Super Mario Bros. X Forums

• Vine warp visible before hitting the block

• Elevator activating with controls locked in the Mine level despite spawning at the checkpoint

• Hidden friendly Waluigi layer in Ambush 2

• Final cutscene not loading due to the SMW orb not being win type 5

• Unnecessary savedata for intros when gamedata is suffice

cato wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 06, 2024 3:56 am

The episode is overall solid. It is like a remaster of the original SML done well with the themes, kingdom bosses, and locations. It is a great transition between Beta 4 and Beta 5 with new assets used. I liked the visuals a lot, such as the use of the world map representing the levels and a majority of parallax backgrounds that were proven incredible. There are a lot of good-level ideas, and I see you are a great fan of sine-moving platforms. The Sarasium locations could use better spots instead of relying on the last jump to the bonus sections, but most of fine the way it is. Amongst the worlds, the Chai Kingdom is the most diverse one.

It took quite some passion and effort to build Luigi's adventure in this episode. Next to Delightful Adventure Remade, you are the second one to use voice lines for the characters, which adds to the already vibrant world.

cato wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 06, 2024 3:56 am

DRA did a fine job with the bosses, the compatibility with the original ones worked pretty well. The newly added Blarggazilla boss is probably the best with the number of attacks. I think the 4 Kingdom boss and Tatanga are pretty underwhelming considering how much the cutscene hyped them. I thought of that during the all-bosses recording session. The cumulative time for the 5 bosses on the video is probably the same as the 2 midbosses in the Muda kingdom. The latter just took way too long with essentially the same attacks over and over.

cato wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 06, 2024 3:56 am

I think the biggest flaw comes not from the gameplay but from the management. Counting the boss rush video, I have played through the episode 3.5 times. The first is a 3-hour long session in v1.00 while the thread is still fresh with the 3 softlocks. The gameplay for the videos is at v1.03 to v1.08 in Beta 4, and now v1.1 in Beta 5. The number of day-one patches and hotfixes to softlocks goes without saying, and more remain in v1.1 currently:

• Vine warp visible before hitting the block

• Elevator activating with controls locked in the Mine level despite spawning at the checkpoint

• Hidden friendly Waluigi layer in Ambush 2

• Final cutscene not loading due to the SMW orb not being win type 5

• Unnecessary savedata for intros when gamedata is suffice

It is concerning how many of those slipped past the testing and it seemed to be rushed. My edits in the video have some funny bits and problems in it. Take a couple of days and you might find yourself going for a Beta5-based episode in the first place. Again, this came from someone who played the episode 100% 3 times, especially on different versions.

That's my impression of the episode. Maybe if I waited straight for the Beta 5 fixed version I would have a better perspective on the overall impression. Even then, there are only a few quality projects nowadays due to inactivity. With this, it opened a new era of dedicated projects and works (on Beta 5).

lan vuhoang wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 10, 2024 9:55 pm

What version is this episode designed for? Because SMBX2b5 just came out, and when I run it on beta 4, I get a Lua error upon starting a level, and the piranha plants in the first level is glitched.

Also, thanks Copilot for suggesting "error" after I type "Lua"! Now if only I could make use of Edge's AI-writing features on Firefox...

Added in 4 minutes 39 seconds:
Using Edge has been quite a bit of an experience. Initially I just used Edge because Antimatter Dimensions run better on Chromium-based browsers than in Firefox, but now that I discovered Edge's AI writing features, I kinda want to try to switch to using Edge full-time.

lan vuhoang wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 18, 2024 9:17 am

So after beating the episode, here's a few suggestions for future updates:
1. Re-enable smwMap's "pick a checkpoint to restart a level at" feature. The only reason I feel like justifies the feature being disabled is causing a bug with the final stage's boss rush, but I feel like a bug in one stage isn't enough justification for disabling a very useful quality-of-life feature.
2. There's still some bugs to iron out. For example, at least in the VERY recently released SMBX2 beta 5.1, if you jump into the Sky Pop at the end of the final stage instead of walking into it so Luigi board it and begin Tatanga's second phase, Luigi zips in the opposite direction he's facing. If he's facing right, he's just deposited next to the Sky Pop so he can pilot it correctly, but if he's facing left (which is more likely due to the player having to make altitude corrections), Luigi zips straight into the bottomless pit to the right of the Sky Pop. Better hope the player isn't on their last life and have to redo the platforming section with insta-kill laser, the boss rush and Tatanga's first phase again...

MrNix wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 15, 2024 6:41 pm

I've played the episode some time ago and decided to write a short review.
(Spoilers are included)

I believe the episode is great in its own regard with level variety and design making it a engaging journey as Luigi ventures through Sarasaland from the fungal village all the way towards the moon with a easy to follow story and a fun experience to go along with it.

The best parts about the episode:
The underwater and Chai levels were some of the best with good music choice, really great tileset and background gfx. They feel unique from start to end. The dragon level itself brought good memories from a Koopa's revenge 2 almost making it my favourite level.

The difficultly of the episode doesn't jump up a steep curve but instead gradually builds on a slope hill that is perfect to build up challenge and be inviting to players who have less experience with smbx making it a beginner friendly episode.

The boss battles being variety and a good challenge that scales as the episode progresses. My favourites were the giant Blargg and the first phase of Tatanga's fight.

