Level Contest 9: First Place

[Rare]

YEAH!!! I'm number 27. I predicted I was going to be on Tier 6, but didn't expect it to be the # of my B-day.
I'll try better with the Bonus Platform/? Platform. Can't wait for ToB8 too.

[TLtimelord]

So can I say Judge X is wrong and give my own reasoning as to why that is or do I just get a big raspberry from Judge X because I'm:
[ ]a filthy commoner
[ ]not him
[ ]declared full of shit

PICK ONE.

I can tell this is directed towards me. Yep I'm going to admit my reviews weren't as good this time due to me being really rushed when I made the reviews, and you ended up being one of the most heavily affected participants. I'm sorry about this.

In fact, if there's anyone else who has an issue with my reviews, just send me a PM and I can definitely give you some better reasoning behind my scores.

[zioy]

So can I say Judge X is wrong and give my own reasoning as to why that is or do I just get a big raspberry from Judge X because I'm:
[ ]a filthy commoner
[ ]not him
[ ]declared full of shit

PICK ONE.

I can tell this is directed towards me. Yep I'm going to admit my reviews weren't as good this time due to me being really rushed when I made the reviews, and you ended up being one of the most heavily affected participants. I'm sorry about this.

In fact, if there's anyone else who has an issue with my reviews, just send me a PM and I can definitely give you some better reasoning behind my scores.

What's funny is that you gave me the highest score out of the judges

[Imaynotbehere4long]

But...but I also made a level with a boss and health bar, and that was over a year ago...

An idea can still be cool even if it was done a limited number of times before.

I was responding to the fact that you called it "new," not that you liked it. Sorry if I didn't make that clear enough.

[Magna]

Would high Tier 4 be considered shit?

[zioy]

Would high Tier 4 be considered shit?

Its around Tier 3 from previous contest IMO

[Magna]

Would high Tier 4 be considered shit?

Its around Tier 3 from previous contest IMO

Yeah you definitely made me feel better 10/10 would feel again.

[zioy]

Would high Tier 4 be considered shit?

Its around Tier 3 from previous contest IMO

Yeah you definitely made me feel better 10/10 would feel again.

The answer was no btw.

[Magna]

Tier 3 was bad last contest.

[Rare]

Just saying Tier 8 comes out on Sunday since Tier 7 comes tomorrow or both tomorrow.
That would be cool.(think i started a riot )

[RudeGuy]

Tier 3 was bad last contest.

I don't think so. Tier 3 was better than tier 4, 5 and 6 of this contest.

[Mable]

So your own level wasn't good bc it's in Tier 6 since Tier 3 is much better in this contest? What.

[RudeGuy]

If you compare the tier 3 from last contest with the tier 6 from this contest, some levels of the tier 3 from last contest have an higher score compared to the score of my level Yeah, explained as shit, hope you get my point

[Valtteri]

Tiers aren't a good way to measure how well you did compared to other contests as the way we divide levels into tiers changes a lot. This time I just put 10 levels in each tier without looking at the scores at all. If you're comparing results to those of previous contests, look at the scores rather than the tiers. Tiers are just a means of dividing the levels into smaller groups; if we sorted by score, the tiers would have massive differences in size, which happened last contest.

Tier 7 coming up soon! Yes, I posted two tiers yesterday to celebrate Halloween. I'll post tier 7 today, 8 on Sunday and the final two on Monday!

[Valtteri]

And here's tier 7!

