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It'sa me, Kaizo Mario!

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
I played some more Bunbun 2 today, which I puts me at 10.5 exits completed. if I'm not mistaken. The good news is that the game actually did save my checkpoint last night, despite how it seemed. I had forgotten, but at the start they tell you that you have to die once for the checkpoint to be restored - and wouldn't you know it, it's true! I also figured out that weird castle section, so that's nice. The bad news is that I'm not super enjoying this hack so far. It's good overall, and there hasn't been much that has really bugged me about it, but there's something about the flow in the levels that doesn't really hit the happy spot in my brain. It does not feel, as they say, sick as hell. I'll probably see it through, since I'm making progress at a steady pace and the hack isn't super long. But the levels are just hard enough that I can't complete them quickly, yet there's nothing happening on screen that makes me feel like I'm really accomplishing much. Dunno, it's hard to explain these things. Hopefully I'll hit on some levels that I enjoy more in the back half - I just got to one with a bunch of Banzai Bills that has been satisfying so far.

BTW, I was watching Superben play Invictus today, since he's trying to get back into running that game. He got stuck on the bullet phase of the Kamek fight, so I linked him lincoln's excellent gif - with proper credit, of course - and he used that to beat Kamek! He says he isn't going for WR on this one, but we'll just see about that.
 

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
Yeah, I didn't super love Bunbun 2 either, but it certainly felt good enough to play through. There are some cool levels and it's a big improvement on the first game. Just be advised that the final level is really long! Not too hard, just long.

I'm in kind of a similar boat with Dancer. It's getting harder -- I played three more exits today in two hours, which was as long as the first five exits took -- but it hasn't grabbed me in the same way that Akogare 2 or Hark 2 did. As of right now I'm still planning on finishing it since I'm already close to the halfway mark (8 of 22 exits). The last two levels I played were both pretty fun, so hopefully things will trend upwards from there.

I'm still trying to sort out my thoughts about Akogare 1 after my runback, I'll have to sit down when it's not so late and work on that.

BTW, I was watching Superben play Invictus today, since he's trying to get back into running that game. He got stuck on the bullet phase of the Kamek fight, so I linked him lincoln's excellent gif - with proper credit, of course - and he used that to beat Kamek! He says he isn't going for WR on this one, but we'll just see about that.
This makes me so happy! Ben works really hard and it's very cool to think that I helped a little. Next time I see him streaming I'll be sure to loudly and obnoxiously claim my credit (I won't).
 

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
Okay, I only had time to play one level in Dancer today, but it totally ruled. That's three good ones in a row, hoping the trend continues.
 

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
Finally, an easy level! Looking forward to you one-shotting it.

I had some time this morning, so I sat down and finished off Bunbun 2. I was racing against the clock, or rather against my son, who was sleeping late (still getting over his cold). Thankfully, he didn't wake up until nearly 10 AM, so I had the hour or so I needed to finish the castle. Aside from the fact that it didn't have saveable checkpoints, it was pretty good. I wasn't really in the mood to have to play the credits level after that, but it wasn't all that difficult. So in the end, I'd say I spent 7-8 hours on this hack, and I enjoyed probably 3/4 of it. I wouldn't count it among my favorites, but honestly the average quality of the hacks that I've played so far has been super high, so that's not much of a knock against it. If it wasn't for the hazy kaizo cave, the note block level, the first castle and the precision section right at the end of any%, I think I would have been a lot happier with it. If anything, I'd have to say the hack was kind of lacking an identity, something I can point to as being typically Bunbun. That said, if sio puts something else out, I'll definitely be curious to check it out - it seems like hack creators only get better over time for the most part?

Next time: how about a nice little stroll?
 

SilentSnake

Administrator
(He/him)
Staff member
Moderator
Hey, I beat Danger Zone! It didn't take me long at all. Now for my favorite music in the game.
Grand Poo World 2 1.1-210419-125409.png
 

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
Damn, Snake, you're tearing through that game! Next time you post you're gonna be fighting Bowser already.

If anything, I'd have to say the hack was kind of lacking an identity, something I can point to as being typically Bunbun.
I hadn't thought about it, but you're absolutely right about this -- it feels like a collection of levels rather than a cohesive game. Dancer kinda feels that way too, if I'm being honest. But I know Sio is working on Bunbun 3, and if he improves even half as much as he did between 1 and 2, I'll be very interested to see what that hack looks like.

