This Celeste/Mario mashup rom hack is pretty amazing!
I'm always on the lookout for an interesting new rom hack of a Super Mario title. Some of them give you new levels with some graphical changes and it makes it feel like you found some DLC for a classic game, while others make big changes like new powerups and abilities that make it seem like this could almost pass for a sequel that just never got released. Celeste Mario's Zap & Dash! is another category, in which so much as been changed that it's not even a sequel to Mario 1, it's an entirely different game!
As you might guess from the rom hack's title, Celeste Mario's Zap & Dash! takes the gameplay stylings of Celeste and mashes them up with Super Mario. It's a rom hack of Super Mario Bros 1, but it has been completely altered; the physics, gravity, artwork, music, everything is pretty much entirely new. It's so impressive and so much, that it honestly makes me wonder at what point you just make an entirely brand new game instead of a rom hack of an existing one! In this game you're going around collecting moons, like in Super Mario Odyssey. I believe there are 100 moons in total, though you only need around 60 to finish the game. If you've played Celeste you'll be familiar with Mario's moveset here, as he has the same dash mechanic that you can use once per jump that you can find in that game. You can also wall jump for a limited time, also like Celeste.
The game has a bit of a Metroidvania style to it, as you'll need to find your way around and perhaps backtrack at certain points after you've opened up areas. There's a handy map that gets filled in as you make your way so finding your way around is usually not an issue. The redrawn graphics look fantastic, with a dark tone to them. The music is nice, but after a while started feeling a bit repetitive to me. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, and after hearing it definitely think I'll be adding it to my phone's playlist, but after repeating over and over I wanted to break it up with something.
If I can make one complaint, the difficulty level is pretty high. I know Celeste is a game that requires precise platforming skills, and so I think that's what w7n and their team were using for inspiration, but at times it almost feels like we're steering into kaizo territory, which jumping, dashing, throwing a shell, more jumps, etc. It frustrated me because I was really enjoying the game, and the challenge, but then I got to one room, and I just can't figure out what the dev team wants me to do exactly, so I just kept dying over and over again. I was just stuck in this room with no idea what to do. One thing I'll give the team credit for though, you lose almost no time when you die, as there are constant checkpoints, so there's that.
This is a rom hack that seems like an absolutely amazing accomplishment and is completely worth your time to check out. I'm hoping I'll get past my roadblock shortly and be able to see the rest of the game, because I really did enjoy what I got to play of it. Give this one a try!