Morsel: 60 Design: 28 This was quite difficult, just like the Ultra Stars. However, some setups could have been changed to make them easier to parse and stuff. The beginning area in the first section required a specific movement that took me a lot of lives to figure out. I liked the brown platform going under the level and coming back up though-- that's nice, sadistic, and somewhat panic-inducing. The introduction of fire flowers killing you was also nice. Although it was right before the midpoint, most players would just collect the fire flower, so the death isn't that unfair. It is also amusing. The second section is much harder and has some areas that are difficult to parse. Most of it was fun to play through, but I did not like the BG blocking the lines here. I could not possibly know that the black lines go down much farther than what it seems (without disabling BG #2, which I did...), because on all other attempts I tried to hit the switch as soon as possible with the baby Yoshi. Of course, since Mario is so close to the ceiling, Mario cannot catch the baby Yoshi, and I never knew that I could wait on the platform for a bit longer. The third section was extremely difficult, and I did not like it that much. Watching your video, I saw that some very minor movements made at the beginning put the brown platforms in different positions that would have made the rest of the level easier. However, I did not figure that out, and I assumed that the brown platforms had to all be in a line. This made the piranha obstacle quite difficult. The 7-muncher jump was unnecessarily precise and felt like artificial difficulty. My inability to enter the door made me quite frustrated (but it also caused some laughter in the Twitch chat). The fourth section was fine until the awkward shell jump part. It is creatively sadistic to have that mushroom platform disappear, but doing that midair P-switch movement required some trial and error. At the end, I resorted to practicing that part using savestates. Finally, since I was already using savestates to practice, I found out about the brown platform going along the bottom of the screen. But I doubt I would have been able to figure that out without help, because even with savestates, I found all 4 invisible coin blocks before eventually figuring it out (while trying to do TAS tricks with the ceiling). I'm questioning that obstacle, even if it's very creative. Overall, this level emulated the original kaizo's Ultra Stars quite accurately, which might be your goal. But that doesn't necessarily mean it will get full points from me. Creativity: 27 Most of the creativity was in the sadistic obstacles. For example, the red switch blocks at the beginning and the black BG covering the lines at some times. The second section with the blue yoshi was quite creative. Other than that, this wasn't as creative as most of your works, which was disappointing. Aesthetics: 5 It stays kind of true to the original Ultra Star. I'm not too sure about some of the places where the black background covers the lines however. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- DogLivesMatter: 47 Design: 26 The first part is definitely the hardest because it's long. Some of the obstacles were awkward; some munchers could have been removed to solve this issue. Although it had nothing to do with the main gimmick, I enjoyed the rope section. I also really liked the part where the shell was hitting the on/off switch every once in a while. That was not too tricky yet fun at the same time. The third part was pretty good also; it was just nice, simple timing exercises. Overall, this was a simple and somewhat fun level. Maybe you got more experienced with the gimmick later on, and that's why the first half is unimpressive compared to the rest. At that point you should revise or scrap the first part. Creativity: 17 Most of it is a standard usage of the double jump patch. I wish there were more sections like the on/off part; that's a nice combination of gimmicks that I would like to see exploited further. The no spinjump room was also okay. Aesthetics: 4 This level does not look like a warehouse. The gray nets don't make it look pretty. It was not obvious that the grey door symbolized the exit of the warehouse. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zircon: 20 Design: 7 You were supposed to make a level that was possible without savestates. Creativity: 9 This is just a random score because I really don't know how to judge this level. Aesthetics: 4 lots of spikes in this environment looks ugly. Also that last autoscroll room, I had to turn off the background so that my eyes won't be injured. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Superwario1999: 51 Design: 24 Keeping the first bomb-omb's timer in check was a bit annoying. The bomb-omb on/off puzzle can be broken. The 3 bubble + spike and fish setup was very finnicky--I had to reset many times, and I died a few times. Guiding the mushroom in the bubble through the layer 2 was very tedious, as resetting the puzzle took a relatively long time. The precision jumps needed to get the trampoline were also not too great. The next puzzle with the invisible coin block was also annoying and not that creative in return. There's also a softlock opportunity if you fail to bring the springboard with you. The section where you had to prevent baby Yoshi from eating anything was very fresh and fun to play. The obvious kaizo trap was pretty nice too. Overall, this is a nice puzzle level, although you should probably get some more testers to find which puzzles are too tedious to execute. Creativity: 21 I'm disappointed that many of these setups are blatantly copied from worldpeace. There were a few setups that were more creative however, such as the baby Yoshi room and the fish obstacles. Aesthetics: 6 The palettes were kind of eh, but the music was great. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- alexandrite: 47 Design: 23 It's a huge shame that the blue koopa + goomba setup is right after the midpoint. It takes about 20 seconds to do, and most of the time is spent waiting. This could be stressful and thrilling right before the midpoint, but this is after the midpoint--the player will have to do this each time he or she dies. This is not good at all. This is probably the worst design decision in the level. There are some other weird goomba jumps in the first half, like the one with the P-switch. In the second half, the jumps with the goomba + spiny were rather odd, and the part with the shell could definitely be made easier and less based off trial and error. Overall, the design is all right, although it needs polishing and testing so that you can find the awkward setups (and the time-consuming setup after the midpoint... more testers would have found that and complained about it.) Creativity: 18 It was mostly standard stuff that one sees with the fake water gimmick. The shell portion was somewhat creative, but the execution was poor. The double Yoshi hop was pretty fun I guess. Also, some of the paragoomba setups were new, but you didn't do too much with them. Aesthetics: 6 It kind of feels like space I guess. Nice song. The music at the very end is very glitchy (at least on snes9x 1.51). ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pseudogon: 69 Design: 35 This was overall a very enjoyable level. The message box at the beginning contains obvious information, but it pops up each time. Either just put a message box or not have it there at all. This isn't really a major problem however because the level doesn't take that many tries. The rotating brown platform and Yoshi jump thing is a bit weird, as I don't need the brown platform. The Yoshi jump is also a relatively precise trick compared with the rest of the level--maybe it would be better if the ledge were one tile lower. The puzzles involving shells and berries were intuitive to me, and they were fun to solve (and quickly too, because of the time limit). There was one green berry that was difficult to eat, which is the one with the fuzzy circles. The chuck obstacle was interesting--I did it by hopping off Yoshi and triggering both chucks before proceeding. The second half is more puzzly but still well built. I liked some of the little sadistic traps, and I liked the addition of the one-way clouds to prevent Yoshi from still being on screen. That shows attention to detail. It wasn't totally clear that the skull blocks are instant kill with Yoshi, but it still only makes Mario take damage if he stands on it. But that's a minor issue. The ending of the level was a bit odd-- I don't know, maybe I expected a more tricky kaizo trap. All in all, this was a very well designed level! Creativity: 27 There were lots of nice obstacles that you came up using the on/off, berries, shells, turn blocks, etc. I really liked how some of the puzzles were creative yet intuitive to solve. Aesthetics: 7 Fitting song choice (although probably not the best), good palettes. The land structure feels a bit unpolished however, whatever that means. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linkdeadx2: 72 Design: 38 Nearly perfect in terms of flow. There were a few bits where spinjumping was awkward, but other than that, I really liked the puzzles with the turn blocks and the overall flow that this level creates. I will say that the second section could have been slightly less challenging (also, the shell didn't spawn sometimes) and less based on precision. I beat the first section on my second time around on the first try, while the second section still took a long time to beat. So I guess one is focused on learning and the other is focused on precision. Other than that, this is flawless in design. I liked the traps, too. The first section's trap was creative, and it primes the player to believe that there would be a trap in the third area (as the second section had none). Lo and behold the fish! Creativity: 27 The movements asked of me, the kaizo traps, the 1up puzzles, the turn block puzzles... nearly everything was very creative and well set up! I will say that the second section was a bit weaker however. Aesthetics: 7 Simple and to the point. Great music. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minuy: 36 Design: 24 Honestly, this level wasn't unfun or anything. The jumps were kind of satisfying to execute actually. The thwimp obstacle was annoying. You can jump over the level in some places. The on/off trap was mildly amusing. There was some waiting right before the wall triangle bit. This is an average design score I guess. Creativity: 10 Nothing new here. Just some precision jumps. Aesthetics: 2 This level is really ugly. At least there's no terrible music or seizure-inducing exanimation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aqua Grove Pod: 25 Design: 7 There's breaks everywhere that are easier than doing what is expected (by shell jumping, in the first half). Both sections of the level are far too long for kaizo. There are dumb obstacles like the football + 1 tile high gap between the muncher and the safe area. There's no way I can do stuff like that without savestates. The second half is the same thing over and over again, and it's ridiculously difficult. I think you should perhaps test the level not just to determine whether it is completable, but also to see which areas need polishing. This entire level needs some polishing so that it can be more fun to play. Creativity: 14 There's some creative ideas with the piranha plant and how it is used in combination with the other sprites. Aesthetics: 4 Bad palette. Good music. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A hick: 31 Design: 7 It's supposed to be savestateless, but it's clearly not. This level is a good example of the pokey tileset being abused wrong. There were also lots of one-tile gaps and other silly things that didn't increase the difficulty in a creative way. Some areas had a pitching chuck or two thrown in just to make something that was already hard near impossible. The pokeys facing different directions when coming out of a pipe was another issue. Creativity: 20 Some of the setups, especially in the cave area, were creative. I also liked the parts where you had to intentionally get hit by a baseball or lotus pollen in order to progress. In other words, this level trolled me in somewhat creative ways. Aesthetics: 4 The people I live with told me to turn down the volume. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- MasterSkodwarde: 40 Design: 18 There were invisible coin blocks everywhere. Many setups were unnecessarily slow (chucks in the first half; waiting for the dry bone and mace to line up in the second half). The difficulty in the castle area was also very high compared to the first area. It was much longer (near Bits and Pieces length) and had things like the magikoopa. There were too many invisible coin blocks (and they were all in the same exact positions too). The boss was glitchy but played fine, and it was much easier than the castle area. However, despite all of this, the level was all right. The design was not terrible or anything. At least I could actually beat the level without savestates! Creativity: 16 There were some creative setups in the castle section. I liked the part where you transfer from a mace to a grinder on the ground. But there are other setups that have been overdone (chuck gates; slowly killing chucks; magikoopa put in just to make the level harder). Aesthetics: 6 Pretty good graphics, good music. Sometimes the BG's color is the same as the FG's color, which made it hard to see walls. Sometimes I couldn't notice the death blocks (right before the midpoint, when it's on the ceiling, and also right before the midpoint with the last thwomp). ------------------------------------------------------------------------- natnew: 53 