Link: https://shc.zone/entries/contest2024/1060
This is a returning entry from the previous year. However, I wasn’t a judge in the previous year, so I’ll be writing this evaluation touching on the entire game as it is.
One thing I’m the most glad about is that now this game is in a singular rom, and its identity crisis in regards to its difficulty has been more or less resolved, with it now providing a single version to be judged. For the most part, the game now as it is quite enjoyable to play.
I’m glad the graphics have been somewhat updated. They do sometimes still feel a little undercooked (for example, obvious Bridge leftovers or the entirety of the last zone), but for the most part nothing else stuck out as particularly off. The Mega Man graphics used in the majority of the levels do a good enough job complimenting the S1 8-bit aesthetic, though it’s clear that they come from a graphically weaker console. And the music was pretty good, too.
Most of the level design is fairly competent now. I only have a few problems:
- Some levels require you to notice hidden passages through walls to progress, which can lead you to feeling stuck;
- Sometimes the levels end with a bottomless pit. Most of the time you don’t die after passing the checkpoint, but sometimes you do;
- The water physics of this game can be a bit wonky, so I don’t think it was a good idea to have entire levels set underwater. Also, the palette doesn’t actually change, but the mechanism for changing the palette is still in place, so the game lags as well.
And then… The last few levels roll around and the hack completely lets you down.
The last full act of the game is an insane difficulty spike, being a checkpointless marathon that stops giving you any rings after a certain point and very numerous hazards. And if you complete this level, the ending is a massive letdown, there’s no final boss and it dumps you into the title screen. Oh well.
Overall, this is a fairly enjoyable full S1 SMS hack that has a very disappointing ending.