The secret areas for finding the sarasan shards are well made with some needing a bit more thinking to find them. I do recommend that some of the shards shouldn't have to be found at the end of levels at the top exit as that (at least to me) discourages players exploring the level to find them.

The addition of Waluigi to the episode is one of the best parts of the episode and even has a good explanation on why he's here in the first place, as a mercenary needing some cash and to beat his rival, two in one done deal. Definitely a favourite.

The sounds made by characters like Luigi, Waluigi, Tatanga, etc. when they speak is a great touch to detail and makes the episode feel alive and engaging.


Things that weren't as cool and could be improved in the future:
Some parts of the map have a lack of interesting scenery in areas like Easton kingdom (i'm referring to the first half. other half is mostly interesting) and chai skies, despite having unique gfx can feel a little boring and empty. This is especially apparent at the last section of the episode that is inside the moonbase where it looks like a large empty room, that could've been mitigated with the possible addition of tvboards, Tatanga flags or some machinery to make the location unique.

The secret areas found on some of the moon missions feel like they were supposed to keep some sarasan shards but since they can only be found on earth and the exits take the player not far from the entrance don't feel rewarding as these areas can be difficult. It could've held a series of secret 1-ups or something special to make it worth going into these areas in the first place.

Tatanga's second phase did feel underwhelming and easier compared to the first phase but I can't say too much since it did still feel challenging to me.

Hiyoihoi boss fight can be beaten easily by just holding the block right next to them and not letting go ending the fight in seconds. It could be made better by having the boss sit on a higher area or the block breaking after hitting the boss once.


Now to wrap it up with a conclusion:
In summary I believe this episode is a very good starting point for people who want to get into smbx episodes to experience something fun without the fear of a sudden difficulty hike. It can be completed in a relatively short time and be enjoyable. Therefore I recommend playing it.

Overall: 8.5/10

Dynam0 wrote: ↑

Wed May 08, 2024 1:43 pm

Hi! It is nice to see a new SML-themed episode, because I am always on the look out for those since the release of the SML NPC pack a while ago. I have not played much yet but I wanted to point out some observations and criticism that you may find useful:

1) In my opinion, the dialogue seems a bit too verbose. I don't think Tatanga needs to be this talkative or ambiguous in the opening, I feel like the exposition could be toned down slightly. I do like Luigi ducking out of the way of the energy beam, though.
2) This is much worse in the Toad village, where I personally think the "quest" to talk to the various village chiefs is frankly a waste of time. There is no challenge presented while doing so, it's *just* going through various houses, talking to people, going back, talking to them again, until finally you're done. I think this part could be skipped.
3) In that same level, I think you ought to remove the camera panning once you get to the burning village section, because it is a bit buggy. For one thing, the hammer bro and boomerang bro begin attacking even before the camera has finished panning (while everyone else is frozen) which looks quite a bit odd, but even worse, one of the flying blue koopas that beelines towards you can get off-screen, thus rendering the level unfinishable as you need to defeat all the enemies to proceed. Your choice here is to either improve the scripts to remove all edge cases, but I really don't think the level benefits from having these camera pans so by just getting rid of them you'd solve these bugs and the level would be no worse off.
4) One issue I have with the episode thus far is that the audio balance is a bit off. Some of the music tunes are very loud, and others very quiet. I don't think the burning village needed a bombastic metal slug theme for it, it felt a bit out of place. The worst example though is the bonus exit for each zone, which has a pretty loud SM64 theme before you pick up the sphere, only to transition into a very quiet theme (from SWMCP2 I believe?) once you pick it up. Volume balancing would do wonders here.
5) In the second castle level, there is some issue with the firebars getting behind the lava background graphics: https://i.imgur.com/g9disp0.png
6) The reserve item (the powerup you store and can retrieve with the select button) can be activated even on the world map, which is obviously a bug.
7) I would make it so that locked doors have a visible lock on them, instead of having to get near them to be able to tell whether they're locked at all and waiting for the exclamation mark to show up or message window to appear and then close if you accidentally press up. Saves time and is clearer.

This is less of a complaint and more of a general observation, but truth be told, I'm not so sure making the first few levels in a Birabuto adventure feel nothing like SML was the best call here. I mean, the custom graphics look nice, but the first four levels (that is, grassland, mine, and castle) are quite mediocre and feel like filler to be honest. The level right after the first castle felt a bit better so I'm sure quality is only going to go up from here, but still.. I don't know, the way I see it, those levels are fat that could be trimmed altogether. But hey, your mod, your choice.

I realize my tone is a bit critical here, but I am still quite intrigued by this mod and will keep playing, I don't mean to shoot down the ideas on display here or force a course correction, just sharing my observations as a long time player in case they may be of use. Keep up the good work!

EDIT: more observations. The first level of birabuto is ok, and the second level is far better than what came before... I think the design is still mostly average but you're finally getting some good mileage out of the custom enemies here. The usage of honens, gaos and bunbuns was well done. The underwater area though leaves me a bit perplexed. I don't understand the over abundance of cheep cheeps, and especially the removal blocks. https://i.imgur.com/UWC4Ojb.png here for example you can just wait for them to pass and explode, and the removal blocks even remove your superballs which feels bizarre. I would frankly rework this part by just having SML water enemies appear in it rather than these cheep cheeps and removal blocks. Additionally, it looks like honens are immune to superballs, I imagine this is unintentional?