This thread will get updates every now and then. The exact when is unguaranteed, but mostly weekly. This isn't necessarily a discussion thread - it's more like a blog.

Today I wanted to play something different than the usual Super Mario 64: Last Impact by Kaze Emanuar, so I decided to give Newer Super Mario Bros. DS by Skawo and the Newer Team a try. And let me tell you, I dig it!

---

The game starts with a disclaimer screen, that's basically an "I don't own this hack, and if you want to play it, please use a legally dumped ROM". Sorry, but I didn't do the latter, as I was playing on an illegal online emulation website I won't mention the name of because obvious reasons. So I just A'd out of it. I got taken to the title screen and selected a save file. I must say, leet new UI. I dig the aesthetikz!
The game started with an intro that was an obvious reference to SMW's. Makes me think, when will message blocks be coded for use in NSMB? Then I got thrown into the autumn-themed World 1 (we didn't see that theme for any World 1 in any NSMB hack after Newer anymore, did we?). I went to W1-1 (I have no idea why especially W1-1 and not W1-2) and got greeted by a nice preview screen that doesn't look hacky at all! Also, it allowed you to switch between Mario and Luigi... who now have different physics!

---

W1-1 was neat, and featured a nice remix of NSMB's grasslands theme. I really liked how after killing a Giant Piranha Plant, coins began raining down. I once died here trying to grab all the loot because I misstepped, derp. The flagpole has been overhauled too: the higher you grab it, the more coins you get. My only two gripes with that are that despite the flagpole now awarding coins instead of points, they didn't nuke the concept of score, unlike in SM3DL; and grabbing the top of the flagpole doesn't award a 1-Up anymore, so grabbing the top of the flagpole doesn't feel as rewarding anymore.

---

W1-2 might just be my favourite. Its rolling log platforming gimmick is outstandingly creative and introduced and elaborated upon the way Nintendo would. Also, I really liked the bonus room with the (fixed) giant springboard. Trying to get every coin and just jumping very high is lots of fun. I found the secret exit before I found the normal exit.

---

W1-3 featured NSMB's obscure brother of Bully, the Snailicorn (including a Giant variant). Also, red Donut Lifts that immediately fall when stepped on.

---

W1-Tower had a freaking cool gimmick too - lots of tightropes. Plus Banzai Bills because SMW had them in World 1 too, so Wynaut! The secret exit has you traveling across a long string of tightropes. If you fail to reach the top of the flagpole, you can always still obliterate some bricked Wiis brick blocks with the Mega Mushroom! The Bowser Jr. battle remained the same.

---

W1-4 took the Giga Wiggler from DS and the Large Wigglers from Wii and combined them perfectly. Also, some Star Coins are pretty challenging to get, so better use Luigi!

---

W1-5 took the rising/lowering mushroom platforms and introduced them in many new sizes. A course where you can better watch your every step instead of speeding through. And use Luigi, because this is an athletic level!

---

---

New updates will follow whenever I'll play some Newer again. Stay tuned.

Today I played some NewerDS again. I started with W1-A, and I find the Giant Spiny Egg floating in water gimmick a good gimmick. Also reminds me of the Urchins in NSMBW. The seesaws are uber strategically placed so you have to tilt them in order to get the tasty treats (Star and Dragon Coins). Using Porcupuffer in World 1 might be an edgy choice, but the Newer Team did a perfect job at making the big fishy a minimal threat, while still buffing it by making it impossible to kill it with fire.

Then W1-Castle. I used Luigi here, but still died several times attempting to press the ? Switch that spawns a rickshaw lift. Now the difficulty goes up... shredding through the Giant Piranha Plants with a Mega Mushroom was very fun too! The Bowser fight was unchanged, removing the floating platform aside, but you can't blame Newer Team for that.

Now, World 2! A cave world. W2-1 was a not-too-blatant SMW throwback with the Giant Swoopers being a decent threat. One room featured a zigzag slope on which the player can knock out several Buzzy Beetles; instantly reminded me of SMW. Also, this course marked the proper debut of a power-up I had in World 1 for... five seconds... then a Paratroopa took it from me...

The BANHammer Suit!

Now having transformed into Admin Luigi, I abuse mah admin powerz and banhammer every enemy that crosses mah path. Move over, bitches!
Swooper: b&
Piranha Plant: b&
Buzzy Beetle: b&

Then, W2-2. It's a semi-pipe maze (semi as in sans the maze) where I banhammer some Piranha Plants before switching to the power to kill it with fire - and my Hammer Suit goes to the inventory! A SM3DL-style inventory! L33t! This course makes good use of Tile Gods to break warp pipes and features a Mario Bros. throwback bonus room!

