in all, solid.
#43:
I don't care for dark levels, and this is no exception. I'm not sure the lamp
added much to the level, and most of it seemed to be somewhat luck based if
the cycles lined up. Fast plants aren't the easiest to deal with, but you did
provide tools--namely the star in the second half--to mitigate them. Not sure
about this one. It's well made, but I don't think I had a lot of fun with it.
#32:
Interesting gimmick. The launch blocks are kinda jank, and hard to
differentiate at a glance. The autoscroller felt like the part with the most
polish. The moon part was just kinda there before it ended, and the last part
was strange. It felt like it was supposed to be an auto level, but the
training from the prior areas kinda made me feel like I shouldn't do that? Not
sure. Aesthetics were questionable and the music kinda wanted to make me mute
it. A different track part way through would have been nice.
#28:
Dear lord that Lore. Honestly, minus the PEACH MANIA, this level is absolutely
pleasant. It has just the right level of platforming difficulty to make the
ambiguity of the peach sprites an obstacle, but not one that sticks around
too long. For a largely vanilla--or is it peach?--submission, this was a good romp.
#41:
Woosh! Yeah, this is a really clever gimmick. Honestly, I had fun the whole
way through. The dragon coin part was difficult, but enjoyable and optional.
The only part I have some reservations with was the anti-softlock section. I
feel like you'd discovered an interesting interaction between your ASM and the
powerup/powerdown animation, but kinda wish you'd gone for more puzzles using
it, rather than the very samey gameplay of the anti-softlock.
#26:
An interesting homage. I wonder if the elevator section is a bit too much to
have taken from the OG level. Really enjoyed the first third. Had a really
solid flow. Absolutely hated the second half post disco shell. Really wish
there'd been a second mushroom past the coin room...or one of the block having
a mushroom or something. Loved the elevator section, even if it scared me a
bit. Addendum: reviewed the footage of both Swiss Lodgings. Yeah, while very
inspired by the OG, this is pretty original. Stays at the level of homage, rather than ripoff.
#10:
This is a kaizo level. I gave it the ol' college try, but without a midway
after a lot of precise jumps, not feeling it. Turned on the water to see what
was ahead, and yeah...there's no way I want to do that. Especially without
retry. Positive things I liked: lots of orbs, and the twitch overlay was
pretty hilarious. I like how you integrated the lack of vision to the right to
setup the orb troll on the rotating platform, but that's about it. Hope your fish is feeling better.
#30:
This is an unpleasant Kaizo level. I was on board up to the so claimed "Wyatt
Wall", but after that, I really didn't feel like continuing. Ultimately, I
suspect that I spent more time playing this than you did making it. Pleasant
music, but that's about the best I can say of this level.
#23:
Magnificent. A very simple concept executed perfectly. Funny enough, there was
a OLDC2 level used the same gimmick, and it didn't do too well there for
somewhat obvious reasons. The level is entirely possible to read with the
sprite movement, if you're careful and perceptive, which made it more of a
puzzle than a memory challenge. Really enjoyed it. Top shelf.
#36:
Really solid level. Honestly, outside of the palette swapping in the second
half, I'm not sure it's all that questionable. If I'd come across it when
moderating a standard hack, I think I'd've just been pretty pleased with it.
Both the chuck and the baseball powerup were well chosen and work well
together, but I have reservations about the choice of ground pound. On a
oldish SNES controller, it's really easy to have superfluous down presses,
and the few spots you use them are kinda fun--shout out to the boss room!--but
for the most part, it just got me killed less when I wanted to use it and more
when it happened accidentally. Loved the inclusion of dragon coins.
#31:
Really fun gimmick. Enjoyed what I thought were references to Action 52. The
dev block at the beginning was a silly oversight, so was not clearing the
gravity flag on death for the retry, which can lead to some silly situations
at the midway...and the start of the level. Really, what I want from this
level is more use of the gimmick. The interesting part was pretty short in
comparison to the bookends.
#15:
I went left. Anyway, I love this level. It's a sublime example of the small
variations in gameplay leading to really interesting places. My only complaint
is that a second midway sometime in the second half would have been really
nice, given the length of the rooms in that section. The lore was a nice
touch, especially the tweest at the end. Would definitely recommend though.
