Nonsense - 19 - has a lingering soreness

[@Koushakur]

Tags: shoelace fortress 2, this time, you have to hold down yourself

[@Koushakur]

15:41 Only took a couple years of hassling you about taking breaks!

[@Isocitration]

To successfully clear a morsel level, one must simply reach the exit.

[@mechabubba]

7:04 "Whew!" *falls off* lmfao, this was tragic

[@Oshamoff]

I'll never really vibe with levels that require you to not make a single mistake in order to be completed. Like, yeah, sure, it's optional, but still.

[@KMmouse20]

Morsel level gonna Morsel

[@KuuImpact]

Why didn't they leave a wet floors sign up, this is a fortress policy violation!

[@endymallorn]

Finally you’re taking breaks. Mental health finally exists in your vocabulary.

[@eltiolavara9]

this is morsel trying to make an easy level also the no midpoint/no powerups thing i feel is a bit artificial difficulty, as much as i don't like that term

[@mmmmnism]

10:40 Behold, raocow describing a soulslike (accidentally)

[@StripeyShima]

Not really, Soulslikes never put you in a “one hit and start over” situation.

[@mmmmnism]

@@StripeyShima Eh, they have equivalents

[@Phoenixflara]

Giant fire tree in DS1? Some of Sen’s traps could probably count too.

[@StripeyShima]

I've seen some banger m/m levels but yeah, raocow summed it up well, this one's a bit of a stinker/snoozefest.

[@Jolpe]

The tags say Shoelace Fortress 2 But in reality it's just "What if shoelace castle and A Big Disadvantage had a baby fortress?! (With really really sharp teeth)"

[@DoctorNovakaine]

You're telling me that being big can be a hindrance? That's just Nonsense!

[@yevmann]

I hated this level for breaking my savestateless streak. Surprised you did the final thwomp part first try though!

[@FT029]

me too, the final thwomp was very difficult to figure out

[@rootbeer_666]

Exit 1: yeah, descriptioncow is p. spot on; all things considered, this went pretty well, esp. for an m/m level, and the deft, preternatural kind of raocow videogamesmanship we’ve seen develop over the years was on full display here, chef’s kiss Exit 2: otoh, frustratedcow (not even going to call it rantcow because it’s not at all baseless) is also spot on because _this_ is the m/m we all know, very rote and mechanical, unforgiving, and ultimately just draining. We’ve seen more unmitigated slogs from m/m, sure, but this is still on brand for a guy who definitely has a brand. Honestly though? I not entirely sure we’d want it any other way? Maybe? Idk. Chef’s kiss.

[@gillfortytwo]

I feel like if m/m spent more time than the minimum on aesthetics I'd appreciate his creative if torturous ideas more

[@blivveries]

Yeah having this, like, right after shoelace zone _really_ makes it look worse

[@green929392]

pretty good level, hard but obvious platforming

[@SomeGuy712x]

Death count: 355 (23 today) Goal tape average: 684 / 29 = 23.586 (0 / 1 = 0 today) (0:36) No Yoshis because they're not wet enough. (1:13) Not quite enough "ERGH" with that bounce. First death today. (1:47) That left movement there ended up being too much. Oops. (1:52) Funny you should mention that... (2:24) You _can_ run there, but you need sprinting speed. (3:15) Released down too soon, but I do disagree with that hitbox dissonance. (3:22) No free embiggening from the zwee. Gotta do this all in one go as a big guy later. (3:58) I hate this pair of pencil spikes, because they're usually timed just perfectly to screw you over when you want to jump from the moving block. (5:48) Yep, you do indeed have to get here big, all in one go. Anyway, took 16 deaths to get the normal exit here. (5:50) BARF! That's disappointing. (6:33) 1½ million points reached exactly. Neat. (6:45) Yes, Start+Selecting on a failed attempt is good for preserving lives. (7:33) Halfway there, but the checkpoint is of no use to you now. (9:09) This part is really tricky to get through while big. (9:34) Oof, it stinks when a level is hard in such a way that it actually starts inducing boredom and eventually frustration. (10:27) Dang. Maybe there should've been a checkpoint 1-up at that midpoint that you would need to be to access, and triggering it would cause a power up block to appear whenever you restarted from the midpoint. But, maybe that would make it too easy? (11:57) Nice, and it's a good thing that last statue there doesn't fire. (12:14) D'oh! Got through the spiky passage, only to flub the next landing. (12:48) Start of the resplendent mastery run of the secret exit. (13:52) You've been getting some good timing on these pencil spikes lately. (14:13) SUCCESS!!! Only took you 7 deaths and a plethora of Start+Selects! (15:38) Oh, are you going to play through Blake Stone in the future? :P I vote for 🐟🔥next.

[@flussence]

Honestly, thought this was going to end up being a half level video. great job Following up the first m/m level with a namedrop like _that_ though hoo boy

[@novidstkbg6636]

Wet Floor [ 6 | 8 ]: So this is one of the level I didn't really like, but not because the level structure is bad. And again, it's also a daredevil level (but the 1st half for the normal exit). The main issue for me is the lack of fast retry for such a high difficulty exit, which is an issue when that retry is already used in in the hack; I don't like reentering the level *very frequently* on the overworld. (It may increases boredom?) Because otherwise the level is very well made (both exit)! Well except the "rakugaki's giant tower" aesthetics lol. Pro tip for the secret exit: If getting hurt for the secret exit, keep playing and act like you're big mario; It did help me, practice makes perfect! (not savestates :P) Unrelated: Thank you for updating bucket.txt!