Tier 7 Places 11-20

Spoiler: show

20. TheUltimativeKyogre - The Lava Sky - 7.26/10

• Bomber57 (7/10)
  • This was a pretty nice level. Parts of it were cramped, and I was confused by the slippery mushrooms before I realized it was some sort of ash I guess. Slippery ash B). Anyway, there was one jump I had a lot of difficulty making because of a low ceiling. It was a little shorter than I expected, but I enjoyed playing the level.
  Chad (7.2/10)
  • This was good. The landforms and mushroom tiles are laid out nicely for some intriguing design and challenging jumps, while the level features gimmicks like excellently-placed cannons and disappearing platforms. The platforms are something I don't often see in levels, and you did them well, except that the sequences of 3 after the checkpoint are a bit hard to follow and result in jumping that feels slightly blind. There are also a few jumps toward the end that are slightly demanding because you have to perform them almost perfectly, and I would have liked to see a powerup at the start. Overall, this was a nice run. I liked the precision challenges and it's a comfortable difficulty and length.
  Quill (7.5/10)
  • I actually liked this level. It's fairly basic, but the disappearing and reappearing platforms added a lot of depth surprisingly and there was quite a bit of variety to back it up. It was sometimes difficult to predict where they would appear but most of the time they followed a clear pattern. Near the end, there's a tough jump that can easily be missed which is especially annoying as it's literally right before the star. The atmosphere was pretty nice overall though. Overall, you did a good job.
  TNTtimelord (6.8/10)
  • This is a rather unique take on Sednaiur's SMB1 lava land tileset I wasn't really expecting anyone to use, or at least as well as you did. All the NPCs were laid out just right so it was easy enough, and the items were set around very well. However, there are hardly any coins outside the item blocks, and the goomba doesn't have a death effect. This level also twists around a lot and I believe at one point there's a forked trail that ulimately leads to the end. Even though that happens, I would have appreciated an indication on where to go.
  zlakerboy357 (7.8/10)
  • What a fun SMB1 level. The was a lot of potential in this level. Most of NPCs had a missing death effect which look awkward. I find the SMB3 Mushroom disturbing as well. The design was really fun though as the level had some cool gimmicks. Some parts was a bit too narrow though, but overall great job on the level!

19. as303298 - Volcanic Caverns - 7.46/10

• Bomber57 (5/10)
  • The level looks rather nice, but the gameplay falls rather flat. You manage to give the caves a good natural look in terms of form, but the actual level design has some issues. There were a few cramped areas. At the bottom of the 2nd section with the rising and falling lava there were very few safespots. In the lava chase section, if you start at the wrong time the rising and falling platforms will be out of reach and will lead to your untimely doom. Also the level doesn't end in a star.
  Chad (9.4/10)
  • Great lava level! This level features expert Podoboo and Lotus placement and an interesting reliance on Purple Yoshi consistently. It's rare, but nice to see gimmicks involving him. The rising and falling platform layers have excellent execution and indication, requiring precise maneuvering in a fairly challenging way. The eruption area is similarly nice to play, as while the section does make you wait for some platforms, the lava's at the perfect speed to give you time to get there. It's still fast enough to make you rush, and it does allow some time for player error, so you really couldn't have picked a better speed for the lava in this area. The layout of the level is fairly complex as a whole, enabling exploration and looking detailed while doing it. Each area is structurally fitting for the task at hand, and the enemy placement is overall quite good. The only thing I'd complain about is that Purple Yoshi shouldn't rely so much on duck-jumping, as rocketing downward into the lava is not a fun way to end one's life. You can technically do the level without that, but then you might die from hitting your head on the ceiling and wrecking your jump that way. I still really like the precision in this level, but it deserves mild adjustment. As a whole though, I'm impressed with how this is laid out. You forgot to end the level in a star, however.
  Quill (7/10)
  • Neat level. It's fairly generic, but the design was pretty good and kept me interested. I liked the use of the Purple Yoshi in the level, it added something unique to the experience. I also liked the platforms that shaked before sinking, that was a pretty nice touch. They were used effectively in the lava rising segment, though the rest of that section was pretty easy.
  TNTtimelord (7.9/10)
  • I'd say this probably wouldn't have been a very exciting level, but I was really into how you used the moving layers on the red platforms, as if they were shaking and breaking apart into the lava.
    This was a decently decorated level, with enough coins and items to keep the player happy. The enemies also fit very well and the atmosphere really seemed to give off an actual evil vibe to this level, and I thought it worked out very well. Some parts in the level, however, were kind of cramped, like towards the beginning with the moving up and down lava. The moving upward section was a very nice touch and I liked it a lot, but I timed out at it because of power ups hitting lava and all that. Stilll a pretty decent level.
  zlakerboy357 (8/10)
  • Cool lava level. I liked the Purple Yoshi gimmick in this level and how you used it. The level has a great amount of BGOs and a teriffic musical choice. The design was non-linear and really fun. The level had a lack of enemy variety though. Otherwise great job!

