This game got close to being a truly excellent romhack. I had a blast playing this– speeding through one level after another. The level design is snappy and tight. Unfolding the world map was satisfying and the difficulty level was tame enough that I could play this one without using save states.

There are a few things that drag it down from being a masterpiece, though. First, the game has a lot of secret exits and there's a lack of imagination in where the game stuffs its keys and keyholes. Usually they are either in a particular secret room or just out in the open in the middle of the main level.

I don't think there were invisible blocks and I often felt the lack of surprise powerups. There are a lot of superfluous mechanics hacked in, some of them feeling a bit jank. And while the level design was snappy, many levels stuck to a SMB3-style template. It got repetitive even if it was still pretty enjoyable.

This is one of the better SMW romhacks I've played this year but sadly my reverence petered out by the end even if my enthusiasm didn't.