Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Part 16: Replica End
tarting bad. Now, when I did the achievement set for OG star road, Hidden palace was menacing, threatening, intimidating, it took me hours to get the 121 star at the top, and 7 minutes to get the replica star, It was a test, a test of skill and mastery of the moveset, but retooled nerfed this place hard, it's not menacing anymore, it's more lenient, mistakes aren't as brutal, it's gone, what's left is a shadow of his former self, adding blocks, safety nets, this is just, no. And I wouldn't have so much problem with it if I didn't knew this has an EXTRA hard stage inspired in Mario 74, "Crudelo palace", a super hard version of this palace, an inverted one, more hard and menacing than Hidden Palace, my issue is changing a pre-existing area, strip it off his characteristics, make it a joke but then add a new area which is more hard, I don't vibe with that personally, I much have prefer to keep OG Palace and crudelo, but hey, crudelo palace is a secret, so it's no biggie right?
*Hidden Palace*
☆Secret Star: The Top of the Palace:
As mentioned above, this star is more easier now, safety nets, extra blocks, there's so little risk and the intimidating factor this once had is not here anymore
*Replica Stars*
☆Mushroom Mountain Town:
If my memory is correct, this one used to be on top of a mushroom house, here it's very high above a mushroom house, making you either use a fly guy or do a long jump to it
☆Creepy Cap Cave:
This one is unchanged from OG, do kicks up the initial slope and yyou are pretty much good to grab the star
☆Puzzle of the Vanish Cap:
From what I can remember, this star used to be on the gears, but the gears were not moving, may be wrong, but that's just my mind
☆Bowser's Slippery Swamp:
This one I feel it was also nerfed, I remember doing walljumps and long jumps to reach this one
☆Sandy Slide Secret:
By far the hardest of these 9 stars, It's not my favorite replica star, that should be the Bowser Swamp one. This one requires you to do a wall jump technique I'm not familiar or consistent with, a wall jump into a grab, it can take quite some time and of course Retooled didn't nerfed this one, choices I guess.
☆Windy Wing Cap Well:
A more simpler version of the OG one, at least to me, not much was changed, not that I remember of course
☆Bowser's Retro Remix Castle:
Replica 1: On top of a bowser Statue, it may be the simplest of the replica stars to get
Replica 2: So, remember Area 0? that weird grey area you will go after losing all your lives? Well, This replica star is here, but wait, why is there 2 stars here? Because Hidden Palace Replica star got moved here, instead of, idk, moving replica 1 of Retro remix castle instead and keeping the hidden palace star alone, these are the changes I don't understand, Replica 1 is the easiest star and presents no challenge whatsoever, why not move that one to Area 0 instead? Was Hidden Palace so hard EVEN AFTER IT GOT NERFS?! Hidden Palace got butchered left and right, I doubt the star there would have caused much issue now as it used in OG, but once again, choices I guess. Still, A star being in Area 0 is cool, I would have liked for Hidden palace star to be where it was but welp.
☆Bowser's Rainbow Rumble:
And finally, Bowser's Rainbow Rumble, this one is unchanged, it's still tricky to get but doable
*Conclusion*
I'm not doing Crudelo Palace, fuck no. Retooled is a great remake and dare I say, better version of Star Road, one that unfortunately doesn't click with me, it is a good version and all but some of the changes just rub me the wrong way, removing enemies, elements that while not substantial, added some charm, adding areas that often times feel out of place, not nerfing some of the real stinker stars, it's unfortunate. This is of course a personal thing, maybe for you these changes are good, mayybe it's better this wa for you, but for me, this left a lot to be desired, I still recommend this to any newcomer that wants to play an enjoyable hack, a good one in a modern wayy, if not, well, OG it's still there, and it's still a classic.
With nothing else to say, have a good day
Chapters:
00:00 Wake Up
00:04 Secret Star: The Top of the Palace
03:19 Mushroom Mountain Town
07:02 Creepy Cap Cave
08:55 Puzzle of the Vanish Cap
11:08 Bowser's Slippery Swamp
12:26 Sandy Slide Secret
15:48 Windy Wing Cap Well
18:48 Bowser's Retro Remix Castle (Replica 1)
20:57 Bowser's Retro Remix Castle (Replica 2)
24:33 Bowser's Rainbow Rumble
27:34 Title Screen & Results (File Select)
Part 16: Replica End
tarting bad. Now, when I did the achievement set for OG star road, Hidden palace was menacing, threatening, intimidating, it took me hours to get the 121 star at the top, and 7 minutes to get the replica star, It was a test, a test of skill and mastery of the moveset, but retooled nerfed this place hard, it's not menacing anymore, it's more lenient, mistakes aren't as brutal, it's gone, what's left is a shadow of his former self, adding blocks, safety nets, this is just, no. And I wouldn't have so much problem with it if I didn't knew this has an EXTRA hard stage inspired in Mario 74, "Crudelo palace", a super hard version of this palace, an inverted one, more hard and menacing than Hidden Palace, my issue is changing a pre-existing area, strip it off his characteristics, make it a joke but then add a new area which is more hard, I don't vibe with that personally, I much have prefer to keep OG Palace and crudelo, but hey, crudelo palace is a secret, so it's no biggie right?
