Cheerful Trail 1

[CraftedPbody]

I made this level for something I've started working on recently, the project features Peach as the main character and is heavily based on Super Princess Peach and Yoshi's Island DS. That being said, this stage must be played as Peach.

(Edit : I've finished Level 2 of Cheerful Trail, but I'm waiting on a review for this one before posting it.)

Screenshots

Spoiler: show

Download

Spoiler: show

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2d6jwan2gzxte ... 1.rar?dl=0

Credits (If I miss any please inform me so I can fix it.)

Spoiler: show

Valtteri
Shikaternia
Zephyr
Yoshigo99
CraftedPbody(me)

[Witchking666]

THOSE GRAPHICS LOOK AWESOME
Dont pay attention
This level was amazing
End of the fucking story

[Valtteri]

THOSE GRAPHICS LOOK AWESOME
Dont pay attention
This level was amazing
End of the fucking story :)

Give constructive criticism.

[ShadowLabrys101]

I might as well give it a try.
But, holy crap... I DIDN´T EVEN PLAY SPP!

[Imaynotbehere4long]

This level has some neat ideas, but it also has some really annoying design choices, too. For example, why do the npc-256 sprite-swaps have npcblock=1, especially since the level isn't designed around this? This is especially annoying because the only way to kill them is to hold an NPC right beside them; if the NPC is thrown, it will simply bounce off, and that killed me in Section 3. Also, there's no graphical indication as to when the SMB3 Bob-omb sprite-swaps will explode, and this makes the timing in Section 2 more luck-based than it should be. Plus, Section 3 can be skipped almost entirely by hitting the ? switch in Section 2 again after getting the key.

Anyway, there are also a few neat ideas here. By designing the level solely around one player character, you were able to use the character's player blocks as NPC-only blocks, as well as make a sprite-swap that NPCs can go through, but cause the player to bounce (they're not really "wall-jump" blocks so much as they're "hold forward and bounce up" blocks). While these are neat ideas that I haven't seen implemented in SMBX before, they also didn't seem to be utilized in any creative way. If this were the first level in a project (which it seems like will be the case), this could work nicely as a gimmick-introduction level (assuming the following levels continue to use the blocks in creative ways to make clever puzzles), but as a stand-alone level, it just kinda ends before it really begins and just leaves the player wanting more. Section 4 is a nice start, but it's far from using the gimmick to its full potential.

Summary:
GOOD:
-Graphics aren't terrible.
-Music fits the level well.
-Block placement is done nicely.
-Gimmick is creative.

BAD:
--THE NPC-256 SPRITE-SWAPS HAVE NPCBLOCK=1
-There's no graphical indication as to when the SMB3 Bob-omb sprite-swaps will explode.
-The gimmick wasn't fully realized.

In conclusion: Although I can tell that the gimmick has lots of potential, the npcblock=1 npc-256 sprite-swaps and SMB3 Bob-omb sprite-swaps made this level more annoying than it should have been. I'd say this deserves a 5.5/10.

[CraftedPbody]

--THE NPC-256 SPRITE-SWAPS HAVE NPCBLOCK=1

It's supposed to be a block... You can hurt it by throwing vegetables or bombs at it. (You can also grab one of the goombas and stand against it.)

As for the Bob-ombs... I'm sorry about that... I may try to fix the sprite...

[Imaynotbehere4long]

It's supposed to be a block... You can hurt it by throwing vegetables or bombs at it.

Yeah, but there are no vegetables or normal bombs in the level; only Goombas, Koopa shells, and Bob-ombs, all of which bounce off of it if thrown. Like I wrote in my review, the problem isn't necessarily that they have npcblock=1, but that the level isn't designed around the fact that they have npcblock=1. Even a simple notification saying that those NPCs will act like blocks and can only be killed by holding an NPC next to it would be enough since I think that same graphic has been used as a normal enemy before.