10-25-2012, 12:03 PM
Been playing the recently released Gold Mushroom pack and Coin Challenge B pack for NSMB2. I've got to say, those two packs opened my eyes a bit: The first 3 DLC packs are so focussed on coin farming/leaderboards/difficulty, the level design suffers from that.
-Gold Rush made collecting 30000 coins ridiculously easy, I could get enough coins in the first level alone, making the other stages largely redundant if it wasn't for the multipliers.
-Coin Challenge A lost its flavor since someone found an exploit which ends up stuffing the boards with 30000's. The levels aren't that interesting, except for maybe Course 3.
-Nerve-Wrack is exactly as its name implies, nervewrecking. It forces precision every second. It's not that bad in the first two courses. Heck, I even like Course 2. But the cheap deaths Course 3 is extremely willing to provide really pumps your rage after the hard time perfecting the previous two stages for a great score. Challenging is one thing, but the difficulty here is cheap, especially near the end.
7,50 put to waste, I spent 5,- on the next batch. Why? Probably because I'm a naive fool, but I'm glad I did. I played the two packs and it really gave me that e-World feeling a had just watching the YouTube videos (I live in stinkin' Europe, so I never got to play it myself). They at least tried to innovate, mostly in the Coin Challenge B pack.
-Gold Mushroom, like Gold Rush, is hard focussed on getting 30000 coins. Not that it matters to me, because I already capped my total. However, after a good run, I still was coins short on Course 2 and even 3 (though it's possible to get enough at the end of 2 not counting the necisary multipliers). Ironically, with the White Raccoon Suit, it's possible to get around 20.000-25.000 coins, unlike the Gold Rush pack which relies on Gold Flowers and super easy combos. There is a decent amount of exploration possible, with the first level that takes advantage of the Raccoon Suit (flying is actually useful here o_0) and the second level with two layers where knowing when to go up or down helps you getting that 30000 target, and that actually matters as you might come short. To summarize, getting 30000 is easy, but it takes effort in all 3 (or first 2 in a good run) stages.
-Coin Challenge B does something I did not expect after the first batch: Add new elements. Though not in a scale as big as the Cape Feather in SMB3, it's something that absolutely did not appear in the original content, or packs prior to this for that matter. Remember the rhythm blocks from 3D Land? Though not 'on beat', it's an idea that comes back in Course 1, the Ghost House. It uses the same blue block sprites as the blocks that appear after hitting a !-Switch, but after the first room, in sets of 3, they are visible 2/3 of the time and disappear 1/3 of the time without any !-Switch involved. It's as new as the Hit that Switch!!-wannabe level from Nerve-Wrack? Nope. Coins turn into bricks when the P-Switch is triggered, no matter where, so that doesn't count. Why is this new? It's the first feature that has a rhythm, namely 3/3. The tempo varies per room.
The other new thing is not-horizontal Bullet Bills. Bullet Bills already exist, but they didn't fly up, down or diagonally until CCB's Course 2, which by the way is another course where the Raccoon Suit is useful other than getting the top of the flag. The third course isn't that special, but it's the second level with raining debris of which it is the first that doesn't force you to wait for slow ass red blocks to appear.
I can imagine the third bundle to be even better. Sad part is, I already spent 12,50 of my 15,- on the previous bundles. I'll have to hope its a single, super awesome pack, or I'm forced to choose, or if financially possible, I'll have to buy another 15,- card.
I secretly hope Nintendo rewards me for putting over 10,- into NSMB2's DLC alone. Not that I'm not sceptical about it, because I'm well aware that might never happen, but it would be nice. After all, I hit the cap, so collecting coins is meaningless.
-Gold Rush made collecting 30000 coins ridiculously easy, I could get enough coins in the first level alone, making the other stages largely redundant if it wasn't for the multipliers.
-Coin Challenge A lost its flavor since someone found an exploit which ends up stuffing the boards with 30000's. The levels aren't that interesting, except for maybe Course 3.
-Nerve-Wrack is exactly as its name implies, nervewrecking. It forces precision every second. It's not that bad in the first two courses. Heck, I even like Course 2. But the cheap deaths Course 3 is extremely willing to provide really pumps your rage after the hard time perfecting the previous two stages for a great score. Challenging is one thing, but the difficulty here is cheap, especially near the end.
7,50 put to waste, I spent 5,- on the next batch. Why? Probably because I'm a naive fool, but I'm glad I did. I played the two packs and it really gave me that e-World feeling a had just watching the YouTube videos (I live in stinkin' Europe, so I never got to play it myself). They at least tried to innovate, mostly in the Coin Challenge B pack.
-Gold Mushroom, like Gold Rush, is hard focussed on getting 30000 coins. Not that it matters to me, because I already capped my total. However, after a good run, I still was coins short on Course 2 and even 3 (though it's possible to get enough at the end of 2 not counting the necisary multipliers). Ironically, with the White Raccoon Suit, it's possible to get around 20.000-25.000 coins, unlike the Gold Rush pack which relies on Gold Flowers and super easy combos. There is a decent amount of exploration possible, with the first level that takes advantage of the Raccoon Suit (flying is actually useful here o_0) and the second level with two layers where knowing when to go up or down helps you getting that 30000 target, and that actually matters as you might come short. To summarize, getting 30000 is easy, but it takes effort in all 3 (or first 2 in a good run) stages.
-Coin Challenge B does something I did not expect after the first batch: Add new elements. Though not in a scale as big as the Cape Feather in SMB3, it's something that absolutely did not appear in the original content, or packs prior to this for that matter. Remember the rhythm blocks from 3D Land? Though not 'on beat', it's an idea that comes back in Course 1, the Ghost House. It uses the same blue block sprites as the blocks that appear after hitting a !-Switch, but after the first room, in sets of 3, they are visible 2/3 of the time and disappear 1/3 of the time without any !-Switch involved. It's as new as the Hit that Switch!!-wannabe level from Nerve-Wrack? Nope. Coins turn into bricks when the P-Switch is triggered, no matter where, so that doesn't count. Why is this new? It's the first feature that has a rhythm, namely 3/3. The tempo varies per room.
The other new thing is not-horizontal Bullet Bills. Bullet Bills already exist, but they didn't fly up, down or diagonally until CCB's Course 2, which by the way is another course where the Raccoon Suit is useful other than getting the top of the flag. The third course isn't that special, but it's the second level with raining debris of which it is the first that doesn't force you to wait for slow ass red blocks to appear.
I can imagine the third bundle to be even better. Sad part is, I already spent 12,50 of my 15,- on the previous bundles. I'll have to hope its a single, super awesome pack, or I'm forced to choose, or if financially possible, I'll have to buy another 15,- card.
I secretly hope Nintendo rewards me for putting over 10,- into NSMB2's DLC alone. Not that I'm not sceptical about it, because I'm well aware that might never happen, but it would be nice. After all, I hit the cap, so collecting coins is meaningless.
![[Image: QUmE6.gif]](http://i.imgur.com/QUmE6.gif)