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| Mario Forever | ||||||||||||||||||||
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One of the earliest Mario fangames that truly captures the charm of the original games...
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Mario Forever (also known as Super Mario Bros. 3: Mario Forever since 2009) is a platform game released on September 8, 2003 for Microsoft Windows. It was developed and published by Buziol Games, until 2006. In 2009, Softendo took over the game's development after Buziol Games was rebranded. In 2014 TheMarioVariable and Forever Team developed and published the remake of the game to celebrate the game's tenth anniversary (mainly for v1.16). An Android port was made by Alexandro Games in 2016.
Plot
A very, very long time ago, in the vast, beautiful land of the Mushroom Kingdom, where the Toads made their homes, they lived prosperous peaceful lives...... until something disastrous happened! An evil reptile by the name of Bowser, whose dark desire was to have this land for himself, decided it was about time for the taking and invasion, leaving destruction in his wake and enslaving its peaceful inhabitants! But... our hero, the intrepid and determined plumber Mario, witnessed the calamity, he couldn't just sit back and watch, he had to do something......to stop it!
Why It-s a Forever
- Awesome graphics that were taken from the SNES Mario games, mainly Super Mario All-Stars. The graphics in fact feel enchanced with fewer visible pixels, giving them an even better look. Aside from having graphics ripped from the official games, Mario Forever includes some original graphics thrown into the mix, such as an animated cloud face that can be seen in world 4, or even graphics for new enemies, even if some are just recolored.
- As of version 5.0, newer graphics were added, some of which look beautiful, such as a sun plushie that has an adorable design.
- Amazing soundtrack, with the biggest examples being the map theme of world 5, which is actually "4-mat - In da Kitchen", or world 5-2's theme, "Sirens" by Dave the Brave. And on top of that, a lot of the songs are memorable and very hard to forget, especially the remix of the overworld theme from Super Mario Bros., which is the main menu theme used until v7.01 or the aforementioned biggest example, which is world 5 map theme. Not to mention, most of the music is music that sounds like they were made for Amiga games, most notably 4-mat's music.
- The later versions contain and introduce new worlds, which is very great, as people would play other worlds rather than just the main game and the early version of Human Laboratory world, known as world www.gry.o2.pl in versions 1.16.1 and 2.16.
- Version 4.0 introduced Mario Minix, a minigame where you have to kill as many enemies as possible to get a high score, with Koopa Troopas' shell being the best example of how to get the high score, Hardcore worlds 1 & 2, a challenging worlds, as expected from the name, The Lost Map, a world with 6 levels that contains Bowser with Bullet Bill cannon, and Funny Tanks?, a level where the tanks move fast and look like a longer version of world 8-2.
- Version 4.4 introduces the secrets list, which contains some secrets to find or complete, Koopa Troopa Liberation, an edit of Lost Map-1, but with more Koopas, Koopas that throw other shells and is a longer version of Lost Map-1, and Starman Running, which is a level where the timer is very fast and you have to kill a lot of enemies to get more time.
- Version 5.08 contains a bonus game, which can be unlocked by getting a coin that says "?", and you have to shoot all hidden stars using your mouse and you will get 3 1-UPs if you will beat it.
- Version 6.0 introduces the infamous World of Stupidity, which is a level where you start with 21 lives and has a lot of troll stuff, like hidden clouds or piranha plants, and worlds created by fans zone, which contains only Syzxchulun's world 9.
- Worlds created by fans zone contains 2 more worlds in version 7.02, LuigimanN and Hagalta's Great Journey, and crist1919's world 0.
- The first versions of the original version that are available to download contain the Polish language, which is very great, especially since Mario Forever was developed in Poland, and Poles were able to choose the Polish language, especially if some Poles couldn't understand English at all, thanks to Michał "Buziol" Gdaniec, the creator of the game.
