Kaizo: Learned (2)
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It'sa me, Kaizo Mario!
- Thread starter MCBanjoMike
- Start date
Nice job!
For my part, I made it though the block generation level in Storks. Really creative, and you feel sick as hell doing the tricks too! Now I'm on the dolphin level. Let's see how I fare here...
For my part, I made it though the block generation level in Storks. Really creative, and you feel sick as hell doing the tricks too! Now I'm on the dolphin level. Let's see how I fare here...
Spent two hours last night stuck in the first cape level in Mostly Harmless. You know the one: where you have to dive bomb on top of a moving mole at the very end of the level to clear a second mole from your path. I've managed to get the dive bomb a few times, but I've slipped off the mole and onto Munchers every single time as well. You have to jump again immediately after you land, which apparently I'm just never ready to do.
It's frustrating but still fun, because you do feel sick as hell doing all the tricks. But still frustrating.
No, there are no checkpoints in this level, why do you ask?
It's frustrating but still fun, because you do feel sick as hell doing all the tricks. But still frustrating.
No, there are no checkpoints in this level, why do you ask?
Man, you guys have been doing some amazing stuff lately. I'll have to push myself a little, I've been playing easier hacks for a while now.
I...have no defense on this one. I pretty much cranked the difficulty up and never stopped. Not something everyone should do, mind!
Ha ha you don’t need to explain yourself. Do what’s fun! In my case, grinding difficult levels has turned out to be more of a sometimes food. But if I never do it, I won’t get any better, so sometimes I need to give myself a little push.
Finally made it out of that cape level after putting another half an hour into it. It started out fun, but the fun wore off well before I beat the level. Very happy to move on to the next one!
Anyway, Mike, I'm with you. I've noticed that I'll occasionally get inspired to grind out a really hard hack, but in between those I want to play something a bit lighter to recharge my batteries. I can't just do super difficult stuff all the time, it's too frustrating.
Anyway, Mike, I'm with you. I've noticed that I'll occasionally get inspired to grind out a really hard hack, but in between those I want to play something a bit lighter to recharge my batteries. I can't just do super difficult stuff all the time, it's too frustrating.
Made it through the dolphin level of Storks. Interesting level, and the back half was my first patented Morsel Memory Test (tm). Got a little annoying, but that part didn't take me long to get through. Thank goodness I one-shotted the Reznor room at the end.
14 exits down, 3 more to go!
14 exits down, 3 more to go!
Slow day at work, so I put on kezcade's clear compilation of Search for Salmon. That game is obviously super hard, but it also looks really cool? Like, I think I would hate playing it, since it's filled with difficult setups in extremely tight spaces, but it struck me as being very creative. It also took kez like 30 hours, and I don't even wanna know what that translates to in Mike time.
Kaizo-wise, I cleared Nightmare Café IX two days ago, which apparently is longer than the others? I didn't really notice, but I also didn't keep track of how long it took to clear. Apparently, the single hardest thing to do in SMW is kill a Flying Hammer Bro by landing on it, because that screen took me forever (OK, maybe like 7 minutes). I have now played 9 of the NC games since the month of August began, which is making me think I should try to push to complete the series before the month is over. If I have the energy, I might try to stream the last one tonight, but sleep has been so-so lately, so it's anyone's guess. I've also cleared a couple of exits in Super World, which seems good so far, but I haven't been very focused on it. Purgatory will be soon, I promise!
OH I ALMOST FORGOT:
New levels from Valdio! And Quickie 3 next year if he hits $3000??? This has got to happen!
Kaizo-wise, I cleared Nightmare Café IX two days ago, which apparently is longer than the others? I didn't really notice, but I also didn't keep track of how long it took to clear. Apparently, the single hardest thing to do in SMW is kill a Flying Hammer Bro by landing on it, because that screen took me forever (OK, maybe like 7 minutes). I have now played 9 of the NC games since the month of August began, which is making me think I should try to push to complete the series before the month is over. If I have the energy, I might try to stream the last one tonight, but sleep has been so-so lately, so it's anyone's guess. I've also cleared a couple of exits in Super World, which seems good so far, but I haven't been very focused on it. Purgatory will be soon, I promise!
OH I ALMOST FORGOT:
New levels from Valdio! And Quickie 3 next year if he hits $3000??? This has got to happen!
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The stream is still four days away and Valdio's already hit his $3k goal. I knew the community would show up for him but this is pretty fantastic. IT'S HAPPENING
It's so great to see the community come out and support Valdio like this. I tossed in a donation, but it pales compared to what some people have given. One person donated $800! So look forward to Quickie World: With a Vengeance in a few weeks.
Great job! You've definitely inspired me to play a few of those levels, the water on/off level that shaoshao made in particular seems like it would be right up my alley. 810TOXIN looks like a cool concept, and the basketball level by Nirv is just adorable. But Mono No Aware in particular stands out as being an incredible concept, I'm going to have to give that one a whirl.