18. bulletbill43 - Bowser's Furious Volcano - 7.46/10

• Bomber57 (7/10)
  • An interesting yet basic Volcano level. I liked how grabbing the red coins revealed hidden areas. The level was fair throughout except for one point where there was a jumping paragoomba in a very cramped spot. It was practically impossible to dodge unless you could kill it with a fire flower. This level is also severely lacking in Bowser unfortunately. No, that wasn't a serious criticism. Good level overall.
  Chad (7.8/10)
  • Great volcano! It's really tricky as to be expected of a lava level, and it's full of a lot of interesting stuff like moving parts, exploration, difficult jumps, secret areas, and a ton of expertly-designed skull raft runs. That last one especially is done extremely well here. I also enjoyed the secret star, as it's difficult to keep a springboard through a path like that. It's a fair challenge, and you're properly rewarded for it. Apart from the gimmicks, the core layout of the level is great. It's got a nice shape to it that's very well suited for the challenges in each area. One thing that bugged me, though, was the placement of jumping enemies and Swoopers in the final room. Low ceilings and jumping enemies mix really badly, requiring you to either take a hit or wait for an opportunity to get through when the skull raft doesn't allow you enough time for that. The Swoopers there are also placed so that whenever you jump up onto a new chunk of land, there's one ready to hit you right in the face. That area would have been better if you stuck to just walking enemies. But overall, this is enjoyable and well-made.
  Quill (7/10)
  • Neat level. It was pretty fun. The alternate paths seem a bit pointless as the left one doesn't actually lead you anywhere apart from a dragon coin, at least from what I saw. Most of the design is fairly generic; there's lots of reused enemies and lots of skull rides. Try to spice things up a little bit. The bit at the end with the changed music is odd as you'd think lava would be chasing you or something, but there's none, unless I really outsped it.
  TNTtimelord (8/10)
  • Nice level. The music fit pretty well, everything graphically looked great. The design was decent overal, although the skull rafts were murder, especially coupled with the lag from my terrible computer. There were also a couple leap of faiths towards the middle of the levels that both got me. The last thing you want to put in front of a player in a lava based level is a leap of faith. For the rest of the regular sections, I absolutely loved the design, and it even reminded me of some of the levels in Chad's episode! The space in the tunnels was just right, the red coins concealing buried areas was great, and the general standards of a level, like coins and question blocks, were all placed perfectly. Overall, this is very fine level indeed.
  zlakerboy357 (7.5/10)
  • Cool lava level! I liked the challenges and the events here was well used! I liked the idea of the Red Coins reveling secrets. The level had a good amount of BGOs and they were all a great choice and I really liked the music here as well. The NPC placement was pretty cool and I liked the challenges here. They were secrets and collectibles here which was nice. This is a pretty good level and I didn't find any flaws, however the level didn't have any mind-blowing stuff.

17. Waddle Derp - Athletic Adventure - 7.46/10

• Bomber57 (7.5/10)
  • This level looked nice and felt real nice to play. Sadly, it is actually pretty short. I found the Plane Guys to be a real neat concept. I'm not entirely sure what the idea behind the secret star was, as getting it wasn't hard. I guess there might not have been a trick to it. The boss was alright, just a plane guy that drops bombs. It's rather high up, so it's real hard to get to with the bombs. There are two platforms below the boss that Mario can't get up to, so I assume they exist to block the bombs. The third phase has the boss shooting bombs instead of dropping them, meaning the player has to catch them in midair. Or, this would be the case if not for the fact that the boss can shoot the platform and kill itself.
  Chad (7.4/10)
  • This is a pretty good level. The theme is charming, and I like the nonessential exploration. You let players choose whether they want to wander to collect more items, or just go straight to the next area. The level's pretty simple and the secrets aren't hard to find, but it's a nice tradeoff for the platforms being interestingly spread out, in a scattered way that suits a sky theme well. It presents a pleasant difficulty while still keeping the player engaged. The applications of the YI ? clouds and blue bricks are good, and the boss is fun as well. I like how the bombs he drops change the firing method at the end of the battle, as it's a subtle difference but an important change in how you have to react. The level's comfortably short, so this would be a great choice to play if you feel like playing something that isn't stressful or time-consuming, but also gives you some minor challenge and exploration. However, I do think the boss should look different from a normal enemy, but that's a minor gripe, as it still functions great. Nice work on this.
  Quill (6.5/10)
  • This was a neat little level. It was pretty short and ended before it had really begun, but what I played offered some nice variety. The boss was surprisingly fun, though when the bombs turn into projectiles, it becomes much more difficult to grab them. I ended up waiting around for a while as when the bomb hit the cloud, the explosion managed to kill the boss which was kinda funny. That should be fixed though.
  Valtteri (8/10)
  • This is a neat level, albeit quite short. It's beautiful and I can't come up with any particular game play flaws. The boss isn't too special but it works.
  zlakerboy357 (7.9/10)
  • Great level! The atmosphere in this level is amazing as it had moving fogs, the BG looked beautiful and the level. The clouds you could stand on looked beautiful and the music was great! The grass tileset doesn't really fit in my opinion. The gameplay and design was pretty cool and the idea of the Red ?-Clouds and the green was a great addition. The design wasn't straight forword (linear) as the player had to go all kind of directions. The boss in other hand needed to be improved as it stood out. The boss was basically just to throw bombs at him. Overall great job!