- The controls are tight and mostly responsive a lot of times, especially the movement keys or the running key, which means that you wouldn't have to look at the timer running out that much. They are also very simple to understand; Z is used for jumping and X is used for running and using a power-up. They could be also configured in earlier versions
- The game has passages to other worlds, which lets you play some extra worlds that can be unlocked by a secret passage. For example, world 1-2 has passages to world 4 and Hardcore world 1, which can make you complete the main game faster if you find a passage to world 4, or try to challenge yourself in Hardcore world 1. Another example is that worlds 1-4 has a passage to worlds 3-1. Not to mention, world 3-1 has a passage to world 8, which can make you complete the main game even faster than finding a passage to world 4 in world 1-2.
- Speaking of passages, the remake contains passages to crist1919's Minus worlds, from world -1 to -12 (as of v4.0), since v2.3. However, worlds -8 and -9 were not added yet. While world -8 was made but wasn't added in the remake, world -9 wasn't created yet. However, crist1919 announced that he started working on world -9 a long time ago.
- While most of the worlds have standard enemies, like Goombas and Koopa Troopas, Hammer Bros, or Lakitu who only appears in world 4, Syzxchulun's world 9-2 introduces the first custom Mario Forever enemy ever created, Evil Lakitu. This means, that not every world has regular and standard enemies. Not to mention, in world 9-3, there are volcanoes, which have designs from New Super Mario Bros. Wii, though their top is animated, compared to New Super Mario Bros. Wii's volcanoes.
- Creative castle cutscenes; worlds 1, 4, and 7's castle cutscenes show the castle breaking into a lot of pieces, world 2's castle cutscene shows Mario jumping and destroying the castle into a million pieces, world 3 shows the castle grumbling, then it starts floating in mid-air, and world 6 shows a castle that starts rumbling, then it shrinks horizontally and enters in a warp pipe below it. And obviously, worlds 1, 3, 4, 6, and 7 also show Mario running away from the castle before something happens to it. The remake contains more creative castle cutscenes. For example, world -6 shows Mario running away from the castle, then he pushes the snowball to make it larger and bigger and then lets it go and destroys the castle.
- The remake contains more languages compared to the original game, with all translators for all of those languages being different. This means that people who live in the country that speaks the language that is in the remake, would not have to struggle with trying to understand English, similar to Poles who also don't understand English at all.
- Spanish - Translated by DylAndrewBJ, formerly known as xXDYLANANITORXx.
- French - Translated by Xyckijunwodz.
- Italian - Translated by TheMarioVariable, the main creator of the remake.
- Portuguese - Translated by Lu9.
- German - Translated by Mario2233.
- Czech - Translated by Michal Döme.
- Russian - Currently not known who translated it (also not added yet)
- Romanian - Translated by Night Fury (not added yet)
- Dutch - Translated by ElPatron036 (not added yet)
- Serbian - Translated by Doge Gameplays (not added yet)
- The first version that is available to download of the original version and the remake both contain a program called Mario Forever Info, which describes everything about the games, especially the fact who made the original game, and the fact that the original game (v1.16.1 and v2.16) can have problems on some systems under Windows 2000 or XP. This is helpful to people, especially if they are about to try out the games for the first time.
- The Android version contains 2 versions that have different graphics and different stuff, compared to the original and the remake. It has a version with the graphics from v2.16 of the original game and even a version with the graphics from v5.0 of the original game. The version that contains graphics from v2.16 can be downloaded to revisit your childhood (especially if you grew up playing it), or wanna see a more beautiful design with the graphics from v5.0.
- The remake contains even more worlds than the original and Android versions. While the Android version only contains Alexandro Games' Alternative world, Mario Forever Remake contains even more worlds designed by Forever Team. Several are in fact unlockable, giving the Remake a lot more replay value.
- Worlds 9-13 by Syzxchulun are 5 extra worlds designed by a Mario Forever fan who had worlds 9 and 10 already in the first version of the remake.
- World of Tanks by Rock537 is a world full of tanks, as the title suggests.
- crist1919's Minus Worlds are worlds from -1 to -12 (except for -8 and -9) featured since v2.3. Each one of them contains a passage to one of them on a different level (as mentioned before).
