Super Mario Bros. X Forums

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1. The episode made good use of the capabilities of 1.2 and 1.3. It was good for its time.
2. The episode has aged mediocrely, the main reason being a lack of creative bosses. However, it has at least aged more gracefully than the original Invasion.
3. As the first SMBX episode I ever played, it served as a fitting introduction to the game. Even today, I still find myself going back to levels such as Pwnhammer.
4. Not a speedrunner, can't really comment on this.
Pet peeves regarding this episode:
"A Short Level" pulls a trick straight from the Kaizo playbook.
After you beat the final boss, the credits just roll. You don't get a cutscene.
I nominate The Great Castle Adventure. (curious as to why you didn't like it)

1) The episode was definitely a good introduction to 1.2.
2) I would say the episode has aged well and has influenced many episodes since (such as Airship Attack)
3) Being the second episode I played (the first being The Princess Cliche) it is a nostalgic one. It definitely introduces one to SMBX and showcases all the 1.2 elements well.
4) I have not done a speedrun of this episode yet.

The Great Castle Adventure

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TI2's purpose is showcasing the game's vanilla devkit so I don't see the need for custom bosses.

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That my played was Last 2 years ago after the releasing The The Great Castle Aventure that in Should not yet that the Speed Run Takes Effect Into a 4 or 8 Days.

My analysis of the Great Castle Adventure
1. I commend TGCA for proliferating the hub-based episode. It made good uses of the resources available at the time.
2. There are some quirks of the episode that would look out of place today, such as the method used to access the upper level of the castle: you have to either defeat a few Boom Booms to activate a lift every time you need to reach the level, or get enough stars to unlock a room that provides Super Leaves. World variety was decent, but there could be room for improvement. I also think that the 40 star reward is less exciting than it could have been.
3. There were some levels that didn't really stand out in any way, but there were others with gimmicks that appealed to me. In particular, I quite liked the "bad future" level.
4. There are two ways this episode can be speedrunned: Beating Bowser, or collecting all 40 stars.

I nominate The Princess Cliche.

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I mean, it is an interesting episode for a beginner to the engine, I will give it that.

1) The Great Castle Adventure is OK I guess. Probably viewed as one of the best back when it was made as it is one of the oldest episodes still available. However it has definitely fallen to the bottom as standards increased since. And TBH I haven't played most of it, so I can't necessarily talk about the episode as a whole

2) Not really. Due to rising design standards, the episode has lost its edge to the better episodes created since. It may have felt like it aged better if it was not for New Great Castle Adventure, which is like a sequel and prety much the episode to compare it to, and NGCA is like undeniably better than TGCA. Of course even without NGCA, TGCA still looks trash compared to the contemporary episodes of today. The level design styles of most users could probably be traced back to this and other episodes made at the time.

3) Given I have not played all of the episode, It was alright but it is not easy to enjoy an episode like this 8/9 years later when we have better episodes like NGCA.

4) No Opinion

I will nominate Airship Attack.

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Even though the Princess Cliche is a short episode, it is decent for its length. I liked how SMBX 2.0 gave it unique overworld music.

Main thing I dislike about this episode: You expect that since it's so short, it's going to be easy. Then you go into the final battle...

The length of the episode makes it a good choice for speedrunning.

I nominate Super Mario Star Expedition.

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Being the forst SMBX episode I played, it is inevitably a nostagic one. Nice how SMBX2 did change the sounds and music, although I feel that was unnecessary. And yes it has aged well. And the fact it is short makes it good for speedrunning.

Airship Attack

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Airship Attack's level design is among the highest in its class. At the same time, it also manages to pull off references to previous Mario games (such as Grassy Island mimicking worlds 1 to 4 of SMW.) My only gripe with it is that the difficulty curve is somewhat haphazard.

Super Mario Star Expedition

Airship attack had pretty decent level design with some tricks only experienced players know.
The episode has aged pretty well. You can still play it today and have fun with it.

I nominate super mario bros 0

Airship Attack is pretty much one of the most creative classical SMBX episode ever made. But with 1 flaw:

It's Way too long of a episode imo

This is a very fun episode, but it is a unique and long. Speedrunning it any% is not much different from speedrunning it 100%. I do nominate Super Mario Bros. 0 and this should be a good one. as for Airship Attack also known as Luftschiff Attacke at first, give or take some spelling, I have 100%ed it a few times. over six. U also would like to point out that the latest version is easier than the original. It is one of the longest and hardest episodes out there to 100% as well.