Super Mario Bros. Chaos Control
From Data Crystal
| {{{image}}} | |
| Game | Super Mario Bros. 3 |
| Genre | Platformer |
| Type of Hack | Story/Level hack |
| Size | 43.9 kilobytes |
| Creator(s) | Schwa |
| Latest Update | ? |
Super Mario Bros: CHAOS CONTROL is Schwa's first Super Mario 3 hack and third Rom Hack total.
Contents |
[edit] Story
In the hack, Bowser finds a Chaos Emerald after having a dream about its wherabouts (as explained in the Readme rather than the actual hack). He then uses Chaos Control to transmogrify the Mushroom Kingdom into a bizarre land. Bowser then magicks up 7 new airships, and his 7 children once again steal the Wands. As Mario goes to rescue the King from each World and defeat Bowser, Princess Peach disappears as well, on an unknown mission of some sort. It is implied at the end of the game that her mission was to steal back the Emerald from Bowser.
Schwa has said that if he makes another Super Mario 3 hack, it will not have a story.
[edit] Gameplay
There is no ASM in this hack. The physics are exactly the same, and furthermore, since this hack was made before the SMB3 Overworld Editor was released, pipes, locks and airship destinations are unchanged. Schwa makes this limitation work to his advantage in World 5 of the hack, where the Sky Tower will send the player to one location, and a few levels later, one of three pipes will send him back, either back to Start or on either side of the river.
The game focuses on level design as top element, though Schwa's levels in the later worlds have better level design than his earlier ones, according to him. Nifty tricks are imployed with the Autoscrolling command, bringing to life levels such as a scrolling fortress that dips largely before rising back up again (World 4), and a boat that turns into a ship and back into a boat (World 6).
[edit] Reception
Many fellow Rom hackers have stated that this is Schwa's best hack of all. Some had even gone so far as to say Schwa was the greatest level designer at Acmlm's Board, back when it was in its third incarnation, which he gleefully remembers to this day and occasionally quotes when introducing himself to new forums or when asked what kind of skills he has in terms of Rom hacking. A Rom Hacker known as Googie, which is one of Schwa's good allies in the Rom Hacking scene, has stated that he never gets tired of playing through this hack.
Some people, however, weren't as pleased with the hack, stating that the levels didn't gradually increase in difficulty as they should, or the levels were too easy and that only the changed palettes made you want to play more. This could probably be debated by other hackers, but Schwa isn't the kind to dismiss someone's negative opinion about his game just because he or someone else doesn't agree with it. In Schwa's opinion, the hack isn't as good as he could make it if he went back and re-did it.
[edit] Worlds
The 8 worlds in SMB:CC are as follows:
[edit] Murky Courtyard
World 1. The World Map consists of a grey landscape with a green river running through it. There is one Boomerang Bro and one Hammer Bro on the map, and there are 7 normal levels, one fortress and one end-castle.
[edit] Desert of 100 Duels
World 2. This world map contains 1 Hammer Bro, 2 Fire Bros and 3 Boomerang Bros, and most levels in this world are desert-type levels. There are 7 levels in this world, a fortress and an end castle. There are also lots of smashable rocks on this map, one of which guards the map's only Hammer Bro.
[edit] Magictrick Land
World 3, with a pastel palette. The level is laden with drawbridges, which makes sense as World 3 is the only world map drawbridges will work on without complex ASM. There are two fortresses here, 10 levels and an end castle. If you don't count Hammer Bro fights, the minimum amount of levels you have to beat to reach the end-castle is 4. There is also a glitch in this world that if you have 1 life when you reach the end-castle, and you die on the airship, the game becomes unbeatable until you reset.
[edit] Shadow Mountain
World 4, an azure, rocky plateau full of Giant-type levels. This world has 7 levels, 2 forts, 3 Hand Traps and an end castle. The Hand Traps all contain very short Autoscrolling levels with mushrooms at the end of them, none of them being particularly easy. There is an Angry Sun in one of the levels here; the player can unlock a White Mushroom House in this level.