[@autonomousanonymous6310]

5:50 man do i hate when i slip and fall, directly onto a manifestation of pure success

[@RexGanymede]

see.. ..on the whole, i don't feel inclined to bash morsel or this level rao's winning run looked like it flowed gracefully - and, i can see where morsel restrained himself level length, especially

[@SlackerKite]

Morsel, showcasing how to turn a regular old level level into a kaizo

[@anglebrackets3430]

Semantic satiation but for the SMW pause sound.

[@tonkyland]

oh man. he retuns

[@GenesisJames]

I feel like the biggest problem with the secret exit being a no-hit run is that the level design doesn't really benefit or change from it. Like, yeah, you have to duck on some of the jumps and they're occasionally tighter, but the jumps themselves are literally the same as the normal run except you can't course correct with left and right. Add the fact that, like you said, there's no variation in the timing making every run essentially the same... I can see why it got boring or felt kinda meh overall. What the secret exit does just doesn't feel like a substantial enough change to actually warrant the secret exit's inclusion, imo

[@EternalLordRuby]

When you put it like that, it makes me realize that doing it again but big - without any substantially changed obstacles - is a lot like the back-and-forth item babysitting arrogance people insisted upon back during the production/a2mt era. You can definitely still exercise a lot of fine control while ducking in this game, as Shoelace Castle recently made abundantly clear.

[@GenesisJames]

@@EternalLordRuby Yeah, the whole thing about "big runs" and item babysitting really do seem to be stuck in that era's mindset. I know that's rich coming from me being the "ASMBXT" level design guy lmao but I do think that these types of difficulty are pretty boring when you could either just make a new secret exit path with different obstacles or just not have a secret exit at all.

[@FT029]

very valid. The secret exit took me multiple sittings. I personally would keep going after getting hit to "scout out" the level and practice the later sections; in particular I found a strat for the final thwomp where if you lure it fast enough, you don't need to spinjump on it-- just duck underneath it as it rises. Very impressive that raocow's total time was under 1 hour though; I probably spent about 1 hour on it.

[@nathanisbored]

this one was a toughie, kudos

[@ShadwSonic]

Honestly? That level having a secret exit feels like a mistake. ... I mean, _yes_ it's listed as a four-star difficulty, but there's good ways and bad to do difficulty. This is the latter. Even just _one_ more mushroom would've changed my mind.

[@KMmouse20]

It's Morsel. He doesn't do mercy.

[@Jolpe]

I have to disagree, the level is particularily crafted in a way to give you a very peculiar challenge to get the secret exit; while it may be very hard I think it does add to the level by making you "solve" every obstacle while big

[@endymallorn]

I don’t know about a mistake, but I don’t think I’m a fan of it either.

[@ShadwSonic]

@@Jolpe Which I recognize, but the perfection that's being asked is a bit much. Like I said, adding one more mushroom would've changed my mind.

[@roundthewheelrtw]

I hesitate to call this bad, but i can tell it wouldn't be my cup of tea. I LOVE the aesthetic though.

[@krisu0100]

Morsel doing controversial level design, never happen before! /s

[@UltimatePhantasm]

imagine playing this level as luigi, hoo boy

[@realreaper3]

Man I don't know when you're planning on doing the star world next but I gotta warn you the next level is extremely hard. I won't say anything beyond that but I couldn't do it. I'm sure you can, but it's gonna take a few tries. I just can't think the way it wants.

[@FT029]

honestly I found Hard Relay Mario easier than Wet Floor (for me, about 50 minutes in 1 sitting vs. 60 minutes over 3 sittings). At least it's definitely less 'mechanical'.

[@realreaper3]

@@FT029 Oh I got the levels confused lol. It's Alpine Leap, that's the one I gave up on. (I can't remember if I did relay).

[@FT029]

oh that is even more surprising-- I found alpine leap very manageable. But I can definitely see it being frustrating if you die repeatedly

[@Phandiw]

Unless it's straight-up Kaizo, now I wonder what Five Stars is.

[@FiyahKitteh]

Oof, if they wanted you to play this level legit they should definitely add a function that the midpoint saves your shroom. This was rough to watch, not even because of you, but because of what the level author did here. D: Honestly, for (future) levels like this I would absolutely not fault you for using a save state per level/room/area.

[@KBraid]

man, it is rare when one of your videos is unfun to watch, and i gotta say this is cutting it very close. like you said that second exit was boring. the secret exit being 'now do it all again but remember to duck also no midpoint' was simply a boring experience that felt uninspired. i feel like this level would have been better with only one exit and it being either the hard mode version or the easy mode version, or for it to have come up with some other gimmick or route for the secret exit. hopefully this level will turn out to be an outlier.

[@EvilMariobot]

I had the whole video running at 2X speed and even I just skipped to the winning run after a few deaths into the Secret Exit run.

[@Aural_Entity]

If its the only Morsel level, it'll be an outlier. Or maybe other Morsel levels will be actual difficulty, & not artificially so.

[@witchfynder_finder]

ACHES

[@witchfynder_finder]

Me trying to remember why the name morsel instilled a vague sense of Dread and then watching like 30 seconds of the secret exit attempt: Oh that's why

[@clwho4652]

Ice physics have never made games better. Yet people keep trying to use it.

[@juneguts]

HEEhihihi

[@wariolandgoldpiramid]

This is something that would be fun to play with savestates. That way, once you're past an obstacle, you don't have to do it anymore. Playing it fairly just isn't fun.