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Don’t Go In, For The Love Of God – Please Don’t Go In
Addit- 03/04/2014 08:42 AM
- 16546 views
A Game Made By: Isrieri
Including The Assistance Of:
kentona, halibabica, Davenport, Desmo360, Solitayre, Ratty524, Otabo, nin8halos, pyrodoom, Farlon303,
seiromem, jackalotrun, DarklordKeinor, masterofmayhem, apa649 & Blobofgoo
Created Using: Super Mario Bros. X
It's A: PLATFORMER Game
That Roughly Takes Around: 5 - 8 Hours To Complete
And It's A... COMPLETED GAME!!!
This seems to be that one game in the entire RMN library that has been pushing for somebody brave enough – hell, even stupid enough – to take the plunge in and review something that has been pestered by the creators from this game for quite some time now. And that mighty plunge happens to be another entry into the community fanmade Super Mario Bros. X games simply known as Castles – Masterpiece Set. The sound of that very word from those who have ventured into the hollowed, greyish castle is bound to bring back a couple of unsettling nightmares to some – lemme assure you! But despite having a substantial amount of downloads (…okay, it’s not really a lot, I mean, 600+ is almost laughable by comparison to today’s standards here. But, hey – it could be worse) and with even more tons of subsequent entries into the series – I am surprised that this game hasn’t been reviewed as of yet. Well…it looks like it’s up to me to finally solve this mystery, and…
(…Damn you, Corfaisus, you and your quick trigger fingers!)
*sigh* …Let’s just get this over with and review this game already, so I can get back to doing more important things like buttering my bread…! *whines*
The Story
Hmmm…
If you’re looking for a plot for this game, you won’t find one here. But if you’re the type of person that needs some sort of incentive to know what’s really going on – this is pretty much the whole story in a nutshell:
Mario: This is it, Luigi!
Luigi: …Spaghetti!
“…And thus, Mario and Luigi then entered the treacherous Fortress Of Solitude in hopes of finding precious, delicious homemade Italian spaghetti for Luigi, and even more golden coins for Mario…and I think there’s a princess somewhere inside, I dunno.”
Yeah…it’s a Mario game. What did you expect?
The Gameplay
- Easy…! Easy…!!!
Once again, for anybody that is familiar with any of the classic Mario platformers in the past or have even played some of the other Super Mario Bros. X engine inspired games here, you’ll feel right at home here. And if you haven’t played a classic Mario game before – then why are you even reading this review in the first place??? Either way, please don’t let this be your first.
Basically so, you have a total of thirty-two different levels in the castle (if you count the prologue level as well) as you try to find the power stars at the end of each level in order to unlock the final gruelling challenge and get that 100 % completion. Easy as pie, right? Well, um…how should I put this without really offending anybody…
- THIS GAME IS F***ING HARRRRRRDDDDDDDDD!!!
F***!!!
F***!!!
Seriously, for anybody who is even thinking that they’re just going to waltz in, bust up some bad guys and do some innocent platforming on the side – you are seriously living in a dream world. This game can be absolutely BRUTAL if you’re not a seasonal Mario veteran or least coming in with a USB controller in hand (not to mention bringing in a couple of additional extra lives wouldn’t hurt as well). Lemme explain:
Although this game isn’t quite as impossible as I make it out to seem, as all of these levels can be beaten with a little bit of memorization, patience, and skill, this game WILL kick your butt and then laugh straight into your face as you see poor little Mario and Luigi tumble into the abyss and whatever shred of manhood you have left into It. The main issue here is that a lot of these levels feel like they’re a bit unfair to the player overall, even some of the earlier ones pose a lot of problems that you would usually see towards the end levels of the game. There are too many instances with bad enemy placements that seem to get you in the right spots; too many high risk jumps that require absolute - almost perfect - precision jumping on your part; not enough powerup’s or checkpoints throughout the stage that makes a lot of these levels seem like you can’t make a single mistake at all, not to mention various glitches or even some instances where certain characters can’t even complete certain levels on their own; it just seems like an overwhelming amount of frustration every time something unfair like this happens – AND IT WILL HAPPEN A LOT. And I can finally now understand why this game doesn’t have too many reviews for it: because it can be quite disastrously and damaging for one’s own self being. And if you want any proof of that, just try to get past that final level and you’ll understand why.
