Dev Commentary Time! This Being The First Level I Ever Made For Retrush, You'd Probably Think It Comes

dev commentary time! this being the first level i ever made for retrush, you'd probably think it comes with the most changes of all. not so! it's mostly only had minor edits and tweaks in the last nine years. here's a comparison between the very first demo in 2014 and the final:

that said, there's three changes that are major enough to be worth mentioning! first off is that it was originally named Gelatin Grasses, which is a much more abstract name than the final. very kirby inspired, in case the "food/place" level names weren't obvious enough!

the second major change was this last section before the stairs – the old version was a flat plain dotted with enemies. it wasn't a case of novice level design, it had actual roots in the flat, enemy-covered levels of SMB1 (like 3-2)... but still, it was really boring!

the new section that replaces it was an attempt to make use of the available space for something more dynamic and freeform. it's a little more cramped than i wanted it to be, but i think i did a pretty good job giving the player the freedom to find their own route!

last up is the star shards! these didn't exist at all before last year. in the older versions of the game that Retrush started out in, something as complex as star shards were completely unthinkable! so these were "just" coins...

...coins with a twist, that is! these five coins were connected to region triggers, and when all five were collected, it would play a little sound, like in the NSMB games!

pretty neat, eh? long before star shards were even a thought, these little flourishes were always in the cards.

i could wax on about how the very oldest versions of Retrush had mushrooms and even 1-ups instead of stars... but we'll have more time to go over the meta stuff later, and this is plenty about this level for now. see you tomorrow!

Gelato Grasslands (1-1) | Retrush

Welcome back to familiar plains of bricks and pipes! This is a great place to get reacquainted with SMB1's physics and sense of momentum. With well-timed jumps, you can clear even the tallest pipes at full speed!

dev commentary time, and this one's gonna be pretty in depth, so strap in!

Almond Aquarium's original name was Buttermilk Base, in the same vein as Buoy Base Galaxy (which is this level's music choice). but the level known as Buttermilk Base... was some bullshit!

when i returned to working on Retrush in 2021, Buttermilk Base was a standout case of, god, how do i fix this?? do i just need to redo it from scratch???

nah, it just needed lots of TLC. i was somehow able to retain and remix most of what was already there... in other words, this level makes a great case study for "how to salvage some garbage!"

let's start simple: Buttermilk Base had no fish in the whole level??? even though it would've absolutely been possible to add in older versions of Mari0. i just didn't think of it? i guess??

instead, most of the underwater sections were focused around normal enemies that move and fall slower in the water ("water-enemies"). like goombas. and spinies... for some reason.

so, for thematic and gameplay purposes, i added cheep cheeps to the water tanks instead.

the old water-enemy placements were really strange, like a stack of goombas tall enough to reach the ceiling, or a spiny that slowly falls into the exit hatch. replacing these with fish was pretty simple, i just needed to make sure the timing added a similar level of pressure.

a lot of the above-water level design has very tight corridors that operate as funnels between the more open water tanks. in Buttermilk Base, these tight corridors were filled with... paratroopas that bounce around erratically. what???

you were expected to either slip under these by running at full speed, or use the portal gun to sneak around them.

remember: this was before stars!! this level had mushrooms in it instead – you only got one extra hit and it made you too tall to slip underneath!!!

in one especially egregious case, this split path of TINY passages had two paratroopas – one where you could slip underneath, and one where you couldn't. the only indication of which was which, was a single coin on the top or bottom.

like come on, this is set up for failure!

what i did here to fix it was remix the intent – the top path is supposed to be "easier," and the bottom path requires a confident jump. so the new top path is free of enemies, and the bottom path has three goombas to bounce across, which takes a little precision. much better!

all of the other random paratroopas were similarly remixed by asking "what is the point of this nonsense? what is it trying to test?" and creating a new challenge within the same layout that tests the same thing more fairly. this makes the above-ground sections much more fun!

the above-ground also had some wacky moving platforms that felt super out of place and just served to annoy the player. i'm really not sure what i was thinking with these…?

much like the paratroopas, their replacements were thoughtful remixes – like blue gel or waterfalls.

that said, there are also some tweaks to the base layout of the level. most of them expand the underwater sections – like opening up this middle section, which makes it more of an open letter to find your own path and collect the Star Shards!

even though they were mostly just "tweaks," reworking the underwater sections so thoroughly means there's a lost tile: these diagonal tiles that were used for trippy underwater transitions. i like them, they just didn't fit the layout anymore! they're recolors of the SMB2J hills.

the biggest layout change is the very end of the level, which got a complete rework. i can tell i was bored and running out of steam here, because the best i could come up with were some weaksauce "defeat all the enemies" rooms. boring!!

i don't remember what inspired the new ending section but i am SO proud of it: it's another open invitation to either quickly and confidently hop between the waterfalls, or take the safe slower path across the top. a significant improvement!

