Holy shit, have I had enough SMBX for one day.
arcan
Shift
I understand that this is only a demo and not nearly finished yet, but dang, what you have so far is very cool! You keep at it; I can't wait to see what else you do with the concept!
ExKirby
Mini Grasslands
Wow, this was…short. You had a checkpoint, but you hardly needed one. I think you could safely make this twice as long as it is. It's rather lacking in terms of…just about everything. The things that are there seem haphazardly placed, and there are a great many parts where things are just too dull. It doesn't have to be exploding with items, coins, and enemies, but this could definitely use more. Also, you should extend that final platform to the edge of the screen so the player can't accidentally fall off after grabbing the star.
Davenport
Cave of Flames
Water must be swimmable! It's not an option! I'm talking about the pools at the very beginning. Also, check the tiles you're using; some of them don't match. I noticed the grass at the start and a silver pipe later on as well. It's not a tough level, but you should still add a checkpoint. And, same as universally swimmable water, every level needs a star at the end. Otherwise, I had some minor nitpicks that I don't think hurt the level too much, but I'd switch the placement of the 1-up and Leaf in the starting block array and possibly hide that Bullet Bill cannon. Overpowered items shouldn't be mainstream unless it's really necessary.
Diamond Cave
Two powerups at the beginning aren't really necessary, especially if the player hits both and gets two mushrooms instead of one and a leaf. Also in regard to that leaf, you should close up the places where the cave hits the top of the screen. The player can fly up there and run across the roof. The second chunk of the level with all the moving platforms is just abysmal. Riding the platforms takes a while and nothing particularly interesting makes the ride worth it. Plus, if you fall off of them, there are numerous places where you can't get back on them. Or even places where you can cut out parts of the level by jumping ship early. The warp to the star is set too far into the pipe, so the player can't use it. This one needs an overhaul. I'd shorten the paths the platforms take, make them easier to get back on if the player falls off, and put some stuff in there for the player to do instead of just standing around.
Dire Factory
A few gripes on this one. I don't know if you were expecting the player to get a Mushroom out of that second power up block, but it's so far up that you can barely reach it if there's a Fire Flower inside. Next, please don't put a pipe in a hard to reach place if it doesn't actually lead anywhere. That not only deceives the player but causes them to take risks for nothing. It's a ‘screw you' moment, and those are never good. Putting a piranha plant at the peak of a spring board's jump falls under the same category. And, as I mentioned before, all levels must end with a star. You could hide it behind one of the Zelda 2 locks to keep your key puzzle in-tact. This level had a lot of Mother Brain Brand Fire Rings of Doom to dodge, but it was admittedly pretty bland.
Factory Mines
This level is just bizarre. Everything looks really cluttered and thrown together. There are powerful items just lying around everywhere, some of which make having all those switch blocks and moving platforms completely pointless. I'm not sure what you could really do to save this one. The first section is just a mess, there's no point in having Boom-boom at the end of it (you don't even have to kill him), and once again, the level must be ended with a star. You can't do the key thing, and only the SMB3 star works in the engine's current state. I'd reconsider just about everything.
Freefall
So. You fall. And fall and fall and fall. Okay, the first half of this level can just plain go. There's nothing to dodge, nothing worth collecting, and your coins are just all over the place. Even if I had a leaf to slow my descent, I wouldn't bother to collect them all. The checkpoint should be the start point, because that's where the level actually starts showing signs of being one. I also noticed you had a second checkpoint further down. Well, this will work in your favor if you cut out the first half, because that can be the new midway point. SMBX can only support one per level anyway! Do the player a favor and give them a leaf at the start before they begin their falling. It's the only thing that makes this level remotely bearable. I don't think it's beyond salvation, but it could stand to be half as long at least. Rest stops along the way would work wonders. And get that ? Ball out of the pool at the bottom; heaven forbid the player grab that first and have to do the whole thing over for the star.
