Mario's Musical Marathon

[AubreyTheBard]

Mario's Musical Marathon is a music-themed Super Mario Bros. X episode. Each stage has a different tune chosen by the creator of the stage, anything from classical Mozart to heart-pounding rock. Jam out to awesome music while traversing trippy Mario landscapes! The core Super Mario Bros. X game, preferably version 1.3.0.1, is required to play.

This game started with the Mario's Musical Marathon event on rpgmaker.net and is now an open-ended project. Please read the rules in the show/hide section below if you would like to contribute new stages.

Main game page at rpgmaker.net

Downloads:

Mario's Musical Marathon v1.0

Contribution rules:

Spoiler: show

- Stages should be created with the SMBX 1.3.0.1 engine.

- Each stage should use a single song THAT IS NOT PART OF SMBX'S DEFAULT MUSIC SET as its primary theme. Remixes and alternative versions can be used in conjunction, but it must be clear that the songs are obviously related. Small rooms that are not part of the stage's real meat (for example, intro room, epilogue room) may use other music including SMBX's default music.

- Each stage must have a checkpoint if feasible, 5 dragon coins and end with a SMB3 star. Exceptions to the checkpoint may be allowed for technical reasons -- for example, checkpoints do not work with auto-scrolling stages.

- Stages must not contain SMW stars or the infamously buggy duo of Unskinned Dry Bones and SMW Bowser Statues. It is possible to get textures for dry bones that avoid being buggy and SMB3 Bowser Statues work much better.

- Water must be swimmable and waterfalls must be decorative.

- All characters must be able to clear a stage unless a stage is made with a specific character in mind. In this case you must make sure the player is definitely that character before they begin the main meat of the stage.

- Avoid pesky softlocks, there should be no situation where you are still alive and yet unable to progress.

- Try to avoid one-block high dead end gaps, this causes SMBX's infamous zipping trick and can cause some unwanted effects.

- Luigi would like to remind you that the Mario Bros. are generally a U-rated brand and while he will grant some slack, if a song is too vulgar, he will kindly request you to either find a less vulgar or censored version or in extreme cases may ask you to use a different song. If you're not sure, leave a link in the comments and he'll let you know.

- Each stage must have Luigi of Mushroom Kingdom's Seal of Approval. The stage will be judged and feedback provided in order to make sure there is a consistent level of quality. Once all feedback has been taken care of, the level will be accepted and published as part of a new version of the episode.

- To submit a new stage, upload an archive (.zip, .rar, etc.) with the necessary files to a place where it can be accessed (for example a file-hosting service), then post a link to it in a comment on this game page.

Screenshots:

Mmmmyeeeeeesss, we are quite cultured in our musical tastes here.



Daisy gets her own stage set to fresh, fun violin music!



I am stronger than my fears
This is the mountain that I climb
Got 100 steps to go
Tonight I'll make it 99



Whole lotta hocus pocus going on around here.



Hey, hey, hey when I need to be saved
They counting me out, but this is my round
(You in my corner look at me now)

[Eri7]

This looks like a cool concept, its my first time seeing smbx episode that is so focused on music.

[MmmMario]

Too bad I normally play SMBX with my volume off...

[Cedur]

This looks like a really great collab! Are songs from all languages allowed?

[AubreyTheBard]

This looks like a really great collab! Are songs from all languages allowed?

Good question. I'm going to say yes, but I might need a volunteer or two that speaks the language to verify that the song in question isn't too vulgar, as that is one of the rules. If I can find the translation online, we could probably skip that.

[stageleft]

I played through what you have so far and I like it. Nice but pretty raw, but its still early development shouldn't this be in the projects section? Doesn't matter to me though.
Did you make the custom npc's? The Power up room is too generous but to break the game with testing is a good idea. Some people will choose the lakitu's shoe and blast through it once.

Edit- This will be a nightmare for anyone with an exploration compulsion disorder. I didn't try to find it, the song makes them background though.

