Mario World Improvement project

[Ar8temis008]

If your looking for a whole new experience, you won't find it here. The aim of this hack is to incorporate all the features from the gba version of the game, but without the screen crunch, shitty music, or washed out colors. Beyond that, I've also added in a few other features and some graphical changes of my own. Don't be alarmed, its nothing drastic.

Features list;
-Green Mario has mysteriously disappeared

-Dragon coins, power ups, lives, and Yoshi coins save over power cycles.

-Beating any ordinary level for the first time brings up the save prompt, but just in case you beat all the levels without all the coins, re completing any ghost house also brings up the save prompt.

-That nifty progress screen from sma2 is available, just hit select on the overworld to see it!

-After you free a different color Yoshi in star world, he becomes available in top secret area and in places where you'd normally find regular Yoshi. You just need to have the right power up to get him.

-Certain graphics have been replaced with their Mario Maker equivalents.

-All level changes from SMA2 have been ported, however adaptations related to the GBA's smaller screen size were ignored, because unneeded on the SNES.

-And more!


Download the patch from here.

https://mega.nz/#!YqBAHJyY!rkREz5if-QCdC0fQKkimyGcIDVUNUMtD0R99bhK7z4M

Apply it to a clean smw USA rom with a header. I have no way to get screen shots with my retro pie, so if you can take a few screen shots while your experimenting with the new features and post them here it would help me out a lot.


I took the level layouts from Lui's improvement hack (with permission of course), you can find his project here. (https://www.smwcentral.net/?p=viewthread&t=88187)

My next goal is to add layer 3 backgrounds to every level possible. It gives levels a really nice sense of depth. The second thing I want to do is give dragon coins more of a purpose. As of right now, collecting them all has does nothing. I have options;

-I can create a custom level opened by collecting all the dragon coins, though lord knows it won't be up to Nintendo quality.

-I can re create one of the un-released Mario Advance 4 e-reader levels and have it opened by collecting all the coins, it's cheap and dirty but would get the job done and would be up to Nintendo quality.

-I could make special world inaccessible until all coins are obtained. This would be the simplest option, but I'm not sure it would please the people who've already beaten this game before.

[ShadowOne333]

This is AMAZING!
Surely a great improvement hack for Super Mario World!
I'm really curious as to what sprites have been updated

Also, I would like to ask, have you considered adding an option to change between Mario and Luigi when doing a 1P run?
I always love playing as Luigi whenever possible, and having him locked out of the 1-Player game makes me sad
Seeing how SMA2 add the option to switch between the two with the press of the L/R button (can't recall which one), have you thought about adding that option into it?

Oh and one last thing, how feasible would it be to make this compatible with the Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World ROM? That's the one I use as the defacto version for everything Mario on SNES. (Including all of the hacks I've done of it)

[midget35]

I am at work and can't try the patch. But just want to say: the idea sounds wonderful. It's fascinating Nintendo didn't store dragon coins with the original game, though the code shows they seriously thought about it at one stage. Would have made the orginal a metroidvania of sorts.

A few suggestions:

1. Could you please make a version without any graphical changes? Love the dragon coin screen idea without artistic changes.

2. I'd like the 100% dragon coin collection goal to result in a message appearing on the title screen, as a simple message, perhaps no other celebration needed imo.

Great work!

[Bahamut ZERO]

My suggestion for the 100% Dragon Coin completion (or just in general realy) - unlocks a special level you can enter to toggle what artstyle the game is in, between the normal look and how things look after you complete the Top Secret Area.

Hell, it could be unlocked after beating the Last Top Secret level in all honesty. 

[ewzzy]

I'd be happy if the coins just turned to Peach Coins after collecting them all. Proof of having collected them is reward enough.

[XModxGodX]

I have a suggestion: Make the special zone graphical change actually change the in level palettes. It always bugged me that it was just the overworld that was changed. Donkey Kong Country 3 was able to do this with Krematoa so I don't see why Mario World can't...

[Ar8temis008]

I have a suggestion: Make the special zone graphical change actually change the in level palettes. It always bugged me that it was just the overworld that was changed. Donkey Kong Country 3 was able to do this with Krematoa so I don't see why Mario World can't...

That might fuck with the layer 3 backgrounds, which from what I've tested so far are very sensitive to pallet changes.

I'd be happy if the coins just turned to Peach Coins after collecting them all. Proof of having collected them is reward enough.