#39:
I really love this gimmick. It took me a minute to figure out the chuck bit at
the start, but after that, everything clicked. While there were some really
cute setups in the first section, the second section with the Yoshi block
warping was my favorite. The third section seemed bugged. Not sure if it was
intentional, but I could get a star that did actual star things if I was small,
so I beat over half the section with that. The level kinda ended in a bit of
an anticlimax, but that might just have been the feeling from cheesing it.
Cute fakeout though.
#33:
Very questionable aesthetics, the background kinda made me a bit nauseous.
Lovely choice to music. That being said, the level was a perfectly pleasant
one. A few fun setups involving green beans, and I definitely loved the
skelefish section. Sadly, you can use the skelefish to skip the disco shell
bit, but it's really not an issue. The butt sliding was fun, but basically
binary. Either you knew/figure it out and several sections are free or you
don't and spend a lot of time confused. Very questionable, in a good way.
#29:
So many bills... I'd say this level is hard, but mostly fair. Banzai bills
have weird hitboxes at the best of the times, but despite that, or perhaps
because of it, this level works pretty well. I'm not a fan of the
drop-the-platform-through the water bit, mostly because it's dependant on the
size of the Mario. It's a lot more consistent when big. The two sections were
reasonably sized and after I got a pattern for the first flying banzai bro, I
had a pretty good time. The only way it could have been better in the
questionable sense would have been some Mario Maker 2 tense music on the last
bro, but even then, it was a reasonable challenge.
#42:
1-1, but slope muncher. Honestly, it wasn't bad till the very very end with
the titular slople muncher. Without that, it would have been a pretty standard
low-effort Mario Marker style troll hacks. Either way, you definitely
understand the spirit of this contest.
#14:
At first, I loved the little Munchario. Then he grew up...terrifying. A really
solidly put together level. Kinda wish you'd done less pink triangle jumps,
because, while questionable, they were easily cheesed with holding a shell and
kinda felt like filler. Especially the reprise with the boot. The final boss
was hilarious. Was really geared up for something epic, but the anticlimax was
just as good.
#11:
That was a roller coaster. This was basically like Wario Ware SMW, and it was
awesome. Really clever puzzles, even if I was being a bit dense and muddled
into a few of the solutions. Rotation got me confused. I loved the plot, or lack
thereof, and even read the whole EULA. I'm left wondering if Mario actually got his
pizza, but really didn't care after the journey. Well done, which given how long the level
was, is probably also what the pizza ended up.
#18:
I was a little worried that the heavy theme would permeate the whole level and
be a downer, but it wasn't. A solid setup for a really solid gimmick. There
were a few obstacles that had me scratching my head at their purpose--the two
thwomps, for instance--but for the most part it was just a really solid and
not terribly questionable level. I think the second half wasn't my favorite
just due to the length of the sections and the kinda awful Getting Over It
like falls. That was probably the most questionable bit. Otherwise, a fine
chocolate level.
#5:
Very cute. Generally autoscrollers are kinda boring, but you chose some nice
ways to spice them up. The timed on/off gates near the end of the first section were
my favorite part of that section. The small plot was well done and I really
appreciated the three chucks giving congratulations at the end. A really solid
entry.
#3:
The only way this could get more Mario Paint is if you made me bust out the
SNES mouse, which I kinda suspect you did for the last QLDC. Only guess I'm
gunna make on this sheet. Anyway, the build-your-own-level gimmick was really
damn cool. By first teaching us how it could be used in a less questionable
context, the later areas--post Midway 2, I'd say--definitely felt a lot more
questionable. That hidden kaizo block in the second to last cycle was a nice
touch. Really wanna see more of this ASM.
#4:
The background kinda made me nauseous. A really interesting, apparently
vanilla LM mechanic using the layer3 tide made of blocks. Took me entirely too
long to figure out why and how it was killing me...and the fact that if a
block hit a spike killed me too didn't help. I don't think I'd've beaten it
without savestates just because even understanding the gimmick, you really
liked to throw blind obstacles one after the other without giving much of a
chance to rest. My favorite part was prolly the post P-switch section, which
was solidly frantic, and the boss was also pretty cool in that, it required
coming up with a strategy rather than relying on simple reactions.
#17:
This is odd. Like two different levels glued together. The fast mashers aren't
my favorite bit of vanilla tech. The first section had some parts that were
really cool...but a lot of it wasn't a lot of fun. Maybe I'm bad at fast
mashers, but the first three obstacles felt uninspired compared to what
follows. I loved the switch troll setups. Would have liked a few more things
like the p-speed jump. I enjoyed the creepypasta section a
lot more, though if there was a payoff to all that, I'm not sure I found it.