16. fireflowerhour - Forest of Oinks - 7.48/10

• Bomber57 (7.5/10)
  • This was a really good level! I liked how you mixed the castle tileset with the overworld tileset. I was also a fan of the little side areas you added within blocks for details, just various enemies hanging out in some scenery. The gameplay was pretty good throughout. The only thing that bothered me with this level was the arena section. It acts as an alternate path, except when you are dropped in there is no message or explanation as to what you were just put into. The arena is also a little slow, and honestly it is longer than the alternate path! Ah well, no major issue otherwise. Good work!
  Chad (7/10)
  • This is a charming little level. I'm liking how it's sort of a hybrid of forest and castle parts, with a lot of neat interior details and lively design. The difficulty and gameplay are pleasant, and the climbing and line platform sections are quite well made with an intriguing challenge to them. The overall structure is narrow, but not restrictively so. It requires some precise maneuvering in nice moderation. The kill room is interesting, but sort of time consuming. The generators are really slow, and once the Buzzy Beetles start coming out, you can just keep a shell moving through the middle. Boom-Boom's starting position isn't very good, because if you happen to be on the right, that's an instant hit. You don't know he's coming, so you can't anticipate it. He could generate from where the pipe was, then the generator could shut off once he's out. The room didn't really build up to anything, either. I would have expected a second star or something. Also, the instant warp near the start isn't hidden in a very good way. That type of location usually doesn't mean anything, especially since there are more places like that which aren't significant. Overall though, it's a pleasant level. It's got pretty decoration, fun platforming, and a fairly good layout.
  Quill (8.5/10)
  • This level is strangely amazing. I don't know how to really describe it, but the way this level is crafted is superb. I really liked the areas hidden away within the ground, those were a super neat touch. Some parts felt a little too plain though and the lakitu was a little annoying to deal with. That might just be me though. Overall though, good job! I really enjoyed it.
  TNTtimelord (7.4/10)
  • This was a pretty amusing level. With all the piggies from Angry Birds, the level name was not only clever and somewhat funny but also relevant. There wasn't too much consistency to it, especially with all the random castle areas that didn't contribute much to the FOREST part of the level, but those parts still stayed high up in quality. The design and NPCs all themselves weren't that bad and I thought the coin and dragon coin placements were all nice and fair.
  zlakerboy357 (7/10)
  • Nice little forest level. I liked the BGOs you used, expect for the SMB2 waterfalls though. Same goes with the SMB3 Cave BG in Section 2 and the SMB3 Airship tileset. Some parts of the level had a lack of BGOs though. The design wasn't really special as I couldn't really see any cool gameplay elements. Otherwise good job!