If proof of having them all is reward enough, the status screen tells you which levels still have coins to collect and which don't. Though I do want to do the peach coin thingy.

My suggestion for the 100% Dragon Coin completion (or just in general realy) - unlocks a special level you can enter to toggle what artstyle the game is in, between the normal look and how things look after you complete the Top Secret Area.

Hell, it could be unlocked after beating the Last Top Secret level in all honesty. 

That's a really good idea, actually. Again though, I'm worried about how pallet changes might affect the layer 3 back grounds.

I am at work and can't try the patch. But just want to say: the idea sounds wonderful. It's fascinating Nintendo didn't store dragon coins with the original game, though the code shows they seriously thought about it at one stage. Would have made the orginal a metroidvania of sorts.

A few suggestions:

1. Could you please make a version without any graphical changes? Love the dragon coin screen idea without artistic changes.

2. I'd like the 100% dragon coin collection goal to result in a message appearing on the title screen, as a simple message, perhaps no other celebration needed imo.

Great work!

1. I could, but it's only two levels, plus a few general updates like green arm Yoshi and a properly colored Bowser. If there's a huge demand for it, I don't see why not.
2. Like the alternative ending in SMA2?

This is AMAZING!
Surely a great improvement hack for Super Mario World!
I'm really curious as to what sprites have been updated

Also, I would like to ask, have you considered adding an option to change between Mario and Luigi when doing a 1P run?
I always love playing as Luigi whenever possible, and having him locked out of the 1-Player game makes me sad
Seeing how SMA2 add the option to switch between the two with the press of the L/R button (can't recall which one), have you thought about adding that option into it?

Oh and one last thing, how feasible would it be to make this compatible with the Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World ROM? That's the one I use as the defacto version for everything Mario on SNES. (Including all of the hacks I've done of it)

I took the unused snow koopa sprites and added them to the 2 snow levels. I would have added the Roman soldier koopa's to the castles, but regular koopa's never appear in castles. Having only Mario let's me put m's on the status screen. I don't have any plans to re add Luigi because he was just a pallet swap in the original.
Also, no it won't be compatible with SMA+SMW. I don't even know where to begin with getting it in. I do want to implement the save system from that version though.

[lastdual]

Nice work!

-I can re create one of the un-released Mario Advance 4 e-reader levels and have it opened by collecting all the coins, it's cheap and dirty but would get the job done and would be up to Nintendo quality.

This option gets my vote, though once you include one of these levels you can bet people will start begging you for the rest of them I also really like the idea of adding another background layer, just so long as it blends well with the existing ones.

[Mari42]

Off topic:

I have the experience of the unreleased ereader editing levels for headers, level, etc. I would help out only if its for improvement.

[TCgamerboy2002]

For some reason, every time I try to click on the link, it only sends me to a blank tab. The page doesn't even load.

It's working now. Had to use a different browser, so this post is null and void.

[Ar8temis008]

For some reason, every time I try to click on the link, it only sends me to a blank tab. The page doesn't even load.

It's working fine for me, is anybody else having this issue?

[TCgamerboy2002]

Okay, I tried the link using a different browser, it's working now.

[thefulldarby]

Been playing this hack for the last hour; excellent job! That status screen makes all the difference IMO. Here's a short wishlist of what else I'd like to see in the hack:

1. When you beat the game, at the ending screen, it'd be nice to be able to push a button and go back to the title. I'm playing on an SNES Classic so I had to get up and reset when I beat it.

2. When all Dragon Coins are collected, I think it should unlock a version of the final castle where you have to go through all the trial rooms. I realized playing today that I've picked the same two the last 10 years because I know them well. I think it'd be cool to have to beat the castle while surviving all the rooms. Either that or many...when the player's found all 96 exits, a message says that the castle has to be beat again. Then upon beating it the game counts it as the 97th level.

3. The ability to collect and save how many moons the player has (like the Super Mario World Advanced patch).

4. In the GBA version they made the top secret area into a hill (so it looks discrete). I always liked that touch.

Thanks again for making this. The game is so much more enjoyable now.

[Bahamut ZERO]

That's a really good idea, actually. Again though, I'm worried about how pallet changes might affect the layer 3 back grounds.

Ahh, I wasn't aware the in-level palettes changed as well, I assumed that was only the World map that's effected.

My main assumption was that clearing the last level in the Top Secret World sets a flag that dictates what graphics were loaded, so I figured having a random "Bonus" level that unlocks after beating them could be a single screen with two Goal Posts (one on each side of the screen), where picking the left Goal would clear said flag, while the right Goal sets it. 


