1) CLOUDSPOOKS Design: 21/40 Creativity: 6/20 This level feels kinda plain. Design wise the object layout is fine for a romp style level. There's some real momentum killing sprite placements, like the Boo Circles and the Fishin' Boo though. I also had an unfortunate invisible Eerie happen due to the big bubble. The sub area suffered because of the Boo Circles' spawn rules as well. The level isn't really doing too much creative with any of its aspects either. A different sprite set may have helped, but the ghost house set didn't bring much to the table to work with the straightforward nature of the level. I can't think of much else to say besides, "it's there." 2) Mar de Morros Design: 16/40 Creativity: 7/20 Somehow I erroneously believed this level had a secret exit on my first playthrough. I think I misread the file I was given that showed how many exits, if the level had dragon coins, etc. I realize that was my fault for misreading it now, so anything I said about this level being misleading or wasting the player's time on stream is false and I retract it, and does not factor into my scoring here. That being said, I didn't feel the level was much more than average at best. One particular alignment of 3 Super Koopas on top of each other was used four separate times. The only other enemy used was Volcano Lotus and it was very avoidable in all situations. The rest of how the level was laid out was fairly basic platforming. Nothing particularly mind blowing. I definitely feel like the level did have potential though. In my incorrect belief of a secret exit existing I thought the cape dropping Super Koopa's slightly past the goal could have given you what you needed to find another area of the level entirely. Disregarding figments of my imagination though, the level is kind of completely straightforward and like I mentioned before, features repeating layouts of enemies and not really maximizing on things. There's definitely the groundwork of a great level there, but I feel the final product of this entry misses the mark a bit. 3) SPINY SKYWAY Design: 27/40 Creativity: 11/20 This was a pretty nice level. Spin jumping on Spinies to get across Munchers works for me, I have fun doing it. The rest of the level's obstacles are alright but that kind of thing is my favorite. The secret exit unintentionally(?) has a cheese to it with a shell jump, and I kind of like that as well. Either way, fetching the P-switch and keeping it close to the beginning of the level is nice. The level does well at keeping things fresh as you go along. Most of the Dragon Coins are out in the open, but that last one needing you to look for it is a good touch. That and the 3up Moon both require Yoshi reward you for obtaining and keeping him. Between those touches you have to explore for and the general conceit of the level, I had a great time. Good stuff level author. 4) Big Boo's Shipyard Design: 22/40 Creativity: 11/20 An interesting take on the sunken ship theme. The first part is good with its enemy and Dragon Coin placements. I don't know if the one tile gap you can spin jump through is intentional or not but it's a nice shortcut to the second Dragon Coin and gets around an annoying Boo Circle. The lowering and rising water in the indoor parts of the level were neat. The second half of the level makes good use of it, and it moves just fast enough to not feel plodding. The Big Boo fight is well, a Big Boo Fight, but it's not too bad. The moving water aspect is where I feel this level shines. It can create both a forced slow down and a need to speed up, depending on where you are. As it forces you to be at swimming speed, the Boos are slightly more of a threat than they normally would be. First half feels kind of just there but it's not bad. I appreciated what this level put down. 5) BOWSER'S OLD CASTLE Design: 32/40 Creativity: 13/20 My opinions on this level are somewhat complex. On the one hand, you took the original Bowser's Castle idea and expanded on it in a way I found to be interesting. On the other hand, four of the five sections of this level force you to play at its pace to some degree. In spite of that I still feel the level is doing what it wants to do well. The individual pieces are each fun in their own way. The line guide section is alright, it is the most sparsely obstacled of the bunch but it doesn't overstay its welcome. The rising lava section I feel is the slowest of the bunch, and while it limited what you can do there it again didn't feel too bad. The Snake Block part is my least favorite, but it felt like getting a shot; a brief moment of discomfort and then it's done. The Net part was my favorite, while it did slow down your pace somewhat it still felt like something you can control how fast you go through it. The Darkness room at the end had a smidgeon of slowdown but was still something you could easily maneuver through. It all felt well done. Like I said earlier, it was basically Bowser's Castle but done in a new and interesting way. The idea of going through all mini rooms instead of just two was nice. The sections themselves weren't groundbreaking though. This level was nice to play and I think it accomplished what it wanted to do very well. 6) Shadowland Design: 30/40 Creativity: 10/20 A pretty decent level. It's not particularly long or deep in gameplay but it is a nice experience. The level is fairly plain with some sparks of brilliance here and there. The fake out on the stairs was clever, and the net part was pretty short but I liked what it was going for. I found the P-switch activated ? Block part to be a little snug though. The secret exit was interesting too, even if it involved some backtracking. There wasn't much going on creatively that wasn't already mentioned in the last paragraph as something I liked. Some interesting design choices mixed in with a mostly safe level. I did like the touch of a moon being available in the regular exit path and the secret exit path. Overall I found the level decent. 7) SPIRIT WOODS Design: 17/40 Creativity: 11/20 What this level is trying to do is interesting, though I feel in how it tries to pull it off it is a bit lacking. I'll say this point blank, the structure of the level is rather bland. Nobody who is fully paying attention to the first half of this level is going to sustain damage or even die. It feels a little better on the way back as a P-switch race but the switches are placed so close together it is hard to fail that aspect of the challenge either. The door on screen 0B feels pointless as well, as it leads nowhere and is an unnecessary hint for the door that is in plain sight later on. The sprites in the second half are somewhat more dangerous, but it is the same easy level design but now with water physics, so nothing is hard to dodge. The time limit seems to be the most dangerous thing, as if you actually look around the level for everything you'll start running out of time before reaching the end. The idea of redoing a level under different conditions, such as backwards p-switch run and water physics, is good on paper, but the execution here is lacking. Only doing one of those things, instead of both, could have made me want to grade this higher. The level design being a bit more dangerous for the retreads could have helped as well. There is potential in this idea, but I do not think this attempt comes close to fully realizing it. 8) OP. 10 NO. 12 Design: 19/40 Creativity: 10/20 A short level that feels longer from how much it makes you die. Parts of this level feel like they exist to be annoying rather than simply challenging. The section with the grab blocks in the first half, and the section with the Koopa shell bounce in the second spring to mind. The rest of it feels like standard hard fare. It took me more than a few tries to beat this one, and I am just left with a mixture of "it felt fun" and frustration. I did like the setups, even the frustrating ones, from a creative standpoint. If the level was a bit longer perhaps it could have shown off more. What is here is pretty cohesive, though I felt the second half was easier than the first. Overall I say it sits on the edge where difficulty goes from engaging to irritating. 9) Rex Ridge Design: 12/40 Creativity: 10/20 There's some good ideas here but it feels like it is lacking in cohesion. The intro message said this is your first level, and you did okay with it. The setups using Rexes to bounce over Munchers are all good. Power-ups were spaced out nicely as well. The main issue I see here is you tend to make the player go up and down several times without much of a reason. For example, the setup on screen 05 gains nothing by making you go up to it, then falling down from it. The only time it came across as necessary was the Dragon Coin hidden underneath the goal. Speaking of which, it appears there's only 4 of them in the level. The Rex and Muncher combos are where this level is at its best. The rest feels a bit bland. On its own, Rex isn't particularly threatening or challenging to deal with. The only other enemy in the level is an Amazin' Flying Hammer Bro who seems to exist solely to be a stepping stone to a Dragon Coin. Some parts of the level reward you for exploring but the message block that mocks you for getting to it kind of sucks. This is definitely not the worst first attempt at a level ever made, and if you choose to make more in the future I am sure you can build upon what you started here. 10) Trial and Terror. Design: 10/40 Creativity: 10/20 This level pretty much delivered on what it's name was a reference to. Being stuck on a single path that hardly allows for variation in movement is fairly anti-fun to me. Pretty much every death is "well I screwed up this time, I probably know what to do now." The slow auto-scroll aspect of it makes it feel not only plodding but also very punishing if you die, knowing you have to wait to get to the point you died at to try again. Cannot say I enjoyed my time with this one. For what it is trying to do I can say this level is moderately successful though. There is probably a market for heavily restricted movement and quick thinking do-or-die situations in a level and people who like that will be thrilled with this. It's rather unambiguous in what it wants you to do at least, it'll just take a few tries to pull it off here and there. This one was not for me. 11) Intangible Assets Design: 33/40 Creativity: 18/20 A fantastic and unique idea on display. The disco shell can be a little unwieldy but with what the level asks you to do it never feels like a chore. Everything feels crafted around maximizing the gimmick's potential and it makes the level feel very enjoyable to play. At points it feels like there's some sprite spam, particularly whenever a Pitchin' Chuck is involved, but other than that this level does everything right. Very high levels of creativity with this one. The main and bonus areas all do different things with the intangibility gimmick, and each one of them works well and is fun. The 3up Moon room feels a bit different from everything else in the level but in a good way. This was an amazing entry to experience. 12) Bossless fortress Design: 24/40 Creativity: 8/20 A variety level that wants to give you a taste of everything. Every transition in this level puts you in an area that is quite different to the last. There's a part with no pits but plenty of Chucks, a castle area with lava and fences, a line guided rope segment, an auto-scroller with a smasher and a part with skewers. I wouldn't say it's the most cohesive group of level parts but here it kinda works, nothing felt all that out of place. It feels as though the level has a second exit simply because the author had numerous ideas they wanted to put in. I don't know if it's to the level's benefit or not, though I feel if the level only went the normal exit route it wouldn't be as exciting. The secret exit route was definitely the more engaging one. Some more focus might have helped this one score higher but I still found it enjoyable. 13) KAPPPOW!!! Design: 24/40 Creativity: 12/20 An enjoyable level with a bit of a focus problem. The first part of the level uses the cannon shot entrance with some challenges to go along with that. After doing that a few turns into a split path sort of maze. The earliest accessible door goes to the main exit, but also the level becomes vertical. It's not a particularly bad path but it has nothing to do with either thing that came before it. The secret exit gets a little more involved, after a loop through the split path it culminates in a very fast autoscroll you have to guess the right path to. I felt like most of what this level presented was fine. Some of the obstacles were a bit on the hard side but I was still able to figure them out within a few tries. The autoscroll part kind of felt lame, as it required you to guess the right path at the end. The level definitely made me feel engaged though. Definitely a good one, though some more consistency could have helped overall. 14) Simply Mansion Design: 10/40 Creativity: 6/20 There really isn't a whole lot going on here. For a ghost house, this is a very linear level. Even by regular level standards it's kind of bland and straightforward. There's no particular challenge with regards to jumps and no enemy placement is done in a way you can't easily avoid the danger. Some of the Dragon Coins are a bit tough to reach but that is largely due to them being on the border of how high Mario can jump, rather than by any obstacle. I honestly don't see much going on creatively here. You just run through the level. This would be potentially okay as like a very early game level somewhere and that's all I can give you points for here. Maybe it is possible the short time limit was made to complement the straightforward nature of the level to push people through but I don't think that works well here. In the future, try being more ambitious in your level design. 15) mycologic masochism Design: 37/40 Creativity: 18/20 This is by far the most varied and interesting level of this contest. There's so many different things this level asks you to do, and yet they all feel like a cohesive experience. Some of it feels more difficult than the rest, like staying big in the first section, but overall it feels like a joy to play. The one screen puzzles are distinct, and the larger ones are also very well done. The creativity here is shining through. How you came up with so many fresh ideas for one level is beyond me, but I am glad you did. The only possible fault I can think of (and I'd be being nitpicky at best) is that some of the enemy placements in the first part feel cheap. It's something I can easily overlook because this level offers so much good activity in it. I thoroughly enjoyed this level. 16) IDK - Yo Design: 16/40 Creativity: 8/20 This level is just projectile spam. Every screen contains either a Puntin' Chuck, a football, a Volcano Lotus, or a Koopa kicking a shell. It's a whole 1F screens of this. Starting in the second half, eater blocks are used to put this experience on a timer. You are given power-ups to help offset the damage but it's mostly just dodging things the whole time. Can't say I'm a fan of it. The level layout is fine I suppose. At the very least you're usually given ample time to react. The challenge for the last Dragon Coin is okay. The placement of the others were alright as well. I don't know either, author. 