W2-3 is a mazy sewer course. Not the SKJmoron mazes, though. No tedium, have arrow signs. I loved this room you spawned in Ground Pounding so you landed on a Koopa and its shell killed the Piranha Plants!

---

That was it for now. Stay tuned!

Today I played some NewerDS again. I started with W2-4, Wagon Way. My favourite level now. I love how the minecart keeps moving, à la Super Mario Run, and it even defies gravity by scaling the walls and ceiling. Plus, a looping, and a remix of freaking Slider! If you hit a floor, wall or ceiling, you die, and lemme tell you, I died lots of times. But that isn't bad. This is a "git gud" level. Best part was when I accidentally whatever keyboard button the DS's A button is mapped to (→ key. Useless information ) and jumped into a wall. Ded. i R uBeR lEeT pRo gAeMr!!!!1!11!1one1!

Not.

Then W2-Tower. From the outside it looked like a pipe maze, but it's not. It's a sewer level fully using level wrap to it's fully full fullest. Not just in a Mario Bros. throwback way, but in a good way. Best part was where you Wall Kick between a wall on the left of the screen and one on the right of the screen, constantly wrapping from left to right (and Dutchmen love going from left to right, don't we). This time Bowser Jr.'s arena has been changed. It's made out of pipes and has a Venus Fire Trap on either side. But I had a Fire Flower, so Jr. was done for before the Venus Fire Trap could spit fire! Time for W2-5.

Which is an athletic level with tightropes, Hammer and Boomerang Bros., Paratroopas and an occasional Bullet Bill. Sometimes you need to let the plumber fall off the tightropes to collect Star Coins. I really loved the bonus room where you had to bounce off five Bullet Bills to cross a ravine. When you exit the bonus room through a warp pipe, a warp pipe growingly spawns in the main area, flickers and disappears again. Something from MvL?
And then. The miraculously wondrously miraculous, wondrous miracle of wonder, I've never seen such a thing before.  skawo is a 1337 genius.
...
...

Moving tightropes!

Yes, it may sound crazy, but I found it genius!

W2-6 was the first actual underwater level I played. It featured pipe currents that honestly barely bothered me, and Giant Cheep-Cheeps, which I banhammered, as this level had a Hammer Suit. And then...

... it was already time for W2-Airship. With the obligatory airship song! I loved a nicely-hidden Star Coin above the ceiling. The part with the floating platforms and the flamethrowers was challenging, but I didn't get roasted as much as MarioFanatic64 did. The boss fight was against Mega Goomba. IMO they should've omitted the ? Switch and the rising platforms triggered by it. Would make it harder. Well, long story short, Mega Goomba is pwned and it's-a World 3 time!

Which is... still beach-themed. But now it's Dorrie's Island. A dinosaur's island, but not of that tax frauding jerk. They've banned Yoshi for his fiscal crimes.

W3-1. SM3DL beach song, I dig. I wish there were a secret area in the sky, only reachable with the Lakitu Cloud. Still a fun course.

W3-2 makes good use of a power-up as a gimmick: the Mini Mushroom. Micro-Goombas (y'know, those Goombas with the lowest postcount) are placed here, alongside normal Goombas, and both are a threat here, as Micro-Goombas kill Mini Mario/Luigi upon contact. The Skeeters aren't annoying here unlike in the original game because most of them don't move and are essentially only used to bounce off of. Many Spike Blocks are featured in this level, so careful platforming is required. I wasn't ready to collect one of the Dragon Coins yet.

That was it for today. Stay tuned!

Update: I played Newer Super Mario Bros. DS again (why else would I post in this thread). So here's a recap of each level I played:

W2-A: The first level to introduce the Mini Mushroom and Skeeters, the second I've played. Not much else to say, except that I'll complete the normal exit later.

W3-A: In this level, the eel first comes out to play. Careful, but not too careful, timing is needed to avoid the Unagi chomping you. The level also provides Hammer Suits, to defend yourself against the two Cheep-Chomps (I still got eaten by the last one though) and Giant Deep-Cheeps. The part where you sink down and have to avoid several Unagi and a Mega Unagi, was quite tough. :o

W3-Tower: Why does the default tower track play here? The jungle track would've been more fitting, even though it's a tower level. You'll climb honey walls, avoiding Paratroopas, Piranha Plants, Wigglers and Squigglers. The fight against Bowser Jr. is on the treetop, where your movement is impeded by Crowbers flying overhead.

W3-3: NSMBW jungle track, eh? That one's good! This level focuses on tricky Scuttlebug bounces across poison water. Yes, we've entered the poison jungle half of this world.

W3-Ghost: The House of Blocks.

