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4, top: Personally, that ladder makes things more annoying than they have to be, especially since you can get stuck if you're too far off to the side. Nothing's going on while you descend this ladder, either, so I would consider replacing it with a gap in the floor and some tiles or platforms leading down, maybe with an airborne enemy on the way down.
4/5, bottom: There are times when adding enemies doesn't do anything valuable, and this is probably one of them. All three of those enemies arrive at the same time in the same spot, and it's just a matter of waiting for them to arrive and jumping in place. Combine that with the fact that this area is pretty discriminatory toward Big Mario, and it's not my favorite part of the stage.
7: This jump is a bit much, honestly. The red parakoopa flies too high, it's easy to get caught on the ceiling and become cannon fodder for the koopa on the next platform, and if you fall down, getting back up is a chore since the bounce cloud is right next to the lotus plant (which by the way, doesn't pose much of a threat anyway until that point since players will obviously jump from the higher platform).
8: I have to admit, this does seem a bit arbitrary.
9: This chuck is blind, and it's quite possible you'll land on a baseball.
B: This mushroom takes a bit too much work to get, personally.
D, bottom: Big Mario Discrimination.
E-12: A powerup to the left of the exit, and two more hidden away? Is that really necessary given that we're using the SMB3 powerdown patch? Also, why does the midpoint start before the hammer bro + lotus setup? That's rather irritating.
31
0-2: Two easily obtainable 1ups after the midpoint, plus you can take a shortcut through the whole area via the message box, plus it's pretty sparse spritewise.
3-4: Well, that jetpak sprite is pretty fast! So fast that the audio cue doesn't come early enough and so doesn't help one bit in acclimating to the thing. So fast that I feel I have to constantly pay it attention at the expense of everything else in the stage. Honestly, does it need to be this fast? I feel like people can just make a mediocre level, toss a jetpak in there, and all of a sudden the level's great because all you do is wait for that one moment of dodging. Granted, screens 5-6 are interesting, but the rest...? Everything seems to take a backseat to this sprite. What an attention hog.
What's even worse is that there's ZERO indication of a second one until you suddenly get blindsided in the face during a jump. The fact that they come from the same direction doesn't help matters. Whereas S.N.N. seems to think it a positive that you're curbing the level's complexity to accommodate the sprite, I see it as a negative aspect of the sprite that you have to make everything else so simple.
Oh, and you can skip part of screen 4 by just falling to the right- it happened accidentally to me the first time, but I feel like there's a chance it could happen to anyone.
7: There's hardly any angle of approach against this elite goomba thanks to the ceiling generator, and I would retreat backward but the previous screens are just as cramped. What do you expect players to do here?
8, lower: Another case where falling accidentally rewards you with less work.
9: I have to wait out the p-switch as soon as I press it? It's not like you're trapped with the jetpak, either, since you can jump back out until time's up...so yeah, that isn't to my liking.
37
Perfect timing = unacceptable. Change, please.
38
I would have this lead back out onto the main path (or a duplicate so you can bring back both jetpaks), not the secret exit- it's too simple to find.
32
Overall, this actually feels like more appropriate use of the jetpak, since you actually have room to jump around and throw off its aim! I wonder if you should incorporate that concept into the main area...other than that, though, how is this any different from the main path? Conceptually, it feels the same *shrug*
2/3, bottom: This jump is extremely difficult, especially under the circumstances!
Overall, I have mixed feelings. Sometimes it seems like the jetpak is just thinly veiling and/or compensating for the level's deficiencies, and while it isn't always the case, it's enough for me to notice and bemoan. Also, I still don't really see why you need those bounce clouds. Note blocks have the added benefit of
always activating the camera.
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