17) LIGHTNING FESTIVAL Design: 20/40 Creativity: 10/20 A fairly basic level. The Sumo Bros and their lightning is used well here. The level itself doesn't offer much challenge beyond that though. I got snagged by an invisible block that was marked only by line guides as I was not expecting that to mean "invisible block here". All three applications of this may as well have been just regular blocks in my opinion. The level can be quickly gotten through without too much trouble if you are paying attention. Creatively this is a level that won't be confused for any other one, but it didn't really wow me. It is fun to play at least but outside of a few of its setups it's pretty much a walk in the park. Quite alright. 18) JOLLY BOUNCERS Design: 13/40 Creativity: 10/20 This level has some rather unfortunate problems. The slowdown caused by the darkness effect hampers the level from the get-go. There seems to be a lack of a core idea of what the level is about, with the only vague consistency being getting past some rotating blocks. The final part of the level seems like it got lost on the way to the contest and attached itself to the first entry it could find. It's not a bad thing to try out a bunch of different ideas but in this case it didn't feel coherent at all. Fortunately the various parts of this level are okay as individual things. I do feel like a narrower focus could have helped this level a lot. I cannot tell if this entry was rushed or not but that might explain the erratic feeling to it. 19) le fardeau du flux Design: 34/40 Creativity: 16/20 In spite of everything I normally dislike that this level uses, I ended up liking it quite a bit. I'm not big on auto scrollers or tides, and I wouldn't say I'm crazy about porcupuffer and Dolphins either, but this level took all of that and ended up making something quite fun. The auto scroll was used as a framing device and the tides took advantage of it. The sprite density is done just right for each area's obstacles. The lengths of each section are also good, keeping the level from feeling like it is dragging on too long. As I said before, the things this level uses would normally make me check out. The fact I found this level to be enjoyable is a testament to the author's creativity. It plays really well, planned around the forced death by putting Dragon Coins in one section, offers a sufficient amount of power-ups throughout and is just a generally pleasant experience. Very nice work on this one. 20) RANCID CONDUIT Design: 38/40 Creativity: 16/20 Quite the interesting and unique experience. It's a very minor detail but right away it's noticeable that the level wants you to head left rather than right. Ascending Thwomps were a nice touch, and their implementation as obstacles was very well done. The second half gets a tad tight in its platforming at parts but I love the premise. Releasing keys for spawn trickery to get rid of the message block makes for a unique section, something closer to the obstacle course and collect-a-thon of 3D Marios than the standard 2D gameplay. The way to obtain the 3up Moon was also neat. Like I said in the last paragraph, the second half of the level really shined. The gameplay was altered in a way that led to something that felt fresh and despite dying more than a handful of times trying to get it done I loved it. This level definitely is a stand out for its creativity. If we don't end up doing honorary mentions like KLDC did I would like to say this one would definitely get a mention from me. An excellent level, one of the most well thought out ones in the contest. 21) Aquatic Rift Design: 32/40 Creativity: 14/20 This is a pretty fun cave level. Porcu-puffer in the air is pretty funny to me, but I found its usage nice here. It was never used in a way that made it hard to avoid, and slopes tended to be nearby for you to slide-kill it in the early part of the stage before you could get a Fire Flower. Rip Van Fish's usage here was also good, needing its help to get multiple Dragon Coins was nice. The Torpedo Ted bouncing in the second half was done well too. Both halves of the stage flowed nicely, obstacles felt built up and not merely slapped together. This was a rare case where two parts of a level played differently but one didn't feel weaker than the other. Difficulty wise it can depend on whether or not you got Fire Mario by the time you get to the second half, but whether you did or did not it's still not an overly challenging level. I had plenty of fun playing this one. Very nice work author. 22) MOLE IS DESERTS Design: 15/40 Creativity: 8/20 Feels like a romp kind of a level. I do not know if this was intentional by the author or not but the slower Monty Mole spawn speed is used for this level, making many of the moles easy to get by before they can pop out of the ground. The rest of the sprites aren't nearly as mobile as the moles though, so long as you are moving forward and careful with a few of your jumps, this level doesn't pose all that much of a challenge to navigate. It's still fun to blow through it, so the level has that going for it. Again I am unsure if it was by design or not, but I feel it's worth noting that if the level was trying to encourage the player to move faster through it, then this was a good way to pull that off. Other than that it feels like a pretty no-frills kind of level. It's kind of just there. I didn't find it all that exciting but it at least has one thing kind of going for it. 23) NIGHTLY HOPPING Design: 22/40 Creativity: 8/20 This level is pretty plain. It feels very run of the mill, there's not really any exciting applications of any object or sprite used. Having to wait for the various moving platforms to line up in ways that allow you to advance slows down the momentum a bit as well. I know I tend to harp on levels for being too hard but this is a rare case where I think it's too easy. I can't say it's all bad though. The level's length is good. Some of the Dragon Coin placements are nice, particularly the ones that involve needing to move quickly or bounce highly. Powerup distribution is done decently as well. One may even find it a relaxing cooldown between some of the more brutal entries this contest had to offer. Probably a good level to start with if this is your first time ever playing contest entries. 24) CAVE O' MOVEMENT Design: 21/40 Creativity: 12/20 I liked some of the ideas here. It may be simple, but the moving layer 2 water was pretty neat. Diggin' Chuck felt like an odd choice of enemy to put by the ledges here because those rocks really don't travel far without actual ground underneath them. Puntin' Chuck may have been better though I won't complain about not having to deal with footballs. The second part I feel is a little weaker, but unlike many levels that shift from horizontal to vertical at least, this one is still thematically similar by keeping the moving layer 2 aspect. In some ways the level does feel a bit on the sparse side though. There are numerous stretches where there's not really any significant obstacle in them. The nature of the moving layer 2, particularly in the second part, does lead to some waiting around as well. The capes the level affords you can help mitigate that at least. It seems like this level could have been built upon a little more, but is certainly passable as is. 25) WENDY'S WATER TOWER Design: 20/40 Creativity: 11/20 Another case of a level being two different ones stacked together. The first part of this level is pretty solid. It's not going for difficulty but rather allowing open exploration, to take either the top or bottom path until they converge. The Dragon Coins and power-ups require a little effort to find. The difficulty scales upwards nicely here. In part two the level retains the water focus but adds in layer 2 movement which slows down the action a lot, as well as changing to a vertical level. At the end of it is an unedited Wendy. This felt like a downturn from how things started out. What made part one of the level so nice was the freedom of movement and ability to explore at your own pace. By changing things suddenly to an upwards climb with a slow moving layer 2, you take away both of those things. In fairness, that part isn't all that bad, but it just makes the beginning feel so much better than where the level ends. If layer 2 movement is a must, I feel it would have been better to keep it as a horizontal level where you can at least keep moving at your own pace. Zeroing in on what worked well would have made this level feel better overall. 26) BLUE-GREY VALLEY Design: 17/40 Creativity: 8/20 This is an alright level. For a level that is trying to be more or less an average romp, it succeeds at doing that. There aren't many moments of genuine difficulty, many times I died on this level it was due to impatience with Bullet Bill Blasters. The stretch of timed lifts feels like it is there just to lengthen the level a bit. The secret exit requiring you to go down two different unmarked pipes is questionable to me, but at least it does give you something for attempting to explore. The aforementioned secret exit thing is about as creative as I find this level to get. It's not a bad level but it doesn't feel too ambitious. Parts of it feel like they exist to extend the length of the level and nothing more, and that's what's making me struggle to give more points. A little trimming of the fat could have helped a lot. That being said I still find it around average. 27) The Call of the Mt. Design: 16/40 Creativity: 11/20 This entry feels like it has a focus problem. The level is divided into three parts; an outdoor grassland with mostly Koopas and Galoombas, an enclosed cave with some associated sprites mixed in, and an auto-scroll section that has passing similarities with the cave right before it. They feel like they come from three separate levels that are taped together. No individual part is significantly worse than the other, but the lack of cohesion hurts the level overall. While it's not really my favorite kind of thing, the autoscroll section I think had the most potential. Working in a skull raft section before it got too fast was good, and the split path was great. Outside of that I also really liked the Podoboo jump required to reach a secret in the second area. The first part was bland but not even that bad, though the first Dragon Coin is without any indication of it being there. I feel like I would have scored this level higher if the author went with the idea of one of the three segments and just built the whole thing based on that. 28) MATCHA MANSION Design: 30/40 Creativity: 12/20 I like what this level puts down a lot. It felt well paced and challenging without going overboard with difficulty. Things came together to create an enjoyable experience. The use of obstacles here felt very well done. It's all standard castle fair but it mixed well with eating blocks, in a way that encouraged you to move but didn't feel like it was hastily pushing you along. The dragon coins were placed in ways that rewarded you for hurrying fast enough, and I enjoyed the extra moon challenge too. I also appreciated that a 1up checkpoint was made available to get back to there quickly in case of failure. It's not exactly new to use eater blocks in the way this level does it, but I felt the implementation was done well enough. The moon challenge flipping the direction of the flow of the level was a nice touch. The gimmick was done well for the conditions of this contest, at the very least I can't think of much more you can do with it that would still be fair and fun. A solid level that I enjoyed my time playing. 29) BOWSERS BIGGEST FAN Design: 23/40 Creativity: 12/20 I'm having a bit of a hard time deciding how I feel about this one. The first half is pretty solid. The second half is a little less so. The P-switch is mentioned as being optional, and it is, but if you happen to fall down to where it is located it becomes mandatory. Both parts have their moments where they make you wait to advance, but it's more pronounced in the second half. Three out of the five dragon coins are off screen, with one of them having no hint at all it is there. The 3up Moon is similarly obscure, but it's a Moon so that's fine. I do like some of the setups though. The first half's lava platform elevator was neat, and the area after that with the translucent blocks to see the spikes was great as well. The boss was an interesting take on Lemmy, though it feels just a tad on the excessively difficult side. I appreciate what this level did even if I do feel conflicted about it. 30) Rehab Design: 26/40 Creativity: 14/20 I very much like the premise of this level. Some of its execution feels lacking but the level itself feels mostly solid. The level's primary issues seem to be things outside the scope of the design itself. There are spawning issues here and there. Sometimes mushrooms wont show up where they are supposed to. The first checkpoint can only be obtained if you have a mushroom in inventory, meaning you have to die at least once in order to get it. This next one may not necessarily be a problem because I've never died to it, but the time limit does feel a bit low. The level's actual design is fine for what it's going for. I like the idea of "don't get power-ups" levels like this one though. The more generous hitboxes of mushrooms vs enemies flips the script a bit and not many designers go for it. The execution here was serviceable, this was an interesting level to play though it didn't go for anything particularly mind blowing. A good level that could have used a little more polish. 31) Ebb and Flow Design: 21/40 Creativity: 13/20 Certainly a unique entry. Conceptually speaking this is pretty neat. I am unsure of how well it flows together though. It wasn't immediately obvious to me that not moving quickly at the start would make it impossible to pass the second screen. The rest of the level plays pretty okay, until the last On/Off switch, which even going as fast as I could manage it was still really close to squeeze in at the end. Unfortunately the level felt kind of short as well. I do like the idea, but it doesn't feel as though the amount of time given per challenge is distributed as well as it could be. The last one is naturally the hardest one, but the time given to succeed at it feels significantly tighter than the rest. Also worth noting is if you happen to miss the timing at the midpoint section, you get stuck and have to run out the clock. I feel as though this idea should be revisited one day and smoothed out. 32) cavemania Design: 15/40 Creativity: 7/20 It slipped past me that this level had a secret exit while I was streaming, so I went back on my own time to play it out. The level feels kind of insubstantial no matter which exit you take though. It has a very sparse feeling to it. The 3up Moon and the secret exit are the only things around that actually necessitate exploration while the rest of the level is practically a straight line. It's not super thrilling but it is at least playable. Creative points there for the aforementioned Moon and exit. They aren't the best I've seen but at least they provide the level with some depth it was lacking. Some more fine tuning to the level could have resulted in a better end product. 