Ghost House 4
This was a little better than your others. However, if you're going to put an invisible door somewhere, you should at least include some indication of its existence. I get that the level had a parallel side and there was one door missing that was the secret one you needed, but it wasn't obvious enough. Having Big Boo at the end was neat, but you don't really need to kill him to escape. You'd do well to touch this up in a few places, but this was certainly more passable than the others of yours I've played.
Ghost House 5
…you should've stopped at ‘Ghost House 4'. This one lacked just about everything you might expect from a Ghost House. Or, rather, it had too many elements you would not expect (like giant saw blades, Bowser statues, bullet cannons, etc.). Having a saw fall underneath the springboards you needed to escape is a cheap move. So is sending you to a room surrounded with ghosts, especially when the means to defeat them is right underneath you (and possibly unnoticeable to the player). It really lacks anything it should have in the way of theme, and once again, I'd reconsider almost every design choice you made.
Luigi's Factory
What this level had to do with Luigi, I have no idea. It's very short, it's very bland, and once again, there's no need to fight the bosses at the end at all. It seemed really thrown together, like it wasn't really planned out and you just built it as you went with whatever idea came to mind. I didn't see the point in a lot of the hazards you included, as very few of them posed any actual threat. If you're going to keep this title, you should at least have a reason for it. Maybe expand on that idea instead.
Midas River
There needs to be a better word for ‘bland'. I have fond memories of the Super Mario RPG stage bearing the same name as this, but once again, your titles have misled me. What you have here is a nearly featureless expanse. Grabbing the bullet cannon at the start is a little tricky, but nothing too inobvious. It also renders the rest of the level completely moot because it destroys everything in your path with ease (rendering it somehow even more featureless). ONCE AGAIN, the level must end with a STAR. This thing needs some serious spicing up. Fill up that air space a little! Add blocks! Coins! Platforms! Anything! Ditch the bullet cannon! Make it more river-y!
Misery Valley
Yellow switch blocks are identical to SMW special blocks. Placing one like you did at the start is just cruel. And, man, do you ever love a) using switch blocks and b) ending the level without a star. You can still have those bridge-like end-of-level checkpoint thingies without the actual bar going up and down, you know. Anyway, this was better, but rather plain. It seemed like there was often a high road low road thing going on; you should continue that trend for more of the level. Make the high road easier to follow, but harder to reach; make the low road more difficult to compensate. Also, at one point I had a runway long enough to fly and skip just about a third of the level. Just some things you should consider.
Nimbus Night 2
Oh, boy! Hold down to win! This is a novel idea that has never been done before ever in this project or any other for that matter OH BOY THIS WILL BE GREAT. Seriously, though, if you're going to have a level where all you do is slide, at least give the player something to look at and enough reward along the way to make them feel like they're not wasting their time. Also, the second part is pretty much impossible if you lose that red jump block, and you have to endure the whole slide again just to get there. Even with the block, I just jumped as high as I could to skip as much as I could, and I still ended up in some Koopa's face or down the pit. The section's too long and tedious to follow the slide. Get a checkpoint in there and try to make things more interesting! And, for the love of God and all that is holy, get rid of that entire airship ride before the star. It's FAR too long and FAR too slow, and NO ONE is going to want to sit through that whole thing. It's atrocious. Outright atrocious.
Siberian Volcano 2
Overall, this one's not too bad. I was happy to see it had a checkpoint, but I was unhappy there were no powerups anywhere near it (or in the ice half of the stage at all). It's a bit easy to skip entire portions of the fire section with the propeller block, so I don't know what you want to do about that. You tend to leave items like those lying around when they're really too useful for the places you put them. You should apply a little risk and reward theory to your placement of these things. Also, it's pretty obvious at this point that you've just been submitting levels from your own SMBX project to RMN Bros. We can't really stop you from doing this, but at least make sure they follow our established rules before you do. In case you're wondering what I mean, PUT A STAR AT THE END.
Skull Lake
This level does not exist. You submitted a blank slate. This is a huge improvement on your previous ventures.
