Let's Revisit Super Talking Time Bros.!

The old STTB thread has been active again lately as we discuss possibly doing a STTB3, so I decided to revisit the old games, starting with the first. I'm streaming them on my twitch channel, and I'll be posting the archives on youtube and here.

The entire youtube series can be found here now


Super Talking Time Bros.
YouTube Playlist

-Part 1: Humble Beginnings
-Part 2: Where is the exit?
-Part 3: Behind the scenes!
-Part 4: So many bonuses!
-Part 5: I Wanna Be the Ghost House!

Super Talking Time Bros. 2
YouTube Playlist

-Part 1: A Whole New World
-Part 2: Banana Island
-Part 3: Ribbon World
-Part 4: Luigi Zone
-Part 5: Autumn Hills
-Part 6: Milkshake Mountain
-Part 7: Chocolate Island
-Part 8: The Dark World
-Part 9: Finale

Super Talking Time Bros. 2.5: The Last Levels
YouTube Playlist

-Part 1: The "Expansion"
-Part 2: Here Comes Honey Boom Boom
-Part 3: Hop on the Bombbles
-Part 4: Machu Peachu
-Part 5: Harrowing Hornethive
-Part 6: Koopas All The Way Down
-Part 7: Albino Dino Rhino Dash
-Part 8: Return to Cookie Mountain
-Part 9: Onward! Dauntlessly!
-Part 10: Road to Nowhere
-Part 11: The Void
-Part 12: Dark Matter
-Part 13: The World of Random Discontent
-Part 14: FINALE

Super Talking Time Bros.

Part 1: Humble Beginings



The beginning of the first STTB was pretty simple by design. The game was designed originally as a response to other overly complicated SMBX creations (and other fangames and rom hacks in general). The mission was to create a Mario game that felt like a Mario game. So the first world is pretty simple, easing the player into the unique SMBX physics and powerups. Other games used massive, confusing hubs, so we made a simple system of stage selections. We came up with strict rules: levels could only end with Power Stars. The number of stars had to be indicated clearly. All exists had to be accessible via powers and routes in the level. No sprawling scavenger hunts for red coins.

The early levels tend to have an SMB3 "romp" feeling, but things quickly ramp up. We are, after all, seasoned Mario players. There's a few levels here I haven't touched since the game launched and I was surprised how many early ones impressed me.

I'm more of a fan of the level style we later adopted for STT2 where there's not so much replaying if the majority of levels to find two exits, and I pick a few nits or suggest redesigns I wish I had thought of at the time.

Can anyone refresh me on the reference in "Ghost Boy Party"?

One thing I forgot was just how vile ice physics are in SMBX. really hoping that's better in 2.0

This session comes to a crashing halt when it became clear I needed to go to bed.

Going live now!

Five years ago? Hahaha. Try eight.

Anyways, Ghost Boy was a troll here from way back in the day, and somehow "ain't no party like a Ghost Boy party" was a response to his BS and became part of TT history. I never had the "pleasure" of interacting with him myself because we didn't frequent the same threads, but I saw some of the nonsense after the fact.

oh that's funny. I sorta thought maybe it was a troll but didn't want to say that and then people tell me he was a great guy who left or something, hahaha

Part 2: Where is the exit?



Things ramp up pretty fast in the first game. We jump from SMB3 short levels in world one to some of the most devious ghost houses and secret exits in all of STTB (pour one out for _L_).

I do have few ... issues with some of the secrets. In particular, the infamous 3-star level that I think could have been a much tighter two-star level. And as much as I love the silhouette level, it probably could have just been one-and-done.

But there are some AMAZING single exit stages here, too. In particular, our first Link level is very strong!

Also some idiot makes a level where all you do is slide, LAME (pour another one out for Brickroad)

Fingers crossed I can wrap up the base game on the next video, and then get to the bonus world I almost forgot even existed!

Weeeeeeeeellllllllllllllllll

No, actually. Not here. It never dawned on me, to be honest.

In STTB2, though, you're right. The resemblance when the giant Banzai Bill was Kirby was just too obvious even for me. It's why the Kirby-Bill is so much shorter there than it is here, I was trying to make it harder to notice, but I guess it didn't work.

I don't think I thought about it looking like a flying vibrator until the second game when it was pink and looked SO MUCH like a pocket rocket

I don't much like sliding levels, but the one Brickroad made is certainly one of the best ones I've played.

I thought that one ghost house was in the next game, because I remember how tricky it was. But at least I figured that one out - I never knew about that exit in the tree. That's extremely sneaky!

Good ol' Sunset Silhouettes is probably my favorite level in the first game. The underwater part is lovely.

EDIT
GOING LIVE NOW!

Gonna try to stream some more of this, maybe wrap STTB1 in about an hour (8:30 Eastern)

Part 3: Behind the scenes!






My internet dies mid-stream, then a level breaks, then I realize that I completely forget how to use the editor, and then I get MAD salty at the UFO boss.

_L_ continues his streak of making some of the best ghost houses ever and some of the most frustrating other levels! I make a LOT of notes that I wish I had made during testing, stuff that I hope we'd filter out in a level today. Lots of deaths that feel like glitches. LOTS of deaths.

As for the broken level, I sorta remember it being an issue at some point. I was PRETTY sure I had all the patches in my folder, and I suspect I did because the current V1.5 patch on the website doesn't include that level update, but I went and got a completely fresh install of the game and it is fixed there. Weird!

It also doesn't help matters that I was spending all that time trying to fix a red herring pipe, which I didn't even realize in this session but will show off at the start of the next.

