Yeah, we've seen plenty of hard Mario hacks already. Super Mario Forever, Kaizo Mario World, Air, etc. However, Hard Relay Mario stands out simply because it's the hardest. I realize that's subjective, but most hardhacks can be completed if not without savestates, then at least in real time. This was ridiculously hard to complete even when TASing it. This hack was created by six prominent SMB hackers, including U1 (who created Air) and Mana. (who once had an SMB run published here). The following changes are made in this hack:
- The levels, obviously.
- A new block I "affectionately" refer to as instakill spikes. No matter what state Mario is in (fire, big, small, invincible, whatever), he will die upon touching this block's hitbox, which is about as large as the block itself.
- The vines are now clouds and every invisible block is marked. These are merely cosmetic changes.
Other than that, the engine is exactly the same. Everything performed in this movie is doable on the real game, should the stage allow for it. Now, on to individual level notes:
- 1-1: There's an unnecessary wait before koopajumping into the invisible block. Sorry :P.
- 1-2: Overall this stage went perfectly, as it's the easiest stage of the bunch.
- 1-3: Sorry about the Buzzy Beetle at the beginning, I didn't realize it would make that much noise. This one went pretty well, too.
- 1-4: I want to punch whoever designed this stage so many times. The mini-fire bar section at the beginning and the Piranha Plant section shortly after were absolutely brutal, and account for probably 1,000 of this run's rerecords.
- 1-5: The whole koopajumping section at the beginning was pretty ridiculous, too, as it was extremely difficult to stomp the koopa at just the right point that the shell stops at the correct position in the ground and that he starts walking in the right direction when he emerges. Nothing else gave me too much trouble.
- 1-6: This is the first of two stages designed by U1, and the first time the instakill spikes make an appearance. Nothing gave me any trouble, really.
- 1-7: Holy shit. Hoooooly shit. The trampoline physics are so hard to nail down, and they're absolutely essential to clearing this stage. In addition to that, you have to make absolutely certain that the screen doesn't scroll over too far so that you can avoid the leftmost invisible block on the last jump. Completely and utterly insane, and the second-most difficult stage in the game.
- 1-8: The walljumping portion near the end is all that got even mildly frustrating. Walljumping directly above a spike is a highlight, I think.
- 1-9: Every section of this level was pretty difficult, but the most they required was very patient brute-forcing. This is the most fun level to see in action.
- 1-A: Every level before this one is there to simply lull you into a false sense of security. "It's alright," you think, "with enough effort I can get past anything. I mean, I got past the Piranha Plant part in 1-4. This won't take me too long." Then this stage comes along and kicks you square in the balls. This is the other level designed by U1, and also the most difficult stage in the game, primarily because it's so long. I started a test run of this game, and I didn't even complete it because of the Bowser battle at the end. Fortunately, I got through it this time, and I'm very proud of the result.
There's three "bonus" stages available at the title screen after you beat the game, but none of them are really notable, so I opted to preserve the cohesiveness of this run and just ended it at the axe touch. Overall, there are some sloppy parts, but only two or three perceptibly so, and the good much outweighs the bad, in my opinion. Check it out.
