Mario & Luigi's Generic Adventure [2.0 Beta 4] [World 1 Demo Available!]

[bubbyboytoo]

WHAT IS THIS, AND WHY SHOULD I EVEN PRETEND TO BE INTERESTED?
Mario & Luigi's Generic Adventure is a work-in-progress episode for SMBX 2.0 Beta 4 by yours truly! It aims to replicate the charm of classic Mario level design while adding in a few modern-age touches to create an immersive, smooth, and most importantly, fun experience. About three years in the making, it's been pretty slow going, but I'm determined to get it done one day. All I can hope for is that you have as much fun playing it as I am making it, which is a pretty cliche thing to say, but that's honestly how I feel! If that's not enough to convince you, I've compiled a list of selling points on what I think are the best features of the episode:

CHECK OUT THIS LIST, IT'S GOT BULLET POINTS AND EVERYTHING
- PLENTY OF CONTENT! Slated to contain over 50 levels across seven worlds, there's no shortage of things to do! From flooded caverns to haunted pyramids to airships in ashen skies, the varied locales are sure to keep your interest.
- CONSISTENCY! Nearly all of the graphics have been overhauled to look better and be SMB3-styled, either by myself or other folk (check the credits file in the download), and all the enemies have consistent behavior. Any specific variety of enemy will always just do one thing, so no unpleasant surprises when those green Paratroopas suddenly start homing in on you!
- MODERN POWERUP SYSTEM! If you get hit with a powerup, you'll revert to just Big Mario instead of going all the way down to Small Mario! A refreshing, relaxing experience for a less jaded mind.
- HUB WORLD! Physically being able to run and jump around the hub is never a bad thing, and there's plenty of NPCs to talk to with helpful advice and mildly amusing quips. Separate boss levels in the vein of the Kirby games helps bring down the frustation of dying in the middle of the fight and having to redo half of the level, and allows you to pop in for a rematch any time you like!
- LEVELS ARE UNLOCKED BY STARS! Getting frustrated with that one level? Just grab an extra star from a previous level and skip it! You will have to come back if you want to unlock all the levels, though...
- LINEAR! No secret exits or frustratingly obtuse hidden collectibles. Just you, three star coins, one green star, and the goal.
- IT'S IN BETA 4! Get a load of all that new stuff!

NO PICS, NO CLICKS
So far, I've only got World 1 finished, so here's some snaps from each level therein:

Spoiler: show

1-1: Gentle Greenery


1-2: Cerulean Cavern


1-3: Hilltop Havoc


1-4: Fungal Flight


1-5: Cliffside Clamber


1-6: Serious Stronghold


1-★: Pipe Pathway (unlocked by getting all the stars in the previous levels)

ALRIGHT COOL, WHERE CAN I GET IT?
Here's the demo, containing the entirety of World 1:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KXhup ... IwdsXTXvT9

Hope you enjoy! Make sure to reply with any comments, questions, or concerns you might have; criticism is very welcome! I'll post updates on my progress as I finish more levels, so keep your eyes peeled!

[Chanceux2]

I like the looks. I will download this when I have time

[Emral]

Was already excited due to the effort put into the launcher, loading screen, and little things (i love little flourishes like that) but you REALLY caught me off guard with that softlock prevention mechanism in 1-1, brilliant!

Will edit this post with more thoughts later.

E: Didn't catch this softlock though, haha!

Spoiler: show

E: Stopped after beating the boss right now, 10 stars. Might return later for more.
Its generic as advertised for sure, but your confidence certainly isn't misplaced. You do a lot of fun, varied stuff in the levels, with the limited toolkit you grant yourself. There were many fun twists on vanilla things, which i really enjoyed.
My biggest nitpick at the time is that it's often very expansive with a lot of unnecessary space to traverse, which sometimes felt like levels were aritifically drawn out. Unfortunately, I kinda zoned out during some of those sections where not much was going on, so they've already left my mind >_>
In any case, a few more concrete criticisms:
1) I've trialled "reverse powerup and powerdown system" a few years ago and man, is it still OP as ever. It's basically impossible to run out of tier 2 powerups, and I wonder how you will manage to create threatening sections in later worlds without either powerup/checkpoint starvation (pls no) or lots of instant kill/high precision (probably very unforgiving). I think the safest way to go is to not worry about it too much, but if you're concerned about people just damageboosting through stuff it's something to consider.
2) The castle level, there's a bit of a lot of waiting. I think you can safely.. halve the amount of brick blocks that have to be broken by skewers.
3) The levels, they all just kinda end. It's sad. No climax sections at all that bring the whole to an exciting sendoff. I would've liked to see some of those.
4) Personally, I'm not a fan of the "improved" graphics. Looks a bit drab at times. Having that as a selling point just seems a bit confusing to me.

[IceFlower99]

Sounds like it's gonna be really fun!! ^w^ I always enjoyed Mario games that just focuses into be fun and have beautiful graphics uwu

[bubbyboytoo]

words n such

Oh wow, thank you so much for playing!!! I definitely understand your point with the unnecessary space, so much so that I went back to compress the two most offending levels and fixed the softlocks + reduced the bricks in the castle level while I was at it. I've updated the link in the OP with the new version of the demo, but I'm not quite sure how updating SMBX episodes is supposed to work plus I only changed a few files overall, so here's a link to a patch with the fixed levels:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Xv-m0 ... 83hXCoxy7_

To address your other points:
- I've never been particularly concerned with difficulty in games; I fully plan on going the "not worry about it too much" route. I'm much more used to the modern Mario games' powerup system and it's just frustrating to me to go down two stages every time I get hit, so I'm sticking with it. As far as damage boosting goes, well, a little cheese adds some nice flavor to a dish, so they say.
- I have definitely heard that some people are tired of SMB3-style graphics, but they look lovely to me so the point stays :)

[Emral]

Most people when updating episodes provide a new full link with everything changed, as well as a secondary link with just the changed files, so it looks like you nailed that first try.
Your responses to the other points are completely fair. Looking forward to more.