It'sa me, Kaizo Mario!

[MCBanjoMike]

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.

I'm not sure what choice I'll have in the matter, honestly. I'm assuming the Kamek fight is the last section of the castle, as opposed to being a separate level? If the game won't save my progress, I guess I'll just get really good at the castle on my later attempts! For the record, I never had to replay the first part of Absolute Power - just the part that I spent, you know, six hours on. Somehow the door checkpoint at the end wasn't "real" enough to be saved, even though leaving the level and coming back to it brought me straight to the boss? I can't say I entirely understand it.

In a big streaming first, I had my first raid last night! It was one guy, who brought, uh, himself over from his own stream. But hey, he followed me, so I'm not complaining. I'd love to get enough followers to unlock a small supply of emotes and channel point rewards eventually, but boy howdy is the crawl to 50 taking a while.

 

[lincolnic]

The castle is all door checkpoints, so I'm not sure how it's gonna work when you go in. I hope they save like normal!

Although if leaving and re-entering the level brought you back to where you were supposed to be, maybe that'll work if the checkpoint doesn't save correctly the first time?

 

[lincolnic]

Orka's new hack, Titan Mario, stealth-dropped onto the SMW Central moderation list today! I was just watching Katun play a couple of the levels. It looks like it's full of cool setups, but is also just as hard as when I watched Glitchcat playtest it a few weeks back. The first comment on the SMWC page is from Wyatt (of Casio fame) saying the difficulty is comparable to the Grand Poo World games. Even though this one will probably be a hack that I watch other people play, I'm glad to see Orka putting out another hack relatively quickly after having Comfort Zone in GDQ.

 

[MCBanjoMike]

I actually asked Orka about the difficulty level a few days ago on his stream and he echoed that thought. I think we'll be playing Comfort Zone first!

 

[MCBanjoMike]

You guys made it sound like Koopa Road was barely a snack, but really it’s just a normal-sized level sandwiched between two titans. I was very happy that I managed to negotiate the bullies after the pipe on my first attempt, especially after how hard it was to close the deal on Absolute Power.

TONIGHT: Invictus???

 

[lincolnic]

While stuck in a Zoom call I didn't need to be on, I booted up Learning to Fly to brush up on my cape mechanics. I made it through most of the levels in about two hours, so far I've only really gotten stuck on the air catch levels (which is a mechanic I don't really understand and I don't think they explain particularly well) and on the patched turnaround level. The turnaround level in particular strikes me as poorly designed -- they're introducing you to this mechanic for the first time, and instead of giving you space to try it out you have to perform the first half of the level in a really cramped area.

Those issues aside, this is an excellent tutorial hack. Pretty much everything is clearly laid out and explained, and I've learned some new obscure cape tech too. Bonus points: you can play any level you want in any order, so if one particular technique is too frustrating at the moment you can just skip it and try something else. I don't know when I'll actually use some of the more arcane stuff, but it's been neat to experiment with it in a low-stakes environment.

 

[MCBanjoMike]

Spent a few more hours on Invictus last night - didn't quite make it to Kamek, but I'm pretty close. It took about 15 minutes to get through the first part of the castle again, then an hour to finish the second. Played the third part for about an hour and a half and came very close to the end, but I never quite managed to pull off the shell jump. I watched a video of Ryukahr finishing that section, so I had the double troll at the end spoiled for me, but I sure won't be shedding any tears over that. Next time: doing all that stuff again!

It's funny, I remember watching lincoln's appreciation of this game grow over time, but I think mine is actually decreasing? I really enjoyed the challenge pretty much all the way through, but Absolute Power and Invictus have just been too much. It's not that the design is too tight, more that there are just too many things to keep track of at once and I find it kind of exhausting. The endless Motor Skills sections also don't really feel like SMW to me - I would mind less if it had only been one level, but it just goes on and on. If I wasn't so close to the end, I'd step away for a week or two and play something else, but at this point I really want to be done with it. The funny thing is, because I haven't been able to save my checkpoints, I'm actually going to be pretty good at the hardest parts of the game by the time I finally finish it. Which means I should probably run it back sooner rather than later?? Who know, the world beyond Invictus is still pretty hazy for me, and I've got a lot of Kamek to grind before I'll see it.

In even more heartbreaking Invictus news, I've been watching HyrulianKnight play this game and he had a really rough experience yesterday. He's been making ridiculous progress through the game, just tearing it apart, and last night he decided that he was going to start at the castle and play until he'd won. After over 10 hours of playing, he finally beat Kamek...but died on a spike the same frame that the boss disappeared, which glitched the game. It respawned him at the Kamek fight, only now the platforms for the second phase wouldn't appear any more. He tried leaving the level, walking around the map, entering different levels and returning, but nothing would fix the fight for him. Since he'd been playing for half a day and it was like 5 AM, he decided to call it there, but you know that's not how he wanted things to end. I wonder if he'll come back and try it again?

