Super Mario Nation

[GeneSu730]

Dear Gaming Buddies:

It's been about half a year since I posted a new update. Last November, I have decided to take my Mario Maker project to the next phase. I have coded about 80 to 90 percent of the Super Mario algorithm and over half of the monster enemies. I now am beginning to shift away from coding new features and begin building an actual Super Mario fangame. I spent last fall revamping all my graphics. I started building stages this year. However, I will not put up any new videos until I code the Overworld Map (which I hope to do before the end of the year). This project is going slower than I thought. In the last 6 months, I only completed 15 stages (I am about to finish number 16). I want to build 80 levels, which means my game might be done by the middle of 2023. I am trying to make my stages smaller but I feel like I am suffering from burnout more often.

The name of my game will be Super Mario Nation. The first world will be the typical Grassland World. I will call the first level 'Schroom Suburbs. Here is what the player will see upon entering it.


A lot of standard enemies have been coded.



There are plenty of riddles to solve.


There is a bonus area with a gem. There are 4 gems in each stage that serve the same purpose as the dragon coins in Super Mario World. Try to find them all!


Get ready to become invincible.


I wanted to do Caped Mario instead of Raccoon Mario. The cape has not gotten enough game time.


I always preferred the moving goal post of Super Mario World to the stationary flag pole.


Your score when finishing a stage.


I hope to post screenshots for one stage per day. If you see your work here (most notably, graphics), tell me. I want to give you credit when I begin uploading videos.

[SuperSledgeBro]

I was watching the progress when you were posting about your game. I have to say that it gives me good memories of the games I used to play in the earlier and simpler days of fangaming.

Spoiler

[GeneSu730]

Super Sludge Bros, thank you for your kind reply.

World 1-2 is the traditional underground stage. I will call it Mushroom Mines. My screenshots now have Luigi.


Slide down slopes to bump off enemies.


First gem is out in the open.


Hit 9 enemies with a shell consecutively to get extra lives.
See those two rows of bricks? The top row has a gem. You need to be Super to get it.



Get an Invincible Star. Touch 9 enemies to get an extra life.



The bonus area is a pipe network. There is the third gem and a 3-up Moon.



Is that really a ceiling? ... Or a secret area?



The final gem is in this difficult-to-reach place.



Find the secret exit and you will have your first encounter with Charging Chuck.
P.S. Did I really get 10 extra lives in this level?

[GeneSu730]

World 1-3 is Yoshi's Playground.



But of course, I was going to have Yoshi in my game. What would a Super Mario game be without having Mario's favorite ride. (And what a massive headache that green dinosaur posed for me! I was fixing so many bugs related to his subroutines and footprints. Back in March, Yoshi was still falling through sloped floors when he was swimming under water. )

I also decided to have the monster Rex in my game. I don't know why he wasn't showcased in any recent Super Mario games. He just doesn't get enough love so I decided to give him some.



These two hidden areas have gems. The forest has wind and leaves. The best way to explore is to use Caped Mario to fly.

[TonyBalonneViper]

this looks good.

BAZOOKA TOOTH

[GeneSu730]

World 1-4 is a Night in Giant Town.
The original Super Mario game had a lot of night stages. I thought they had a romantic quality to them. We haven't had too many of them in later Super Mario games.



I also don't know why we don't have giant enemies in later Super Mario games.



A giant shell is more powerful than a regular shell. It doesn't rebound when it hits a regular brick blocks. It can also break the brown stone blocks.



And yes, I did hide a lot of goodies in the blocks...

The bonus are in this area introduces the conveyer belt.

[GeneSu730]

World 1-5 is going to be called Mossy Mash. It takes place in a partially flooded cave with waterfalls and moving water that can push you around.
This stage taught me a great deal about what you can do and can't do with water. I want Mario to only be able to jump out about 1.5 block above water when he is swimming. I have to really pay attention to how high I place the dry platforms he can land on.

Look at the start. Is there a cove to the left you can swim in?



You can find the green gem if you can climb up the waterfall.



Got to the upper left to find Yoshi.



Duck your head down and let the waterfall push you to get the red gem in the treasure box.



Smack as many Cheep-Cheeps with the Invincible Star to get some extra lives.



The bonus area has some tidal waves that can push you around.

[GeneSu730]

Here are screenshots of World 1-6. I'm going to call it Cauliflower Cliffs.

This level introduces the player to moving platforms and donut platforms, both of which had their challenges in coding. I also tried out an animated cloud platform from SuperSludgeBros.
You need to hop on these tricky platforms to reach stuff that is rather high...


Or rather low...


Just like the original game, Mario and Luigi can run across 1-block gaps.



