Review Information
Game Reviewed Mario and the Lost Worlds: Halloween Special, by Super Piter
Review Author Pedigree
Created Dec 9 2020, 5:20 PM

General Commentary and Game Overview
Mario and the Lost Worlds: Halloween Special is a one level demo for a game. The level is pretty standard with callbacks to World 1-1. You move Mario with the arrow keys on your keyboard, z to jump and hold x to run. Unfortunately, there is not much more to this small demo but it does have potential.
 
Pros -The graphics and tiles are nice.
-With some improvement, the engine could make for an adequate Mario game.
 
Cons -163 megabyte file size for a one level demo is unacceptable.
-Mario's run is way too fast to be of any use.
-Mario's run animation is a bit odd.
-Collision with bricks and ? Blocks doesn't work half the time.
-Very little was done to support the Halloween theme.
-Level cuts to black when you reach the goal, no communication to the player that the demo is over.
-Music is a standard SMB1 athletic remix that you've probably heard countless times before.
 
Impressions
Gameplay
6 / 10
Before getting into the gameplay, file size must be addressed. There is no reason at all that a one level demo should be 163 megabytes unzipped. You need to figure out a way to better compress your game projects in the future.

The gameplay is pretty standard Super Mario Bros. fare and is done well with some rather large exceptions. Collisions with bricks and ? Blocks do not work a majority of the time, requiring the player to jump underneath them multiple times in order to activate them. They also do not give the player feedback outside of audio. You could improve that feedback by making the blocks bump up when you hit them and bricks explode from the brick block when you hit it as Super Mario instead of just destroying the object. Another issue with the engine is Mario's run. It's way too fast to be used in a game that requires precision platforming.

Fix these issues and you've got a solid foundation to build a Mario game.
 
Graphics
8 / 10
The graphics are pretty nice. Nothing special or unique about them though other than Mario's run animation which is a bit Looney Tunes Road Runner-esque and that's a bit weird. Doesn't really fit with the aesthetic.
 
Sound
4 / 10
Mario 64 sound effects and a standard SMB1 athletic remix that a lot of people use. If I had to guess, the huge file size comes from the audio and needs to be better compressed or replaced. For a game that calls itself a Halloween Special, you'd expect music that better fits that theme.

Presentation: The demo does very little at all to support its Halloween theme. A night time palette and some pumpkins don't really do the job. Instead of cutting to black at the end of the level, you should communicate to the player that the game is over and provide some restart or exit options.

Overall, not a very good first impression for your game.
 
Final Words
6 / 10
This demo isn't all bad, the engine is a solid Mario game foundation after you fix its issues. However, despite the title, there's nothing special about this demo.

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