In any case, hack looks good regardless. 

[Ar8temis008]

Ummm, I'm gonna sound like a noob for saying this, but how do I add the project to the sites hacks section? It's finished, I just want to add to it.

UPDATE: 3rd version is now available!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fye9huvh6s6asb3/Super%20Mario%20World%20Improved%203rd%20Version.xdelta?dl=0

It's a small update, but now when you hit start on the over world it brings up the save prompt. I can't access lunar Magic right now, but if somebody could open the patched rom in LM and make it so beating a level doesn't activate the save prompt, I would be ecstatic. It's a very easy thing to do, I just don't have a computer currently.
October 17, 2017, 08:45:38 PM - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)

Ummm, I'm gonna sound like a noob for saying this, but how do I add the project to the sites hacks section? It's finished, I just want to add to it.

UPDATE: 3rd version is now available!

https://mega.nz/#!FmICjDAY!DxKe70VFtTyMfChfXjmcoLjgdtXKOVfxHLsarzS93Pk

It's a small update, but now when you hit start on the over world it brings up the save prompt. I can't access lunar Magic right now, but if somebody could open the patched rom in LM and make it so beating a level doesn't activate the save prompt, I would be ecstatic. It's a very easy thing to do, I just don't have a computer currently.

[ccunning1]

Could you please upload the xdelta patch to mega.nz

[Vinci2000]

I have some suggestions,

I manually adjusted some SMA2 colors to be the intended colors since the colors are washed out due to help visibility on a non backlit GBA screen.

This is the progress screen

Mario & Luigi

did with GIMP SMA2 but with manually adjusted colors, looks more similiar to the SNES original

[Ar8temis008]

Could you please upload the xdelta patch to mega.nz

https://mega.nz/#!FmICjDAY!DxKe70VFtTyMfChfXjmcoLjgdtXKOVfxHLsarzS93Pk

There you go.

I have some suggestions,

I manually adjusted some SMA2 colors to be the intended colors since the colors are washed out due to help visibility on a non backlit GBA screen.

This is the progress screen

Mario & Luigi

did with GIMP SMA2 but with manually adjusted colors, looks more similiar to the SNES original

The resolution is still crap and the music still sounds like shit. It's not as simple as changing the pallet.

[ccunning1]

https://mega.nz/#!FmICjDAY!DxKe70VFtTyMfChfXjmcoLjgdtXKOVfxHLsarzS93Pk

There you go.

The BPS patch isn't working on my rom and I've tried 3 different roms. It's also quite strange because the older patch works.

[IAmCaptPlanet]

this is a GREAT idea, only the .bps is being a pain in the butt

i just CANT get it to patch (will there be an .ips patch?)

also, here is a few things i was wondering

1. can you re-enter world castles after mario knocks them down (i believe you couldn't in SMA2)

2. it would be AWESOME if you could make the dragon coins show up as shadow coins if they have been previously gotten (a la the "New" series).

3. i always thought the "all 96 exits" reward was hideous (like all of the baddies that change look worse to me) i would focus on making the base game deluxe and not trying to accommodate the "post all 96 exits" graphics

4. the Advance version added Dragon Coins to levels that previously didnt have them, did you add those too?

maybe the bonus area (after center star in star road) could have extra paths that have roadblocks that are unlockable after getting a certain amount of dragon coins.

e-reader levels would be ok with me, but tbh, just a "enemy gallery" type thing would be cool enough. like a Zoo type thing for Mario to visit after collecting all the coins.

what do you guys use to patch .bps files, they are just NOT co-operating

---edit---
ok so i need to add a header (re-reading is fun!) now i just have to figure out how the F to do that!!!

---(another) edit---
ok, so i found a header adder/remover utility thing that says i'm good to go.
still says "this patch is not intended for this rom"
dont know what i'm doing wrong, but i would LOVE to be playing this RN
October 18, 2017, 10:16:29 PM - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)

https://mega.nz/#!FmICjDAY!DxKe70VFtTyMfChfXjmcoLjgdtXKOVfxHLsarzS93Pk

There you go.

The BPS patch isn't working on my rom and I've tried 3 different roms. It's also quite strange because the older patch works.

ok, just saw ccunning1's post and i got the original patch running fine (so not an issue on my end) just like his (or hers)

also, castles ARE re-enterable you have to hold down the L and R buttons at the same time
maybe you could make it where you can just enter them like normal levels