Apparently he was running 1.0, which might be why this happened, but that's a pretty big yikes nonetheless.

 

[lincolnic]

Sorry to hear that you're getting burned out on Invictus, Mike. Do you think it's just from having to grind these motor skills levels? With a little luck you don't have too much farther to go. I'm still holding out hope that the checkpoint at the Kamek fight will save for you -- the background music changes, which from the little I know about Lunar Magic means that I think it treats those areas as a different level, or something like that?

And oof, that glitch is absolutely crushing. It didn't even fix itself after a reset? I guess he might've been afraid that resetting would put him back at the start of the level, so I can't say I blame him if he didn't try it. But man. Talk about deserving to see some credits.

On a lighter note, this happened in GlitchCat's stream last night:

 

[MCBanjoMike]

That just made me laugh out loud for reasons that I could never explain to anybody, even myself.

AFAIK, HyrulianKnight didn't try resetting the console - he had been playing for 11 hours and didn't want to start the level over again. I imagine it would fix things. As for me, well, it would be nice if the game saved the checkpoint when I get to Kamek, but I'll also be a little mad that I didn't push through the end of the third section if it actually does. It would probably still preferable, though!

I think I'm really just burned out on the motor skills levels in particular. And I'm not even mad at them, really, just tired. I had fun with Koopa Road, and I really enjoyed Biohazard/Kamek Woods/Stellar. But spending 8+ hours on Absolute Power, then having to replay it, then having three more difficult motor skills sections in the final castle and having to replay THEM... well, it's a little exhausting. We'll just have to see how long Kamek takes me and how many more times I have to clear the castle to get to him.

 

[lincolnic]

With the news that Super NT restocks are imminent, I'm considering trying to grab one. I'd pretty much only be playing kaizo on it, so I'm not entirely sure if I want to spend the money, but the appeal of playing with significantly less lag is pretty high. On the flipside, sticking with emulation like I do now means I can pop into a level or two while I'm stuck in Zoom meetings where I don't have to participate (I work in my bedroom, but the TV is in the living room, so I wouldn't be able to bring my work machine out there mid-call).

It's a pickle!

 

[MCBanjoMike]

It's not hard to bring the Super Nt to your office, is all I'm saying. Any chance you could get a second monitor?

Trying to decide if I have the mental fortitude for another castle run tonight, I should be able to get to Kamek in relatively short order. It's that or be a viking, which I'm sure you can imagine is a difficult choice. In the meantime, whenever I've had 30 minutes to kill, I've spent it chipping away at my Hark 2 runback. It's definitely going faster than the first time, but it's still a challenging game and I can't exactly bend it to my will just yet. I replayed Flatline last night and that stage is still super good! I'm coming up on the stretch of levels that I didn't enjoy on my first playthrough, but hopefully it won't sting as badly now that I have a pretty good idea of what to do. Definitely planning to practice the any% run a bit, hopefully I can get into that further once Invictus is done and dusted.

 

[lincolnic]

Maybe I wasn't clear, the only TV we have is in the living room, so that's where the Super NT would live. I don't even have room for a second monitor for my work laptop on my desk! I've got my personal iMac, audio interface, and speakers on the desk to begin with, and then I put together my work setup in front of that. Space is at a premium.

Having not really played any kaizo for a week, I'm ready to get back into it. Gonna see if I can knock Bunbun 2 off the list relatively quickly.

 

[SilentSnake]

I finished Polyphony, which is really good and a really nice comedown from Invictus. Would recommend. Now I'm going to play a promising-looking hack that just came out today!

 

[lincolnic]

I think Polyphony is going to be next for me, after Bunbun 2.

 

[MCBanjoMike]

I don't understand why you guys are talking about other games when there is only Invictus and there has only ever been Invictus and soon all the world will be Invictus

 

[MCBanjoMike]

30 minutes later:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1370547216566325250

LET'S FUCKING GO

 

[SilentSnake]

Forgot to link my weekly kaizo piece, this time a critique of Quest for Corgi Butts.

 

[lincolnic]

Good article! I think that game's problem could've been solved simply by putting that shell level after the credits. If it was purely intended as a post-game bonus stage, then make it that. People who can't or don't want to beat a punishing shell level still get the accomplishment of finishing the hack, and people who still want to play it get to do so.

I put a couple more exits into Bunbun 2 yesterday, and it's already so much better than the first game (kind of similar to the quality jump between Quickie 1 and Quickie 2, except I still liked Quickie 1). My one complaint so far is that the overworld is super confusing. Early on it branches into two paths (one of which then forks into a third path), but there seems to be no reason for this because they all meet up again later at the same spot. The third path just leads to a warp pipe that doesn't actually take you anywhere accessible. There's no switch palaces along the way or anything like that, so it feels like they're only there because the creator felt obligated to put secret exits in.

