Super Mario Bros. X Forums

So, Super Mario Enigmatic is a puzzle episode. That's the theme. If you came to it looking for impressive boss fights or atmospheric environments, it can't offer you that. But does it stand up to its original promise of brain challenging? Kind of. Let me explain.

You get a mixed bag with this episode. Let me explain what I mean. This episode adopts an unusual structure. There are only a few "levels" in the overworld map, with each level adopting a different theme (Grass, ice, sky, etc.) The levels are not actually a single .lvl file, but rather a string of levels tied together. When you enter and beat the first level, it uses a warp to take you to the next level, until you get to the final level, in which beating it rewards you with the path to the next overworld "level". With the use of warps, it appears you're playing through a single giant level. This is an ingenious way of getting around the check-point limit in base SMBX, as dying in one "round" (What I will be calling the single .lvl files) sends you back to the beginning of that round, instead of the beginning of the level. Some rounds are good, some you play through to get to the good ones without a second glance, and some suck... terribly. And you'll usually play the sucky ones over and over again. Most of the rounds are either of the good or average quality, but the bad ones make up for it in being really obnoxious.

The bosses are varying in quality as well. Some of the bosses are really great and innovative, such as the "level" 4 boss, which does something that really shook up how the fight is played out (you'll see what I'm talking about), and then some just feel like a chore, such as the level 2 boss, but most fall under the average category. Not really much to say here.

The music choices are, like everything else about this episode, varying, with some good, some bad, some decent. I do have to say though, most lean toward the good side of the spectrum. One minor nitpick I did have though was the fact that most of the bosses used the same theme. I wouldn't complain about this too much, but it just got on my nerves after listening to it over and over. The exact opposite happened with me for other tracks, which grew on me, such as the level 3 theme.

The graphics are, like all else, differing in quality from good to bad to decent. The levels looked good, for the most part, but there are incidences of clash, cut-off, and just obvious graphical no-no's that are painstakingly obvious. I found myself thinking, "Man, this level would look absolutely great if there wasn't that one thing right there near the very center of the level". The episode mixes tons of different graphical styles, but manages to make them look good most of the time. I have to give the creator credit for not committing the sin of 'Sticking to Vanilla where Custom GFX were obviously needed'. And, fortunately, there's no glitchiness when it comes to the sprites. None of the enemies (At least as far as I could tell), had the wrong effect when they died, none of them had the wrong width's or height's, and the animation was fluid.

There are four major nitpicks I had with this episode: Firstly, the levels were too long. This episode is probably best played in spurts. But the long length of the levels was kind of working against that. I would be having fun at first, but it would slowly lose its fun factor as time went on. But I couldn't save & quit because I'm only half-way through the level. So I had to keep on playing (even though I didn't really want to) just to finish, and, instead of ending on a positive note, it usually ended on either a sub-par or sour note. Secondly, this episode felt like it had too many parts where, in order to progress, you had to wait for the perfect moment to strike, but waiting is very boring. And if you miss your chance? Wait again! Thirdly, there are too many "keep trying until you eventually get lucky" sections, where in order to beat it, you don't use your platforming skill or puzzle solving prowess, but continually try the same thing over and over again until you get lucky and that shell manages to strike its elusive target, or whatever the case may be. Fourth, the 1-ups system was flawed. Like I previously mentioned, players hate waiting. And, though, it may be a few seconds, it was annoying to wait for the 1-ups to refill up to ninety-nine. I'm assuming the creator meant for you to have what felt like infinite lives, but there are times I lost them way too fast, and had to use the 1-up cheat to regain them. If he (or she, IDK) had given the player a 1-up at the start of every round, both those problems would've been solved.

The one really great thing that really brings this episode up in stature in my eyes is the final level. The aforementioned nitpicks were kept to a minimum, and the final boss was, while not really innovative in any field, pretty entertaining for the purpose of platforming skill. The clash was, also, suprisingly lacking (Except for the final boss). And, while I know it might not seem like much, the music shift about halfway through was a great tone setter, and something that just made me feel hyped for the final boss, whatever it would be.