33) LIVING SPONGES Design: 35/40 Creativity: 14/20 It's a shame this level is fairly short because I had a lot of fun playing it. One of the better balanced levels in the contest. Slow moving sideways Layer 2 isn't exactly a design choice I'm that fond of, but this level made it work. In both the first and second parts, dangers were clearly telegraphed and you were never in danger from falling down. The only real design thing I don't like here is how short the level is. Unless you were really strained for ideas and couldn't think of anything else, this is a pretty short submission for a contest period of over 2 weeks. The obstacles presented were mostly unique, even if a common theme of them seemed to be munchers. Granted there's only so much you can do to hurt a player when a bottomless pit isn't a viable option, though laval could have been used more in that way I guess. There were definitely some interesting things going on in the first part though. This is definitely a level I wish there was more of. 34) GREEDY ATHLETIC Design: 24/40 Creativity: 13/20 This level is tough, but interesting. The real challenge is getting enough coins for the gate at the end. Individually the level itself is about Standard: Normal difficulty but I found myself dying a lot just trying to get certain coins. While the gate at the end reportedly can fail even if you do get 30 coins, I have not been able to replicate that. It can be deliberately broken, but that is on the player if they get themselves stuck like that. The way the level is constructed, it offers the player many choices of what coins to grab in order to succeed at it, upping the replay value by a lot. I wonder if it is even possible to get all the coins present? There's also a challenge in getting Yoshi across that jump at the end, which I have managed to do twice. A difficult but fun challenge level. 35) FUZZY DRINK Design: 31/40 Creativity: 14/20 A level I would call simple but effective, and I mean that in a good way. I can count the level's obstacles on one hand, but they are all implemented in a way that makes the whole level feel fresh and not repetitive. It starts out with some water below and some Fuzzies above, the latter a sign of things to come. Simple, and relatively safe jumps give way to spikes as well as enemies being put more directly in your way. At the first checkpoint the level's complexion changes, replacing the water with lava. Unfortunately I had a spawn issue with the floating platforms here but it didn't stop me from progressing. After an engaging lava section, things change back to water, but now with smashers. Admittedly not a favorite of mine by any means, I still feel the section was done well. The level ends soon after that. I admire the simplicity this level offers. Only a few elements were used but a level with depth was made with them. It feels like the author had laser focus on what they were trying to accomplish and it paid off. It bears repeating that while I don't like the layer 3 smashers, that part was particularly well done between the obstacles in it and how short the room was. A very nice level, and a blueprint for a good traditional style castle level I hope others will use someday. 36) #6 WENDY'S DOOM Design: 25/40 Creativity: 13/20 I had a bad first impression of this level that was totally unwarranted. It's a perfectly fine level that does what it sets out to do well. The second half feels stronger but it is overall well done. The layer 2 "elevator" gimmick in general tends to worry me whenever I see it. It is never consistent, sometimes you need to jump to move, sometimes you don't. It always tends to move faster than I'd like it as well. Once I approached this level in a clear headed manner, it was easy to figure out this elevator just wanted you to walk around obstacles as it went up. Not a huge fan of trial and error setups, but this one didn't take nearly as much effort to figure out as I thought it would take. The level's second half was more interesting to me. The pace was slower but it involved far less guess work. The gimmick of floors moving you to the left was intriguing but ultimately not that challenging. Some simple dodging later and you're at an altered Wendy. Again, the plants were a nice change but did nothing to make the fight harder. Both halves of the level went for uncommon gimmicks. Though my previous encounters with layer 2 "elevators" were generally bad, this one actually handled the concept well more or less. Coin guides could have helped it feel less daunting but it is still not much of a thing when you get to the thick of it. I had not seen a gimmick like the moving floor of the second half done in such a way, and I enjoyed it. Quite an interesting level that I didn't give a fair first shake to. 37) IGGY KOOPA'S CASTLE Design: 17/40 Creativity: 7/20 A basic feeling level. The opening area is kind of short, and without too much going on in it. Past the first pipe it turns into a castle themed romp more or less. It's all straightforward with no divergent paths. You can hop over the wall past the exit pipe to get a 3up Moon, but that's about it. After that you are dumped a screen away from the boss door, where you fight plain Iggy. Not much is going on here that is fresh and exciting. The difficulty feels aligned with a late game level from the original SMW. Don't really have more to add than that. If you end up entering a contest again, my advice is to shoot for something a bit more ambitious next time. 38) HOT COCOA HILLS Design: 26/40 Creativity: 11/20 This one was pretty enjoyable. While it doesn't look like this level was shooting to try anything extraordinary, it still came across well crafted. The level structure is on the easy side, but the Bullet Bill Blasters are what bring the pain. The ones that are grouped together do a good job of spreading out the obstacles. The timed lift sections are nice as well. There's nothing really wrong with this level per se, but it does feel a bit on the plain side. Aside from there being lava in an outdoor area, this wouldn't feel too out of place in an official Mario game. I could also see it as an early game level in a Standard: Normal hack. It was at least a nice break from some of the more intense entries. 39) SUPERKOOPA BRIGADE Design: 10/40 Creativity: 10/20 It doesn't take much time in this level to find that there is something seriously wrong with it. In the first 3 screens of the level, it is harder to get the powerup there than it is to get the Dragon Coin. Not long after that there is a bonus area that takes you backwards in the level back to almost the start. If you are willing to keep playing to get past that part, you have to bounce on 2 or 3 Super Koopas who rarely seem to line up well, or die trying. Still hanging in there rewards you with luring a Pokey down a hole to spin bounce on, that you would only know to do after dying from jumping down there at least once. Assuming you have not put this level down to do something more productive with your life, you are next greeted by a Pitchin' Chuck in a narrow space with a retracting floor. Then after all that is the midpoint. I honestly don't mind Very Hard difficulty up to a certain point, but this level crosses it and keeps running. Every design choice mentioned in the last paragraph feels less like it wants to seriously challenge the player and more like it wants to deliberately piss them off. It does not get much better after the midpoint, with more Super Koopa bounces that don't seem to line up well and a 3up Moon out in the open for some reason. The only reason why I gave as many points as I did here was because I feel the author must have known what they were doing to make something so completely not fun to play, it impressed me. 40) Shameless Sky Design: 30/40 Creativity: 15/20 I felt this level's initial impression left a lot to be desired. It lets you try out the basics of the mechanics of the gimmick, while hinting that there is more to using the cloud than just squeezing through one tile gaps. The message block explaining these things is a little bit into the level. Once you get past the first midpoint, the level starts shining with its creativity. As a result of this, I feel the level's design is held back by a rough start. The beginning is slow and uninteresting, and makes you feel like you're stumbling around if you aren't already aware how the cloud works in these situations. It set an expectation that it was going to be a slow, plodding adventure. Like I said before though, after the midpoint things start to pick up. Maneuvering through the solid pieces while on the cloud was interesting, especially the part with the P-Switch and the Mega Mole. This level took a risk that I think for the most part paid off. Using the cloud this way is certainly creative and unique. The applications of it feel somewhat limited though. The last part of the level was interesting, but it was preceded by parts that were slow and dull. While I will remember the level more for the parts I liked, I can't ignore the initial feeling I had at the start where I thought I was in for something not great. Part of me feels that there was perhaps more to be done with the gimmick than was laid down here. This is for sure a memorable and unique level, but it takes a little bit to get there. 41) Chucks Grass Design: 13/40 Creativity: 9/20 Please do not take it personally when I say this but this level is one of the most obnoxiously difficult levels I have ever played. The enemy choices and placements in this level feel like they are designed with pissing off the player in mind, particularly in the second half. I personally feel that Pitchin' Chuck is one of the least fun enemies to experience in the base game and this is a level I can confidently point to as an example of why I feel that way. They are simply there to create an obnoxious array of damaging obstacles while you are already dealing with other present dangers. Not even the generous amounts of powerups offset how awful they are here. The level would feel significantly better if you replaced them with virtually any other sprite in the game. That aside, it feels like a lot of the level's setups are repeated. Koopas kicking shells, Chuck behind blocks, Chuck jumping in close quarters and Pitchin' Chuck being awful all seem to be repeated and remixed in similar ways. Consistency is nice but perhaps being consistent with setups that don't seem to exist to be as agitating as possible would have made for a better level. Only closing thought I have is I did not have fun playing this at all. 42) Why Be Right? Design: 26/40 Creativity: 12/20 At first glance this level looks rather basic. There's a lot more going on in it than I realized, requiring a look under the hood to see everything, as a lot of it wasn't required to finish the level. All in all I enjoyed my time with it. This level does something I really like, in that it rewards exploration with either bonus areas or simple rewards. Unfortunately I don't think it really did much to add to the cohesiveness of the level as a whole. The alternate path to the secret exit did, but that's about it. The things hidden by 1up checkpoints are in areas that don't need to be explored again if you are looking for the secret exit. There are things like a bonus room and a 3up Moon that need a P-switch to obtain, that you would only know if you were experimenting with the level enough to look for them. The creativity is there, but it felt like it was lacking focus as outlined above. Aside from that, if I am to take a stab at the gimmick the level claims to have, is it that the secret exit requires you to divert left in order to find it? Possibly something to do with running and jumping I didn't get? Maybe the author will tell me after this is published. Fun level with some depth in there that needs a smidgeon of work to truly shine. 43) SECRET GHOST HOUSE Design: 16/40 Creativity: 9/20 I feel like this level misses the mark of the theming it chose. Ghost houses, in the original series' games and often in hacks, are levels that offer some maze-like qualities to them. This level has the illusion of that, as when I revisited the level I noticed it ended up being quite linear. Only two doors are negative progress, and one of them is for a dragon coin. In my first playthrough I thought I was just lucky, but it seems that the level is just designed to push you in the right direction. I don't know if it was your intent to make an easy ghost house but you did. Not simply for that though, the obstacle layout is quite sparse as well. If your intent was to create something easier than it looks then I think there is something to be said for the creativity aspect of it. Otherwise it's not much of a maze and the level itself doesn't do anything all that unique. Next time you enter a contest, if you go with something like this again, don't be afraid to make it a bit harder a maze to navigate. 44) UberzequistA-o!!!ฅ Design: 18/40 Creativity: 12/20 A level based on glitches that feels unnatural and weird. The warp-down mechanic this level employs just does not feel good. While it is introduced well enough, it still took me a while to parse where exactly I am going to move after hitting the note blocks. I realize there's limited application of it that you can even use under this rule set but just going down a couple tiles is kinda meh. Same with the Yoshi upwarping. The forced warping to the right is slightly better in its application as it functions as a one way wall that can't be done with semi-solid tiles under this contest's rules. I can see the creativity that went into this but honestly it felt more like a glitch demonstration that just kept going rather than a coherent level. A lot of the obstacles just feel like they are given an additional unnecessary step of timing oneself against a new mechanic, whereas if these paths were clear it'd help the level flow a lot better. Personally speaking I feel as though I could have afforded more points to this level's design score if it didn't use glitches, as opposed to the creativity points I gave out for how it is now. Hate to say it but this one missed the mark for me. 45) NOT SECRET AREA Design: 23/40 Creativity: 11/20 A decent Super Koopa level. Level layout was pretty basic but good for a rompy level like this. Sprite placement was really good with this one, especially considering how annoying Super Koopas can be. The sub area for a 1up Mushroom was kinda short but it felt like it fit. The overall length of the level was spot on. Dragon Coins were out in the open but I feel that's passable if you're going for an easier level, like this one felt like it was trying to do. It didn't seem like this one was trying anything new, but it still worked out well for what it was. Again it's worth mentioning I found the Super Koopa use here nice. They are not being used as a dense wall, nor stepping stones, but just things that fly by or swoop down at you that you can react to with ease. There was fun to be had in this one. 46) Flickering Forest Design: 33/40 Creativity: 12/20 I found this one to be pretty interesting, if a little basic in how it looks. It's very straightforward but the level is suitably obstacled such that it isn't boring. It is tough, but fair. I actually learned about that quirk with the Dry Bones and level 10D from this entry, so thank you for that. There's two sub-areas, but they don't seem to offer much in the way of content, and one was clearly marked. I did like that sneaky hidden 1up though. I feel as though the creativity is tied to the level design here. There's a lot of jumps that look challenging or that they won't work at all, but they do. It's clear plenty of effort went into making this a stand out "traditionally" designed level. I am not sure what the message block's hint was getting at though. Was it to hint to you to stay big for the last pipe to be able to get the 3up Moon? Whatever the case is, I enjoyed this level. 47) salute to tomato Disqualified. 48) YOSHI'S ISLAND 1 Design: 5/40 Creativity: 3/20 This level has no substance beyond enemy spam. There's basically nothing to do here but dodge Dino-Torches, a relatively fast moving ground based enemy that jumps. There is hardly a sense of flow or logic in the level design. It feels only like a series of annoyances designed to kill time. The only vaguely creative thing here appears to be getting to the moon, and dodging the bigger Dino Rhinos after hitting the rotating block to drop them. I have to assume this is either someone's first entry or someone slapped something together for the participation trophy. If it is the former, I suggest looking at what the high placing levels did to get an idea of how to make something more fun and engaging in the future. 