Three guesses as to the difference between this and the normal Super Mario World box. The first two don't count.
One of the most well-known Super Mario World hacks. Made by the Japanese hacker "Carol", this hack's success comes from the fact that it contains many modifications that the vast majority of SMW hackers can't do, including new bosses, transition effects, new powers, and more. It's inspired many hackers to make their own custom bosses and ASM modifications.
The official game is available on SMWCentral here
, which has an unofficial English translation included. Both are listed as demos; therefore, they're incomplete. Since Carol himself is something of a hermit and can't speak English, updates travel through the forums via indirect word of mouth, so it's largely unknown what kind of progress has been made on completing it.
The story in later demos is that, prior to the hack's start, Mario finally defeated Bowser once and for all and was made Mushroom King. However, the success got to his head and he became a very corrupt ruler. He was eventually overthrown, so you're playing the game as a Fallen Hero trying to Take Over the World. (The story in the most widely spread demo is "Mario was hungry, so he went to Dinosaur Land to eat dinosaurs.")
This game is also commonly the source of debates, rumors, impersonations, and even fake demos on some ROM hacking communities due to its universal presence in those communities. However, people have gotten word that Carol continues to work on it to this day, though it may not be released for some time.
Changes from the original:
- The title screen demo level changes halfway through: Mario encounters a crying Koopa called a "Love Animal" (one Let's Play said this was PETA's way of complaining to Mario), then he goes back and sees a bunch of collapsed Koopas and cracked shells before jumping in a hole marked "↓SUICIDE". When you play the actual level, jump down the suicide hole.
- Bosses from numerous Kirby, Donkey Kong Country, Mega Man (Classic), World of Mana and Final Fantasy games.
- A mysterious "Luigi" world
- Wavy effects for underwater levels
- A level with a setting sun transition
- Gravity reversal blocks
- Custom music and a title screen where the demo level stays the same, but the text is changed to "Super Kitiku World", as mentioned above.
- Pretty much every level has a little gimmick. Every single one.
This video-game provides examples of:
- Actually a Doombot: The first time you beat Dr. Wily, turns out he's a dummy.
- Adaptational Badass: The Dark Lich in Trials of Mana was generally considered to be the weakest of the three final bosses, but here he's impossible for Mario to defeat, forcing him to get outside help.
- Advancing Boss of Doom: The Demon Wall appears as a sub-boss in Ludwig's castle, chasing after you while spawning homing Bullet Bills. An interesting example in that you can go behind him before he drops down to access a secret area.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: Carol's plan isn't actually to have Luigi as the final boss, but to have the final boss fight be against Mario himself. As mentioned on the wiki
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Kirby's boss fight functions much like the final boss fight of Yoshi's Island, with Kirby growing massive.
- Background Boss: A few of these exist, though the straightest example is a fight against a giant Kirby.
- Bait-and-Switch Boss:
- After bringing Bow over to Dark Lich/Masked Mage, she devours him, becoming the new boss you have to fight.
- After beating Marx, Kirby flies in and devours him. You have to fight him as a result.
- Blackout Basement: Several levels are completely dark and give the player only a spotlight in order to see Mario.
- Boss Bonanza: Many later levels contain multiple bosses in the same level.
- Showdown! Dedede Castle is a Kirby-themed Bonanza, with five different bosses to name and ending with the pink puff himself.
- World 8 alone has 17 bosses, with the final level, The Decisive Battle! Bowser's Castle, housing seven of them.
- Wily's Revenge in the Special World features four Doc Robots as minibosses, then the Wily Machine, and then the Wily Capsule.
- Control Room Puzzle: The Red Switch Palace uses this type of puzzle where the player hits switches that make certain blocks appear or disappear.
- Dark World: Ghost Forest has several switches that turn the world from day to night and back again, and transforms all the enemies.
- Dead Fic: Early in 2020, Carol officially discontinued development on this hack.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Mario does this to Zable Fahr, the Dark Lich, Archdemon, and Dragon Emperor.
- Dragon Rider: Larry rides the Mana Beast during his boss fight.
- Elemental Powers: Three of the Benevodons from Trials of Mana appear as bosses in this game.
- Casting a Shadow: Zable Fahr.
- Light 'em Up: Lightgazer
- Playing with Fire: Xan Bie uses flame attacks, and is defeated by being doused in water.
- Feathered Fiend: Squawks. After helping you through a cave level, he suddenly turns on you and starts attacking.
- Flunky Boss: Boss Dumb Drum, who spawns Koopa Troopas, Chargin' Chucks, and Cheep-Cheeps.
- Fusion Dance: The merger of the 7 Koopalings, which is an homage to the merger of the 7 Heroes.
- Game-Breaking Bug: SMW Central requires that, if you submit an incomplete hack, use a formal "End of Demo" level that's like the original game's Top Secret Area. Carol opts for a picture of Wendy O. Koopa and killing Mario. One of these instances is where Star Road 5 used to be, and using a Game Genie code to force a "secret exit" animation gives you access to a secret world.
- Gravity Screw: Fort of Gravity has switches that make gravity really strong or really light, and zones that switch the direction of gravity altogether.
- Hero Antagonist: King Luigi, who helped Princess Peach in reconstructing the Kingdom after Mario ruined it.
- Interface Screw: Mirror Fortress reverses left and right on the D-Pad.