anyway, that's a lot of work to fix up one stage! in truth, when i returned to working on Retrush with a deadline, this level was potentially on the chopping block. i didn't know whether i would have the time or energy to do all this when there were plenty of levels left to make.

luckily i had plenty of time, and there were no cut levels... i actually finished all of what i just described in one single, frenzied evening! and i'm super proud of myself for bringing this level up to par with the rest of the stages. it really needed the love!

i got a few compliments like "wow these are actually good underwater Mario levels for a change!" which is a compliment of the highest order in its own right... but it also validates that all this work was worth it, and that Retrush is a better level pack for including it 💖

Almond Aquarium (2-4) | Retrush

This abandoned, run-down aquarium has been flooded with Cheep Cheeps and other scavengers. The portal gun can save LOTS of time swimming through the water tanks if you know where to use it!

dev commentary time! did you know Retrush was originally planned to have just twelve levels? Dijon Dunes was not in the original plan, making it one of the last few main levels i worked on – and i think it shows how much i learned over time, cause it has great speedrun flow!

after i came up with the idea for remixes of the original 12 levels, i saw a vision in my head of a desert level whose remix is an underwater trench… and it was just TOO cool of an idea to pass up!

so i came up with a few more levels to pad out one more world, which of course means remixes for each one… and that's the story of how i overscoped this entire mappack from 12 levels to 32. oops!!!

and because it was made relatively late(ish), like 2017… that unfortunately means there's not really any cut content or beta layouts to show here.

instead, let's talk about why there's no slopes. isn't it a little weird that all the sandy dunes are squared off?

without getting too deep into the weeds, Mari0's collision system was not built to handle slopes, and every attempt at adding them over the years has been EXTREMELY hacky and unstable. retrush has no slopes because there were never any good slopes in the engine to begin with.

the versions of Mari0 i used technically had those hacky slopes, but they weren't worth using!… until a month or two ago, when Mari0: AE finally solved the problem and made great, robust slopes. a little too late for me to change the entire layout to add them, you know? ^^;

but! i remade Dijon Dunes in Super Mario Maker 2 when the game first came out as a test of its editor, and when i did, i added slopes. it's a neat alternate universe take on what could have been!

Dijon Dunes (1-3) | Retrush

This one's a technical, tricky trek across the desert and its ruins. The enemies here have a bone to pick with you – but if you get the drop on them first, the bounce will carry you over the sandy steps!

dev commentary time! Saltine Sewer was originally going to be called Salty Sanctum, and, uh, ew. i'm glad i changed that

it was definitely not the 2nd level added to Retrush – closer to the 6th or 7th. but it was early enough that i was experimenting with "new" Mari0 mechanics…

you ever wonder what those green "graffiti" brick designs in the background were all about? in the original drafts, they were foreground tiles! enemies would peek out from behind the walls and you'd have to use your intuition to determine where everything was at.

the foreground tiles were only scrapped as late as this year! one of my playtesters asked if the concept really added anything to the level, and after taking a long, hard look at it... i decided it doesn't add anything after all. it's just a mild inconvenience.

many of the old "foreground" and new "graffiti" designs are quite different, since they accomplish very different goals! the foreground tiles were meant to obscure, so i took the opposite approach with the graffiti, laying out paths and highlighting enemy placements.

did you notice the arrows pointing at hidden blocks with stars? ⭐ the blocks were always there, but retooling the design was a great opportunity to highlight the level's secrets!

unrelated, the tutorial text that pops up saying "hold down" to disable gel is a complex feat of engineering... first off is that it purposefully sets up new players to get stuck, with a goomba that resets your jump height and a key that's just out of reach.

after that, time spent bouncing in and out of the region trigger accumulates on a "leaky bucket" timer, which isn't a feature native to Mari0! usually the game's timers reset on toggle, so it was kind of a jerry-rigged operation. the result works surprisingly well for what it is!

finally, here's a deep cut: i found old drafts of the level from 2015-2016 (!), featuring a VERY early version of the tall stairs that was a bouncy spring pit instead. pretty sure i changed this soon after, cause it doesn't fit the theme at all and it's pretty awkward to play!

Saltine Sewer (1-2) | Retrush #Mari0

This vertical passage is hardly a straightforward drop - the narrow, winding corridors leave little room to navigate around the enemies on patrol. But it's a great level to get the hang of using the portal gun to zip around!

Fillet Fjords (3-1) | Retrush #Mari0

A freezing, flooded furrow of fish! The tiered terrain tests your jump control, with water to back you up if you fall. There's more enemies than usual, but you've learned a lot so far – you can keep your cool, right?

nine years of development time comes with nine years of developer's commentary! so starting on Monday, as i post video playthroughs of each level, they'll come with additional threads featuring behind the scenes details, early versions, and cut content 💖

videos will go live at the usual 11am slot, with threads to follow in the evening once i get off work!