49) A Spin Over Hazards Design: 15/40 Creativity: 10/20 A level simple in its premise and execution. You are only asked to do one thing here, and that is spin jump. Definitely not going to be everyone's cup of tea but I at least like the premise. The problem here is it's not particularly done in a way that leads to a significant challenge. Over half the obstacles are static, and the ones that do move have a very limited range of movement. I'd say the most difficult things to bounce on here are the Thwomps, and they are a slow moving sprite. It's not all that long of a level either. If this level was intended as an introduction into spin bouncing over multiple targets I'd say it does that decently. As a standalone contest entry though it kind of feels repetitive. Fuzzies or saws on a line guide may have made for something a bit more engaging. Also escalating the punishment between lava and Munchers may have made things feel more cohesive, as opposed to switching between them with seemingly no reason. While I did like this one, it could have used some more polish. 50) Koopa's Battleships Design: 20/40 Creativity: 11/20 Two very different levels attached at the hip. The first half is about dodging Bullet Bills and Bob-ombs. It can be a bit tricky, but neither are oversaturated to the point where it goes from challenging to annoying. The water is there to fit with the ship theme and aside from hiding a Dragon Coin is more a safety net than anything else. The second half is now a water level, focused around dodging fishes and Torpedo Teds. The unmarked pipes that house the Teds caught me off guard at first. If you have Fire Mario by this segment it's not really difficult at all, though it is kind of mandatory to get one of the Dragon Coins unscathed. Both halves feel a little incohesive but they are at least tied together by theme. The second half is stronger, having a bit more variation in obstacles. Both parts are quite straightforward though, without having much to explore for other than an off-screen 3up Moon. It's an alright experience at the very least. 51) Don't be Afraid Design: 34/40 Creativity: 15/20 A great level with several neat ideas. You're told explicitly at the start that the Dragon Coins are required for the secret exit, which is a lot nicer than at least one other entry's attempt at something similar where you had to figure that out on your own. If you die past the midpoint, you are taken to a nearly identical version of the level that extends past the original goal point. The level construction and its obstacles are all well placed. The aforementioned midpoint level extension thing I felt was very creative. The secret exit area was neat, but the idea of getting to it and indicating what to do was quite good. No part of the level feels weak either, it's quite solid the whole way through. An enjoyable level with a lot of thought put into it. 52) Slippy Slopes Design: 34/40 Creativity: 16/20 I would not consider slide jumping to clear jumps to be a gameplay aspect I particularly enjoy but damn did this level make it fun to do so. I honestly don't have too much to say about the main conceit of this level. You slide to jump for speed or you slide to kill something. The fences in the second part make it a little harder but overall it is bland. What makes things stand out for me is the fact that this level definitely wants you to try and experiment with things. There's a hidden powerup and a hidden room if you try and look for them. Getting the 3up Moon was a challenge but also rewards you with a huge shortcut through the level. All this stuff made replaying the level very fun. The level does keep itself from being too repetitive for the most part. I think the creativity shines in the level's secrets more though, which I already covered in the last paragraph. Playing the level normally is still alright though. There's not a whole lot else I could think to do with slopes though, so cheers on making a decent level around that. The secrets this level has push it above what it would have achieved without them. 53) FRESH AIR FORTRESS Design: 25/40 Creativity: 8/20 A pretty basic castle level. It sets you on course to head right, throws some obstacles in your way and gives you a boss at the end. Not a super ambitious level, but a nice one. I feel it's worth noting that the level looked good as well, using nets for windows and the gate entrance for decoration. The level's design itself is fine. It's by no means difficult but it's not easy to the point of boredom either. Some of the thwomps placed with no ground to their immediate sides may be the hardest thing in the level but are easily able to be blown past. The boss wasn't all that hard either, a little paying attention and you'll be fine. Creativity wise the level's not pushing any boundaries. The Big Boo fight did not go for excessive difficulty or "gotcha!" traps, which was different from many other people's take on it. To sum it up, the level felt safe more than anything. 54) Musical Sci-Fi Design: 14/40 Creativity: 12/20 Odd combination of scores but there's a reason for it. I recognize the creativity that went into this gimmick and the level design here is made to accentuate it. However I found the novelty wears off in a hurry and the level itself feels like a chore to play through. It's learnable but it just doesn't feel good. The teleporting does not feel natural, and a lot of the danger it puts you in is more annoying than challenging. It is a unique gimmick that no one else did, so it has that going for it. Unedited Reznor feels somewhat uninspired though. Kinda wish I had more things to say about this one but I don't. 55) New Londo Ruins Design: 20/40 Creativity: 7/20 I have some mixed feelings about this one. The first two screens are stupidly hard compared to the rest of the level. It took much trial and error to figure out a setup to get the podoboos out the way so I could safely advance. After that the grab block structures feel like they exist just to slow the player down. The parts besides those are mostly fine. The secret exit being "replay the level" basically is not something I'm a fan of, especially for a level as long as this one. I can appreciate what the level was trying to do with the grab block structures but they really do harm the pacing. There's at least some variation in what is stuck inside them, so it has that going for it. The use of the Disco Shell to get the key was nice. Lastly as far as I could tell the Yellow Switch Blocks don't seem to help all that much, given their placement. A foundation for a better level feels like it is here, but this could have used some more polish to let it be seen. 56) Blockchain Fortress Design: 31/40 Creativity: 14/20 This first part of this level doesn't exactly go for a game mechanic I enjoy but overall I still found the level to be enjoyable. Trial and error block eating is off putting to me, but mercifully the level doesn't ask for any particularly difficult application of it. Most of it is just quickly going over to hit something or remove something and you are given enough time you don't have to stress about it. The secret exit is fair and noticeable, and what it asks you to do once there is easily manageable. The last part of the level is more my speed, being a race against the disappearing floor. The spikes at the top of cement blocks had a habit of snagging me and are just generally kind of a nuisance, but the level still worked out. The level did well with applying the eater blocks in different ways. Some parts weren't immediately obvious in what to do, but did not require much effort to figure out. The way the 3up Moon was hidden was also interesting. The last part is my favorite, simple as it is. It takes a good level to make me enjoy something I would normally roll my eyes at, nice work. 57) Rock Fest Design: 32/40 Creativity: 15/20 A rock solid level, pun intended. One of the better vertical levels I can remember ever playing. It is not without some flaws but I feel I have to tackle the good first. Everything seems to be well designed and with purpose. The Diggin' Chuck placement is great, as are the Bullet Bill Blasters. The hidden areas for the Dragon Coin and Yoshi are tucked away neatly in a way that rewards exploration. Some of the Chuck's do activate before you would notice them though, and at least once I have been flooded by rocks before I could get to the appropriate area. I very much appreciate how focused this level is from a creative standpoint. I can count on one hand the number of different sprites in this level and it worked out being a fantastic array of obstacles. I'll repeat how I like exploration being rewarded here as well. This level rocks! 58) To the Dark Cave Design: 10/40 Creativity: 9/20 A level with a gimmick that both works and does not work. The beginning and ending of the level I don't really have anything to talk about, so I'm going to focus on the middle. The idea of using the spotlight to create the atmosphere of a dark cave worked really well, but from a gameplay perspective it made the level suffer. While nothing is all that dangerous in this level, the limited visibility is a bit frustrating and it comes with the added bonus of inducing slowdown. The level's design itself feels somewhat erratic, which may work for setting the mood but it makes the level feel odd. The general direction you're going is up but there's just a lot of diversions on the sides that you may think might have a secret but they don't. I can respect the attempt at making things more realistic but I don't think it played out that great here. That cave kind of feel didn't translate into a great level. Perhaps it needs some touches that can't be done under this ruleset to make it feel better and personally I feel like the potential is there. I know another level in this contest that was a vertical level did this but using Diggin' Chuck and its rocks could have helped here. Buzzy Beetles and other cave themed enemies as well could also have fit well here. I appreciate the effort that went into this one, but it fell kinda flat for me. 59) YOSHI'S ISLAND 1 Design: 12/40 Creativity: 5/20 This one's a bit rough around the edges. Just to get my biggest nitpick and your penalty out of the way, why did you use custom Map16 tiles on screen 07? The way your level is constructed you could easily have moved it over two more screens if you really wanted to use green pipes for that part. Now that being said, the rest of the level isn't all that mind blowing. The use of the cloud here slows things down. There's not much substance as far as obstacles go either. There's a few divergent paths but they don't really reveal anything all that interesting, though the bonus room was nice. It ends abruptly with some one tile jumps right before the exit. Again there isn't much going on for this level as far as creativity. The level is wide open but ultimately there's not much to explore and for the most part it just wants you to go right. It feels like it is missing direction, in that it has several ideas but no flow between them. Please read the rules more thoroughly next time, and don't hesitate to ask for feedback or help like with the pipe color thing. 60) Cloud Nine Design: 12/40 Creativity: 9/20 This level is a bit much. Honestly if this level was only its first room I feel like it would have been an acceptable entry. It's a little sprite spammy but pretty much everything here thematically fits for a cloud level. Past the checkpoint is where this one falls apart for me. The difficulty jumps significantly with the projectile spam and P-balloon, where one hit can mean death. A Blue Switch is offered but it only changes one part of the level and not necessarily to make it any easier. The last room is just more dodging sprite spam but this time in a cloud. This is a little less hard but it's replaced by tediousness. Forcing the Dragon Coins to be collected in order to access the secret exit was a design choice I did not like. A combination of the door being behind one of the coins, nothing indicating that this was the case, and it leading to a room that has virtually nothing in it, came across as obnoxious (I realize this was not your intent). The message was nice but you could have put it in a message block next to the goal. Sometimes, less is more. 61) THE DANK PIT Design: 11/40 Creativity: 8/20 This level felt like a chore to play. Credit where it is due, you tried a unique gimmick for this level. Unfortunately the end result is just unpleasant. No aerial movement kills any sort of fun this game can have. Areas of forced movement are similarly not fun. Everything is just slow and plodding. I don't think I have anything actually nice to say about this one so I'll just cut it short. 62) Forestress Design: 27/40 Creativity: 10/20 An interesting mix of castle elements in a forest setting. The obstacles felt engaging enough to go through and the secret exit, while near the start, still took effort to get to. The boss at the end left much to be desired. I liked the level's design quite a bit. Though it wasn't super hard it kept me on my toes. There didn't feel to be much of a sense of progression of difficulty up until the boss though. The Big Boo room felt kind of bad. It was cramped and prone to screw ups, such as bouncing on a bullet bill holding a block would cause the bullet bill to die without giving you any height. It's the kind of thing that feels like it was tested only by the author. I think the obstacles were interesting. Nothing groundbreaking but it made for a nice level for the most part. I'd even say the boss, in spite of how finicky I found it, was an interesting take. 63) Coasting Redwoods Design: 14/40 Creativity: 9/20 This one's got a couple problems in it, unless the author was shooting for maximum difficulty. Both sections are too long between start and checkpoint, then checkpoint and exit. It's somewhat worse in the second half but that ties into something else I'll get to in a bit. The vertical nature of the level allows obstacles to spawn in before you realize and can properly react to them. Some placements of disco shells are done in ways that if you don't realize they're there quick enough you are forced to take damage and die. The first part at least had powerups implemented in a way I'd say is somewhat fair. Part two I am quite conflicted on. I really like the idea of a damage boost challenge, but it suffers from some of the same problems the first one does. If you aren't already aware of obstacles to come, you likely won't react in time and be forced to die. There are no reset doors, so challenges involving the Yoshi that are done incorrectly force you to restart from the checkpoint. The blue shell at the end can get ahead of you and despawn, again forcing you to die but it'd be right before the end here. None of this is even mentioning how claustrophobic this segment feels. Again, if you were going for a Very Hard level this would fit the bill. However I feel the deck is stacked against the player too much to consider it fair. Shortening the level, adding reset doors in necessary places or even widening up the path could have made it a tad easier while keeping the main idea of what the level is about. 