Download A Very Super Mario World ROM Hack

Thanks for downloading AVSMW and giving it a try. It's a hack that has been in development for way too long (5 years!) and was developed to induce feelings of classic Mario platforming with a lot of twists. The hack will start out easy and gradually get harder as it goes on, but never too difficult. At about 120 exits long, the hack is rather expansive and has plenty of secrets and references to get.

===== Background =====
Super Mario World has been around since my child hood. Super Mario Bros. 1 was my very first video game and I grew up on Super Mario Bros 3 and thought it was the best thing ever. I really don't remember when I first played Super Mario World but it wasn't until a long, long while after I played Super Mario Bros 3 (at that point I already had Super Mario All Stars) However, probably over a decade later after having played it, I'm still playing it, and still loving it. I don't think I'll ever outgrow classic Mario platforming. That's probably why I liked SMW hacks so much. I'd play a ton of them, even long after normal people likely would have gotten bored since a lot of hacks are still basically Super Mario World.

I've made no attempt to really set myself apart to that end, because when it comes down to it, that's what I'm here for; classic Mario platforming. Back during a time when we were actually excited to rescue the Princess again. Back during a time when we could separate levels by world and the levels told you what world they belonged to. Back during a time where there weren't any funky control gimmicks, weird goals or anything that distracted you from the overall feel that it was a Mario game, nothing more, nothing less. Just straight up run, jump, shoot fireballs, swing your cape, stomp on enemies and stuff like that. I've made this hack with that in mind, it's nothing but classic Mario platforming. Don't expect anything flashy, both on part of that and on part of my general inexperience and laziness in hacking.

There are eight primary worlds, an extra world, a star world that connects various places, and a special, secret world that will test your mettle (and patience.) The goal of every level is to reach the end, and possibly fight a boss such as a koopaling once you do. Many levels have secret exits that are usually opened by taking a key to a keyhole, as per usual Super Mario World fare. There's many features and gimmicks to many levels, but the feeling of classic Mario platforming typically stays the same. The story is always the same; Mario goes on an adventure to save his friends and the Princess from the evil King Bowser, and along the way jumps, shoots and even flies through the land in search of the castles controlled by Bowser's underlings.

===== About =====
Mario retains all the basic abilities he normally has in Super Mario World, including spin jumping, flying with a cape, and even hopping on Yoshi. Many of the level features and enemies are classic stuff you've come to know and love. ON/OFF blocks, brick blocks, springs, chucks, koopas and the like are prominent in each world. All in all, compared to the base ROM, the hack contains custom blocks, custom sprites, custom graphics (both FG and BG) and some custom ASM. Many of the custom material are all basic or well known and don't stray too far from the basic synergy with the classic Mario series.

The most prominent custom blocks are the traditional brick blocks found in Super Mario Bros. 1 and 3. They don't bounce when hit by small Mario, but will break when hit by Super Mario. They take their appearance from Super Mario Bros. 3 and can contain many hidden things. They can also be broken by a spin jump, much like turn blocks, which can still be found everywhere in Dinosaur Land. As well as those, other common custom blocks include the M and E blocks, ON/OFF blocks, and ice blocks, all of which are explained or self explanitory as the game progresses.

Many custom sprites are enemies from other Mario games, such as traditional Hammer Bros. and it's variants from Super Mario Bros 3., Bloopers from Super Mario Bros. 1, Bomb Koopas from Super Mario Land and even Side Steppers from Mario Bros. Only a scant few sprites take inspiration from any other source, so for the most part, it's all about the Mario you're familiar with. There are also custom bosses for each castle, represented by the infamous koopalings that Bowser leads. Each one has their own pattern but can be defeated the same way; by stomping them six times. They cannot be spin jumped, so you must stomp them normally like you would any other enemy. The bonus game, the room you reach after collecting 100 bonus stars, also contains a custom sprite that rapidly rolls through several prizes, and when touched, grants Mario the prize shown, whether it's a 1-UP, a fire flower, coins, or just nothing at all, as well as others.

Most of the custom graphics that are ripped from other games come from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, to help fit in with the theme that the game is still set in Dinosaur Land. Many other graphics fore the FG and BG come from Super Mario Bros. 3, or are custom made. Many of the custom sprites have their own graphics too, typically from Super Mario All Stars. Most of the custom graphics were made by me, with the exception of a couple sprite graphics.

The ASM used were all primarily inserted to fix a few errant bugs in the original Super Mario World, including odd lava interactions and improper audio cues. Other, more noticeable ASM patches were inserted to enhance the experience and feel more like a Mario game. Luigi has his own separate graphcis to encourage two player gameplay when applicable, the pause screen is easier to notice, and Yoshi will leave Mario at the end of every level, to prevent him from inevitably breaking most of the ones he doesn't appear in.

===== Issues =====
I'm not about to claim that I am perfect, or that my hack is too. I've tried my best, but not everything went the way I wanted it, so here is an admittance of what bugs currently plague the hack.

> Graphics sometimes glitch <
SNES rendering is tender at times of high load, and many sprites can cause a tile or two to disappear, especially if the player goes out of their way to collect a large amount of sprites into one place. When played as intended, most graphics should be fine, but it can be rather easy to cause the renderer to fall to it's knees so if you fool around, don't be surprised to see missing tiles or some slow down. Vertical levels in particular have it bad, and there are many graphical glitches that aren't very noticeable, but are there nonetheless and I have no idea how to fix them, if they even can be.

> Disappearing sprites break a level <
A couple of levels require a certain sprite to appear to allow Mario to progress, but sometimes the sprite disappears because it either fails to load, or went too far off screen with it's spawn point still on screen. This is most noticeable with the mini tornado sprite. If such an event occurs, you will have to backtrack and return in hopes that the sprite will respawn as intended.

> No custom final boss <
This one is just a failing point of mine. I could not think of something to use as a final boss that I would feel proud of, so the ordinary Super Mario World Bowser fight awaits you at the end. Sorry to spoil you, but better to disappoint you now rather then at the climax.

> Music is handled somewhat imperfectly <
All of the music and sounds work as intended on ZSNES and usually bsnes depending on which version you're using but many songs will play a little off on most versions of Snes9x. I blame this on the highly unstable progress in hacking in custom music into Super Mario World, and the large inconsistency of emulating SNES audio, making designing a working tool for it even more difficult. Music is by far the one area I have the least expertise in when it comes to SMW hacking so this is probably as good as it's going to get.

===== Credits =====
ExGraphics: Manumaster, Darklink, SMWEdit
Blocks: SMKDan, Ersanio, Imjake
Sprites: mikeyk, Iceguy, Iceyoshi, Davros, Yoshicookiezeus, Sonikku, lolcats, Magus
Music: Toukipernal for his work on AddMusicK even though I'm not using it in this patch, Ersanio, SNN, Slash Man, Imamelia, CrispyYoshi, Maxodex, Redchameleon, Chibi-Tech, Nipcen, any others I've forgotten, and last but not least, Kilgamayan for the custom music of his he put up elsewhere
Other thanks:
Smallhacker for most of the good ASM patches I used
SMWCentral for being an amazing place for Super Mario World hacking
72dpiarmy for testing my hack (sort of)
Agastya for saying my work was mediocre and challenging me to do better
My computer for putting up with all the frustration I've thrown at it getting mad at ROM hacking

and you for playing! Thanks again!