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It'sa me, Kaizo Mario!
- Thread starter MCBanjoMike
- Start date
The brain makes connections while you sleep, that’s a science fact.
So at everyone's suggestion on here, I started Learn 2 Kaizo tonight. Got through a rather large chunk of it, and I feel like I'm learning a ton. I even learned more about the simple act of jumping, which I didn't expect. Figuring out the double shell jump was extremely difficult, though I eventually made it through there. Stopped just after the sumo section. Looking forward to continuing tomorrow.
I tried to watch a bit of your stream last night, but the framerate was super choppy. 
But it sounds like you've made it really far in Learn 2 Kaizo for one night! Pretty sure I didn't get to double shell jumps on day one, anyway. If you made it past the infamous Test #2, you can probably safely start playing the Quickie games.
But it sounds like you've made it really far in Learn 2 Kaizo for one night! Pretty sure I didn't get to double shell jumps on day one, anyway. If you made it past the infamous Test #2, you can probably safely start playing the Quickie games.
Once again, Mike beat me to what I was gonna say. That's so much progress in one night! I got stuck on Test #2 for a while when I was playing Learn 2 Kaizo. Nice work!
And yeah, you have so much granular control over how Mario jumps that you never really think about playing vanilla SMW. One other tutorial hack I played a little bit of (but didn't finish) was Kaizo Kindergarten by Panga, which starts out with an entire series of levels dedicated to not only jump controls, but also various kinds of regrabs (i.e. when you let go of the jump button and press it again in midair to change your falling speed). I switched to other things because the early levels there felt a little too academic for me, but if you really want to dig into the nuts and bolts of how Mario moves it's pretty enlightening.
I'd still recommend playing through the rest of Learn 2 Kaizo (the cape levels at the end really give you some good knowledge), but as Mike said, if you're already through double shell jumps, you're probably good to play the Quickie Worlds if you want to.
And yeah, you have so much granular control over how Mario jumps that you never really think about playing vanilla SMW. One other tutorial hack I played a little bit of (but didn't finish) was Kaizo Kindergarten by Panga, which starts out with an entire series of levels dedicated to not only jump controls, but also various kinds of regrabs (i.e. when you let go of the jump button and press it again in midair to change your falling speed). I switched to other things because the early levels there felt a little too academic for me, but if you really want to dig into the nuts and bolts of how Mario moves it's pretty enlightening.
I'd still recommend playing through the rest of Learn 2 Kaizo (the cape levels at the end really give you some good knowledge), but as Mike said, if you're already through double shell jumps, you're probably good to play the Quickie Worlds if you want to.
I still haven't done the last levels in L2K, I'm going to get utterly destroyed the first time I hit a cape level in a kaizo hack.
You absolutely owe it to yourself to do the L2K cape levels, then. There's so much about cape mechanics that isn't obvious at all (for example, slowing down) and L2K spells out exactly how it works for you.
I'm at the penultimate level in Akogare now and it's a cape level. Even knowing what to do, it's still brutal.
I'm at the penultimate level in Akogare now and it's a cape level. Even knowing what to do, it's still brutal.
Holy crap, I beat Learn 2 Kaizo. The challenges were getting to be a lot by the end, and the cape stuff was indeed useful. The Final Test was really bastardly, too.
Tomorrow, I begin Quickie World!
Tomorrow, I begin Quickie World!
Congrats on your first clear! Hope you have fun with the Quickie games, they're really fantastic (especially 2).