64) The Myth of Icarus Design: 22/40 Creativity: 12/20 I feel a bit mixed with regards to this level. The overall idea of what this level is going for is pretty good. Certain things in the first part can be finicky, like the accordion block area giving you the bare minimum of space to get the speed needed to fly. Overall it is a good section. I feel things begin to fall apart for me, a little past the midpoint. The overall difficulty of what the level asks at that point is increased, some of which are annoyingly tight and tedious. Reset doors do exist, but they all take you back to where you'd start from the midpoint anyway, so you are better off dying as that would reset the time limit. I suppose it would be fair to say I like the level overall but only really enjoy the first half. I can certainly see the creativity in all of it, but that second part just gets kinda killer with precision and repetition. Fixing the reset doors such that there is a restart point in the middle there could have helped a lot. I think a good job was done here but it could have used some fine tuning. 65) CLASSIC ROMP Design: 16/40 Creativity: 8/20 A simple level, it took the name it was given and ran with it. There's not too much to talk about with this level I feel. There's nothing about it that seems particularly ambitious. It feels like an early game level to get the player used to playing the game. If that is what you are going for you pretty much nailed it. However, some coin placements give the wrong impression about certain areas, containing neither safe floors or anything to investigate. The level isn't going for anything really new either, but at the very least it is fun to play. 66) Underworld Design: 15/40 Creativity: 8/20 This level manages to be both straightforward and confusing. Simply getting from the start to the end of the level is not much of a problem. Getting to the Dragon Coins is where things get a bit questionable. Granted, the three of them that are seemingly inaccessible all require falling from a grey platform then jumping to where they are, but nothing really indicates that that is the intended solution. There's an easily visible return pipe that hints there must be another pipe but that's about it. Other than this you're basically just going from left to right, avoiding basic enemies and dealing with ice physics. It's not a bad idea to hide things the way this level does, I just feel a hint on these things besides trial and error would have been nice. Potentially spending a life to determine if there is place to land underneath you is kind of unfair. Using invisible blocks to get back from the 4th Dragon Coin is also questionable to me. I feel the Dragon Coins should have been made a bit more fair to obtain, but otherwise it's a passable level. 67) wet socks Design: 32/40 Creativity: 14/20 An interesting and challenging level. Swimming with an item can be challenging in close quarters but I feel it was done quite well here. The level is not without some issues but overall it was an interesting experience. The obstacles the level presents I found to be fantastic. Moving past Torpedo Teds, Urchins and fish while key-swimming in close quarters was done great. Aiming the key to hit blocks was at times difficult but easy to get the hang of. Avoiding getting crushed or hurt by spikes was also neat. However, the level had a feeling of lopsidedness to it. Dragon coin placement was superb, don't get me wrong, but a typical secondary function of them is an indicator of progress through the level. They were all before the checkpoint, which throws off your senses of exactly how much more you have to do. Said checkpoint was also guilty of this, as the remaining level after that felt like it was longer than the first part. I did find the level's obstacles to be creative. It took a little brainpower to figure out exactly what the level wanted sometimes, but nothing ever felt too obtuse or challenging to handle. In spite of the stigma of item babysitting, I feel this level shines in what it was trying to accomplish. A very fun level that stands out from the rest. 68) Shifting Cavern Design: 25/40 Creativity: 12/20 A fairly enjoyable level. The moving Layer 2 is fairly light as far as the level's construction goes, so it isn't restricting your movement all that much. No jumps or object/sprite placement is too difficult to deal with. The moon was surprisingly easy to get too, though I am not sure if that is by design or oversight. The path to the secret exit isn't really obvious but there's only a finite number of pipes to try so it's not a deal breaker. The level was cohesive but with some variation to keep the different parts interesting. The placement of the secret exit and it's unique segment were nice touches. Feels like a level I'd find early in a hack, and I mean that in a good way. 69) SPINJUMP CAVE Design: 15/40 Creativity: 6/20 Somewhat bland but it at least has a little substance going for it. It is kind of sparsely decorated, but the parts of the level that present a challenge are at least engaging. Bouncing on Blargs may be a little intimidating to a rookie player but the timing is fairly easy. The Podoboo placements are a little annoying, but you can easily keep track of them. I found myself getting hurt/killed by the game's ascension glitch numerous times, but for the most part that only came up when attempting to get the higher up Dragon Coins. The ones by the last coin have a bit of a spawning problem, as they wont come out when you are up on the higher ground. Nothing really stands out in this level creatively speaking. It seems to be the same three enemies and just asking you to spin jump on them when necessary. Nothing divergent from the straight line path either. A secret path reachable by Podoboo jump might have kept things more interesting. Or using a different enemy than a Spike Top for flat ground, as they move very slowly and are easily dodgeable. This level could have used a little more ambition in its design. 70) CASTLE OF WTF?! Design: 15/40 Creativity: 15/20 This is some really polarizing level design. Puzzle levels shouldn't be immediately clear in what they want you to do, because then it is less of a puzzle and more of a list of instructions. I feel that this one is perhaps a bit too obscure. Having limited hints and no knowledge of the glitches this level employs, I found myself completely stuck by the time I hit sublevel DC. I needed outside help in order to figure out what the level wanted me to do, and I feel that's on the level for being too obscure. Now while the above is a matter of level design, on the creative aspects this level shines. I have never seen someone abuse the programming quirks of Reznor and P-Switches in this manner. Unfortunately, feeling so frustrated from being unable to understand what the level even wanted of me, I could not enjoy this one all that much. Once how it worked was explained to me, it felt just like the list of instructions I mentioned above. If there was a touch more clarity in the level I might have had a more pleasant experience with it. 71) Pencil Sharpening Design: 36/40 Creativity: 15/20 A level that makes excellent use of saws and line guided platforms. Everything in this level feels like it has a purpose. Even though it has pencil in the name, those sprites feel like they take a back seat to everything else but they still are placed well. The saws are right where they need to be to get in your way, but you are provided ample chance to get around them. You always have time to react when a platform is launched, and I never felt like I was forced to hit a protruding spike. As I said before, the level feels as though every sprite and object placement was put there for a reason. There is no fault in the level to nitpick. Fantastic and fun level. 72) Slippery Skies Design: 16/40 Creativity: 7/20 This level is hurt by the gimmick implied in its name. Personally speaking I don't find the accordion bridge blocks or the timed lifts to work well with ice physics. They are at times fairly thin and are prone to having you fall off if you have too much momentum. The combination of Banzai Bill, timed platform and Dragon Coin towards the end seemed almost impossible to manage without R-scrolling the screen first. I am iffy on the Dragon Coin placements in this level. Two of them are very easy to miss without exploring, and exist in areas that you wouldn't want to waste a life trying to find out if it's safe to fall or not. I already mentioned the one near the Banzai Bill but it's worth noting that that is the easiest one to spot how to get. Other than that the level is rather straightforward yet moves up and down a lot for progress. This could have used some reconsideration in its design I feel. 73) BLUEBERRY FORTRESS Design: 17/40 Creativity: 8/20 A level that suffers from some pretty precise activities required for the secret exit and is otherwise a bit dull. The first instance of precise activity is using the Thwimp to get up to the first Dragon Coin. This isn't that bad, but it leads right into having to spin jump across a fireball with spikes overhead. As it is a requirement to take this path to reach where the secret exit is, this is kind of unavoidable. After taking the pipe, the path requires spin jumping on a Fishbone through Thwomps while on a P-switch timer to reach the key and keyhole. This was not immediately apparent to me, so I found it easier to just damage boost through this part. I will say that navigating this part of the level to the normal exit is fine, not particularly exciting but alright. The second part is kinda cramped and slowed down due to the skewers and the enemies, but it's not as bad as going for the secret exit. The level definitely could have benefitted from not having the secret exit, or at least retooling it a little. Removing some of the preciseness from earlier on would have made it less stressful. Changing it so ? blocks appear to block the pit next to the key and keyhole would also have made it a bit easier. Also it could have been made clearer that the Fishbone was part of the activity there. The regular path is just kind of there, don't have much to say about it. I also don't have much to say with regards to the Reznor fight, the bullet generator hardly made a difference there. A middle ground between the two exits and merging them into one may have made for a better experience. 74) Volcania Hills Design: 21/40 Creativity: 9/20 A fun but kind of average level. It is rather plain but still of enjoyable design and difficulty. I regret to say this but there's not a whole lot to be said about this level one way or the other. It's standard platforming fare that doesn't do too much to stand out. Some of the dragon coin placements are challenging, like the one that needs a shell to hit a block and the one that requires spin bouncing on a Blarg. It's solid and fun to play but it's not a standout. The creativity is in some of the dragon coin's placements and that's really about it. It's not doing anything new or unique but at the very least it's not boring. It's alright but kind of forgettable. 75) McYoshi's Design: 32/40 Creativity: 15/20 An interesting and enjoyable experience. The level is a bit all over the place at times with what it asks you to do but all parts of it are at least a little fun. After the initial room, you are met with an obstacle course on rails where you have to feed a yoshi rocks from on top of clouds. I found that part to be quite nice. The following part involves having a baby Yoshi turn 3 edible sprites into 5 in order to advance. Personally speaking I could never get that one consistently. The following room was more of the same, but that one had an easy setup once you figured it out. After that was a room where you avoid feeding Yoshi until the end, and it was a step down in difficulty and thinking necessary in my opinion. The last room was about feeding Yoshi as little as possible to the end, in order to get to the goal tape with blue Yoshi power. Both exits were on screen at the end, but thankfully the level rewarded you with shortcuts along the way to keep you from having to redo everything. There was a lot going on in this level, and yet it doesn't feel too "busy" to me. For the most part they all felt unique and interesting while being thematically tied together. It may be a little nitpicky but the yellow koopa room felt somewhat more unwieldy than the rest, as while it is creative it never feels consistent. I will remember this level fondly, and not just for a certain outburst on stream. 76) POPSICLE GLACIER Design: 28/40 Creativity: 12/20 A bit of a meaty level. I almost feel tempted to say this level is too long, but at least each individual part of the level feels unique enough for it not to be repetitive. There are numerous hidden areas too, rewarding you with a dragon coin for your efforts. Personally speaking I didn't find it all that difficult a level, but given the length of it adding a 1up checkpoint as a second one could have been beneficial. I can appreciate the fact that enough of the level is unique in its construction that it didn't get boring. The water parts are kinda different but still thematically tied into the level in a way that works. Everything that ended up being used feels like it was used effectively as well. A bit long, but a good experience. 77) Fish's Lair Design: 20/40 Creativity: 12/20 This one felt a bit rough around the edges. Can't say I'm a fan of immediately needing to react to things upon starting a level, and here you need to do exactly that. After that most of the level feels like obstacles you need to be able to predict in order to not die, such as the silent Bullet Bills. Losing the opportunity to get the third Dragon Coin, and by extension the level's only powerup, because you didn't know you couldn't fall down in that area, feels kinda bad. As an auto-scroller it is naturally slow to play as well. The solid layer 2 on a different scroll setting was used well. Things were definitely crafted with both layers in mind and it definitely feels like that aspect of the level worked out in a good way. The 3up Moon puzzle at the end was also clever. I don't feel like I am the target audience for a level like this, but those who are will enjoy it. 78) Leap Claps Design: 26/40 Creativity: 14/20 I don't know if I would call this one a puzzle level, because while it does feel formatted like that it doesn't require much thinking at all. In any case I found myself enjoying it. Not that this was a particularly complex mechanic to figure out, I do appreciate that the first room gives an explanation as to what the level is about. I don't think all the rooms exactly escalate in order of difficulty, but things do get a little more intricate in what the level asks as you go along. The cave and underwater rooms feel a little cramped at parts for my liking and I don't care for how Lakitu was used at all, but for the most part things here are solid. I will say I never found myself feeling bored playing this, even though on a cursory glance the level does look repetitive. From the underwater room onward is where the level starts showing more variety. My dislike of Lakitu is honestly pretty nitpicky, though I do feel a similar effect could have been achieved with an Amazing Flying Hammer Bro, who at least has predictable movement and a safe zone if you're far enough below it. Overall this was a nice level. 79) slopey buttey capey Design: 12/40 Creativity: 7/20 This level is sorely lacking in substance. It strikes me as a few test pieces of level to see if those gimmicks are viable, rather than an actual level. It doesn't feel long enough to be much of a level either. The only part that feels like a finished thing is the part with the saws, but even then it still feels more like a test than anything. Short write up because there's hardly anything to write about. 