Super Mario Balloon World
Blue Leaf | 2019 | 78 Exits | Download Link
Super Mario Balloon World, inspired by a mini-game in Super Mario Odyssey, takes the vanilla game and adds a really interesting twist to it. Instead of beating the level like you normally would, each level requires the player to collect a balloon. The balloon could be anywhere in the level, from the very beginning to the goalpost, or even in bonus areas or side paths. In order to help you find where it is, there’s a distance meter right above Mario’s head. The majority of levels also have a very strict time limit, however each coin you collect adds one second to your timer.
Though these game mechanics might sound complicated written out like that, once you’ve beaten a couple of levels it really clicks and it’s an immense amount of fun! I think the reason why this particular gimmick works so well is because it’s surprisingly versatile. It’s clear that the author tried to find interesting and unexpected spots to place the balloon, requiring you to really think about the resources you have available to you in the level (you can’t bring outside powerups into any level from the overworld). Oftentimes, the balloon will be in a seemingly completely enclosed area, which means you have to figure out how to clip through the solid tiles, fly underneath the ground, or come with an equally convoluted scheme. The hack is rife with amazing aha moments, when you finally figure out how to reach a balloon that completely stumped you for a while.
However, clearly not all of the vanilla levels naturally lend themselves to such puzzles. In these cases, the hack becomes a speedrun challenge instead: With the balloon near the end of the level, you have to map out the level in your head and find the optimal jump heights and path through the enemies in order to reach the balloon in time. The hack adds another interesting layer on top of that, since collecting coins adds seconds to the timer. In romhacks, all too often coins are pretty much useless (the benefit of obtaining a mere fraction of a life is not at all worth going out of your way to collect them). Even in the original game, in my mind they essentially amounted to clutter, and I certainly never really paid much attention to the patterns they form. However, in this hack finding the most efficient route through a level often boils down to weighing how much time you can save by collecting coins compared to ignoring them.
Overall, the hack is a really enjoyable collection of short, intense challenges. Though the ground rules stay consistent throughout, it’s remarkable how different each challenge feels to complete. Throughout my playtime, I kept seeing the original game through a completely new lens, noticing small details I had never paid much mind to before. Going back through every single level of the original game in search of balloons under a tight time limit honestly sounds like a concept that could easily turn out horribly wrong. It’s really impressive just how enjoyable it turned out instead.