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It'sa me, Kaizo Mario!

MCBanjoMike

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
I'm glad you liked it so much! It's been on my radar since Laser did his year-end wrap up and played a little of it during the deliberations. Both Bun Buns and Sweet'n'Sour are also fairly high up on the to-play list, too. That said, I've still got plenty on my plate with Invictus, and who knows how close we are to a GPW3 release. Sadly, I'm having issues with my streaming PC right now, which has the knock-on effect of making it slightly more complicated to play kaizo at the moment. I imagine I'll have something sorted out on that front soon enough, and in the meantime I'm happy taking a day or three off. Lots of stuff happening at work right now and I'm too tired to grind out tough levels right now. Although a runback of Hark 2 might not be quite as demanding...
 
lincolnic

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
So, Akogare 2 is done, I guess? I'm not sure if I'm missing something or what, but it seems like the final level just abruptly ended after the skull raft room. Then I ended up in a room with a message and a flame, where it seemed like the only thing you could do was die. The sprite on the overworld changed and a Save/Continue message came up, and the title screen shows 29 exits, so I guess I'm done? It felt super sudden and out-of-nowhere, but I can't find anything else to do. Must be at 100%!

I'd say Akogare 2 is 95% great, with that extra 5% being some setups that border on confusing at best to total bullshit at worst. There are also a bunch of levels where the backgrounds are just too busy and it gets hard to see what you're actually doing. Even so, I really enjoyed the hack. It just feels good to play. And hey, there's no water level! I would run this back for sure, but I think I'd stop at Any% (which is only two exits shorter anyway).

Sorry to hear you're having streaming issues, Mike. Hope to see you back up and running again soon!
 
MCBanjoMike

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
Apparently slop_core released an easy kaizo hack called Cute Kaizo World just a few days ago? I was watching him do some Lunar Magic on stream while I worked today and I didn't even realize! I'm going to test my GPU-less computer's streaming capabilities tonight, so maybe that's what I'll use?
 
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MCBanjoMike

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
I spent about an hour on Kamek Woods Friday night and made some pretty solid progress. The first half wasn’t too tough, but the second part gets a little galaxy brain at times. The plan is to pick that up tonight, finish the back half and start into the next level on stream. Gotta get to Kamek so I can start regretting my life decisions!
 
SilentSnake

SilentSnake

Administrator
(He/him)
Staff member
Moderator
I want you all to know that I got the checkpoint in Absolute Power just now, shortly after the stream ended, so I guess I've still got some motor...skills in me.
 
lincolnic

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
wontgetfooledagain.chords

Buckle up for the second half!

Definitely didn't edit this post because I forgot which Who song was which. Nope.
 
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MCBanjoMike

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
Oh my god, I just watched Ryukahr play the first half of Stellar and he bounced twice on the Rex to buy time to set up the Yoshi drop before the checkpoint. That's so much smarter and easier than what I was doing! I'm glad I didn't get stuck on that for too long or else I would have felt really stupid when I finally saw this.
 
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lincolnic

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
I mean, I didn't think to do it with two Rex bounces either. I guess one casualty of learning from speedruns is that it gets easy to miss if there are simpler ways to do something because you just assume that what's in the video is the only way to do it!
 
MCBanjoMike

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
Ryu was speedrunning the game in the video I saw, but it was in a marathon setting, so he was probably avoiding unnecessary risks. I checked out Calco's WR video and he definitely does it in a single bounce, so it's not like I saw through the matrix there or anything. But I sure would have been mad if I'd been stuck on that part for an hour before realizing there was an easier way!
 
SilentSnake

SilentSnake

Administrator
(He/him)
Staff member
Moderator
Welp, I'm at the final level in Invictus. Had a lot of fun with the motor skills level, though it still took a few hours to beat in total. The level before the castle was just kind of okay, but I'm excited for the possibilities now that I'm in the castle proper and have a sense what I'm in for.
 
MCBanjoMike

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
Dang, dude, good luck with that. I might practice Stellar a bit tonight, but I don't think I have the energy to do a serious practice/streaming block. I have a feeling this level and the next one are going to take me a little while.

EDIT: MOTOR SKILLS ARE GO

DOUBLE EDIT: Holy cow, I went back to check lincoln's clear time on Stellar and it is exactly the same as mine, down to the ratio of time spent on each half of the level. This is just getting creepy.
 
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lincolnic

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
MCBanjoMike said:
Holy cow, I went back to check lincoln's clear time on Stellar and it is exactly the same as mine, down to the ratio of time spent on each half of the level. This is just getting creepy.
Click to expand...
The Great Unification is upon us! But, uh, I sincerely hope you clear Absolute Power faster than I did. The second half really walled me for a while.

SilentSnake said:
Welp, I'm at the final level in Invictus. Had a lot of fun with the motor skills level, though it still took a few hours to beat in total. The level before the castle was just kind of okay, but I'm excited for the possibilities now that I'm in the castle proper and have a sense what I'm in for.
Click to expand...
Go kick Kamek's ass, dude. He doesn't stand a chance. (Take breaks when you need to, though. It's a long level even without the boss!)

I'm two exits away from finishing Bunbun World, and it's been...fine, I guess. I only really dug a few of the levels and for the most part I think the color palettes are pretty gross, but I know most people really like the hack so I guess the problem is me. Most of my problems are!

I've heard that Bunbun 2 is a big improvement, so I'll still play that, but I might try that cape tutorial hack for a change of pace first once I finish.
 
