The first 3 worlds of this hack are difficult but it’s a good kind of challenging. I was able to get through all 3 worlds only losing 3 lives. I get to 4-1 and the difficulty takes a bizarre turn: star music is playing during the level. The spring you have to use requires a super jump to get across, but the only way is to run from a few blocks away and jump on it, not a full running start. Then the flagpole is a fake and you have to jump over it to get to the real flagpole at the end of the level. 4-2 gets ridiculously hard… fire bars in a swimming level plus Lakitu plus flying fish… it’s a cluster-f of a level, coupled with the fact that the timer is less than 200. So I have no idea what’s in 4-3 and beyond.

The enemies are definitely faster. Goombas and koopas are faster, and jumping koopas jump way higher. Piranhas are strangely placed in blocks, in the ground, they’re freaking everywhere. When you get to 2-2, you meet Lakitu underwater who yeets the spinies into your face at 69 miles an hour. It’s the same in 2-3. Lakitu is insane.

At some point you meet the hammer bros. Oh me oh my these things are crazy. You get to see for yourself what I mean.

All in all, the gameplay and platforming is pretty good for an SMB1 hack, but there are some really odd things about some of the levels. 3-4 is pretty brutal, but I was somehow able to beat it and I’m proud enough of that achievement. Good luck to the rest of you who attempt this.