Meanwhile I'm spending a solid 2 hours per level trying to finish Take it Easy. The second half of Fisco must have taken me an hour and a half in total, and by the time I was done I was not very happy with it. The combination of disco fish and disco shell made for a whole bunch of randomness and I got really tired of failing because the fish was in the wrong spot once I finished riding the shell. To be fair, I don't have a lot of disco shell experience, so I could see having less trouble with a similar level in the future. But man, I was really fed up with it last night. The next level I have been finding challenging, but generally a lot of fun. I made it to the checkpoint last night and into the section where you go left (!!). It's actually not that hard on my brain to change directions, but there's one part that seems incredibly tight and I'm not sure if I have the right idea or not. After making a huge spin jump over a pit, using bullets arriving from the left to make it across, there's a point where you have to hit an invisible block and then get on top of it before a platform falls. That's tough, but doable. But I eventually realized that you need to do all that BEFORE the bullets you have been escorting get there, and that seems like a bridge too far. Do I just need to go faster, or should I be trying something different? There are two bullets left at that point and I get the impression that you need them both to make the final jump in the stage. But if I could use one of those bullets to bounce up onto the invisible block, that would make the whole thing easier.
Meanwhile I'm spending a solid 2 hours per level trying to finish Take it Easy. The second half of Fisco must have taken me an hour and a half in total, and by the time I was done I was not very happy with it. The combination of disco fish and disco shell made for a whole bunch of randomness and I got really tired of failing because the fish was in the wrong spot once I finished riding the shell. To be fair, I don't have a lot of disco shell experience, so I could see having less trouble with a similar level in the future. But man, I was really fed up with it last night. The next level I have been finding challenging, but generally a lot of fun. I made it to the checkpoint last night and into the section where you go left (!!). It's actually not that hard on my brain to change directions, but there's one part that seems incredibly tight and I'm not sure if I have the right idea or not. After making a huge spin jump over a pit, using bullets arriving from the left to make it across, there's a point where you have to hit an invisible block and then get on top of it before a platform falls. That's tough, but doable. But I eventually realized that you need to do all that BEFORE the bullets you have been escorting get there, and that seems like a bridge too far. Do I just need to go faster, or should I be trying something different? There are two bullets left at that point and I get the impression that you need them both to make the final jump in the stage. But if I could use one of those bullets to bounce up onto the invisible block, that would make the whole thing easier.
Congrats, SS! Beating L2K in two sittings is no small feat. Let us know how your Quickie runs go!
You need both bullets to finish the level, so you just need to go faster. When you do that big spin jump, you should be ahead of the bullets that have been coming from the right. If they're ahead of you, you didn't get there quickly enough. Are you missing the triangle block that lets you run up the wall right before you bounce off the Rex? If you are that'd definitely prevent you from getting the speed you need.
Timewise I'm in a similar boat with Akogare. Yesterday I put in a couple of hours and did not beat the cape level. I'm at the midway now, but just like with the level before it, I haven't been able to pass the very end of the level. I've gotten pretty decent at everything leading up to the ending just from sheer repetition, but the final series of jumps is just so hard. The timing is just unforgivingly tight. I only managed to pull it off successfully once so far, before dying yet again right in front of the goal tape. I really hope I don't spend too much longer there today.
After that though, there's only the final castle left. The end is in sight!
You need both bullets to finish the level, so you just need to go faster. When you do that big spin jump, you should be ahead of the bullets that have been coming from the right. If they're ahead of you, you didn't get there quickly enough. Are you missing the triangle block that lets you run up the wall right before you bounce off the Rex? If you are that'd definitely prevent you from getting the speed you need.
Timewise I'm in a similar boat with Akogare. Yesterday I put in a couple of hours and did not beat the cape level. I'm at the midway now, but just like with the level before it, I haven't been able to pass the very end of the level. I've gotten pretty decent at everything leading up to the ending just from sheer repetition, but the final series of jumps is just so hard. The timing is just unforgivingly tight. I only managed to pull it off successfully once so far, before dying yet again right in front of the goal tape. I really hope I don't spend too much longer there today.
After that though, there's only the final castle left. The end is in sight!
Are you in the special world for Akogare at this point? How would you say the difficulty compares to Take it Easy? I'm definitely ready to go back to something I can play a bit more easily after this, at least for a few days. I'll probably try for some QW2 runs, see if I can get my time below 30 minutes. I'm still very excited to dive into Invictus, but I really need to play something where each level isn't taking me 2 hours to complete first.
