2014-02-06
Go to 1106882 for new version of Two
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The title screen has been edited to a lengthy demonstration of Luigi playing through a level with Yoshi. The player is acting as a cautious amateur adventurer. It's rather cute to watch and the video makes the hack feel welcoming to less skilled players.Name: Two
Author: Dipalon
Levels: 14
Description: If you've been his bro like Luigi has, you know Mario does some pretty bad stuff. Today, though, he crossed the line. Help Luigi get revenge on Mario for what he's done!
Author: Dipalon
Levels: 14
Description: If you've been his bro like Luigi has, you know Mario does some pretty bad stuff. Today, though, he crossed the line. Help Luigi get revenge on Mario for what he's done!
The introduction uses the same level as Super Mario World, but with a new message involving the new plot: "Luigi is on an adventure to kill Mario after he got with Daisy in Super Mario Land. Help Luigi revenge himself upon Mario for enjoying her!" I feel as though help Luigi revenge himself upon Mario is awkwardly phrased, and it would probably sound better as help Luigi get revenge on Mario.
The first submap is a large grassland with a homogeneous spread of green mountains, trees, and tan rocks. The design is new and ordinary. The main overworld is a slim, straight-edged island.
Guillemet Isle 1 seems to be cleanly designed. The sprites used have the correct graphics set and while the match up with those from Yoshi's Island 1, that's about all it has in common with it. The terrain, sprite distribution, and vines demand a variety of actions from the player. Message boxes tell more of the plot.
Guillemet Isle 2 feels quite different from the first level. It seems more layered with platforms, but the higher path in one area leads into a blind jump. The player has safe ground below, but no way of judging without knowledge of the lower path. This level feels more mindlessly designed than the first: there is little gameplay depth apart from bringing the P-switch to the end to get the regular exit; the upper path in the first half is devoid of threats, and the lower path in the second half has some inoffensive Super Koopas, with only Volcano Lotuses proving to be of any challenge. I would recommend making using the Volcano Lotuses in such a way that they're a threat to both the upper and lower paths in the second half of the level.
In Guillemet Isle 3, near and beyond the midway point, there are rotating platforms that are not attached to the cement block properly. One of them also vanishes if I bring a Goomba to the goal tape, so I'd recommend more space between that and the end. There's also a section where two Amazin' Flyin' Hammer Brothers are on screen with a bunch of rotating platforms, and one of the Bros vanish -- try applying the No More Sprite Tile Limits patch. While this level branches into paths and merges them again, there is little to warrant taking the riskier lower path, and no enemies on any of them, which isn't automatically a bad thing to me, but the paths should feel like there are different risks and rewards or types of adventure.
Guillemet Isle 4 is a water-and-sky sort of deal. There are gaps between the lakes, walled off by logs. Spike balls float outside the logs, and some may look down on that, but I personally don't see it as an issue. However, when I went on a low mushroom platform and accidentally killed the blue-shelled Koopa by running his shell into it, I found myself stuck because I had no way of hitting the block. (Thankfully, I had already beaten the level, so start+select.) There are some fun elements that break up the level, such as the P-switch leading you into the sky to collect Dragon Coins. That said, the upper path suffers from lack of foes, and the bottom path suffers from too many foes nowhere near where the player needs to be.
Iggy's Chateau seems conceptually no different from the original #1 Iggy's Castle in the first room - it uses the same elements in the same way, but at the same time, it feels like it's been rebuilt from nil. The second room, as expected, uses slow auto-scroll, but not as expected, makes no such use of Layer 3 smash. Instead, we have cramped corridors that Big Mario would cry at, although they are passable by ducking and waiting to be pushed by the screen or duck-jumping. Luigi's anger explains why he had to fight Iggy, despite the level's messages implying a more friendly exchange.
The overworld event after beating Guillemet Isle 4 and Iggy's Chateau don't make any sense - stuff happens in between these two levels that doesn't change anything, so I'd recommend reworking the events to, say, reveal paths.
Guillemet Isle 5 felt a like something between Guillemet Isle 2 and Donut Plains 1, in the sense that the design is very much like the former, but makes use of sprites in the latter. I don't see anything buggy about this level.
Guillemet Isle 6 has a blind jump right before the midway point, and the only indication of land to me was when I pressed R and saw a Monty Mole pop out of the ground. Also, one Sumo Brother's lightning is getting stuck in the wall - try a different platform or making the dirt act like tile 25, perhaps? Where the vine is near the beginning, I had too many sprites on-screen one time and the vine failed to spawn. Fortunately for me, I grabbed the cape. This level felt least like any level from Super Mario World, but an awful lot of it was Moley Moley Moles with long, flat platforms.
Guillemet Isle 7 starts off like 2 and 5 with the multiple altitudes of land, breaking into two paths, but then it disintegrates into a lot of jumps across pipes. There is also a blind jump where the second and fourth Dragon Coins are. The way the level's second half goes with an alternating powerup block and plays kindly with the Star is strongly reminiscent of Donut Plains 4. Again, there are sprite tile memory problems where the Amazin' Flyin' Hammer Brothers are.
Guillemet Isle VIII plays a lot like Donut Plains 3's little sister. The only thing I can suggest, really, is to make the Fuzzy that leads to the Dragon Coin able to get a little closer to the ground, and for more of the platforms that can move off screen and be a pain to reset to start stationary rather than moving.
Guillemet Mines 1 feels like a Donut Plains 2 edit. The only thing it really adds are pitfalls.
In Guillemet Mines 2, I could run through the slopes connecting to solid walls and end up inside the walls. This block would be useful. The lava raft also rides through the dirt, likely because of the behavior of the dirt. You could probably fix this by making the tiles the raft passes through act like 25. You can also walk through a wall next to lava and end up in the side of the lava; I'd recommend using solid walls next to lava. Many of the enemies along the upper path are completely benign, as it's very easy to get around them. The P-switch thing also plays an awful lot like Vanilla Dome 3.
Morton's Chateau has a game-breaking bug: When you enter the pipe in the first room, you get crushed inside the pipe coming out into the bonus room and die. Other than that, the level plays like a truncated version of #2 Morton's Castle - no layer 2 scrolling room. After I kill Morton,
Luigi kills Mario and that's the end of it.
Mario left everything to Luigi in his will.
Top Secret Area
Personally: I'm leaning toward rejection because of the player-killing bug in the bonus room of Morton's Chateau and because of the sprite tile memory problems in a few levels. I'm not too crazy about the level design, since a lot of it feels like Super Mario World, but let's hear what other people think.
Why do you (or don't you) like the level design, and is this the kind of thing you would like to see in the hack section? Share your opinions too, to give Dipalon a sense of what he's doing right or wrong.
Just look above you...
If it's something that can be stopped, then just try to stop it!