80) Roy's Castle Design: 29/40 Creativity: 13/20 A short level but it does have its moments. It has a very quick pace to it but unfortunately that is offset by how little of it there actually is. Honestly this level feels like it would be a room in a hack's Bowser Castle. It's not quite long enough to feel like a level by itself. That being said, the content here is nice. I appreciate the fast paced action, though the first screen snagged me on my initial attempt as I was too slow to react. My favorite part is where you have to bounce on the Bony Beetles and Dry Bones while waiting for the platform to reach you. Roy is there just to fit the level name I suppose. The level's setups are pretty great and work well for the fast paced action it's going for. Putting the Para-Bomb generator in the Roy fight was an attempt to spice things up but I was able to beat him before it was much of an issue. In a way this level felt as rushed in its creation as it feels in its pacing, but what was presented was quite nice. A nice fun quick little level. 81) A Clockwork Moon Design: 18/40 Creativity: 8/20 I kind of like this level but I can't ignore how sparse it feels. There is a lack of obstacles in this level that stand out in their absence. There's 3 Munchers and 12 Jumping Piranha Plants, neither of which are all that difficult to dodge. They don't really add to the platforming of the level either, just existing as a thing to be conscious of. The secret exit feels arbitrary as well, also the room it's in being the hardest part of the level. I don't think it adds much to the experience. Creatively I think the level's layout is okay. Having at least one other kind of enemy sprite in here would have helped a lot though, like Parakoopas to interfere with jumps, or Bullet Bills aimed to keep you from safely standing still in certain places. The clocks mean something maybe, but I would have no idea how to interpret them. It feels unfortunate to rate this level so low, but while I feel it has potential it doesn't live up to it. 82) ONI MOUNTAIN Design: 20/40 Creativity: 10/20 This level is alright. It is concise in what it sets out to do, taking a few game elements and creating a solid level with it. There is just enough variance in obstacles presented to keep it from being repetitive and dull. The level itself is kind of short, as if it expects you to fill your time playing it by dying. My initial playthrough was an experience like that, but subsequent ones that I had knowledge of the obstacles allowed me to breeze through more or less. Most of my deaths were from either the steep diagonals causing me to fall or my own impatience with the Sumo Bros' lightning. I feel another powerup could have helped this level, or extending it to the point of needing a checkpoint. The level's obstacles were used well here, and I think that's where it shined creatively. The dragon coins were also placed in good ways, to extend the time spent in the level slightly. Other than some challenging placements of things the level is pretty basic though. It's a pretty decent level. 83) Chainsaw Coppice Design: 26/40 Creativity: 12/20 This is a pretty nice one, but with one fault that some people may not have ever experienced. Right after the midway point there is a line guided rope, which when you first encounter it, it is the long version. If you die after touching the midpoint, the rope will be the shorter version. I don't know what is causing this to happen but it makes it very difficult to get through the dual chainsaw without taking a hit. I feel like the author may have been aware of this due to there being a powerup right before this part, but I feel like it would have been better to redesign the area entirely to avoid this happening. Now with that out of the way, I liked the level overall. The use of the line guided platforms and chainsaws was done in engaging ways. The required spin jumps were a bit tough but still manageable. Dragon Coin placement was good, nothing too hard to get but a few did offer a challenge. The P-switch giving you a hint to the 3up Moon was a nice touch as well. I could have seen myself scoring this level higher if not for that rope problem, but it is still overall a fun one to play. 84) CAVE WITH NO FISH Design: 24/40 Creativity: 12/20 I found this level's structure a little bit interesting. It goes in an item-babysitting direction but in a way that it is to your benefit to hold onto the key. Of course, the game only vaguely hints you need to do that in the first place. The level would play more or less the same whether or not you had the key anyways, so I am left with a feeling of indifference on the matter. Unlike some other levels in this contest that made you carry a key through water, this one did not use the item holding physics as a way to increase the difficulty of the level. Nothing needed you to rush, nor were there any tight, dangerous spaces to maneuver through. Like I touched on before, the level would be the same without having to hold the key, just a little bit slower I suppose. Moving faster is nice though. The second half of the level did force you to slow down when the water was off screen though. I think the most creative thing the level did was not punish you for fast swimming. As said earlier, other levels had done things like that. It allowed an otherwise by the books underwater level to be played a bit on the faster side. The obstacles themselves didn't really lend to anything particularly fresh though. I do like this level, but I feel it's not quite reaching up to its potential. 85) Sky Battalion Design: 22/40 Creativity: 12/20 An interesting use of Butter Bridge 1 scrolling. I feel like I should point out the most glaring design flaw first, and that is the fact the game can be crashed very easily in this level due to the placement of Cape Feather Blocks. Getting Cape Mario in an auto-scroller offscreen will do that, and while it is not necessarily a commonly known glitch, I am surprised it was not discovered in testing and removed. In my opinion having a cape doesn't really do anything for this level anyways. With that out of the way, I feel this is a good level. It is more or less what I would expect from an airship themed level, and the balance between obstacles and powerups is done well. The Big Boo boss is pretty great too, there's more than enough room to get around the laser Boos, and you're in no danger of running out of blocks. Using a predefined autoscroll can be a challenge, but I feel you made the most of it. Your level's design flowed well with it, as in it did not look like you bent the path around the scroll but rather it moved where you needed it to go. Dragon Coins are probably easier to get than they should be but that is a trade off of autoscrolling. A nice level with a minor but glaring flaw. 86) french twost Design: 18/40 Creativity: 10/20 This level has an audience but I am clearly not the kind of person who is into what it is putting out. Pitchin' Chuck is used to incredibly annoying effect here. No matter what you try to do there is always a baseball in the way. If you had more than 100 seconds to work with that may not be as big a deal, but it is very, very frustrating to make any progress here. Powerup starvation does not help either, you are given one towards the start and basically nothing after that, unless you can keep a grab block alive long enough to use on a difficulty placed block. No checkpoint either, to really drive home the challenge. Honestly I had pretty much no fun with this level, though I can see that there are people who would like it. It's probably a fun one for people who like speedrunning levels or dodging enemy spam. It wants to be challenging and it is. If you decide to play this one, I hope you get more out of it than I did. 87) Slip 'N' Scare Design: 37/40 Creativity: 16/20 This level has a lot of depth to it. The regular exit is simply going to the right, as with many levels in this contest and everywhere. The secret exit pushes you to really think and analyze what is going on in the level around you. Both main parts of the level have duplicates that change slightly, but noticing that alone is not enough to solve the puzzle. You need to explore both to find the key and the pipe you need the key to enter. The boss is then a Big Boo fight with an unfortunate problem, Mario is made invisible. I found the exploration aspect of this level to be wonderful. I did have to cover the same ground a lot, but I didn't feel bored and the experience didn't feel repetitive to me either. It was a very satisfying puzzle to figure out. The Big Boo fight having that invisibility issue with Mario was kind of questionable. It definitely seems like that was done on purpose but a gimmick like that is unfair to the player, even if you can kind of get your position from using the grab blocks. This is my favorite entry in the contest despite that one issue. 88) mario go spinny Design: 26/40 Creativity: 10/20 This level is pretty neat. The obstacles here are well done, everything is in place for a reason and nothing is excessively difficult by virtue of its placement. It all flows well too, everything seems to build on what comes before it. At least two of the Dragon Coins are obtainable without using their intended method, a shell jump for one and simply going backwards for another. Regrettably I missed the secret exit of this while streaming it, which I'd chalk up to it being the last level in my order and after seeing the goal I felt I was done with it all. When replaying it on my own time I found it, with only two pipes in the level it wasn't hard to figure out. Perhaps that path could have diverted a little more but that's splitting hairs really. This was an enjoyable one for me. 89) New WinRAR archive Design: 13/40 Creativity: 5/20 I think this level was not subject to testing of any kind by the author. If I am to give the benefit of the doubt, perhaps the author of this level is a person who is into Super Mario Maker (2), where you are blocked from going over the top of the screen onto solid objects, and they are new to working in the SMW engine where it is entirely possible to do that. Because of both ends of the level's roof being open, I was able to simply run across from start to finish with no resistance on my first attempt. Actually playing the level is similarly not very fun. Banzai Bills are slow enough to not be a real obstacle. The smaller Bullet Bills without their launcher make no sound, and would have been a surprise had I not ran over the level previously. The level is enclosed for the most part with limited movement allowed, and only really the bounce off a Banzai over a pit was kind of good. Nothing here felt unique or interesting. It honestly felt like maybe 3 hours at best was spent on this level, and I am not sure it was even tested. I am sure you are capable of making something better than this. 90) SHIPWRECK SHORE Design: 21/40 Creativity: 11/20 Two level halves tied together by a theme of rising and sinking. One part involves water, the other solids. The enemies, aesthetics, etc are different but tied together in the theme of a shipwreck. I can't help but feel it's two different experiences taped together. Each individual part of the level is okay and inoffensive. The first half is a tide level with some Cheep Cheeps and Urchins. No obstacle here is too hard to deal with, with the third dragon coin requiring the most effort to get to. A star is hidden that I didn't think to look for to help get to that coin. The second half is pretty basic platforming, with the danger coming from a bubble enemy generator. The rising and sinking layer 2 is an obstacle but not really much of a problem. I feel like the level did exactly what it set out to do. Going for a shipwreck theme in two different ways is appropriate aesthetically but as I said before it does feel like it's two separate levels in one. My feeling is that it isn't cohesive from a gameplay standpoint though. Definitely an enjoyable level, albeit a weird feeling one. 91) CREME CAVERN Design: 17/40 Creativity: 7/20 I feel this one would have been more or less okay if not for the inclusion of one particular sprite. The spotlight hurt this level pretty badly. All it added to the experience was limited visibility and slowdown throughout the level. It's a shame too because the level is pretty good otherwise. The Ninji's aren't particularly threatening but the Volcano Lotuses are. Dragon Coin placements are nice, all slightly out of the way with a small element of danger to them. The Switch Blocks are kind of a questionable choice as they don't add anything and you gave the player no way to activate them. I probably would have rated this level a little better if not for that spotlight. The placements of objects and sprites are all pretty good for a linear level like this. The Volcano Lotuses in particular are put in ways that they can be a hassle if you linger but are nothing if you can blow past them. The Podoboos always seemed to get in my way when rushing through, so it's a little confusing if you want the player to hurry up or wait. I still feel positive about this one despite the lower rating. 92) MONTY MOLE MOUNTAIN Design: 10/40 Creativity: 5/20 This level looks very sparsely decorated. Not in terms of aesthetic but rather there is basically nothing going on here. It's very short and very easy. The only remotely dangerous obstacle here is the sliding koopa and it's heading away from the player, giving them plenty of time to react. All the dragon coins are right out in the open, the subarea (a barely changed 1CB) has only some inconsequential P-switch coins in it. It feels incomplete. The only thing I have to say creativity wise is that it is a functional level that was apparently made from scratch (at least the main area was). You had little over two weeks but it feels like you maybe used 1/64th of your waking hours during that time to put this together. Should you choose to enter another one of our contests, I recommend committing to using more of the time allotted and thinking more about what you could make. 93) Alto Adige Design: 24/40 Creativity: 12/20 This level has some interesting things going on for it, but unfortunately at times it feels a bit repetitive. The level feels fun to play alright, and there's a decent amount of power-ups for the amount of hits you're likely to take. It's structurally sound and focused but there definitely seems to be a lack of variety in its obstacles. Granted there's only so much you can do with line guided saws, but "saw is in your way" or "saw is underneath you, dodge it" is used much more than stuff like that part where you free the koopa to kick the shell into the switch to advance. The autoscroll section of the second half outshines the first part I feel. Creatively what is here already is okay, but something about the level feels missing. The only obstacles besides the saws are four Winged Galoombas, which are practically nothing enemies. I cannot say for certain what other sprite could fill the void in here, but it sure feels like something else could have enhanced the level a bit. Even something like spin bouncing on a saw to get across a wide gap could have provided a little more variety. It's a weird feeling to not rate this level higher because I definitely enjoyed playing it but it just feels like it is lacking in some way. 94) VALLEY OF BOWSER 4 Design: 17/40 Creativity: 7/20 This level leans a little too hard on its namesake. I had to open up Lunar Magic and check to make sure that the level wasn't an edit of the existing 10F. It is changed enough from the original to avoid disqualification, but it is still very reminiscent of the original level. It makes heavy use of Diggin' Chuck and the sinking platforms, and not in ways that differentiate it too much from the original either. It did add some things, like Bullet Bill Blasters and Jumping Piranha Plants though. I found myself enjoying it at least a little. The level feels like it has a hard time standing out, not just of the original VALLEY OF BOWSER 4 but in this contest in general. There's no unique gimmick or challenge to it that makes it stick out in my mind. It seems like someone wanted to take a level from the original game and try their spin on it, which didn't go that great in my opinion. If you are going to enter another contest in the future, try for something more ambitious next time. 95) Tower of Triangles Design: 29/40 Creativity: 12/20 A neat little level. It felt like the right kind of balance between thinking, doing and difficulty. Everything is laid out in a straightforward way. You want to ascend and you have to use the triangle blocks to run up walls to do that. There's not a high density of obstacles like enemies or spikes but everything is pretty much telegraphed so you're not taken by surprise. The dragon coin placement helped indicate your progress in the level very well. It all flows together in a nice way. In a contest of mostly horizontal levels, this being a completely vertical one makes it stand out as unique. The setups are pretty good and certain applications of things, like the shell room, were quite nice. Different and enjoyable. 