Design - I see it's a vanilla level. Has that natural SMB3 cave feel. Sometimes, it's nice to step away from a bunch of custom graphics and make something rather simple. The lamps were a nice touch and definitely fitting to the level. The waterfalls were also fitting, as it added onto the underground feel. However, the waterfall I circled here had an error:
The waterfall I circled appears to not really be flowing down from anything due to the upside-down slope piece. I recommend replacing that with a simple upside-down corner piece so it looks like it's flowing down perfectly.
Another flaw would be your coin placement. I understand placing a rather large amount of coins in a pit to prevent blind jumps, but throughout the level, you just scattered coins everywhere. Place coins sparingly and in a neat fashion, don't just spread them out everywhere in random places. Something else about coins, the coin blocks at the beginning had way too many coins in them. I wanted to simply collect the coins quickly and proceed through the level, but no, there were about four coins in each block, albeit having coins scattered everywhere in the beginning too. It's generally not a good idea to place a large amount of coins in a block because people will get bored of waiting on collecting them all. Place about one or two coins in coin blocks so the player can gather them quickly and continue on through the level.
The 1-ups got excessive and they weren't hard to find either. You really shouldn't place a bunch of 1-ups in your level, especially when they're very easy to get. Place one or two 1-ups in neat spots that aren't very easy to spot out. 1-ups are supposed to be rewarding, but it isn't when there are five of them in easy places. Even then, in this level, 1-ups weren't really necessary.
One more thing I'd like to point out is the mesh of blocks at the star. That looked unappealing and messy. It would've been a lot better to place the star in another section rather than simply barricading the star in a mesh of blocks on top of the level.
4/10
Gameplay - The level was actually somewhat fun... but
way too short. I opened up a door, stomped on some Goombas and Koopas, and boom, I was already at the end of the level. The star wasn't hard to get either. All I had to do was read a sign at the end and the mesh of blocks would disappear. Would've been nice to go through a bit of a challenge to get the star, in which getting the star is one of the main focuses of the level, right? It was a bummer to be able to get it that easily.
One of the main flaws of the level would have to be the powerup placement. You were even able to get a mushroom at the very beginning of the level, which I would highly recommend not to place a mushroom at the very beginning. Then you open a door, and there's another mushroom. Right under where the door was is a pipe. You go through it and what do you get? Another mushroom (or fire flower)! Then you go through the pipe that leads you to section 2, and another mushroom. You get the star, and two more mushrooms! My point is to lower the amount of powerups in the level. This level is really easy as it is, and the amount of powerups in the level makes this level not have the least bit of a challenge.
I like what you did with the events, but it would've been a lot cooler if you had to go through the level and activate some sort of switch to activate the events, rather than simply reading a sign. This made the events a lot more boring and less creative.
One more thing, what exactly was section 2
for? The Toad says something about his friend being kidnapped, and through the editor I see a warp, but the warp doesn't work. From the looks of it, section 2 was unneeded.
3/10
NPCs - The NPC placement was classical and not too bad. However, seeing Goombas and Koopas only got a little bland. I would've loved to see Buzzy Beetles, Spinies, and Piranha Plants, but all that the level contained were those two enemies. Having more of an enemy variety would make the level a lot more fun and a lot less bland. About the Goombas, I would prefer if you used brown Goombas instead of red Goombas. Not a flaw, just more of a pet peeve. Something I would really like to point out is the Paratroopa. It's placed in a rather odd position because it bounces around in a very awkward way, and eventually it just bounces on top of the level, making it useless. I would highly recommend not to place a Paratroopa in a rather cramped area since they bounce high, and fast.
6.5/10
The level wasn't that bad, but you need to work on most everything about general level designing. Like I said, this level wasn't that bad or anything, but just keep practicing and I know you'll get level designing down.
4.5/10