Yeah, this is the special world. I think Take It Easy is overall harder than Akogare, especially in the later levels. On average I spent more time on the harder Take It Easy levels than I have on Akogare. The Akogare special levels do require some tricks that Take It Easy doesn't (things like shell jumps or bouncing P-switches off of ceilings) but there's nothing you don't already know how to do. I'll also say that Take It Easy tends to have its levels focused around one particular theme or gimmick, and while Akogare can as well, it typically asks you for a wider range of moves in any given stage. They feel very different.
I know you're not so hot on Akogare, but I do still recommend playing it. The early levels are admittedly not great, but once you get to the first switch palace it gets fun. It's definitely made me a better player.
I know you're not so hot on Akogare, but I do still recommend playing it. The early levels are admittedly not great, but once you get to the first switch palace it gets fun. It's definitely made me a better player.
Well, I'm not saying no, but I'm also not super excited about the idea. Though if I can get back to completing levels in less than 30 minutes each, that would make a nice change.
Speaking of easier hacks, there's a new one that just came out called Little Mario World that has been making the rounds. I know it starts off friendly, though it's possible that the difficulty ramps up later. DeeBick and Taterholic were playing it yesterday, and NobleTofu seems to have joined in today. Between that and Hyperion, there are a couple of easier options that seem fairly appealing right now.
Speaking of easier hacks, there's a new one that just came out called Little Mario World that has been making the rounds. I know it starts off friendly, though it's possible that the difficulty ramps up later. DeeBick and Taterholic were playing it yesterday, and NobleTofu seems to have joined in today. Between that and Hyperion, there are a couple of easier options that seem fairly appealing right now.
With 7494 deaths on the counter, I have successfully 100% cleared Akogare Mario World. Honestly, the final level was the easiest one in the entire special world.
Having cleared the game, I can see why a lot of people recommend it as part of the foundational kaizo experience. Like I said in my last post, it starts off a little rough, but you'll absolutely be a better player by the end of the game. I think Mega_Scott may have been holding back a bit too much in the first few levels -- you're just not doing that much in them, so they're not that fun. The first switch palace is where he really starts to stretch a bit, and it feels much better to play as a result. Things generally stay on the upswing from there through the end of Any%, though there were a few points where I got stuck along the way.
Little Mario World actually sounds perfect right now. The description on SMW Central says the difficulty ranges between QW2 and Akogare, and I'm definitely in the mood for something a little easier. I think that'll be the next thing I try, thanks for the tip!
Having cleared the game, I can see why a lot of people recommend it as part of the foundational kaizo experience. Like I said in my last post, it starts off a little rough, but you'll absolutely be a better player by the end of the game. I think Mega_Scott may have been holding back a bit too much in the first few levels -- you're just not doing that much in them, so they're not that fun. The first switch palace is where he really starts to stretch a bit, and it feels much better to play as a result. Things generally stay on the upswing from there through the end of Any%, though there were a few points where I got stuck along the way.
Little Mario World actually sounds perfect right now. The description on SMW Central says the difficulty ranges between QW2 and Akogare, and I'm definitely in the mood for something a little easier. I think that'll be the next thing I try, thanks for the tip!
Congrats! You are one step closer to completing the unfortunately-named QQAIDS kaizo journey.
It also puts you a full hack ahead of me
It also puts you a full hack ahead of me
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Oof, that's...yeah, I'd never heard that term before and maybe let's not use it again? That's a bit too Edgy for my comfort.
(But also, what does the S stand for? I'm guessing I and D are Invictus and Dram?)
It's not a race! I just happened to have a lot of free time lately.
(But also, what does the S stand for? I'm guessing I and D are Invictus and Dram?)
It also puts you a full hack ahead of me
It's not a race! I just happened to have a lot of free time lately.
And since I had nothing to do today, I started Little Mario World. I'm maybe 7-8 exits in and so far it's pretty good, though I have some design nitpicks. The creator uses checkered textures as death blocks, which are sometimes hard to read and also sometimes unnecessary. There've also been a handful of jumps that seemed needlessly tight. Overall though it's been nice to play some easier levels that still have some teeth. I hit a difficulty spike towards the end of the second world, but I'll come back to this tomorrow. So far I like it!
