Super Mario World: Mario's Expedition (SNES, 2023)(Romhack, V1.3)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-8 Control-7.5 Challenge-7.5/8* Story-4.5
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-8/8.5*/9** Fun-6.5/5.5** Originality-6
Overall Score-6
*W/o the intended order
**Final stretch and boss
+
Metroid-style gameplay (interconnected world, permanent movement upgrades and gates, exploration focus with some hidden items)
New world map and levels, Some new music
Features a lifebar which is upgradeable
Some decent platforming puzzles (vertical extendable bridge blocks, using an enemy to get past a certain type of platform, some ice area breakable block segments)
Run on water (Sonic 3) and super dash moves (8-directional dash that can be used on the ground or in mid-air)
Some good bosses (desert tower, castle)
Some interesting enemies (flying hammer bro, molotov bro, crusher that chases you) and level design (switches that temporarily extend platforms that retract over time)
A few neutral creatures
Some shortcuts (could've had a few more - several of them rely on the fireflower which is a relatively late permanent upgrade here)
Can toggle fire mario form (helps since shooting is mapped to the same button as running and grabbing)
Optional ice area, mostly optional cloud area and an optional challenge room without rewards near the beginning
Can carry items like springs between rooms (a bit underused though)
Nice wooden fortress tileset
One major environmental change (crystal cave lava/escape version)
+/-
Partially non-linear structure (can only go to the woods and then the swamp early on, can enter the western underwater area and the mountain area but not explore them in any meaningful way, can do the cloud area before the swamp and/or western water area, can do the desert area before the mountain or ice areas and then either the mountain+castle or ice area after that (get the fireflower in the desert) although you'll want to do the mountain+castle (cape) first to be able to fully explore the ice area, dungeon-like areas leading to movement upgrades)
First area is a hub area
Some backtracking to progress
Save points which also heal you (somewhat frequent)
Mixes sprites from various Mario games (sometimes looks inconsistent)
Limited air underwater
Some fetch quests (have to carry the key like an item for longer stretches at times which can be come sort of like a puzzle - similar to Wario Land 1)
Movable items are persistent while in their room but afterwards return to their default location
The super shoes let you climb the yellow rocks by pushing against the wall they're on - ok but feels like a worse version of a wall jump
Dungeons are generally more straightforward
Coins=fireflower ammo here
Running up walls is a bit underused
-
The white ninji enemies
Some control/interface issues (overly slow movement speed on seafloors and when sinking underwater after a jump, kinda slow horizontal swimming, overly vertical jumps while climbing, somewhat floaty movement (take several steps after letting go of the d-pad), kind of high default jump height, unforgiving hit detection on the spike floors in the dark cave area)
Retains the extra lives system (puzzles leading to 1-ups feels a bit lame) - hard to remember where to go after getting the spin jump and the super dash
Lacking and kind of confusing map system (just these 2 color world map pictures on signs here and there that seem to vaguely show your current location but it's hard to tell)
Enemies don't drop health or ammo/coins - placed items instead and they're pretty rare (makes the early game harder)
Some tedious aspects (too many gates early on, some dead space, some instant death hazards later on, overly short initial timer underwater+you die as soon as it reaches zero instead of losing HP, pointless "pit" rooms with a couple of enemies and a switch to get back up - sometimes it's even tedious to get back up, using the extendable bridge blocks as bridges over large gaps is kinda slow, some boring backtracking - swamp to western area and back from the western area to the mountains+back from the dark cave area, some detours just lead to 1 HP, falling down and having to redo longer parts in the mountain area - there is a save point here but it's placed pretty far into it, the part in dark cave after the castle where you get the heart in that when you exit that room you're sent back to the beginning of the previous room, some parts don't flow as well as they could've - too stop and go, final boss - small damage window)
Turns various basic moves in SMW into ones you have to find - carrying items/becoming big, spin jumping, swimming (water crystal lets you swim+stay underwater for longer+carry items underwater, using triangle stones to run up walls - super shoes)
Some difficulty spikes (huge spike at the sawblade chase segment and the final stretch, underwater area and boss, desert tower, tower before the final area)
Can't even attack with the cape - only double jump
Some trial & error (some enemy and hazard placements, misleading lower path in cloud area just leading back to the hub area, being in space counts as being underwater, ninjis can't be dashed into, some jumps)
Unlocked doors don't stay unlocked
Not enough power ups and health drops/placed mushrooms (or it could've had more health upgrades)
A few annoying one-way paths (pirate ship dungeon)
Some NPCs talk like pieces of a walkthrough/manual
Some grammar errors
Could've had some more shortcuts or some teleporters
Sometimes unfitting music (Chrono Trigger, Equinox/Solstice II?)
Some pointless dead ends if you don't care about the two extra hearts accessed via number codes or if you're replaying the game and have the codes already
8-bit looking ninji enemies
Notes:
-Original version is from 2021?