15. Valtteri - Skyward Castle - 7.62/10

• Bomber57 (7.6/10)
  • I found that I liked the indoor sections more than the outdoor one. It was mostly because they looked nicer and weren't so hard. The outdoor sections either had difficult enemy placement or too many enemies at once. Otherwise, the level was pretty average. I don't have much else to say about it really.
  Chad (6.510)
  • Interesting level. I really like its structure, as the general upward climb and platforming were pretty fun and quite well made. Its layout and visuals make it feel nicely polished, and I like the consistent alternation between clouds and fortress. There's a good variety of enemies, and I especially liked the parts with the Nippers, as they made their areas entertainingly tricky. The general difficulty of the level is very inconsistent, though. One minute you're just having an easy time with Goombas and Koopas, and the next you're avoiding homing Bullet Bills, Roto-discs, and venus trap fireballs all at once. There were also a few annoying hazard placements as well, like when you put a Firebar and Roto-disc in the same vicinity as each other, or have extremely unnoticeable falling spikes that require instant reactions while you're dealing with other hazards. You even put those on a generator during the (otherwise good) boss. Overall, I like the design, but the enemy placements and difficulty could use some fine-tuning.
  Quill (/10)
  • Nice level. I liked some of the alternate paths available, it gave a more open and explorative feel to the level. I liked how it kept switching from inside to outside the castle, that a unique touch. Cut down on the roto-discs and firebars, there seemed to be a huge amount of them. The boss was pretty ordinary, nothing too special. Overall, decent level.
  TNTtimelord (8/10)
  • Very nice job giving the level a classic SMB3 styled kind of feel to it. Although I was lost most of the time, this was still a nice, fun, expansive level to play. Although the NPCs were kind of all over the place on placement, I thought it had a fair difficulty to it. There's plenty of coins and items so the player should be able to stay alive pretty well. I was rather disappointed when I couldn't destroy the SMB3 outside brick castles, as that carnage would have been so much fun to create (I'm not taking any points off for this though)!
    The inside castle parts were nice enough, but the music didn't really transition well from the tranquil cloudy outside.
  zlakerboy357 (9/10)
  • An amazing level. I loved the extenstion of the SMB3 Cloud tileset and the BGOs in the castle was amazing. I really dislike using the NSMB Overworld theme in the cloud area The placement of everything was pretty neat as well. Some collectibles would be nice though as it would've added some replay valvue. One last complaint is that the I really dislike having Piranha Plants inside the castle. Otherwise great job!

14. HenryRichard - Moonwalk Cola - 7.71/10

• Bomber57 (7.5/10)
  • This is an entertaining level where all of the enemies infest a Coca Cola building and moonwalk. Some parts were a little tough, specifically those involving the antigravity cola. Otherwise, the level was pretty straightforward with a nice theme and some good humor too! I can't figure out the puzzle for the hidden star for the life of me, but trust me when I say it didn't affect the score at all.
  Chad (8.3/10)
  • This was an amusing and really fun level! The gimmick is silly, but the design is serious. It takes serious skill to walk backwards but still turn around at edges. I really like how the level starts you at a door, and the lively construction of the inside looks and plays quite nicely. The swimmable parts are cool and strategically placed. I like how the level gives you items when defeating each boss to unlock previous areas, and the level's not long enough for that to be tedious. The second star is quite cleverly hidden, too. I didn't especially care for the surprise shell kicker, though. It happens very instantly with almost no reaction time. Also, the crates look solid when they're not, and the item blocks blend in with the background a little. I also thought the checkpoint was a level-end sphere, so I avoided it needlessly because I wanted to explore more. I think a different graphic should have been used. Otherwise, pretty interesting and funny level. The only issues present are minor and it was otherwise quite enjoyable!
  Quill (7/10)
  • Really unique level. The moonwalking thing didn't really add much, but I noticed it did make me a think a little more to make sure I was acting correctly. That's pretty cool. In the section where you have to disrupt the turn block, it's possible to get stuck once you go down and exit through the pipe again if you lack a key. Aw.
  TNTtimelord (8.3/10)
  • I was actually laughing at the backwards NPCs. There was absolutely no reason behind that, but it was absolutely hilarious! All the boss battles were kind of unnecessary but nonetheless they graphically fit and they were decently laid out. The bosses themselves couldn't be broken, but if you had a yoshi the player can talk to the koopa on the top and trigger the event to spawn the items he gives to you. The SMB2 recolored SMB3 stuff looked pretty good with the exception of the hills, which looked rather ugly and awkward with the bad shading.
  zlakerboy357 (7.45/10)
  • Silly little level. The idea of making mostly every enemy moonwalking was pretty cool to be honest. Most of the GFXs was SMB2 recolored and I'm pretty impressed. There are some flaws with the moonwalking enemies and some of the GFXs wasn't SMB2 recolored and I really feel it doesn't fit with the level's enviormment or style. The SMB2 recolored SMW Blue Beach Koopa kicked the shell from the back and it looks extremely weird. The design was pretty cool though and I liked music ya used here. Great job on the level!