- Mario Worker (not to be confused with the game of the same name)'s The Lost Map 2 (known as Lost Map II in the same room since v4.0) has been introduced since v2.7, although it has been temporally deleted in v3.0, possibly due to a lot of graphics that caused v2.7 to have a lot of MBs (300 MBs). It returned in v3.5, with fewer graphics that made the game's size smaller.
- The Tutorial Level has been added in v2.7, but in v3.0, it was permanently deleted, due to it not being a part of the original game.
- Underground Zone has been added in v3.0, featuring only world U by nmnmoooh.
- The Powerup Laboratory has been also introduced in v3.0, featuring levels with power-ups that aren't in the other levels.
- The Underground Zone isn't alone with world U since v3.5 anymore, due to The Underland and The Underworld being added, as extra worlds.
- The Underground Zone got even more worlds in v4.0, which are The Underearth by JoséLPK.CF&MF, The Underhell by MrPrzemistrz, The Undermine by TheMarioVariable & JoséLPK.CF&MF and The Underzone by TheSharkMaster
- Another Lost Map 2 has been added in v4.0, made by Can't Sleep, which has the style of the Lost Map from the original game, unlike The Lost Map II.
- Underland-2 features Lakitu Party since v4.0, an edit of world 4-1 from the original game, just with more Spinies and Lakitus. There's even an extra level in Human Lab-3 called Human Lab Tower, hidden before the goal gate.
- The Forest has been also introduced in v4.0, which is a forest world by John Stupid, also known as JohnzVN.
- While v1.16.1 and v2.16 run only in the full-screen mode, the next versions have the option to play in windowed or full-screen mode every time you start or restart the game. There are even 2 more screen modes of the game in v7.02, HD Window and Old TV NES Style, which the Old TV NES Style mode is basically for people who wanna see the past if they played some games on their NES, and wanted to revisit their childhood by selecting this mode. HD Window mode can make the game better graphically.
- The Android version also has a PC version, which is a novel idea to make a PC version of the Android version. Because of that, people could play world Alternative, an Android version-only world that is not in Mario Forever Remake at all.
- Simple, yet impressive level design. There are not that many hidden blocks to make you fall to your death to lose a life or get a Game Over if you have 1 life left, there levels aren't empty at all, and each one of them has great enemy placement.
- Awesome ending: After the cutscene where tanks were being destroyed and Mario and Peach walking to the castle, nine months later (after Bowser was defeated), lots of Baby Marios were born, and they were seen walking from the castle and jumping, and then in place where the tanks have been destroyed, a Toad has been walking and was confused, probably due to what happened, and he punched the gray destroyed Bowser portrait, and the final credits have appeared on the right side.
- To make the final boss fight easier, Peach throws fire flowers if Mario is Super Mario, or a super mushroom when he is small Mario, which is very helpful, especially if people would have serious trouble defeating Bowser. This happens 4-5 times, and after that, you will have to defeat Bowser without getting any more power-ups, probably due to Peach running out of them, which can be also understandable why you will have to defeat Bowser when Peach stops giving Mario power-ups.
Bad Qualities
- The newer versions, most notably 6.0 and 7.02 are buggy and glitchy. For example, a solid block disappears a lot of times, but it's still solid, like if it wants to make Mario look like he's floating in mid-air, or the grass scenery being in front of Mario, instead of it being behind Mario.
- However, Syzxchulun's world 9 is the giant example, since it has a lot of bugs and glitches. The most infamous bug (v6.0 only) is that once you complete world 9-1, you won't be able to progress unless you complete Human Laboratory world to get into world 9-2. However, you still won't be able to access worlds 9-3 and 9-4 unless you edit the mafosav.ini file.
- Not to mention, even the first version is the Android version has many bugs before being fixed in v1.1.
