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Come To See The Paintings, Stay For The Platforming

  • Addit
  • 09/23/2013 08:21 AM
  • 4547 views


A Game Made By: halibabica
Including The Assistance Of:
apa649, DarklordKeinor, Isrieri, nin8halos, Deckiller, Blitzen, Davenport, Desmo360, jackalotrun,
Jparker1984, kentona, lonestarluigi, masterofmayhem, pyrodoom, Ratty524, seiromem,
Solitayre & wildwes
Created Using: Super Mario Bros. X
It's A: ACTION PLATFORMER ADVENTURE Game
That Roughly Takes Around: 10 - 14 Hours To Complete
And It's A... COMPLETED GAME!!!


DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!?!?!? Well – I still can’t believe it! From what seemed like a long time running joke among the RMN forums that this long time community Super Mario Bros. fangame “will never be finished,” and “it’s like the Duke Nukem Forever of all RM games” (okay, not really), halibabica and company shook the very foundation of time and space itself by FINALLY releasing Super RMN World – supposedly the greatest Super RMN Bros. game to date! And there’s definitely reason to get excited here: Over 78 different, but creative fun levels done by some of the finest people to ever use the engine – this is what I’m talking about here! Hell, even this game alone has almost more levels combined than the original Super Mario Bros. for the NES and Super Mario Bros. 2!!! That’s a lotta levels.

Of course, having a ton of levels doesn’t necessary make you a success – but it’s still pretty impressive! You can definitely tell that the creators took their time with this one and it certainly shows in the finer details. I may not be the most avid of Mario fans, but I have pretty much played most of them from every single Nintendo system that you can imagine: Super Mario Bros.; Super Mario Bros. 2; Super Mario Bros. 3; Super Mario World; Super Mario 64; Super Mario Land; Super Mario Kart; Mario Parties – you name it; I’ve played it.

And now, I’m gonna go play “this” one.

The Story


Kelly: “…You’re also fat.”


Something incredibly exciting is happening in the Mushroom Kingdom today: A fabulous, expensive new art gallery has just opened up for all the habitants to see! Everybody from all across the land – even including the King Of Koopa’s himself, Bowser – have to come to see all the wonderful works of art. Presented as a peace offering gift to Princess Peach from Eli himself for all the trouble he has caused the entire kingdom in the past, Eli’s hoping to just settle down and start a new life for himself by showing the entire world that he can, indeed, create a wonderus masterpiece of remarkable proportions. But after receiving their very own invitations to come see the art gallery too, Mario has this strange feeling that something isn’t quite right here… Although Luigi believes that perhaps Eli might have changed from their previous encounters, Mario certainly doesn’t. The pair decides to go to see the art gallery anyway, knowing that the Princess will probably be there and they certainly don’t want anything bad to happen to her. Along the way, Mario & Luigi happen to run into the Hyrulian hero himself, Link, as he too was invited to check out the art gallery. Since the pair remember him in that Super Smash Bros. Brawl thing – they decided to all go along together. After making their way to the art gallery’s entrance, Mario, Luigi and Link run into Princess Peach and one of her Toad escorts just as they’re about to head inside. While the princess is excited and can’t wait to see all the displays, Mario warns her that this could be yet another trap devised from Eli and that her and Toad should stay close with the rest of the group – knowing what has happened in the past. Little do they all realize, from a distance above, Eli is staring at them…watching them…knowing that most of them still don’t quite trust him yet…

What exactly is Eli plotting, anyways? And, if he’s plotting something nefarious – “can he be stopped?” It’s up to Mario and the rest of the gang to unveil the truth behind this mysterious art gallery and really see behind Eli’s true colors.

If any of you have played any Mario games in the past, you should know that most of their stories have you trying to rescue the princess from Bowser by going from stage-to-stage until you meet up with him in the final level of the game and defeat him; it really hasn’t changed that much since. Although other games in the series like Super Mario RPG, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island and even the Superstar Saga do change things up a little by presenting a completely different antagonist, or having the princess or Bowser actually join you in your quest most of the games are usually the same. However, in Super RMN World, amazingly, there IS actually a plot to this whole game – and, guess what, it doesn’t even revolve around Bowser or saving the princess this time! Hell, in this game – Bowser is an NPC in one of the world hubs and the princess is actually playable! Hell yeah! I like how this game’s setup is different than the norm but could also realistic fit in an actual Mario game setting. Although this is still a Mario game at heart and you most likely won’t care too much about the story, it’s still a nice touch to even have one including a bit of backstory behind it.


