Super Mario Maker Course - Thwomp Romp

Course ID: 1CD2-0000-002C-3CCF

(**This video is a no-bonus full run, and so contains spoilers. Watch none or skip around to get a general idea of the level if you want to otherwise be surprised and work out how to overcome some obstacles yourself**)

This is the second course I made, after grinding to unlock all assets. It actually started with my wife Liz telling me that she wanted to see how I'd make a level intended to be called "Thwomp Romp". Naturally, it has to have thwomps in it, but I was highly motivated to make their presence meaningful. This, together with my compulsion to build challenge levels, led me to experiment with the different ways in which thwomps could be used and combined with other assets

I tried to be as creative as possible with thwomp usage, creating scenarios that had to be solved in different ways with varying level of difficulty. Early-on, I decided that part of the challenge for at least part of the level would be the requirement of maintaining certain powerups to pass certain areas. This also called for the use of warp doors that allow you to get the previous powerup back and try a failed section again, on top of allowing you to reset enemy placement after a mistake

A lot of the level's ground structure actually comes from wildly placing blocks and then fine-tuning edges. I was a bit obsessive about angled corners and covering gaps because the lack of screen scroll lock options made small areas ugly when you'd move to the edge and see all of the empty space. The underground area, in specific, uses so many blocks that only 16 more could be placed before reaching the limit

This level contains several bonus areas and otherwise-hidden blocks that I didn't visit in this video. Most secrets require the use of one or another specific powerup, with one requiring back-tracking, and another requiring that an earlier secret have been found first

Coin Total: 323
1-Up Shroom Total: 3