[edit] Twin Midas Valley
World 5, which is divided into 2 submaps. The world has 10 levels, 2 forts, an end castle and the Sky Tower, which is used to get from the first submap to the second (but not the other way around). This is the only World with Cloud-type levels, except for the third Hand Trap in World 4.
[edit] Ocean Paradise
World 6, where according to Peach, the sun melted all the ice and made the world a water world. This water/ice-themed world has 10 levels, 2 forts, an end-castle and a Battleship. If the Battleship is beaten, the player can play an optional level with Lakitu and gain access to two Hammer Suits.
[edit] The Uncharted Continent
World 7 is different. There is no end-castle; instead there is a Small Ship, which, when beaten, sends Mario to an end castle that doesn't exist and then to World 8. There are also no Hammer Bros, just like in the original World 7. Instead there are Piranha Plant Infestations. The world has 10 levels and no forts, but there is a special level in this world where you can get unlimited Hammers to smash rocks with, as several rocks bar the path to the Airship. This level looks like a Buzzy Beetle brick formation with a door as the eye, which leads to a treasure chest with the Hammer. This level can be played over and over again, and the player can get a hammer each time as long as he smashes his way to the eye-door with Buzzy Shells.
[edit] Onyx Stronghold
World 8 is the last level, and sports an eerie, demonic feel. There are 4 forts, 3 levels, 2 Piranha Infestations, 2 Tanks, 1 Small Ship and 1 Bowser's Castle. There are no powerups at all in Bowser's Castle. This level also does not have any Mushroom Houses or Spade Bonuses, just like the original. In the Bowser fight, the middle ground is solid, so you have to drop him from the sides of the level (or use fireballs of course).
[edit] The Magic Whistle
There is only one way to get the Magic Whistle in this hack, and that's by summoning the Coin Ship by beating a level where both digits in your coins match the tens digit in your score. The Coin Ship is unchanged from the original Super Mario 3, except for the palette and the Boss Room. Instead of two Boomerang Bros. in the Boss Room, there is one Sledge Bro. Once he is beaten, a chest appears, which will always contain a Whistle no matter what the original wandering Hammer Bro that spawned the Coin Ship had.
Surprisingly, no ASM was used to make this work. It was done by using the "Place Item in Treasure Chest" sprite that substituted one of the Boomerang Bros, which overwrites the original Hammer Bro Item data when Mario enters the room.
[edit] Trivia
This hack took one month to make, but Schwa worked on it every single day of that month for at least 8 hours a day. It was summer, and school was not an issue.
This hack was made mainly as a way for Schwa to spite his past. He had tried hacking SMB3 once before, but didn't know what he was doing, and his Rom got corrupted over and over again. After finishing Sonic 1 The Blue Blur, Schwa had more of an understanding of how video games read their code, and successfully hacking the game that had bested him a year or so ago was the ultimate way for him to say "Take THAT, cruel fate!".
A sprite comic was once in the process of being made, which was actually based off this Rom Hack. It shut down after a few episodes, but the plot is still in Schwa's head and will never leave.
Schwa had also planned on writing an FAQ for the hack, strategy-guide style, so others could beat it more easily. He decided not to when he found that it wasn't really that hard of a hack, and most of the levels were more than a little linear anyway.
The thread where Schwa released this hack to the public was when he revealed to the Rom Hacking community that he had Asperger Syndrome. He immediately got several replies from other Aspie hackers saying "OMG a fellow Aspie!". He was pleasantly surprised.
It never took Schwa more than one try on ANY level to create the levels for this hack. Sometimes it took more than one try to beat his own levels, though.
Schwa's beta testers for this hack were DurfarC and Googie, both of which are mentioned in the Readme.
Schwa created this hack entirely on a computer with no Internet.
This hack was made before the SMB3 Overworld Editor was released, but after the SMB3 Workshop was released.
