Fishing Season is a
Super Mario World ROM Hack series by Mandew featuring new mechanics in each level.
The games have the following tropes:
- Advertised Extra: The title demo and screenshots for Fishing Season show Mario wielding a baseball bat. This item only appears for one level.
- Ascended Extra: Nancy was only found and playable on secret paths in Fishing Season. She becomes the main character in Fishing Season 2.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: Nancy wears Winter gear for the whole game after accessing "Butter Bridge 1".
- All Lower Case Letters: Seen in some of the level names and message boxes.
- Awesome, but Temporary: The wings grant infinite and a more controlled flight than the Cape. In Fishing Season, these can be only used by Nancy while in Fishing Season 2, the wings disappear after a level clear or exit.
- Autoscrolling Level: Featured in the boss fight with Wendy and the final section of "Balloon Fight".
- Bait-and-Switch: The beginning of "Balloon Fight" is a harder version of "Tubular" from Super Mario World. Dying doesn't kick Nancy out but sends her to the next section with a big "JK" written in coins. Falling on the left pit from the starting point will not reduce Nancy to her Small state.
- Balloonacy: "Balloon Fight" has three types; a regular P-Balloon that Nancy rides on, a singular balloon on a hook that Nancy descends from and flies off when disengaged, and a trio of balloons on a hook that Nancy can infinitely float on.
- Batter Up!: The second level in the first game, appropriately named "Baseball Yard", has a baseball bat as item. It can instantly kill any Mook, and acts as an Attack Reflector for Chargin' Chucks' baseballs.
- Big Bad: Wendy Koopa in Fishing Season 2.
- Brick Joke: The ")()" symbol in Fishing Season's message boxes is a fish emoticon, except it's not and in reality it is supposed to be a duck.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Mario and Luigi are nowhere to be found in Fishing Season 2.
- Convection, Schmonvection: Exaggerated in the level "Lava Discriminates?"; enemies treat the lava as solid ground but Nancy dies when she lands on it.
- Directionally Solid Platforms:
- A unique beige block in Fishing Season 2 can be stood on by Nancy but enemies go right through them.
- In the inverse, there are red-dotted blocks that are solid for enemies, items, and fireballs but Nancy can pass through.
- Divergent Character Evolution: Mario and Luigi play the same but earn a different power-up upgrade in the item reserve. Mario gets a Fire Flower while Luigi gets two Super Mushrooms.
- Easter Egg:
- The end of the Tubular section in "Balloon Fight" has a message block telling Nancy to actually drop into the pit to advance.
- Fishing Season 2 has the word "POPCORN!" on the upper left corner of the map.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The first game has a different item and coin system that rewards item reserves for collecting coins and power-ups, and the three characters have their own gameplay characteristics. The second game simply plays as the vanilla Super Mario World.
- Genki Girl: Nancy most of the time has a big smile on her face and happily tells the brothers she wants to take part of the level for herself.
- The Ghost: Yoshi does not appear in both games. He only provides messages in his house.
- Gimmick Level: A majority of levels from both games feature a unique gimmick.
- Grimy Water: The upside-down grade soda in "Duck Conflit" [sic] kills Nancy unless she slides under it while crouching.
- Impossible Thief: Wendy Koopa in Fishing Season 2 somehow stole all the fish in the world. Yoshi is really excited that he doesn't have to eat fish anymore.
- Invisible Block: The gimmick in "Rainy Revelations" is the falling rain giving hints on where the invisible blocks are. Some are solid while others have to be activated from below.
- Jerkass: A message block in "Lakitu Savahna" [sic] calls Lakitu a jerk. In-game, he throws Spinies faster than usual.
- Law of 100: Collecting 100 coins in Fishing Season at first earns the trio a reserve Super Mushroom and another 100 coins upgrades the power-up in the item reserve. Fishing Season 2 simply gives Nancy an extra life.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The message boxes typically refer to the player. The Easter Egg in "Balloon Fight" assumes you reached there by spamming savestates or rewinds.
- Minecart Madness: Spoofed in the level "Obligatory Minecart". Nancy rides the hills using the top of a pipe.
- Missing Secret: The right side of the map in Fishing Season has a bridge connecting to the land. Clearing the adjacent level "Abridged Disco" will instead open a Star Road to the credits.
- Mutually Exclusive Power-Ups: In the first game, Nancy shared the characteristics of the brother currently on the level, and she was able to have a cape and wings at the same time. In the sequel, the wings are given by the Cape Feather but downgrades Fire Nancy to Super Nancy. However, Nancy can still get Fire status with the wings attached.
- Non-Indicative Title: "Butter Bridge 1" has no bridges.
- No Plot? No Problem!: The first game has no plot, antagonist, nor an ending.
- Nostalgia Level:
- "Awesome" in Fishing Season is the same level from Super Mario World but with the former game's mechanics.
- In a subversion, "Butter Bridge 1" in Fishing Season 2 only has the first mushroom platform before a pipe that leads to a different level. An unused level has a modified version of "Butter Bridge 1".
- The final section of "Lava Discriminates?" is the first level of Super Mario Bros. but with the ground as lava.
- No-Sell: The fish in "Rainy Revelations" cannot be spin jumped or else they'll hurt you.
- Oddly Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: In the inverse, "Fishing Season 2" drops "The Hooray!" part of the original title.
- Original Character: Nancy and Mandy. Also, both games have original music made by Mandew.
- Palette Swap:
- An interesting case in Fishing Season when choosing a 2-Player Mode. In 1-Player mode, one can swap between Mario and Luigi (using the Super Mario All-Stars sprites) by holding R and L respectively when selecting a level. Since the shoulder buttons in 2-Player brings up the menu to swap lives, both players are stuck playing as Mario with the second player controlling a Green Mario named "Luigi". Nancy remains the same for both players, but as Fire Nancy, she wears pink for Player 1 and green for Player 2.
- Mandy in Fishing Season 2 is a pink-clad, white-haired Nancy. In Fire form, Nancy wears red and Mandy wears green.
- Power Gives You Wings: Nancy has permanent wings in the first game. She has to collect a Cape Feather in the second game to earn them, but it disappears after clearing a level.
- Ratchet Scrolling: Part of the puzzle in "Spoopy Puzzle #1" is using an ON/OFF switch that flips the scroll lock from left to right into right to left.
- Remember the New Guy?: Played with in "Fishing Season". The game's description mentions Nancy as a periodical third playable character but writes it off with "... we don't talk about her!".
- Rise to the Challenge: The first section of "Waterfall Site" has Nancy climb up vines similar to World 5-2 from Super Mario Bros. 2.
- Rubber-Hose Limbs: Nancy sports these.
- Secret Level: In Fishing Season 2, flying up the ceiling in the Top Secret Area leads to a pipe. Nancy then traverses through a deep forest before reaching the Green Switch that gives access to the Green "!" Blocks. The level name in Lunar Magic is called "Secret to Everybody".
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: All of the rescued fish in Fishing Season 2 die due to environmental shock from going back to the waters.
- Shout-Out:
- Sliding Scale of Linearity vs. Openness: Fishing Season 2 has a more linear map only having two levels locked to a different path. Fishing Season 1 has a more roundabout path with various levels having secret exits.
stars Mario, Luigi, and Nancy running around during the fishing season.