grassland
- the fg palette is very very pretty! I'm not
as fond of the hills in the bg, particularly the yellow ones, but they aren't awful. The gradient is freaking beautiful!
- The layer 3 bg makes the hills look paper thin. idk if there's a way to move them around to make them feel a bit more dynamic, but it might be worth thinking about.
- I'm not a fan of the sudden kicking koopa. The yellow koopa troop made me laugh because as soon as I jumped on a shelled one, the baby behind it hopped in the shell and chased me down! I liked that, but maybe have them in a more consistent pattern. Right now it looks very careless and spammy. (It'll also make it easier to spin jump all of them for the 1-up, but you can still do that as is)
- I'm not a big fan of the jumping pirahna plant coming out from behind a bush rather then a pipe. It's possible to walk into him without seeing him back there
Overall, I think the section needs a lot more focus. The yellow koopa hoards are pretty interesting and fun, but there are 1-off enemies (the hammer bro jumps out in my mind) that should really be cut. If this section was just yellow koopas (small and shelled), rexes, chargin chucks and banzai bills, I think it'd be a lot more enjoyable.
Sky
- I think you're using the wrong line guide tile. That's why the rope starts underneath the line and jumps up when you grab it. Try using the other flat one!
Overall, it's fun, a little tough to manage as there are times an empty line will have a red spot or a crazy pattern and leave you so focused on it that you kind of lose sight of your surroundings. The difficulty spike from the grassland to here is quite ridiculous, I think there should be a section or 2 inbetween, or it should be made easier (probably by shortening it and removing the red line guides.)
Castle
- As much as I love the invisible block on a net tile thing, it's worth noting that if you rub up against it mario spazzes out a bunch. Can look sloppy and takes you out of the level. the way you used it was absolutely brilliant though. This is a wonderful way to hide a secret! I'd move the spiky ball to the right though. It's not very fun hitting it after excitedly running towards the pipe as there's no way to avoid it once you start falling
- you cant hit net tile koopas with throw blocks. it makes it kind of weird since they're side by side
- the secret cave makes you skip a yoshi coin, and thats not cool
Overall, not sure I'm following where the "deja vu" comes in with this section... it's incredibly creative, and a lot of fun, but doesn't really resemble SMW in the slightest. The spike pits are cool and the net puzzles are really awesome, but yeah. Not exactly deja vu material.
Secret Cave
- jumping fish in these tight corridors aren't very fun. i keep getting hit by them and i dont think there's anything i can really do to avoid it, without already knowing where they are.
- clever secret exit. I like
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it's a little silly that after all that, if you miss the secret exit you get sent back to the castle level. I think that as a skip it should let you bypass an entire section for your troubles.
Overall, it feels a little bit too long, it could probably afford to be cut down a bit. It's fun, but a little samey.
P Balloon
- SUPER DUPER BEAUTIFUL OH MAN this looks hella great
Overall, a strong way to end the level. Challenging but fair, and very fun.
So yeah! I really enjoyed that!! As I said, the grassland needs more focused enemy placement/selection, the bridge section is way way too hard, and the cave section might be a tad bit too long. Also the net tile puzzle might be better suited for a different level, as I said it isn't very authentic here. Keep that secret wall though that was really cool! :
)
e: oops, forgot my picture comments!
[L TO R: since the yoshi coin is at the bottom of the screen, my first reaction is to climb down. However, doing so traps me as I cant climb back up or go down. I'd probably make it possible to avoid getting hit by a saw if you're caught down there; lol this chuck conjures the rock out of thin air here; Raise the ceiling here. Once that chuck starts digging rocks its nearly impossible to avoid getting hit.
ask me if i give a f*ck...