1. FirePhoenix - Flight of the Yoshi Level Design: 4/10 I got glimpses at several good ideas throughout the level but none of them were fully developed. The only recurring theme was P-Switches, and some of the instances they were used in felt forced and unneccesary. Appeal: 5/10 The level offered some creative and interesting uses of the original graphics such as the flying airship background and the detonator at the end. Unfortunately, the lightning generated from no where and the awkwardly placed Muncher plants lowered this score. Functionality: 7/10 In the first P-Switch area of the airship, it is possible to get through the one-tile wide gap with Yoshi and become trapped in the wall. Also, players who backtrack after pressing the Silver P-Switch are trapped and unable to continue in the stage. Finally, only four Dragon Coins are given. Either all Dragon Coins should be removed, or there should be five to collect. Fun: 4/10 The stage offered some short bursts of enjoyment and was actually pretty-well designed. It would not stand out above a crowd, but is definitely enjoyable and about the right length. Some players may find the P-Switch puzzles somewhat tiresome and a hinderance to this level's overall score. Overall: 20/40 Average level. ----- The introduction is well done. The airship in the top right corner adds to the environment. I prefer the original pallets of the switch blocks to the new ones, but that may just be me. The opening message is decent but could use some rewording to make it smoother. The grey rotating platforms and brown line-guided platforms were common elements throughout the western side of the stage. The stage benifited from them definitely, but different placements could've resulted in a more intuitive stage design. Giving the player the option of guiding the Kamikaze Koopa to gain a fire flower was a unique gimmick that allowed the player easier access to the passage guarded by the two clappin' chucks. Although a nice gameplay element, the bright yellow logs felt somewhat out of place in the nighttime sky environment. The addition of 10-coin blocks and other prizes throughout gave the player prizes to search for. A green horizontal pipe and two bullet bill shooters sat on the westernmost screen of the main area. The highest bullet bill shooter offered a challenge of speed to a larger player trying to enter the pipe, but also looked somewhat awkward placed over the mushroom tiles instead of simply attached to them. The next area encourages the player to toss recolored grab blocks into a narrow passage. This stage could have benifited from this gimmick being developed further. After hitting the Green Switch, a message suggests that the player team up with Yoshi and enter the airship. If the player decides to visit the Green Switch area after hitting the switch a pipe allows them to go back to the start of the stage, preventing players from getting trapped. The eastern side of the stage offer the player a chance at collecting five dragon coins. Unfortunately, completionists will notice that it is impossible to receive an extra life as there are only four coins to be found in the level. A 1-up mushroom is hidden for skilled players on a mushroom guarded by several Koopa Troopas. Unfortunately, the next obstacle seems very unfitting for the difficulty of the level. The player is expected to jump onto an Amazing Flyin' Hammer Brother and steal his winged platform to continue the stage. If the platform was moved more to the left to offer the player a chance at bumping it from the bottom this obstacle would be much more in line with the rest of the stage's difficulty. Next, the player must ascend a vertical corridor with two grey rotating platforms. This section of the stage could've been developed further as the jumps can be difficult but are not unfair because of the Switch blocks below. After jumping over several brown line-guided platforms the player must defeat a diggin' chuck guarding a horizontal green pipe to move on. Unfortunately, the two blocks meant to keep gaps from forming in the transition from the horizontal to vertical pipes look more out of place than the gaps they are hiding. They would fit much better in an 8-bit game rather than a 16-bit one. The same error is repeated in the next area, and the word "take" is repeated in Yoshi's message to Mario. The airship area starts with a bit of lightning falling from seemingly no where and creating fire on the bottom of the screen. Although there appears to be no ground, the player can walk across the bottom of the screen in the short opening area, which is somewhat deceptive. Darken logs offer a nice background, but unfortunately are only used in one section of the airship. The player is required to ditch Yoshi momentary to grab a P-switch in order to progress. The Bullet bill shooter and the y-flipped one next to the switch looked awkward connected to each other and should be connected to the logs instead. In the next area the player is greeted by more lightning which seems to be spontaneously created from the inside of the airship. Later on, the player is given a chance to use Yoshi's flames to clear out a section of Flying Green Koopas. This is another obstacle that could've been enlarged upon. After this, the player forced to squeeze into a one tile-wide gap and collect a trampoline, a Blue P-Switch, and a Silver P-Switch. Unfortunately, it is difficult to determine which ones are needed first without moving on then backtracking again, so this section of the level can prove needlessly tedious. Also, messing up the timing of some of the P-Switches can leave the player trapped with no way of continuing the level. This can happen quite easily, as players searching for extra lives may be lured into backtracking after hitting the Silver P-Switch to collect the basketful of free lives from the Flying Green Koopas seen only a screen earlier. The Muncher plants removed by the Silver P-Switch are nonsensically placed so that they're roots are growing out of each other, and are not connected to the ground. In the final area, the Goal Sphere has been changed into a bomb detonator, cleverly suggesting that Mario and Yoshi have successfully destroyed Big Boo's airship. Unfortunately, the ending sequence has a lot of commotion with a bullet bill shooter and Sumo Brother continuing to function after the goal has been cleared. Also the 3-up moon does not offer very much of a reward as the player is probably already done with playing. ----- Level Design (10 pts): How well is the level designed? Is it creative and interesting? 0/10: Boring, totally uninspired design. Blatant copies of SMW levels. Lots of copy-pasting evident. 10/10: Unique, creative, enjoyable level design. Used elements of SMW in interesting ways to enhance the level. Appeal (10 pts): Are the palettes nice overall? Did you use SMW's resources in creative ways? 0/10: Excessive cutoff. Overuse of munchers or cement blocks. Bad paletting. Map16 glitches. 10/10: Uses map16 in new and creative ways that are easy on the eyes. Palettes are pleasant to look at. Variety of visual elements used. Functionality (10 pts): Does the level function properly, i.e., no glitches (an easy 10 if it does!) 0/10: Level glitches. Sprite glitches. This hack shouldn't even be playable but somehow is. 10/10: Level functions properly in all aspects. Fun (10 pts): Is the level fun to play? 0/10: Unenjoyable, be it from difficulty, boredom or something else. 10/10: The level was very engaging and enjoyable to play. (Be careful, Fun can be rather subjective as far as categories go.)