Design: 28 This level was fun and challenging. Trying to react to the situations and figuring out the best way to get past each obstacle was entertaining. I really think some polish could be used in the first section, the end of the second section, and some of the third section however. The ideas are great, and the execution is mostly fine. It's just that there are minor gameplay details that need to be fixed. For example, the cluster of brown blocks and death blocks at the end of the second section made it too difficult for me to parse what was going on. The on/off jumps in the third section were awkward. There were some other weird things in the third section. Also, running to each room took a while, but that's not a major issue. The boss was much easier than everything else, and it also doesn't have much to do with the rest of the level. Otherwise, this was a pretty fun level. Creativity: 21 Each section was quite creative, especially the eater block one. The use of the shell that you could bounce off twice was quite nice. The autoscrolling section was quite sadistic with the side exit. The "midway" section is a bit plain and could use some polish, although the idea of keeping the eater block alive was great because that preveneted breaks where the player could just ditch the eater block early. I haven't seen that idea in a level before. Aesthetics: 4 The land structures looked kind of weird at times. Also, the music crashed (the base ROM's fault, but you should have moved your level to the new base ROM.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Big Brawler: 44 Design: 20 The difficulty starts off pretty high but gradually gets lower until the level isn't really kaizo. From the middle to the end, this level is basically a harder-than-average normal level in my opinion. All the setups were standard, so it wasn't too satisfying to complete them. The rex + banzai bill setup near the beginning is also weird. I just used the flying hammer brother's platform to get past that. There's also a blind drop at the very end of the level. The player cannot see the timed lift from the upper platform. Technically, an observant player could notice it before using the trampoline, but it slipped past my memory at least. Also, it's weird to have two goal posts that both allow the player to win. If it's because the level has two exits, then that's bad-- having the secret exit and normal exit be literally the same level. Although this level had many design issues, at least it did not cause much frustration. Creativity: 18 This level didn't do too much new in terms of creativity. The mole blocked by turn blocks stood out to me, as there was the challenge of not killing the mole. Otherwise, the jumping on enemies was pretty standard. The use of the timed lifts was somewhat new I guess. Aesthetics: 6 The landmasses got a bit weird at times, but I liked the music. It was oddly fitting for such a weird level. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ThePat545: 61 Design: 32 Reacting to all the obstacles presented and timing the layer 2 was actually fun. The beginning area was a bit odd-- I feel like the three grinders were just placed there without too much thought. Also, the "lol that looks boring" part is a bit boring. The challenge right before the midpoint required lots of speed, but that's not immediately clear to the player. Also, in the first half, there is a ceiling that can't be seen. The ceiling isn't really needed anyway, and it only serves to mess up some jumps. The second half had very fun layer 2 shenanigans. I kind of had to learn the last challenge, but it's still really cool. All in all, this level was quite entertaining to play. Good job! Creativity: 24 Great use of layer 2 and on/off switch blocks. Also, I liked all the insane things that had to be done with the timed lifts. However, I think some other sprites in the castle tileset could have been brought in (other than just grinder). Aesthetics: 5 by the time you're done reading this you'll fall into lava rofl Great music, but having two layers of cement blocks makes things difficult to decipher quickly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- TheBiob: 60 Design: 27 There are four sections in this level. The first section is a bit long, but most of the obstacles are fine. The chuck part took me a savestate to figure out what was going on-- I think you could have made it more clear what to do there. There were also a few challenges that felt finnicky because of the bouncing of the rocks. Depending on when I spinjump, if the rock is in a higher position because of its bounce, I might die to the rock instead of spinjumping on it. Deaths caused by that felt arbitrary and unfair. Other than that, the first area was solid. I enjoyed the purple section a lot, because it's the type of constantly moving and reaction-based level that I enjoy. The mushroom following bit could have been communicated slightly better to the player (especially the two platform section, which must be learned by trial and error--the player can't just look at that and know what to do). But this room felt very satisfying to beat. However, all of the custom blocks that look identical to each other but don't act the same is okay here, but I think it's better to be consistent. For example, the rocks that only bounce twice before going through the ground, or the gray blocks that turn into sprite-only blocks after being hit by a shell, or the blocks that turn into death blocks after a rock hits them. Sometimes it doesn't matter, but other times the player can die because of not knowing the specific interactions of sprites with these custom blocks. I did not like the yellow section. Tossing the baby Yoshi at the switches was finnicky and caused many unfair deaths. The rope and platform also completely threw me off track. I thought throwing the baby Yoshi while clinging on to the rope was intended for a while, and it really confused me. But the actual solution to the room doesn't even use that huge line guide at all! I would get rid of red herrings like this. Figuring out this room was painful, and it isn't creative enough to make up for it in my opinion. The last section where the player goes backwards is much easier than any of the other sections. It's a nice breather to end the level with. At the end, this level was well-designed, although the yellow section definitely needed more polish. Creativity: 29 The obstacles in this level were very creative. In particular, I enjoyed your take on making the level bi-directional. I also liked the part right before the hub, with the chuck and the shells. I have never seen that before, and manipulating the chuck's movements by going above the screen is a new idea to me. The reuse of sections in the action-y purple room was creative, and it was great how the level flowed well even though it was actually just a giant maze. Timing those two platforms was also a creative obstacle. The yellow room did not seem as creative to me (or I just didn't like it as much), but there were still good usages of on/off switches and falling rocks. The trap with the invisible note block is quite creative (I admit that I saw the trap by looking in Lunar Magic before however...) Aesthetics: 4 The janky look is okay I guess, but many of the blocks that look the same act differently. Examples includerocks make the blocks death; one-way blocks for sprites; blocks that turn into red blocks when hit by a shell, etc. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- FrozenQuills: 66 Design: 34 A few of the challenges with the chucks were a bit finnicky because of how the chuck's speed on 1F0 and Mario's speed are not synced well. It was also a bit odd when there was a rope and chuck on 1F0. But besides that, this level was solidly designed and was very fun to play. Creativity: 25 The way saws, platforms, chucks, and ropes were used together was creative. I also like how you made it quite easy to react to the obstacles even when there's many saws on the screen at once. The little challenge with all the bouncing chucks and the saws in the cage was very nice. Aesthetics: 7 Great music, but sometimes it was really hard to tell what was going on (or it's just my frame rate lol). Also, the bullet bill cannon walls don't look good in my opinion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Centipede: 67 Design: 33 Some parts of this level were odd. For example, the screen scrolling pipe in the first area could make the player land immediately on top of the mace, which is unfair in a bad way. The same issue occurs with a dolphin and a screen scrolling pipe in the second half. The screen scrolling pipes are supposed to separate obstacles from each other, so it's weird that you should time when you go in one without even being able to see what's on the other side. Other than that, falling through ghost house holes and all of the other stuff expected from me in this level was very fun. The difficulty was just right for the most part (the survival room with maces in the first section demanded lots of attention though). I feel like the line guides could have been better placed in the boss so that it's not symmetrical and predictable, but the boss still felt great to play. Creativity: 29 The setups in this level were very creative. How layer 2 was used in conjunction with the green springy thingies was amazing. I didn't even know layer 2 could block the player from going through a screen scrolling pipe. Even the magikoopa's magic was used creatively. Aesthetics: 5 It doesn't look bad, although it's kind of weird how you went through the effort of tileset mixing while there's floating spikes and stuff like that. The floating spikes are not terrible, but they really could use a ledge to stand on (the moving holes affect the row of tiles below it, too). ------------------------------------------------------------------------- yogui: 72 Design: 37 I really loved how the star/no star gimmick was used, introduced, and twisted. All of the 1-screen challenges were neat and felt nice to execute. Some of the shell jumps were a bit finnicky, and the fuzzy ride in the last section (which is much harder than the other sections) could have been made easier by putting a ledge or 1F0 near the switch blocks so that the shell doesn't come back down and kill the fuzzy. The difficulty curve was excellent. It started off very easy and became very hard at the end, although maybe a bit too hard. Overall, this was an excellent entry! Creativity: 29 This is one of the best gimmicks I have ever seen, and the execution is very good. Maybe a little more could have been done, but I was very impressed by the star changing shenanigans. Aesthetics: 6 The level looks clean overall. I also really like the palette. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- NGB + Sariel: 68 Design: 34 It was great that I could sight read some of the obstacles. The autoscroll area felt very nice to play for the most part. The big muncher throwing venus flames only got in the way, though. It didn't really have a big gameplay purpose. It made one of the sliding parts very annoying and overly difficult. Thankfully the section is short, but I really think that section could have been done much better. But after that, the sliding gimmick on ice was well executed. A few obstacles were a little odd, like the one with the blue coins marking where the green koopa should be. The blue coin should be moved over by 2 tiles to be more accurate. Also, one of the note blocks seemed random to get to, even when I held the jump button. But those errors are insignificant. The last section made use of the sliding gimmick well, although the layer 2 parts were somewhat silly. The blue koopa part took a while to figure out how to line up everything correctly because of the despawning issues. But overall, this was fun to play. Creativity: 26 The sliding gimmick isn't new, but the way you used it definitely was. All of the nice setups involving autoscroll, layer 2, platform sprites, koopas, etc. all really extended the sliding gimmick past what others have done. However, I do think that there could be even more done by replacing some of the more repetitive sections. Aesthetics: 8 The background is very nice, and so is the music. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- MiracleWater: 75 Design: 38 The entire level was a blast to play. There were a few oddities, such as the shell jump in the first section (I didn't use the sprite-only blocks because it wasn't intuitive), the homing thwomp area in the second section (maybe an extra tile of space would be helpful), the bowser statues that hop at you in the second section (it's not clear that I must go very fast to avoid them), and a few other places. But those are insignificant quibbles. This level is amazing and has great flow. Creativity: 29 The usage of Yoshi's Island platforms, grinders coming from the left and right, the weird autoscroll, the throw block, the custom layer 2 smash, etc. were all very creative. I was impressed by stuff like the warping brown block ceiling, the rocks coming out of pipes, and how the layer 2 smash was used in the final room. The custom autoscroll and layer 2 smash really remind me of anonymousbl00dlust's levels, which is a good thing. Aesthetics: 8 This is one of the best music choices I've ever heard. The line guides can be hard to see, though, because of the background. The fences that take away your throw block could look better. