Name: Seven Easy Pieces
Code: 1CY-KFV-QJG
Description: Seven challenges await in this throwback to a classic SMM1 Blind Kaizo Race.
Bookmark: smm2.wizul.us/smm2/level/1CY-...
SMM1 Version: / 66976873
Though I have no plans to actually play SMM2, now that Nintendo has fully killed SMM1, I've decided that I'm willing to port some of my levels over to the lesser game by special request. Budoko spent his hard-earned wampum (channel points) on this one, so everyone can thank him for that.
I've often said I would change things about the original level if I could go back in time and remake it, but Budoko requested as faithful a port as SMM2 mechanics would allow, which is what I endeavored to deliver. In the end, only one of the original pieces had to be scrapped.
Piece 1: Piranha Hedge
This piece required no structural modifications, though it seems to me that the piranha hitboxes are different, making the window on the ground pound slightly smaller, and the window on the spinjump significantly smaller. Luckily, it's all still possible, if more difficult.
Piece 2: Podoboo Tower
No changes were made, and everything behaves identically, as far as I can tell.
Piece 3: Star Climb (formerly, Fire Climb)
Nintendo removed the fire flower climbing mechanic, so this piece had to be replaced. At the suggestion of NobleD4, I substituted in a superficially similar star climbing mechanic unique to SMM2 (though it bears some resemblance to a well known SMM1 ledge clipping / wall climbing mechanic used in my level Woxen's Fall, among many others.) Also of note, the minor one-way bypass puzzle in the original level no longer works in SMM2, both because you can't stand on sideways one-ways any more, and because one-ways seem to "turn solid" and eject more aggressively. I replaced that bit with something superficially similar, too, though what I came up with is considerably more fiddly and annoying.
Piece 4: Gap Jump
This felt about the same, though I've been told edge jumps are easier in SMM2. A spring was added to the left side as a Budoko-approved quality of life improvement, making it slightly less involved to attain running speed given the limited runway.
Piece 5: POW Delivery
No changes were made. Notably, I made no attempt to decheese the exploit discovered by GoSeigen in the original level. Unfortunately, Nintendo may have rendered that cheese impossible due to changes in when and how POW blocks activate. In terms of the intended strategy, everything felt the same, though the tech is so easy for a practiced player that any minor changes in physics should go unnoticed.
Piece 6: Donut Shuffle
No changes were made. Execution felt slightly harder than in SMM1. Maybe the donut timer is slightly shorter, or they activate sooner, or stay activated longer, or it's all in my head. Successfully crossing the gap after the p-switch timer expired also felt wildly inconsistent. In SMM1, swinging out wide enough to drop a donut on the last shuffle always gives you enough speed to make the crossing. In SMM2, I seemed to fall into the gap at least 50% of the time regardless of what I did. (Stalling across the gap à la Donut Shuffle U is of course possible, though I don't recommend it if you're not very confident with the timing.)
Piece 7: Conveyor Hopping
A spring was added to simulate a one-way pipe, which was achieved with stacked pipes in SMM1. That does effectively make the obstacle shorter, but that's ok. This is the one room I would probably scrap entirely if I were truly remaking the level, and not just porting it. In SMM1, conveyor hopping is simply too hard and inaccessible for most people, due to the combined precision and rate of button presses required. In SMM2, it's actually much easier even without the spring, perhaps because of buffer jumps. (Pressing the jump button a frame or two before touching the ground will still result in a jump in SMM2.)
For the curious, the three clear checks took me ~40, ~20, and ~5 minutes, not counting the construction stream, at the end of which I spent an hour or two playing myself back into some semblance of shape. (So tack two hours onto the first clear check, if you like.)