TL,DR - I can't afford new consoles and games or a new PC, so all I can play are simple free games, homebrews, fan games and of course, ROM hacks. This being a thing for such a long time now too has also shaped my interests in a way that makes me just find SMW hacks and the like really exciting.
(This whole thing is color-coded for a better reading, too much text of the same color looks consistent and all, but it makes reading more tiring and makes the whole thing feel too messy, this helps keeping things better segmented and organized, also giving focus to some of the more important parts, making it easier and faster for you to read individual sentences, it's more dynamic, even if it looks a bit too childish).
My previous comment was a bit too simplified, and I feel like it didn't really go over why I enjoy SMW hacking so much. Deep down, I don't think I'll ever have much of a concrete answer, because it's a complex feeling, but...
I really like how SMW controls, and not only that, but my taste in platformers and games in general has been largely shaped by SMW hacks, fan games and old indie stuff, things that I could get for free on my very basic PC.
When I was a kid, I played a lot on consoles, on many types of consoles
(many of them not being mine), but as time passed on, things got just too expensive for me or even anyone I knew to keep up with (PS3 era and onwards basically), and it led to me exploring free games (although some were just pirated/emulated). Although it's worth nothing that during my whole life, I've been pretty acquainted with handhelds, due to them being cheaper and more likely for a friend or even my dad to have one
(Example, I don't own a PSP or a 3DS, but I've played games on those systems).
Anyway, back to young me playing on PC.
Early on, back when I had a PC without internet (and also during a bit of the time where I first got internet but wasn't used to it yet) I didn't play games on it, like at all.
But with internet, I just used to look up stuff I liked, or just see where I could find games that I didn't have to pay for. It's how I found a lot of fan games, amateur indie and flash games, browser games, RPG Maker games, but also at some point, it led to me finding emulators and ROM hacks.
So yeah, due to me living like that, even nowadays to a lesser extent, I have a pretty limited awareness of what's even going on in the mainstream gaming sphere, and I've also grown to not care about most of it, due to my interests being too specific now.
I mean, SMW hacks have shaped my taste for Mario so damn much, that I'd say that I keep being interested in it because there's hardly anything like them out there. The official 2D Mario games are surely not like most hacks (and the ones that try too hard to be like an official game aren't generally of my interest).
And of course, I don't find it a problem at all, I understand that Nintendo caters to a more modern and accesible style, as opposed to the
craziness and uniqueness or difficulty and creativity of something like JUMP ½, Nachos and Fried Oreos, slurdgery, 2 Mice Walk Into a Bar... or even something older like Mario Gives Up 2, VIP5, TSRPR2, SMW: The After Years and EVW, or whatever else, not to count the many hacks that play very differently from regular Mario, while still having enough of that SMW DNA, at this point, I'm just spoiled, to the point that a real Mario game naturally feels like common ground.
(Although I enjoy revisiting the games I grew up with and whatnot, as I have a lot nostalgia for them)
My interest in SMW also goes hand-in-hand with something else that really interests me in the video game world. As I mentioned, I don't even play new big games, it's always a basic indie, a fan game or a ROM hack, right? Yes, pretty much. It must get boring not having many new things to look forward to in consoles and whatnot, right? Well... no.
Simply because I've grown to appreciate homebrews, console modding (expansions and whatnot), and that type stuff a lot, and this solidifies my excitement for ROM hacks, in fact, I'd say it's this type of stuff that makes me go crazy happy.
C3 is my E3 (kinda), homebrew announcements are my "hype train" and so on. Everytime I see something crazy and new being done on an old console I grew up with, well, I just glee like a little girl again.
And SMW hacking is part of that, I'm always finding some new source of wonder and excitement with these things, I remember when I first found that you could play some hacks on real hardware, putting them on a real cartridge... I just got so excited!
And there's always something going on to make me feel like that, and I find it really satisfying that it's not out of my league like an expensive PC or console. The idea that someday, I could just have a friend or someone at my house, and turn on a SNES/SFC and not only play some old nostalgic games, but also something like a SMW hack, it's just so nice. Especially imagining just having a person who doesn't even know what's going on, that'd be so fun, seeing their reaction and whatnot.
It's familiar enough to be comfortable and a bit nostalgic, yet new enough to be exciting. It's like a perfect blend.
That's a lot of text, that's a real Y.Y. comment, wow.
Хуй войне!
桐生会FOREVER #ThankYouCoco / Rest in peace, Near, thank you for everything