96) 2ODA LAKE Design: 8/40 Creativity: 4/20 The words "aggressively unfun" spring to mind with this one. If the things wrong with this level only had to do with the player's ability to swim, then it would score a lot higher in my book. Instead a number of problems make this level feel like banging your head against a wall. The autoscroll outpacing your ability to swim cuts out your mobility options significantly. There is little to no variation in the right path to take, and it often comes down to split second reflexes if you want to not die. As an auto-scroller, dying feels extra punishing as you are at the mercy of the level's pace to get your progress back. The second half compounds the problems of the first by adding ghost house sprites. To have enough time to get the Boos out of the way you pretty much need to be facing away from them as they spawn. The circle of Boos unique spawning mechanics will have them starting in a different position upon each reload of the level, and it was about every four tries for me for them to spawn in a way that I could get through them reasonably. I hardly found any enjoyment in this one. 97) NINJI HIGHLANDS Design: 18/40 Creativity: 8/20 With all due respect to the level's author, this level is just kind of there. It is fun to play, but also seems like it is being as safe as it can. I am struggling a bit here to find things to say because this level didn't do much notably good or bad to speak of. Design-wise, it is totally alright. The level is of decent difficulty and length, and looks well crafted. I certainly had a good time playing it. It feels like it could have been something in the original game, but I don't mean that as solely a compliment. I don't often have much to say on dragon coin placement but it was alright here. Outside of its use of Ninjis it doesn't really stand out. That last point is about all I can say for the creativity aspect for the level. Ninji's typically don't get used that often, and they were certainly an okay obstacle here. It's just kind of a plain level. 98) Dizzy Aerial Stunts Design: 30/40 Creativity: 14/20 A well done line guide level. I liked the use of the half circle line guides with ropes, they make it very easy to visualize how long you can stay on them before they fall. The saws were also used well here, sometimes covering a wide area but also used for short up and down or back and forth obstacles. The Dragon Coin placements overall were really good, with them being off screen but all hinted at that they were there. Honestly the things I don't like about this level are mostly nitpicky than anything actually wrong with it. I don't really like the shell kicking Koopa to begin with, but in this case the same setup with the saw was used 3 times, and a fourth one that was similar but with a different saw arrangement. The last part with powerups actually has two, and it is so close to the end of the level it doesn't feel necessary. I still feel it's a great level overall though. Very nice work author. 99) Way Coolbular Design: 12/40 Creativity: 6/20 This level felt like it was designed to be unfun. The first part of the level's pace is dictated by the slow moving green and orange platform, which is to say it is painfully slow. Every subsequent obstacle is designed around keeping you busy while you wait for it to move along, and all of them have instant death as a punishment. Much of it is learning through dying, then having to replay the whole thing slowly until you reach the midpoint. Past that is the P-balloon part which isn't nearly as bad, as now you have way more control in what you can do, but it still feels slow. Luckily enough time is given between balloons that it isn't a struggle to get through. The first half feels like it could have been a kaizo level instead if something besides that really slow moving platform was used. The precision and punishment elements are there, as well as a shorter level length. There are some minor degrees of variation in timing and how you handle things that keep it from being that strict, but what is left is a Standard: Very Hard level that has nothing in it that feels like fun. It's a slow, plodding test of patience. I can't say I liked it at all. 100) Dino Mountain Design: 24/40 Creativity: 10/20 This one was pretty solid. I appreciate the focus on one class of enemy here, the Dino Rhinos. They are used in the right ways to make them an obstacle, though there is one that gets snagged on the ceiling on screen 04. The Green Bean teleport glitch didn't seem wholly necessary but it doesn't really take anything away from the level by its presence. I also don't know if the Yellow Switch Blocks added anything by being there, the jumps they were to make easier were kind of easy to begin with, and none of them are placed in a way to allow you to get the Mushroom from them. The level structure itself is great. There are challenging jumps and enemy placement but nothing feels unfair to the player. It flows very well too. I could see this fitting in nicely as an early world level in a full hack. Perhaps time was a factor in their absence but I would have liked to see Dragon Coin's potential placement in this one, and maybe even a bonus area given how many pipes are present. Regardless of what isn't there, what is here is nice. I enjoyed this level, it had a great feel to it. 101) Winning Level Disqualified. 102) Radical Rope Ride Design: 19/40 Creativity: 10/20 A pretty straightforward level around line guided ropes. It seems to switch back and forth between longer rope rides and quickly jumping off them. Oddly it feels both focused and unfocused because of that. Another noticeable thing is the level feels kind of short. Not sure if that is because of starting late in the contest or just not having enough ideas to work with the gimmick. What is here is good, though like I said I can't tell if it is focused or not. A level definitely should have some variety in its obstacles but thematically the only thing here keeping things together is the use of ropes. Screens 00-03 and 08-0B have a different feel than the rest. In those parts you are avoiding, but in the other parts of the level you are trying to stick landings on enemies and ground. Something about it all is not making it feel like it meshes well to me, though as individual components they are all alright. An interesting one, leaving me questioning it but also satisfied. 103) mini-castle of spin Design: 10/40 Creativity: 7/20 A level with a good idea but unfortunately lacking in substance. It feels as though the author expects the player to die numerous times to pad out the level length. Two hidden power-ups before the main part of the level imply to me even the author had trouble finishing this. The level is all about spin bouncing on obstacles to get from start to finish. While I like this idea, unfortunately there wasn't a whole lot of level to go with it. There's only about 9 screens worth of level in it. My first winning run of this level, in which I was not rushing and stood still for a bit, was 50 seconds (real time). In fact when I said aloud that I expected a midpoint to be past the second door, I was mere seconds away from finishing the level. With a time period of over two weeks I expected there to be more level to play. There is a bonus area too but it is at the end of the level so the rewards aren't worth it. There really wasn't enough of a variety of obstacles to get much of a sense of creativity. It was mainly Spinies with the occasional something else, all surrounded by spikes. There's a lot more you can do with spin bounces than what was presented here. A level that unfortunately doesn't do its gimmick justice. 104) BOWSER'S CANYON Design: 20/40 Creativity: 8/20 This level feels a bit inconsistent. Some of it is pretty straightforward but then there's bits and pieces of it that are interesting, particularly the first two dragon coin placements. There are some issues though. The first part of the level will sometimes have invisible enemies because of the incorrect sprite memory option selected. I think that's something that should have been taken care of in testing. Secondly, and this is something I've been guilty of in the past too, you offer a cape in this level and it lets you fly over half the level as well as break the secret exit. There is no reason to go for the springboard if you get the cape by the midpoint, cutting out a significant chunk of the level from being necessary. Even getting to the other springboard requires having a cape to begin with as far as I can tell. Having to build a bridge to get over to the last pipe of the level is kind of not great either. I did like the earlier mentioned dragon coin placements as well as the short P-Switch maze though. A narrowing of the scope of this level maybe could have helped it a bit. The first segment is quite different from the second (cave) and third (ice cave), who also vary a bit between what they demand of the player. Sometimes it feels like it wants to be a romp, other times it wants to be a precision platforming experience. If you rearranged the parts of this level to have the second and third be the main exit, and have a path branching off to be like the first leading to the secret exit, it would feel a bit more consistent. I still enjoyed playing the level, but it does feel like it needs some work. 105) Bouba-Keykey Effect Design: 23/40 Creativity: 14/20 A somewhat inconsistent level. No individual part of it was significantly good or bad, but it kind of felt all over the place when put together. The concept of the level is using keys to despawn Banzai Bills and as a platform to enter doors. Each sub area that offers you a key plays differently though. The first one is a simple area where you have to go to one end to get the key and backtrack with it. After that is an area with rising and falling water where the key is at the end of the room. Third one is a vertical level you have to go up in with the key at the beginning of it. All of these and their inbetweens put together don't feel cohesive at all. Now, there is certainly something to be said about the creative aspect of that variety. The short rooms as self contained entities are okay and showcase a lot of different styles of level design. "Jack of all trades, master of none." feels like a good way to describe it. A level with a lot of ideas that needed a little more consistency to shine. 106) FINAL CASTLE BASIC Design: 12/40 Creativity: 6/20 This level has some fundamental problems that keep it from being an enjoyable experience. Firstly the level evokes the original Front Door in numerous ways, using the same numerical door setup, same palettes for the sublevels and in some cases the same gimmicks as well. It subverts this by making only one of the doors per hub actually lead to the progress. Re-examining the level, this wasn't an error but seemingly a way to allow a player to backtrack if they miss dragon coins. My two issues here are that these are optional collectables that aren't worth replaying large parts of a level for and that there is no indication which door is the right one for progress. It feels pretty bad to struggle through a level only to be kicked back to where you started (especially egregious in door 4's case). The individual level segments are at least okay though. The Bowser Fight at the end of the level just made things drag on longer than they should have. I don't see much creativity coming from this level either. As mentioned before, it's clearly heavily based on Front Door, to the point where the rooms are basically edited off the rooms in the original game. The Bowser fight was also unedited and while that would not have fixed the problem of using that boss it would have at least shown some ingenuity to have tried it. (As far as I can tell this would have been allowed under the rules.) Should the author decide to enter another contest, I hope they got something out of the critiques at least. 107) All the way up Design: 23/40 Creativity: 11/20 This is two levels stacked on top of each other in a trenchcoat. The midpoint divides to entirely different levels. The first half is a cave with some skull raft action and the second half is an ascending vertical level. Naturally this divides the focus of the level in half, and also makes it feel somewhat puzzling. Aesthetics are no factor in your score, but I do have to question why the author didn't at least make the second half also a cave. Both parts are okay, but the cave part feels a bit more polished. I can certainly relate to having numerous ideas for a level and wanting to cram them in, though I feel like the way this was done here works to its detriment. The first part is a few screens shy of being a full level in my opinion, if it was extended to be such and the vertical parts were made to be an alternate path for Dragon Coins and the 3up Moon, I feel it could have had a better flow to it. That way the stuff that is different would be optional and the main level on it's own would have felt like a full experience. A little focus goes a long way, but what is here is definitely alright. 108) MANSION SLIDE Design: 26/40 Creativity: 14/20 A fun level based around slide killing things. The ball was really run with this gimmick and it is done in a way that I found engaging. I think the vertical section could have had more going for it, but the horizontal one is still pretty neat. This level could easily work as a tutorial for people who are not very familiar with how that mechanic works, as it shows the basics as well as stuff like how sliding momentum is conserved across note blocks. The level feels kind of almost too easy, but it didn't feel like it was trying to be difficult at all. The obstacles that are not there to be slide-killed are easily dealt with. Also to be somewhat nitpicky only having rocks as the entity to be slide killed felt like a missed opportunity. Buzz saws, golden Bowser statues, Big Boos, etc could have added a little more variety to the level while retaining the core theme. It's not a particularly challenging level but I did find myself enjoying this one a bit. 109) MOSS HILL Design: 25/40 Creativity: 12/20 A case where I think a second exit to a level is unnecessary. Both exits in this level are alright individually but I feel as though the existence of two exits makes this level wear out its welcome. Assuming you don't die in any attempt, you're playing the first area at 3 times for both exits. I do like the idea of playing an area twice, under two different conditions, but the level does get a tad difficult. Strategically speaking, some may opt to ignore the midpoint to be sure that they will be big to open up the keyhole, but then if you mess up you have to repeat the whole section an additional time. Honestly the second part I found to be a bit frustrating. There are many chances to ascend into an obstacle like a saw or a bullet before they are fully on screen to react to them. A second powerup in this area would have alleviated some of the harshness here. It may have been a short segment but after replaying it plenty of times it felt like a while. If I had to cut one exit out I would likely consider this one for how much trouble it gave me. Another level where I feel narrowing the focus of it may have helped. 