Although this is not a real game for SNES, it is definitely the greatest hack I have ever played. I chose this game because this is simply a great game made even better, and because the standard SMW 11-exit run opened my eyes to how great of a run this game could make. I'm extremely happy with how this run turned out.
Emulator used: SNES9X-144 Improvement 7
- Completes game as fast as possible
Speed is occasionally sacrificed for something entertaining, but only because lag is caused. There is a good amount of lag in this game because of the large number of objects in most of the levels.
- Abuses programming errors
Several flying techniques are not possible in real time, including frame-precise diving to gain maximum altitude.
Jumping at maximum speed into the bottom of a mid-level pipe allows you to begin flying after exiting the top.
Hopping along the ground at perfectly timed frames will keep your speed after falling out of flight. This is handy to keep speed when flying is no longer possible.
During flight, pressing X or Y will result in spinning and then flying in a random direction. I manipulate luck to make sure that I face the way I want to be facing.
Sometimes I grab stars at the end of the level, sometimes I don't. I tried both to see which reduced the fadeout lag at the end of the level.
- Takes damage to save time
I don't specifically go for a high score, or high lives, or coins - just speed and entertainment.
Highlights, questions, nitpicks:
Nothing special here.
I couldn't match the current WIP in the forums on this level, so I tried an idea out of Spezzafer's SMW2 run and it worked wonderfully. I also drop the shell on the Chuck in order to avoid a bit of lag.
Near the end of this level, I press left for one frame to bounce off a goomba at a higher position, which lets me bounce to the yellow koopa at the final stretch. This didn't cost me any frames when comparing the completed frame in both cases.
Super Mario 3 throwback! Only highlight here is that I get the cape, and the fun with flying begins.
I wasn't able to fly at the beginning of this level to gain a few frames without losing many more trying to rebuild up flying speed.
There is so much to this level (plus it's an auto-scroller), so I was able to do some very entertaining stuff. The only way to control the speed of this level is to switch between firepower and cape as little as possible. Taking the upper path with the munchers allowed me to avoid a lot of that, and to get that first star, I couldn't take the upper path at the beginning with the flying koopas.
The breaking of the bricks, while causing lag, is necessary to keep my dive "charged" so that I can get a large lift after the bricks. Although staying at the top of this level and flying over the bricks would have saved around 90 frames in lag, the entire level would have consisted of me flying at the top of the screen with less enemy stomping. Boring.
Another auto-scroller, though not nearly as long as the last one. My goal was to kill as many fish as possible while keeping the P-switch and kicking it all over the place. Wheeeee.
I don't know how or why the glitch at the beginning works, but it does. Also, by jumping at the exact frames, the speed of flight is kept, even though I am not flying. This trick is used in several other levels as well. Running up to flight speed again is slower than completing the level in the way I did. There is some avoidable lag at the expense of entertainment - spinning and stomping the bats caused around 90 frames of lag, as opposed to avoiding them. I also had to wait one frame on one of the later jumps - this causes the screen to scroll up to me so that I am able to pass over the tallest columns.
Nothing special about this level. The flying had to be precise to hit the flying koopas and to make it through the area with the hidden coin blocks without having to run on the triangle.
Lag, lag, lag, caused by the over-active graphics in this level. Even if you avoid the enemies vertically (as I do), the lag is still quite bad.
A fun level to watch. This level took a long time to try all the possibilites I could think of and find which path and what methods were the fastest. Then I came up with the shortcut trick with the key and shaved off four more seconds.
Aagh!! The only frustrating part of the run for me. It is possible to fly at the beginning of this level, and I thought I'd be skipping the slow boring skull raft! However, the screen scrolling glitch stops me from flying over a giant mountain of lava. Check the short movie linked off the "SDW: 15 exits" forum for a demonstration of what ALMOST happened. Luckily, I can still fly through part of the level.
This level has a lot of stuff to it, so there is lag at some points. I have to take the key with me, so when I fly with it, I kick it away and regrab it so that I am able to fly in the faster mode and still carry an object. Unfortunately, because of the speed of the spiked pillars, flying through them is just not possible.
Not much to this level. I'm just glad I was able to keep flying speed for the entire thing. Taking a hit at the end at the right time allows me to keep speed by hopping until the pipe. The battle with Bowser is also pretty entertaining, although I do a lot of the same stuff that was done on the SMW run.
Thanks to many: To VIPer7 for introducing this game and his 120-exit run on the forums. To Bisqwit for allowing this hacked game on the site. To Gorling and GWing_02 for their WIPs on the forum that gave me something to aim for when I was just learning this game.
Enjoy the run!
Bisqwit: Replaced the submission ID with the doublepost's ID.
JXQ: This run has gotten an overwhelmingly positive response, so I think it will be published. Thus, I'll add a good description of this movie to be used here:
This is the first run of Super Demo World, the first accepted hack, done as fast as possible, by warping through the star world.
This game is a very well done and thorough hack of Super Mario World, adding an entire new set of levels, a new world map, and even ASM-coded several other interesting features into the game's engine, such as a blue block that can only be broken with firepower. The layout of the game takes full advantage of both the mechanics of Super Mario World and the additions of Super Demo World, and the levels can get extremely complicated.
More details can be found in the author's comments.
Also, a good screenshot would probably come from either Misty Isle 2's shell boost or Misty Star World's juggling.
