MFGG - Mario Fan Games Galaxy

Review Information

Game Reviewed	Hello Fangaming Collection, by Hello
Review Author	Cap'n Coconuts
Created	Aug 28 2015, 5:32 PM

General Commentary and Game Overview

Hello Fangaming Collection is a tribute to one decade full of games that greatly resemble each other. It pays tribute to these games by being yet another game that greatly resembles others, except even more so. Hello Fangaming Collection is the game MFGG would never ask for, and yet it is the one Hello uploaded in violation of all logic and reason. Perhaps he's doing it for attention, or perhaps he's secretly every bit as egotistical as his Toads make him seem. But I digress: let's talk about the game's content, shall we?

Pros

+ It's "fun" if you've never played a Hello game before.
+ Music was actually pretty good.

Cons

- Towns notwithstanding, there is literally nothing here that is new. All the levels are just rehashes.
- Rehashing didn't even work out all that well; there are still unfair enemy placements and cheap deaths to be had.
- Still using icegoom sprites that don't fit with the rest of the graphics.
- The game is an obvious ego trip to almost everyone who isn't Hello.
- Every bit as soulless and unimaginative as the games upon which this collection is based, if not more.

Impressions

Gameplay 1 / 10	The level design ranges from decent to okay. None of it is really great, and nothing in this game is really novel. The fact that the game is basically rehashed levels from previous Hello games doesn't help at all, and the lack of plot makes the game even less unique. Hello has basically taken the Hello Clone to its logical conclusion. Just about all of his games are basically the same; this one just makes it more literal. With that said, the levels are so full of enemies that it makes the lowly Fire Flower seem overpowered. In some cases, the player is put at an unnecessary disadvantage due to the excessive enemy placements if the player has no Fire Flower. Radial cultists come out of the woodwork, mindlessly worshiping the infernal flora--but not even the power of the plant god will save you from enemies that just so happen to get in your way as you leave a warp pipe. Sometimes they get in other, equally unfair places. The cheap death is occasional, but present nonetheless--especially in his deliberately difficult levels. Expect sinister setpieces like the low ceiling note block jump, requiring absolute perfection or death. For dealing with a situation like this, especially during a Let's Play, I recommend utterances of pure bliss. Joyously and eagerly rushing to inevitable death makes for good black comedy. The Cult of the Fire Flower is greatly opposed to the presence of other powers in the land. While mushrooms, stars, and giant shoes have avoided their persecution, there doesn't seem to be anything else. What's the point of having a P meter when there's no flight power-up to be found? Alas, the Cult of the Fire Flower cannot possibly compare to the Church of Hello. All Toads in the game are members of this church, praising his excellent greatness--even though he has little. For those of you who like to play tabletop RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons, Hello as a deity may be an excellent addition to your campaign setting. His alignment is True Neutral (if only out of not giving a crap) and his domains are Luck, Trickery, Pride, Suffering, and Endurance. Snark at a developer's expense would be potentially bad form in other reviews, but given the nature of this game combined with Hello's general unwillingness to listen to anyone but himself, it's difficult to avoid and arguably justified. But anyways, here's a generous sampling of quotes from the church of Hello, with my commentary in parentheses: * "I love making games using the Hello Mario Engine. No programming needed! It can just be used like an editor to make Mario games effortlessly! Wheee!" (Even if this was a joke, it's forced and unfunny. But hey, at least Hello's being honest. Other quotes make it seem like he can't agree on whether or not his engine should be used as a glorified level editor, but honestly that's how he uses it.) * "Who would want to mess with that engine's messy code base, anyways?" (Ultramario's engine. Funny. Hello took ages to fix the most rudimentary problems of his own engine--poor documenting, no code indentation, nonsensical variable names, among others.) * "Hello Fangaming's most underrated game? I'll have to go with either Super Mario Dynamo or Super Mario Bros: Ztar Turmoil!" (Funny, Hello can't admit his own games are bad--he has to call them "underrated" as if all his critics don't know what they're talking about.) * "Have you played Super Mario Bros.: Kill Bowser? Personally, I think it's the least interesting out of Hello Fangaming's Ultramario engine games." (Still, he can't outright admit his games are bad.) * "Out of Hello Fangaming's difficult games, the best one is definitely Super Mario Dynamo! That game has just the right amount of difficulty, and never gets hard enough to make me give up! Of course, that is to be expected, as this game's levels were thoroughly tested, and any unfair sections that may have existed were removed!" And that is where I lost all respect I had for Hello, and where Hello's lack of respect for everyone else becomes evident. Dynamo's lack of an appropriate difficulty curve, even for a masochistic game, should be plainly obvious. In an otherwise straightforward first level, you have the low ceiling note block jump and the utterly ridiculous timed wall jumping segment right when you're first learning how to wall jump in the first place. Given that this is Hello, "thoroughly tested" can only mean he did it himself, and if he had other testers he wouldn't listen to them as usual. Of course, it's possible that he's just flat out lying. Either way, it's a big middle finger to everyone who thought his games were less than perfect. But surely Mario, who is not a member of the Church of Hello, has something worth saying, right? I mean Hello's writing can't be all ba-- "Yahoo!" "Mama Mia!" "Oh no!" What the devil is this?! He's speaking almost entirely in transcribed voice clips?! IT'S SUPER FREAKING DYNAMO ALL OVER AGAIN! Screw this game, its levels, its Toads, its all but outright LYING, and its Mario! SCREW IT. Excluding towns, the game only has levels from older games that weren't fixed all that well, and the dialogue is just so disgusting that I cannot justify even a mediocre score. Sure, some people might find the game "fun", but this game has far too little effort put into it for that to matter. Roger Ebert gave zero stars to movies he thought were "artistically inept and morally repugnant." Since I can't give out zeroes, I'll have to settle for a 1.
Graphics 3 / 10	As usual, Hello's game is SMB3 themed, SMA4 Mario is as ugly as ever, and Icegoom sprites show up and clash with everything else. This alone could earn a potentially unflattering score, but then Hello had to overuse his fancy lighting system to the point of eye rape. Grassland stages 2 and 3 (especially 3, and possibly others) are straining to the eyes because of unnecessary lighting and tinting. It's like overloading your meal with salt; the result just tastes awful, and likewise Hello's levels with gratuitous lighting are almost literally painful to watch. And then there's the disco level. The disco level has very little to do with disco. It is an ordinary pipe maze with red, green, and blue lighting effects in a room of darkness, so it's harder to see anything. A competent fan game designer would have expanded the concept beyond some lame lighting gimmick. I mean, come on, add some dancing Koopas with afros or something. At least pretend the level is about disco, for pity's sake. Used properly, the lighting effect could have made the graphics much more pleasant--but since it is directly responsible for eye strain, I cannot justify a good score.
Sound 4 / 10	If there's one thing (and only one thing) Hello seems to do remotely well, it's the music. He has a knack for finding arrangements and themes for his games such that they SOUND fresh, if nothing else is. But things like music are icing on the cake--and no amount of icing is going to fix a fundamentally bad cake. Mmm... cake... The sound effects are typical for a Hello clone, and Mario's every bit as much a soulless drone as always. Ten years of fan game development and Hello STILL can't figure out that all those voice clips make the game annoying for others.
Replay 2 / 10	CD collection and the presence of levels with ludicrous difficulty warrant a score higher than 1. But honestly, this game is basically a replay of most things he made in the past--none of which were really good--so many will find the CDs a token effort at best.