But a nice challenge can be a healthy challenge, and I can definitely see a bit of merit for someone playing these uber-hard levels, especially if you’re the type of the person that likes a personal challenge like this, or is just feeling plain suicidal. But most casual Mario players will probably find themselves rage quitting quicker than you can say “Mama-Mia.” This game is definitely one of the hardest games I’ve played here on RMN, and that’s no lie.
And although some of the levels found later on are quite fair and balanced, they seem to be rather far apart compared to the rest of the sinister stages that are in this game. I’m glad that over time that more levels like the ones that I enjoyed the most, like any of nin8halos levels, Albino’s Arena, Palace Of Frozen Daggers, Sky Temple and even Funklen’s Tomb became more of the bench setters for future community projects, so it’s nice to see just how far everyone has come along since then. But with only a small fraction of these enjoyable levels compared to the overwhelming frustrating ones, it’s just not enough in my eyes. Even 99 lives may not be enough to get out of this castle alive.
The Soundtrack
- WEEEEEEEEEE!!!
This might come as a bit of a shock to you, but this game – yes, this game – features nothing but mostly Mario tunes and classic sound effects from those games – oh noes, THE HORROR!!!
Just kidding. Luckily, a lot of the tunes used here from the Mario series are various remixes and arrangements that do sound pretty good and do fit the themes for most of levels used here rather quite well. There are even a lot of songs borrowed here from many other popular Nintendo games, such as Mega Man, The Secret Of Mana, and even the Legend Of Zelda series. I’m not saying that this is a fantastic soundtrack (as I do feel a bit more originality in the tunes would have helped a little more with maybe a slight diversity in the tracks used), but it suites this type of game so it’s generally accepted in my eyes. The sound effects are basically what comes standard with the engine, so nothing really noteworthy here.
The Aesthetics
Some of the levels here are quite visually stunning.
This part of the spectrum depends on the levels themselves. I found some of the levels to be quite pleasant looking, not just with the scenery in the background but also with the usage of the tilesets used, while some of the stages seemed like the backgrounds blended in too much with the tilesets making some parts of the backdrops look a platform that you can jump on but not really a platform that you can jump on, resulting in even more frustration and many more deaths. Compared to some of the earlier Super Mario Bros. X community games, this one definitely is nice step up compared to those other games. By no means does every level look like a masterpiece, but a few of them do look quite nice and could actually mesh well in an actual Mario platformer.
The End Result
The door won’t open…
- THE DOOR WON’T OPEN!!!
Castles – Masterpiece Set is by no means a terribly executed game, as some of the levels here can be quite enjoyable and even the challenge factor alone can drive some people to enjoy this game, but there is no denying just how cheap and unbelievably unfair some of these levels are designed to be. Although beatable, by the time when the player has even remotely beaten this game by the skin of their teeth, whatever satisfaction that they once had quickly turns to remorse (and that final level doesn’t help much either). This almost reminded me of a collective science fair project that looked so promising on paper but was poorly executed in the end and was just rushed to completion as quickly as possible to leave behind a soggy mess of loosely based chemicals and bathroom tissues.
Mario games have that fine line between complete utter balance and being just beyond brutal; you want to have the right mix for your levels when tackling something as methodical as Mario. Having too much of one thing can either make the experience either too easy or just beyond insane. This is one example of a Mario game that’s just beyond insane. But I like to think that without this game some of the more prominent community Mario fangames, like my favorite one of the bunch, Super RMN World (still supposedly the best Super RMN Bros. game to date), would not be possible without first realizing and correcting the mistakes of the past. So in some ways, this was a small sacrifice that lead to much greater and better things.
I’m going to recommend this game only for the serious hardcore Mario veterans or if you’re just somebody who is looking for a collective itch to scratch. For everybody else out there that’s still possibly on the fence with this one, this is probably one game you should skip in favor of the other community Mario games. But if you’re feeling quite suicidal – then I won’t stop you from trying.
OVERALL GRADE:
1.5 / 5 - D ~ Proceed With EXTREME Caution.
