The ROM hack scene can be an endlessly entertaining place. Offering up creative, fan-made content, one can never really know what to expect from the community. More often than not, fans will create more challenging levels after completing a game in a quest for additional prestige and for a true test of skills.
Just about two weeks ago, someone finally managed to beat a stage that has been claimed to be the most punishing Super Mario World level anybody's managed to muster up. That person was PangeaPanga, who, as luck would have it, also created the level as the final part of a trilogy of impossible stages called "Item Abuse". As you may have guessed from the name, the levels focus on using items such as shells, Yoshis and keys in ways that no mere mortal could pull off.
Item Abuse 3 took approximately 78,160 tries to fully complete. As if that wasn't enough - and to give you an idea of the depth of the challenge - that was done on a tool-assisted emulator that enabled the user to input commands frame by frame. It also helps that PangeaPanga developed this stage himself and had intimate knowledge of its deepest workings.
Nobody else has managed to complete it yet, but give it time, the internet always finds a way. The link is here, so come and have a go if you think you're hard enough. Of course, we included the video of the run below so you can watch the platforming perfection in all its glory.
It's through seeing videos such as this that we see how much fun the upcoming Mario Maker could be. The level creator and toolset will soon allow anybody to make stages like this if they so please, it'll be interesting to see what new challenges will arise from that. What do you think of this? Do you think he really "beat" the level fairly if he used tools? Sound off in the comments below.
[source smwcentral.net, via avclub.com]
Comments 66
I've always wanted to make my own Mario levels but have never been able to. Looking forward to Mario Maker so I can join the fun.
WHAT AM I WATCHING?
Luckily the webpage didn't set on fire after watching that video.
It was awesome to watch, but looks like it would only be possible by TAS, which makes it infinitely less appealing.
It would be cool if somebody made that in mario maker...
My brother is big into SMW hacking (he also makes similar levels like this one), and he showed me this about a week ago. And I have to say... this is pretty insane. Well, even "insane" is probably an understatement. lol
Amazingly enough, a guy actually managed to beat this level's predecessor, Item Abuse 2, without any tools. It may be a marginally easier stage, but that still takes god-like reflexes. And here I thought Star Road was tough...
Wow... What in?!
That is ridiculous.
0_0.
I was watching the video and completely impressed....and then i read that it required a Tool-assisted emulator. Not really impressive anymore. Just requires someone having enough time and patience to do the work.
It looks cool but it really serves no purpose imo.
I wow who how waht now?
More difficult than Kaizo Mario?????????. I never thought that I'd see the day. There is no way that such a level can be beaten in Mario Maker without Save States..............
The video actually made my browser freeze.
I can't even comprehend how long this took, days, maybe weeks if he played it non-stop.
If he wasn't using TAS, I'd say this is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Anyway, he still have some skill so good for him. Now give us Mario Maker Nintendo
Meh, another boring TAS video.
I'll never call Mario World hard again.
Dang, and I thought Fire Bar Sprint from New Super Luigi U was the hardest, in my opinion...
Damn, looks like you had to be a freaking robot (or a save-state hog) to play a game like this.
This is brain bending levels of information and difficulty going on here, utterly incredible. Out of interest what are the best ROM scene versions of Super Mario World available ?
Quite impressive!
I saw some wall jumping in there. SMW didn't have wall jumping.
A work of art.
Evil, yes, but still a work of art.
That... doesn't look like much fun.
But there's some really fun misuse of game mechanics going on.
Wow... I thought I was good at Mario
Meh, looked like cheat codes from the game genie all the way through. If the guy who made it beat then I'm not surprised, as long as he enjoyed making it and then beating it it's good. But we don't need to see this do we?
If you wanna see something better, there's a play-through of the Impossible Levels, no TAS or anything like this. You actually get to see the guy die ten bazillion times.
What monster created this?
An incredible feat, even with TAS, but it kinda defeats the purpose of the game. Also: misguiding title - it's clearly not impossible, just insanely difficult (and probably impossible without TAS due to input speed requirements exceeding human capability).
@XyVoX SMW Central would be a great start. They (along with the Talkhaus) regularly hold contests for fun and creative levels, and generally avoid creating kaizo levels unless that's exactly the point.
Yea, I wasn't even aware you could use items like that in the game. I don't even understand how they were floating by just kicking a shell....
Only requires you knowing how to do every glitch and have TAS at hand.
These videos are more entertaining. lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnWot7bX-_c
Kaizo levels are mostly meant to be TASed only lol
Anyone who can get passed the first ROOM of that level, beat it fairly in my book. Tools or not.
