Blind the Thief Bossfight

[Zant]

Remade Blind the Thief bossfight from LttP in SMBX.

Screenie(s):

Spoiler: show

Download: https://www.mediafire.com/?kzng9d8av2ap8sn

[BMV]

Spoiler: show

Background...
This is a boss battle. Is the boss worth fighting?

In Detail...

"Blind the Thief" starts shooting fireballs up. They go down at you. There's some fireballs spawning beside him, too. You have to wait until a brick appears to throw at him. Blind becomes a small monster that spawns fire. This small monster by itself doesn't hurt you and will stay in the room. Another Blind appears and shoots his fireballs. You have to wait for another brick to appear to throw at him. He becomes another small monster, and a heart appears for you to heal. The last Blind appears and shoots fire. You have to wait for another brick to appear so you can throw at him (you should know that fire breaks the bricks, and at this point there's a lot of fire). He dies, and so do the small monsters. A ? orb appears for you to tag.

In General...

This is a fun boss battle, but you're too dependant on the spawning bricks. Most of the battle is spent avoiding fireballs until the brick appears, and then you simply throw it at Blind the Thief. The last Blind is a bit harder because there's two monsters shooting fireballs and two more fireball generators beside Blind and they all break your bricks. I know it's hard to find ways to harm custom bosses, but sometimes a simple jump in the head is good enough (and would make it more challenging since Blind throws fire upwards).

Overall Rating: 8/10 stars

The lack of a better way to harm Blind is what prevents this from getting a perfect score.

[silent_]

REVIEWED By Kep who's attempting to become a Level Judge - Approved

Notes
The way you placed the background objects, general background, and bricks were astonishing, with one exception - they were repetitive. Just like line of symmetry, the three torches were placed EXACTLY in between the four pillars, with the far right and left of the screen looking immensely bland. The bricks to hit Blind shouldn't generate in the same place everytime - it's just way too obvious. Make it a bit more challenging. Don't expect the player to stand in one spot the whole time, beforehand realizing already where the brick is going to come out at. Additionally, on the final few hits, while you have the brick in your hand, the tiny monsters that chase you can break it so you have to wait another while for another brick to generate, while you're still at risk. It's just a nuisance to deal with that. Finally, the music shouldn't play after the boss is dead, which is peculiar to say the least.

Regarding graphical things, Blind's hands look like 3D, which could be awkward. It's like something flying at you temporarily. Somehow, there must be some way to make it to where both sprites can be compatible, so it's not like the difference between 2D and 3D. Also, the torches are gloomy, and everything else is bright. I notice that you want the BGOs to have somewhat of a realism, but it really doesn't work. Lastly, while the head chase guy is spinning, it looks like he only has one eye.

Conclusion
You did an impressive job constructing this custom boss, but some of the graphical things and necessary placement kinda messed up how you could admire the actual boss itself. Keep up the amazing spriting too, since I assume you made Blind the Thief's appearance yourself to fit in SMBX. Overall, what you had was splendid, but I want to see more things professional-wise, graphical-wise, and placement-wise. And now, time for the score!

Points: 7.5/10

[Septentrion Pleiades]

I think the difficult could have been balanced better. The small enemies could have been offseted up to prevent them from going super close to the player. With the chasing AI used like this, it feels a lot like luck based gaming.

I agree mostly with the other posts, and this is a pretty good example of what conservative boss constructing can be.

[as303298]

I figured I would add my small comments, since I did bother to play this quite a bit ago. I knew from past experiences that this boss would be predictable and rather fun to play. While this idea is true, there was one fatal flaw with porting this boss into a 2D style: the Blind heads. While in their 3D form, these heads are easily avoidable, in a 2D form those chasing heads are a down-right pain in the ass. I eventually had to cheat just to ensure I didnt waste an hour playing this level. It is a cool boss and all, but the chasing AI in SMBX in conjunction with a Rinka generator makes it near-impossible to do without getting hurt.

The concept and visual execution is down-right amazing, however a boss like this should never exist in a pure 2-D format, simply because of the limited area you can dodge towards. EX: Eventually you can't watch two flying heads, at least four rinkas, Blind himself, and hope to NOT corner yourself by accident and subsequently die. It just seems...unnecessarily hard. And lastly, the projectile spawner to damage Blind with is rather confusing, as there is no indication visually or concept-wise as to its existence or spawn rate.


Overall: Cool Idea, Decent Visual Execution, Terrible Playability