I took the climbable vine sprites from Super Mario Bros 2 (USA).


Just like the Donkey Kong Country games, I hid quite a bit of stuff before where you start, and after where you are supposed to exit.



The bonus area features the P-Balloon.

[GeneSu730]

Today, I am going to post the first stage that required a lot of new work in the new phase of my project. World 1-M (M stands for Military) is going to be called the First Division. It will be Larry Koopa's airship.

This will be where you start out. Once again, thanks to SuperSludgeBros for these wonderful graphics. Where do you get them from, by the way?


It took quite some time to code the Bullet Bills, Cannon Balls, and Launchers (especially the 4-way). I wanted to also code the Rocky Wrench and Mecha Koopa enemies but had to quit after that.



I decided not to have auto-scrolling for the first airship stage. That way, I can experiment with other features like conveyer belts and hidden areas.


I decided to use the Koopaling sprites from some guy named sunsoftdev10. I had about a half dozen options. I used his because they looked like the most colorful. I had a lot of crazy decisions to make with regards to the Koopalings. I was wondering whether I should have the wand sprite separate from the Koopaling sprite. I decided not to because it would not cut down the space of the sprite - as well as present a whole bunch of problems with regards to having the wand in front or in back of the Koopaling. I couldn't find sprites that were 32 x32 pixels. 64 x 64 is quite big and can slow the game down when it is running on Visual Studio. In the end, I decided to have the shell as a separate object from the Koopaling actor to make things easier. Coding Larry was a pain in the ass. I had to make a lost of special cases and fix a lot of bugs.



Generic Koopaling fight. Larry Koopa jumps around, shooting magic blasts. You jump on his head 3 times to beat him.



Sooner or later, I have to have a sequence where the wand comes down for Mario to catch, ending the stage (sooner) and a beginning cut scene with Mario boarding the airship via an anchor (later).

[GeneSu730]

The special stage of World 1 (W1-S) is called the Piranha Plant Forest because ... well, you figure it out.



In my game, plants can come out of the ground, not just pipes.



I think it is now time I gave the color code for my little monsters.

Koopa Troopa
Green - Keep walking, even off the edge of the platform. Normal speed.
Red - Turns around at the edge of a platform. Normal speed.
Blue - Keep walking, even off the edge of the platform. Fast speed.
Yellow - Turns around at the edge of a platform. Fast speed.

Piranha Plant
Green - Will come out of a pipe unless Mario is standing on it.
Red - Will come out of a pipe unless Mario is standing next to the pipe.
Blue - Will always come out of a pipe.
Yellow - Waits for Mario to stand on top of a pipe before coming out of it.

Venus Fire
Green - 2 Fireballs
Red - 1 Fireball
Blue - 1 Iceball
Yellow - 2 Iceballs


Use a P Switch

to turn Munchers

into coins.


Bonus area has dolphins


Use an Invincible Star to get the last Gem and a 1-Up.

[Murphmario]

I don't think Piranha Plants should come out of the ground. There's no telling where they'd be and players can potentially get unfairly hit because of that.

[VinnyVideo]

@Murphmario My old Marioy 2 game had a level inspired by Paper Mario's Forever Forest where Piranha Plants come out of the ground. I realized that this could be a bit frustrating! When I updated the game last year, I tweaked the tiles so that ground areas with Piranha Plants looked different from normal ground tiles.

Course clear! You got a card.

[GeneSu730]

I finally can showcase World 2. This will be called the Majestic Mountains. World 2-1 will be the Vineyard Valley. It is the first vertical scrolling stage in the game.



Use a P switch to find some hidden coins. Follow the arrows to find a hidden area to the right. You can find a 3-up Moon there.



If you can an Ice Flower, you can freeze Munchers.



The bonus area is a frozen cave. You can melt frozen coins there to find a gem.

[GeneSu730]

World 2-2 will be called the Rocky Ricochet Range. It is full of bounce blocks and other fun obstacles.


Rex will be the standard enemy here.


This is the first level to feature Monty Mole. Is it OK if he pops out of color block platforms. I notice that vermin can burrow into your home in the suburbs.


If you climb up some hidden bounce blocks, you can find the Blue Yoshi, which will grow wings when it swallows a shell. He took me a week to code.

[Murphmario]

I'd say it's okay to have Monty Moles come out of blocks, though my point about Piranha Plants coming out of the ground still stands.

[GeneSu730]

World 2-3 will be called "Hot n Cold". I originally wanted this to be the "special stage" of World 2 but decided against it due to its easy difficulty.



Notice anything about this background? I noticed, from VGMaps, that this was only used in World 1-5 of the remake of Super Mario Bros 3. Why weren't they used in another other stages?



