So, anyone here remember [i]Super Mario Bros. Ultra[/i], that one fangame project thing I've been working on for what may be the majority of my time here at MFGG (since late 2008, iirc)? In either of its [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwANCO5G3H8]two[/url] [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eXN0T0aX1ZI]incarnations[/url] over the years? No? Well, that game was intended to be my "big" first fangame for MFGG. However, as I kept working on it for all those years, I started to get too ahead of myself. With so many over-ambitious ideas slowing it down, I was starting to lose motivation. With that, I decided to start on the project from scratch (again), albeit with a much more interesting gameplay focus in mind. What I'm going for is "[i]Super Mario World[/i] and [i]New Super Mario Bros.[/i] go on a double-date with [i]Yoshi's Island[/i] and [i]Kirby Super Star[/i], and [i]Paper Mario[/i] is the matchmaker": Sakurai-esque combat mechanics and a bit of object collecting sprinkled onto the tired and true Mario formula, all with story progression. Hopefully, with a concrete idea set in place, working on this project will much easier for me. I do not have a lot to show right now, though. Right now, all I have is one screen of the main engine (with a very messy and unfinished HUD): [img]http://i48.tinypic.com/15foo08.png[/img] ...and a NSMB/SMW-esque map system, still a work-in-progress. Kind of an odd thing to start with, eh? [youtube]hPfHsbCKtlk[/youtube] Oh, and I'm definitely going to be changing that oh-so-generic title. Right now, I'm dubbing it "Project Superstar", and even that is just a working title at the moment. I've been working on the new core game engine for a while now since November or so, and I've been keeping things quiet. Once I get it all refined, and construct a few levels, I'll post an engine test here for all of you to try out. Sooner or later, I will get to building an actual game from it (and once I do, I'll make a proper topic for it over in Dev Showcase) Feedback, suggestions, insight, and the like are always appreciated.

Wow, I'm glad you're (at least not completely) canning this, I always wanted to play SMB ultra, because it looked so cool and polished and fun to play. I know how you feel regarding cancelling games due to too many greatly-ambitious ideas, happens to me as well. Overall, looks cool, can't wait to play, and good luck with this project.

Super Mario Bros. Ultra. Yes, I remember both of its incarnations :P I wanted to play it since it looked polished and stuff. It had a lot of potential. And I'm gonna say that this has a lot of promise too. I do hope this will actually be finished, though. Love those graphics, btw. One thing bothers me about it, though. That one pixel space between the orange and brown curves looks rather odd as clearly seen in the top part of the screenshot. And with that, I wish you good luck in this project. :) [size=40]Also, it's odd how "Project Superstar" and "Super Mario Bros. Ultra" both remind me of Kirby. Hahaha[/size]

Too bad I wasn't here right then, but seeing the old videos I can say this game will be a great one for sure, with your programming skills. Although I do have a problem, why doesn't Mario have walking animations on the mapscreen? Well, it might be you've planned to add them already since it's a WIP, but er... yeah... I was just saying :)

This sounds AMAZING.

Looks like another good project is coming up. I hope this one turns out to be one of my favs (like Sacred bells, etc.)

Oh wow, I'm surprised to see people still rooting for this. Thanks for your support, everyone! And yes, the visuals are definitely still a work-in-progress. Speaking of which, I'd like to get some opinions on the look of the HUD; I'm figuring out how to make it look less cluttered. Any ideas?

Erm, lemme think... - Place the redcoin hud a bit lower, and put the normal coin hud above it - Place the two bars (health and sp) in the top-middle of the screen - Place the silver star hud under the M hud (there should be space now) - For the score hud, make the size of the value and the 'score' text the same size I hope this will help you. And if it doesn't, remove some unimportant things in the hud, like removing the hud which shows which powerup you have.

this is looking very good!

Hopefully, you learned from you past mistakes of the last attampt(s).

This looks good so far but for the hud if you're going to have all that stuff I would make so that it's only visible for a few seconds when the values change, like when you get a red coin have the the amount of red coins collected show up for like 5 seconds then hide it.