Another great addition to your published collection! I love how you always let the creators speak in their own words. Nice job.
If I had one wish for that article, it would've been just an additional bit of explanation for Extended Athletics. You do mention that the level's gimmick involves sprites being able to interact with on/off switches, but it might've been helpful to specifically mention enemy fireballs and baseballs. Most of the people reading that article will probably be familiar enough to understand what's going on, but for someone who doesn't know too much about kaizo things might be happening too quickly to really understand. I know what's going on in that level and I still find it a little hard to follow!
Mono No Aware is such an incredible level. I've seen it two or three times now and it always blows me away.
If I had one wish for that article, it would've been just an additional bit of explanation for Extended Athletics. You do mention that the level's gimmick involves sprites being able to interact with on/off switches, but it might've been helpful to specifically mention enemy fireballs and baseballs. Most of the people reading that article will probably be familiar enough to understand what's going on, but for someone who doesn't know too much about kaizo things might be happening too quickly to really understand. I know what's going on in that level and I still find it a little hard to follow!
Mono No Aware is such an incredible level. I've seen it two or three times now and it always blows me away.
Cleared the green switch palace in Mostly Harmless, which means I'm 6 exits deep. I'm having really mixed feelings about this hack. Almost every setup is weird, which is cool! And the levels where you can do regular degular Mario stuff through those weird setups are fun. But a lot of the time (at least, so far) I've been doing a ton of really hard stuff that doesn't feel sick as hell at all. It's just hard for no real benefit. Like, the cloud level. The first half took me two hours and I hated every second of it, because it was slow and extremely finicky. Every single jump in that section is fucked up, and it's a slog to have to constantly redo them all. The only part that feels really cool is at the very end, which is also very easy to screw up! But the second half was nowhere near as hard, and it only took half an hour (as did the switch palace, which was fun).
Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was going to keep playing this hack, but the easier half of the cloud level and the switch palace gave me a second wind. I'll stick with it for now, though I'm still reserving the right to bail if the fun runs out.
Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was going to keep playing this hack, but the easier half of the cloud level and the switch palace gave me a second wind. I'll stick with it for now, though I'm still reserving the right to bail if the fun runs out.
Okay, Boo Boss time.
Don't feel bad about putting the hack down if it isn't working for you (or if it stops working in the future). There's plenty more fish in that sea.
My thoughts and prayers are with you in this difficult time.
UNRELATED FUN FACT: I just saw catJAM used outside of Twitch for the first time in my life:
And RNG Castle is done! Whew, where to start...I actually have mixed feelings about the level. Like, there were points where I was enjoying myself a lot actually. And it does something that I haven't seen any other hack do by taking the usual grind that's hyperfixated on one set of tricks and forcing you to have some flexibility. But once you master some rooms, playing them over and over again gets to feel monotonous. The Boo Boss, meanwhile, was very clearly what inspired Kamek, like so many things in Invictus, but shockingly enough, it's way better of a boss than Kamek. Took a good chunk less time, too.
Now all that's left is Motor Skills. I feel prepared for this one.
Now all that's left is Motor Skills. I feel prepared for this one.
Already??? Daaaaang
I'm 10 exits into Super World and I'm starting to really dig it! Not quite sure that anything really sets it apart from the pack, but the levels are well-made, the difficulty is pretty much perfect for me and it's short. Good music and the aesthetics are pleasing without being distracting (which was a problem at times in Akogare 2).
I'm 10 exits into Super World and I'm starting to really dig it! Not quite sure that anything really sets it apart from the pack, but the levels are well-made, the difficulty is pretty much perfect for me and it's short. Good music and the aesthetics are pleasing without being distracting (which was a problem at times in Akogare 2).
It's been 48 minutes, surely Snake's beaten Motor Skills by now.
I started on the...blue switch path, I think? The top one, at any rate. I played through the first half of the dolphin level today, which took about 2.5 hours (with a dinner break in between). It was really, really tough, but I actually had more fun playing it than I expected. Like the very first level, a lot of the tricks feel really good to pull off...once you figure out how to do them. What I'm learning is that most jumps in this game really depend on being executed very specifically, even more than they did in GPW2. This is the real stealth precision hack. In any case, like I said before, when the game lets you do normal kaizo stuff it feels infinitely better than when you have to do something weird like drive a cloud around.
Also, before anyone asks, no, this does not mean I like dolphin levels now. Dolphins are still terrible. But I played a long and difficult section without getting rage-y or upset, and that's maybe the best progress of all.