*Hidden Palace*
☆Secret Star: The Top of the Palace:
As mentioned above, this star is more easier now, safety nets, extra blocks, there's so little risk and the intimidating factor this once had is not here anymore
*Replica Stars*
☆Mushroom Mountain Town:
If my memory is correct, this one used to be on top of a mushroom house, here it's very high above a mushroom house, making you either use a fly guy or do a long jump to it
☆Creepy Cap Cave:
This one is unchanged from OG, do kicks up the initial slope and yyou are pretty much good to grab the star
☆Puzzle of the Vanish Cap:
From what I can remember, this star used to be on the gears, but the gears were not moving, may be wrong, but that's just my mind
☆Bowser's Slippery Swamp:
This one I feel it was also nerfed, I remember doing walljumps and long jumps to reach this one
☆Sandy Slide Secret:
By far the hardest of these 9 stars, It's not my favorite replica star, that should be the Bowser Swamp one. This one requires you to do a wall jump technique I'm not familiar or consistent with, a wall jump into a grab, it can take quite some time and of course Retooled didn't nerfed this one, choices I guess.
☆Windy Wing Cap Well:
A more simpler version of the OG one, at least to me, not much was changed, not that I remember of course
☆Bowser's Retro Remix Castle:
Replica 1: On top of a bowser Statue, it may be the simplest of the replica stars to get
Replica 2: So, remember Area 0? that weird grey area you will go after losing all your lives? Well, This replica star is here, but wait, why is there 2 stars here? Because Hidden Palace Replica star got moved here, instead of, idk, moving replica 1 of Retro remix castle instead and keeping the hidden palace star alone, these are the changes I don't understand, Replica 1 is the easiest star and presents no challenge whatsoever, why not move that one to Area 0 instead? Was Hidden Palace so hard EVEN AFTER IT GOT NERFS?! Hidden Palace got butchered left and right, I doubt the star there would have caused much issue now as it used in OG, but once again, choices I guess. Still, A star being in Area 0 is cool, I would have liked for Hidden palace star to be where it was but welp.
☆Bowser's Rainbow Rumble:
And finally, Bowser's Rainbow Rumble, this one is unchanged, it's still tricky to get but doable
*Conclusion*
I'm not doing Crudelo Palace, fuck no. Retooled is a great remake and dare I say, better version of Star Road, one that unfortunately doesn't click with me, it is a good version and all but some of the changes just rub me the wrong way, removing enemies, elements that while not substantial, added some charm, adding areas that often times feel out of place, not nerfing some of the real stinker stars, it's unfortunate. This is of course a personal thing, maybe for you these changes are good, mayybe it's better this wa for you, but for me, this left a lot to be desired, I still recommend this to any newcomer that wants to play an enjoyable hack, a good one in a modern wayy, if not, well, OG it's still there, and it's still a classic.
With nothing else to say, have a good day
Chapters:
00:00 Wake Up
00:04 Secret Star: The Top of the Palace
03:19 Mushroom Mountain Town
07:02 Creepy Cap Cave
08:55 Puzzle of the Vanish Cap
11:08 Bowser's Slippery Swamp
12:26 Sandy Slide Secret
15:48 Windy Wing Cap Well
18:48 Bowser's Retro Remix Castle (Replica 1)
20:57 Bowser's Retro Remix Castle (Replica 2)
24:33 Bowser's Rainbow Rumble
27:34 Title Screen & Results (File Select)
![[RA] RetroAchievements Vanilla Level Design Contest Vol. 1 (SMW Hack) - Part 2](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bMAYiN2LR1k/mqdefault.jpg "[RA] RetroAchievements Vanilla Level Design Contest Vol. 1 (SMW Hack) - Part 2
Cavern section is ok, theres one stinker here, Scarlet Cavern, this level may be the WORST in this compilation, it has the vibe of a Youtuber type level, Kaizo blocks, no indicated jumps, and more kaizo blocks, I died a lot here because this level has no indication on what type of jump you have to do, its a very trial and error level, so yeah, worst of the set.
The best for me in this world is the crumbling bridge level, its one of the best in this world, the other levels are good too, the temple level can be cheesed so whoops, the gauntlet is well aliggned and not too bad, the underwater yoshi level is tight but its ok.
Also, I hope you like the A Plumber for all Seasons soundtrack as much as the team behind this, because most of the stages uses it, and ngl, sometimes the music doesnt fit the levels
Onto the next set of levels, from here you can only go up right? Right?!")
![[RA] Just Blob (SMW Hack)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bcQOUPybtCs/mqdefault.jpg "[RA] Just Blob (SMW Hack)
From the depths of the old hacks, a classic, Just Blob, I dont remember playing this one but Ive heard of it, this was listed under the Easy hacks in RetroAchievements and, kinda, the game is easy, no question about it, the achievements are another story. Clear all the levels, and of course, Damageless runs, I kinda hate these regardless of how Easy they are, I hate them. Stages can be short or long, 1-3 is a gamble because you wont see whats below you most of the time, 1-6 is atrocious because of the boss, its RNG, but, the best strategy according to one user in the site is to hug the left bounce blocks and land on the boss, it does work.
Other achievements include, bouncing a lot on the credits and getting 50 lives, which fortunately you dont need to do them in one go, and beat the entire game without dying, which is easier than doing the stages damageless.
Difficulty:
3/10")
![[RA] RetroAchievements Vanilla Level Design Contest Vol. 1 (SMW Hack) - Part 3](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/c5up8tPsX6A/mqdefault.jpg "[RA] RetroAchievements Vanilla Level Design Contest Vol. 1 (SMW Hack) - Part 3
The Special World is a thingg, it opens with one level I kinda did like, a line guided level, the world also had levels I kinda dont like, one of them a Kaizo 1 homage with a fast autoscroller at the start, but it was so short I dont mind that much, up pipes suck in general, the other one was a level in a cave that is kaizo lite for sure, last bullet bill jump can be tricky, but these shot every 5 SMW seconds so it was just timing.
Levels are getting better, I dont have much negatives for this world outside of these 2 instances that arent that bad")