Our first game ends with ... kind of a whimper. We hadn't figured out EPIC FINAL BOSSES or closing credits, so it's just kind of peach saying "Thanks!" and then a long walk out of the level.

Next time I'll try to wrap up the bonus levels, and hopefully I'll be able to do that quickly enough to start the main reason I wanted to do this series: STTB2!

Maybe Roy is squatting in someone else's castle.

Oh my God that actually makes sense.

STTB lore runs deep 😂

Gonna try to wrap up STTB1 tonight

Part 4: So many bonuses!



So there's a lot more post-game than I remembered. I end up not quite finishing, but that's OK because relearning the super-secret level may take an entire stream on its own!

A lot of the post-game are silly things that didn't "fit" in the original game, and a few levels from peeps who were like "this is cool, I wanna make levels" after we put STTB out but before we decided to do a second game.

Unfortunately, the air is kind of sucked out by running into a name of a person who is super banned.

Next time, we for real finish STTB and move on to STTB2

Oh right, he made a level.

Hrm.


Should we address that at all?

I mean, at some level the only two options are to leave the level in or to take it out.

If the folks behind STTB1 decide to take it out, maybe replace the level pipe with a sign saying something like "In Memoriam of a Super-Banned Guy" with the level's star floating over it?

I would honestly just be fine with changing his name to [redacted]. Because fuck that guy. If having his levels at all is an issue, cut them out without comment no huge lose there, either.

Though honestly, short of us remastering the old games, I wouldn't bother. Plenty of old media has credits for monsters, and it's not like he's getting royalties. It wouldn't matter a lick to anyone not from TT playing it, and for me it was just "oh yeah, that guy, let's not speak of him".

Yeah -- it's not as if we've deleted their TT posts, and the level itself isn't objectionable.

going live!

Part 5: I Wanna Be the Ghost House



I spend a really, really long time trying to figure out the super secret final final stage, and then have to go find the star I missed.

in case you want to see just the successful segments of IWBTGH, I made a supercut



And that's it for STTB1. Not much else to say about it at this time. I still love a lot about it, but it feels kinda rough to go back to now. Even just playing the first world of STTB2 at the end of this stream it was evident how much more polish and skill we put into our second game.

So next time ... Super Talking Time Bros. 2!

Super Talking Time Bros. 2

Part 1: A Whole New World



Everything about STTB2 is immediately bigger and better than the first game. It has an opening cut scene, a title screen, a world map, and better level design. The overall design philosophy was tighter, taking more ideas from World and even a little of NSMB for secrets and exits. Now stars were "optional" (but not really) collectibles hidden in every level, and most levels had a single exit. Secret exits, like in World, opened up new paths on the map to new levels. And probably most significantly, we learned how to do bosses! Granted, most bosses were just a matter of reskinning the inexplicably included Mother Brain boss and dragging it around with layer tricks, but it worked.

The first is super satisfying. Mostly fast-paced romps, but the inclusion of the secret stars encourages more exploration.

My biggest nit-pick is that the first secret exit probably should have been a bit more obvious. Like, go down a pipe, find a key, stick it in the keyhole right next to it obvious. Instead, we ask new players to find a key, carry it for several screens, and then find a (slightly) hidden keyhole. Probably not a big deal for most of our audience who would be very familiar with SMW, but slightly against our normal design goal of paces like a "real" mario game. Just my thoughts.

The first world ends, appropriately enough, with a fantastic take on Whispy Woods, appropriate for our Kirby invasion.

I think the trumpet is just to fill the quiet space in the fanfare. I don't know why I'm calling it a 'trumpet' when it's a bike horn.


A sluice is a gate used in rivers or water reservoirs to control the water's flow.

It wasn't until after STTB2 came out that the Talkhaus really turned its attention on to SMBX. raocow had LPed a SMBX episode before that, but STTB2 got their attention.

By the time we started working on The Last Levels they had begun the process of cracking open SMBX, bit by bit.

ah, yeah, I have my timeline a little confused it seems. He Raocow LPed STTB1 after doing 2, and that would seem to be when his crew started really tearing into SMBX.

Anyhow, moving on

Part 2: Banana Island



The good thing about doing your water world super early like this is you get it out of the way and they still tend to be pretty darn easy. And this isn't even a "water world" like you see in SMB3.

Much like SMW, you can open up Star Road in this second world. For this playthrough I'm just gonna hit the next Star Road level as I open up new entrances into Star Road, but it occurs to me that I don't know if I've ever seen or even heard of someone trying to "speedrun" the game via Star Road. Maybe when I'm done with the series I'll try to claim the record

Also float the idea of doing a Let's Racing time of STTB2 if I ever get that project off the ground.

Shy Lake has my favorite kind of secret for finding the red star, where you might take a long time actually finding it, but when you do it makes perfect logical sense.

Part 3: Ribbon World



I think in every blind LP I've watched of STTB2, the Fat Meta Knight sprite gets the most WTF reaction. I love him wild ways.

The rhythm blocks are one of the cooler tricks we pull off, IMHO

I really like the "use a timer to skip the end goal" trick, but I only wish there was a more elegant way to pull it off than just telling the player how it works. But I have no idea how to "show not tell" that trick. Also, the first time I played that level the star didn't even spawn somehow.

My guess is because that's what Raocow named it. I can clearly hear him in my head talking about clearing a level and saying hello to his friend trumpet.

Haha, oh lord, that's almost certainly it. Weird how things stick in your brain years later

The Mandela effect is funny like that.