- Even some versions of the Remake are pretty buggy, mostly v3.0, v3.5, and v3.7, and they have tons of bugs. For example, in v3.5 and v3.7, world -11-3 featured a checkpoint bug that instantly kills the player if he/she touches the checkpoint, resulting in an instant game over, until it was fixed in v4.0. Another example is that in v3.5, the codes for the passage to world -11 were broken, making world -11 impossible to unlock, but that was thankfully fixed in v3.7.
- Sadly, in the newer versions of the original version, the Polish language has been removed, which means that Poles would struggle with trying to understand the English words that are written. This can be disappointing, especially to some Poles who don't understand English at all. It's been a few years, and the newer versions of the original version still lack the Polish language, which is very confusing, as the developer is Polish.
- And on top of that v4.0 of the remake temporally has only English, possibly due to coding issues, due to the remake's engine being moved, and the developers possibly had struggled with porting the languages, which is possibly the main reason why there's only English in v4.0, although temporarily.
- While the controls are tight and mostly responsive, they can have some problems, especially in the PC versions, regardless of your keyboard.
- The original and remake's jumping control isn't always responsive, which can result in a cheap death, and it can be rage-inducing.
- In the first versions of the original version, some controls can be confusing. To jump into a pipe above Mario, you have to hold "P" and press the jump key to get into the pipe instead of "UP". Thankfully, the newer versions fix that problem.
- The joystick in the Android version can be stiff, especially if you don't have a big enough phone, or even a bigger one, which caused Alexandro Games (the developer of the Android version) to replace the joystick with arrow buttons. Because of that, the joystick made the Android version hard to control.
- You can't modify your controls in v7.02. This means you have to jump with Z and run and fire with X. This can be a big problem for some laptops, especially if "Z" doesn't work if you are holding "Left" and "X" at the same time.
- The original and Android versions contain the infamous sticky ceiling bug, which is very annoying. If you hit a ceiling, Mario looks like he sticks into it and then goes away, which can prevent you from trying to jump to another ground if you hit the ceiling, making it a bit too difficult. While the remake also used to have the sticky ceiling bug, it was thankfully fixed in v3.5, meaning jumping to another ground is easy if you hit the ceiling.
- The Polish language in version 1.5 of the remake contains some typos. "Syzxchulun Worlds" was typed as "Światy Syzxchulun" instead of "Światy Syzxchuluna", and "Mariovariable3410 Letter Worlds" was typed as "Światy Litera Mariovariable3410" instead of "Literowe Światy Mariovariabla3410". Thankfully, these typos were fixed in version 2.0, thanks to Jeansowaty, Mario Worker (not to be confused with the game of the same name) and Crist1919.
- However, in v3.5, some typos in the Polish language returned. The Underland was spelled as "Podziemna Krania", rather than "Podziemna Kraina", and The Underworld was typed as "Podziemna Świat", rather than "Podziemny Świat".
- Some worlds/levels are not that great.
- World of Stupidity is an infamous world containing a lot of traps and falling blocks, resulting in cheap deaths. However, the remake thankfully doesn't have this world, and it won't be added, according to the Mario Forever Wiki. Though World of Stupidity might be a joke world.
- World 6-2 is infamous for being a maze that can be very hard to figure out for first-time players. It's so infamous in fact that it served as being the level for the very first video of Mario Forever uploaded on YouTube in 2007.
- World 9-2 in the original version is infamous for having a lot of instant deaths due to the roto-discs somehow killing Mario instantly upon contact, regardless of which power-up. Thankfully, the difficulty in the remake and Android version were greatly toned down.
- World Alternative was extremely hard to complete when it was first added in v1.9, and it was even nearly impossible to complete on Android. Thankfully, the difficulty was toned down in v1.9.5.
- False advertising: MF Info in the Remake says that sometimes green Hammer Bros throw silver hammers, but in the game, there are no green Hammer Bros that throw silver hammers. There are actually silver Hammer Bros that throw silver hammers.
