Demo Impressions: Promising but needs work

[Laurentide]

(Demo was played with a PS4 controller and the CRT filter on.)

I hadn't realized this was a SMB3 clone when I wishlisted it a few years ago, but I'll play just about anything that lets you be a fox and I mostly like what I see. "You're a purple fox lesbian trying to rescue her girlfriend from her other girlfriend" is an amazing concept for a game. The art is really cute. (I can tell you put a lot of effort into Yuzu's flustered animation, lol) Being able to customize my "postcard" was a nice touch. I also got to be a tiny fox riding around in a magic boot, which is super cute. I was always disappointed that you didn't get to use the boot more in SMB3. Not having lives to run out of is also very appreciated.

There were some things that I feel could be improved, though:

1. Movement feels a bit sluggish, mostly when starting, stopping, and changing direction. It took a while to get used to, and by the end of the demo I was still feeling very unsure of my ability to land where I intended to.

2. The hitbox in fox form does not seem to be where it looks like it would be. I kept pouncing on enemies, only to take damage myself instead of defeating them. This combined with the sluggishness resulted in me preferring to avoid enemies whenever possible and made the platforming feel like a chore, which is not great when your game is a platformer.

3. There doesn't seem to be any warning that the pangolins will unroll and attack if held for too long. A shaking animation that starts a few seconds before they do so would be nice.

4. It was hard to tell from their appearance if certain enemies could or couldn't be jumped on. Stomping on the umbrella was a gamble, and I was shocked when I accidentally jumped on a bee and killed it. I didn't even try with the rolling fire skull things.

5. Water levels. Ugh. Somehow it feels even worse in this game because you're even slower in the water than Mario is and now there are enemies that chase after you.

6. The boss design is misleading. I figured out right away that you're supposed to jump onto the key, but was surprised when I fell through the top of the boot and took damage. Even when I managed to stomp on the umbrella guy I usually fell into the boot and took damage. I eventually figured out how to jump in a way that avoided touching the boot, but this encounter just felt poorly designed.

I can think of a few ways to fix this:

a. Change the boss's appearance to make it more obvious that you can't stand on top of it.

b. Add a brief period of invulnerability after stomping the umbrella guy so the player has time to fall through the boss sprite and get clear before taking damage. There should be some visual indication of when this is happening, like making the boss flash or change color.

c. Let the player stand on top of the boss, but whenever a new umbrella guy pops out the player gets knocked away so they have to climb back on again.

7. Do coins do anything? I couldn't tell.

Overall I think this game looks very promising, but it has some rough edges still and the player movement especially needs to feel better.

[LuminousShot]

My feelings about the demo are exactly the same. I'd add that there needs a bit of an audio cue tied to your run speed. It has been ages since I played a 2d mario game, but I distinctly remember footstep sounds that were getting faster, as well as that distinct sound that played when you were at full speed, and also a sound that played when you changed direction and were sliding for a bit. I think all of these would help a lot. I'd often be a bit surprised by sudden bursts of speed when I was jumping from platform to platform, which made me want to slow down.

Also, the ascent and descent speed in water needs to be increased by a lot. Maybe even make it so that you can descend faster by holding down.

[Laurentide]

That reminds me; there's a meter in the corner similar to the one in SMB3 that tells you when you're going fast enough to fly if you have the leaf powerup. Yuzu will spread her arms just like Mario does when that meter is maxed out, but I couldn't tell what it did aside from make you run a little faster. Maybe there will be another powerup later in the game which uses this meter, but for now it's a bit of a mystery.

More audio cues would be nice, and I 100% agree on needing to be able to sink in water faster. There's a good game here, it just needs a lot of polish.

[Kaytsey]

I do think, movement itself feels fine. It doesn't need to be a carbon copy of smb3 after all. I do agree about the hitboxes being misleading though. They did feel a bit wonky to me.

[wafflekitty]

I agree with all of these assessments, too. It seems like a promising game, but yeah a few issues. I especially agree that movement feels a bit sluggish and would really like for that to be made smoother.