Anyway, nice job on finishing, looking forward to seeing what you think about Kibeth Takes a Walk! I think I've seen the first level and the last level of that game, nothing in between.
 

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
Hey, my Hark 2 run is finally up on speedrun.com, and verified by ChrisG himself no less. Also, it looks like Superben grabbed the WR on any% a few days ago? When stew's away, the Ben will play.
 

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
Congrats on getting on the board! Hopefully more to come.

I went to check it out and your VOD still has the "meme runs" tag on it. You love to see it.
 

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
I picked up Kibeth today and, so far, it’s both harder and better than I was expecting it to be. I knew there were only 11 exits to the hack, so I was wondering if it would be a single-serving game the same way Cute Kaizo was. But in the end, I only managed to get two and a half exits over about an hour of play. Of course I wasn’t super focused, since I was watching slop_core get to know his MiSTer at the same time. But the levels so far have been tricky and inventive, not to mention a little weird? The first one uses the diagonal single-tile snake blocks from Piranha Pipeway, which I don’t entirely love, but the second is an extremely cool shell level that doesn’t require any actual shell tricks. The tunes are solid too, so that obviously helps. Don’t know if I’ll end up streaming any of this or if I’ll just polish it off a few levels at a time over the next few days. Either way, so far I’m having a good time!
 

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
I think I'm done with Dancer, 15 or 16 exits in. I just haven't had fun for the past 2-3 times I've sat down with it. The last time I posted I'd played through a few good levels in a row but every level after that has been kind of a drag, with a couple of them really feeling like they didn't respect the player's time. I watched a speedrun of the rest of the game to see what the home stretch is like, and while there are a couple of levels I'd want to play, I don't feel like I'm missing too much by not taking it all the way. I'll still check out Dancer 2 when it comes out because I think Slop has some good ideas, but I'm ready to put this one down.

In lighter news, my Super NT is supposed to arrive tomorrow! I think I'm gonna load up Learn 2 Kaizo first just so I can relearn the timing of things like shell jumps on actual hardware. Then I'll probably do a Quickie 2 run to see how real levels feel. Not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited to break out the SNES controllers again.
 

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
Ah well, not every hack is for every person. I think even slop considers Dancer 1 to be a little on the rough side, hopefully the sequel will be better. As for the change in feel, I'm not sure you need to go as far as replaying Learn 2 Kaizo, but you do you. Diving straight in to Quickie 2, on the other hand, is always a good idea. And if you're looking for a new hack to pick up, consider Kibeth! I've finished 5 exits so far and I think it's quite good.
 

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
Oh, I'm not gonna replay L2K in full. I'm gonna carry my save file over too so I can go to specific obstacles to see how things feel, like shell jumps or saw riding. I like the idea of being able to say "I wonder how (insert kaizo trick) feels on this hardware" and then just finding out. I'll probably do a couple of levels in Learn to Fly as well, just to get a feel for cape. But I don't expect to spend more than 20-30 minutes messing around before I load up a proper hack.

In any event, Kibeth is on my list! Glad you're liking it so far.
 

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
Did you guys see that stew got his 44 in GPW2? Absolute legend.


No updates from you in a bit, Snake, I take it the Eyrie isn't going quietly into the night?

Hoping to stream some kaizo tonight, but I'm still fighting off the cold that has been going around the house, so I might be too tired. We'll see!
 

SilentSnake

Administrator
(He/him)
Staff member
Moderator
The Eyrie is a very long level, it seems. On the plus side, I'm learning how to control the speed of my flight better. I'm on the second checkpoint of the level out of I believe four?
 

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
Not only did Stew get his 44, but Superben got his sub-40 Invictus time last night as well (he wasn't using my Kamek strat though). Juz was in the chat! And apparently Calco got the world record for Yoshi's Island. Good night for the speedrunners.

While I was watching Ben, I learned that there's a free cheese strat in Die-Tree. You know the part in the first half where you have to throw two blocks to the left, and then another block to the right, hitting turn blocks so the vine can keep growing? You can skip the last throw block and just hit the final turn block by jumping up into it. Mindblown.gif
 

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
Does that cheese strat work in 1.1? I've seen people do that in runs, but I thought it was blocked off when I was in that level.
 