♪Blocks' House. The House of Blocks.♪

A ghost house level (I always love those) focusing on the ? Blocks hanging on spider strings. Towards the beginning you're already jumpscared by a set of these coming from the top of the screen.
In the vanilla game, these ? Blocks were not used as a platforming gimmick aside from using it to reach the top of the flagpole, so it's definitely unique. And Dry Bones in a ghost house are a good idea too - after all, they are undead enemies.

---

Cheep-Cheeps swimming in circles, minecarts defying gravity, moving tightropes and Red Coins, the player character jumping from the flagpole off a two-screen deep cliff and landing right in front of the castle (no coding for that, but definitely greatly calculated level design) - I'm liking this hack more and more! Stay tuned for more updates!

Yes, I'm back, and I've played NewerDS again! So here we go again:

---

Where was I? Oh yeah, W3-Castle. The gimmick: Spike Balls rolling around and breaking through blocks. The part where I was sandwiched between two Spike Balls was damn HAAAARD! I died lots of times here. The part where you had to walk underneath a ceiling which Spike Balls came falling down from, was easy. Oh yeah, Luigi sometimes kinda glitched into 2×2 sloped ceilings. The Cheepskipper boss fight was a... Cheepskipper boss fight. Herp merp derp. I defeated the bossy fishy and set course for World 4 - Pumpkin Boneyard. A Halloweeny world infested with Boos, Splunkins and scarecrows resembling Mario as decoration.

W4-1 has maximum Boo-from-?-Block trollage. Blarg! But what'd you expect from a world that's essentially a huge multi-level ghost house! The jump where you follow a trail of coins falling between Boos was hard! Sliding into rows of Splunkins was fun. Bonus points for Giant Splunkins.

W4-2 featured Broozers (the official name of """Boxing Ghosts""") and tilting mushrooms as gimmick. The bonus rooms had fun Broozer puzzles! Fun sections where you slide from tilting mushroom onto tilting mushroom are present too.

W4-3 makes heavy usage of the ghost house goo. The most clever usage was the part where you had to Ground Pound the goo in order to enter a Warp Pipe. Though honestly I feel like more creative usages could have been thought up. Makes me think about such implementations and makes me want to post in my gimmick thread. But the quite vanilla usage of the goo doesn't make this level less uberleet.

---

Well, next time, W4-Tower I guess! I'm excited! And as always... stay tuned!

EDIT: Update! Today I played through part of W4 again. So lemme tell you how it went and what I think.

W4-Tower: mainly a fun race to reach switches before the moving platform squishes you into the ceiling. Avoiding those stationary Balloon Boos is hard! The Bowser Jr. fight took place in a small room with two Boos. Neither of the three poses a threat if you don't move and spam fireballs. Blarg.

W4-4 then, featuring the drawbridges from vanilla W4-5, retextured as bones. Some bone bridges close to never open again, making getting some Star Coins a race. Loved the part where the poison water rose all of a sudden. Dat cutoff at the end tho.

W4-Ghost was the House of Doors. Basically, every room has a couple of doors, with the right one having a slight visual cue and the wrong ones leading to a room with a slowly-disappearing floor, so you have to hurry back through the door. Very fun. Newer Team really did ghost houses right.

W4-5 was an underground level, featuring Dry Bones and Scuttlebugs. And tilting rocks. One of the Star Coins was really hard to get - I died numerous times trying to get it.

Then W4-6 - the l33t3st level of W4? Swelling ground that swells on its own, Bone Piranha Plants and ditto Goombas (parameterhax? Josh made multicolored Goombas with different behaviours possible in SM64DS with parameterhax). Could've had a few more Spike Balls though. Loved how you needed to jump from the swelling ground to reach the top of the flagpole.

W4-Bowser was a Sunken Ghost Ship-oid, but with abovewater parts too. The part where you needed to swim down while avoiding Banzai Bills reminded me of W7-Tower of NSMBW, but underwater! At the checkpoint I made a savestate, so stay tuned for the second half of W4-Bowser!

Well, update. The second half of W4-Bowser. There was one Star Coin I skipped, needing either a Bullet Bill bounce or a well-timed jump. Someone who was watching along, said: "Grab that €1," referring to the Star Coin, but I skipped it because I didn't want to backtrack to retry now. So I went through the pipe. The last part was basically the last part of most W8-Bowser's Castles with the avoiding Bowser's flames in a hallway, except it's Bullet Bills and underwater. At the end were some nail-bitingly hard-to-avoid diagonal Banzai Bills. The boss fight was against a fitting boss for an undead world: Dry Bowser! As Small Mario (I took damage from the last Boo Ring), this fight was quite hard and took a few minutes (on a laggy emu though), but I did manage to defeat him in one try and go to World 5, due to hardcoded worldmap snow particle shenanigans still a snow world. With Cool, Cool Mountain as the overworld theme. W5-1 introduced the main enemies of this world: Snowpokeys, Snow Spikes and Fire Bros. Oh yeah, and Santa hat Goombas. Kuribo-ho-ho! The moving platform section was hard!