The Gameplay


Gotta make sure to nab all those RMN coins!


If you’ve played any of the classic Mario games for the NES, SNES and Gameboy – or even the newest ones for the Wii and 3DS – you should feel right at home here! All from what you expect out of a Mario game is pretty much mostly intact in this game… I say most because, to me, it feels like a few things aren’t quite all there with the controls and the overall mechanics. Maybe it’s because it’s been a while since I’ve played a classic Mario game, or it’s because it’s my first time playing a Mario game using the Super Mario Bros. X engine, but something’s just seemed a bit off to me. For example, when bouncing on a music block to go higher in the air while using Princess Peach, instead of her just naturally bouncing higher when you hold the jump button down she seems to just float there first before jumping higher. I know this is probably the norm for playing as her, but I found myself dying a few times (especially on stages with a ton of music blocks like Cloudsdale Sanctuary) because I would assume that she would naturally rise higher in the air instead of floating first (maybe it’s just me). Also, when you acquire a Yoshi and spit out a green shell to attack some enemies in front of you, on some of the stages it will just…drop directly in front of him and not go forward to attack any enemies. Although it may play like a Mario game, long time vets will notice little ins-and-outs that might bug some players. Luckily, these issues are mostly minor, as you do get a hang of it after some time. One of the nicest features I will say that this game has – and THANK GOD IT DOES – is completely eliminate the timer for you to complete a stage. Words cannot describe such a feeling! If this game had a timer in it, I would probably go completely mental in a fit of rage from throwing my controller at a wall in some of the stages.

Enough griping aside; let’s talk about the gameplay! Well, in Super RMN World you have 5 different playable characters to choose from, each with their own abilities and special traits: Mario is your standard character, pretty much plays the same from all of his games; Luigi, who plays like Mario but can jump a bit higher than him and can also collect more coins out of coin boxes; Toad, who is incredibly quick and can pick up enemies and items much quicker than the rest of the characters, like from Super Mario Bros. 2; Princess Peach, who may not be able to spin attack, but her floating ability does make some of the stages feel like a breeze; and Link, who is great to use on a stage with a ton of enemies or in most of the boss fights. Seriously, most of the boss fights are a completely cake walk with using Link! The downside to him is that he can’t pick up objects, nor can he spin attack. But that’s okay. Although you can probably finish the game with using just one character, it’s pretty much essential that you use all of them.

As for the power-up’s, you have your traditional Mushroom, Fire Flower and Racoon Leaf but you also have access to some of the more recent power-ups from the more newer Mario games, like the Ice Flower, which can freeze enemies and turn them into platforms or throwing devices. There are also a couple of new, but incredible sweet items that you will run into along the way, like the Red Podoboo Shoes (which can be used to walk on Lava), the Blue Lakatu’s Shoes (which lets you fly in the air indefinitely) and the Bullet Gun (which shoots a barrage of Bullet Bills at enemies) – and you’ll even have access to Bowser’s “Clown Mobile” to fly around the stage and stomp enemies with! (How sweet of Bowser to lend you one of his most precious, priced possessions.)

As for the levels, well, each part of the gallery is its own separate world hub. As you enter each room in the gallery, there will be paintings inside where a Power Star will be located in each one. You must find the star at the end of a stage or while defeating a boss in order to complete the level. Each world hub has a boss door and a Star Key that you will need to finally confront the final boss at the end of the game. Now, TECHNICALLY you don't need to finish ALL the levels in order to complete the whole game as you just need to finish a few of them in each world in order to confront the boss - but what's the fun in that!?

Along your travels, you’ll often run into Kelly, who is considered the information guru in this game. Talking to her will give you some sort of hint on how to complete the level that you’re on; she is very helpful. Well…at times! Sometimes, she’ll just insult you or not even bother to give you any information at all (what a b**ch)! But she is definitely this game’s biggest bright spot when it comes to all the original characters! I felt like her inclusion made this game even more enjoyable for me (almost made me wish that she WAS an actual Mario character). You’ll also run into other NPC’s along the way that will give you some information and backstory, so it’s important to talk to everyone in this game (never thought I would say that in a Mario game).