Final Words

It is not only a tribute to ten years of doing the same thing over and over again, but it is more importantly a tribute to Hello himself. There is nothing new or noteworthy in this ego trip of a game, consisting of rehashed levels and mindless sycophants. Over ten years, nothing noteworthy has changed for the better. Don't bother with this game.

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Comments

	DJ Coco Aug 29 2015, 12:07 AM
A 1/10? Harsh. But completely justified.


	Cap'n Coconuts Aug 29 2015, 12:43 AM
The game might not be worthy of 1/10 to some people, I'll admit. I don't expect everyone to agree with my reasons for giving it. But Hello's been at this for 10 years and hasn't evolved nearly as much as he should have, and, well... my buttons were pressed. If it was an "original" Hello Clone and wasn't full of self-glorification, I might have given it an average rating at most.


	VinnyVideo Aug 29 2015, 1:20 PM
Harsh? Yes. But your critique is spot on, and you noted just about all of the irritations that hamper the gameplay experience. I also like that you include some concrete suggestions for making his games more interesting, like the Disco Koopas idea.


	Ryan Silberman Aug 29 2015, 4:34 PM
Ten years... Ten years of this dribble in the form of a game... When is anything going to change?


	Cap'n Coconuts Aug 29 2015, 5:59 PM
I really could have talked about more, but I felt that it was small time compared to what was in the review. By the way, has anyone inspected the Hello Engine lately? A couple of Toads liked to brag about how user friendly it is, and I have a hunch they weren't telling the whole story.


	Ryan Silberman Aug 30 2015, 3:48 AM
Quote (Cap'n Coconuts on Aug 29 2015, 5:59 PM) I really could have talked about more, but I felt that it was small time compared to what was in the review. By the way, has anyone inspected the Hello Engine lately? A couple of Toads liked to brag about how user friendly it is, and I have a hunch they weren't telling the whole story. As if I'd download it to begin with. lol That's just as sad as this.

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