110) Lit Dungeon Design: 35/40 Creativity: 17/20 This level did a lot of things I enjoyed. It was a nice series of challenges and setups that didn't overstay their welcomes. No part of it felt slow or dull, and provided parts where you stop and think and others where you simply act. Design-wise this level did an excellent job. As a player I felt engaged throughout, never feeling anything was beyond my ability to do and never feeling bored or wasting my time. While I usually prefer actiony things, the setups here were not overly complex and didn't interrupt the flow of the level. The part with the grab blocks and lava tiles stands out as a good example of this. Took about a minute of reasoning out what to do and didn't slow me down. This version of the Big Boo boss was also interesting. Much of what the level presented were distinct obstacles that all fit well within the castle theme. A brief string of floating platforms that needed to be sunk was the only repetitive thing, and even then it's nitpicky to suggest that brings the level down. The boss was a nice take on old Big Boo, having to shoot at him above with a vague idea of where he was. It still felt easy to keep track of him, while challenging to get a block above the lava. A very nice level, and a good example of quality and varied gameplay. 111) MOCHA TOWER Design: 18/40 Creativity: 12/20 This level is strange. There was obviously plenty of work that was put into this, timing sounds to koopas falling and whatnot. At its core though, it plays like a slow and plodding auto-scrolling level. The short vertical section was the most enjoyable part for me because of that. Gameplay wise it is not all that remarkable of a level. Creatively though I will say I appreciate trying to put the Bowser fight stuff to work in another context. The lightning was cool and the timing of sounds was neat as well, but the parts of the area unloading looked sloppy. I'd still give it an "A" for effort. In another contest the concept of this level could probably do much better. 112) Endgame Entourage Design: 30/40 Creativity: 13/20 It is rather unfortunate that at the time I streamed this level the document telling me how many exits levels had was unsure for this one. I did not follow up on looking in to see if it had more going on until I was done streaming my playthroughs and for that I am sorry. Rest assured I did play through it on my own time. I mean this in a complimentary way, but the level's screwed up looking aesthetic at parts are deceptive. The window dressing may be poor but the gameplay is solid. 1F8 was used to great effect here to create bridges out of obstacles. Both divergent paths are great, though I found the Wendy boss fight to be a tad too busy for my liking. The use of a 3up Moon checkpoint was neat, and hiding an additional bonus room behind a dragon coin was pretty clever for repeat players. What I praised for design is also what I would praise for creativity. Spin bouncing on sprites going across 1F8 was used quite a bit with little variation though. The buzzsaws and bowser statues are basically interchangeable for that. The use of spikes with that in the one section was nice. Overall I liked this level and I feel like it shines brighter than its flaws bring it down. 113) LINE DRIVE Design: 36/40 Creativity: 14/20 A straightforward and challenging level. I generally find Pitchin' Chuck to be annoying as all hell but they were used well here. Many of the obstacle sprites were to be honest. Everything was here to give you a hard time, but you also have more than a fair chance of dodging them all. The platforming was well done here, with the jumps between moving platforms being a particularly nice touch. This level was really well designed with regards to what it was trying to do. The flow is spot on, things lead into each other and the difficulty steadily increases as you go along. Every object and sprite felt like it was put there for a reason. I don't want to say this level was hurt by a lack of extras like Dragon Coins, sub-areas or 3up Moons but I can't help but feel the author could have done something really fun with those. Very nice work, I kind of wish there was more of it. 114) Sky platforms zone Design: 17/40 Creativity: 7/20 I found this level to be rather plain. It wouldn't feel out of place in the original game, for better or worse. It certainly has some thought put into it and makes for an alright level but it doesn't necessarily wow me. The platforming is not particularly demanding, no jump should be missed by anyone paying attention. The most dangerous obstacles are the occasional shell kicking koopa, but most are placed in ways you have time to react. The two line guided sections are a little interesting, moreso the second one which feels like an obstacle course. The sub-area for the last dragon coin is rather inconspicuous, doing a great job of being hidden. The positives of the design are the same positives of its creativity. I enjoyed the line guide section and admired the sub-area's hidden location. The rest of the level feels fairly run of the mill though. All in all a decent level. 115) ? Design: 33/40 Creativity: 13/20 A somewhat different castle experience. There's a heavy focus on flying ? blocks as platforms. Moving one tile jumps can be a bit tricky. Some implementations of the blocks were a bit tricky, usually the ones combined with another obstacle like a thwomp, but overall they felt fair. The level switched gears in interesting ways, going from a standard kind of level to fetching the block and backtracking, to a quick auto-scroll section. It was several different ideas that meshed well together. Said different ideas showed this level's author's creative side. No segment felt particularly dull and each obstacle felt at least a little distinct from each other, with only back to back green bean springboard segments feeling repetitive. The castle sprites complimented the flying ? blocks well. A good level featuring some challenging platforming. 116) ^('w')^ Design: 19/40 Creativity: 11/20 A relatively straightforward level. Nothing all that standout-ish or detrimental within it. It felt like a fun level to play. Dodging the dinos made things tense here and there, but they were the only dangerous obstacles. I felt at least one of the dragon coins had an interesting placement, involving two parakoopa bounces to get to it. The secret exit also went over my head a few times, not noticing the flying block necessary to get to it. Said secret exit I believe is the most creative aspect of the level. It's not immediately obvious how to get to the pipe, and the block you need spawns in a part of the level that is dangerous and takes your focus away from it. The rest of the level is pretty standard fare. I'd say it's a nice pick-up-and-play level if you want a quick practice run of some SMW physics before getting to something more deep and challenging. 117) 12PTLAYERGM Design: 15/40 Creativity: 10/20 This level laid down a simple foundation and kept itself straightforward. Hold an object to be able to land on another object without picking it up. If you fell through the keys by grabbing them, you'd get stuck. It took a few tries to figure out everything the level wanted but it clicked with me pretty quickly. The level felt kind of short and rushed though. It wasn't a particularly long level, and the midpoint apparently was not set correctly. With more time devoted to it I feel this level could have shined brighter. Item babysitting is often frowned upon, but here I didn't feel like it held things back that much. That could be due to the level's length or ease of grabbing new keys if you needed them. The trap at the end was pretty niche but I still walked into it without thinking the first time. All in all I feel this is just grazing underneath "solid". 118) Triangle or Devil Design: 32/40 Creativity: 16/20 Triangle blocks can be tricky to work with but I feel this level maximized their potential without making them unfun to deal with. This level is well put together. There seems to be a lot of surprises but there's always time to deal with them. Safe places to fall are usually marked or otherwise implied to be so. There's enough power-ups to not find oneself without one as long as you're being careful. Enemy placement is tough, but fair too. The triangles without guaranteed running space to get up them may be disliked by many people, but I am used to working with them so I found no problems with that. I said this in my stream and I'll repeat it here though; the L coins warning you of the stack of Bullet Bill Blasters kind of renders that obstacle pointless. I think you did pretty much everything you can do with a triangle block in this level without getting Yoshi involved. Stuff with shells, stuff with hopping from out to the other, stuff with running onto them from a moving platform; all of it worked out well. Had you chosen to go for bonus collectibles like Dragon Coins or 3up Moons, I'm sure you could have made a fun bonus area as well. Very nice work, picking a thing and running with it to make a comprehensive level around it. 119) YOSHI'S ISLAND 1 Design: 12/40 Creativity: 5/20 The most notable thing about this level is the fact it got a penalty for incorrectly placing the starting point on the overworld, making it so I had to manually readjust it to even be able to play it. After doing that, what I was met with was a structurally sound, although kind of bland level. It feels very early game, possibly even an introductory level. It has a good density of sprites, giving you enough to dodge to keep yourself engaged. Aside from that it just feels very linear, with no secret paths or anything hidden of any kind. Nothing here feels all that ambitious, creatively speaking. It goes one direction, has no divergent paths, and isn't that long. The long stretches of land could lend themselves to a speedrunning challenge but I don't believe that was the author's intent with this one. Don't be afraid to be a bit more ambitious in future contest entries. Also please test your patches before submitting them. 120) Is this 105? Disqualified. 121) STAR WORLD 5 Design: 26/40 Creativity: 12/20 This is a pretty neat level that wouldn't feel too out of place in the original game. I really like how most of this level is laid out. The main area flows well, even though the majority of all obstacles are Koopas, they are still placed in decent ways. The Dragon Coin placement is also pretty nice. My only real nitpick is how some of the balance platforms are placed. Some of them really need to be stretched to the limit in order to progress, and it's a tad annoying (for lack of a better term). The first sub area was delightful, I enjoyed getting the coins necessary for a 1up. The second one was an interesting take on the coin cloud. Again, I liked the ideas the level puts down. It does a lot with a little and never feels dull. Needing the Yoshi from the first sub area in order to do something in the second was a nice touch. Definitely a good kind of romp level. For what this level was seemingly shooting for, I think it did a great job. 122) Iggy's Dizzy Home Design: 24/40 Creativity: 10/20 This level's a tough one to score for me personally. Structurally speaking this is an adequate level. Granted I found the setup with the second Thwomp finicky, but overall the level works well. It does warn you for blind falls but I did not pick up on that at first. The level's length feels weird to me, as though I cannot decide if the level is too short or not. The checkpoint's placement right before Iggy makes it feel like the level is half done rather than almost done, but putting it towards the middle of the level would make it feel too short. The setups are good, though they do feel a little repetitive. Almost every application of Thwimps are done on spikes or around rotating blocks that need to be destroyed. Likewise most Thwomps are there to be spin jumped on and aren't all that dangerous obstacles. It still manages to be fun though, so it has that going for it. I may end up not regretting scoring this one higher, but I feel the repetitive nature of the level is a little too strong. 123) YOSHI'S ISLAND 1 Design: 23/40 Creativity: 11/20 A level about spin bouncing that is straight to the point. The majority of the obstacles in this level are Spinies on top of Munchers. Sometimes there's a hopping flame around, sometimes a Lakitu throws the Spinies. It is simple, yet elegant. The difficulty of the level steadily increases as you go along, rather than weirdly spiking. Some of the challenges can feel a little repetitive here, like the second and third Lakitu ones that have the accordion blocks as their only difference. The level plays and flows well though. It's a little disappointing that the level ended the way it did, given time I'm sure the author could have come up with a bit more. At its core it's a decent level. 124) Supersubmerged Keep Design: 17/40 Creativity: 10/20 On one hand I find myself liking parts of this level, but on the other I can't help but notice some annoying design flaws in it. The first thing, the very first thing, is that you die upon starting the level if you don't move. Not even one game second will pass and you will be dead. Granted infinite lives were a component of this contest, but that is extremely obnoxious and sets the tone for the whole level to expect cheap obstacles like that. Thankfully the level continues on from that point mostly devoid of things like that. Some tight swimming is fine, and most of the vertical part of the level is fine too until the end. The falling spikes are set up at the end so that they will snag you if you do not have advanced knowledge of them being placed there. It sucks to have to have to replay a good chunk of level due to a cheap trap like that. Also worth mentioning is the Dragon Coin over the rotating block can softlock you if you are small. Setting aside some of these issues I feel like there is some creativity to be found here. The swimming section and the secret exit are alright in their execution. Nothing mind blowing but they at least have a unique feel to them. I feel like this author has a lot of potential and if they try to do a level like this again they could do a better job at it in the future. 125) Some Strange Place Design: 34/40 Creativity: 13/20 This level had a lot of depth to it. Between branched paths and challenging obstacles I found myself highly engaged with this level. Getting to the regular end on it's own is one thing, but trying to get all the coins or getting to the secret exit is another. The variation in gameplay between sublevels was great too. It's a level that wants you to not only explore, but enjoy the experience while you do it. Everything this level tried to do, it did well. I like the spawning trick with the Thwimps in particular. The area leading up to Lemmy was a nice change as opposed to just being thrown into the fight. The use of the P-switch for both a coin and a secret exit were both great. A fantastic level that did a lot given the limitations of the contest.