In a nutshell, this game plays a lot like all the other Mario games you’ve already played, but all these new changes to the overall design do make this game more pleasing and will definitely bring a smile to most Mario vets. Oh, and I almost forgot to talk about the levels themselves – Jesus me! Almost every single level has its own creative flair to each one. There really is no one single level that I didn’t really enjoy (well, except for Fleetfeet Falls because, man – that level is just too god damn frustrating! The amount of lives I wasted dying all those times is just too much for one single man to bare). There are even some levels that do throwbacks from pretty much every single Mario game in existence, including some other NES and SNES classics such as Metroid, The Legend Of Zelda, and even the original TMNT for the NES! Pretty much, no level is the same, and no level is a chore to go through.


The Soundtrack


If there is anything that Mario games have taught us, it’s that plumbers prefer pizza.


You would probably expect from playing a Super Mario fangame that you’re going to hear various tunes and sound effects from the series – and you’d be right! However, the great thing about Super RMN World is that most of the Mario themes used in most levels are straight up remixes or songs taken from a wide assortment of different musical materials. From what I’ve gathered, a lot of the custom tracks are songs from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, “The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, Kirby, and even freakin’ Fate Stay Night (don’t ask why). You would think that listening to all these many different types of tunes from all sorts of different mediums would sour the experience a little, but, you know what, it actually works and works quite well! Throughout my entire playthrough, I never stopped to question or got remotely bothered by any of the music choices in this game (…except maybe for the Fate Stay Night song on Final Destination). The musical choices work. And it’s great that the creators also included some of the more traditional Mario songs in there as well, like from Super Mario World, Super Mario RPG, New Super Mario Bros Wii, etc.. Overall, your musical ears will not disappoint. As for the sound effects, they are your typical Mario flair; mostly directly ripped from Super Mario World, and I’m just fine with that. There’s the occasional odd custom sound thrown in for good measure too. Overall, I was very impressed with the overall soundtrack, and even managed to listen to a few of these tunes for a little while after I was completely finished with the game.

The Aesthetics


Truly a marvelous spectacle for the eyes.


Most of the main in-game graphics used for this game are directly ripped from games like Super Mario World and Super Mario All-Stars, which you would probably expect from a Mario fangame like this, and they do work rather quite well. I also liked the fact the creators also used some of their own custom backgrounds, tiles and enemies for this game to break up the monotony and make each level in its own right special. Throughout the game, I never did once question the graphical presentation as I thought it was quite excellent. And one of the best things about making a Mario game is that you can virtually use the mostly outlandish color settings and still get away with it without it being that much of a hitch. Of course these graphics aren’t the best of the best, but they do work well and I had no real complaints about it.

The End Result


Navi: “…I think we’re in the wrong game again, Link.”


After spending nearly 4 days straight playing this game for about three hours each sitting, I just felt the time flying by just as much as the big smile on my face and the overall joy that ensued. I felt like I a little kid again, playing Super Mario Bros. 3 on my NES all over again! I know I may be a bit biased towards this because I haven’t played a traditional Mario game for years (or even a Super Mario Bros. X game for that matter), but I truly enjoyed this game from the first level to the final boss fight; it truly was a masterpiece. In someways, I consider this, at least for me, the Super Mario Bros. 4 that I always wanted Nintendo to make. (You know, Nintendo, if you could just take a page from this game and just…release something like this in a more downloadable form and call it Super Mario Bros. 4 – I would certainly buy it! *sigh* I guess this game will have to do…)

With all that being said, I HIGHLY recommend that all of you give this a go and play it until the very end, all 90 stars and all. I guess all good things DO come to those that wait, and this is no exception! Super RMN World is a fabulous fangame in the traditional spirit of all the Mario games that came before it and is a great example of what the power of teamwork can do. This is one community project that gets my ultimate seal of approval and I simply can’t wait to see what all these guys do next. I just can’t give this anything less than a perfect score – I-I just can’t! Giving this game less than a 5 would be like saying that I don’t like video games!


OVERALL GRADE:
5 / 5 - A ~ Perfection. Absolute Perfection.

Posts

Pages: 1
Solitayre
Circumstance penalty for being the bard.
18257
What an enthusiastic review! Thanks for playing!