 

[lincolnic]

Hey @MCBanjoMike, I was thinking about trying to explain my strat for Kamek's bullet phase last night and I realized it would be a lot easier just to show you, so I made a little gif demo! I still have my practice save states, so it only took a minute to load up the right spot. Putting it behind a spoiler pop so there isn't a gif looping away on this page forever.

Spoiler: Phase 4

This method also forces the timing for the start of the next phase to line up properly, so that you'll never miss the falling platforms. Bonus!

 

[MCBanjoMike]

Ooh, that does look like a pretty easy pattern to execute (it's also very Ip Man in how little you move). Thanks man, that's really nice of you! Haven't decided if I'll give it another try tonight, I think I might punt until tomorrow so I don't burn out/not sleep enough.

Jeremy, your article reminded me of something Juz said in his beginner kaizo hack video. Talking about Sawrfing, he said that it's a good lesson that not every level is going to fit the difficulty curve of any given hack. It's good to remember that these games are typically made by a single person, who either doesn't realize or simply doesn't care that they're throwing the player a major curveball. There are definitely some who think that tossing folks into the deep end is the best way to learn.

 

[MCBanjoMike]

So GPW2 when?

 

[lincolnic]

Damn it, you two are going to make me play it, aren't you?

Congrats again on beating Invictus, Mike. I know that game was one of your big kaizo goals for a long time, it must feel great to have crossed that one off the list!

 

[MCBanjoMike]

You’re damn right it did.

So, Invictus:

• Three months and a day from start to finish, not counting the two times I dipped my toe in well before I was ready to play it.
• A little over 60 hours to beat, although it gets pretty fuzzy with all the parts that were replayed at various times.
• TWENTY of those hours were spent on either Absolute Power or Invictus (8 for AbsPow, 5 for the castle and 7 on Kamek).
• Kamek is a really poor way to end such a spectacular hack. The fight is mostly boring, expect for the frustration of the disco shell in the middle. I will admit that it probably made me better at disco riding, at least. The most fun part of the fight is the falling platforms, which I almost never got to do.
• I hit a particularly low point at the end of Absolute Power. That level was a huge grind for me and it ended with a maneuver that I still don’t think I could pull off reliably. That was compounded by having to do that section over when the checkpoint didn’t save, and then the realization that the same thing was going to happen in the final level. I was way down on the game (and life) at that point.
• Things started to get better the first time I returned to the castle, when I was able to get through the first section a second time relatively quickly. From there, I started to feel like it wasn’t going to be all that bad to make my way back to Kamek each time I restarted, and it never really was.
• There were times in those last levels when I really thought I might not be capable of finishing a section. Now that I’m done, I feel totally invincible. Being on Casio!
• I am seriously not ready to commit to GPW2 right now, but I’d be willing to play a level or two if one of you wants to have some company while you start it.

Not really sure what I’ll do with myself now, probably play some Valheim or try Loop Hero or something. Once I’ve finished my run back of Hark 2, I’ll try to do a stream where I set some splits, see how long that takes me. But I should probably stay away from hard Kaizo for a little while, I think I need a break.

EDIT: I am not going to lie, I've been legitimately emotional about this victory today. Been watching the final bits of speedruns that I had been following as I played and I'm going to listen to the soundtrack again. And did you know that there's a secret room if you take the pipe at the end of the green switch palace 244 times??

FUN FACT: For me, the day I beat Invictus was the most important day of my life. But for Juz, it was Tuesday.

 

[MCBanjoMike]

KAIZO STATE OF THE UNION

With that out of the way, let's see your kaizo clear lists! I know you've been keeping them, you nerds. Here's mine:

1. Baby Kaizo World (any% only)
2. Quickie World 2
3. Quickie World
4. Super Ryu World
5. Take It Easy World
6. Little Mario World
7. HYPERION
8. Super Hark Bros 2
9. Cute Kaizo World
10. Invictus

Of these, my favorites have been Quickie 2 (obviously), Hark 2 and Invictus...or at least, most of Invictus. The motor skills levels were a slog, but they probably won't pose much of a problem when I eventually replay them. Kamek, on the other hand, is just a drag. I expect I'll come back to Invictus at some point so that I can enjoy the fruits of my labor, but I'm not sure I'll ever want to try running it if it means facing Kamek every time.

