Language…
14 users online:  AmperSam, Cristian Cardoso, DaMarioFan, Dangil, drkrdnk, Gasterus155, Giftshaven, JPhanto, nonamelol1,  patcdr, Rauf, reevebarusadar8, signature_steve, Sokobansolver - Guests: 257 - Bots: 365
Users: 64,795 (2,377 active)
Latest user: mathew

Mario's Nightmare Quest

Standard

EDIT: DEMO IS NOW AVAILABLE!

The two links for it via either NCFC:

http://nintendocfc.com/booth.html?id=80

Or Gaming Reinvented:

https://gamingreinvented.com/forum/index.php?resources/marios-nightmare-quest-part-1-demo-1.15/


Yeah, it's a topic for this hack, given that C3 will be over and the forum closed soon.

It's a very different kind of game. This is because:

1. Bowser isn't present, and nor are the Koopalings.

2. Peach isn't captured, or even present in the game.

3. Despite the non Mario graphics, there are very few crossover elements and no gameplay gimmicks that take away from the platforming. So no vehicles, shoot em up levels, etc.


4. The structure is non traditional. Short worlds, non linear overworld, etc.

So with that said, some pictures, which you'll recognise from both the C3 topic and the topics about the game on other ROM hacking and fan game websites like ROM Hacking.net, raocow's Talkhaus, Fusion Gameworks, etc...







































































https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/67216205/minishcapexgfx.png













So, any questions? Oh wait, I'll try and answer a few that might come up in advance. As partly mentioned on the Talkhaus:

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 present in most hacks and fan games. I want something that's reasonably fair, rather than the near impossible that some of my past games were.

It will actually be easier than about 70% of hacks on this site, and about 80% of games on Mario Fan Games Galaxy.

What do you mean by 'not a crossover'?

It's... not a crossover. Yes the graphics often come from somewhat obscure games that aren't always part of the Mario universe.

But they're like the levels in Mario Fusion and its ilk... using resources from other games in original contexts that don't involve multiple universes. Basically, things from other franchises are being used in semi generic, original contexts that don't reference other series.

There are no worlds based on other game series, no gimmicky non Mario levels, all enemies are simple and based on Mario universe attack patterns... That kind of thing.

Why does Mario look somewhat out of place?

Because his GFX haven't been edited yet.

Why are some levels seemingly a tad empty?

Because in some cases, I'm showing off progress with the level graphics and atmosphere before the actual level is properly assembled. In other cases, the screenshots are really old and aren't really relevant any more.

What's unique about the overworld?

You start out in the centre, after playing through an interactive intro. Then, you can choose which of the five initial worlds to visit. When you then clear one of these worlds, you unlock another world, which is from the second 'batch', aka the submaps.

Your goal is to beat enough levels/find enough exits to reach the final world/castle and boss. Your progress is checked in a manner sort of similar to the badge checks in Pokemon's Victory Road, rather than based on switch palaces cleared.

How many levels?

About 60.

How long is each level?

They get longer as you progress, but the average is about 12 screens for a short level, 16 or so for a medium one and maybe 20 or more for a long one. Checkpoints are frequent, as are blocks with power ups.

The longer the level, the easier it is to compensate.

If there are no Koopalings, who are the bosses?

Somewhat obscure, mostly unused characters. Most of whom are from games set in the Mario universe.

Their boss sprites are rare ones not seen in most ROM hacks, and any complexity solely comes from complex attack patterns. This game has Kirby style boss dissonance rather than Mario style boss dissonance.

And that should be everything. If you want more information, or to see what other people think of this game, you can see the topics at ROM Hacking.net, the Talkhaus, the GCN, Fusion Gameworks, Wario Forums or Talk Nintendo, which have plenty of responses and updates.
For gaming news and Wario discussions, check out Gaming Reinvented and Wario Forums respectively.

As for Mario's Nightmare Quest? Well, it's currently on Fusion Gameworks, ROM Hacking.net or the GCN at the moment.
Quote
It will actually be easier than about 70% of hacks on this site, and about 80% of games on Mario Fan Games Galaxy.

This could actually get me to play it if it ends up executed right. Most chocolate hacks are either total bullcrap or so flat and boring it becomes a chore to play after a while.

I like the way it looks so far, but I think your graphics may be a bit *too* all over the place in terms of style. Good luck with this.
Originally posted by MercuryPenny
Quote
It will actually be easier than about 70% of hacks on this site, and about 80% of games on Mario Fan Games Galaxy.

This could actually get me to play it if it ends up executed right. Most chocolate hacks are either total bullcrap or so flat and boring it becomes a chore to play after a while.