- The game went slightly downhill in 2011 when the engine was moved from Multimedia Fusion 1.5 to Multimedia Fusion 2 Dev in 2010, though not that much, meaning Mario Forever still remains a good game. Fortunately, the game mostly did get back on track in 2017 with the release of v7.01.
- Some nonsensical changes were made. For example, the background in world 3 was changed to blue instead of navy, even if world 3 takes place in a skyland at dark.
- While most of the new graphics are beautiful and shiny, some are a bit too bright, which can be a little seizure-inducing.
- World 9 (original version only) felt like it was barely tested and was implemented into the game with a whole parade of bugs and glitches. Some were fixed in v7.01 and 7.02, though many still remain.
- The Sylvester Stallone zone and World of Stupidity. No need to say more, even if World of Stupidity is likely a joke.
- Some updates added more bugs, despite the update's purpose being to fix them. Fortunately, the bugs were later fixed as newer versions came.
- A controversy rose around the game where some download sites bundled the installers with toolbars, some of which were malware, which could damage the game's reputation. Additionally, Michał Gdaniec, the game's developer, was blamed for including this stuff in the installers in his own game, though it's likely that someone else actually implemented them and hosted them on popular download sites. Fortunately, not all of them have this garbage and most installers are safe. Fortunately, the remake and the Android versions are much safer.
Reception
Mario Forever, its remake, and Android versions were all met with a very positive reception by a lot of players. Users from GRYOnline.pl gave it an 8.2/10 score. The game is also considered to be a great example of a good Mario fangame for PC.
Legacy
After the very positive reception the original version got, many people started to make their own Mario Forever engines, like Dunami Mario Forever Engine, Syzxchulun's world 10 engine, or Rainbow Engine Mod. And after the engines were released in public, people downloaded them and the program that lets them make their own Mario Forever fangames, like Clickteam Fusion v2.5 Developer, and after some people made their own Mario Forever fangames, they released them in public, and an American YouTuber named Daniel's Game Vault played them that his or Mario Forever's fans requested, and if he finds them awesome, he shows the logo that says "APPROVED". If he finds them bad or not that good, he shows the logo that says "REJECTED", and sometimes the reason why he rejected them, and sometimes the rejected logo says "Revision required" which says that the creator of his/her fangame should improve it by fixing some bugs or making the fangame easier if he finds it very hard.
Videos
Game Tips
- For world 6-2, it is recommended to use a walkthrough to complete the level easier, especially if you're playing it for the first time.
Trivia
- External music files in version 1.16.1 are dated to 2000, which means that the game began development in 2000 with Multimedia Fusion 1.2.
- Compared to other worlds in the original game, world 5 doesn't have a castle. The remake also used to have world C, which also doesn't have a castle.
- Since v4.0 in the remake, TheMarioVariable's Letter Worlds have been moved to their stand-alone game, released in October 2020.
- Despite the languages being temporally disabled in v4.0 of the remake, with only English being available, this version was going to have 4 more new languages, Russian, Romanian, Dutch, and Serbian. Originally, it was going to have only Russian added.
- Speaking of languages, the translators of other languages besides English and Polish are also major contributors to the remake, although some of them are inactive, or left the project.
- Three versions have been lost so far, being v1.15, v1.16 and v4. v1.15 is likely a beta version, while v1.16 and v4 are regular versions.
- Syzxchulun's world 11 originally looked different. Since v2.3, a new version was made, and the passage to the older version was in world 11-1. However, it was temporally deleted in v3.0, like The Lost Map II, although it's unknown why it was temporally removed. Mario Forever Wiki's reason says that it's a work in progress.
- Originally, the remake was titled "New Mario Forever", which was only a demo for private users, before being renamed to Mario Forever Remake when the first public version came out.
- The v4.0 of the remake is, so far, the only version of Mario Forever Remake that has been in development for a long time, for over 3 years, probably due to the new engine and new levels.
- If you get hit by an enemy, especially by a Koopa, Hammer Bro, or a hammer, and touch a brick at the same time as small Mario, the brick will break even tough you were not Super Mario at all.
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