That was really hard to watch... But I glad I did.
The physics simply don't look right. Can Mario really "fly" by juggling three items?
Just cause it was a TAS doesn't mean it can't be entertaining to watch guys. Do you all look at movies and go "Eh, it's all fake, they're just actors"? Lol
@StitchScout
Well said.
All these people complaining that he used an emulator obviously don't get the point. These kinds of kaizo, insanely difficult hacks are designed so that you need to abuse save states.
@Quorthon Its was mainly because the key is sort of like a platform that mario can stand on combined with the fact that its hard to kick away probably enables someone to get on a corner of the key and release it without actually falling off and because when the key is released it pushes the player back it slows down the fall allowing him to remain on the key, then im guessing just regrabs the key, rinse and repeat. Its just my guess, but it seems like thats what happened
Ah, so that's what hell looks like.
Wow and I thought I was good for beating Super Mario World star road stages like Tubular as a kid...
@Captain_Gonru
Yeah I don't want to be a party pooper either, but I agree. I mean it's amazing in it's own right, but it's nigh impossible to beat this without the tool assist. I'm more impressed when actual players can beat difficult levels.
This is why mario maker is a good idea.
Can't wait to see the crazy levels people will make in Mario Maker
Eh. Never been a big fan of these "so hard you have to resort to tool assist" fan levels.
All this does is make me want Mario Maker...
I feel mentally and emotionally sick watching that.......its honestly alot to take in at once, I'm going to have a lie down.
It would be much cooler if it was an actual person playing, still cool dou.
Tool assisted... Meh..
Mario Maker hype indeed!!! That is amazing. I need to do this. lol
TAS for the win!
@abbyhitter Google search can do a lot of things. Go to the history part. http://www.mariowiki.com/Wall_Jump
Honestly...what's the bloody point?!! Waste of time imo...
Saw it yesterday, and while such commitment in making levels never ceases to amaze me, if there's moderation with zero tolerance on kaizo-like levels for online Mario Maker stages I will be infinitely happy. Cheap-hard level design does not equal good game design. Making difficult but fair levels is one thing, making cheap stages is just as much of a cheap shortcut towards recognition. Period.
Heck, even before Mario Maker was announced, the largest Super Mario World modding website - SMWCentral - has a strict "No kaizo" rule. And that should say a lot.
@nintendomasterr
Tubular is a special stage, which means it comes only after the Star Road itself.
@Bass_X0 It will be interesting to see what people come up with for sure. I'm on the fence if I will buy it or not.
As for me however, I'm going to do the same I've already done with "Mario Vs Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!" on my 3DS: build entire levels around a single gameplay element. It's an easy trick to find out how creative you can get with a given tool, whether it is a springboard, a platform, a powerup, or in MvsDK's case, even an element that appears in one setting alone. Creativity over limits, basically.
This should be the guys resume. HIIRREEEEDDDDD
@VeeFlamesNL I know - I can't imagine a human being capable of that D:
I really don't see the point to this.
And I still have trouble in Forest of Illusion.
Wow. That's just stupid.
To be fair, it still takes a certain kind of skill to program your tool or whatever to do that. And brains to figure out exactly what needs to be done.
Meh, not really that interesting if u have to cheat in order to beat it.
After 13 billion years his atomes finally formed this living creature, called PangeaPanga...who spend all his precious time on earth making the most difficult Mario level ever...and on top of that, he was trying to finish it himself...frame by frame. ..Life must be meaningless.
@AlexSora89 While we used to have a no kaizo/pit policy, we did lift these restrictions when we found dedicated moderators to assess them. However, difficulty is always flagged, so you may avoid these hacks very easily if it's not your preferred gameplay style. I totally agree that levels this hard are undesirable for most players, but I'd support difficulty filter for Mario Maker levels too rather than an all-out ban on "kaizo" style levels as there are some people that get enjoyment out of them.
watching that video made my eyes hurt
Just couldn't wait for Mario Maker, huh? Y'know, this would be a lot more impressive if it actually followed the real game's mechanics. You can't just jump off the side of the wall, nor can you induce the cape parachute immediately after taking damage, and not while holding shells, either. You also can't regular-jump on the rainbow Koopa shells, so I don't know what that's all about. It seems crazy-cool at first, but once you realize that it's mechanically hacked, it loses all credibility to me. It's a shame, because a lot of the tricks displayed would be possible in the actual game; it has just enough to look like it's legit to the untrained eye.
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