I like the way it looks so far, but I think your graphics may be a bit *too* all over the place in terms of style. Good luck with this.


You'll be happy to know I plan to avert both of those issues. Level design will be filled with secrets, non linear and not flat in the slightest, and cheap deaths and tricks will be hopefully entirely absent.

And yes, it is a bit random in terms of style. But it's following the Fusion Gameworks philosophy of graphics and aesthetics, with more realistic environments and less realistic characters and all that stuff. The 'randomness' is common over there (see Mario Fusion Revival or Mushroom Kingdom Fusion).
For gaming news and Wario discussions, check out Gaming Reinvented and Wario Forums respectively.

As for Mario's Nightmare Quest? Well, it's currently on Fusion Gameworks, ROM Hacking.net or the GCN at the moment.
Originally posted by EddyCartoon
Sounds like this hack is gonna be an instant classic once it's finished. #smw{:TUP:}


Thanks! Glad you like the game!
For gaming news and Wario discussions, check out Gaming Reinvented and Wario Forums respectively.

As for Mario's Nightmare Quest? Well, it's currently on Fusion Gameworks, ROM Hacking.net or the GCN at the moment.
Bump for map updates:









I plan to try and make the paths end a bit better, and I need to add two extra submaps, but other than that it's hopefully decent enough.

Also, some Christmassy stuff:





Surprised at how easily these tiles fit in SNES hardware limitations; Jazz Jackrabbit was not exactly planned to ever be on a home console and its tiles were created under very different restrictions to those in a SNES or Genesis game.
For gaming news and Wario discussions, check out Gaming Reinvented and Wario Forums respectively.

As for Mario's Nightmare Quest? Well, it's currently on Fusion Gameworks, ROM Hacking.net or the GCN at the moment.
The transition between grass to ice world could be smoother but all in all that is a beautiful map. My retinas as aesthetically pleased. I've yet to figure out what S and L mean on the level squares. Any help.
God fucking damn it cheat-master30. I fucking love it when you rip overworld graphics. That looks great, but as 2dareduck said, the transition could be better.
Love seeing custom overworld graphics, as they're something we have a severe lack of. It also helps that they look great!
Originally posted by 2dareduck
The transition between grass to ice world could be smoother but all in all that is a beautiful map. My retinas as aesthetically pleased. I've yet to figure out what S and L mean on the level squares. Any help.


The letters mean 'level' and 'secret level'.

The transition has been updated a bit though:

Cue the dotted line. Yeah, that's about as much of a transition between areas as Mario Party Advance originally had:

http://vgmaps.com/Atlas/GBA/MarioPartyAdvance-ShroomCity.png

Originally posted by S.R.H.
God fucking damn it cheat-master30. I fucking love it when you rip overworld graphics. That looks great, but as 2dareduck said, the transition could be better.


It's gotten a bit smoother, but the original graphics never had particularly smooth area transitions. Mario Party Advance has the very definition of a patchwork map.

Originally posted by K3fka
Love seeing custom overworld graphics, as they're something we have a severe lack of. It also helps that they look great!


Then you'll be happy to know that these graphics will be released when the game is out. So you'll get to use them in more SMW hacks.

Talking of overworlds, I really ought to release the Mario End Game overworld graphics. The Castlevania Dracula X map is already up here, but the Mushroom Kingdom, Super Princess Peach and Mario & Luigi ones should probably be uploaded as well.
For gaming news and Wario discussions, check out Gaming Reinvented and Wario Forums respectively.

As for Mario's Nightmare Quest? Well, it's currently on Fusion Gameworks, ROM Hacking.net or the GCN at the moment.
I really like how this looks! Here's hoping the game plays as well as it looks!
Thank you!

Some minor updates:







First screen has graphics from Three Wonders, next two from Magical Sword (both arcade games). Used for a sort of palace themed hub level, as a more interesting replacement to Yoshi's House or some sort of Toad Town esque thing.

I'd also like to show the awesome ghost ship I reassembled from Castlevania Rondo of Blood... but I need to fix some graphics cut off and add a background first.

So yeah, thoughts? And is there anyone here who's good at spriting or ASM? Cause some custom sprites would be quite cool about now, well, ones that are a bit more custom than the ones we're already using anyway.
For gaming news and Wario discussions, check out Gaming Reinvented and Wario Forums respectively.

As for Mario's Nightmare Quest? Well, it's currently on Fusion Gameworks, ROM Hacking.net or the GCN at the moment.
The graphics are impressive.
Could you show more progress?
2 weeks had passed.
...the author isn't going to show more when you want him to, no need to keep asking for screenshots on hack threads. When he has something interesting to show he'll probably post it here.
Originally posted by Roberto zampari
The graphics are impressive.
Could you show more progress?
2 weeks had passed.