13. zlakerboy357 - PGE Flagship - 7.73/10

• Bomber57 (7.25/10)
  • Wow, simply wow. This was such an amazing level. The graphics are beautiful, and the design is great. Well, mostly. There are several glaring flaws that this level has. The first is the distance between the start and the checkpoint. It isn't an issue since the first two sections aren't too bad if you take your time, but it's hard when the third section has such precarious jumps. Then comes the biggest flaw in the whole level. There is a section where you are chased by a Lakitu that launches Thunder (bombs) at the player, who is standing on breakable platforms. The section is full of enemies and pits, and to progress they must collect a large number of red coins in this section to open a barrier at the end. There are literally no safe points between the start pipe and the end pipe, so the player has to keep moving to avoid enemies and explosions. The yoshi section was pretty strong, but after eating the three golden fruits there seemed to be no way to get to the secret star. Finally, the boss is unbeatable. When you beat the third wave of enemies, nothing happens. It seems to be an error in the events, which I am NOT going to waste my time fixing for you. In the end, it was a good level brought down by flaws and missed potential.
  Chad (6.4/10)
  • This is an incredibly ambitious level, with some immense and complicated design and an enormous amount of gimmicks. The Berry Blocks are great ideas, the Lakitu bosses are impressively creative, the line-guided fences are neat and well-placed, the P-switches have unique applications, the Gold Berries are unusual secrets, and the lightning bolt generators are a really good hazard for this place. The layout of the level is overflowing with detail and complexity, and a ton of variety. What this level sets out to do is really impressive, and has a lot of creative ideas. The structure of the level is gorgeous, too. But sadly, this is way, way too much. It felt like it tried to be several levels in one. It just kept pushing and wouldn't stop. The level honestly could have ended just fine after the red coins, because I really enjoyed that idea and everything up to that point, and it would have finished on a high note. Deleting everything after it would probably eliminate the Section 3 lag, too. The Yoshi section is similarly laggy, and since those two sections are the largest, it felt like 90% of the gameplay was lag. Disabling frameskip did help though, as my pace would be very consistent (even if super slow), but you'll make players quit out of the game to disable it. Yoshi is also given way too many berries to eat, and a hurtful type is unnecessary. I didn't like the one-chance P-switch run, or the second one that required incredible speed and precision at the same time. If you haven't gotten all 3 Gold Berries for the secret star before entering the boss pipe, then you miss your chance to keep trying, because you can't go back. But even if you do get all of them, the star appears in an undisclosed location that is actually unreachable because you can't eat the purple berries down there. The last boss is insanely difficult, while also being repetitive because there are too many waves of Super Koopas (that often despawn), and killing the last wave doesn't even do anything. You are unable to finish the level. If you die, all of this must be repeated because the checkpoint's super early in. I'm sorry, I just couldn't enjoy this. It tried way too hard and the overall execution is just unpleasant. This would have scored much higher if the length, difficulty, and gimmicks were all more reasonable and if the stars were actually possible to collect.
  Quill (6.5/10)
  • I don't know why you submitted this level if you knew Section 3 was broken as hell. You need to find what's causing the lag and fix it. I'd say it might be the massive overload of moving and attached layers in that section. From what I played, it's a good level, but this ruins it quite a bit for me.
  TNTtimelord (8.5/10)
  • This level does a flawless job conveying a real true SMW feel to a level. It's got just about everything a SMW level needs, graphically, design wise, and item wise. Different colored coin tricks, the use of yoshi to eat berry blocks and advance, and a really annoying thunder lakitu. The design to this level is truly fantastic and damn near winner material. There's literally only one problem I have with this level, but it's also a really big problem: the boss. It goes on for way too long and it's not even completable anyways because the super koopas despawn and I can't find them all to kill them, not allowing me to advance into the next phase. I'd like to give this a 10, but that's a real major issue that I can't even beat the boss because of that.
  Valtteri (10/10)
  • This level is filled with creative mechanics! The storm clouds, the lightnings, the fences attached to those line machines from SMW... Clearly a course in Mario Kart 8 inspired this level and it works really well! I like it very much. The level is built most artistically, too. It looks gorgeous. I jumped on a random platform and a 1-up came out of a pipe. Just ingenious, I thought that was awesome! And the Lakithunder miniboss was really creative, I'm speechless. The boss or the secret star clearly weren't tested properly but I'm willing to forgive you, they're easy to fix. Keep up the splendid work!
  zlakerboy357 (0/10)
  • An insta 10/10 (͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