Welp, I beat World 1 of Quickie World in about three hours. Having a lot of fun with the game, though some levels are better than others. Linkdead's Shed is genius, and The Tower of Power is just incredibly well designed. I could feel myself getting better and better at the level rather than being stuck on one finicky trick (hi Run Forest). Looking forward to World 2 tomorrow.
That's something I really love about playing these games: you can feel yourself getting better in real time. I can't really think of too many other gaming experiences I've had where that happens, and it's kind of empowering.
Anyway, nice progress! I think the first level of World 2 is my favorite in that hack.
I'm 13 exits into Little Mario World, with only 4 to go until the special world. I'm still liking it a lot, but it definitely has some issues that are becoming more apparent as I make more progress. For one, there are a lot of levels where the background color palette is extremely similar to the foreground, which can make some things hard to read. There are also a lot of blind jumps in the hack, which nobody really likes.
Complaints aside, a lot of the levels have been really fun, and there've been some setups I'd never seen before. As advertised, it's definitely a step down in difficulty from Take It Easy World. From what I've seen, I'd probably rate it somewhere in between Quickie 1 and Akogare. I think I've put in a total of 3.5 hours so far, and I'm only two exits shy of finishing Any%. It's nice to finish some levels quickly!
Made it to Yellow Dwarf in World 2. I'm definitely getting better, although Inferno was a big wall.
Also, since streaming is kinda out of the question for me, I uploaded my full playthrough of World 1 to Youtube.
Also, since streaming is kinda out of the question for me, I uploaded my full playthrough of World 1 to Youtube.
Heck yeah I beat Quickie World! Sawfring Castle was a bit of a wall, but other than that, I'm pleased with the level of challenge the stages provided me, though White Moth Lair was a bit of an anticlimax. I was so proud of myself that I realized the Yoshi glitch applied in Rainbow Road haha.
Ah, but onward and upward. This is my next target.
Ah, but onward and upward. This is my next target.
Nice one! I think Sawrfing took me a solid 3 hours to finish, sounds like you’re doing better than I was when I started. Let us know how you like Moo world, and don’t forget to play Quickie 2 as well! It’s just superb.
Honestly, all told, Quickie World took me about 16 hours to grind out. I still have a long way to go on my Kaizo journey.
Great job SS! Sawrfing took me 3 hours by itself (Mike and I had remarkably similar experiences for our first plays of the Quickie games), but it was a big "level up" moment. I definitely recommend moving on to Quickie World 2 when you're ready, it's a little easier than the first one, as well as more fun (at least, I think so). Quickie 2 is my favorite game I've played this year by far.
Neither of us have played Moo World though, keep us posted on that!
I have one final level left in Little Mario World. The difficulty definitely picks up in the later levels, but so far I've only had one that took me an hour. If I ever play this hack again, I don't think I'll do 100%. The switch palaces are fun and I'd play those, but the special levels were not enjoyable for me. Especially the first one, where there's no margin for error whatsoever. The other hacks I've played so far have had at least a little wiggle room in the level design -- you still have to do everything a certain way, but maybe you don't have to jump at This Exact Spot or else you die. You can be a couple of pixels to the left or right. Starting about halfway through this hack, you usually don't have that luxury, which to me ends up feeling a bit too rigid at times. Not everything needs to be that tight!
I'm still looking forward to the final level, though. I should wrap this one up tomorrow, and then I need to figure out what comes next.
Neither of us have played Moo World though, keep us posted on that!
I have one final level left in Little Mario World. The difficulty definitely picks up in the later levels, but so far I've only had one that took me an hour. If I ever play this hack again, I don't think I'll do 100%. The switch palaces are fun and I'd play those, but the special levels were not enjoyable for me. Especially the first one, where there's no margin for error whatsoever. The other hacks I've played so far have had at least a little wiggle room in the level design -- you still have to do everything a certain way, but maybe you don't have to jump at This Exact Spot or else you die. You can be a couple of pixels to the left or right. Starting about halfway through this hack, you usually don't have that luxury, which to me ends up feeling a bit too rigid at times. Not everything needs to be that tight!