The final section was probably my favorite, just because it was short and the
ALL THE LAYER scrolling was a funny troll. Really mixed on this one.
#37:
Cheatamen! Yeah, gotta love that track. Anyway, level. Pokies abound! A very
simple gimmick, but you used it in an effective way. The random coin/1up
boxes added extra challenge and prevented the sections between setup obstacles
from feeling too empty. One small touch I really appreciated was the mushroom on the
muncher after going up a long way, which you could use to scroll the screen
back down without giving up a hit. A nice little thing for the player. The
autoscroller felt a bit like TUBULAR, but that's fine. Green beans on pokies
will probably haunt me for some time to come.
#21:
This isn't really a level, per-se, but who cares. It's definitely interesting.
Reminds me a lot of an old html thing back from the web 1.0 days where
there was a big green button that would get mad that
you pressed it. Or the flash spiritual successor. Or like The Monster at the End of This Book. An exploration
in fourth wall storytelling. Only with SMW as the medium instead of a
children's book or a website. Without the cheat, I dunno if I'd've
finished as much of it as I did, but the parts I experienced without the
cheats were a lot of fun.
#19:
Really dig the Sonic aesthetic, but beyond that, this is a pretty short
standardy level. Kinda wished there was more than just one enemy type, given
how simple the Buzzer (robo hornets) are. One of those bouncy shelled crabs would have
been cool or something. The second half felt a lot more creative with setups
other than jump to a platform and dodge a hornet/hornet projectile. Dragon
coins were a nice touch, but would have been nicer if there was some
exploration for them. A pipe diversion or something would have added a bit to
the level. A fine effort, but just that.
#38:
I'm not a huge fan of this ASM, but I have to say, you did make a fairly
interesting level that leverages it well. I wasn't a fan of the first half,
because some of the jumps felt abritarry weather you'd get them or not, and
setting up cycles with RNG flying koopas, lava lotuses, bullet bills and
occasional fish didn't feel great. On the other hand, I really enjoyed the
second half. The autoscrolling solved a lot of the janky problems the first
half had and made a truly enjoyable section. I think the block jumps at the
end were a little cruel as a troll, but the level was fun enough that I didn't
care.
#2:
Interesting idea that kinda hurts my hands. Was I supposed to map out the whole
path and run the whole thing without ever touching the wrong ground tiles?
Either way, a kinda cute idea to have a maze with rules
in SMW, not sure I'd've actually gone to the exit by following the path
without busting out the mapping utilities. Either graph paper or
stitching screenshots together. Thankfully, because of the back and forth
rocking motion to kick up dust and the general flakiness of SNES controllers,
I accidentally found the exit. Lovely aesthetics, but not sure this really did
much for me beyond the aha of the dust.
#13:
Very clever. I'm kinda shocked how many variations on the theme you managed to
get through given the time constraint. Some of the logic seems suspect, but
that's a very whatever point. The backwards and upside down controls were
painful, to a shocking extent. I never realized how hard it is to not press
down when you're climbing on stuff...or throwing things. Some of the
variations were a bit long, but honestly, this is a really fun level that
doesn't need too much ASM to have a huge variety of gameplay.
#40:
Dear lord. This is pretty damn amazing. Very clever puzzles. My only complaint
was the final section where I think my controller's R button is a bit worse
for wear...but I've got a box of 50'em or something so whatever. The parts I
appreciated the most were where you use asymmetric movement. The room with the
two different knight move style L and R was a really impressive
puzzle. I loved it. My R button hated it.
#9:
I definitely appreciated the fake out. Wasn't expecting anything very
interesting based on the text and OLDC misdirection. Then you hit me with a 10:
remix and my expectations dropped even further, but you suddenly hit us up
with a huge dose of creepy pasta with the weird, hard to see house level with
the weird hard to dodge Chucks with Shrimps on their heads. Not even sure what
to say about that. Grain Silos are dangerous so I'm glad you are spreading the
word to keep people safe. Rounding it out, the final run was just surreal. The
whole thing is a work of surrealist art.
#12:
Not sure about this one. The various setups weren't all that consistent, so I
found myself just kinda jumping and hoping. The final find-the-pswitch part
was actively anti-fun, made worse by having to walk through two
not-very-interesting obstacles. I get that you ran out of time, but I don't
feel like this was the best use of the gimmick. Not sure how it would have
been better though.
