[SMBX2] The Sundown Zero

[AmarthDokuro]

Somewhere in the middle of the mushroom sea, a lone island emerges...

After a long break, here it is! A few years ago I announced an "Anniversary Update" of my second ever episode that I once published on the long dead SMWMods Forums (Despite the name's implications, it was a polish SMBX community that lasted from around 2011 to 2017). The Sundown was a short-lived episode series of mine that - I'll be honest, only existed because one of our local YouTubers would often record let's plays of SMBX Episodes, primarily the one from our community - When I made the first episode back at the end of 2014 I was probably too young for this sort of stuff, with the sequel getting released in the second half of 2015 - Needless to say, I'm not really proud of those episodes anymore, they were rushed beyond belief, had some... pretty poor-taste jokes in the second one's dialogues, and: Let's be honest, only existed so I could make the third one. Which was never released fully.

A couple years later, around 2018 I announced an update of the second part in a post here - needless to say, I quickly lost motivation after trying to finish the third part once again (That'd be... about the 4th time I tried making that episode.) - In the meantime I participated in the collaboration with my good friend, Nazi Zombie on a short episode titled Manbej's Island - It was fun, but due to the very nature of that project I had to restrict myself in terms of the level design a bit too much, I'd say. Either way, now that I'm done with my education and currently have lots of time to spare, I finally got around updating the episode, aaaand... decided it's terrible. Rightfully so, as I said: It was rushed beyond belief, and I don't think anyone should play the original.

This is what brings us here - The Sundown Zero is a complete expanded remake of the original two episodes, reworked from scratch, staying true to the original's themes, but featuring new level designs, utilizing a few SMBX2 features, a revamped story, and improved difficulty curve! Released on the 9th anniversary of the 1st part's original release, it just so happens to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the SMBX Forums! Happy anniversary to both of those things then!

STORY

5 months after the Koopas attempted to plunge the Mushroom Kingdom into chaos by disrupting the natural order of things with an artificial eclipse, Bowser's troops return to the shadowlands only to witness something strange. A much bigger island resurfaces, and they decide to colonize it. With no real opposition, the Koopa Empire swiftly achieves it's goal, and in the process discovers something that could decide the fate of the Mushroom World.

The Mushroom Kingdom's allies catch wind of what's going on, and soon Mario and Luigi are sent to the island to find out what exactly Bowser's minions are up to this time, and if it's really as dangerous as they say - stop them.

So, what does it contain?

-45 Different Levels

-9 Varied Worlds

-Basic Boss Encounters

-Presentation Improved With Scripting

-A Bonus World Remaking The Sundown 1

-An Intriguing Story Told In Snippets

Download the Episode Here!

Screenshots

Spoiler: show

The Episode was created by me, tested by me and TheDeMuZ, and scripted by the latter.

Hope you'll have a good time playing through it!

Once again, happy anniversary SMBX Forums!

[AmarthDokuro]

Version 1.1.0 Released!

-Contains all 1.02 changes
-Replaced one .mod file with an .spc
-Fixed a misspelled credit
-Replaced all deprecated objects with new ones
-Given individual levels names

Download link available in the main post!