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- NexusS15: 67 Design: 36 This level was very fun all around. There were some design hiccups that could have been solved easily. For example, the banzai bills at the very beginning could have been 1 tile closer together (death from going in the pipe too early feels a bit unfair). Also, most setups were pretty fun to read on sight, although there were a few things that no one can foresee (falling rex from the sky, which fell way too early also). Some of the brown platform jumps in the 3rd section felt very precise. The one right before the green spring part seemed to only allow a few frames of leeway. I can list more design errors, but overall, the level was entertaining for me to play, so I won't complain further. Creativity: 26 There are many great ideas with the screen-scrolling pipes, banzai bills, bowling balls, etc. The second section in particular was very creative. The third and fourth sections used brown platforms and ropes. They were used creatively, but I didn't see anything new. The first section is the main reason why you're losing points because many of the setups are extremely similar to Medusa's Lair (beginning, shell jump setup, screen scrolling pipe shenanigans, banzai bill shenanigans, sliding stuff with rocks, falling rocks at midpoint...). Aesthetics: 5 Everything is quite polished, although having ground just growing out of other ground isn't exactly the best. Use those corner tiles lol ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hobz: 63 Design: 29 Of course, once you know how to play this level, executing the movements feels very smooth and satisfying. But the problem is that it's very hard to learn how to play this. Every setup is extraordinarily complex and takes a few deaths to even parse what's going on, let alone understand what Mario should do. For a few rooms, I even had to use your video to figure out what on earth was happening. The first few rooms were fine in difficulty, but the room with 3 separate sections really needed a midpoint somewhere in between. There were so many sprites in each section that it's basically impossible to parse. Therefore, I had to use a savestate at the end of the second section. Then I realized I had to do a very awkward midair thwomp jump. I broke it by simply collecting the mushroom and doing a precise jump from the muncher. Only then could I go through and make a legit run. Also, that part where Mario has to go back in forth between two springboards was very precise. The thwomps' positions could have easily been adjusted to make this less of a hassle. The final vertical room was crazy near the end. I had to use a video to figure out what to do at the end, which felt like filler honestly. There was a part where Mario must spinjump on a thwomp moving upwards very quickly, and often you can't prevent Mario from getting hurt because the thwomp is moving up too fast. This felt luck-based and unfair. Overall, the level is ridiculously hard to learn and suffers from extreme trial and error. But, doing it clean feels satisfying. Creativity: 30 The gimmick is absolutely insane. The ways it was used were very creative also. There were a few weaker spots, but overall this sets a high bar for creativity. Aesthetics: 4 Nice song. But it seems that you're trying to make the level as difficult as possible to parse. Graphics kind of clash. There's no difference between the yellow and blue rotating turn blocks, and it's way too much for the player (off-screen sprites? I'm too busy trying to survive) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- snoruntpyro: 64 Design: 33 It seems that you tried to make the level easy by adding so many midpoints. So, some of the setups that are unfair stick out, because they basically force deaths although the level is so easy. The first section was a bit unclear with the rip van fish part while the second section was very good--I could parse everything on my first go. The third section has surprise puffas (that I don't think were too amusing), and a certain part with the urchin was much more precise than everything else in that room. The vertical segment where the switching current is introduced was nice. I have some issues with the fifth part. There's lots of surprise enemies that are trial and error. When there's three green koopas sliding on the 1F0, I thought I would need all 3 (at least, that's what all the other kaizo entries taught me--be as resourceful as possible). You should have replaced that with something more clear. The rest of the room is also quite trial and error (I can't see that green koopa until it's too late). The next vertical area also had some very easy parts and some more precise parts. For example, it was not clear at all that I had to be above the screen for the urchin + goomba part, and that made up almost all of my deaths there. After the "HI", the blurps are basically impossible to react to. Also, it should be more clear that the player should wait under the switch before proceeding. I think the rip van fish could have been replaced with something else going leftwards. I enjoyed seeing the dead footballs keep bouncing on the water. In the penultimate room, there are some places where Mario hits a switch, and then he's inside some of the switch blocks that have just been activated. This causes Mario to move around a bit that the player doesn't expect, and it feels weird. The last fish also isn't even necessary to bounce on. The clapping chuck is an example of what I think is funny. Overall, I don't really like that the difficulty is inconsistent. But otherwise, it's a pretty fun level. Creativity: 25 The gimmick is fresh and hilarious. There were some iterations on it, but there was a lot of stuff that felt repetitive to me (bouncing on 3 sets of green koopas, for example). This idea had a lot more potential! Aesthetics: 6 Great music and nice palette. But the layout of the level doesn't feel very polished. There's these huge floating masses of water, where only some of it is actually used. It would be nice if the current of the water were visible (and maybe even change with the on/off). ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Koopster: 59 Design: 30 The level got progressively easier and shorter. I found the first section quite annoying. The part where you had to lower the checkerboard platform with the baseballs was especially annoying. Getting the platform to lower felt like luck. To fix this, you could have given me a mushroom (easier to lower the platform) and made me keep it to the end (requiring duck jumping O.o). The second section had a break where the volcano lotus was. I didn't actually have to lower the platform; I could just run off it (although this break isn't that easy). The venus plant right above the last falling platform before the checkpoint killed me a couple of times, and it felt terrible. The third section is quite easy. The water part could be rushed through, and it actually felt quite nice to play even though it wasn't really challenging. Getting there from the 1UP checkpoint was kind of dumb though. The vertical room was fairly easy although demanded some attention. You don't actually have to jump until the very end I think, which screwed me over a few times. This level isn't really kaizo because there's many ways to deal with each obstacle. It felt like some levelengine creation, except without any powerups and much shorter :P. It was still kind of fun. Creativity: 23 I mean, I haven't seen this type of survival that much. Usually it's with layer 2 smash or eater blocks. This level could definitely be way more creative though. Aesthetics: 6 It looks nice I guess. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hook: 34 Design: 14 This level is about precision jumps, but there's also some very weird and slow areas that I really didn't like at all. In the first half, there is a rex you supposedly have to use twice. However, the second time you bounce on the rex, it's probable that Mario won't get enough height to safely get on the ledge. Instead, I had to hit the rex once, screen scroll him off, then respawn him while he's at his full size. The second half's beginning really ticked me off because of how slow it was. The flying spiny seemed quite random. Sometimes, the spiny would be so low that I would touch the munchers. I then must wait a cycle for the next spiny to get back in a favorable position. All this waiting right after the midpoint wore me out. There is a part with a wall springboard and 8 flying spinies. The jump is normally ridiculously precise, so I set the screen in a way that only the left 4 spinies were flying. Then, I spawned the other 4 spinies so that they could be aligned well. Finally, the star and rex part, which felt like artificial difficulty. Throwing a throw block while having a star feels so random and inconsistent. Failing means having to redo everything over again, and it felt terrible each time. At the end I just ignored the rex and used the star to cross the muncher gap at the end. Anyway, the split path shenanigans were interesting enough to make the level not totally boring, but otherwise, this level really suffered from having annoying difficulty. Creativity: 15 There were a few interesting things done in this level. It's rare to see dragon coins on mini side routes being used, although the dragon coin that required bringing a key didn't feel good to execute. There's also some multiple paths, such as the star right before the midpoint (that I never got). The use of the custom flying spinies wasn't that creative in my opinion. The final part where you babysit a rex requires dumb precision and should definitely be replaced. Aesthetics: 5 The music is quite annoying. The palettes are nice though. Some of the decoration is overboard in my opinion--it would have been better to make the level more clean by making the hurt blocks actually attached to something. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- AbuseFreakHacker: 68 Design: 33 Most of this level was very fun to parse and execute correctly. There definitely some silly parts, like the one-frame jump in the beginning of the wall-grinder room, or the entire autowalk room. There were also some nonsensical things added, such as a midway right before a shell jump. That type of shell jump has been abused so much that you could have just cut it from the level. The bowser fight was quite frustrating at first, but once I got the hang of how bowser works, I beat it without too much trouble. I think the bowser fight could have used another sprite other than the wall thwimp. That's because bowser's earthquake and the wall thwimp combined are annoying. The rest of the level was a blast to play and was extremely enjoyable. Creativity: 28 This level had very creative setups using the teleport-doors and some other hex edits. I think that some of the rooms had some more potential, and a few were simply not creative (one room was simply a chuck gate and a shell jump; the autowalk room was annoying). But otherwise, I was impressed with all the gimmicks in this level. Aesthetics: 7 It looks pretty neat overall. Good music too. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- chosentwo: 19 Design: 3 This level is not possible without savestates. Also, discos, kicked shells in small places, precise jumps, boo rings, etc. The smashing layer 2 water segment and the boss were actually fun (in a kaizo: hard perspective), but the smashing water was basically copied without any extension on the idea. There are also a few shells that you can keep, except they're not needed, which confused me. Apologies if I sound very harsh, but this level really killed my mood and made me quite frustrated in a bad way. Creativity: 12 There were some neat ideas (shell kicker in the autoscroll; hit only invisible coin blocks). The rest is precise jumps and timing with discos and shells. There were also some worldpeace-inspired ideas (Subterranean Canal, The Bootstrapped). Aesthetics: 4 Music is okay. Random spikes and stuff everywhere makes the level look even more cluttered than it already is. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luansilva12: 39 Design: 22 It's okay. In the first half, the area near the Yoshi is very cramped. The munchers definitely could have been raised. The second half is much harder than the first half. Exiting the spiny bouncing is quite difficult, and there's RNG footballs. The message box is unnecessary and was actually an obstacle, as I bonked my head on it numerous times while trying to jump on the footballs. (Reminds me of "Nelson's corner" in QubicTom's playthrough of the Depraved Stronghold.) The rest of the level is just some precise jumps, with that silly platform thing at the end. (I think lolyoshi did that last year too?) Creativity: 12 This level didn't really show anything new. It had many disjointed concepts all thrown in together: hopping on koopas/footballs, Yoshi, bullet bills, spinies, and some platform shenanigans. Aesthetics: 5 The palette is pleasant, although some of the muncher-structures don't look that great. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cavin: 45 Design: 17 First, this level calls for precision and some tedium (babysitting 3 items??) that encourages savestate usage. But, it's not terrible. Actually executing the intended solutions to each shell puzzle felt really awesome, but you made it very unclear what the player should do. You gave the player many tools to work with (Yoshi, shells, springboards, switches, etc.), so there will be many breaks. There's also some parts that did not need to be tedious, such as the item babysitting in the second half. Additionally, to make the level more savestateless- viable, there could have been more midpoints. Places where you savestated in your playthrough would be good save points, right? Also, the invisible coin blocks on the Yoshi jump were quite excessive. Overall, this was an amateurish level that had great potential, and it'd be nice to see some of your improved levels in the future. Creativity: 24 The intended ways to solve each puzzle were amazing. The shells seem to bounce absolutely everywhere, yet it all ends up working. The problem is that the player is usually going to find another less interesting solution to the puzzles. Aesthetics: 4 There was some cutoff and other things that didn't look good. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sokobansolver: 36 Design: 10 This level is such a pain without savestates. The level does not flow well, and I ended up just memorizing what to do. In the first room, the area with the flying block was ridiculous. I thought you had to spinjump on the saw and use the bullets to hover to the ledge, but instead, I'm expected to do an extraordinarily precisely timed jump so that I don't get killed by the whistle. Then, there's a very precise chuck gate part. And even after going into the pipe, there's no midpoint but another challenging section that isn't even fun with savestates. The whole first half also suffered from how janky the custom blocks were. It was very unclear when the whistle would blow because of the weird interaction between the koopa and the blocks. I'm sure there could have been a much better way to communicate the whistle to the player in a rhythmic manner. Then there's a silly disco section with useless saws, a baseball chuck part where the player basically has to figure out to rush, etc. These setups really didn't feel thought out at all and just felt like they were there to increase the difficulty arbitrarily. Maybe this is a good kaizo: hard level, but that is not the objective of this contest. Creativity: 21 Frankly, I'm disappointed at the way you used those custom blocks. It feels like you placed saws and stuff in places without too much thinking, and then tested to see if it was remotely possible. If it was possible, it was kept. You need to think to make more creative setups. I was impressed by some of the kicked shell obstacles, particularly the one where you had to hit some turn blocks. Otherwise, there was a lot of potential that was missed. For example, you could have added (layer 2!?) water, which would have made things extremely interesting. Aesthetics: 5 The music's okay. The level could have been cleaner as a whole-- all the stems and stuff made the level a bit cluttered. The one-way only blocks are also kind of jank, and it isn't immediately obvious (which is important, considering the nature of this level) what they do. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tob: 37 Design: 16 This level calls for a lot of precision (shell jumps and jumps between munchers), yet there are no midpoints of any kind. This level requires the player to survive for quite a long time without dying to the point where I don't feel like wasting my time trying to beat this without savestates. I'm not THAT consistent at shell jumps! Additionally, many setups were frustrating in a bad way. For example, the part where you are supposed to place the key on 1F0 is very precise, so I instead did keyjumps--which drained my timer. The next setup after that with the fish is harder than it should be. That's because the low ceiling makes lowering the brown platform tedious and luck-based. The cape section was well-conveyed, and I appreciate that. But as I mentioned before, there should definitely have been a midpoint after the cave area. Instead, I have to do even more precise jumps. Don't try to use the "kaizo" category as an excuse to make your levels artificially difficult--I admit I have done that in the past. Creativity: 16 I enjoyed some of the setups involving shells and no-item-blocks. But, the rest of this level was mostly precision jumps and other overdone things with items such as keys and shells. Aesthetics: 5 It looks all right, but some of the muncher spam and custom graphics don't look very appealing. Additionally, the cave music was extremely glitchy sometimes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Masterkastylinos: 57 Design: 32 This level flowed quite nicely, although sometimes I had to wait for a little while before my ride arrived. Also, I felt that the invisible coin blocks were unnecessary and didn't add much to the design of this level other than making it a little harder (and making the goal look legitimate... I admit I fell into that trap). I enjoyed reacting to the obstacles, and I liked how enogh time was given for me to parse what was going on. There were a few segments in the first half that were trial and error however. For example, I could not see the end of the screen scrolling pipe and could not know that I had to wait for the mole. Otherwise, nicely done! Creativity: 20 There were some neat things done with the moles and on/off switches, but nothing really wowed me. Some of the backtracking stuff I saw in Pain and Pleasure / Dram 2, although that's probably a coincidence. Aesthetics: 5 The music was nice. However, the palette was unappealing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- xHF01x: 27 Design: 10 I did the first two halves legit, although they had some very silly jumps and manueovers. I used savestates for the rest because they all seemed too difficult for me. Disco riding in a cramped space feels terrible, so I didn't want to go through that. The pokey section was also terrible and hurt my fingers. Then there was item babysitting even though only one shell was needed? And the level goes on and on and on... This level is too hard without savestates and has too many precise jumps. It's not necessary to artificially increase the difficulty just to make a level kaizo. Creativity: 12 Nothing new was presented in this level. The best part was probably the rope with the two saws on it; that felt pretty good to play. The concept of bringing around a P-switch was so pointless and trivial that I became a little confused. Aesthetics: 5 The music is okay. Some of the death block structures don't look that nice though. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gbreezesunset: 73 Design: 37 This level was very fun to play through. But, there are some minor problems. In the part with the turn blocks, the ceiling might be a little too low when you're supposed to turn the water back on again. The green koopa jump was a little silly. I didn't really need to turn on the water for the chuck gate. The part with the football is creative, although you should have made the water only one tile high--it's the same effect. The pell mell room and the moon puzzle felt a bit weaker than the rip van fish room. These are all minor quibbles though. My main issue is how the on/off isn't toggled. Many times when I had to react quickly, I didn't know immediately which button to press. Toggle would be much better. Overall, great level! Creativity: 27 The gimmick was used very well. I particularly enjoyed the rip van fish puzzle. A few parts were somewhat stale though. As a whole, this was certainly a unique level! Aesthetics: 9 The level overall looked nice, and the music choice was good. Maybe some aesthetic feature could have been used to tell which shoulder button to press to activate what, although that could easily be solved by using both shoulder buttons as a toggle. I also had a weird bug where the messages were all glitchy and seizure-y. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lazy + lolyoshi: 76 Design: 40 This level was entertaining to play. Each setup felt polished and had the right amount of difficulty. This level was definitely more about skill than trial and error, which is rarely done so well. The third section was harder than the other sections, and I have a few minor issues with some obstacles that are probably just personal. For example, since 1F0 is invisible in this level, I thought the last brown platform was a midair platform jump. Anyway, although this level didn't perfectly suit my tastes, I think it still deserves a perfect score in design. Creativity: 29 I really liked how creative the setups were with this gimmick while still allowing the player to be able to parse things quickly and intuitively. Some of the "demo" areas were interesting, and the little rooms found in all of the sections with dolphins were creatively built to allow the player to dodge everything and feel satisfied. The overall gimmick is also unique. Aesthetics: 7 The music is good, and everything (except the pee animals) are clean. Maybe it would have been better to use different colored logs for the land that you can stand on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- msi810: 41 Design: 18 The first section of this level was all right. Its length was appropriate, and I really liked the setups right before the midpoint as they felt very satisfying to pull off. The second section was much worse. If the sparkies were lined up wrong, then I had to use ridiculous screen scrolling techniques to get them aligned. The cramped area with sparkies and a few munchers sticking out really felt awful. Some of the deaths didn't feel like my fault; I blame the wind partially, but I also blame the designer for not scrapping this obstacle. And the midpoint required trial and error to get. Then, there's the fast mace area, which was kind of fun. But the left wind areas where I had to do weird spinjumps felt bad. Also, the mad thwomps that I had to spinjump on while dealing with a donut bridge... Finally, the wind itself was poorly programmed (which you admitted in the message box). Overall, I think you should have just chosen another gimmick. I don't think I've played a single fun wind level--it's just too finnicky and annoying. Hope you can find a better gimmick next year! Creativity: 17 I liked some of the things that were done with this setup in the first section. I also liked how you used it to make going under reflecting fireballs kind of possible. The maces proved to be a pretty fun challenge, although I'm not as big of a fan of the homing thwomps that you have to spinjump on. I think this level should have used purely timing based setups. It's unfortunate that you picked this wind gimmick... it's really not that fun to work with or play with. Aesthetics: 6 The palette is okay; the music is good. Why do the leaves always move the same way despite the direction the wind is moving? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sixcorby: 70 Design: 36 I enjoyed playing through this level, and the setups were very satisfying to complete. I think that some parts could have been more polished. For example, the part with the yellow koopa and the saw at the beginning frustrated me because the saw was never in the right position. Also, the rooms were a bit long toward the end. Within each room, the difficulty varies. Some obstacles I can read quickly and execute easily, while others are designed to make the player die once, and a few feel too precise or unfair (in the later rooms). Additionally, this level has numerous softlocks that requires resetting the game. But overall, this was a well-designed, difficult level. Creativity: 29 The level's creativity ramped up slowly. By the end, the setups were all very creative (although pretty hard too). Some of the reverse chuck gates were interesting, as well as some on/off shenanigans and the Yoshi obstacles. That one part at the very end with the 1F0 and the shell was interesting. I think that some of the weaker parts (at the beginning) could have been improved or scrapped, such as the yellow koopa + saw obstacle. Aesthetics: 5 The music is okay, although for such a long level, it could get annoying. A better palette would have been nice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- white_moth: 62 Design: 33 My complaint is that the difficulty is somewhat inconsistent. In the first half, controlling Yoshi's speed on the 1F0 at the very beginning is very tough and requires lots of learning. But the rest of the first half isn't that difficult. In the second half, the Yoshi shell jump was more precise than anything else in the level. Also, the method of getting the key to the radish was not clear. I liked the unintentional cheese that I found though :P. Other than that, this level was fun to play and parse. Maybe the gimmick with Yoshi rising on mario-only blocks can be used somewhere else now?? Creativity: 23 This level had some clever usages of 1F0, although most of it has already been done. There could have been more done with the falling things from the sky-- maybe mark positions with blue coins or something? Either way, this level is simple but has some creativity in it. Aesthetics: 6 The palettes are pleasant. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- idol: 74 Design: 37 This level has great flow. It's usually intuitive where the player should go. Unlike in anonymousbl00dlust's levels, it's actually possible to quickly parse everything on the screen and act accordingly. The difficulty starts off way easier than the rest of the level however. There's also some parts that could be polished up to feel smoother (such as when the brown platform is falling between the diagonal spike tunnel--afterwards, the brown platform clings on to the line in a weird way, and you can't really immediately jump off the platform, or else Mario won't reach the on/off block.) The ending is a little weird, and I don't see why the player should reset to the mini chomper room each time. Otherwise, this level was amazing to play, and I had a blast with it. Creativity: 28 The setups are very complex, although that doesn't mean they're extremely creative. It was more just going forward and stuff. Some things done with the creator/eater snakes were really neat, especially in the following grinder room. Obviously this is great, but there is definitely a little room for improvement so that some parts are more memorable. Aesthetics: 9 The music is cool. The backgrounds are also cool. Yoshi's Island graphics are cool. There were some weird things going on in the chompy room (might be my emulator). -------------------------------------------------------------------------