MCBanjoMike

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
I spent an hour on the second half of Absolute Power and made it as far as the Lincoln Memorial Disco Shell. There were a couple of attempts where I even made it over to the saws, but I haven't managed to hit the on/off switch on two consecutive bounces yet. This is maybe the first level in the hack that's left me wondering if I would ever beat it - and on several occasions, no less - but progress is slowly being made.
 
lincolnic

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
MCBanjoMike said:
the Lincoln Memorial Disco Shell
Click to expand...
Well this made my damn day. Much better than when I was actually playing the level, when it ruined my day.

Not counting the final castle, this level took me longer than any other one in the hack (and any other kaizo level I've played to date). You really have to fight for every pixel of progress, but you'll get through it and come out a stronger player on the other side.
 
MCBanjoMike

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
I went back to check your clear time for Absolute Power and, although I spent an extra hour on the first half, I'm hopeful that I can make it up in the second. All that time spent before the checkpoint was still useful for internalizing the concept of motor skills, which is one of the major hurdles for me here. I also watched a playthrough to see what's immediately after the saw section, because it gets so hectic that I was having a hard time looking ahead. If I'm lucky, another hour will get me to the boss...at which point I'll probably be stuck there forever, because apparently I'm really bad at bosses in this game.

Anyway, here's something a little different:


A Celeste hack inspired by the Quickie World games?? I'd heard a little bit about this on some random stream that I watched, but I guess it's finished now. I'm a little hesitant to dive in, because my Celeste skills are quite rusty, but I'll admit I'm a little curious. If nothing else, the soundtrack is filled with covers of songs from the Quickie World games done in a Celeste-inspired style, which is pretty wild.
 
lincolnic

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
MCBanjoMike said:
I went back to check your clear time for Absolute Power and, although I spent an extra hour on the first half, I'm hopeful that I can make it up in the second. All that time spent before the checkpoint was still useful for internalizing the concept of motor skills, which is one of the major hurdles for me here. I also watched a playthrough to see what's immediately after the saw section, because it gets so hectic that I was having a hard time looking ahead. If I'm lucky, another hour will get me to the boss...at which point I'll probably be stuck there forever, because apparently I'm really bad at bosses in this game.
Click to expand...
Floss Boss is probably the easiest part of the level, honestly -- it's kinda like the Reznor fight after the Thwomp level where you just need to get into a rhythm. Of course, there are more button inputs to take into account, but it probably won't be as bad as you're expecting.

MCBanjoMike said:
Quickie Mountain
Click to expand...
I heard about that! Maddy Thorson actually streamed their playthrough a couple of weeks ago, but I keep forgetting to go back and watch the VOD. Maybe I'll do that after lunch.

SilentSnake said:
Still on Kamek, fuck disco shells.
Click to expand...
Let me know if you want a couple of tips for that part, there were two things in particular I found that helped me.
 
MCBanjoMike

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
That article makes me want to give Unintended Behavior a shot at some point. I have a feeling it's the kind of thing you need to learn if you really want to be a kaizo master.
 
lincolnic

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
Another nice article, Snake! I think I'm content to watch other people play Unintended Behavior, since I'm mostly interested in platforming, but I love that it exists and that these are things we can all master.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I finished Bunbun World. There were some fun rooms in the final castle (and I appreciate that you're allowed to back out of a room if you want to try a different one), but overall my opinion hasn't really changed.

I think I'm gonna move on to Learn to Fly next, the cape levels I've played lately have made me realize I've got so much more to learn about that mechanic.
 
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SilentSnake

SilentSnake

Administrator
(He/him)
Staff member
Moderator
The thing to remember about puzzle hacks is if you're stuck at a part, there's no shame in looking up a video to get through that part, because there's more parts you might grasp better. Also, there's a reason it's still listed as Kaizo: Light. There's still platforming and execution to be had.
 
SilentSnake

SilentSnake

Administrator
(He/him)
Staff member
Moderator
Spent two more hours after Mike ended stream grinding out Kamek, and I finally beat him! That means I beat Invictus! I really enjoyed this hack, but wow Kamek sucked. I might just write a critique of that boss encounter alone.

Now that Invictus is done, I really do feel like the kaizo world is my oyster. But I'm going to take a break from kaizo and play some JUMP 1/2 instead before coming back to something else.
 
SilentSnake

SilentSnake

Administrator
(He/him)
Staff member
Moderator
I'm 29 exits deep into JUMP 1/2, and got the itch to start another kazio. This one is a kaizo/non-kaizo hybrid, and it's pretty fun so far.Polyphony_v1.00-210306-231935.png
 
lincolnic

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
Oh I was thinking about that one too! I saw a few minutes of it last night, I'm probably gonna play it soon too. Let us know what you think!
 
MCBanjoMike

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
SIX HOURS. That's how long it took me to complete the second section of Absolute Power. I spent the last two of that in sight of the door, thwarted by the dethpicable thwimp at the end. I fell under the thwimp, I jumped over the thwimp, I ran into the thwimp and I even occasionally bounced off the thwimp, but never landed where the door was. Until I finally did, on what was going to be the very last attempt of the night, at which point I saved the game and quit, leaving the boss for another day.

Only problem is, it didn't save the checkpoint.

So today I fired it up again, getting back to the door in about 45 minutes. Then I took care of the boss in something like 20-30, I wasn't paying close attention by then. I don't know if I ever need to hear Megalovania again for the rest of my life.
 
lincolnic

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
Oh no, the absolute nightmare! Glad you were able to get back there without too much more trouble. But, uh, you might want to find out if it'll save your checkpoints in the last castle -- that's not one you're gonna want to have to redo.
 
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