Posts 
Otabo
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CloseGood review. Well, as far as I'm concerned, even though I made only two levels in this collection: lesson learned.
After replaying this and attempting a speedrun, I actually kind of have to agree with Addit's points. Gam too hard, mang. (I especially freakin' hate that boom boom boss with the spike on its head)
author=Ratty524
(I especially freakin' hate that boom boom boss with the spike on its head)
I thought I tweaked him along with the Mouser boss! Did I at least take those Bullet Bills out? I really should have just told him to try that whole boss fight again instead of trying to re-invent it.
author=Addit
This almost reminded me of a collective science fair project that looked so promising on paper but was poorly executed in the end
Good summation! That's basically what happened. Mostly due to me! XP
The secret to the final level is that I put an invisible hammer suit before Bowser.
author=IsrieriNope. Or maybe I'm playing a different version than what you've released so far. Thing is, the boss would be fine if those bullet bills were OUT of the fight.
I thought I tweaked him along with the Mouser boss! Did I at least take those Bullet Bills out?
The Mouser boss is more tolerable for me by comparison, but the fight is more annoying than difficult, since you have to time those bombs just right so that Mouser doesn't block them with his own.
from Isrieri
The secret to the final level is that I put an invisible hammer suit before Bowser.
The secret to anything Isrieri makes is that the thing you need is invisible and completely inconspicuous, because conventions are too conventional. But we've been over that before, so I'm just beating a dead horse.
This game's pretty hard.
author=halibabicafrom IsrieriThe secret to anything Isrieri makes is that the thing you need is invisible and completely inconspicuous, because conventions are too conventional. But we've been over that before, so I'm just beating a dead horse.
The secret to the final level is that I put an invisible hammer suit before Bowser.
This game's pretty hard.
Lol the only reason Isreiri's final level doesn't bother me much is because I cheated to know where all the hidden power-ups are. xD
author=kentona
I'm in it for the makerscore. (also, who thought invisible powerups are a good idea??)
*points to Isreiri*
I like invisible power-ups, but only when they aren't required for things.
If you want to get technical, power-ups in general aren't required to beat the game. You can beat the entire thing as small Mario (good luck though)
Addit
6394
author=Ratty524
The Mouser boss is more tolerable for me by comparison, but the fight is more annoying than difficult, since you have to time those bombs just right so that Mouser doesn't block them with his own.
Oh f*** - I forgot about that boss! What a pain in the neck that fight was…
author=Isrieri
The secret to the final level is that I put an invisible hammer suit before Bowser.
Well, that would helped.
Addit
6394
Yeah, there were a couple of other mouser boss battles in this game. I can't really recall where all of them were in each particular level off by heart - but I do remember the one from the Desert Palace! Oh, ho - I remember him well.
(Also, Isrieri, in regards to your level:)
(I CALL HAXS ON THIS!)
( - Are you telling me that you were able to complete that entire level without taking a single hit from anything? There's no way!)
(Also, Isrieri, in regards to your level:)
~ Submission Prerequisites ~
You must be able to clear the level without taking a hit.
(I CALL HAXS ON THIS!)
( - Are you telling me that you were able to complete that entire level without taking a single hit from anything? There's no way!)
author=Addit
(Are you telling me that you were able to complete that entire level without taking a single hit from anything? There's no way!)
Damn straight I could! I made the Shadow Temple and Gusty Indeed! in RMN World after all: I had better well be able to take what I dish out!
I did send the level up for review by the rest of the team, FYI.
Addit
6394
author=Isrieriauthor=AdditDamn straight I could! I made the Shadow Temple and Gusty Indeed! in RMN World after all: I had better well be able to take what I dish out!
(Are you telling me that you were able to complete that entire level without taking a single hit from anything? There's no way!)
Jesus…! I guess I’m not as good of a Mario player as you are, bud.
author=kentona
What did you think of my level? that's all I care about #selfish
Honestly, I can’t really remember too much about your level, Kentona. I think I remember that it wasn’t all too bad in terms of difficulty (as I think I died only about once there), but it certainly wasn’t as memorable compared to some of the other levels in the game. So, in other words, “Meh.”
