What I find interesting about people in this community is that they'll go out of their way to find unfitting sprite replacements just because they're different. It's a desperate attempt in trying to stand out in all the wrong ways. Sprites should always be the last of your concern, having normal enemies and special blocks would work just fine in this level.
Anyways, since Shadowstar gave nothing but praise, I feel like I do have to give some constructive criticism on structure and thought which went into this level, because while you designed this level very well in some aspects, it falls rather flat in others. Keep in mind that all of this is ultimately nitpicking and I do agree with Shadowstar on difficulty, length and variety in terms of design and areas. I also really liked distribution of secrets and dragon coins. Other people tend to put too much effort into hiding them. However I do feel like you need to start paying attention to these nitpicks if you want to improve at this point, since the stuff you can do, you do really well.
This feedback does not only apply to you, witchking. Some of these points are stuff many people get wrong or don't do enough.
First I would like to adress a minor issue which I have noticed in the last level I've played from you too. You somehow keep messing up your powerup containers. I don't know what or how or why, but it just looks off and it's something which I feel like you would normally pay attention to
http://i.imgur.com/SwOTmab.webm
The next thing I want to talk about is that I think it'd be nice if you tested your levels more thoroughly, making sure every different aspect doesn't just work by itself, but works in the general context of the level and feels satisfying. Aside from imbalanced NPC placement leaving sometimes two screens next to each other completely empty, this right here is undeniable proof that, at least with this cluster of coins, you didn't care.
http://i.imgur.com/ps5R0P0.webm . The first time I made that jump I didn't even get any of these coins, and considering how easy coins are to get throughout the rest of the level (aside from those below the thwomps which should be moved up by 2 blocks IMO), it just feels silly.
I have to make one more point about testing. When testing you get to revisit all the things you put in your level. It's important that you don't view these as set into stone. If you ever feel like something's off, be it an event triggering 0.1 second too early or a block formation being 1 block too wide, change that til it feels right! Testing a lot also helps get NPC placement and geometry juuust right. And furthermore, it can give you ideas on how to make the ideas you had for your level even better.
For example, while I was playing I thought "what if the laser had a short indication before it fires, to warn the player every time and not have them rely on their internal clock", or "what if the smashers moved in a more interesting way, more akin to the smashers in the New Super Mario games". Those changes wouldn't be difficult to impliment, but increase the fun factor by a bunch I feel. It's just those little details that give the level this extra push in its personality.
As the level stands right now I can by no means deny its quality, stuff that Shadowstar already pointed out. However personally I found the level to be rather monotonous, slow and stale. Be it the very soft music, the incredibly dark tileset or the monotonous movement of the smashers. There just seems to be a distinct lack of action, especially for a castle level.
Also where's the boss? I was hyped to talk about how this level needs a 2nd mid point in front of the boss and then you just put a star there D:
7.5/10
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