If you liked this you should give Mario vs the Moon Base, Super Talking Time Bros 1 and 2, or the Mario's Mansion series a try.
Seiromem
I would have more makerscore If I did things.
6375
I see no change in my makerscore, this review disappoints me

I liked reading this a lot, it really boosted my spirit and I think it's inspiring me to make more levels!

Thanks for the review Addit!
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
from review
TECHNICALLY you could just face the bosses of each world and get all the keys and defeat the last boss and never even touch one of the levels
Actually, that's not quite true. The boss doors are locked with power stars, so you can't access them unless you beat some of the stages. Even if you use the Lock Box to bypass the star doors, you still can't enter the final stage without beating the W8 boss.

But if you collected every star from every stage along the way, you'd never see the boss doors were locked in the first place. :P

Glad you liked it so much! It's very refreshing to finally have produced a community Mario game worth looking at.

from seiromem
I see no change in my makerscore, this review disappoints me
Makerscore changes only happen overnight.
Seiromem
I would have more makerscore If I did things.
6375
author=halibabica
Makerscore changes only happen overnight.


OoOo so I'll break the 1K barrier while riding everyone's coattails tomorrow then?

I can wait.
@ Solitayre – I’m actually thinking of giving either one of the Mario’s Mansion games a shot (considering I need something “spooky” to review for next month’s Halloween). If you guys manage to complete Mario’s Mansion 3 in time before the end of October – I’ll make sure to play that one over the other two.

@ seiromem – Your welcome. I really enjoyed playing “Industrial Failure” & “Cursed Funklen” from you the most out of all the levels you made.

@ halibabica – Really? Since I completed all the levels first before entering the boss’ room, I naturally assumed you could just fight the boss of each world and complete the game faster than just trying to beat all the levels as I would often pass the boss’ room and naturally assumed that. But after taking a second look, it would appear that you are right; you need to complete some of the levels first before heading to the boss’ chamber in order to get the Star Key. Guess I’ll have to fix this review up a little.

Yeah, your welcome everybody; I just gave you all a shit ton of meekerscore while I got stuck with just a messily 50 – IT’S NOT FAIR, I TELL YOU!!!

But congrats on making an excellent game, you guys. I really had a lot of fun with this one. ^^
Mario's Mansion's target release date is the 31st so at best you'll have 24 hours from release to review if your target is before November.
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
Nice review as always, Addit! And yes, the boss doors are unlocked after getting a certain amount of stars, but if you find all the bonus levels along the way, you'd hardly ever notice.
author=GreatRedSpirit
Mario's Mansion's target release date is the 31st so at best you'll have 24 hours from release to review if your target is before November.


- Sounds like a challenge!!! :D

@ Ratty524 - Yeah, I hardly even noticed.

BTW, is it possible for you guys to implement "multiple exits" in a level like in Super Mario World? I was just wondering because, if you can, wouldn't it be better to go with something like that than just having a bunch of bonus levels in each of the world hubs?

Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
We were required not to during the level submission period, also it doesn't really work with the SM64-styled HUB world, but it does with a world map. I wouldn't mind it for next time, but I don't know how it will turn out considering how secret stars were handled in SRMNB3 x_x
@ Ratty524 – Ah, I see. Guess it's not really a good idea to add them in then.

Ooo – shit!

I guess I forgot to mention what some of my favorites levels were for the review (oops)!

I mean, all the levels were great, but these (in no particular order) were the ones that just stuck with me:

  • Pipe Platformer - Two simple words: "Propeller Block". All I can say is WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

  • Moleville Mines - Good to see you again, old friend.

  • Cloudsdale Sanctuary - Man, this side scrolling level is just AWESOME! Coins - coins - coins - coins - coins!!! :)

  • Sunny Summertime Swim - Peaceful, fun, Koopas ACTUALLY having fun for a change on skis and with incredibly bouncy music playing in the background - I like it!!!

  • Cowabunga! - ...At least the Dam level in THIS game isn't as bad as that OTHER game. X_x

  • Industrial Failure - I've never seen so many Poison Mushrooms in all my life. (Also, Dr. Toadly.)

  • Shadow Temple - Hard as balls but incredibly satisfying. I also really appreciated the ghost ship part that carried you to the end of the level as an homage to Ocarina Of Time's Shadow Temple.

  • Final Destination - Poor Mr. Saturn's... :(
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