I started on the...blue switch path, I think? The top one, at any rate. I played through the first half of the dolphin level today, which took about 2.5 hours (with a dinner break in between). It was really, really tough, but I actually had more fun playing it than I expected. Like the very first level, a lot of the tricks feel really good to pull off...once you figure out how to do them. What I'm learning is that most jumps in this game really depend on being executed very specifically, even more than they did in GPW2. This is the real stealth precision hack. In any case, like I said before, when the game lets you do normal kaizo stuff it feels infinitely better than when you have to do something weird like drive a cloud around.
Also, before anyone asks, no, this does not mean I like dolphin levels now. Dolphins are still terrible. But I played a long and difficult section without getting rage-y or upset, and that's maybe the best progress of all.
To be fair, I think I always thought of Mostly Harmless as being a pretty precise hack. It’s very difficult, all vanilla and not very puzzly, so…
Did you guys see that Valdio is over $10,000?? It’s great to see the community coming together for him. I’m looking forward to playing these levels when they’re released!
Did you guys see that Valdio is over $10,000?? It’s great to see the community coming together for him. I’m looking forward to playing these levels when they’re released!
Yeah! I caught the stream twice today, once at the very beginning and once around 5-ish. When it started I told him that QW2 is my all-time favorite hack, and that I wouldn't be playing kaizo if not for him. He told me I needed to play more hacks and that he was sorry. (All in fun, of course.)
The damage boost level was actually my suggestion, and when I checked back into the stream that's what he was working on, so it was very cool to see him building the thing I donated towards. Can't wait to get to play it!
The damage boost level was actually my suggestion, and when I checked back into the stream that's what he was working on, so it was very cool to see him building the thing I donated towards. Can't wait to get to play it!
I finished Super World! While I was a little skeptical in the early goings (and again in the Barb-style water level), I wound up really enjoying it. I think I might not be finished with this one...
Then today I started up Purgatory. I can't tell you a lot about this game, other than the fact that the first level is completely maddening. Slopes, munchers and piranha plants everywhere? You shouldn't have! No really, you shouldn't have. It took me like 45 minutes to get the checkpoint and I had to watch Katun's playthrough to figure out how to get past the double fire piranha in the first half. I'll stick with it for a couple of levels, based on how much everyone seems to like the hack, but so far it's kind of infuriating.
Then today I started up Purgatory. I can't tell you a lot about this game, other than the fact that the first level is completely maddening. Slopes, munchers and piranha plants everywhere? You shouldn't have! No really, you shouldn't have. It took me like 45 minutes to get the checkpoint and I had to watch Katun's playthrough to figure out how to get past the double fire piranha in the first half. I'll stick with it for a couple of levels, based on how much everyone seems to like the hack, but so far it's kind of infuriating.
Mike, I promise the first level is the worst one and it gets much better from there. For me personally, the third level was where it really picked up, and it stays pretty cool from then on. And I'm glad you dug Super World! It's a solid little hack.
I'm nine exits into Mostly Harmless now, got through Companion Cube and Fort Parallax. Fort Parallax ended up being mostly a memory test, but holy shit was Companion Cube hard. The first half alone took me three hours, at least two of which were spent failing at the second jump. I don't know why I was completely incapable of this trick, but I just couldn't get it consistent. The second half of the level only took about half an hour. More than one level in this hack so far has had a first half that punches you in the face, and then a second half that's remarkably more chilled out.
I think I'm probably going to finish the hack at this point, but I can't imagine a universe where I ever run it back.
I'm nine exits into Mostly Harmless now, got through Companion Cube and Fort Parallax. Fort Parallax ended up being mostly a memory test, but holy shit was Companion Cube hard. The first half alone took me three hours, at least two of which were spent failing at the second jump. I don't know why I was completely incapable of this trick, but I just couldn't get it consistent. The second half of the level only took about half an hour. More than one level in this hack so far has had a first half that punches you in the face, and then a second half that's remarkably more chilled out.
I think I'm probably going to finish the hack at this point, but I can't imagine a universe where I ever run it back.
But if you run it back you'll do it all four times faster! That's how you win!!
EDIT: Aaahhh! Stew just got WR in Quickie 2!!
EDIT: Aaahhh! Stew just got WR in Quickie 2!!
And Mario wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer.
Seriously though, that's an incredible feat. Stew's gotta be the greatest kaizo speedrunner of all time at this point, right?
By sheer volume, certainly, but I think he'll have to bop Calco's Kaizo 1 record if he wants the definitive title. Has stew said whether he was looking into either Kaizo 1 or Invictus? To me, those seem like the big headline games that he still hasn't tackled.
(Also, stew has the Akogare any% record, but Calco still has the 100%. So as far as I'm aware, stew still hasn't done a major Calco bop of any kind yet. I do consider Calco's Invictus record to be major, even if he isn't in 1st any more.)
(Also, stew has the Akogare any% record, but Calco still has the 100%. So as far as I'm aware, stew still hasn't done a major Calco bop of any kind yet. I do consider Calco's Invictus record to be major, even if he isn't in 1st any more.)