Bugs:
-Outside the parkour challenge house, if you jump off screen to the right you'll die
-Glitched out at the end of the staff roll
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-8/8.5*/9** Fun-6.5/5.5** Originality-6
Overall Score-6
*W/o the intended order
**Final stretch and boss
+
Metroid-style gameplay (interconnected world, permanent movement upgrades and gates, exploration focus with some hidden items)
New world map and levels, Some new music
Features a lifebar which is upgradeable
Some decent platforming puzzles (vertical extendable bridge blocks, using an enemy to get past a certain type of platform, some ice area breakable block segments)
Run on water (Sonic 3) and super dash moves (8-directional dash that can be used on the ground or in mid-air)
Some good bosses (desert tower, castle)
Some interesting enemies (flying hammer bro, molotov bro, crusher that chases you) and level design (switches that temporarily extend platforms that retract over time)
A few neutral creatures
Some shortcuts (could've had a few more - several of them rely on the fireflower which is a relatively late permanent upgrade here)
Can toggle fire mario form (helps since shooting is mapped to the same button as running and grabbing)
Optional ice area, mostly optional cloud area and an optional challenge room without rewards near the beginning
Can carry items like springs between rooms (a bit underused though)
Nice wooden fortress tileset
One major environmental change (crystal cave lava/escape version)
+/-
Partially non-linear structure (can only go to the woods and then the swamp early on, can enter the western underwater area and the mountain area but not explore them in any meaningful way, can do the cloud area before the swamp and/or western water area, can do the desert area before the mountain or ice areas and then either the mountain+castle or ice area after that (get the fireflower in the desert) although you'll want to do the mountain+castle (cape) first to be able to fully explore the ice area, dungeon-like areas leading to movement upgrades)
First area is a hub area
Some backtracking to progress
Save points which also heal you (somewhat frequent)
Mixes sprites from various Mario games (sometimes looks inconsistent)
Limited air underwater
Some fetch quests (have to carry the key like an item for longer stretches at times which can be come sort of like a puzzle - similar to Wario Land 1)
Movable items are persistent while in their room but afterwards return to their default location
The super shoes let you climb the yellow rocks by pushing against the wall they're on - ok but feels like a worse version of a wall jump
Dungeons are generally more straightforward
Coins=fireflower ammo here
Running up walls is a bit underused
-
The white ninji enemies
Some control/interface issues (overly slow movement speed on seafloors and when sinking underwater after a jump, kinda slow horizontal swimming, overly vertical jumps while climbing, somewhat floaty movement (take several steps after letting go of the d-pad), kind of high default jump height, unforgiving hit detection on the spike floors in the dark cave area)
Retains the extra lives system (puzzles leading to 1-ups feels a bit lame) - hard to remember where to go after getting the spin jump and the super dash
Lacking and kind of confusing map system (just these 2 color world map pictures on signs here and there that seem to vaguely show your current location but it's hard to tell)
Enemies don't drop health or ammo/coins - placed items instead and they're pretty rare (makes the early game harder)
Some tedious aspects (too many gates early on, some dead space, some instant death hazards later on, overly short initial timer underwater+you die as soon as it reaches zero instead of losing HP, pointless "pit" rooms with a couple of enemies and a switch to get back up - sometimes it's even tedious to get back up, using the extendable bridge blocks as bridges over large gaps is kinda slow, some boring backtracking - swamp to western area and back from the western area to the mountains+back from the dark cave area, some detours just lead to 1 HP, falling down and having to redo longer parts in the mountain area - there is a save point here but it's placed pretty far into it, the part in dark cave after the castle where you get the heart in that when you exit that room you're sent back to the beginning of the previous room, some parts don't flow as well as they could've - too stop and go, final boss - small damage window)
Turns various basic moves in SMW into ones you have to find - carrying items/becoming big, spin jumping, swimming (water crystal lets you swim+stay underwater for longer+carry items underwater, using triangle stones to run up walls - super shoes)
Some difficulty spikes (huge spike at the sawblade chase segment and the final stretch, underwater area and boss, desert tower, tower before the final area)
Can't even attack with the cape - only double jump
Some trial & error (some enemy and hazard placements, misleading lower path in cloud area just leading back to the hub area, being in space counts as being underwater, ninjis can't be dashed into, some jumps)
Unlocked doors don't stay unlocked
Not enough power ups and health drops/placed mushrooms (or it could've had more health upgrades)
A few annoying one-way paths (pirate ship dungeon)
Some NPCs talk like pieces of a walkthrough/manual
Some grammar errors
Could've had some more shortcuts or some teleporters
Sometimes unfitting music (Chrono Trigger, Equinox/Solstice II?)
Some pointless dead ends if you don't care about the two extra hearts accessed via number codes or if you're replaying the game and have the codes already
8-bit looking ninji enemies
Notes:
-Original version is from 2021?
Bugs:
-Outside the parkour challenge house, if you jump off screen to the right you'll die
-Glitched out at the end of the staff roll