12. GameClip477 - Blue Desert Dunes - 8/10

• Bomber57 (7.5/10)
  • This was a pretty nice desert level. The monochrome blue placed on every graphic was soothing to the eyes and went rather well with the music. I enjoyed the small side sections in the first stretch of the level. The ruins part of the level was alright. I had issues with the rising spike section because, even though you know what is coming, it is rather sudden. Also, the jumps toward the top of that section are very difficult and you could easily hit your head as big mario and fall into the rising spikes. The boss was annoying because of the Shy Guys in the second phase. You had no good position to stand that would allow them to spawn and allow you to get to them in time before they walked off into the quicksand. Also, if you stood on the middle two platforms in that phase the boss couldn't attack you because it would be floating in the ceiling blocks, preventing it from throwing fireballs at you. A good level with an alright second half and boss.
  Chad (7.6/10)
  • Great level! It introduces itself like a standard desert level with a deep atmosphere, but it gradually unfolds into a little story, with mystery-themed gimmicks and treasure hunting. The level design does a great job of transitioning the player into this, by starting off simple and linear with a few minor bonus rooms, then adding some exploration and puzzle-solving, until you finally end up inside a temple that's filled to the brim with various traps and obstacles. The interior sections are my favorite part, as they have the most going on for them. A door maze, rising spike trap, secret door leading to the final boss, plus some precise and tricky but reasonable climbing are all a great variety. The cutscenes are nicely done, too. One aspect of the level disappoints me though, and that's the boss. It's a good idea, and I like how the arena's set up and how it changes, but it's made unenjoyable by the Shy Guy generators. Each one dies extremely fast after it spawns, so you have to react perfectly in order to grab one. That's extremely difficult to pay attention to while Fiery Wisp is flying just overhead. Even if you do manage to grab one, sometimes a fireball will kill it in your hand. If all you did was set Shy Guy to turn around at edges, this boss would be so much better. Also, because of the ceiling, sometimes Wisp will just stop throwing fire for a while. The checkpoint should also be closer to the boss, and I also didn't care for how abruptly the spike trap starts. The speed is fine, but you need to initially react really fast. Other than those though, this was a pretty impressive level.
  Quill (8.5/10)
  • Wow, what an amazingly atmospheric level. You really nailed that mysterious feel, especially with the puzzles, though the 4 doors one was more trial and error than anything else and I didn't see any indication to what doors you had to pick. Overall though, great job. There's a lot of variety. The boss is pretty good, but the shy guys are a pain since it's so easy for them to fall in the quicksand as you don't have much time to react and pick them up. Other than that, good job!
  TNTtimelord (8.5/10)
  • Great monotone level! It has a deep icy, cold desert feel to it and it gets even better when you start implementing the ruins atmosphere, because that works even better! Coin placement is great, NPC placement is great, and the monotone really helps make the SMB2 styled stuff fit in well. The level had a great length, design, and gameplay. Although, one of the issues I had was awkward placement of nippers. I also had trouble distinguishing what quicksand I could get stuck in and what was just regular BGOs. The boss was also rather boring because the generator was moving ungodly slow and it was very easy to dodge the projectiles. Nice attempt though as it still fits with the entire atmosphere. One more thing: Max looks a lot better now! ;)
  zlakerboy357 (7.9/10)
  • Cool level. Everything was recolored blue and the level was pretty looking. It had a good amount of BGOs and the NPC placment was pretty good as well. The level had a lot of potential as there were challenges in most of the sections. The boss was well made as well. I got some complaints though. The pipes had a different type of colors than the most of the GFXs in the level. And I did see soem cutoffs in Section 17. Otherwise great job on the level.