SilentSnake

Administrator
(He/him)
Staff member
Moderator
Hey, let's hear it for Mike, who got the checkpoint in Marathon!!!

As for me, I'm almost there...
Grand Poo World 2 1.1-210424-141036.png
 

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
Congrats to both of you! Go kick Bowser's ass, Snake.

As for me, I set up my Super NT today, and I have no regrets about this purchase at all. It just brings me joy on a really fundamental level to be playing Super Nintendo on my TV again. Also, SNES controllers are a lot smaller than they were when I was a kid!

I did do some sciencing in Learn 2 Kaizo and Learning to Fly just to see how different the timings of a few things were, and then I jumped straight into Quickie 2. Preliminary observations: shell jumps feel the same, riding saws is easier, regrabs are...harder? Not harder, but I definitely feel the timing difference from playing on a console the most there. It feels like Mario falls a lot faster when I let go of jump than he does playing on an emulator, which makes sense if there's that much less input lag to contend with.

It can't have been that tough, though, because I tore through Quickie 2 in about an hour, which was the fastest I've ever beaten it. I know that's not an impressive time, but it felt great regardless. I'd really like to have a sub-hour clear at some point. I played a few other things too, notably going back to Admiral Snackbar in El Dorado to see how all the fast tricks in the second half would feel (they felt great). I closed out my day with a new hack, Mahogen. It's definitely on the easy side (probably around Quickie difficulty), and I ran through 10 exits in an hour. There's only 7 exits left, so I'll polish that one off tomorrow and then take stock.

Maybe it's time I join you guys in a world of adventure and peril.
 

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
Congrats on the Super Nt! In terms of lag, I agree that low-latency really helps with saw and spiny riding, which is one of the places where reflexes really help in these games. As for a sub-hour clear of Quickie 2, you'll probably only need to play it one or two more times. It's pretty great once you get it under an hour, you can play it multiple times in a row! Then all you need to do is install LiveSplit and you're off to the races. Maybe even literally!
Maybe it's time I join you guys in a world of adventure and peril.
You won't have to go far if you want to find me, I think you can still see me from Yoshi's house :slopcoBlock:
 

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
Given that my computer lives in my bedroom and the NT/TV are in the living room, I don't think I'll be setting splits any time soon. I'll just have to use the stopwatch on my phone next time I pick up Quickie 2.

My only complaint about the NT so far is that it doesn't work with my HDMI splitter, which is really the splitter's fault because it was super cheap. My TV is also old enough to only have one HDMI port, so I have to swap the splitter for the NT whenever I want to use it, but that's not the worst thing. If/when I ever get a PS5 I'll probably get a new TV to go along with it, so this is a temporary annoyance.
 

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
Holy crap, you took care of Bowser already?? Some people spend days on that fight. I’m seriously impressed, I think this means you’re a bonafide kaizo master. Not sure where you go from here, but clearly there isn’t much that can stop you!

For my part, I am pretty motivated to at least get out of Marathon. Hopefully I can move on the Laser Lifts soon and enjoy that sweet, sweet music.
 

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
You friggin legend. Congratulations on conquering the Mt. Everest of kaizo! I don't even know what to say, I'm so impressed and psyched for you.
 

SilentSnake

Administrator
(He/him)
Staff member
Moderator
Thank you! But I want to impress upon you all that I'm not any more skilled than you all, I'm just determined. You all can do this too!

As for the next big grind, I have an idea in mind, but I want to work my way up to it a bit, maybe polish off some hacks I've had on the back burner first. I'm eight exits into Kibeth, so I'm going to try finishing that right now.
 

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
Polished off Mahogen today. Everything stayed pretty consistent, up until the special world, when suddenly you have to do motor skills and the Invictus shoulder button on/off blocks. The final level is a three room castle with motor skills and the on/off blocks, just like Invictus. Unlike Invictus, you also have to contend with a disco shell in the final room. You know what has no place in a hack intended for beginners? Any of that. You even have to do that shit in the boss fight! No thank you. The rest of the hack was fine, but that was a pretty unwelcome ending.

In any case, it was a good way to get used to the Super NT. I haven't decided yet if I want to jump straight into GPW2 next or try to build up to it. Something to think about tomorrow, I guess.
 

SilentSnake

Administrator
(He/him)
Staff member
Moderator
Since I did just accomplish something pretty significant, I decided to throw myself a party.
YUMP2-210425-173248.png
 
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