W5-2 is an underground level with lots of Snowpokeys and Fire Bros. The section where you descend on Donut Lifts was weird, but creative.

W5-Tower ingeniously used Bob-Ombs, wood blocks reskinned as ice blocks and Mario Bros. bumpable platforms. Nintendo wouldn't even come up with such a great idea, but fans do what Nintendon't! The Bowser Jr. fight was easy again, but what can you do?

W5-3 was an athletic level with floating platforms and this world's recurring enemies.

W5-Ghost is the House of Stairs. Basically press all switches to activate all staircases, but look out for hidden goodies too! Another example of Newer's exquisite ghost house design!

Stay tuned for moar updatez!

EDIT: Update! Today I cleared W5! But first things first: W5-4 was a level with ice and lava, à la Freezeflame. A really fun part was about halfway, where the lava briefly rose, taking away an ice platform two Super Dry Bones were on - now they were walking in the lava. You had to bounce off one to get a Star Coin, then bounce off the other one to safely cross the lava. And all of this is done under a low ceiling! /me bites nails! Thankfully I got it first try!

W5-Castle continued the Freezeflame theme, even being called Freezeflame Fortress. Podoboos are abundant here, so watch your jumps! The hardest part was with the ice bridge where Podoboos jumped out of the lava every three tiles. I took damage there twice! The boss fight was against Mummipokey, but it's a Snowpokey now, so I guess it's Yetipokey? It behaved like Mummipokey, but you're in a slippery arena now, so it is harder! Defeating the boss sent me to W7... perhaps you unlock a different world depending on the character you defeat Yetipokey with? I used Luigi.

Anyway, World 7, Cirrus Heavens, a sky world, like in the vanilla game. W7-1 was an athletic level with Shy Guys (sorry if you wanted no Shy Guys, but Fly Guys instead /iykyk), moving platforms and wooden bridges. The level design was very, very SMW-like; I dig! SMW had some really good athletic levels. Even though it had Tubular too, the Mario equivalent of hell.

And then another piece of evidence the Newer Team is good at doing ghost houses: W7-Ghost, the House of Bogus. Its gimmick: tiles that disappear once touched. They're slightly lighter than the rest of the tileset. They were used for noice puzzles.

 Yay, checkpoint flag!
 *Tile God spawns concrete blocks around flag like NUH UH*
 Awesome, Boo trollage.
 Takes detour through a disappearing wall à la NSMBW's fake walls, triggers checkpoint flag.

And then you've finally reached the flagpole! It has a Boo on the flag, but who cares! And then the game pulls a SM3DW and the flagpole disappears! OK, we're not finished yet! And when you finally reach the end, the house disappears. Was it ever even there? Whatever, grab that flagpole (the real one this time) and go to W7-2. Which you will have to wait for, so... stay tuned!

Update: W7-2, yay! It features lots of Munchers. Some sections require careful jump control between walls and/or ceilings full of Munchers, but don't worry, it isn't kaizo. Though I did die multiple times to the Munchers. Giant Munchers also appear. A bonus room features a classic Muncher run section like in SMB3.

W7-3 featured seesaws and Spike Balls. Either jump over the Spike Balls or tilt the seesaw so that they roll away. The latter I found harder, especially when it was time for the large Spike Balls!

W7-Tower featured Skewers, some with the vanilla movement patterns, some slowly moving back-and-forth, some still. There were also moving Spin Blocks. The horizontally-moving ones were glitchy, as the block did move, but the player didn't, so you keep falling off! The boss fight was against Bowser Jr. in a moving-block arena like in the original game.

W7-4 was the dark-skied highlight of this world. An autoscroller where you have to watch out for a thundercloud with Lakitu's movement pattern, but stopping and spawning Lakithunder bolts every so often. The thunderbolts can also break blocks. The BGM is a guitar version of the W7 overworld music, BTW. I didn't die to the thundercloud that much, but I did die often: to falling off of the SMB3 spinning platforms or a Paratroopa getting killed by the lightning just before you bounce on it. F_iiiiiii

W7-5 featured lots of giant enemies. Giant Koopas and Buzzy Beetles are able to break bricks without reversing direction.

W7-6 is another example of SMW-inspired level design. You ride swinging poles while avoiding Spike Blocks. I used Luigi. Oh yeah, and Fly Guys!

Stay tuned for moar updatez!