- Kaizo Trap: In "Where is This?", it's possible to defeat Bowser and fall into the lava right afterward if your jump is off.
- Laser Hallway: One section of Bowser's Castle uses the infamous Force Beams from Quick Man's stage.
- Lift of Doom: Two levels use an elevator in which the player must avoid enemies and obstacles.
- Macro Zone: A level based on Giant Land.
- Marathon Boss: The already Bowser's Keep level mentioned below is long enough, but if you choose the normal pathway, you're treated to fighting the seven Koopalings merged together. Said battle can take at least 20 minutes or so if you know what you're doing. In comparison, the secret pathway is another battle with Bowser that takes a significantly shorter amount of time.
- Marathon Level: Oh lordy, there are a lot of levels that are insanely long. Special notice goes to world 7, 8, and Special for all having levels that can take 5 minutes or longer. One level in particular, "Finish! Bowser Keep", can take anywhere from 17-40 minutes depending on your path!
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: The romhack features gimmicks and boss fights from dozens of different non-Mario video games, especially the Donkey Kong Country, Kirby, Mega Man, and Mana Series.
- Nostalgia Level: "Where is This?" is based on World 1 of Super Mario Bros.
- No Ending: Since the hack is incomplete, there's no formal ending. Subverted, as Carol is finishing work on this game.
- Ominous Latin Chanting: The MSU-1 version of Demo 7's title screen and overworld theme Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec certainly sounds like an ominous theme for the plumber-turned-dictator.
- Pirate: Kaptain K. Rool.
- Pixel Hunt: Some levels require the player to find hidden passages by searching walls for fake scenery.
- Sampling: Later versions contained sampled music, including Aboard the Hilda Garde from Final Fantasy IX
- Sequential Boss: A fair number of the game's bosses have multiple forms
- Shout-Out:
- A working Super Mario Bros. 3 Spade Game.
- A room similar to the Banana Bird caves of Donkey Kong Country 3 where you have to play the SMB theme.
- Both incarnations of Squawks. You have to fight the DKC version as a miniboss, and the level with the subsequent version also has working (albeit extremely small) Zingers.
- A working skiing level similar to the ones in Yoshi's Island.
- To Mega Man:
- In some levels, you can push R to activate a Leaf Shield. (The unofficial English translation has Dr. Light telling Mario about it via message boxes.)
- In World 6, the Wily Capsule from Mega Man 7 appears as a secret boss. He turns out to be Actually a Doombot, in reference to Mega Man 3.
- In World 7, one level allows Mario to use the Ice Slasher.
- Ludwig's Castle features Ring Man as a mid-boss, and beating him grants you the Ring Boomerang.
- Dr. Wily's Revenge in the Special World is one giant Mega Man pastiche. It takes place in a Wily Castle with an intro referencing Mega Man & Bass, and features three sub-stages, with the bosses being Quint, Mecha Dragon (though it acts more like the King Jet), and a final Boss Rush stage against four Doc Robots. Each of them uses the Ice Wall, Flame Blast, Leaf Shield, and Flash Stopper, in order, and beating them allows you to use their weapon. The level ends with a final fight against a Wily Machine, and then a Wily Capsule that acts like a cross between the Mega Man 4 iteration and the Genocide Heart.
- Notable other bosses: Kaptain K. Rool, Dumb Drum, Whispy Woods, Kracko, King Dedede, and a Yoshi's Island-ized Kirby.
- To JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- As mentioned below, one level is named after The World.
- A later level is called "It's Electrifying! I Admire It!", quoting one of young Dio's flunkies praising him. Of course, the level is literally full of electricity.
- Sibling Fusion: The Seven Koopaling Fusion that is the finale of "Finish! Bowser Keep" is one of the more memorable examples, with the Koopalings fusing together much like The Seven Heroes.
- Take That!: A level in earlier demos is called "Aneha Estate", referencing Hidetsugu Aneha, an architect notorious for falsifying earthquake resistance data in buildings he designed. It was replaced with a level called "The Cursed Mansion", possibly referencing a Japanese indie PC game notorious for its death sound effect
- Timed Mission: The "Titanic" level gives the player a short time limit, so in many cases the player will only finish mere seconds before the time is up.
- The time limit is even tighter when trying to gain access to the Warp Star because more than 100 seconds must be left on the clock when crossing the finish line. Without incredible forsight and the right combination of items this is impossible.
- Time Stands Still: One level has P-Switches that briefly stop time and freeze all enemies. The level name even references the Trope Namer.
- Trial-and-Error Gameplay: Needless to say, there's a lot of areas where you can make a level Unwinnable if you don't do it just right, since many of the levels contain some kind of puzzle with no way of redoing it without suiciding, usually through the use of P-Switches.
- True Final Boss: Though unfinished, Carol's plan is to have Luigi as this. Through secret exits in "Mirror Fort," "Really Big Jump," and Bowser's Castle, you can access three side levels in Luigi's Castle, and once you beat them and beat the Special World, a pipe will appear in World 1 giving you access to the middle path to Luigi's Castle itself.
- Unexpected Shmup Level: The level "Milky Way Wishes" reenacts the inside of NOVA level from Kirby Super Star.
- Villain Protagonist: Mario, who is a Fallen Hero trying to reclaim the Mushroom Kingdom that he ruined.