#22:
I absolutely love the aesthetics. Add a little Saint Pepsi
and we'd have a vaporwave going, but I'm not sure this
level of cape mastery is acceptable per the rules asking for no Kaizo. There's
definitely some cool ideas here, with the there and back again, the various
timing obstacles, and the layer 2 nonsense, but I'm in no way shape or form prepared to learn the level
of cape tech to beat this level legit. Will, however, recommend this level to
people who love cape tech to see how they fare.
#16:
There's a lot to take in here. I wasn't a fan of some of the setups, which
were pretty dang kaizo. The tight timer, tight jumping and disco shell riding
room was a low point. However, the second half was amazing! I really loved the
routing puzzles, even if a bit kaizoy with the tight saw jump. Throwing dog
food was just fun. Absolutely inspired. The boss was a cool touch, though I
think it would have fit the level better if he only had one HP, but once you
get it down, it's fine. Really cool level, just might be too close to kiazo
for this contest...
#08:
Sadly, I was not aware of the laser suit rumor, but it's totally the kind of
thing I would have loved circa 1997. Anyway, the level itself is fine, but I
don't think you explored the gimmick as much as you could. The Yoshi to get a
Yoshi coin puzzle was cute, and I would have liked to seen more of that sort
of thing. Same with the circular spinny platforms where you can murder
yourself by standing in the wrong spot. Or some other fancier gates that
require some thought to get through. Nice aesthetics though.
#35:
It's cute, but I'm not a fan of this gimmick. I'm glad you made a pretty short
level, because a lot of this would have gotten old quick. I really dug the
flying section. That was pretty fun, but it didn't actually use the gimmick,
given you could just fly slightly slower to avoid getting confused. There's
some bits in here where you have to ditch the horse and come back, which are
the start of something interesting, but don't feel like you followed through
on the idea fully.
#24:
Very questionable. Not much level. It was like reading a choose your own
adventure book without being able to hold your page when you're making a
choice that might kill you.
Back in the day, we only had one choose your own adventure book to share between
the five of us. And it was the The Polar Bear Express, which is of course unrelated
to the awful mocap movie The Polar Express starring Tom Hanks. You think he'd have
known better by that point in his career. Sometimes we got to borrow a book or two from the
local public library, and there I'd occasionally get Murder on the Midnight Plane,
which was less choosing your own adventure and more straight up puzzles to solve the mystery.
Still not sure who done it. Five year old me got distracted by the page with all the food on it. The
parfaits did look pretty tasty back then. Now I know that at least that bit of the book was pretty
much a reference to a famous scene in Airplane where the doctor's trying to figure out why the
passengers and crew are falling ill. Speaking of doctors, in Nintendo Adventure Books series
book Brain Drain, Luigi runs into a possibly evil nose, foot, elbow, and brain specialist by
the name of Doctor Sigmund Shrinkasaurus who, of course, has a wiki page. Depending
on how good your counting skills are--or how funny having bad things happen to Luigi is--
you'll either make another step towards victory or get Luigi stuck in the body of a parrot.
A parrot who can only say, "Polly want a Pizza!"
Anyway, this was weird and mostly felt like doing homework by a somewhat sadistic
teacher. Made me want to read more choose your own adventure books, so I guess
that's pretty cool.
#6:
Lovely aesthetics, especially the multicolored deathwater. The flappy bat ASM is
a lot of fun. The setups here are pretty fun. Really liked how you used both
horizontal and vertical autoscrolling, but found myself wanting more. I think
a third section would have served you well, because you just didn't explore
the concept all that much. The sprite looks haunted as hell in Yoshi's House.
That's definitely worth some questionable points.
#34:
Interesting aesthetics. Really wonder what game this is referencing. The level
concept is fine, though reminiscent of SMW but it's Steamed Hams. The Sky Apples
part was kinda annoying, though not insurmountable. The funniest bit was
definitely Selecting one apple. It's just pretty okay. The interstitials were
nifty too, I guess.
#7:
I don't care for this. I like the double orb idea and feel like it could be a
really cool concept in a setup based level...but this isn't it. This feels
like it could be something out of a Team Dicks hack...which is fine for
trolling Juz, but not really something that's appropriate for this contest.
The Bowser fight was actually kinda fun, but I'm again, not sure about its
appropriateness for this contest. Really, I think you should have spent more
time working on your concept. The highlight was definitely the music in the
checkpoint room. Well done on that.