There has been a bit more progress, but it's not enough to post new screenshots showing.

However, some recent ideas might keep people a bit interested:

Demon's Forest

Bridge to Hell: A bridge level, a bit like Silent Span in Mario Fusion Revival or the bridge in Mario End Game. Except with the gimmick of the level getting darker and more gloomy as you proceed.

[Inside of a creature]: Mentioned in my tileset request topic, but yeah. You know the drill.

Abandoned Toad House: A trek through a Toad House that's fallen into decay after a monster attack. Maybe with ghostly undead Toads as enemies, for the creepy factor.

Hyrule

Royal Crypt: A mix of the level from the Minish Cap, the Bottom of the Well and the Shadow Temple from Ocarina of Time. You get to use the Lens of Truth to reveal hidden obstacles and fake walls and floors by pressing the L or R button.

[Something from the Wind Waker]: Not sure what, but some level or another. I was considering something based on either Dragon Roost Cavern or the Wind Temple, but it's unknown yet.

Stone Tower Temple: Based on Majora's Mask, with the gimmick being able to flip the building upside down.

Hyrule Castle: Self explanatory, references Link to the Past/Between Worlds, Twilight Princess, etc.

And some work in progress graphics for elsewhere:




For gaming news and Wario discussions, check out Gaming Reinvented and Wario Forums respectively.

As for Mario's Nightmare Quest? Well, it's currently on Fusion Gameworks, ROM Hacking.net or the GCN at the moment.
Quick content bump:

































Just some miscellaneous level related stuff. Most isn't particularly complicated or gimmicky.

On another note, some interesting ideas (warning, some potentially dark content):

Abandoned Toad House: Explore a Toad House... which has fallen victim to a zombie apocalypse. Can Mario avoid zombified Toads and Mario enemies in the creepy, dark looking pastiche of a bonus game? May contain disturbing content, like enemies with half their face missing.

Oh God No: Part based on this creepypasta:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVYZpZrtomE

Part based on the Nightmare in a Coma idea from the Brutal Mario wiki (from a hoax about a non existent demo):

http://brutalmario.wikia.com/wiki/Cave?oldid=4442

Part based on a creepy bad future where no Mario and Luigi meant Bowser took over the Mushroom World and reduced it to a barely populated, dark, miserable wasteland.

It's... an interesting experience.

For gaming news and Wario discussions, check out Gaming Reinvented and Wario Forums respectively.

As for Mario's Nightmare Quest? Well, it's currently on Fusion Gameworks, ROM Hacking.net or the GCN at the moment.
Thanks EddyCartoon! Glad to see people like this ROM hack.

Interestingly though, I plan to make this project into something a bit bigger in future. Namely, I'm going to open a section for it on my site, and take submissions for content in the style of Mushroom Kingdom Fusion and Super Mario Fusion Revival.

So if anyone out there is interested in either contributing levels, music, graphics, ASM coding or anything else... well, we'll soon be looking for contributors. And as you can tell, there are a ton of nice levels and empty level slots that could have interesting things done with them...

Back to the topic though... I hope to have a demo out for some time in a few months. It'll only cover about 5 or 6 worlds, but it should how people's interest for the full game.
For gaming news and Wario discussions, check out Gaming Reinvented and Wario Forums respectively.

As for Mario's Nightmare Quest? Well, it's currently on Fusion Gameworks, ROM Hacking.net or the GCN at the moment.
So, the project isn't dead. A few things I'm working on (no pictures yet):

1. The rest of the Oh God No (based on that creepypasta). It now mixes concepts from quite a few Mario creepypastas, horror stories and rumours.

2. Adding the Mario Advance 2 status screen, that 100 coin item roulette, shops and Toad Houses to the game.

3. Replacing as many basic graphics (enemies) with Super Mario Bros 3 ones as possible. Most enemies are now complete, though I'll have to reshade the Snufit sprite to go with the SMAS style Snifits and Shy Guys.

So it's not dead, just working on differrnt things at the moment.
For gaming news and Wario discussions, check out Gaming Reinvented and Wario Forums respectively.

As for Mario's Nightmare Quest? Well, it's currently on Fusion Gameworks, ROM Hacking.net or the GCN at the moment.
Some minor updates:


















For gaming news and Wario discussions, check out Gaming Reinvented and Wario Forums respectively.

As for Mario's Nightmare Quest? Well, it's currently on Fusion Gameworks, ROM Hacking.net or the GCN at the moment.

Standard