Ooh boy. I wish this level were longer.
It’s not revolutionary in its structure—go left a bit, find a trigger crate, go left a bit more, find three trigger crates, enter a door, fight a boss. It’s not difficult at all—there’s one area with some pillars sticking out of a pit of spikes, but the JJ2 engine makes it trivial to navigate them. The tileset use isn’t unusual or innovative. The boss arena has nothing interesting about it.
And yet, everything is done well.
Sure, the level leans a little more heavily on big thick walls than it needs to, but it’s still pretty to look at with varied tiles and chains and lights and things. There’s a lot more put in here than just the minimum amount of effort needed to use Castle. Part of the reason the level is so easy to beat is that the enemies can be taken out by bouncers—and the level gives you bouncers. That’s a satisfying feeling. Ambient lighting is played with enough to be visible yet not frustrating. The paths to reach the four trigger crates are not innovative but they are all distinct from one another and give off a quiet confidence. Pretty much any given aspect of the level is respectable, but the level is short enough that it still feels a bit empty.
(There could also be more pickups, I think. That would help make everything livelier.)
Slaz
29 Feb 2016, 12:56 (edited 29 Feb 16, 12:57)
7
Greetings from your fellow Mario Maker (and nice reference by naming this Lost Levels)! By first impression, this level felt more like an actual dungeon than the original Castle levels did. The helmuts on belts at the first crate were indeed fun to watch. The gameplay involves the commonly used JJ2 mechanic of finding multiple Trigger Crates to open up your path. And while it’s not original, this level did it pretty well by placing the crates in hazardous spots such as near 3D Spike Bolls, all down in the dungeon where the ambient light gets darker. Ammo is just Bouncers, and they are actually useful down the slopes. The boss is just a regular Tuff Boss, which may be justified if this was part of an episode but on it’s own it’s just your regular bullet sponge. This level is very short but feels professionally made.
I recommend this one for when you have a spare 5 minutes and crave for some quality traditional JJ2 gameplay.
7
The part with the moonwalking Helmuts was hilarious and probably the best reason to download this. It’s a fun oldschool level overall, even if the experience is rather short and easy. I feel it would’ve worked out much better as part of a full episode as originally intended. Nonetheless, cool to see an old level finally get a release!
Duke
27 Feb 2016, 23:42
10
I’m with PurpleJazz when it comes to the sequel. This level is superb IMO. The background is awesome, good enemy, weapon and food placement as well as good music choice. Perfect level, would love to see more!
Bloody_Body
31 Mar 2017, 18:19 (edited 1 Apr 17, 17:34)
9
Nice small level with a gameplay based on searching for trigger crates.
PROS
It’s castle, but it slightly differes from the original castle levels. Music is vigorous and buoyant, the eyecandy is modified a little- 5th layer uses vitrages and tons of chains.
Those floating hetmuts elegantly illustrate the possibilities of the Belt event. I also appreciate the idea of diverging corridors. Most of those corridors are descending, which makes bouncers pretty useful.
CONS
The level is obviously too small. The Boss… meh… Besides the fact that Tuf Boss isn’t a difficult enemy itself, the boss arena is just a smooth room without any additions that could make the fight challenging enough.
CONCLUSION
I think this level deserves to be downloaded, so I’ll give it 8.5 in order to raise an average rating to at least 8.0.
7
Blacky’s Single Player Catch Up Review #2:
I was having fun playing this but it took me less time to complete than it did to cook up a bowl of ramen :(
Not sure how to rate this, but it was a glorious 5 minutes.
Single player, by 