[AubreyTheBard]

I played through what you have so far and I like it. Nice but pretty raw, but its still early development shouldn't this be in the projects section? Doesn't matter to me though.

I did wonder about that myself, but since this episode is considered complete at any given time, just open to more stages being added, I decided to put it in the Episodes forum.

Did you make the custom npc's?

The custom NPCs were made by the creators of the stages they were used in, yes.

The Power up room is too generous but to break the game with testing is a good idea. Some people will choose the lakitu's shoe and blast through it once.

It does make it easy to bypass challenges, yes, but since this episode is more a showcase of creative stages than a coherent game, and it's being played by a community of Mario fans with enough self-guidance to have gotten involved with SMBX, I decided to let people play however they like.

Edit- This will be a nightmare for anyone with an exploration compulsion disorder. I didn't try to find it, the song makes them background though.

I'm not sure what you're talking about there. The dragon coins, maybe?

[stageleft]

Meant to say all the pipes at the end of that level in the first screen shot would be a nightmare, but they are supposed to represent wind instrument so I get it.

[Eri7]

Too bad I normally play SMBX with my volume off...

Wait, why?

[MmmMario]

Too bad I normally play SMBX with my volume off...

Wait, why?

All the noise distracts me! I'm listening more to the music, or decently hating it, rather than playing the level.

[Eri7]

Too bad I normally play SMBX with my volume off...

Wait, why?

All the noise distracts me! I'm listening more to the music, or decently hating it, rather than playing the level.

But all of this noise is important, the music can be important too to give a feel to cutscenes/level themes/bosses, its meant to compliment the gameplay, if you see it as an obstacle, you won't be able to experience the gameplay to its fullest and i am sure the creator of this project can agree with me as well.

[MegaDood]

I love this idea. I gotta say it looks really creative.

[Eri7]

I love this idea. I gotta say it looks really creative.

I would say that it SOUNDS really creative since the project is focused on sound/music.

[KateBulka]

Idea is creative, realization is.. not really good so far, but i'm somehow excited. I wonder what result will be.

[MmmMario]

Wait, why?

All the noise distracts me! I'm listening more to the music, or decently hating it, rather than playing the level.

But all of this noise is important, the music can be important too to give a feel to cutscenes/level themes/bosses, its meant to compliment the gameplay, if you see it as an obstacle, you won't be able to experience the gameplay to its fullest and i am sure the creator of this project can agree with me as well.

Well I either don't feel the gameplay to its fullest by a lack of sound, or a lack of actual gameplay due to my distraction

[stageleft]

Is this project getting any further polishes to the already existing levels? I feel like scrolling up level with the green shoes and muddy ground could use a slight graphical rehaul.
other than that it looks pretty good. The Library stage looks really good. I might submit a level or 2.

[AubreyTheBard]

Is this project getting any further polishes to the already existing levels? I feel like scrolling up level with the green shoes and muddy ground could use a slight graphical rehaul.

In general the released stages are considered complete, although there's no rule saying their creators can't submit updates, especially if there are enough new stages for a fresh version to release them in. I'm the one who made the stage you're referring to (One More). I'm not very talented in the visual arts, so I just picked the existing tile that looks most like mountain and used that (although I did have to make a size-able block type with the same graphic so that I could fill in large chunks of underground area without running afoul of the block limit). If you have an idea for how to improve it, I'm all ears.

other than that it looks pretty good. The Library stage looks really good. I might submit a level or 2.

I'll pass your compliments on to Solitayre, and I'll look forward to seeing what you might create.

[stageleft]

Nice!
Oh and don't get me wrong One more is a cool level, it took me 2 tries to beat and I tried really hard not to die. Just my opinion that the ground looks a bit cut off. Maybe SMB3 Desert tiles, or SMW cave tiles are very polished looking. Might be worth a recolor on either of those to fit your theme more, although that can be a lot of work. In the end the polish is important to really bring out a solid atmosphere.