11. SuperMario7 - Pirate Paradise - 8.13/10

• Bomber57 (9.25/10)
  • Astounding. This level really gave me the feel that I was going around a pirate cove. Even though the enemies weren't really pirate themed, the level sure felt like a place pirates would reside. The sections and enemy placement were really good. The level was nice and relaxing, but parts were a little hectic and even a little more difficult than they should have been, such as the part where there are both bombs firing at a fast pace and fire to worry about. Then comes a really innovative Lakitu Shoe section, which functions like the Rocket Barrels from DKCR (and even has the music to boot!). At first I found the muncher tunnels a little unfair, but that was before I realized I could just slide over the bottom munchers since Mario was in, well, a shoe. Great level, and great job!
  Chad (8/10)
  • I liked this level. It's a pleasant, but reasonably tricky grassy island level that's an interesting blend of ordinary enemies and ship attacks. The geysers and Munchers are good features to liven up the gameplay, too. It features some nice exploration and great overall detail and structure. The second half is a pretty creative and involves an impressive and unique gimmick. It's essentially a flight autoscroll mechanic, and it's quite well done. Putting the checkpoint just before it and having the level end after it is thoughtful too, because introducing a new idea like that probably does deserve to be its own half of the level. Only issue with that though is that players can use it in the hub to break other levels. But as a whole, this was a really nice level to play.
  Quill (7.5/10)
  • This is a good level. Sections are nicely designed and switch blocks aren't much of a hassle to find. My big issue is that a lot of the sections look and act the same. They have the same type of terrain, the same enemies, the same hazards etc. Add some more variety to these sections. The Lakitu's Shoe section was a creative idea, but I think it went a little too fast.
  TNTtimelord (7.4/10)
  • Beautifully designed level. Every single BGO fits perfectly in the environment, and it feels like just about every single one is placed in JUST the right spot. NPC placement, coins and items, all done very well. I didn't see much of a purpose for the giant cheep cheeps sitting on the top of the geisers, though. The pirate ships and the cannon pipes were a nice touch considering it's a pirate styled level and they do fit very well in with the atmosphere. The Lakitu Boot ending felt very out of place, and it wasn't even that exciting to play considering for the most part all I did was press one button as the momentum kept me going the entire way, and pretty slowly as well. The entire atmosphere also got COMPLETELY trashed when the water geisers started taking damage like mother brain when I sent a shell through them.
  zlakerboy357 (8.5/10)
  • Decent level. The level looks amazing as it has alot decoration. The music was a great choice as well and the BG as well. The tileset was looking great as well so I'm guessing SuperMario7 made this level. Anyway the design was cool however I couldn't see any new gameplay elements here to be really honest. The projectiling bombs was a cool idea though. Overall cool level!

[silent_]

So uh... who's still in?

And kinda surprised to see SuperMario7 in 11th place tbh =P

[Marina]

TOP 10

So still in are

Blueoak
Bomber57
Chad
Darkonius64
GMarinaX
h2643
Shinbison-Kof
SnifitGuy
TNTtimelord
WillHart

That should be it, right?

[Kyo]

Omg SM7 is out. That's quite a surprise.

Blueoak
Bomber57
Chad
Darkonius64
GMarinaX
h2643
Shinbison-Kof
SnifitGuy
TNTtimelord
WillHart

That list is somewhat surprising as well. To have designers like h2642, Blueoak and SnifitGuy beating SM7 is far from what I expected.

Last edited by Valtteri on 01 Nov 2014, 08:48, edited 10 times in total.
Reason: User has been warned.

Wait what.

[RudeGuy]

Why didn't TNTtimelord reviewed Waddle Derp's level? It's strange for me.

[Marina]

Omg SM7 is out. That's quite a surprise.

Blueoak
Bomber57
Chad
Darkonius64
GMarinaX
h2643
Shinbison-Kof
SnifitGuy
TNTtimelord
WillHart

That list is somewhat surprising as well. To have designers like h2642, Blueoak and SnifitGuy beating SM7 is far from what I expected.

Do you think I expected to beat zlaker or SM7?! :P