The Original Mario Maker - LUNAR MAGIC

Long before Super Mario Maker came onto the scene, there was another program that let you edit and assemble Super Mario World in whatever way you wanted. Let's talk about Lunar Magic, and the community that's formed around a 30 year old game.

[skirdus]

I really like the variety that comes with all the different kinds of hacks, as well as how a well-designed vanilla hack can be just as valid as a chocolate one

Lunar Magic is how I started as a Game Developer. Much respect for it.

[cobalt]

Nintendo probably saw this and thought:

'we gotta do that'

[LeviKanal]

There is an old 2004 Rom hack that was never completly finished called "Super Mario Odyssey (no joke ^^) a jorney through space and time"... This hack is so creative and innovating, i've never seen anything like that before

[PinkieOats]

I still keep up with raocow, who has been doing an endless amount of playthroughs of SMW hacks with his incredible community. The rom hacks and the people behind them are so amazing!

[Blarbenheimer]

Ahh, the nostalgia! Lunar Magic made up a lot of my memories on our ancient Compaq computer. Can definitely relate to daydreaming about those level ideas :) Some of my favorite ROM hacks include:
-The Second Reality Project Reloaded
-SMW 2+3: The Essence Star
-Secret of the 7 Golden Statues
-Mario's Treasure Hunt
-New SMW 2: Around the World (a more recent one, really solid!)

[tanaka]

This takes me way back! I remember when Mario Maker came out I was like "oh neat, it's like an official Lunar Magic."

[Iraxvii]

If you have the right tools to go along with lunar magic, you can transform the game into anything as long as it could run on a snes or emulator.

[RougeMephilesClone]

Dropping in to plug A Super Mario Bros. X Thing. Can't quite remember what the first two episodes were made in, but they're leaps and bounds ahead of most hacks in terms of raw, unbridled creativity.

[rarm]

Not someone who specializes in rom hacks anymore but...ProtonJon does stream now (has for at least 5 years I think) and he’s one of my favorite content creators. His streams can be utterly insane and hilarious.

[jorgegutierrez]

I have good memories of playing SMBX games. That was such a great community to be a part of.

[Darkonius]

Romhack: JUMPhalf
Super creative levels and unique ideas that use SMW's toolset extremely well and in a fun way

Youtuber: raocow
plays plenty of romhacks and is a good time to watch!

Will you also be covering SMBX 2.0 BETA 4 eventually? it's been around for 10 years or so, and just recently updated to 2.0, it would be fun to see you tackle it!

[holdsupspork]

Anyone remember moltovmarioworld? I really enjoyed watching him play smw romhacks as a kid especially the VIP series. SSoHPKC too

[cammyboig]

I used to watch raocow play all the VIP hacks over and over again, some of my most comfy childhood memories

[kamouloxseriego]

Thanks for talking about lm ! It is to me THE mario lvl editor ! Everything from palette editing to making aesthetic and ow is a blast ! It’s really complicated and accessible at the same time and that’s kind of the joy of it !

[DaizoDeeVonOfficial]

I always appreciate seeing Super Mario World: The After Years brought up, as that is one of my personal favourites. I personally hacked for nearly a decade, so I've been a part of SMWC for a good half of my life basically (currently almost 22) from all the bad Kaizos I've made to the creation of 100 Rooms of Enemies all the way to ALPHA SPHERE: Director's Cut. Though, with the Kaizo rise I seem to be one of the few people still making "below-kaizo" projects that still manages to try something different each time. But still, the recent Kaizos have been really good.

I have a few favourites I like watching, that being levelengine, raocow, and more recently Juzcook.

I have a small challenge for you, snowmaN. What are your current favourite SMW ROM hacks? You could make a video since there are just compilations atm, or you could answer them here. Idk.

[TweelilLass]

0:56 HELL YEAH PROTONJON, dude hasn't released anything in YEARS but he'll always be the OG of letsplays in my heart

[LordEvrey]

My favourite Mario thing to this day would be "Super Mario Star Expedition" for SMBX. Neat difficulty, but way more focused on exploration. As for SMW, I really love Grand Poo World 2, especially due to the big escape room puzzle.

[gilliamphipps]

This is such a lovely video! What a neat and rather wholesome piece of video game (and internet) history.

[dreamllusion]

(sorry for my bad english)
The first rom hacks that made me hook into playing custom smw games are "The Devious Four Chronicles" series.


For me, it was such a blast! Even thought the story was incomplete, I saw soooo much potential in it!


I find it sad the project seems dead (or I haven't managed to find any update on this project if there is any during 2019). But the nostalgia is still there <3