Sky Terrace
You have two of these submitted for some reason, so I'm assuming they're the same and not downloading both. Anyway, this is
the
WORST LEVEL
you have submitted. In fact, this is not a level. This is a blight upon humanity. I sat through your moving platforms. I pounced through the propeller block section. I sat through your clouds and your rocket boards and your coins and all THIRTY TWO of your goddamn roman numerals. And you know what? It was BORING AS HELL. I've been doing my best to be optimistic and give advice on how things can be improved, but this…this monstrosity…needs to die. Delete it. All of it. And forget you ever created it. I don't know what was running through your mind that you thought this would be a good idea. The only thing I can even FATHOM is that you must not have tried it yourself. It's indescribably horrible. And I can only imagine what would happen if I somehow fell back down. Dear God, the prospect is mortifying.
Terranova Wastelands
Okay, I'm gonna have to take this one in two chunks. But before I do, I'd like to mention that this level (and others of yours) is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long. I don't know how long you held the Shift key and a direction in the editor to make these behemoth levels, but there's no need for anything this huge. Ever.
First part: I can see the concepts you tried to implement and work with, but unfortunately, they were implemented very poorly, and I don't really see any way they could have been otherwise. Having the whole thing swimmable was an odd (but necessary) choice, but everything else is pretty much ruined by it. I set a fast pace and swam past almost every single obstacle with ease. Blargg makes a very poor underwater foe, as do both versions of Bowser. At least the SMB3 one killed himself eventually. I was still hearing SMB1 Bowser chuck hammers long after I passed him up. You lava is mismatched in several places and the whole thing is too long and really sloppy looking.
Second part: Oh, hey, it's practically Sky Terrace all over again, except there's actually stuff to do. There's not much to say here except that this is awful for pretty much the same reasons as the last level. I'd tell you to break this apart and make two levels out of it, but both sections are generally terrible and I think you'd be better off without them.
The Great Pyramid
Same scale issues as before. I sincerely hope these gargantuan stages are old work you've grown out of, because they're just unacceptable. I don't know how high the pyramid went because I used my tail to bust a block partway up. Then I took my flight block and hovered to the right as fast as I could (descending as slow as I could). I eventually fell down the pit and died. I never saw the other side. I had to look over in the editor. If you think anyone is going down and back up that whole damn pyramid for a 3up Moon, you‘re insane. The bit in the middle I saw (but didn't reach/play) might be salvageable if you crop off everything to the left, right and bottom of it for about 500 tiles. Serious suggestion.
Valley of the Kings
You did that awful pyramid thing again! At least this one has more going on, though. Cut the height of the pyramid by about 1,000,000 tiles and this might be a decent level. I dunno. I'm kinda fed up at this point and just commenting based on what I see in the editor, so yeah. Take that how you will!
Vile Fortress
Hey, I actually completed this one! Wow! The castle leading up was, thankfully, shorter than your previous stages. It was also just busy enough to work for me as a castle stage. However, having both Larry and Ludwig waiting at the end is very cruel, even if you don't have to kill them to get the star. I would stick a checkpoint in before the boss at least. Some powerups beforehand would surely help as well. In fact, the whole level has a decent share of traps, but lacks blocks almost entirely. So, yeah, get some powerups in there and other rewards for the player, and you'll be in better shape.
All your levels aren't terrible, but they do need a lot of work!
ShortStar
Big World Gone Bad
I can tell you were going for the feel of the large-scale levels from SMB3's 4th world, and I think you pulled that off pretty well. My only gripes are that the level is far too long not to have a checkpoint, and that pit you need a running jump to cross is unnerving. You can't see the other side, so it's pretty much a leap of faith. Also, you forgot to pick a BGM for it! Otherwise, not bad.
Crash Course
Nice classic feel to this one. The underground bonus section was perplexing at first, but I see why you made it that way. I was going to say something about the player being screwed if they missed the star, but I saw that you were ready for such a scenario, too. The only thing I'd change would be to relocate the checkpoint to after the bonus pipe's exit. Having to miss it for the bonus room is just tragic.