Okay guys, let me assure you that this project is still a thing. I have made some significant progress on the engine, but it still has a long ways to go before it can be presentable (bear with me please), reason being because I've been toying around with a certain concept. The idea in question? [b]Mario's power-ups receiving additional abilities, with which you can pull off impressive attacks depending on some button combination.[/b] The Kirby games should help illustrate what I'm getting at. Compare the uses of the Copy Abilities in [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb_490I9M0c]Kirby's Adventure[/url] to those in [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yefSSam73Dc]Super Star (Ultra)[/url] and [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY7ji8U8Kyo#t=15s]Return to Dream Land[/url]. Imagine if the classic power-ups got this treatment. For example, as Fire Mario, normally you'd just tap the attack button to toss a fireball. But with the [i]extended[/i] version of the Fire Flower moveset, you can do that... and so much more. Unlike the Kirby games, I think it would be best to have some sort of meter that limits the amount of times you use these attacks, to discourage spamming them everywhere and cheesing your way through the stage. That's what that "SP" bar in that screenshot is going to be for (initially, it just gave you a free Star whenever it becomes full). Collecting Mini-Stars (those little trinkets from Mario Party 9) and regular invincibility Stars (or Starmen, or Super Stars, whatever), will fill it up again. I'll be using Super Mario World's control setup on the SNES for example's sake. [b]Fire Flower[/b] [list] [*]Fireball Toss - Tap Y [*]Super Fireball (10 SP) - Hold Y, then release [*]Mega Fireball Special (20 SP) - Tap X[/list] Mario would also have attacks for when he isn't powered up, to prevent him from looking defenseless in comparison. I'm no good at coming up with attacks that would fit, so I came up with stuff inspired by his combat mechanics from SMRPG, SM64, and the Smash Bros. games. [b]Normal[/b] [list] [*]Punch - Tap Y [*]Jump Punch - Tap Y during Spin Jump [*]Punch-Punch-Kick Combo - Tap Y 3 times [*]Mario Tornado (20 SP) - Tap X[/list] The movesets would vary between characters, as well. Say, if you were playing as Luigi without any power-ups, the Luigi Missile will take the Mario Tornado's place. Or if he has a Fire Flower on hand, his fireballs travel in a straight line. Don't think that the brothers' repertoire of power-ups consists only of existing ones, either; I have some original power-up designs in the planning stages. I've also been thinking of giving the various baddies of the Mushroom Kingdom some extra abilities. Now that Mario and Luigi can do all of this cool stuff, his enemies will need to step up their game; can't have our heroes looking like over-powered tanks compared to rest of the characters, now can we? Goombas chase you around and try to pull off headbonks, Koopa Troopas toss their shells, Spinies curl up their shells into spiked balls and roll around, Hammer Bros. walk around freely and hurl hammers however they please, Lakitus use targeting systems ala Yoshi's Island, etc.. All of that kind of stuff, and they get reasonably-sized health bars to boot (once again, to prevent the Bros. from being too over-powered). Well, now that I'm done foaming at the mouth here, what does everyone here think about this concept? I thought it would be interesting enough to shake up the gameplay a bit, make it stand apart from the rest. Any suggestions, comments, ideas for improvement?

Boo says I. Who cares if the moves are abused? When I played Kirby Super Star Ultra, I liked how you could use a variety of movesets with no limitations whatsoever. That made all of the game modes replayable with different powers, and I had FUN.

I'm really digging these ideas. I will so play this if it ever becomes a full game. It's a whole new take on Mario.

YES This sounds like it would be the greatest fangame ever made. Though I do think it would be more fun if you had no limitations on the powers.

[list] [*]If you are making Ghost Houses, add different types of ghosts of all shapes and sizes. [*]If the Koopalings are in, give them variable abilities. [*]If there are fortresses, make sure each one has a unique boss. [*]Please bring back the Super Koopas. [*]Give the Koopa Paratroopas the ability to divebomb our heroes. [*]If Monty Mole is in, have him throw dirt at our heroes in in proper range. [*]For Rocky Wrench, give him a close range attack (That is if Rock in in). [*]For the Hammer, Boomerang, Sumo, etc. brothers, give them a surprise for our heroes. [*]Please add Yoshi in any way, shape, or form![/list]

I'm glad to see that this concept is getting some good reception for the most part! @Superdimentiobros & Morrad1991: Thanks for the compliments. @Tiki: Who cares if the moves are abused? I certainly do, since I'm aiming to create a somewhat challenging game here! Keep in mind that all of this stuff isn't set in stone; for all I know, I could ditch the SP constraint entirely. Although to address the issue of people blasting their way through enemies with ultra-powerful attacks, I could either make the SP cost too small for anyone to care or make only the most powerful moves require SP. Another option would be to have, like, giant hordes of enemies ganging up on you in every course, but I imagine that would not go over very well. @MarioBrosFan2010: I don't know if I'll be including [i]all[/i] of those things, but you can count on fighting various different bosses in fortress levels. Really liking those enemy attack suggestions as well. Not planning on having Yoshi or the Koopalings present, though. Anyway, thanks for the feedback.