So you use a pipe network to alternate between cold and hot areas. The cold areas have the Flurries from Super Mario Bros 2 (and some cool foreground tiles from that game). You need to duck to get the first gem.



So in the underground hot area, you have two special features. First, if you have an Ice Flower, you can freeze the boiling tar into stone blocks. (Is that a good idea? I also have it so that Giant shells could smash stone blocks.) Second, the Exclamation block system does not work the same as in Super Mario World. It is more like the crystal switches in Link to the Past. Stomp on a Yellow switch to make yellow blocks appear and blue blocks disappear. Hit a Blue switch for vice versa.



A fire flower will help you melt ice blocks. Here is another new enemy I coded: the Boomerang Bros. I hope to code the Fire Bros and Ice Bros in a few weeks.



Here is another new enemy: Digging Chuck. This Charging Chuck hits boulders like cricket balls. I hope to do Splitting Chuck before the end of the year.

[GeneSu730]

World 2-4 will be called "A Game of Tag". It will feature the Charging Chuck and the Boomerang Bros.



I have 5 types of Charging Chucks coded:

1. Tackling Chuck - who just runs around
2. Leaping Chuck - who jumps around.
3. Baseball Chuck - who throws baseballs
4. Football Chuck - who kicks footballs
5. Digging Chuck - who hits boulders

You have to be quick on your reflexes to find the goodies in this stage. Jump off of this Boomerang Bros to find a hidden platform with the green gem.


I have a lot of goodies in the area below if you can deal with the 2 Chucks.

[GeneSu730]

I finally get to show my first Ghost House stage. This will be called the Haunted Catacombs. This took me a fraggin month to make and you will see why.

First, Mario will start the stage outside the Ghost House. No intro cutscene though. It took more than a few days to code the door-stage transitioning scene.



Here are the first Boo Diddly you will come across. Once again, these poltergeists only give chase if you look away from them.



In the Super Mario games, I am deeply surprised the the skeletal monsters (Dry Bones and Bony Beetle) would appear in Fortresses but not Ghost Houses. In my opinion, the undead denizens belong in Ghost Houses. The Dry Bones can throw bones and Bony Beetle can grow spikes.



So the 3 new enemies took an extra week for me to code. If you find this hidden chamber, you can get the Hammer Suit and become Hammer Mario. This took me another week to code. The hammers can destroy the ghosts. When a skeletal monster is destroyed, its bones go flying in all directions a la Castlevania.



So you alternate between the Haunted House area and the Underground Catacombs area. I want to thank SuperSludgeBros for these superb graphics for the Haunted House. How do you make them?


This is a Ghost House. Finding the exit will be extra hard ... as well as the power ups and the gems.




Just as with Super Mario World, there will be 2 exits in each Ghost House.

[GeneSu730]

World 2-5 is going to be a very big stage with a time limit of 450 seconds. It is going to be called Pipe Dream. It will be patterned off of some of the maze like stages in World 7 of Super Mario Bros 3.

So you start off by greeting a couple of Boomerang Bros.


I just watched the commentary "It's no Masterpiece." One of the things the commentator whined about was wondering why the Mario team didn't use any of the good ideas from the older Mario games in the newer ones. For instance, I wish they had military airship stages in Super Mario World. They were what made SMB3 fun.
Another feature they had in SMB3 that I did not see in SMW were pipe networks that took you to different places in the same stage. I don't know why the Nintendo team didn't reuse that master idea.
So this stage is a big pipe network that leads to different places in the same stage. You will have to keep that in mind, and punch all the hidden blocks, to get through this stage and get all the goodies.



P.S. Does anyone know who designed this beautiful sewer foreground tile set?

Is that a false wall? Go through it to find the Green Gem.



There is a mini pipe network that you have to slide through to get around.



Remember this puzzle from World 7-2 of SMB3? Punch all the hidden bounce blocks, leave through pipe, and re-enter the area to jump on top of the blocks.



The last area has a nasty mesh of bounce block, Venus Fire Traps, and spikes.



Mini Mario presented a lot of headaches for me. I think in order to not have to worry about the remaining bugs, I am only going to have the Mini Mushroom in certain bonus areas. Being Mini allows you to enter Mini Pipes. Find your way through this bonus area to find the Blue Gem.

[GeneSu730]

World 2-6 is going to be called "Skyway Skip'A'Lot". It is a side scrolling stage.

Once more, I have these beautiful cloud graphics from SuperSludgeBros.



The first gem is in a tight spot.



Can you get the cape feather on the below drop lifts?



Or how about the goodies guarded by the Charging Chuck?



Use the jump blocks to find a hidden platform above.



Use a P switch to turn the coins to blocks.