I'm still looking forward to the final level, though. I should wrap this one up tomorrow, and then I need to figure out what comes next.
Played some of Super Moo World. It's really chill and light, a perfect antidote to the fast pace of Quickie World. Most of the levels had very pleasing, light difficulty, though I did find the ghost forest to be a bit janky and harder, with no clear path that I could see to get through the ghost cloud. Still, I like it a lot so far! Also, some surprising music ports such as Copacabana!
I'm going to upload a video of me playing through the first few areas so y'all can have a better idea what this hack is about.
I'm going to upload a video of me playing through the first few areas so y'all can have a better idea what this hack is about.
Okay, here's the video of my first playthrough of Super Moo World!
Oh, nice. Looks like a pretty chill hack! Except for that last part where you have to ride the bubble through the Boo field, that seems way harder than anything else in the preceding levels. Those custom Boo sprites are super cute though.
I wrapped up Little Mario World! I didn't keep strict track of my time, but I think I clocked in around 7.5-8 hours in total. The final level took about an hour and 40 minutes, including the boss fight (the boss was not hard). The level itself needs you to do some extremely precise regrabs and shell jumps, with the final jump being a left-facing shell jump into an up-pipe. That jump is probably the real boss of the level. The first half of the level especially has a lot of blind drops, which is kind of a bummer. But overall, I really did enjoy the hack. There was only one level that I found super frustrating (the first special level), and there were some pretty cool setups I haven't seen in other hacks. The soundtrack was generally also very good, including one particularly hilarious entry. Mike, this should be a good palette cleanser hack for you once you finish Take It Easy World.
I saw someone play a little bit of Hyperion last night and it seemed pretty fun, so I'm probably going to take a look at that next. I've also heard good things about Unlit Candles, but I haven't seen any of it yet. Juzcook just posted a video of it today, so I may watch that and decide after.
I wrapped up Little Mario World! I didn't keep strict track of my time, but I think I clocked in around 7.5-8 hours in total. The final level took about an hour and 40 minutes, including the boss fight (the boss was not hard). The level itself needs you to do some extremely precise regrabs and shell jumps, with the final jump being a left-facing shell jump into an up-pipe. That jump is probably the real boss of the level. The first half of the level especially has a lot of blind drops, which is kind of a bummer. But overall, I really did enjoy the hack. There was only one level that I found super frustrating (the first special level), and there were some pretty cool setups I haven't seen in other hacks. The soundtrack was generally also very good, including one particularly hilarious entry. Mike, this should be a good palette cleanser hack for you once you finish Take It Easy World.
I saw someone play a little bit of Hyperion last night and it seemed pretty fun, so I'm probably going to take a look at that next. I've also heard good things about Unlit Candles, but I haven't seen any of it yet. Juzcook just posted a video of it today, so I may watch that and decide after.
Thanks for the recs, linc. I've still got the going-left checkpoint and the final level of Take it Easy to clear, but lord almighty is that first one tight. I'll probably try it again tonight if I'm feeling awake enough. I like Take it Easy quite a lot, but I've spent around 20 hours on it at this point and I'm ready to move on and/or make faster progress in a kaizo game for a bit.
Hey linc, let me know if you do start Hyperion and what you think of it. I frequent a couple of the same discords as creator AmperSam, and I know they'd love the feedback.
Tonight after I eat I anticipate I'm going to finish Super Moo World, as I hear the ghost cloud is the roughest part in the game. I'll probably get all the exits then move on to Quickie World 2.
Tonight after I eat I anticipate I'm going to finish Super Moo World, as I hear the ghost cloud is the roughest part in the game. I'll probably get all the exits then move on to Quickie World 2.
I watched a bit of Juz playing Unlit Candles and it looks to be equal parts incredibly creative and exceptionally difficult. That and a recent hack called Casio both seem to be on the extremely hard end of the scale from what I’ve seen.