In terms of what hacks I might play next, on the easier side there are the two Bun Bun games, El Dorado, Sayonara and maybe Sweet'n'Sour. In terms of harder hacks, I would eventually like to give GPW2 a real shot. I probably won't commit to it any time soon, but I'm tempted to play a level or two, if only to see what it's like before GPW3 drops. I'd also maybe like to play Riff 2 or Peachy Moat World, but again we're getting into project territory. In the short term, the only thing I'm sure of is attempting Hark 2 any%. And if I play anything new alongside that, it might end up being YUMP2???

 

[lincolnic]

There were times in those last levels when I really thought I might not be capable of finishing a section. Now that I’m done, I feel totally invincible. Being on Casio!

I am not going to lie, I've been legitimately emotional about this victory today.

Damn yeah, I felt exactly the same way after I finished the game. I've said before that it was the hardest video game challenge I'd ever beaten, and doing so felt empowering in a way that video games rarely have since I was a kid. I'm super happy for you.

As for the clear list, here's what I've got. Everything is 100% unless noted otherwise:

1. Learn 2 Kaizo
2. Quickie World 2
3. Baby Kaizo World (any%)
4. Quickie World
5. Super Ryu World (since deleted after the creator turned out to be a terrible person)
6. Take It Easy World
7. Akogare Mario World
8. Little Mario World
9. Hyperion
10. Super Hark Bros
11. Quest for Corgi Butts (minus the final shell hell level)
12. Invictus
13. Super Hark Bros 2
14. Akogare 2
15. Bunbun World

Currently in progress:
Bunbun World 2 (expecting to finish before the end of the week)
Learning to Fly (not sure when I'll go back and mop up the remaining levels since they're full of super obscure cape tech)

Cleared a few levels and got bored:
Shell's Retriever

Early on I also started Kaizo Kindergarten, but gave it up in favor of Learn 2 Kaizo. Favorites for me so far would have to be Quickie 2, Hyperion, Invictus, Hark 2, and maaaaaaybe Akogare 2? Mike, you should probably play Akogare 2 at some point too!

I definitely would like to play Sayonara, Polyphony, and El Dorado next, and after that I'm not sure. Riff 2 interests me but A) some of the later levels are super intimidating and B) no instant retry. I'll give GPW2 a shot eventually, because just like Invictus, I'm not sure I'll ever feel ready for it -- I think it's just something I'm going to have to jump into. I'm not in a rush to get there, though like Mike, I may try a bit of it sooner if GPW3 gets a release date in the near future.

 

[SilentSnake]

My clear list:

1. Learn 2 Kaizo
2. Quickie World
3. Super Moo World
4. Quickie World 2
5. Climb the Tower
6. Super Hark Bros.
7. Little Mario World
8. HYPERION
9. Bunbun World
10. Take it Easy World
11. Akogare Mario World
12. Bunbun World 2
13. Chain Reaction
14. Shell's Retriever
15. Quest for Corgi Butts
16. Unintended Behavior
17. Super Hark Bros. 2
18. Sayonara Mario World
19. Akogare 2
20. Invictus
21. Polyphony

Currently in progress: El Dorado, Comfort Zone, Kibeth Takes a Walk

I have GPW2 in my sights, but I might just do Learn to Fly and Let's Give Up first so I'm prepared for the Eyrie.

 

[MCBanjoMike]

Do you think Let's Give Up is any easier than the Eyrie? It looks pretty scary to me from what I've seen (although it will undoubtedly improve your cape skills to play it).

 

[SilentSnake]

Probably not, but Let's Give Up has been on my list for a while, so I might as well once I Learn to Fly.

 

[lincolnic]

I feel pretty comfortable in saying that I probably will never play Let's Give Up. A little bit of cape is fun, but nonstop cape is too much for me. Huge respect for the people who finish/speedrun that hack, though! It's super fun to watch.

 

[MCBanjoMike]

Hark 2 runback is complete! I replayed all of the levels, even though I plan on running any%, because I wanted to remember what I would and wouldn't be playing for the run. Any% cuts out about a third of the game, so it's a pretty sizable chunk that gets removed. Some of my least favorite exits are gone (the main exit in the dolphin level, the weird underground buzzy beetle level), but a few fun ones are cut in the process as well (the ghost chase sequence/double ghost boss fight, the choose your own adventure castle). I made a point of trying all the doors that I skipped on my first run through the multiple choice castle, which meant I actually played the short cape section this time around. Sidetree was still the hardest level by far; I think it took me ~30 minutes to clear it this time, so clearly there's work to be done on that front! WR is at around 18 minutes right now, so my first goal will be sub-30, which will put me on the leaderboard without being dead last. Next time I stream I'll try to set some splits, hopefully I'll actually manage to clear the game in one sitting.

Haven't forgotten about Quickie 2, either. I'd really like to push my time down to sub-25, which I think should be achievable. I only need to improve by one minute to bop Harkness!